For our fifth day cruising the Peruvian Amazon with G Adventures, we continued along the Marañón River and its tributaries which flow into the Amazon near Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. It was a day of culture in the Amazon including meeting a Shaman and a mayor, having lunch in an Amazon community, learning to dye materials with resources from the Amazon, and enjoying music of the Amazon.
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Meeting a Shaman in the Amazon
After our 7:30 am breakfast aboard the Amatista, we took the skiffs to a local community where we met a Shaman. A shaman is a religious healer that interacts with the spirit world through an altered state of consciousness.
Depending on the country and teacher, the requirements to become a shaman are different. Our Shaman, Carola, went through a rigorous process to become a practitioner in Shamanism in Peru.
She was hand selected by her grandfather as having the qualities necessary to connect with the spirits. Then she went through eight years of training. Much of the training included living in isolation in the jungle and adhering to an extremely strict diet, mostly plant based.
She also had to be able to tolerate Ayahuasca, the plant-base psychoactive brew used in the religious ceremonies. The Ayahuasca brew comes from boiling the Ayahuasca vine along with several other plants. It causes a variety of reactions including hallucinations, euphoria, paranoia, vomiting, and diarrhea just to name a few.
Patients drink the Ayahuasca and feel the effects in 20-60 minutes. The “trip” then lasts 2-6 hours during which the Shaman offers spiritual guidance and monitors the participant for safety.
We sat on benches along the outer edge of the open-air temple as we asked her questions, and she conducted a blessing ritual. It was quite a cultural experience in the Amazon. At the end, we were given the opportunity to shop for bracelets, masks, and other items she had crafted.
Color Dying
After spending over an hour with Carola, we visited Monte Alegre for some cultural experiences. First, Maria showed us how to make colors for dyeing materials used in making bracelets, purses, and other products.
They collect several types of seeds and plants from the jungle that they cut, grate, boil, and mash, to which they add water or citrus. We got to participate in the process, creating red, purple, pink, yellow and green fibers. It’s amazing how much work goes into their crafts which they sell for so little!
Meeting the Mayor
After participating in the material dying process, we filed into a large, covered meeting area where we met the Mayor. We were given the opportunity to ask him questions about his family and the community.
We learned about their daily lives, from going to Nauta by boat once a week for supplies, to utilizing solar panels for energy, to collecting and hunting their own food. Interestingly, he wanted to know our names, age, and how many kids we had. He must have been dismayed when many of us answered that we didn’t have children. In their community of 130, only 30 were adults. The rest were children!
Lunch in Monte Alegre
After our meeting, we gathered in the outdoor kitchen and dining area where his wife Luisa served us an elaborate lunch. We have had some delicious food in the Amazon, so we weren’t sure what to expect. It was quite the feast! Dishes including rice, chicken, fish, egg, plantains, tubers, and corn were set out buffet style on large palm leaves. What a nice way to experience the culture in the Amazon!
As with all our meals in the boat, lunch included several juices, including “jungle juice.” Hulbert, our guide, was really touting the juice, so many of us tasted it.
Jungle Juice
Afterward, they asked for several participants, and showed us how to make it. In a large wooden bowl, they placed several peeled, boiled yuccas that needed to be mashed. Our group of four and the young girl demonstrating the process took turns mashing the tubers.
Next the group was instructed to place a handful of the mash in their mouths. I could tell a few participants were reluctant to do it, but each obliged in varying degrees. Then, they were told to chew the yucca, but don’t swallow it.
Finally, Hulbert announced, “Ok, spit it back in the bowl. The spit is used for fermenting the juice.” Holding up the pitcher of the juice he has poured into everyone’s cup, he continued, “This juice has been fermenting for three days.”
The look on one lady’s face as she just spit into the bowl because the small amount of mash disintegrated in her mouth was priceless. I held it together until, with a horrified expression and about to gag, she turned toward me and questioned quietly, “And we drank this?”
The young girl saw it and couldn’t hold back her grin, and I just burst out laughing. Fortunately, for our sake, they did not ferment the juice we drank with spit, but it is their custom. Hulbert had explained the custom the previous night, but the lectures sometimes got long and occasionally things got lost in translation, so most of us didn’t piece it together right away.
We weren’t supposed to laugh, but after this giant grin crossed the girl’s face, I couldn’t help it. I just want to know who was the first to decide to make juice with spit up yucca, and did that practice continue during COVID. Just as I often wonder about the Mongolian tradition of dipping fingers into a shared shot glass of fermented mare’s milk when greeting guests. For health reasons, it seems like they would have had to stop many of their customs.
Anyway, I certainly respect traditions, both our own and others. Traditions are what make certain events feel special and what make learning about culture in the Amazon, among other places, so interesting. But I digress.
Afternoon on the Amatista
Back to the Amatista we went for our afternoon siesta. Some of our group retired to their rooms while others sat out on the covered third floor deck playing cards or keeping an eye out for nature.
At 4pm we gathered around for a pisco sour demonstration. Some of us had already learned how to make this national drink of Peru in a cooking class in Miraflores prior to our Amazon departure.
Skiff Ride Down the Yanayaquillo
After the pisco sour demonstration, we shuffled down to the first desk, doused ourselves in bugspray, donned our life jackets and loaded on the skiffs for an evening skiff ride down the Yanayaquillo.
We started out our ride with a fantastic encounter with the pink river dolphins, though they still remained elusive when it came to photographing them. They do not surface nearly as often as the grey river dolphins. At least now we could finally tell the difference between the two species, as many of the pink river dolphins look grey. For more detailed information on pink river dolphins, see my post: Peruvian Amazon Part II
This time we also really got to see the contrast in river water coming from the mountains of Peru and meeting, but not mixing with the sediment laden waters of the Maranon. It looked like chocolate milk and expresso!
In addition to the pink dolphins, we saw a variety of birds including parakeets, toucans, king fishers, and hawks. It was a pleasant afternoon outing capped off by dinner and more fantastic music. One crew member in the band can play three or four instruments including the flute and guitar. The crew of the Amatista is certainly musically talented. You can’t go wrong with a day of culture in the Amazon! ETB
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Everything about this sounds so amazing! (Except, perhaps, the yucca juice. I think I’d have burst out laughing as well.) I’d love to have these experiences, particularly helping make the colors for the crafts. That sounds so interesting.
Sounds like a fantastic and interesting day immersing in the culture of the area. I would love to be part of that craft day 🙂