From the Field

13 Nov 2001

Time for walk in the jungle!
Have been staying at the house to long. Working in the garden is great fun, but being out in the "world garden" is much better. So we asked Roberto to get the "Qui ii" ready for a voyage. After purchasing the fuel for the boat motor and getting some "munchies" to take along for the day, we were on the water and heading up river. Since we didn't really know where we were going, we decided when we got there! Roberto wanted to show us some property that belonged to one of his "amigos". Everyone Roberto knows is his amigo. The property, Roberto says, is beautiful and full of medicine plants and animals. Roberto needed to collect some leaves and different plants to make a cure for a patient he was treating. We follow Roberto and he pours out all his plant knowledge and we try to drink it up.

Roberto has been our motorista since 1998. We don't have to worry about anything when it comes to the boat or the motor. When it comes to plants, well, Roberto is a native shaman, what more is there to say. Once we get into the forest Belinda always makes sure no one gets to far, she finds something to stop and look at.

HEY, you guys walked right past that......You didn't see that?
What was that?........Is that what I think it is?
Guess not.

Don't know what that last thing was but Roberto says "try this, its good for your eyes, it makes you see clearly and it will cure diarrhea. Ok, says Belinda, that makes perfect sense to me!

It rained in the rainforest the night before our arrival. Finding fantastic fungus is fun! The variety of fungus found on the forest floor after a rain shower is incredible, not to mention beautiful. We find it impossible to pass up a photo opportunities like these.

On this trip Roberto showed us something he had never showed us before. Roberto cut a gash in a tree and white sap came oozing out. He said this was one of the most deadly substances found in the jungle. It is the poison that his people traditionally use on poison dart arrow tips. The fresh sap is fatal in even the smallest quantity. But the dry sap, which feels allot like rubber cement, is safe to hold in your hand or on your finger. (Roberto put some on his finger to show us, but he never touched the dripping sap). The arrow tips are heated over a campfire and then a small ball of dry sap is rubbed onto the arrow tip. Full grown howler monkeys die within minutes of being struck with an arrow anointed with this sap. No antitoxin exists.

Ever wonder what native people made clothes out of. Tree bark?. Roberto takes a small strip of the bark and pounded the bark with his knife to show how it flattens and spreads out. Large pieces of bark are pounded out until big enough to make a "cushma", similar to a shirt/dress. Designs are painted on the cloth with natural dyes.

The colors and patterns of the rain forest are many. Some folks will say the forest is green. Most people will only see green. We see green and a whole lot more…….just look! ( photos by Lance )