Arútam, the Shuar tribe and Baños!

Next stop – the amazon jungle! On the 22^nd of Feb I arrived in Arútam, where I would live and volunteer for the next two weeks with the Shuar tribe. The first couple of day it was very hard to adapt to the ways of Arútam and the tribe! We went to the mother’s house at night and watched and participated in their traditional dances. The men’s dance is fun and very varied whereas the women’s dance is very repetitive – you fold your hands on your stomach, look down into the floor, and then jump from side to side. The reason that you look down is because in the Shuar tribe eye contact means “let’s go into the forest”, if you know what I mean ;)! We did different kinds of work in the first week, we made tracks in the jungle with the machete, planted different medical plants, went into the jungle and planted banana palms, or should I say plantain! One of the “fruits” I came to dislike very strongly! All we ate in Arútam was plantain and yucca in all forms fried, boiled, mashed up… and at very rare times we would get some pasta or popcorn! So when the weekend came we all went into Baños, 3 hours away, and rushed to a place to eat! We, Angélique, Chad, Helen, Katie and I, went out for a killer dinner and very satisfied I went to bed! We woke up at 5am the next morning and went to the host springs, one bath was ice cold, one comfortable warm and one boiling hot!!! We tried the boiling one but in fear of burning our skin we went over to the comfortable hot one and watched the “sunrise” we couldn’t really see the sun, but we saw the sky change color and the mountains silhouettes as the sky became lighter!! We walked around town and saw the town awake! We went over to the Cathedral and lit a candle! We went back to the hostel and had absolutely amazing breakfasts! Then Angélique, Chad and I set out to “swing jump”, we arrived at the bridge where you jump off, I thinking I would be all cool since I already tried bungee jumping… but no! This was completely insane! What we were about to do didn’t look safe at all!  We got onto the bridge and all got geared up! Chad went first, and since he didn’t die we decided that it was okay to do it! Angélique went next.. standing on the little piece of wood going out from the bridge contemplating for a long time until the guy started countdown and “helped” her to jump! Way to fast I found myself standing on the little piece of wood, on the side of a bridge looking down about 200m, even though the free fall I was about to make was only 42m it seemed absolutely crazy to jump into a 200m drop! With the mountains in front and the river down below I gathered all my courage and jumped as far as I could, I watched as the river came closer and then I felt a the robe tighten around my shoulders and thighs and then I swung back and forth under the bridge… once on the ground I was so happy to be alive that I started running up the path to the others!!! Angélique and I went to the market and got some empanadas and smoothies and looked around in the market! We left Baños in the evening and began what turned out to be a looooong and wet journey back to Arútam!  On Tuesday morning we went to the waterfall near Arútam , we cleared up an area with a machete and build a little fireplace/kitchen! In the afternoon we went through the jungle and got into a little valley where there was a beautiful waterfall, we all bathed in the waterfall and then the rain came, very very very hard! You have never experienced rain until you are in the rainforest! We came back to the little hut, all soaked! We pealed plantain and that night I ate a whole fish – seriously! A whole fish, with everything! We slept on the floor, wok up the next morning, went back to Arútam and did some Yoga!!