photos from the Rio negro

snake in the road yesterday

Found a way out...

So I have been basically stuck here in Sao Gabriel since I got back from the Jungle. I thought I had reserved a flight for Sunday but apparently I didn´t do something or they didnt do something... not sure anyway all flights were booked yesterday and tomorrow. Only two flights per week. Also the ´fast boat´to Manaus I just found out  is completely booked tomorrow and the next one is Friday. The fast boat takes  24 hours to get there. I managed to book a  room on the slow boat though So I will arrive in Manaus on Thursday and I have booked a flight from Manaus to Rio later on Thursday... so hopefully I will be in Rio before friends arrive on Friday.

This morning like most mornings here I woke up at dawn with the crowing roosters, I walk down to the river front and practice yoga  then take a bath/ go for a swim in the Rio Negro.  Then I  get breakfast. It has been a really nice ritual for me.This morning however someone stole one of my camera´s. It was  my cheaper camera so I am not nearly as upset by that as by the loss of the pictures on the camera. That is a big loss as the internet points here are so slow I havent been able to back up my photo´s and so they are lost.  Fortunately I have been traveling with 3 different cameras and have been switching out the  SD cards so that if one was lost or stolen I wouldnt have lost everything.  Still a bummer though. I am sure I lost somethings that I would have really like to have.

I wrote a short story  about my friend Aiko falling in love with Jee the Dew hunter I wrote about in my last post. It was kind of a fairy tale as if I were to recount the actual facts it would still sound so incredible as to be hard to be believed.  Aiko  who has literally been traveling for years and has been here for the last going on 3 months  met Jee a couple weeks ago and imediately fell for him. Aiko is a beautiful person who  seems perenially happy and as far as I can tell learns languages by almost never stopping speaking. A quality that is sometimes endearing and sometimes trying.  Jee as you might suppose doesnt speak a lot. Elisandro told me that he was  the best hunter of the Dew people and spoke about him in the most reverential way. I quickly also developed a great respect for him.  Unlike  one might suppose Jee is rather petite. He is probably only slightly  more than 5 feet tall and a bit over 100 lbs.  But his 100 or so pounds  are all muscle.  I would never doubt his strenght. He is also very gentle and very graceful. In short he is the antithesis of the American hunter archetype, nevertheless he walks through the jungle as we would a park or a mall. His is able to find food, track any animal and with virtually nothing build a shelter in the jungle, and do it all with an equanimety that a Buddhist monk could envy.  Aiko make her own clothes out of  remnants she finds so in the middle of the jungle Aiko was wearing a  red  yellow and white flower print dress and when she was fishing with Ing in the dougout canoe she was the vison of a Japanese...hmm Geisha would be the wrong word but classically dressed Japanese woman but in the jungle. Such a juxteposition was truly a sight to see.

Jee is sick now. I think he may have malaria. I am afraid Aiko will also have malaria as she is not taking any medication for malaria and I at least was eaten alive in the jungle by mosquitos and any number of other insects. I would be surprised if I haven´t been exposed. But I am taking medication.. That has given me the most vivid dreams. I have written about some of them but have forgotten many of them as well.

I am also working on another story a longer one about someone trying to flee from the world they came from but who found it hard to actually get away... yes semi-autobiographical but only so far as I am using places I have been and things I have seen a  way to  tell a story. The actual story is made up.

A couple more things I have been thinking about regarding the tribal peoples here. Sao Gabriel is about 90 % indigenous however many of them living here have left the tribes they came from. So there is a stark difference between the tribal people who live in the tribes and  those that have moved to ´the city´. I was asking a bit about this this morning, once people move to the city they quickly apparently loose their identification with the tribe of their origin, with the language, the rituals and the customs, the quickly adopt portugese and   a way of living and life goals and values that I imagine anyone reading here would  also identify with. Even in many of the tribal locations  much is being lost quite quickly including things like traditional games. I asked if there were sports they played but  the people who I asked who have been working with them for over 20 years didn´t know of any. They said there were some games but they are being lost as well.

Last night I saw a movie called Samsara, not the one by the director of Baraka but another, beautifully done film  about a buddhist monk who in his late 20´s after spending 3 years 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days in a cave meditating  gave up being a monk because he had been  in the monestary since he was 5 years old and  had only then become aware that he didn´t understand what he was renouncing.  So he left fell in love, got married had a child and lived as a farmer.  about 2/3 of the way through the  film the farmers are forced to go into town so they go from  the mountains into Ladoc, India and it is only then that we the viewer realize that the time setting is in the present time.  Everything depicted was contemporary but what stood out for me here is the way that the traditional way of living there has maintained itself to a great degree while even in quite remote areas of the Amazon Jungle it is quickly being lost.  I think it has to do with the particular ways that colonialism manifested itself including with evangelical catholic and christian churches. My friend Elisandro said something that Franz Fannon  wrote about in Black Skin White Masks, he said that many of the local tribal people want most of all to be white. Of course this is not so much the color of skin perhaps but the power and privilege associated with it.   Aiko was living in the  house that where I met her. The ower of the house is a tall white Australian man named Alex.  Blond hair blue eyes and by virtue of the fact he owns a hostel in Manaus and  the house in Sao Gabriel his is ´rich´. The down stairs family that rents from him expressed some  disbelief that Aiko would fall in love with Jee from the Dew, they saw her and wanted her to get together with  Alex... why wouldnt she want to they asked?  He is rich he owns the house, he is white... why would she want to be with a man who owned nothing and lived in the jungle?

