When we returned home from our walk in the jungle, the women had opened shop in the house, displaying an impressive variety of beautiful hand crafted items. Lots of jewelry and other smaller items, made mostly from seeds, feathers and various woods. There were some very interesting animal carvings that the men had made. Very simply carved with not much adornment or decoration, yet quite realistic. Fish decided he wanted this 2 1/2 ft. tall life size macaw, carved out of balsa wood by Don Juan himself. We had a new friend to travel with for the rest of our trip! As I write this, I sit in my living room at home, more then 2 years later, looking at our macaw, who we named Don Juan. He is a piece of the jungle, a presence in our home. Created by and containing the energy of this man, one of the few remaining traditional shaman of the Shuar tribe.
The outside of and front entrance to Don Juan's home. Up the ladder steps and beyond that doorway is a large open room, which was used as the dining area by day. By night all the tables and benches were pushed to the edges of the room and the room was used, first for a healing ceremony, and then as a sleeping room. The house was very open to the environment, and to live like this is to truly live WITH the jungle. Their homes were the last of the traditional style homes left in the village of Shaimi. The thatched roof and hand hewn beams have been replaced with buildings of cinderblock and metal roofs.
HIs son's home, directly next door.
Don Juans wife and some of his children and grandchildren on their front step.
We thank Don Juan for his generous hospitality, for sharing with us his traditions and knowledge and for keeping the flame of goodness burning in this world gone mad. We only spent 2 days and one night here, but the exchanges we had with this family brought us all to a deep deep level of awareness; of the constant crisis of progress, especially in relation to indigenous peoples, and people who live so in such close relations with the natural world. There are so few of these traditional indigenous people left in our world, that by the time someone like me finds my way to them, they are already on their way out... truly disappearing before my very eyes. It is an honor, a beautiful part of my life and a great joy to me that I have been witness to so much, but it always humbles me and fills me with a deep sorrow to understand that I am witnessing the last of what was. Possibly some of the last connections that humanity has with living in balance on our planet. A whole universe of understanding and perspective, so different from mine, and so profound in it's ways, a universe that I am witnessing as it is snuffed out like the flame of a candle. I think everyone in our group experienced this understanding wash over them at some point on this morning. It was an emotional goodbye and it was our greatest desire to make sure Don Juan understood our gratitude to him on every level. Meeting him was life changing.
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