Hey. First I want to say thanks for the amount of information that goes around the Wilderness & Survival Skills forum. I´ve been lurking around here since the day I registered, it is my favorite section of bladeforums. There are things I have learned from you that I would probably not learn anywhere else, and I really appreciate it.
Last August, I managed to get myself on an expedition to the Koama Phoyaye tribe, of the Yanano people, in the high Amazon jungle. Pop: 122. I had been trying to visit native Indian tribes in the Amazon for quite some time, but this year I got lucky. You see, the access to most Amazonian tribes is controlled by state-sponsored South American organizations (like the Brazilian Funai). These organizations have an isolationist policy, and nowadays access is very restricted. There is an estimate that there are about 40 non-contacted tribes in the Amazon nowadays, and the powers that be want to keep it that way. The effectiveness of such policy is debatable, but the fact is that it is pretty damn hard for the regular Joe to visit these places. Even the tribes that have had contact with Western culture for decades, like the Yanano.
But there are regular expeditions comprised of doctors and anthropologists. A close friend of mine is one of these anthropologists. He had been trying to fit me into one of these expeditions, without success. I have no qualifications, and it was rare even for him (with his MSc and all) to go. These expeditions are financed by NGOs, and the positions are very limited. In this Yanano expedition, there were positions for 2 doctors, 2 anthropologists and a "helper", with no special qualifications required. It is common practice for this "helper" position to be filled by another doctor or social scientist, but the designated "helper" anthropologist bailed out due to personal problems, on a short notice. Very short notice. This friend of mine called me: "Hey Valle, how about you going to the Amazon tomorrow night? It is totally funded. You will be staying there for 45 days, supporting the personnel with whatever they need". I was in.
To cut the story short, running a great risk of losing my job (they were not very supportive), off I went to the Amazon. We took an airplane from the Brazilian city of São Paulo to the city of São Gabriel, in the frontier of Brazil and Colombia. From there, two guides led us by boat down the Uaupé river for 16 hours, stopping at an unmarked section at the margin. After two days of gruesome walk through a "trail" (it was not really a trail), we arrived at Koama Phoyaye.
It would be home for the next 45 days.
The purpose of this thread is just to share some of the pictures we took. I could write a book if I was to tell you everything that went through during our stay. It is hard for me to convey it all through some pictures, after all, to some of you the Yanano may look like your regular, rural, poor people. Let me tell you, they only appear so. To me, seeing how these people live was nothing short of mind-blowing. I assembled a pack with my favorite gear for this journey, and I soon realized I was expected to leave it all there, for them, as gifts. I confess I didn´t like this idea at first, but my egoistic thoughts gradually faded away as each day passed, with me living and sleeping amongst them, eating their food. There is this contradiction: they want the white man´s goods and technology, but they abhor becoming like white men. It was hard for me to understand how this works, but by the end I think I got a glimpse of how this can be. Most did not speak my language. It was only one of many beautiful, strange things I could not fully understand.
I came back with an empty rucksack, my clothes, my boots, and a different, dare I say better, view of the world. I can tell you it was a great experience. Perhaps the greatest of them all.
Last August, I managed to get myself on an expedition to the Koama Phoyaye tribe, of the Yanano people, in the high Amazon jungle. Pop: 122. I had been trying to visit native Indian tribes in the Amazon for quite some time, but this year I got lucky. You see, the access to most Amazonian tribes is controlled by state-sponsored South American organizations (like the Brazilian Funai). These organizations have an isolationist policy, and nowadays access is very restricted. There is an estimate that there are about 40 non-contacted tribes in the Amazon nowadays, and the powers that be want to keep it that way. The effectiveness of such policy is debatable, but the fact is that it is pretty damn hard for the regular Joe to visit these places. Even the tribes that have had contact with Western culture for decades, like the Yanano.
But there are regular expeditions comprised of doctors and anthropologists. A close friend of mine is one of these anthropologists. He had been trying to fit me into one of these expeditions, without success. I have no qualifications, and it was rare even for him (with his MSc and all) to go. These expeditions are financed by NGOs, and the positions are very limited. In this Yanano expedition, there were positions for 2 doctors, 2 anthropologists and a "helper", with no special qualifications required. It is common practice for this "helper" position to be filled by another doctor or social scientist, but the designated "helper" anthropologist bailed out due to personal problems, on a short notice. Very short notice. This friend of mine called me: "Hey Valle, how about you going to the Amazon tomorrow night? It is totally funded. You will be staying there for 45 days, supporting the personnel with whatever they need". I was in.
To cut the story short, running a great risk of losing my job (they were not very supportive), off I went to the Amazon. We took an airplane from the Brazilian city of São Paulo to the city of São Gabriel, in the frontier of Brazil and Colombia. From there, two guides led us by boat down the Uaupé river for 16 hours, stopping at an unmarked section at the margin. After two days of gruesome walk through a "trail" (it was not really a trail), we arrived at Koama Phoyaye.
It would be home for the next 45 days.
The purpose of this thread is just to share some of the pictures we took. I could write a book if I was to tell you everything that went through during our stay. It is hard for me to convey it all through some pictures, after all, to some of you the Yanano may look like your regular, rural, poor people. Let me tell you, they only appear so. To me, seeing how these people live was nothing short of mind-blowing. I assembled a pack with my favorite gear for this journey, and I soon realized I was expected to leave it all there, for them, as gifts. I confess I didn´t like this idea at first, but my egoistic thoughts gradually faded away as each day passed, with me living and sleeping amongst them, eating their food. There is this contradiction: they want the white man´s goods and technology, but they abhor becoming like white men. It was hard for me to understand how this works, but by the end I think I got a glimpse of how this can be. Most did not speak my language. It was only one of many beautiful, strange things I could not fully understand.
I came back with an empty rucksack, my clothes, my boots, and a different, dare I say better, view of the world. I can tell you it was a great experience. Perhaps the greatest of them all.