So I think this the last post I will be able to make until I make it to  Rio on Friday. Best to everyone.
Rob

Inabu Igarape

It has been a week since I have been able to write.  So much has happened. First to address a few comments or emails I have received. I have been writting Rio Negri when it is Rio Negro... thank you for pointing out my error, I think I heard or read or made up that at some point so best corrected. Next some one asked if the machette was for self defense, No.  except possibly from small snakes. If it came to anything else  it would not be a good idea.  The machette was just for hiking through the jungle and building a make-shift lean-to house. Also a couple people asked me a couple different ways about if I took a tour or went to a lodge or how I arranged things. No tours, I stay as far away from them as I possibly can.  Basically I read the Lonely Planet Guide and read where they said  tourists never go alone and rarely in groups and where the places were that were as far into the jungle as I could reasonably get to and back given the time I have.  Sao Gabriel Cocheria  fit all of those as did Pevas.  Next the problem is how to get there, once I figure that out... people must go to a place right? I try if possible to figure out before I get there where I will stay but if I cannot I just go and wing it.  For while I was basically squatting in a place in Sao Gabriel that had a great view, no running water electricity sometimes. Once I get the the place that is as far as I can get I try to meet people who are there who can help me get farther into the jungle. Getting into the jungle is not a simple matter.  It is both largely protected meaning one needs to be invited by the indiginous people or one must have a license to go and then there is the problem of where and how do you enter it.  I met in Sao Gabriel, Aiko who had been living there for the last 2 months. Aiko is Japanese and fortunately for me speaks some English and quite good Spanish as well as is becoming quite proficient with Portugese.  She introduced me to Rosy and her husband Elisandro. They are Brazilian  and do really interesting and important work with the Dew (pronounced DO as in do ra me fa so) people one of about 23 known indigenous peoples in the area.  I have been told there is a caste like system here and the Dew are considered the lowest caste. This means in part, as it has been described to me that they are closest to nature. In fact, Elisandro says that the Dew and the jungle are  one and the same, I hear the hyperbole in this but I also see the truth in it. They do not enter the jungle as I do or as you may rather they are it. Elisandro and Rosy and a true love for these people and I can see why. Jee  who was described to me as the best hunter of the Dew was at Elisandro and Rosy´s home when Aiko and I dropped by last week. Jee said he was going into the jungle and invited us to join him. This is the way I wanted to go into the jungle not  through a tour or a group but with someone whose home it was, so I jumped at the chance. We left in a dougout canoe with a motor on the back and crossed the Rio Negro. Once on the other side we spent the night in the Dew villiage. About 28 houses spread out in the jungle on the edge of the river. I was asked not to take pictures in the village.  The homes were more modern than those I published from Brillo Nuevo. They all had tin roofs and some cement floors and most had  wooden walls.  They fished, hunted, and maintained a small planing area for agriculture. One problem that Elisandro and Rosy told me  they face is that in the presence of government support the people stop thier traditional practices  of  caring for themselves.  Still these people  were quite active hunting and fishing.  Night before I arrived I was told that a jaguar had come into the village and killed two dogs.  Jee went hunting and brought back a paca. It looked like a very large rodent maybe 40 lbs. He killed another in the jungle later.The Dew still maintain traditional birth practices where the mother to-be goes off into the jungle alone or with one or two other women to deliver the baby.  Funeral practices have been altered in the past 20 or so years since the Christianization of the tribe. They now bury the dead in a Christian cemetary in Sao Gabriel.

Before we left Elisandro was careful to tell Aiko and I that there were many very dangers in the jungle, poisonous snakes the pórtugese word for snake is rather unfortunately `cobra`, anacoda, jaguar, scorpions, spiders,  various fish that  are quite large and have  teeth. He warned us to not look around in the jungle as we hiked but to watch exactly where we put our feet because small snakes are often the most poisonous.  With this all in mind we set out.

