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by VT-Ecuador Semester students…

The “Yuca” and its crew on the lower Jatunyacu. Class 4 river in the Ecuadorian Jungle.

Community Update… by Marion Lang, Semester Scribe We returned from another epic expedition late last night. We are spending today catching-up on academics and of course, writing updates! In a few words, this expedition took place on the eastern side of the Andean mountain range. The expedition consisted of a trek that started at the altitude of 3200 meters, in the wood-working village of Oyacachi at the beginning of a cloud forest. We trekked for three days from here following the river, dropping down to the altitude of 1900m. We then worked our way down 1000 more meters in a pick-up truck to the jungle where we constructed our kataraft and continued the second part of our journey down the river. This expedition was designed to we wished to experience, and thus better understand, through experience, the varying environments of Ecuador. In Oyacachi, we spent a night enjoying the local hot springs, relaxing, and preparing for the upcoming expedition. We awoke the next day to a very sunny crisp morning. It was truly glorious in the valley of Oyacachi with the hills rising up all around us. We set off on a long hard trek over a narrow, very muddy, and vegetation covered trail, which ran alongside a rushing river. It was interesting to see how the plants differed from those in the highlands, and how they already appeared a bit jungle-like. After walking for about eight hours, we finally reached the Rio Cedro, where we would spend the next two nights. We made a beautiful camp here on the beach of the river and waited for the Huaira Sinchi racers to pass through. The Huaira Sinchi is a three-day adventure race, which includes trekking, biking, paddling, and rope courses, all in the highlands and the Cloud Forest of Ecuador. We volunteered to help with this part of the race as it is very remote and not as easily accessible. The racers arrived the next day, the second day of the race, and it was cool to see how enthusiastic and strong they were even after their many hours of racing. We had a really nice day chilling by the Rio Cedro and unsuccessfully trying to fish. It was nice to relax and enjoy the sun before another long trek the next day. The trek out of the Cloud Forest took about five hours. I think we all enjoyed this walk better than the earlier one. I enjoyed scrambling up the muddy path and following the same trail of all the racers the day before. We finally arrived at the Rio Santa Maria where we had a very warm welcome from Francisco and Adela, who cooked us a wonderful lunch. After lunch we set off to Tena, one of the biggest cities in the jungle. It was amazing to feel the difference in the air, which was soft and warm. We spent the night in a hostel where we slept on comfortable beds for only five dollars each. After a restful night disturbed only by the foreign noises of cars and other city sounds, we traveled to the headwaters of the Jatunyacu River, where we spent the morning assembling our vessel, the “Yuca.” We strapped our backpacks to the tubes of the Kataraft and set off down the river. It was exhilarating to glide down the river, riding over waves and through rapids. We plowed over some huge waves, and it was exciting when huge waves hit and soaked us. The second morning on the river we were having a great time riding the rapids when suddenly our craft cracked in half! Everyone was in a moment of panic as we grabbed onto people who were falling off and held onto our things. We all thought our boat was invincible, but evidently we were wrong. We paddled our defeated raft to a nearby beach and sadly took it apart. We then spent the rest of the day harvesting poles to redesign our frame. With our luck of this day, it began to rain and many of our things already soaked from the boat snapping in half, became saturated. We all moved into an abandoned shelter, which the community offered us. We were all eager to get back on the river, so the next day when the frame was finished we were ready to get back on the river. We spent the whole day on the water admiring the jungle surroundings on our newly improved and sturdier vessel. We passed steep cliffs with lovely rock formations. We spent that night on a tropical beach campsite. I remember waking up there and the first thing I saw were the many green leaves which were brushing up against the open window of the tent. We left there, paddling across the river to the village on the other side where we dismantled and packed the Yuca and prepared for another long trek, the portage. This time, we trekked through the jungle. The walk was very hard. It was a hot afternoon, we had very heavy backpacks and many of us were carrying kataraft poles with a partner. On the first part of our walk, we met some drunk men who said they had built the path and wanted money for their work, which in turn, they would use for liquor. It was unpleasant to see their greed and to feel we were viewed only as a source of money. We discussed this with them for awhile, letting them know that we would not support this manner of being. We decided to give them some school supplies and headed on our way. The second part of the walk was through a thickly covered path deep in the jungle. After walking about six and a half hours, we finally reached Shiwakucha and Nadino and Abdala`s beautiful large “Chonta” palm house. About an hour later, Abdala, Isaac, and Emil showed up after being a bit lost in the jungle. We spent four days in Shiwakucha enjoying getting to know the life of the jungle. On the second day we went for a walk to a nearby waterfall where we had a refreshing swim and saw some hummingbird chicks hanging from a nearby nest. During this walk and throughout our visit, Nadino and Abdala´s parents, Samuel and Isolina, taught us about medicinal and edible plants. The next day, we made crafts and jewelry out of locally found seeds. I loved the warm humid air and swimming in the nearby river several times a day. As I feared, the bugs were pretty bad and all of us are still covered in bites. On the last day, we helped