Chinimp Tuna

This past week I have been volunteering in a different community in the Amazon called chinimp tuna. This tribe is a little deeper into the Amazon than the last community i was at and the scenery is alot more beautiful. It is surrounded by different rivers and streams that we can bathe and go swimming in. I feel alot more invlovled with the people here and they included us in all the events that are happening and invite us to eat their traditional food with them such as larvae and ants. Although most of the time they feed us quite nice with chicken, pork, fish or rice.

The first day we arrived was a bit of a chaotic one because we happened to arrive on the sae day that a huge part was going on, and almost every single person there was completley hammered out of their minds. ome of them have been drunk since the morning the day before. Every 5 minutes I had to deal with these people coming up to me and asking me the same questions like a hundred times. They also bring this traditional drink around called Chicha which is made from the women of the tribe who chew this plant and spit it back into a bucket and this drink is essentially their spit in a cup that you drink. I have tried it a few times and cannot deal with it anymore. Every time is comes my way i always get up and walk away before it reaches me or I make up an excuse so that I wouldnt have to drink it.

Later on in the week we all had the opportunity to participate in the daily activities that they do such as collecting fruits and plaintains from the jungle or go spear fishing with them in a nearby river where I acually caught 2 fish which we later had for dinner. We were also taken on a pretty sweet hike deep into the jungle to explore a waterfall in which the community is named after. For the weekend we were taken to a pretty big party deep in the jungle at a locals house where there was a huge celebration involving member of the government to celebrate a new bridge that had been built there to help connect nearby villages. Before the bridge they had to swim or take a small raft across. In honour of the bridge being built that killed a pig and cooked it for dinner.

All in all this week has been very enjoyable for me and I feel alot more appreciated and welcomed here than at the community before. They even made us all gifts like bracelets and necklaces made from seeds from the jungle as a token of appreciation. As for this next week I am going even deeper into the Amazon to stay a week in a community. This community will be the most remote village I will be staying with on this trip. I have heard people telling me that most of the people there have not even seen a car in their life. After that I think I will be returning to this community I was just at for a little while longer. Thank you for reading and I will post again next weekend when I go back into town.

- Justen