After a night in the village we set out in a dougout canoe again down river about an hour or two. We entered through a swamp much like the Everglades. Where we eventually  made it to land. From there we hiked several hours into the jungle until we came to  the Inabu Igarape,  a small river,  where we made camp. I brought my tent, and sleeping bag. We all set out immediately to make a fire, a difficult task in the rain forest where everything is very wet, and build a lean to   that Jee, Aiko, Elisandro  Ing and her baby put their  hammocks. I brought a hammock to but it was fortunate I had a tent because the lean to was  barely big enough for everyone else and I lent my hammock to Elisandro when his failed. The  place we camped and the jungle was simply beautiful. we made came on a small hill beside the river bank.  Most of the first day was spend with us doing what was needed to set up camp. Building the Lean to took most of the day.  Jee went fishing and later that night early the next morning he hunted and killed a paca which they ate. I have tried very hard to maintain my vegetarian diet though I have also tried not to  offend anyone. I had a small piece of the paca which was quite good. Hard to describe the taste perhaps pork like?  I brought potatoes and eggs that I boiled.  I was also grateful to find out that Aiko brought ramen noodles.  The water purifiers that I brought all seemed to work quite well. Though I was told the stream was clean and safe to drink from... to be honest though Jee, Elisandro and Ing all drank from it I think they are adapted to the water and  I think it highly likely would have  lead to some kind of problem for me which I was quite happy to avoid. The next day we spent  in the jungle hiking around, first finding worms for fishing, this process was one which as I saw myself doing it I thought ok now this is a bit crazy but there I was hands and kneeds in the swamp pulling back the earth/sand/ mud to reveal quickly moving worms that we grabbed and put in  a bucket to be used later. I realized at this point that any number of animals, snakes etc could be and were likely quite close to us. We found the remenants of a crab that was probably killed by a snake. In our camp we  found two snakes and while fishing Jee  caught a fish that before he could get it in the doughout was swallowed by a poisonous snake which he then killed and we then had snake meat.  I had the opportunity to hike alone for a while in the jungle, walking slowly listening to everything around me which was quite amazing, but probably the most amazing thing the last night in  the jungle I decided to stay up all night and listen to the  jungle noises So I found a rock out cropping that  was marginally safer than other places sat as still as I could and listened to the incredible chorus of the jungle. As night fell the jungle came to life  there were sounds and noises all around me.  The water was filled with splashes and animals in and around it. the frogs and insects were all around so much that it was  as if there was a constantly moving flow of life above below behind and infront of me. And quite softly but audibly I heard something I have never heard before when I did I asked Aiko and Elisandro if they heard it also it was something like a womans voice singing a soft melody. They both heard it as well. It was like a siren´s song.  Perhaps 3 tones the first short moving up to the second for a longer time then down two steps for a shorter time and repeating. This song went on repeating like this for hours. In the middle of the night and in the day other indiginous peoples passed through our camp either walking or up or down the river. The jungle was a busy place filled with life and activity of all sorts.  I swam in the river in the day time but at night I cast my flashlights into the river and saw an amazing amount of fish, snakes? eel? I was told some of the noises I heard were river otter but I didn´t see any. The river otter are called Giant River otter here and they are about 2 meters long and very smart animals.  In the middle of the night Jee decided to go out on the rive to check some places where he had set fish traps,  Aiko convinced him to take her along. This was an amazing experience for me and one that i will long remember. I do have many pictures but that will have to wait until I am in a place where I can upload them. This internet point cannot allow me to do so.

I was hoping and thought I had reservations for a flight from Sao Gabriel today but it looks like that isn´t happening. The next flight I am told Tuesday is completely booked also so my current plan is to take a boat on Tuesday morning to Manaus and try to get a flight from there to Rio De Janiero. The Boat ride from here to Manaus  on the fast boat would be 24 hours on a slow boat would be 3-4 days. Because I want to get to Rio as quickly as possible I will hopefully get a fast boat.  But for today and tomorrow I will spend here in this very pleasent town with my kind friends who are helping me and putting me up as well as putting up with me until then.

Beautiful night under the stars

Last night went out and spent most of the night after the sun set watching the stars and  listening to the sublime chorus of the jungle insects. Hung out with my friend Lucy. If you know her also and what to hear more about her let me know.

Sleeping Beauty

This range of mountains is called Sleeping Beauty.

Today

Today has been really beautiful so far. Woke up with the sounds of the jungle at dawn went to the Rio Negri where I practiced yoga then went swimming bathing in the Negri. I found out the river is black like tea because of specific plants that are common along this part of the river, also making the river rather acidic and decreasing the number of mosquitoes here which I am thankful for. . Went back to theplace I am squatting-- staying and did laundry -- its been a while then went over too Hozi and Lehjandro home where Aiko and I shang out for a while meeting a Do hunter whoextended an invitation to go to the Jungle next week. I am told it may happen or may not but if it does I would likely go next Wednesday for a few nights. I think it would be quite an opportunity if I can go but as with everything else I have some trepidation. I am also trying to learn some Portugese and Hozin and Aiko have been kind enough to help me. Last night I missed the guide who came by the casa while I was out. Perhaps over the weekend I will make a trip with him also but getting the proper permissions to go into indigineous areas is hard to do. Later today Aiko and I may go for a hike and or a swim. Either way a beautiful and easy day just walking around meeting people spending long times sitting listening and speaking when I can understand.

ants for brunch

When two rules come into conflict...don't be rude v/s vegetarianism then what?... Looks like its ants for brunch.