Samuel and Isolina clean-up their medicinal plant garden, fix the roof, and make a floor for the outdoor washing station. We also put together the Kataraft again and prepared it for another voyage. We awoke very early the next day, ate breakfast and strapped our backpacks onto our boat when it was still dark and the U shaped moon was still visible in the sky. It was becoming light as we set off down the Arajuno river, paddling continuously to make time and stay warm. As the sun began to warm us, we relaxed and let the river carry us downstream. Everyone was cheerful and we had a very chill day sleeping in the sun, jumping into the water, and swimming next to the boat. In the afternoon, we dismantled our craft and got a ride up river with a friend in a motor powered canoe. It was about an hour ride up the great Napo, which is one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon River. Most of us were getting tired and dozing off after our long day in the sun. As we arrived in the village of Puerto Misahualli we were surrounded by thieving monkeys, who managed to steal a tomato, banana and feather from us. Waiting for the bus, we watched the monkeys playing and fighting. We had an hour bus ride to Tena where we ate a delicious two-course meal, which was filling and cheap. Then we hoped on another fancier bus for a four hour long sleepy ride. When we finally reached Pifo it was really nice to be met by Mathias and Francisco who gave us, and all of our bags, a ride up to our lodge in Palugo. It was surprising to feel again how cold it is here, as I had forgotten what it is like. It is really nice to be back, it felt like we had returned home again. I really enjoyed sleeping on a comfy mat and wearing clean clothes again. Now we are working on various tasks and preparing for our next mountain expedition, during which we will summit the mighty Cotopaxi. Aprendamos el KICHWA……con Abdala C. Esta ves vamos a aprender los verbos. Todos los verbos en kichwa se termina en "na", por ejemplo mikuna = comer. Aquí algunos verbos KICHWA Español ENGLISH Yanuna cocinar to cook Pukllana jugar to play Takina cantar to sing Purina caminar to walk Rimana hablar to talk Samana descansar to rest Puñuna dormir to sleep Community News! By Isaac Our engineer, support driver and mentor, Francisco Dammer, greets us after the 4 day Oyacachi trek… Thanks! As a group, we have been so privileged to have the opportunities we have had on our expeditions. These opportunities would not have been possible without the support of many generous individuals. First we would like to thank Manuel Guatemal and all of the San Clemente community for opening up their hearts and homes to us and for spending so much time sharing their knowledge and crafts with us. We would also like to thank German Sandoval for putting us up and for sharing his knowledge and passion for leather with us. We all enjoyed our stay and our Main Lesson Book covers are beautiful. All of us had a great time on the river on the Kataraft which would not have been possible without the help of two generous companies. First we would like to thank Jacks Plastic Welding for building the tubes of our raft. They performed extremely well. We would also like to thank Tatoo Adventure Gear for helping us fashion our mesh floor and the gear bag for our raft. Without the support of the community around us, our semester would not be what it is. Thank you. El Español para la semana… por Ari, EL GURU! Estamos en Palugo otra vez, despues de nuestro expedicion epica. Teniamos una viaje en rio como el Kon-Tiki. Habia caimanes y tiburones. Remamos por tres meses sin comida o equipo. Volvemos a Palugo desgreñado y cansado. Entonces decidimos a subir Cotopaxi en una semana¡ Semester recipe… yummi! Recipe for Colada de Avena: (hot oatmeal drink) Boil a large pot of water. Put some of the boiled water in a separate, small pot and add Hierba Luisa (lemon grass) or another tea in the large pot with the remaining water. Make a thick oatmeal in the small pot with milk and sugar or molasses and really work the mixture so that the oatmeal breaks down. Put the oatmeal in the tea and serve alone or with walnuts and raisins or granola. (hint: the experts make this at 3:00am while sipping Guayusa tea) <This recipe is courtesy of Isolina Cerda of Shiwakucha community> Isolina teaching us how to chew and spit the yucca for a brand new batch of our main food in the jungle, “Chicha”. Environmental Tip… When spending time in the Jungle this past week, it was easy to observe how much care the people of Shiwakucha took when dealing with the land with which they worked and lived upon. We learned that when they went to the bathroom, they made sure to go away from any water sources so that everyone that lived down stream from them could have the clean water that they deserve. When harvesting vegetables or plants for medicinal use or eating, they took only what they needed for that specific time so that there would be more for other people to use. They shared all of the resources they had whether small or large, because they realized the importance of helping each other and preserving the land as much as possible for future generations. With the actions they took, they thought not only of themselves but of what their families would have to deal with, their children’s children, as well as of the many layers of lives and events that would take place on the same land they lived upon. It is easy to look up to the people who live in communities like Shiwakucha because in their everyday lives they are present and aware of their impact on the land. I think that our group took from our experience in the Jungle was to simply pay more attention to how what we do affects our environment around us. It is important to take and give back each day as if you were to be spending your whole life in that place. Each action one takes in a place can be positive or negative to the next person that will be in that place. We are all capable of treating our Earth in a low impact way and we should practice conscious living as much as possible because we can’t always erase our footprints and what we do today will give birth to what can or can not happen tomorrow.