Day 9: Meeting with the Maijuna

Today we took a boat to Napo Lodge to have breakfast there. During breakfast, we had white-faced tamarinds and squirrel monkeys also join us! They were feasting on the bananas outside of the lodge.

After breakfast, we took a boat to the Maijuna-Sucusari community and visited with them. They introduced themselves to us and we introduced ourselves to them. After clapping it out, “los pescadores” (the fisher people) and Amber followed Don Percy to meet with Tony about the stingless orchid bees. Tony told us about how he goes to “el monte” (woods) to cut down the trunks of the trees where the bees live at nighttime and brings them back to the village. As he places them in their newly constructed hive, the opening needs to face the same direction as in the original trunk in the forest. This is so the bees can find their way back into the hive and not smash and kill themselves upon returning. One of the bees took a liking to me and landed on my watch/hand. We got to sample the honey inside the hive via a syringe that Tony filled up. The younger honey is very sour compared to the old more mature honey which is sweeter. As the honey ripens, it gets darker in color also.

After the stingless bee demo, Castellano, one of the leaders of the village, led us into a small museum. He talked to us about the history of the Maijuna and how they were enslaved by the Spaniards. He showed us the earring gauges that men used to wear to stretch out their ear lobes, and even taught us some Maijuna expressions. In another room, Castellano talked about the way people would call the village together by using a giant mortar and pestle that makes a loud sound when the two pieces are banged together. That signaled it was preparing “aguaje” (palm fruit) juice time. As the men peeled the fruits, women smashed the fruit, and the children pressed it through finer sieves to make it into a juice that was drunk in that moment as a whole community.

Castellano talked about the sustainable method they use to harvest “aguaje” fruit with a harness since back then they used to cut the tree down to obtain the fruit. Additionally, he mentioned how a community member taught them how to hunt with rifles and other weapons to obtain other food sources besides fish and produce.

Shortly afterward, we departed back to Napo Lodge for a break and then lunch. After lunch, we heard from a local Maijuna member who works with the scientist, from the Detroit Zoo to obtain camera trap footage. He and a group of other locals help install and repair the cameras around the forest floor. The video footage included, big cats, such as jaguars and ocelots, to small birds, anteaters, and deer, to name a few.

I went fishing with Marie, Erland, and Moises, but we didn’t catch anything. The fish at Napo are bread lovers not meat lovers!

After 2pm, we returned to the community and this time we had a chambira palm fiber workshop. The local women “artesanas” (artisans) explained and demonstrated how to harvest the palm leaves and take them off the branch. The branch is covered in spines, so the woman told us to be careful. I jumped up to volunteer to help remove as many leaves as possible from the branch and then helped distribute two to each community member.

The ladies went around trying to help us obtain the smaller fiber to make a bracelet. I was no good at obtaining the chambira on my own. Afterward, we were able to purchase goods from the “artesanas” to support their craft. I presented the community with the donations/gifts that we brought. I expressed how thankful we were to be there and how they made us feel welcomed. I also mentioned how we would all hope to come back and experience it all over again one day.

We took a picture with the community. We also took another FFT picture because Debby had forgotten her sign. And lastly, we took a “los pescadores” pic.

When we had some downtime back at the lodge, I hung out with Moises, Jhoanna, and Erland. We talked about their “river beaches” and other areas of Peru that are beautiful. Moises went to a sand dunes park where he “surfed” on his belly down. They also asked me to ask the bartender at Napo how much the raincoat costed 😂 . We all bet it was $10, but it was only $5. It wasn’t as overpriced as we thought it would be for a cheap piece of plastic. 🤷🏻‍♀️

After dinner, we heard from Megan and Michel. Megan debriefed the visit with the Maijuna and Michel talked about the government’s proposed highway that would bisect the area of protected land that belongs to the Maijuna-Sucusari and other indigenous groups.

The only species I saw on the way back from Napo on the boat was a tree frog, thanks to Becca’s trick with the eye shine!Read more