Rio Negri. from the bow of the fast boat

Stage-diving the Amazon

So I left Manaus Tuesday taking a fast boat up the Rio Negri. The was the best boat ride so far despite the length of time. Over 24 Hours. What made it best was that though the bow was very small they made no restrictions on riding on the front of the boat. So I spent as much time as I could on the bow. Which made for an amazinly beautiful ride up. At night for part of the night I slept on deck until I was too cold to stay out there. I saw the stars come out on a moonless (early part of the) night. Many bats a few dolphin and many birds and almost endless river, archipelegos, and jungle. I speak no Portugese, though I try, and people are so generous with my attempts. I arrived after a long and tiring trip to Sao Gabriel, knowing no one in this small community, all i have is the name of a hostel that turns out to be an old French colonial house. This is one that the lonely planet got wrong. The place is very very rough. There is no one there managing it I spoke with the owner who is in Manaus and is coming friday by Slow boat (3 day trip) he mentioned that it needed some work and that there was a Japanese woman who has been staying there. So I arrive shortly before dark Aiko says she has been staying there for a couple months... since may she speaks pretty good Portugese, I think, I am learning Portugese with a Japanese accent I think. She also speaks some Spanish and some English. She has been traveling it sounds like for the last 3 years. She says she travels slowly... my room is fine clean though there is not really any water, warm or cold and the water that seems available is a rusty color that I think I will refrain from bathing in, or washing my clothes in. But I found a mercado where I could by a large container of water 5 gallons or so. and where I could by some staples and we do have electricity most of the time. Aiko introduced me to two wonderful people a woman who is a missionary and a member of the Do tribe and her husband a Brasilado who is ajournalist. Apparently access to indigenous land here is highly controlled. But this morning fortune struck again as Aiko and I were out for a walk we met a chief (Luciem) of one of the Yanomami tribal groups I also met another man who speaks english and I think is a member of the Do tribe who has been a tour guide for the last 35 years he says he is the eldest tour guide around. We also found the office where I would make a request to go into indiginous land and so things seems to be falling into place. If this does work out it could be that I would go with the Chief 5 days down river then in land by peck-peck boat. Sao Gabriel is about 90 % indigenious and the tribal peoples come in frequently to trade and get supplies. Aiko´s friends Hozen and her husband were celebrating their anniversary so I made potato salad and we all sat and talked. Hozen made a great lasagna and salad and we bought flan to bring also. Lunch was great and it is really amazing how much can be communicated between people who are speaking Spanish, Portugese, English, Do, and Japanese. Oh earlier in the day at the market I met two women one who works for the group that helps people like me get permissions to travel inland and she brought me some ... ants to eat. ... yes I ate ants...(natalie if you are reading this I have a picture for you). I also tried some incredible Acai drink and a fruit bread that was well I am not accustomed to it , nome caije bein, also shamen here in the Yanomami and the do are called Pajé, there are 23 differet nations tribes in this region. the do are of particualr interest as thier numbers were in steep decline at one point they had as few as 63 people but now they are at 130. I am just amazed at how gracious open inviting and how possible everything is as long as I continue to say yes to the things that are offered to me... including, ants... which by the way didnt taste that bad. as Aiko said, Kinda minty eh... I wish I could figure out how to use the question mark on this key board. So phone and internet and electricity and water are all haphazard so I will try again as soon as I can to update...

Sao Gabriel Cocheria

Map

Sao Gabriel Cocheria

Manaus

Heading to Sao Gabriel Coheria

I am getting ready to catch a boat north up the River Negri. I do not know when I will be able to post again.

Anaconda Dance of the Okina People Pevas, Peru

I was very privileged to be able to see and record this dance. They wanted very much to share it and it is in that spirit that I am doing so with readers of this Blog.

The miracle is not to walk on water...

