They Don't Call It the Rain Forest for Nothing

I’m not sure if anyone has heard of HelpX but it is basically a website that is a hub for finding places to volunteer across the world. Usually, in return for working around 4 hours a week, 5 days a week, you get a free place to stay and free meals. Finding a place was tricky because we had to find something on our way back up to Colombia and a place that would host us for a shorter amount of time – most places want you to work for at least 2 weeks.

We found a family farm, in the Amazon Rainforest, 40 minutes outside of Tena. To get there, we had to either take a bus or a taxi to Shandia (the closest village) and from there, we walked along a small path next to the river for 15 minutes to arrive to the home. The river we walk along is water from Cotopaxi, the volcano we climbed and mountain biked down.

The river flooded from all the rain we had so the walk back at the end of the week was a little more adventurous 

Living in the jungle means no running water or electricity or indoor plumbing but I never missed any of that (except maybe indoor plumbing). The structure itself was amazing. It was like living in a big jungle treehouse. 

A mini garden

Ohafa loved the idea that this was a home without walls because walls aren't needed when you live in the middle of no where

Inside my bed with the mosquito net around it. I loved having the mosquito net for various reasons, most importantly, I was finally safe from bugs after battling them all day and also I loved that I was sealed in with all my stuff, I don't know how to explain it but it was just really cozy.

Kitchen!

Here is where we got our drinking water. They found a natural spring in the hill and they used bamboo to set up a drinking spout

Here is where they collected rain water which was used for things like washing dishes and for water to boil for cooking. It was pretty much overflowing the whole time we were there because of all of the rain.

The bathroom -- one morning, I was walking out and stepped on one of the boards that cover up the hole. The board cracked and my foot went right through into where all of the.... waste... goes, lucky for me, it was really close to the outer edge of the hole where the waste hadn't reached yet.

Stream for washing clothes

This spider pic is only here so I can mention that I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life. It was the size of a dinner plate and it was terrifying

The point of this project was that the family who owned the land had all moved in to the city (Tena) but were unhappy there. Their house in the city is mostly unfinished. 

Where we stayed the first night

No hot water

The parents have 10 adult children, most of whom still live in the house all together. Some even have families of their own, so in this one house there are about 3 or 4 separate families living there plus single children. We stayed here our first night and our last night in town. The first night there we discovered the family had a pet when Ohafa calmly told me, “Grace, there is a large reptile behind you.” I was happy to learn, it was the slow-moving family pet turtle, George and not some other large jungle reptile. 

On our last night there, we learned that its normal for Ecuadorian parties to blare music next to your room until 9am the next morning so going to bed at 10PM to catch up on rest isn’t helpful and then “honored guests” aka us get served fish with the head and eyeball still on and you can’t refuse no matter how hard you try.

Anyways, they are unhappy and want to move back to the jungle and live off the land, but the land isn’t ready to be lived off of yet. So, the project resolves around preparing the land. The project has been on going for a couple of years now and that is why the structure is so beautiful. Now, they are working on building a few more living structures and on growing the farm, so it can be self-sustainable. Lucas heads the project – he is a guy from France who has known the family for 10 years. He has been living in the area and working on the project for the past year and a half. The family has taught him almost all they know about the local plants, animals and culture. For our 6 days spent in the jungle it was just me, Ohafa and Lucas.

When we first arrived, it was raining. We used some kindling and firewood under the benches in the shelter from the rain to start a fire.

Ohafa asked what happens when it rains for like 3 days in a row, does he run out of firewood? Lucas responded that in all his time here, it has never rained 3 days in a row. It proceeded to rain for a total of 8 days. This was the first of many “firsts” for Lucas during our time as volunteers. Due to all of the rain, and the nature of the project, our week in the jungle turned into more of a cultural exchange than really working. 

We learned a lot about the local plant and animal life. Like:

This might seem obvious but, banana trees aren’t trees, its actually the largest flowering herb and once the plant flowers and grows bananas once, it won’t flower again so you cut it down.

This is a banana tree that we cut down 30 minutes ago before the picture and it had already grown this much again in the middle, seriously, this place is like magic

There are 5 different types of bananas grown in the area.

a few different types

Apparently 3 papaya seeds a day is good for your immune system. You have to chew them, you can’t just swallow them.

Here's a video of Lucas cutting down a papaya that we will eat for breakfast

                                                 

The soil here is incredible, things grow so well here. Right next to where the old kitchen used to be, there is an avocado tree, a passion fruit tree and an orange tree all growing because of the seeds that were thrown out while cooking.

