Breaking the Routine
ECUADOR | Thursday, 15 May 2014 | Views [246] | Scholarship Entry
Receptive. If I had to describe how the indigenous family in the Ecuadorian amazon were towards the two travelers who decided to grab their few belongings, along with a rented tent, and venture themselves inside the forest without any ideas or directions, that's how I would say the family was.
At first they were not understanding at all what we wanted, why not go along with travels agencies trips and packages for meeting the amazon?
But we wanted more; we were craving for the experience of seeing and feeling with our eyes how they truly lived, no commercial dances and face painting for the tourist. What we were looking for was to understand how they spent their days, what they ate and how they saw the world, what we really wanted was to be part of them.
Even thou our initial communication issues they accepted to lend us some space on their garden with the chickens and roosters and extended us all their south-American kindness. They fed us with their typical food and fruits only found in that side of the forest, showed us for the first time actual cocoa plant and took us fishing in their boats during the night. All done with explanations of the sounds in the dark forest, which technique their fish net would gather more fish or how long their families been on those lands. Such experience showed us how fully they lived their lives even thou they had so little. But for them, the lack of electricity did not make their lives harder, only gave them the unique view of all the stars in the sky and let us see a real twilight. Even if they didn't have running water, they could enjoy sitting on the stone banks by the river that was near their house and let the water sooth their backs.
After a night of having curious roosters jumping on towards our tent or having to chase them out so they would be quiet, we woke up to eat the breakfast we fished the night before. The usual bread and coffee on these areas is replaced with rice, fried fish in rich spices and some juicy fruits in order to give them energy to the day work. Thou our last meal was followed by our goodbyes and promises to come back one day, to try and come back to the place that showed us how little we know and how much do we still need to see. As the poet would say - This world is to big to be born and die in the same place.
Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip
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