Today we had a lazy day while our guides worked their butts off. We spent three hours poling down the river – well, Eloy and Edison poled while the rest of us searched for wildlife around the banks of the river. It was an absolutely perfect day to canoe down the Shiripuno river. Overcast with small bits of sun and rain. During the trip we spotted so many beautiful birds like the Toucan and the Macaw and different types of Heron. We also managed to see another type of monkey – the Duskitiki money. It was far away but so cool to see it running in the trees. Also at one point we heard a fairly loud howl or roar. First Uweme thought it was a howler monkey but then realized it was a jaguar! A jaguar was growling so close to us! Just the thought of that gives me goosebumps. Of course we couldn’t see it through the forest but knew it was right there.

After stopping at our campsite where we’d spend our last night, we continued downriver to another Huaorani community called Nenquepare. Here we got to meet the head of that community as well as 2 of the teachers and a bunch of children. The tribe had had a party at this community just 2 days ago. Members of the Huaorani from hours away by canoe came to the 2-day party! Apparently it was quite an affair. So we learned about the community and then Uweme and Edison and Roberto took to the hard work of making a fire the traditional way – with a stick, a piece of wood and a piece of cotton from one of the trees in the forest. This was another one of those times where everyone worked hard while we stood around and watched. I can’t imagine having to do that to get fire! Edison, who is 16 and will soon marry, was getting picked on. Apparently you cannot find a wife until you can make fire this way.

We spent some time hearing about how the government and oil companies had built them a new school and were even providing computers. It’s fascinating the mix of old and new here and it will be so interesting and perhaps scary to see how the Huaorani evolve with this mix of tradition and modernity. A new school with bright lights and solar panels sticks out like a sore thumb there and just doesn’t seem to fit nor to sit right with me. It feels like the tribe is being bribed for their land and aren’t getting close to a fair trade for it. It’s kind of sad…

We spent a lot of time listening to the stories of the community leader and his father. Tales of brutality with illegal loggers and folklore about how a father past away and came back as a jaguar. The tribe has such profound respect for the jaguar and you could see the pride in the face of a son as he spoke of his father.

It was pitch black when we returned to our campsite. We had dinner by the light of a headlamp and fell asleep in our tents to the sounds of insects and frogs and monkeys.