1st October 2008 - Jungle Trip Day Three

Today, our first trip was around 2 hours down-river to the Palma Real (2) community, close to the Bolivian border and home to a group of indigenous natives, the Ese'Eja (who are also known as the Huarayo, Ese'Eja being the word for "people" in their own language). Here we met the local chief who gave a talk on the Ese'Eja culture. He could speak a little bit of Spanish but mostly he spoke in the tribe's own language (nowadays the children of the tribe are taught both languages). The Ese'Eja were once very numerous (having up to 15000 members at one point) but today they number only about 500 and are found only in the Madre de Dios region of SE Peru and the Pando region of Northern Bolivia. The chief mentioned that he was originally from an area in the Puno region of Peru but had moved here to Madre de Dios when he was a young man.

He wore one of their traditional cloth robes called a cushma (this particular one pretty filthy and hole-ridden), made from the pounded bark of the Yanchama tree but nowadays many of the tribe wear modern clothes, even shoes which the chief still finds very uncomfortable to wear. He also wore a colourful head-dress made up from the feathers of various birds.

He mentioned that he, as chief, was able to have up to five "wives" although there is no real marriage ceremony among his people, the new "wife" simply moves into the males household. Alternatively, for divorce the either one of the couple moves out of the household.

In the past a local tribe used to live in one large communal house but today each family has its own, separate dwelling. The adult males generally farm, fish or hunt (a common source of income for the Ese'Eja is from gathering Brazil Nuts) whereas the women (who can also assist with fishing and the lesser farming tasks) tend to weave and manufacture baskets or jewellery (much of which is sold to tourists, a number of examples were on sale in a small hut behind the presentation area).

The chief also showed us a bottle of masato, a drink made from yucca which is first cooked, then mashed up before being fermented. Originally this was done by chewing up the mashed yucca in the mouth then spitting it back into the pot. This is still occasionally done today but fermentation can also be carried out using sugar cane. If it is left for some time the drink can become quite strong, with a high alcohol level and it was quite common for the local men to get very drunk on special occasions. We declined his invitation to drink some of it but he was still very happy to pose with us after he had finished his presentation.

The next visit was to a local chakra (farm) where many different crops, plants and fruits (bananas, coconuts, lemons, passion fruits, papayas, cacao) were grown. Firstly our guide showed us the Sangre de Grado (Dragon's Blood) tree which, when cut with a machete, produces a red sap that is thought to have various healing properties. I had a small cut on my right hand and so a little bit was rubbed onto the cut but nothing really happened unfortunately.

Other medicinal plants were also grown here such as una de gato and ayahuasca. The latter is commonly used in religious ceremonies that are carried out by various Amazon tribes due to its hallucinogenic properties. The ayahuasca vines are boiled in water (often along with the leaves of other similar plants in order to produce a stronger effect) to produce a strong "tea" which, when drunk, produces firstly heavy vomiting (which helps to cleanse any parasites from the body) and secondly strong psychoactive episodes including hallucinations and visions. If we'd have chosen a longer package we would have had the chance to see a ceremony which is a bit of a regret.

We also saw a number of plants whose leaves produced a strong smell of balsam (such as in products like muscle rub) when crushed as well as non-medicinal plants such as garlic, mint and ginger. We were also able to try a few example of fruit (papaya, coconut, banana), taken directly from the tree. The cacao tree produced large, oval pods which contain two or three dozen beans which are covered in a thick, sweet pulp which tastes delicious. The beans themselves taste quite bitter. However, once the beans have fermented, dried, roasted and their shells are removed the fat inside is used to make chocolate.

Our guide also found a tree that was home to a colony of tarantulas. In fact a large specimen was briefly visible on the tree trunk before it scuttled back inside its nest. The entrance to the nest was covered in a thick web but our guide was able to poke around inside to try and catch one of the giant spiders. Unfortunately he was only able to collect two legs but I have no idea whether these came from just one spider or from two. He then managed to find another nest, this time in a plant, and on this occasion was able to capture a small tarantula and let it walk around on his hand. Tarantulas are not particularly dangerous to humans and at worst there bite can be compared to a bad bee or wasp sting and so our guide was never in any real danger. A number of very colourful beetles and butterflies were also around the farm.

After lunch we had the rest of the day off, to do whatever we wanted. So, after a brief rest, we decided to try out the swimming pool. Overnight it usually filled up with frogs and insects and early every morning a pair of lodge employers had to clean out all the dead bugs, a process which they regularly repeated throughout the day. But it was virtually an impossible task and when we entered the pool there were still numerous winged things floating about on the surface. We were soon almost joined in the pool by another winged thing, one of the Lodge macaws who decided to fly down from his usual perch for a drink. We had been warned by the bird's keeper that it could be a bit aggressive and so we tried not to upset it too much and eventually, once it had drank its fill from the water around the pool, it flew back up to its perch and left us to swim in peace.

By now the lodge was very quiet as, apart from our our group, everyone else was out on their various excursions. So we had the place virtually to ourselves. After a quick visit to the shop where we bought a number of souvenirs we decided to have another walk around the jungle trails behind the lodge, this time on our own without a guide. There were numerous different trails, over a wide area of jungle but there was no real danger of getting lost and, as long as we were back before darkness fell, no real risk of being attacked by any dangerous jungle creatures.

I wanted to revisit the parrot clay lick area that we had been to the previous morning. The parrots probably wouldn't be there at this time of the day but I thought there may be a chance to see some other animals. After we had explored the jungle for an hour or so we were able to follow the signpost to the lick without any difficulty but when we got there unfortunately there was nothing to be seen other than some large flies which buzzed around my head when I walked down to the edge of the river. I also heard voices from the jungle on the other side of the small stream but couldn't see where they may have been coming from. I know there were various tribes living in that region so maybe it was one of those. Fortunately they were all well known to the outside world and none were considered dangerous.

We sat around in the hide for about 30 minutes to see if anything with appear but nothing did and by that time it was late afternoon and just beginning to get dark so we decided to leave. During our journey through the jungle we had seen, and occasionally glimpsed through the trees, some of the other groups who had just arrived at the lodge and were being given their initial guided tour. We avoided them however as we weren't sure we were actually allowed to wander around the jungle on our own and so didn't want to bump into one of the guides. We also wanted to have a go on the Tarzan rope that we had been shown on our own guided tour and so waited until the tour group in front of us had passed it before enjoying a few swings of our own.

Later on however we ran into both of the tour parties as they used the same trails as us and we were unable to avoid them. One of the guides seemed rather surprised to see us there and asked us if we were lost. When we replied that we weren't he advised us to make sure we didn't get lost as they would then have to come looking for us. He also warned us that it was almost dark and to make sure we had left the jungle before it was fully dark as then the snakes and other dangerous creatures would be around.

We were already heading out before he had told us this and managed to make it back to our hut without any difficulties where we spent our last night at the lodge prior to leaving the following morning.