Update – New Community Paltacocha

Community Paltacocha
After a half hour bus ride, we arrived at Los Rios, which is a small collection of wooden buildings on the edge of the River Napo. River Napo is a tributary from the Amazon River, and is between 1-3 miles wide. Here, we found the Paltacocha teacher waiting for us with a canoe. We jumped aboard, and after a stunning 45 minute canoe ride we arrived at, well, a river bank into the jungle….It was the first time we had visited this community, and I think we had underestimated quite how far it was.

Carrying all our stuff (with a lot of help from some of the parents who had come to meet us!) we set off on the hour walk to the community. Unfortunately this is an hour JUNGLE walk, so involved a lot of hills, a lot of mud, and a lot of falling over…Eventually we arrived (muddy and sweaty), and crossed the small wooden bridge to the community (dodging the holes). This community is a lot bigger, and it seemed that everyone had turned out to meet us. Luckily some of the boys were playing football so most people were engaged in the match.

We sat down, and were immediately presented with glasses of what I can only describe as gone off tequila (someone had mentioned me and Helen were ill – jungle remedies!). Gulping that down, we were then given bowls of chicha – the indigenous Kichwa drink made from Yuca and water. You have to drink the whole bowl, and with a glance at each other, we gulped it down –knowing full well we wouldn’t be getting out of there without a stomach bug!

The parents and kids gathered round, and we presented the Christmas parcels, and some second hand clothes Helen had brought out with her. The teacher translated everything into Kichwa, as a lot of the community do not speak Spanish well or at all. We were then all presented with traditional Kichwa necklaces, as a token of thanks by the kids.

With Paltacocha, as the members are mainly Kichwa, we are planning a different project. Kichwa jewellery is made from plant fibres and seeds, and is incredibly beautiful. We presented the idea to the community, that if they made enough of the jewellery, we will bring it back to the UK and sell it at a profit here. All the money will go back to the people who made it, with a percentage going to the school. This idea went down well, especially with the women in the community who are now planning to build a small hut specifically for making the jewellery.

Finally, as a further gesture of gratitude – we were invited to look around the school and then have lunch. The teacher had described it as a “typical dish” and neither me or Helen were worried, having spent so much time in the region – we thought we knew what we would be expecting – yucca and fish! Unfortunately, it was very very typical and we were presented with a buffet of worms, snails, roast cocoa beans, small fish and yucca. We sat at the table whilst all the parents sat around in front of us, watching us eat – no getting away with hiding the worms! We ate what we could, and then it was time to say good bye and make the long journey back to Tena.