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. --