Life carries on up the Amazon

I smile as I watch Natasha eagerly paddling her canoe to a nearby village to collect rice. She returns shortly after with a small white bag and some change placed neatly behind her.
10 year old Natasha mastered getting around the rivers near her home village of Fatima in the Peruvian Amazon many years ago, and the recent flooding of her village does not seem to deter her. In fact, it does not seem to deter anyone. Even now, as the Amazon has risen to its highest recorded level, no-one seems to complain.
With most of the villages 100 houses almost totally submerged, and a similar situation for hundreds of miles up the river, this would be considered a disaster in many places. Here, life seems to carry on as normal. With the school closed, children help with waterborne errands, and enjoy the chance to swim with friends. The shopkeepers take advantage of selling gasoline to increased river traffic. The women take advantage of closer water for washing.
Lifestyle adjustments leave most people living in an environment reminiscent of the movie Waterworld. Some families move themselves and possessions out of their houses and onto small boats, others build wooden platforms higher up in the house and wait there for the water to retreat.
Used to a culture where such incidents are met with panic, I find this show of optimism incredible. Marooned on a small wooden platform for weeks, Natasha and her family amaze me with their outlook. Yes daily life is harder, crops will be destroyed and rebuilding work will be necessary. But for now you may as well make the most of the situation.
Maybe it’s the stronger bond between people, the re-assurance that even without government or insurance company assistance, people will help each other carry on and rebuild when needed. Or maybe it’s just the simpler way of life, with a much closer to nature survival instinct. Whatever it is, I have rarely spent time with happier families, in good times or bad, as here in the flooded Amazon.