Today’s special treat was a visit to the community of Amazonas. This community of 400 people is just upstream from where the Marañon and Ucayali Rivers converge to form the Amazon. First we walked through town and saw some of the daily activities. We learned how women make fiber and twine from leaves of the palm tree chambira. This they use to make everything from shoulder bags to straw animals to beautiful baskets of various colors all dyed from natural dies. By the end of our visit many of us had beautiful baskets purchased to take home with us.
A highlight of our visit was interacting with the children. First we stopped at the high school and met the kids and their teachers. After some question and answers, they sang us a song. Responding in kind, we sang one for them, too. We also gave them some school supplies that we brought from home with us. As we left the high school we found ourselves surrounded by kindergarteners. Not at all shy (after meeting a group from the ship last week), they enthusiastically gathered their friends close to be in photos. Then, even more enthusiastically they huddled around whoever had the camera to see themselves in photos. They were all extremely photogenic and sweet.
Before leaving the village we heard from Adults and teenagers who had been involved with a Peruvian nonprofit called Minga Peru. Working first to train women as community promoters and then branching out to help teach communities about fish farms and agroforestry, Minga Peru helps dozens of communities in this region of the Amazon. The speakers were eloquent and knowledgeable. Clearly they had embraced the learning opportunities. Before leaving, the women displayed crafts they had made from local materials: calabash fruit, vines, palm leaves, and wood combine to make beautiful bags, bracelets, baskets, carvings, and wall decorations. Shopping has never been so fun.
This afternoon we once again chose between exploring by skiff and kayaking. Those of us in the kayaks reveled in peacefully drifting downstream. On one level it was relaxingly quiet (no man-made sounds) and on the other level it was impressively alive with sounds. Birds and insects singing, leaves and fruit dropping into the water, and the occasional unidentified crash in the brush.
Finally, after dinner, we had our last activity of the day, a night hike to enjoy the sights and sounds of a world we often don’t enter, the jungle by night. This somehow made us more observant. The little things came to life in our flashlight beams. In just a short walk we found a tree frog, spiders, large insects, and a giant cane toad that looked like it walked off the set of a Harry Potter movie.
