Iirshim - the deep jungle!!!!!

After being in Arútam for a week and a half i felt ready to take on a bigger challenge and so Thursday morning Chad and I started the 10 km hike into the concrete jungle to Iirshirm, no electricity no nothing. Slowly the mud began, the famous mud that everyone who goes to Iirshirm talks about and it wasnt long before we were in mud to our knees, this made the long hike through the jungle paths much harder because the mud stuck to our boots and made them very heavy. We walked and walked and then Gonzales began calling the “owl call” – they call out in the sound of an owl scream when they are approaching another family´s territory and then wait for a similar response to know that they are welcome to enter the area – after about an hour of fast and intesnse walking up and down and some falling and sliding in the mud an “aoooouuuuuuaaa” broke the silence and we were close!!! All of a sudden we came into this little clearing in the middle of the jungle with three small huts/houses! Jorge, the one in charge, greated us with a very big fur hat placed on his head and dressed in a skirt! We were showed to our bamboo hut and to our very “luxurious” wooden beds! After making ourselfs comfortable we went over and joined Jorge and his family for lunch. After lunch Jorge took us out in the jungle and told us about the spirits of the forest and the plants, he showed us the plants used for medicin, explained which plants were good for what and made us taste some different leaves and some bark from a tree. We got to a huge drop in the ground and Jorge fetched a vine from one of the towering trees nearby and swung across the drop, he threw the vine back over and said now you go, i grabbed the vine with both hands and then i swung! Like Tarzan! Haha… We got to a huge opening where we could see the view over the jungle, here Jorge sat down and told me how he had comunitcated with the forest and asked it for an opening like this so he could show the jungle to the volunteers and the forest understood and was willing to grant him his wish and so the next night there was a big thunderstorm and a huge tree fell and created the opening! We walked on and got to a big waterfal, we were on the top of the waterfall looking down, Jorge tied a robe to a tilted  tree and then another robe to the first one and then he tied the very end around my stomach, and like this Jorge was going to repell me down the waterfall. I repelled down the waterfall got absolutely soaked but it was so incredible!!! On the way home from the walk we collected some small red fruits that we were gonna make chicha out of and Jorge cut out “the heart of palm”, it is a very delicious food that is found in the very top of a palm tree, so they cut down the tree and then cut out all the layers until they get into the core – the heart of palm! We went back to the house, changed into something dry and went over to the eating area and started peeling the little red fruits, we peeled and the 8 year old girl chewed the fruit and then spat it into a bowl. We had dinner in a circle on the bamboo floor and Jorge gave me my Shuar name and told the story behind it, my name is Suwa, one day a Shuar man opened one of the red fruits used for face paint and as he opened the fruit a woman came out of it, she stayed with the Shuars and taught them about the fish in the river and how to catch them and eat them, then one day two men chased her wanting to kill her and she ran while she thought about what she wanted to become when she transformed, and when they caught her and killed her she transformed into a colorful bird!

We woke up the next morning ate breakfast and started work at 8 am, we went into the jungle cut down these massive bamboo trees, chopped them into smaller pieces (3m) and then carried them to a more leveled place, still in the jungle, then we cut them down  along the side so it eventually became a piece that could be used for a surface! It took ALOT of strenght and while i struggled with my first piece Jorge had already finished 4!!! Then we rolled them up and tied them with vines and carried them back through the muddy paths in the jungle, crossing rivers with these 20 kg bamboo pieces over our shoulders! We carried them to the house, and then back in to get another piece, this we did 3 times, completely exhausted after 3-4 hours of really hard work Jorge said “15 min rest”……arrrghhh i lied down the entire 15 min and then went over to the bamboo floor and here we started the making of a table! We worked until lunch and picked up were we left off after lunch and at 5-6pm our table stood done infront of us! It felt awesome to actually finish a project and we were very proud to have made this table with our hands and a few tools such as a machete! After work we went down to the river, a huge green river! We went in the river, where the deadly anaconda lives, and i was clean for the time being! That night the sky cleared up and we got to see the purple flash, where everything turns purple and then in a split second everything is pitch black! We went over and had dinner with teh family, Jorge played his guitar, his flute and his violin – all so terribly out of tune!!! – and then he began to sing songs of old legends and the girls dressed in blue dresses danced! We danced with them. We drank the chicha, which is made by the women – it is made from yucca most of the times, the yucca is chewed by the women and they spit it into a bowl and then it is boiled for a couple of days and then what you drink is the yucca mixed with the womens spit, it tastes very sour and it is not very delicious! But an experience nontheless!! The next morning before leaving to go back to arutam Jorge gave us a bracelet each that he had made from materials collected in the jungle, mine has a beautiful red sead on it, then he painted our faces and we played games! Blowing the blowgun with the poison darts, throwing the wooden speers and a game involving a speer and a sheild and then hitting the other persons sheild with the back of your speer while going around in circles! We said our goodbyes and Jorge took us down to Arútam, where i was so happy to have rice and lenses for lunch!!! I have to admit I am going to miss Jorge, his face when he is confused, his very out of tune violin and attempt at high pitch singing very very very much!