Field Visit (Part II)

Last night in Diamante

After six nights, four days of workshops, and no days of showering, I think were all ready to head to Shipetiari (at least Melissa and I were). The native Shipetiari community is another partner and they are located on the northern bank of the upper Madre de Dios River, just over an hour away from Diamante, by boat. We left out early in the morning and trudged through Diamante waving goodbye as we went.

so cute and sweet.

Hanging out in Diamante with Humberto

Panchito!  Able guide and fellow lover of masato

Upon arrival is Shipetiari, it was apparent that we were in a very different place. This community is deeply embedded in the jungle and at only about 100 people, is much smaller. The access point is simply a muddy step from the river onto a jungle path and hardly visible from the boat.

The Shipetiari community belongs to the Matsigenka ethnic group and was formed in the 1970s. They are primarily made up of social groups and families that formerly lived within the Manu National Park. As of 2011, the community consists of 24 families with a total of 111 persons. Of these, 49 are adults (over the age of 18) and 62 are infants or juveniles.

The community maintains a range of traditional activities including artisanal crafts, weaving, spinning, basket weaving, celebrating monthly moon festivals, maintaining knowledge of natural healing practices, and creating and consuming traditional food and drink. However, there has been a recent decline in the traditional customs, likely because the community sees diminishing value in continuing them as access to consumer goods increases and the activities provide little economic return. Regardless of the increasing ease of consumerism, there remains pride in the community about the traditional practices, even if use is diminishing in a practical sense.

They speak Spanish as well as the indigenous Matsigenka language, which is used on a daily basis and is widely spoken by youth, indicting it is prevalent in society and will remain so for the time being. The community holds shared values of preserving the language, maintaining skills in weaving spinning, and in reciprocal work and shared use of the environment.

view from my BED!

Well this is nice!

outdoor jungle shower!  (we are in heaven)

We spent a good bit of time getting ourselves in some sort of presentable order.  This meant long showers and hand washing all of our clothing, which were in very very sorry shape.  Here in Shipetiari, we stayed in the tourist lodges that the community operates.  You can stay here too if you like!  It was amazingly comfortable and relaxing.  One side of the lodge is completely open and faces the jungle.  We really could have stayed here for much longer, but after getting stuck a few extra nights in Diamante, we only had two this time.

After settling in, Patricio called us to lunch, yelling our names through the jungle. We followed the direction of his voice and found the really lovely "cocina" where we would cook and eat our own meals.  It was a very nice setup.

All meals happened here - and we took turns cooking for one another

The community is very knowledgeable of the various plant and animal species in the territory – ranging from medicinal plants, edible fruits and tubers, and in recognizing two general types of timber species; the first consists of the kapok, sacsas, cumalas, copaiba, masses, pastures; and the second by screws, Cedars, catahuas, copaibas.

All community members are entitled to use any natural resource. The Shipetiari community leverages different natural resources depending on the forest type. These include “mitayo” (meat from forest fauna), which is roughly a 2-3 hour walk to obtain. There are non-wood products of value to the community, these too are a 2-3 hour walk and they are challenging to transport due to their bulk.

Deforestation in Shipetiari to build a community center.

Monkey!  

The allowed rate of timber removal is roughly 10 trees per household per year, though the level of wood allowed depends on the needs of the family. Each family is allowed to extract 5,000 pt per year for subsistence expenses, and 10,000 pt when it is to buy, for example, corrugated panels for a home or other costly materials. There is another exchange in which the villagers ask for wood according to their needs. For example, if money is needed to cover children’s educations costs outside the community, one may obtain permission for 30,000 pt. with approval from the Assembly. Wood is also official business in the community. In dealings with external entities (such as loggers), community members enter into a range of agreements with different payment structures and different balances of work obligations.



Community members express concern about the exhaustion of natural resources in the vicinity of the town, but it is unclear how pervasive this understanding is in the community. For example, although some reported timber trees to be an average of 2 to 4 hours on foot from the town, others believe there is still a wealth of screws to two or three hours away from the town. It is important to take information about the degree of recovery of the species in order to build a communal awareness of the future of their forests and wildlife.

amazing...but one of few

The community is primarily a subsistence economy based on hunting, fishing, and small-scale subsistence agriculture. They still uses arrows for hunting and does not wildly embrace the use of guns, fishing, relying on nets and boats, provides the a main protein source for the community. Subsistence farming consists of produce from many types of fruiting trees and bush, farmed vegetables such as cucumber, and maintenance of animals, such as chickens.