We discovered plants that are good for mosquito bites, sun burns, regular buns, good for digestion, good insect repellent, the list goes on.

This is yacucaspi, the plant that is supposed to reduce itching. The camera had a hard time picking up my bites in photos, this is just a fraction of what I had on my arm. I tried counting my bites but lost count at 150.

In one hectare of the Amazon, there are more species of trees than in all of Europe combined

More than 80,000 kinds of plants exist in the Amazon

Yuca before we harvested it for dinner

We cut up the tree to plant in the ground again

Cacao tree

White cacao

Lucas explaining how to prepare white cacao, first, you cut it open

The white part is sweet but not the part you eat, you have to get the seed out of the middle

To get the sides out, you have to pull out each individual white portion, bite through all the skin to get to the seed, and then pull the seed out. It was way harder than it sounded and not the tastiest job

These are what the seeds look like, they are full of protein. You fry them, salt them, and then eat them

Tried fresh coconut and still didn't like it (in the background, you can see the two ducks, my favorite part about the jungle house. They adored the rain, they were so happy. Lucas said it had to be the happiest week of their lives with so much rain. They were always swimming in all the puddles, running around, playing. They always went everywhere together too, which was cute)

These weird chickens without neck feathers are native to this region

We learned even more about spiritual life:

First, all plants have energy and spirits. Some good and some bad. Lucas accused of being the reason it rained every day. Lucas kept saying how unusual it was for it to rain every day and we said, for us, it was normal because it was all we knew. Lucas told us we need to be careful when we say stuff like that because spirits are listening, and our energies are affecting the weather. I then said, “to all the spirits, I would like sun please!” That’s when we learned addressing all spirits is dangerous.

Also, its not good to laugh too loud when in the jungle because there are so many spirits everywhere and one of them might thing that you are laughing at them.

When Shamans are creating remedies with the plants, the plants talk to the Shaman and tell them what plant to use and how much of it.

Rainy times and super sunny times are when bad spirits are strongest, so its best not to work during those times otherwise you’re more likely to get sick. Since it was rainy pretty much always, we didn’t have to work, like, ever. Here are some shots of some rare moments when we actually worked.

 

Learning how to yield a machete

Making jungle crepes. This probably doesn't really count as work, but it was delicious. All in all, the food we ate in the jungle was amazing. Lucas was an amazing chef, plus we were usually eating food that we picked that day.

For a few days Ohafa was infected with the stinky bad spirits. Lucas – who lived in Thailand for a year and a half – had learned how to heal with his hands. He said that every muscle in your back is connected with a different part of the body, like the stomach, the heart, etc. Through massage, he can diagnose the problem with the person feeling ill.

Before testing Ohafa, Lucas first put some essential oils on his wrist as protection, then he got to work. He gave Ohafa a massage, telling him he was tight everywhere (a night of vomiting and no sleep will do that to ya), and finally zoned in on Ohafa’s left trap muscle that was giving off the most heat and tightness. This is connected to the large intestine. He told Ohafa to go to bed and lay down for a while.

In the meantime, Lucas sat down and after a few moments commented that Ohafa’s bad spirits were quite strong and that he didn’t protect himself enough. That meant that he was started to feel bad himself. So, Lucas cut off a piece of a termite home and started burning it to clear out the bad spirits in the house. He specifically lingered under where Ohafa was sleeping above.

Termite house

Termites fleeing the burned wood

Chao stinky spirits

For my 19th birthday, my friend Josie got me a framed preserved butterfly. It is a magnificent blue butterfly that I have had the pleasure to see on both my backpacking trips through South America. This time, when we saw it, Lucas told us that here, people believe that when you see this butterfly, you will have an unexpected visitor or something good will happen. I wrote down this tidbit, not really thinking much of it. 3 hours later, a woman and 4 children show up at our remote home. They are relatives of the family who’s land it is. The butterfly did its job. It was during one of the rare moments of sun so we all went on a walk together and ended up at the waterfall on the property.

When you mash the seeds up inside this weird plant, it turns into a red paint. It is tradition to paint faces with it

This is an experience we would have gotten if we visited the "local village" during our jungle tour in Banos. We skipped that because it seemed really fake and like appropriation so it was really cool to get the more authentic version of it (minus the French dude who was doing it) while we were immersed in the culture.

We learned that stones are jails for bad spirits. Shaman’s trap them there to keep the village safe. I found this out after admiring this rock for days. Hopefully, there are no bad spirits jailed there yet.

If you don't see why this rock is cool, there is no point trying to explain it.

