Jungle life.

Dec 9-11 Misa for short.

We wake up at our usual 6am but don’t feel any rush to get out of bed, we are delighted to see that no critters joined us under the netting, although some did try. Brenda seen these same blue butterflies in Australia.

Elizabeth is a marvelous hostess, plans are in place for a bus ride into Tena for the morning so that she can take care of some errands and we get to experience the market with Doris, the chef at the Lodge. Doris is an energetic traveller, vegan chef, massage therapist, Yoga instructor and just simply and amazing young woman.

She was super excited to answer our questions about the produce in the market and in turn we helped her find ingredients for what would become some over the top meals. We joked that us carnivores  would survive without meat for a few days and that we were totally open to trying some vegetarian/vegan dishes.

What we did not realize is that she is quite the gourmet chef and over the course of our stay she just continued to nourish us with delicious meals and exquisite deserts. She has documented all these great recipes in a book, and for a small donation she will supply the link to the e-book. How great is that, and eco friendly vegetarian cookbook, I can’t wait to try some of the recipes when we get home. Here are a couple of examples of how we roughed it in the jungle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the reason for coming here was to see the Cacao operations, we put on some rubber boots and head into the jungle, machete in hand. The 12 hectare property takes a few hours to walk but we get to see the original Nacional Cacao trees growing and producing in this amazing environment. The Nacional trees produce yellow cacao pods from which the beans are extracted and sent for processing into 100% pure cacao powder. The buyers of the powder then process it into various chocolate products; powder, bars, skin care products, etc. The yellow pods are the original strain of trees dating back to the beginning of cacao in 600 B.C. when the beans were originally believed to hold great power. They later were used by the Mayans (250-900 CE) who integrated the cacao beans into their culture during ceremonies and even in their burial tombs. Later the Aztecs used the beans as currency because they held it in such high regard. The most famous Aztec ruler Montezuma was believed to have consumed up to 50 cups per day of the chocolate drink. Today chocolate is becoming a rare commodity as it only grows in a 1 degree band around the equator, this band is mostly water and small parcels of land relatively speaking. The largest area is in Africa, which Cadbury has tied up and also due to civil unrest there is no chocolate coming out of that area. Of all the remaining lands Ecuador grows the most cacao with a 25% world market stake.  

Elizabeth's horses.

Standing amongst the roots of a very large tree.



Typical jungle trail

Creating a typical jungle trail.

When we emerged from the jungle there was a tour group from South Africa just starting their tour with one of the guides. Elizabeth had slid down an embankment and agitated her already sore knee and thus needed to rest for a bit, she asked if I would mind starting a fire and roasting some cacao beans for the tour group.

This was great, I got to play with a machete in the jungle, play with fire, and roast some cacao beans. While doing so the group was asking about where I was from and how I came to be a guide in the jungle. I laughed and so did they when I told them that 2 hours earlier I was in their shoes and I am just not a normal tourist. The tour group was kids from St. Patrick, South Africa. Their teacher had lived all over South America and was introducing the kids to the experience of travel. He also invited us to South Africa and if we make it we just have to ask for the short, fat, bald guy and everyone would know who I was looking for. The kids roared with laughter as their teacher poked fun at himself. They also enjoyed the fresh hot chocolate made with whole milk, no pasteurizing here. Elizabeth joined the tour and I bowed out in order to clean up for supper, it had been an eventful day and between the jungle dirt and the smoke I really needed a shower.

Supper was once again prepared by Doris, with endless produce available she was in her own form of heaven, cooking and creating so as to provide nourishment to others. We had a delicious vegetarian meal with quinoa and cilantro salad, lentils, and sautéed fiddle-heads. Dessert was a hot mango custard with fresh peanut/sesame brittle and of course a chocolate ball made with pure 100% cacao.

What a day....

We woke the next morning to the distant sound of a rooster, he was a little early at 5am, so we closed our eyes and tried to get a little more sleep. This rarely works and after tossing about we decided to just get up. Doris had made a special oatmeal breakfast; now I have eaten a lot of oatmeal but this was by far the best ever. She soaked the oats overnight in milk, then added star anise, cloves, mango, raisins, and a touch of vanilla. When it was all cooked together and topped with fresh ground coconut it was absolutely incredible, ya I know...oatmeal. We both decided that before we left we have to make a donation and get her cookbook.

 The original plan was to go down river to a Kichwa village that produces honey, unfortunately the guide was not available so we decided to visit a different village that works with the healing plants of the jungle and also has a small animal collection. As our guide showed us plant after plant that had strong healing powers, we were once again reminded how off track our health care system is. Take a pill for everything and then take another pill to counteract the side-effects of the first pill. Here in the tradition Kichwa world they use plants and extracts that are found in their local jungle. They have plants that are used for birth control, arthritis, liver and kidney function, nasal infection and just about everything else. They also have plants that are a natural tranquilizer that is used for hunting, the animals are shot with an arrow that has been dipped in the serum, they can then be caged or killed depending on the situation. We bought some Dragon’s Blood, which is used for healing small cuts and insect bites. It works great.

From there we went to a second village for a Tillapa lunch, followed by a traditional dance and a visit with their Shaman. Tillapa is a fish that the local just can’t get enough of, they cook it in a banana leaf and serve it with Yuca and a bit of onion salsa. The traditional method is to eat with your fingers right out of the banana leaf, this also cuts down on the dishes because the ladies had to put on a dance after lunch. We are ushered into a large palm hut and are given a quick Chicha making demonstration followed by a traditional dance in which we were asked to participate. Chicha is a staple drink that is used as a nutritional supplement; it is not normally fermented with the exception of Christmas when the mash is fermented for 7 days to produce an alcoholic beverage for their celebrations. During the dance Brenda had a slight advantage because she could just copy the moves of the women, there were no other men present so I was not sure what was expected, I did the white-boy shuffle for a bit then the music stopped.

The Shaman visit was interesting; a fit looking middle aged man entered the hut wearing an animal skin “crown” and dressed in their version of hospital scrubs, a traditional blue pullover shirt with embroidery around the collar and waist, shorts and barefeet. He did a short chant followed by some whistling, all the time he smoked banana leaf and tapped our head with a reed grass pompom.

I am not sure what all he accomplished but I am open to these things and it was a good experience to receive his blessing. It reminded me of when I did a sweatlodge with the Nakota Indians at Morley, just West of Cochrane.

All this action was followed up with a relaxing afternoon of writing and relaxing by the river. Before we knew it Dorris was calling us for another amazing meal with an Indian curried carrot desert. Before bed we did some chatting with Elizabeth or a game of cribbage. How Canadian is that. We were awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of heavy rain. The hut we sleep in has a metal roof and the rain echoed loudly for a few hours, all I kept thinking was how wet the steep hill to the road is going to be in the morning.