¨The miracle is not to walk on water it is to walk on the green earth dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive¨ Thich Nhat Hahn Today was a challenge for me. I came to Manaus because I had to in a certain way. There was no other way to get to Sao Gabriel Coheria except by going through Manaus. Manaus a city of 1-2 million people big gritty with all the constant comforts and distractions of modernity everything that made it hard to be present everything I think I was trying to get away from. Higher speed internet, though not high enough that it isn´t still frustrating but high enough so that it grabs me and pulls me in. My phone works, inconsistently here, and today i had to fight with Bank of America to turn my card and access to money back on. I told them I was coming to Brazil but I guess they failed to note that so to protect me they left me in a rough city in the Amazon with no access to money. A place where no one takes credit cards. Thanks B of A for having my back and wasting half the day talking to your reps. The miracle is not to walk on water it is to walk on the green earth dwelling deeply in the present... I gotta get out of this place. So once the B of A problem was resolved I decided to try to get a fast boat out of dodge, or Manaus, I could only get myself in trouble here. I could stick around til friday. I met Alex the Australian Owner of the Hostel and one in Sao gabriel he is taking a slow boat up on Friday a three day trip. I think I´d like to get there a bit sooner and take a slow boat back down the river If I time it right maybe I´ll hit the new moon and have a dark dark sky to sit and watch the southern stars at night. So right now I am scheduled for a fast boat to Sao gabriel leaving at 3 pm tomorrow. enough time to do some food shopping and prep in the morning but not enough time to get me in any trouble. I have been thinking quite a bit about the nature of the self about who I am why I do the things I do why I am the person I am what can change how if what cannot; I have also been thinking of my shadow side as Jung wold call it. the part of me that is drawn to the darkness. Its funny I am beginning to realize the darkness isn´t where I would once have thought it was and the light isn´t where I once would have thought it was. Tonight I sat in a pizza place bright lights, bad food, a very sterile, corporitized space. You know them I am sure. every mall and fast food joint. Monsanto and GMO friendly exploited worker place. You know those family friendly places that serve nothing of nutritional value while blasting a television that is designed to distract, the sort of thing that causes brain clouds. I am thinking now of Pevas and Brilla Nuevo even of the chaos of Tabitanga and Leticia, I am thinking of Thoreau´s fantasy of Walden, and Grizzly Adams when I was a child. Some how the places that seemed to hold the unknown that seemed dark and scary perhaps like the Jungle now seem to be places that are easier to find quiet to know where I am and maybe who I am. The thoughts seem kind of cloudy still perhaps when the mud settles I will be clearer. Please forgive the corniness of this quite by Thoreau but it is where I am at right now... ¨I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts out of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when it came time to die discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was nt life. living is so dear, nor did I wish to practice resignation unless it was quite necessary> i wanted to life life deeply and so sturdy as to put a rout to all that was not life. To cut a broad swath and shave close, to reduce it to its lowest terms and if it prove to be mean why then get the whole and genuine meanness out of it and publish it to the world or if it were sublime to know it by experience and to be able to give a fukk and true account of it in my next excursion.¨ Henry David Thoreau And I will leave you one from the dark,"I caught the darkness drinking from your cup, I said, ´is this contagious?´ You said, ´drink it up´¨

Pictures Brilla Nuevo unedited

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Yesterday

I woke up in Leticia Columbia, did yoga, walked to the airport to exit Columbia, went to breakfast, went for a swim, packed my gear and headed to brazil. Bought a ticket to Manaus and started trying to review Portugese. I flew to Manuas in the center of the BRazilian Amazon at the place where the Rio negri and the Amazon come together. And I was fortunate that the hostel I wanted to stay in had availibility... though it was in a dorm room which though my room mates are fine is always a bit harder, coming in late trying not to bother people etc. But I am so thrilled this place has interenet and it is reletively fast. So Later today tho owner is coming in and I will then see about the possibilty of heading to Sao Gabriel... BUt for now Im gonna look for breakfast.maybe yoga. the last posted pictures were from top to bottom a market in Leticia Columbia, a Peruvian villiage on the Amazon Indigineous, 3 pics of Pevas, Peru, please note how clean and beautiful the place is and no cars, the last pic was me in Iquitos with an Ocelot that was amazingly friendly but wanted to attack my hat... and I wasn~t allergic at all. weird.

Selection of pics From Pevas, along the Amazon, and me holding an Ocelot that decided to attack my hat

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the triple frontier. Columbia Peru brazil

Market in Leticia

Views of Pevas, Peru

¨A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on his destination¨ Lao Tzu

