Making the world my home

I had the chance to drive from Mexico until Patagonia, and from Patagonia to the Caribbean in Venezuela. That took me little bit more than three years, and during that time I had the chance to visit, and to live, in 16 different countries. It was a revealing experience that changed me forever. Amongst all the stories I collected, there is one that took me far away from the things I knew until then. An experience that showed me a completely different reality from the one I knew; in which I found myself being happy, free and adventurous.
It happened in the Ecuadorian amazon. I got in contact with a member of a community called Wachimak. This is a native community situated two hours –walking- away from the Napo River, right in the Ecuadorian amazon. To get there it took me around four hours; first a one-hour drive from the closest town: Tena; later I had to take a boat to cross the Napo River, which took me little less than an hour, and finally a two-hour walk in the mud, all surrounded by huge trees, strange noises and delicious smells. I could barely keep the peace of the guide I was following: a young woman member of the community. We were entering the jungle, and it was quite amazing already.
Once we got to the community, I was all covered in mud and amazed by the landscape that surrounded me. The woman who was my guide, asked me to take my clothes off and sit on a little wooden chair, in front of which there was a pot with herbs and boiling water. They were going to purify my soul, because it was my first time in the jungle, and therefore, I was an easy prey for evil spirits that inhabited the place. They –my guide and three other women from the community- were giving me a bath that should clean my soul and get me rid of those evil spirits that could have took my spirit while I was struggling in the mud.
The next three days I found myself fishing and collecting fruits from the trees to be able to have a meal served on the table. I slept in the most terrifying darkness while listening to the strangest noises I have heard until now. At the beginning I was too impressed to enjoy it, but after the first night I could understand much more of the place, its people, and of course its animals…