Amazon People

Early one evening on the way back from exploring along the river, we stopped at this small town, Oran, along the river. It was a holiday and folks were just relaxing and waiting for the bigger celebration later that night. This village has a very important piece of public infrastructure, a paved sidewalk though the village, very nice and handy. I was left with the impression that most villages along the river lack this feature.

The guide described this as the typical jungle house. On stilts above ground - protection from the high water floods and the snakes. Note the hammock outside. They all have them.

Some timid children checking us out.

Volley ball was very popular, especially among the women of all ages. There were several games going on at different places.

The young men, however, were engaged in a serious game of futbol -- serious because they play for money. The guide asked if we wanted to play (we declined). Apparently, a lot of guests like to play with the locals. Again, they play for money and, like most South Americans the locals are very good. I was left with the impression that playing against tourists was a significant revenue source for the town.

Our last afternoon, the guide took us over to a small village, consisting of four or five families, named San Gregorio. The purpose was to buy some handmade items from the villagers. Our guide has this vision of tourism generating enough business to preserve such villages. This is not a fake village, like some near Iquitos,where the locals dress up as natives for tourists.

When we arrived, the village was largely empty, with all the men away fishing or working elsewhere. There were some women and children who invited us into a larger covered area where their goods were displayed. It was a lot of fun shopping and the children were so serious and cute (and I failed to get any pictures). Anyway, we bought a few things and probably paid too much for them.

The village has livestock. In addition to the chicken and pigs there were some cattle (beef, not dairy). One of homes displayed a jaguar skin (of which I also failed to get a picture), a little controversial since they are a protected species, and there are only a few around. Apparently, a jaguar had entered the village and killed some livestock. So one of the village men solved the problem by taking a several days long hunting trip deep into the jungle and found and shot the jaguar. There was general agreement in the village and by our guide that in those circumstances that was the proper thing to do.

The rack in the background is for drying fish. Although it seemed to me that there was plenty of suitable land for crops and gardens, the villagers really aren't into that. Their tradition is one of eating fish and livestock and picking fruit. They are not farmers.

At the time, there was an election in Peru coming up and, as evidenced by the campaign sign, the politicians had not forgotten about the votes in the remote Amazon village of San Gregorio.