It has been hot today. I went to get my entrance to Columbia stamp then went to Tabatinga, Brasil to try to get the layout of the land and find out wht was possible... it was a bit more difficult than I thought. I am trying to ge to a quite out of the way place in the nothern part of the Amazon. It seems that one way to get there would be to rent a small plane but that would be almost 2 K and that is just too much. Apparently there are scheduled flights there but only once a week and that would be tomorrow but I would need to be in a city called Manaus about 1800 kilometers from here and I could have flown there but I didnt have enough cash on me and they wont take visa and the nearest bank wouldnt take my bank card and did I mention its really hot out? so back to the hotel went for a swim to rest and cool off in the hotest part of the day before I realized ahh go straight to the airport and buy your ticket for tomorrow to make sure you get out of here. So off the the airport I went, must come back tomorrow. after exiting columbia and officially entering brazil. then to the airport to take a flight to Manaus where I have sent a request for a room in a hostel. Hopefully I get that one because they actually might be helpful getting to the place in Sao Gabriel that I really want to get to. So If my plan works out... BIG IF... tomorrow I leave Columbia, enter Brazil officially then buy a ticket to Manaus get to the hostel there and find out there is another way to Sao Gabriel...IF I manage to do that my plan will be to take a river boat back down the Rio Negri and eventually fly to Rio... We will see. Fortunately if this doesnt work and I am in Manaus that is a pretty central place to go elsewhere. A good traveler... My patience with the internet and how slow it is just about everywhere is another matter however. So just to fill in some details I was in Pevas a couple days ago. I left on what was called a fast boat which really was pretty fast we went down the Amazon from Pevas, Peru to the trifrontier boarder got off in Peru went to Columbia, Leticia where I ran into a teacher from the Boston area she had a hotel in Leticia and I read that Leticia was more of a city than Tabatinga and so decided to see if there was a room a the same hotel. the Hotel San Helena. There was so there I stayed. The room is decent the pool is nice. The room has airconditioning... the first time on this trip a nice break but I found mysel getting too cold not used to a/c. We went to diner and walked around a bit last night she was off first thing today to northern Columbia. Leticia is the most middle class place I have been so far on this trip and it is an interesting contrast with Tabatinga that is quite a bit more raw. I really like these border towns. Here with Peru/Brazil/ Columbia beside eachother one can literally wander between places without being checked. For those of you who watch Firefly think of those border worlds where the regulations are kinda there but quite loose or those of you who know Star wars think of tatoee where they meet Han Solo Iquitos and this border town remind me of those places while Pevas is a beautiful little village lost in the middñe of the Amazon. For this in one respect I really did think of the Shire from Lord of the rings, a place where everyone is happy and doing the things that make up life. I could really be happy in a place like that far far away from the Alliance of Fire Fly but where every now and then I could get to those boarder places where the chaos meets the order and the chaos is still dominant. Iquiotos (and Pevas) are both places where indigineous people literally row in on their dugout canoes from time to time to trade or get supplies where they are as or more familiar a sight as a gringo like me. I still want to write more about the Kuraka and the social/relationship life he embodied. I dont think I could do it justice just now but I will try soon. But I think its time to find a bar with some rum, tequilla or at least beer. What do you think? Oh for those of you who made requests re visiting the tibal people I did make some headway on that. I have some recordings of the anaconda dance of the Okina tribe and I have some pictures where I tried to focus on the design element of their Maloca big house and thier tribal symbol. There wasnt much in the way of art ir artifacts. I did try some fermented yucca and a mildly sweet thick syrup that they said was non fermented yucca and was medicinally used to clean the kidneys. So If I do not get to go as far north as I would like to meet the Yanomami people I will have a few other options and I am thinking about soliciting crowd sourced opinion of which I should do. One would involve going to a place called Santerem on the Amazon and taking a slow boat to Beleum where I would then head to the jungle again. another would from manaus back track to Tefe try to get to a protected part of the amazon. Another would be to head up the Rio Negri and do the same via slow boat and probably return to Manus before heading to Rio. Input is gladly welcomed!

Today has been another day wasting time at a very slow internet shop. I am in Leticia Columbia trying to plan my next steps. I am hoping to head to Northern Brazil to Sao Gabriel da Cachoeir to see if I can hike into the Jungle there and find the Yanomami. then hopefully head down the Rio Negri back to the Rio Amazon in Manaus but how to get to Sao Gabriel is where I am right now. and dealing with immigraion as it is the weekend.