I tried so hard to chip off a piece of it to take some with me to no avail. The rock is just so perfect

Although some of the spiritual ending up being pretty fun, with Ohafa having stinky bad spirits and all, it was seriously really interesting to learn so much about it all. I really admire their desire to be so in tune with nature and what is around them. I think there is a lot to be said about western culture being out of touch with the world around us. For example, Lucas told us this story about a volcano that erupted a few years back. There was a local tribe that had evacuated days before any scientists were able to pick up any activity on their scanners. The tribe evacuated to higher ground and was safe from the eruption, in contrast, other locals were harmed. When the scientists interviewed the villagers later, asking them how they knew so early about the danger, the tribe responded that they saw animals fleeing for higher ground, so they trusted them and followed.

And we learned about local culture:

Local children either go to school in the morning or in the afternoon. There are not enough resources to have day long school. The schools aren’t very good to begin with and it is hard to find qualified teachers, so even for the little time that students are in school, their education isn’t strong.

We learned how to make Artisan crafts:

We made bracelets made of string and seeds. The first step to creating the bracelets is always tying one of the strings to yourself. You are linked to everything, your aura has a little string that connects you to every plant and animal and being in existence in the entire universe. This string tied to your body is a physical representation of that connection and link. Through craft, you are taking nothing but the earth and creating something with what the earth gives you.

The seeds used are powerful seeds. They are good to develop and enhance your own personal power. Some have specific uses, like, San Pedro protects against bad energy. San Pedro seeds need to be used in groups of 3 for maximum strength of their power. Other seeds are good for your brain, good for traveling, etc.

We learned from Ohafa that, “it is hard being special” and that he, “only has one weak point, [his] body, but [his] mind and [his] spirit are invincible.

Ohafa loved wearing the rubber boats. It kept him clean all the time, protected his ankles from mosquitos and let him go into the water without getting wet or feeling the sensation of water on his skin 

Zen Ohafa and the banana tree

And we just had fun:

Ohafa and I played countless games of cards, chess, dice, and pretty much any other game we could think of.

In the rare moments it wasn't raining, we explored

Ohafa's work, not mine

We learned a new card game called Cambio, which we played every night after dinner and before bed. (I am going to write down the rules so if I look back years from now, I will be able to play again, but they probably won’t be written well enough for anyone else to learn how to play just by reading my blog – sorry)

-It starts out like golf, everyone gets 4 cards face down and you can look at 2

Special cards

-          - J = you can switch cards with someone without looking at what they are

-         - Q = you can switch cards with someone with looking at what their card is first

-          - 9&10 = you can look at someone else’s card

-          -7&8 = you can look at your own card

-          - Red K = - 2 points

-          - Black K = 15 points

-          - Face cards are worth their # value, not all just 10

-        You can discard your card if the same # is on the top of the discard pile

-          You can discard someone else’s card if you know their card and it is the same # of the discard pile – then you get to give them one of your cards

-          If you try and discard a card and you are wrong, you get an extra card

-          You play 10 rounds and if they winner after 10 wants to double it to prove themselves, you play 10 more, building off the scores from the first 10 rounds

We battled an onslaught of ants with our feet and gasoline who were trying to invade our home and eat us in the process. Ohafa got some up his shorts and it gave a true meaning to dancing like there are ants in your pants.

There was a stray dog that came by every once and a while. One night, it stole all our snacks Ohafa and I brought with us and we thought that it had stolen the peanut butter I had brought. (much to our joy, days later we found it somewhere else)

We also lost all of our bread at one point and Lucas got really freaked out because he didn't think the dog could get up to where we put it and thought maybe it was the work of spirits or something because he doesn't like things that are inexplicable

I had some varying degree of wet hair for the entire time I was there. We hadn’t showered for 2 weeks.

Our time in the jungle was… memorable to say the least. It was eight days filled with absurdities that I will never forget.

After leaving the jungle, we started our journey back to Bogotá for our flight to Brazil. We hadn’t showered for 2 weeks and boarded the bus to spend the next 2 nights on buses, wait at the border again, for only 3 hours this time, and in total travelled for 40 hours.

During the course of that time, we saw Fast and Furious 8 at least 2 more times, and we also repeated a few other movies we had already seen.

And, the greatest tragedy of all, we had an egg catastrophe. As some of you know, we have pretty much survived on eggs for the past 23 days. The last day, the very last day, hard boiled eggs were ruined for us for a while. Before leaving Tena, we decided to peel the eggs and put them in a glass Tupperware, so they would be easier to eat on the bus. We didn’t finish all of them and upon our arrival in Bogota, we found the eggs, covered in slime and smelling worse than possible anything I have ever smelt before.

I don’t know when I’ll have eggs again.