Today, the capabilities that I once applied to humankind have been refurbished and polished. At the grand time of 6:30am, the crew and I woke up for a bountiful breakfast. You can tell how rough the day will be by seeing how much food is on your plate. The more, the harder. When the breakfast food left no white available on my plate, I knew I was in for a treat. The night before, we traveled by motorized canoe on the river for 6 hours to the Waoroni Nation. And to make it by sundown meant that we had to wake up at 6:30am the previous morning, which meant that my energy level was in the trenches. However, contrary to popular belief, riding around in that canoe with people whom I haven’t really gotten to know on this trip was one of my biggest highlights. We played some games where we had to use our brains! How exciting. It was all worth it, even if the trip and early rise had us all trek around the Waoroni tribe like the undead.
So right, it was a bright and early wake-up call, but to the 0.5 people that read this blog, I am proud to let you all know that I woke up naturally! That’s one of the many things I have gained from this trip. I’m lying, it was torrential downpouring outside, and the sound of the rain hitting our room was so loud yet so nice to wake up to. It was like getting woken up by your mother on a school day.
First thing we did was travel on what seemed like our second home at this point, the canoes, to visit some hunting land around the area. We zombies witnessed the people of the tribe navigate the plants, the land, the trees, and the river like they were the creators of it. A member of the tribe showed us different animal calls that are used to draw animals in. After mimicking a howler monkey, he then began to CLIMB UP A VINE USING ONLY HIS HANDS AND BARE FEET! He worked up this very large tree like it was nothing, and I’ve never been more humbled and in awe in my entire life. He climbed to the top and came back down and didn’t break a single bead of sweat. Meanwhile, we slackers broke out in a sweat by walking a few minutes down this path. We then got to try climbing the vine, and we got to swing around like Tarzan.
After that, the people wanted to show us a sacred tree in their forests. On our way there, a fish jumped in our boat (and we ate it for dinner!) Anyways, it was the largest tree I’ve ever laid eyes on, and you could tell just by looking at it that it was special. We learned how the tree is used as a form of communication and a landmark when you are lost. When we were swinging from their vines, I guess the forest spirits were upset with me for being so tired in their presence that they made a vine fall upon my head. I persisted against my injuries as I had to get ready to carry my team in an intense soccer game. After visiting the sacred tree, we headed out to visit the Waoroni Tribe, where we were greeted by their people and their monkeys. They began teaching us how to throw spears, and oh my days, thank the lord I’ve never had to hunt before. My prey would’ve laughed straight in my face at how pathetic my throw was, but it’s okay!
I made up for it during the soccer game where my team WON! “Blood, sweat, and knees” were sacrificed for this battle. Shoes were off, the land was mud, and wolf spiders were at every turn. It was the game of the century. After that glorious victory, we headed back to the community spot where we saw an actual living fossil called a tapir. They looked like an anteater’s embarrassing cousin. He followed us down to the river where we had a little nighttime swim full of chicken fights and splashing.
After our dinner, we decided to go over the performance that was expected of us for the tribal ceremony in which we were about to attend. We settled on showing the tribe the cup song, followed by the Macarena and Cotton-Eyed Joe. How American! After we returned to the tribe by canoe, we entered the naming section of the ceremony in which the leader of the tribe would go around and give us Kichwa names and what they meant. I was gifted the name MiMa, who was a powerful leader and peacemaker with the women of the tribe; it does not get much better than that.
As a continuation of the welcoming ceremony, the men of the tribe came out in their special attire and showed us a dance that consisted of shuffling in a circle while chanting different noises (which we later joined in on). The women of the tribe danced and sang for us as well. This was all in preparation for the marriage ceremony that was about to be carried out. The tribe picked a girl from the group, SHOUT OUT MAGGIE MEGLIO, and married her to one of the younger members of the tribe. It was a beautiful unification of individuals. Afterwards, we shopped around and bought their handmade goodies, where I scored 3 whole bracelets and a ceramic duck!
We bid them a very heartfelt and thankful goodbye, and we returned to our lodge safe and sound with no interferences (one of our boats ran out of gas within viewing distance of an alligator). We did make it back safely, though, and worked on journaling and blog posts. Before bed, I wanted to soak up the last time I would ever be in this atmosphere. I sat on a ledge with Christian- SHOUT OUT CHRISTIAN – for a bit before retiring to my room, where I would fall asleep to the sound of rain on my roof. I’ve never been so thankful to have an experience.