Swimming with Pirhania

The world is upside down. The sun beneath my feet. I stand held up by love "Venus," the red planet "Mars," and the gas giant while death "Pluto" shines brightly at my zenith. The crux has become the signpost, the way to move forward. The last several nights I have slept with Isabelle Allendeby my side as I spent the last few days learning how to walk falling more than standing with the creapes and bruises to show for it. I left for the Amazon hearing cautions from friends and loved ones and from guidebooks that tell of the many dangers from being robbed or eaten by some wild animals bitten by snakes or strangled by giant anaconda or killed on the river by pirates. While I have no doubt that people here have at times died from all of these things at one point or another what I have found has been the complete opposite. the only thing that nhas come close to injuring mehas been the many falls down slippery slopes or steps or once while in an indigineous village while using the bano I stepped on a rotted floor way that gave way under my weight causing me to fall half way through the floor of the home. Ihave eaten food where ever it was offered and drank juce and fermented drinks when offered. I make a point not to refuse anything offered except for standing water, though I may only take a small amount cognizant that the microbes my body are used to are not the same as those whose world I am entering.I have made aquaintances and friends wverywhere withought dificulty and no one has been in the slightest way rude or threatening. Quite the contrary. IN the villiages everyone knows everyone. I have not for a moment felt unsafe. Indeed I feel far ,more safe most of the time here than I do in my home town of New Haven. The subtle compleity of people's relationships have been brought into stark resolution for me here. In the Bora Village, Brilla Nuevo the Kuraka *phonetica spelling( is one might call the chief . He is also a sort of curandero or shaman though there is another person who travels from village to villiage who is the area curandero, I was unable to meet hi as he was away. hte Native healers the curandero use the plants and the forest to bring about remedies for illnesses. More on the Karaca later... A few days ago my host took me and her three young children for a swim in the Ampanyacu river, a tributary to the Amazon. The river, as all the rivers in the area are brown with the tremendous amount of sediment being carried down the river. I asked as we got to the river, "hay no Pirhania, no crocodrillo?" she replied no there were none so I jumped in. the current was strong and I had to keep swimming to stay in place . She joined me and her girls 5, 6, and 8 along with a group of other children played in dugout canoes paddling around. We swam a while then got in dugouts ourselves and paddled across the river. My canoe was taking on water until I finally with one fell swoop sunk it. almost immediately I took hers along with mine and we were both in the Ampanyagu again. as we righted ourselves and got back to the otherside a couple teenage boys in dugouts came by with plastic buckets they had been useing to catch fish. I looked in the bucket with Magaly who laughed. She pointed to the bucket and the pirhania inside. "You knew there were pirhania here didnt you?" "Yes"she said, but if I told you you would not have swam in the river." "Are there crocodiles also?"I repeated... she started to say no but I could see written all over her face that she was lying again and I pointed that out and we both laughed. She said they do not come out except at night they sleep in the day. Later that day we hiked into the jungle to an Okina villiage not far away. The Okina were once hunter gathers but had fled from Columbia along with many of the Bora, the Huitoto and the Yagwas because of narco trafficing coming south crossing the Putamayo river now residing between the Amazon and the Putamayo where they all do a combination of agriculture, fishing and hunting gathering. they still reside in the Maloco big houses. When I arrived they were in traditional clothing though they often wear western attire today. They were cheerful people very happy to see me. Magaly is a member of the Bora community but she doesn't reside with them any longer. I happened to have made potato salad that morning so when I met them I was able to offer them a cultural exchange of sorts. We all sat down and I opened my pot and offered it to them. We ate it together and they seemed to both enjoy it and be grateful that I brought it. In exchange they offered me some yucca bread and fresh fresh pinapple. They also asked me if I wished to see some of their traditional dances. I was embarassed at the idea at first but my host let me know that it was something they took pride in and really wanted to share so I gratefully accepted. I have a short video of the anaconda dance that I will post when i am able to do so. The next day I left with a doctor and a student social worker to head up the Ampayacu river and onto the yawayaku river where we went to a bora village of about 300 people. ... I will continue this as soon as I can but my time on the internet is done for the day. --

Made it to the boat to Pevas. Leaving soon I think.

Machete - check Fishing hooks and line... For gifts... Check

addendum

So 2 days ago I went by boat to a nearby "pueblo" whereabout 2000 people dressed in indigenous clothingwho care to live or at least hang out in a big house we're waiting. This was a troubling and disconcerting experience it was artifice in the most colonialistic fashion. Like Disney on a bad trip with indentured servants. These people were called Bora and there is a YouTube video of them. If you search this. The place I plan to head tomorrow is about 8 hours by speed boat down the amazon then another day up a second river North.

The Bora people

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bora_people

Help...crowd sourcing ideas

 I'm about to head into the jungle. Yesterday fortuitously I met a journalist who has hone quite far into the jungle in the past met with people who have seen few white people at all.  He gave me instruction how to get there  proceed etc. If you were going to be in a place like that is there anything you can think of that you would want to know try to ask or bring back samples of? Of course im interested in ethnobotany especially for mental illness. The people are the Bora I think...any thoughts?

so what I know so far is a saturday morning I should be catching a boat I will take me from the Iquitos to Pevas. In Pevas I will need to change boats to go inland and up river called ( Amayacu) on the north side of the amazon until the river splits there 8 hours or so later I should come across the Bora people the leader' role is called a kuraka (phonetic spelling) he hold the title as he is the best hunter and has 3 or 4 wives he is also the curandero. Tomorrow I will meet with the journalist  get more details then go shopping for gifts fro the tribe. He suggested fishing hooks and line. And looks like I'll need a machete. If I do this my original plan of making it the length of the amazon might not happen. But this sounds much more interesting. More soon.

So I just had a an really amazing and fortuitous experience...  Just met a man... Who I will speak about more later who is a journalist who has spent a great deal if time in the farther reaches of the amazon. I told him that I was going to pevas he told me how to go much farther into the jungle to meet people who rarely ever meet gringos.  .... Things are gonna get really interesting I think.

