Can you imagine 100 mothers gathering to
compete in a soccer tournament on Mothers Day? My mother certainly wouldn’t have considered it. Would yours? But in the Shipibo community of Patria
Nueva in Amazonia that is how Mothers Day is celebrated. Most of the women live in Patria Nueva
but others made the journey through the rain in overloaded canoes.
We were invited by Alfredo Salinas of The
Nature Conservancy and his friend Pepe, one of the organizers of the
event. We, too, traveled by boat,
a two-hour journey from Pucallpa across Laguna Yarinacocha, down the Ucayali
River and finally upstream on another obscure – to us – river. There were seven of us on our boat,
which seated four, and was powered by a “Johnson,” the generic name for all
outboard motors. The Ucayali River is the main highway from Pucallpa north and
is used by huge barges loaded with giant logs and dozens of smaller boats
packed with people and cargo.
Patria Nueva was wet and muddy when we
arrived and the sun made everything steamy and hot. As expected Connie and I were the only gringos present and
our group were the only non-Shipibos.
While the village women prepared a late lunch of chicken, rice and
potatoes for us we set up our mosquito nets supported by chairs stacked on top
of desks in one of the school’s classrooms It was something less than ideal but for one night only we
could manage. The lunch was the
only meal we were to have. Good
thing we brought some fruit and snacks for emergencies.
While Pepe
was arranging the events Connie and I slipped away for some birding. Soon we were joined by the usual
suspects, a group of 10-year old boys.
They speak Spanish but are more comfortable in their native language. The only word I learned is “ee-sa”
which means bird. The mosquitoes drove us inside around dusk and we had some of
our snacks.
Pepe began
his slide show at 7:30 out on the football field with power from the community
generator. It was a juxtaposition
of the beauty of Amazonia and the devastation caused by irresponsible mining
and logging with a video showing some of the scientific research going on in
the area. Pepe gave the Spanish
commentary while one of the villagers translated into the local language. There was a good turnout and I hope
they understood the message, especially the kids.
Despite the
mosquito repellant and the bed net the critters had a busy night. I didn’t spray my socks so my ankles
are a mess. Several dozen attacked
my bum when I squatted over the latrine and it only takes a few inside the
netting to find your tender spots while you sleep. Also I am too old to sleep on a hardwood floor! Morning finally arrived and with it
lots of rain. When it slowed we
went to the river to look for birds and were treated to the sight of an Amazon
River dolphin. Neat!
When started
to rain again we took shelter in the old school whose rear wall is missing so
we could look for birds. As
boatloads of people began to arrive from other villages their kids were all
sent to the old school, the only dry place around. We ended up entertaining them. We let them look through the binoculars, took their photos,
did numbers, colors and body parts in Spanish and English and tried a game of
“Simon Says” (Simon Dice??)
The football
began around ten after sonorous speeches, patriotic songs, a pledge of
allegiance and the national anthem. Seven teams of women competed in a wet and
muddy single elimination tournament on a field that looked more like a
lake. They were surprisingly good
and very aggressive. There was a
lot of splashing and sliding in the pouring rain and everyone seemed to have a
good time except the babies whose moms were playing. They couldn’t wait for the game to end and the nursing to
begin.
We left for
Pucallpa at two. It rained most of
the way and we drifted for a bit while the driver refilled the gas tank. There were no taxis at the port so we
had to walk a quarter of a mile into town before we found one. Back at the hotel even our lukewarm
shower felt good. We hope a few
doses of Caladryl will take the sting out of the bites and stop the itching.