Operating primarily on the basis of a ‘gift’, or reciprocal, economy, typical reciprocation activities between families include agricultural assistance, fishing and hunting, transporting the sick to a nearby town, and borrowing boats or other key materials. Contributing to the broader community, activities include supporting the Ecotourism Lodge, clearing and maintaining the major paths, and working on the school or health facility.

Market economy activities include physical labor (such as loading wood and building infrastructure), providing services (such as fishing or healing), in sales of market goods (such as beer, detergents, and clothing), working in the communal lodge, and in interactions related to wood extraction. Logging (primarily through invited external loggers), tourism, and river transport are newer sources of external income. In recent years (since around 2006), the community has increased the intensity of wood extraction activities.

Thus far, a major development constraint has been limited access to market due to lack of infrastructure. Movement of any timber and/or market products must be transported by river, which can range from 3 to 8 hours depending on conditions and the destination, and uses a considerable amount of fuel. This has time, financial, and environmental costs.

Shipetiari has a primary school within the community while secondary school takes place in nearby communities of Shintuya and Itahuania. Currently, twenty young people are studying outside of the community to pursue the next level of education.

Health provision for Shipetiari is through a program to provide periodic medical care in the community (coordinated by the regional government). However, this does to little to offer emergency care and sustained illness can require long travels as far as Cusco to seek medical attention.

In all, our visit to Shipetiari was more relaxed than Diamante. We played volleyball, watched a few movies with the communities, and then played more volleyball.  Patricio won the award for most ridiculous fall (caught on camera by Melissa, below), while I was definitely the dirtiest participant after slipping in a huge mud puddle.  It was great fun and we all shared an Inka Cola ( the pop down here) by drinking our half glass, shaking it out, refilling it, and passing it to the next person.

Volleyball got intense

Melissa making herself useful

Ahhh...and then...after 10 days out of the city, we began our journey home.  Unfortunately, it was raining.  A lot.  The river was high and dangerous and flows the opposite direction from where we were heading - making it sloooow going.

Miraculously, we made it through to the town where our bus connection was.  Miraculously, a bus was there even though we were 3 hours late.  And was this bus miraculous!  (see below)  Besides the amazing decor, please also note the flowers and tassles and such - very Peruvian, it turns out this bus thinks itself an off-road vehicle.  It this bus we crossed streams, went down embankments, and rumbled over rocks.  We seriously were NOT on a road much of the time.  Our driver even got out a few times to wade into a stream to determine the depth, then hop back in the bus and gun it through!  After about the fourth time I decided to not worry and to just deal with whatever weird situation might come.  Anyhow, no one else seemed too upset (though Patricio did give me the universal 'fingers crossed' signal).

best bus ride ever so far

And just when I said to Melissa, "This is tied right now with the craziest bus ride I've ever been on" - the bus stopped. And we stopped for about twenty minutes while the driver watched over vehicles drive through a river - no joke ... a RIVER.  But the only things coming through were crazy off road pick up trucks.  After waiting and watching and not moving, a pickup truck pulled up and picked up a few folks.  Patricio hopped up and spoke with the driver and before I knew it, we were cramming our belongings in our bags and pulling out our ponchos.  Patricio had asked if we could ride in the back of the truck, in the rain, across the river and up into the cloud forest.  We DID - and it was super incredible.  We couldn't get our cameras so I'm waiting for a few pictures that Melissa captured in the phone.  I will post them asap.

It was one of those - 'oh my god I'm super alive' times.  45 minutes in the light drizzle open air zigzagging truck ride in the cloud rainforest (meaning higher altitude jungle...literally in clouds) with my friend telling me about pumas and orchids while we wind our way up the mountain, catching glimpses of the full river getting further and further beneath us while waterfalls gushing down at every turn.

the rain just won't quit