So I just had a an really amazing and fortuitous experience...  Just met a man... Who I will speak about more later who is a journalist who has spent a great deal if time in the farther reaches of the amazon. I told him that I was going to pevas he told me how to go much farther into the jungle to meet people who rarely ever meet gringos.  .... Things are gonna get really interesting I think.

today I look for a boat to Pevas

today I look for a boat maybe tomorrow I leave for a place called pevas. The oldest settlement in the amazon. About 5000 people I think.

gear for this trip

the following is a fairly complete list of the equipment & gear that I have on this trip if you people have asked what do you need to carry for a trip like this:

medical supplies:

Meflorquin - malaria

Cipro

Metrodiazole

Lamicil anti fungal topical

Clindamycin

Bactrim

Tylenol

Ibuprofen

Epinephrine pens

Benadryl

Hybiscus clense

Iodine

Sterile suture kit x2

Scalple 

Vita electrolyte replacement x3

Stapler (skin)

Medical tape x3 cloth and paper

Deet 

Medical book for Rx of antibiotics

Water purification systems

Primary steri pen with solar charger

2 Charcol filtration system

3 life straw

4 iodine tablets

Kleen kanteen

Tools:

Leather man

SOG bowie knife

Small pocket lock blade knife

Waterproof containers x2

Pot for boiling water

Stove mini

Plastic utensils

 Metal cup

Compass

Led flashlight

Solar/ hand cranked/ flashlight radio

Flint and striker

Maps

Lonely planet Guidebooks

Tooth brush paste razor

Passport visas

Local currency soles/ reals

20 cliff bars

2 moleskin large 3 pocket size

Pensil pens colored watercolor pensils

Electricity:

Portable solar panels

Plug in rechargeable batteries

Voltage converter and adapters

Cameras:

Cannon power shot with polarized lenses

Nikon cool pix back up and for seriptitious shooting

Nexus 4 cell phone t mobile international plan unlimited data and unlimited texting

Primary wallet metal to protect from card readers

Secondary walkers with expired id's

Clothing:

2pair shorts with pockets sewn inside

Belt with area for money

Two shirts 2 t shirts

One leather hat all weather

One straw hat sun

One cloth hat cold

Emergency poncho, blanket

Tent  sleeping bag hamock

Pad locks

Portuguese c language books

Ear for lugs eye mask 

1 pair jeans

1 hiking boots

1 hiking sandles

1 large back pack

1 day pack.

Rio Amazon

Jaguar that was rescued from a market

 Rare monkey very friendly

Yes this was one of my biggest fears cone true on this trip. This is a larvae / grub/ that is eaten various ways and also used by shamen medicinally for I believe bronchial spasms, asthma? Not sure exactly as the entire discussion was in Spanish and I was fighting nausea. It was very alive and squirming/ pulsating. 

"Thought is a tool, not for communication but so you can build in a  specific manner your relationship to the world." P. 18 The psychotropic mind: the world according to ayahuasca, iboga, and shamanism. Nearby,kounen, ravalee.

"Unless we loose ourselves there's no hope of finding ourselves." Henry Miller

the cock crows waking meshortly before dawn the sky brightening out of my window as conscious comes to me I'm able to see again why I came this way I came to the jungle and to the river it wasn't so much to see Macchu Pichu or even to climb mountains though perhaps best part of my trip so far it wasn't to keep a blog incessantly downloading everything I just experienced.

 I turn my phone off last night to get away from the same noise and confusion that came through as ever before a friend of mine saying hurtful and hateful things blaming me for things I have or have not done that were or were not as significant she says. another friend is lost in the drama of her life.

the sky in front of me is filled with condors or big Hawks or were they bats large black bats that are flying from the Rising Sun like a herd of black antelope in the sky they fly like bats not with the slow calm strokes of birds sharp quick sharp flutters of bats.

 I haven't been so present since I have been here I wasn't present before I left.

last night I watched  Werner Herzog's film Fitzcarlado. I think I know what is the troubling me the past few days I think I was constantly pulled from being present cobstantly pulled into being somewhere besides where I am and when I spend time with people who are like that it makes me very uncentered and unhappy.  dawn has come in I am sitting at a desk by the window watching bats over the city i hear the sounds of the city. I hear the chirp of insects  I hear the crow of a cock I smell the diesel air I see red flowers still more red than the red brick red a clay tile roof I see the blue sky and the white clouds I hear the whine of some alarm somewhere and yellow flowers and white flowers mahogany floors blue walls I slept with the windows wide open screens covering them I took my malaria medicine again last night my dreams were vivid but I do not recall them I seem to have awakened in a rather odd and beautiful world there seems to be a rather large tree house on the other side of the pool surrounded by a flowering trees and huts and very few people today I will go into iquitos I need to find a post office to see if I can send some stuff back home I need to find some tinactint in case I have fungal infections I need to explore the city find some maps off a iquitos and if possible the Amazon I think in a day or two I will catch a boat 2 a pkace called pevas very few people this is a small town on the Amazon RiverI'm fairly confident that once there I will not have access to telephones or computers or most of the things of the world maybe then I can find somewhere I can  be present.

Though from what I see so far I really like Iquitos.