Day 12: Coffee With the Monkeys

The day started extra early with a boat ride to another lodge. There we had breakfast while being entertained by the local squirrel monkeys. Their aerial acrobatics are amazing and funny! Our day was filled with boat rides up and down the river as we traveled between the eco-lodge and an indigenous community where we learned some of their history, arts, and conservation strategies.
The Maijuna people consist of four communities and are responsible for the large conservation area in this part of the Amazon rainforest. They worked diligently over decades to have their voices recognized and their culture and lands protected. The taught us how the keep and care for hives of stingless bees in order to sustainably harvest the honey, which has important medicinal properties. I definitely had to do some mindfulness practice when Catalino opened the hive and the bees started buzzing all around us. (Inhale. They’re stingless. Exhale. They can’t sting you. Inhale……) They are different in many ways from bees that I am familiar with. The wax was a dark reddish brown color and not organized into the stereotypical hexagonal pattern. Some come in a blue color, others black, and the ones we saw were “blonde.” Historically the Maijuna would chop down a tree to collect the honey. This way allows them to sustain the bees and their hives, as well as the trees.
After lunch back at the lodge, a lovely rest, and lots of amazing moths, we had a lesson in cord making, starting from what appeared to be a stick. The stick was shaken violently until it turned into a giant palm frond. This was stripped, then each blade was stripped, until a long, thin fiber was left. The ladies taught us how to roll these on our legs in order to create the cording. I got one good roll in with it looking just like a tiny rope, and then I could not repeat it. My teacher finally just toed her own work around my wrist with a chuckle. We had the opportunity to shop from their incredible creations and I’m. Not sure how o will fit everything in my bag. A challenge for another day.
Back at the lodge we learned how the Maijunas had set up miles of transect lines with trail cameras throughout the jungle on their land. They maintained these for years and collected so much evidence of biodiversity that it aided in the creation of their conservation area.
Their warmth as a community and commitment to protecting their resources left me feeling full of hope. When many use their voices, change happens.
After dinner and before we headed back, some of us went frogging around the pond at the lodge. I got a glimpse into one of the other groups and had so much fun looking for “eye shine” and seeing so many of the crazy and beautiful frogs here.
We piled into a boat for the ride back to the field station. The crescent moon had just set and the Milky Way spread across the sky in the opening of the canopy created by the river. I spent most of the rode staring upwards and soaking it in with a silly grin on my face. Around one bend there was a still inlet and the water created a perfect reflection of the southern cross. How lucky am I…Read more