Di forest the forest
Allot of things are happening in the Amazon when it comes to logging… on the other hand when it comes to blogging… well that is a totally different matter, as I am moving from one river to another and talking to monkeys seems to be the best way to get a message around.
Many companies are trying to get wood, and carbon points, in a legal way from the native communities. The new approach is that “all” sides would win, but do they?
http://patrickbodenham.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/carbon-cowboys-in-the-peruvian-amazon/
The case there is quite complexed. Going there in a few weeks, but only as a friend.
In the meantime, today, the newspaper La Region publish an article about another contract being signed with another native community.
Interesting to look deeper into it. I might. No promises, as I want to get away from civilisation again ASAP.
About pictures and captions
Too small letters to manage the HTML from iPod touch. Sorry if it all looks a bit messy.
BTW, the spiky trunk is the 1.5 years old Lupuna Roja. Could you believe this??
On a personal note
[To Jules, Greg, Mette, Runar, Anwar, Purdie, Mai, Tal, Rahima and all the many many whom i love]
Got to the village, outside which I used to live.
Strange to be a part of a community I never wanted to be a part of.
At the port the neighbour came running asking me to come in his canoe. After 3 hours of river journey (best medicine) I already knew all which i had been missing and all about how much money each member of the community is not making (in other words, can we work for you in any way at all ?)
My house is no longer standing but the little kitchen for making medicine, which i have built with my bare hands is (made out of sacred sticks I was cutting, ropes made of bark, no nails, no floor- it has no value, so it is still standing.)
Three minutes after reaching the land I already had visitors bringing gifts in the form of fruits and asking for remedies for their alinements. It felt nice; the community, but I left my heart somewhere, in a none defined community in the SW of England. A level of friendship I seem to have developed a longing for (together with cliffs and waves).
My hummock is hanging in the big house, which was not taken down, a suitcase (I had to break into) with my plant medicines, plant books, Pharmacoteon in Spanish (the book- shelf was not touched. Not even for dusting), eagle feathers, a bag of clothes with monkey pee, my Crocs, paintings, maps and books from the petrol companies, sandpapers, natural resins and stuff I used to use to make art from ayahuasca wood (with coca and gold and such), a prayer of st Fracisco de Assisi I got from Charlotte in Mapia, a handmade Sami bracelet a mother of a lover made, a notebook with a letter to Greg I still did not read… Perhaps I should only go to places I have never been to before??
The trees are making sounds of rain but it is only their leafs singing. It is hot. The strong sun is drying my newly aired possessions (the big house is always fresh and humid). My improvised solar panel might work after all.
The water just went down after the highest level of flood since recorded history. Meaning, the well is full of mud and the water would come from the creek in which they wash their clothes and slaughter their chickens. I stick to coconut water for drinking.
I step back and observe the waves of my soul. I am peacefully healed and i wollow in pain in waves. Big and small waves. Yesterday pain turned into anger, which was refreshing. Angry with myself for always going out of my way helping others achieve the resolution of their wishes, never considering the price i am paying. I can keep doing exactly the same things, only with less efficiency and more self love.
Keeping a Magical Diary makes me face myself day after day. No running away. Learning to observe. Learning to accept me.
A gigantic spider is trying to climb the clock. It is decays this clock is showing the correct time twice a day.
No matches and no light-stick. I’ll have to use two pieces of wood…?
My baby Lupuna tree, that was 80 cm tall, is now 5 meters high.
The leaf roof is creeping with lizards (and holes). Dale Dale is growing everywhere, a potato-like root which is considered to be “the jungle’s Viagra”, and two massive palm trees are heavy with Aguaje fruits- hormone filled fruits accused of being responsible for all the pregnancies and all the girls being born in the area (apparently 6 girls for each boy and not a small number of the boys chose to be girls). A living pharmacy and no one to share the fun with.
Going to get a coconut, some sugar canes and some Lupuna Bark for my Husmbisa tobacco snuff.
A mosquito full beauty full clear night.
Carbon Cowboys
Carbon Cowboys are fighting over natives’ rights for their lands.
Stay tuned!
Election in Peru
It is all about fashion
Today is election Day in Peru. The choice is between a Japanese girl dressed up as a native, or the upper class dressed up like workers.
Peru is an emotional country, no need for content it’s all in the looks.
May the best PR adviser win.
Mother Earth
"Mother Earth", by David Hewsen
This beautiful latest (?) guilded painting by David Hewsen, Mother Earth, is 4 X 8 feet and was installed, on the 9th of January, in the entrance of a heart center for a hospital in the states. David Hewsen started it about a year ago and it was inspired by a doing a native ceremony outside of Cusco, Peru.
David Hewsen’s unique artwork carries within it the heart and beauty of the Amazon Jungle, in which he lives, and its inhabiters: plants, animals, people and mythological beings alike.
More of his art can be found on his web page amaruspirit.org together with links and information about the other aspects of the jungle… the uglier truths of contaminations, roads buildings, injustices and deaths. Well worth a visit!
Peru’s President denies the existence of Voluntarily Isolated Indigenous People.
Amazing new footage of a tribe under voluntary isolation from brasil.
One of the new threats to these tribes are the migration of Voluntarily Isolated Indigenous Peoples from Peru, escaping illegal logging and oil companies.
Peru’s president, Alan Garcia, has publicly suggested the Voluntarily Isolated Indigenous Peoples do not exist. In an article published in Peru’s El Comercio newspaper in october 2007, he is quoted saying:
“Against oil, they (the environmentalists) have created the figure of the ‘uncontacted’ native jungle dweller; that is, unknown but presumed, and thus millions of hectares cannot be explored, and Peru’s petroleum must remain underground while the world is paying US$90 per barrel. They prefer that Peru continue importing its oil and getting poorer.”
PLEASE watch the footage and sign the Petition urging Alan Garcia to Protect the “uncontacted” tribes of Peru!
