Not going to lie, I didn't plan on doing much today but work on data sheets at the station and help prepare before the Manchester group arrives tomorrow. But as we were gorging ourselves on Jane's wonderful arepa creations that she was making for breakfast (basically fried dough; we've been trying to master them and keep coming up with very different versions-all wonderful though!), multiple canoes with multiple people just kept arriving at the station. One of them was Ernesto with goodbye gifts for Gabe and the other was Claudio here to talk to us about our project. Things happen both quickly and slowly here in Payamino. It takes forever to get some things arranged, but for days like today, you have to be ready to pack up and leave whenever.
Claudio asked us if we wanted to work with Murieldo (a shaman here in Payamino) today, like right then as we were eating breakfast. We jumped at the chance because we'd been having trouble arranging a day with him. We cleaned up, got ready, and were on our way upriver to his house.
When we arrived, Murieldo wasn't there (a huge downside to just picking up and going to someone's house to work with them). BUT there was a parrot! We got to hold the parrot and we got a lot of pictures (to be posted later)!! We decided we would try the house next door to see if he was there and to no avail, he wasn't.
BUT his wife was. Along with a baby monkey that they keep in a basket at their house--so cute! And Claudio convinced her to take us through the forest and show us the plants that she personally knows. This was really awesome for us because one of our goals here was to work with more women and see what they know. Today was not a failure after all! We collected about 12 plants, no too many, but we were still able to collect some new specimen.
When we returned, Murieldo was there. We thought we were going to go out with him as well, but instead we plan to work with him tomorrow. Before we set off, his wife offered us chicha.
For those that don't know, chicha is a fermented drink that is normally made with yucca here. Today, the chicha was made out of fermented banana, yucca, and a fruit that they called maduro (which means ripe, but I believe that they call the actual fruit that). It was much better/sweeter than the chicha we are normally offered. I do like chicha, just in very small amounts. You see, it's quite chunky and the women strain the chunks out with their hand before serving it to you. They drink chicha like we drink water since it isn't always healthy to drink the river water straight. And when you are offered chicha, you are expected to finish the entire bowl. Normally I just share mine with Jane.
When we got back to the station, we put the plants we collected with Lucio the other day into the alcohol to preserve until we can mail them out. Then we pressed our new plants from today.
After all this, I took about an hour to do a couple days worth of laundry--we do that by hand here and there is a wash basin or you can use the river, it's the same water. I guess when Jane was doing her laundry she saw two toucans! It has been my goal this entire time to see one and everyone else seems to see them but me! I've got my eyes peeled from now on now that I know where to look!
We hope tomorrow to collect more plant knowledge and are excited to be working with yet another guide before our time ends here in Payamino.
As always: comment and share!
P.S. I'm eating a papaya that was growing in our front yard as I write this #junglelife
Claudio asked us if we wanted to work with Murieldo (a shaman here in Payamino) today, like right then as we were eating breakfast. We jumped at the chance because we'd been having trouble arranging a day with him. We cleaned up, got ready, and were on our way upriver to his house.
When we arrived, Murieldo wasn't there (a huge downside to just picking up and going to someone's house to work with them). BUT there was a parrot! We got to hold the parrot and we got a lot of pictures (to be posted later)!! We decided we would try the house next door to see if he was there and to no avail, he wasn't.
BUT his wife was. Along with a baby monkey that they keep in a basket at their house--so cute! And Claudio convinced her to take us through the forest and show us the plants that she personally knows. This was really awesome for us because one of our goals here was to work with more women and see what they know. Today was not a failure after all! We collected about 12 plants, no too many, but we were still able to collect some new specimen.
When we returned, Murieldo was there. We thought we were going to go out with him as well, but instead we plan to work with him tomorrow. Before we set off, his wife offered us chicha.
For those that don't know, chicha is a fermented drink that is normally made with yucca here. Today, the chicha was made out of fermented banana, yucca, and a fruit that they called maduro (which means ripe, but I believe that they call the actual fruit that). It was much better/sweeter than the chicha we are normally offered. I do like chicha, just in very small amounts. You see, it's quite chunky and the women strain the chunks out with their hand before serving it to you. They drink chicha like we drink water since it isn't always healthy to drink the river water straight. And when you are offered chicha, you are expected to finish the entire bowl. Normally I just share mine with Jane.
When we got back to the station, we put the plants we collected with Lucio the other day into the alcohol to preserve until we can mail them out. Then we pressed our new plants from today.
After all this, I took about an hour to do a couple days worth of laundry--we do that by hand here and there is a wash basin or you can use the river, it's the same water. I guess when Jane was doing her laundry she saw two toucans! It has been my goal this entire time to see one and everyone else seems to see them but me! I've got my eyes peeled from now on now that I know where to look!
We hope tomorrow to collect more plant knowledge and are excited to be working with yet another guide before our time ends here in Payamino.
As always: comment and share!
P.S. I'm eating a papaya that was growing in our front yard as I write this #junglelife
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