Blog #5: Atuncaño – Learning to live simply with piranhas, shamans and blowguns in Amazonia.
Iquitos, Peru. The first time I was in South America was 1986, prompted by giving a talk at a scientific meeting in Rio de Janeiro. With an interest in going further into Amazonia than Brazil, I learned of a guy in Iquitos, Peru, who could arrange a stay in a remote village for me rather than the tourist lodges near either Iquitos or the Amazon River. I found him the first night after my flight into Iquitos. Along with food, beer and a few other things for me to take as gifts, we arranged for a motorboat driver to leave civilization (see picture of civilized Iquitos in those days) and take me and the supplies several hours down the Amazon River, then up the Napo River, and finally to the village of Atuncaño on the small Atuncaño River. As there was no means of communication with the village, the boat driver explained my presence to the villagers in their Quechua language and promised to return four days later.
Life in Atuncaño. I stayed with a young couple (see him climb liana from tree) and baby in an edifice on stilts with thatched roof and two woven sides (see picture on Blog Post page) to learn how the villagers lived. A few people could speak Spanish. Each night we would go out in dugout canoes, as the young man with whom I stayed loved hunting for “crocodiles” with machete; they were actually large caimans. We (well, not really me) were successful twice, so we ate the tasty critters each of the following days. It was quite exciting (!!) to have a dying crocodile flopping around in your dugout with the side only a couple inches above the water and knowing there were others in the dark waters lurking in case we capsized.
For those few days, I watched as people went about their work and play. For example, one man came back from successfully shooting a tapir with his rifle, which would then feed several families for a few days (see picture of him cleaning it).
Civilization on the Amazon River, Iquitos, Peru (1986)
My host climbing a liana in Atuncaño. Clean drinking water pours from some lianas when they are cut.
Hunter cleaning and dividing up the tapir he had shot.
Cleaning some of the piranhas we caught for our dinner.
The leaves of some water lilies are huge. A paddle from our dugout is laid on it for comparison. Next time we’re in the Amazon forest remind me to show you the type of tree where we can get the best paddles like that shown in the picture.
Dugout canoes are used for transportation – not just for crocodile hunting and piranha fishing. One day, I went with two guys in dugout canoes to go fishing for piranhas – I caught >100, viewing birds (e.g. flocks of noisy parrots) and 5-foot diameter lily pads. They also showed me many plants, trees, and animals (often insects) that had utility, including various medicinal plants and trees. Next time you’re lost in the Amazon, you should know that you can cut lianas from some trees to find plentiful safe, clear drinking water.
Shamans are powerful. On one of our hikes, we came to a small patch of cultivated plants, which we carefully skirted. It was planted with medicinal herbs by a shaman. One of many tales I was told about the shaman followed: previously, a young man of their village intentionally disrespected the shaman by defecating in a field such as the one we had encountered. As the man and his two friends continued, he began to feel ill. They returned to their dugout, and his friends started paddling home. As he lay in the bottom of the dugout, the man’s stomach began to swell, and he was in enormous pain. He died before they reached the village. Of course, the shaman’s prestige increased even more with this show of power.
Use of a blowgun in an even more remote village. We went hiking after taking the dugout to more distant areas. On one long day, we arrived at a village where they did not have guns but mostly used blowguns. I quickly learned to shoot one accurately (that’s me in the picture) and even won a contest hitting the Peruvian president on the peso bill stuck to a tree 30-40 feet away.
Sharpening a blowgun dart with piranha teeth. The plant fiber to make the wad for the dart is in the hand-made mesh bag; a wad around a dart is shown in the lower part of the image. For hunting, the dart tip would be dipped in curare.
Accurately shooting a blowgun is easier than I had previously thought. Youthful practice with a pea shooter pays off. Note you can even see the ejected dart at the end of the blowgun.
Mending your fishing net is critical.
Can you safely go in a river with piranhas? The village of Atuncaño lies on both sides of the Atuncaño River. The first two days there, I swam back and forth across the river at the evening or morning hour when people would bath while standing waist-deep in the river. However, no one else was swimming. I decided not to do that anymore either after I saw the water boiling with piranhas quickly cleaning the bones of the butchered tapir when they were tossed in the water. As they were so numerous, piranhas brushed against me while swimming. I was apparently safe because I had no injuries. Would they pick my bones clean if an accident happened while swimming? I decided not to test the hypothesis.
Oil extraction adjacent to the Rio Napo in Ecuador near the border with Peru (2011)
Many years later. Twenty-five years later in 2011, my wife and I spent a few days at Sacha Lodge on the Río Napo in Ecuador near the border with Peru. It is about 200 miles up the Río Napo from Atuncaño, but a million miles away in terms of luxury. The effect of oil development, evidently in the last 25 years, in the 50 miles we traveled downriver from Coca, Ecuador, to Sacha Lodge was a stark reminder of the threat of civilization on Amazonia. One must go at least as far as Sacha Lodge to get to wilderness.