Naturally, but sadly, one of the favourite foods of the Huaoranis is monkey, and although they are aware that, like themselves. the herds are also rapidly diminishing, they need to hunt for their families and cannot worry too much about the future of the monkeys, especially as their own future is so uncertain. However, they never kill wantonly and they respect all creatures as well as the rainforest. The Huaoranis like to keep animals such as monkeys and parrots as pets, but in difficult times would not have any qualms about killing them for food. They will sometimes keep an eagle but would never kill it, as they revere it as the king of the air and admire its ability to fly so incredibly high and over such great distances. The Huaorani girls marry at very young ages, usually around 12. The girl and the boy are placed together in a hammock and the next day the girl must gather some cassava and prepare a meal. Once the food is eaten the couple are encouraged to copulate and are then considered fully married. Because of inbreeding, babies will often be born with six or more fingers or toes. The wives carry their babies in slings made of bark, worn around their necks and over their backs. If a man is sick or even dying he can request that his favourite child sleeps with him and is even buried with him. It’s considered an honour and is not refused, but you can always tell the cleverest girls around; they are the ones who don’t get on too well with their fathers!
On special occasions, at celebrations and festivals, the Huaoranis put on their ‘jewellery’, mainly animal quills, feathers and decorative leaves, and the musicians will play their rather monotonous bamboo pipes and wear rattles of seed fruits to create some further sounds and movements. There are many reasons for celebration including marriage, good harvest and victory in battle, and they can last for several days. There is a great belief in the magic of the forest and the tribal witchdoctor is called upon to perform whenever there is some great trouble or need. However, if he doesn’t come through he may experience in retribution some anger which can spill over into actual violence. The Huaoranis are a ‘stone age’ tribe with a special history, and should be nurtured and encouraged instead of being forced to hide for fear of being destroyed. They have tried many times to make a stand against those they consider to be intruders on their land, but the greater force used against them, as well as the powerful commercial interests ranged against them, have left them in a perilous state. At times over the years they have been known to kill missionaries and workers who have interfered in their simple and naturalistic lives, but this has only allowed their enemies to claim that they should be punished and are definitely the ‘savages’ of the original Auca description. If you steal from the Huaoranis, hunt them or take from them, they believe they can kill in return. Only this strange word ‘progress’ puzzles and defeats them. They do not want much and do not understand why others want so much more; why people will destroy anything and everything for what they desire, whether it is gold or silver, animal skins or the black gold.
A few decades ago, although this emotive story is still remembered and re-told again and again as if it happened only weeks ago, they made a strong example of one person to show the extent of their feeling at their harsh treatment. They kept watch near a camp of the Tivacuno Oil Company and when the cook came to the river to clean a tortoise they quickly and quietly seized him. His body was found the next day with 26 highly decorated spears sticking into it. He would have died instantaneously from one but they wanted to show that they were all committed together and they were not prepared to tolerate forever the injustices they have been made to suffer. Those Huaoranis burned their houses and fled deep into the jungle to hide from the authorities. The Huaoranis have killed others, and they may feel forced to kill yet more people in their efforts to make understood the depth of their feelings.
CHAPTER 10
MORE TRIBES AND TRADITIONS
Her smile is as wide as the street. The varied items she has for sale are spread across several tables, and the contrasting and vibrant colours demand my attention. I hesitate only for a moment and then am of course lost, as she quickly drapes several scarves around my shoulders to show how wonderful they are and what an improvement they make. With her better English and my poorer Spanish I find her a fascinating character, and it is great to be able to observe her many skills. She shows me a range of paintings stretched over small wooden frames and explains why some cost twice as much as others. ‘They’re mine,’ she says as she proudly points to herself and shows me the signature in the left hand corner and then with a flourish copies it onto a piece of blue sketch paper. They are excellent ‘primitive’ paintings, and mostly show scenes of wild animals, fishing boats, men in sombreros on horseback and women dressed in the same style as she is.
The painter is of uncertain age, wearing an embroidered blue blouse and large flowing skirt and has strong broad hands that are obviously used to being worked. Yet her delicacy with the paintbrush can only be marvelled at. Unfortunately I can’t carry any of her paintings with me on the mountains, but I show my admiration for her talent and enterprise by buying several brilliantly coloured scarves. She is just one of the many skilled artists and artisans I come across throughout my Ecuadorian travels and there are so many different traders, men and women, from different ethnic indigenous backgrounds that help to make up this multi-cultured society. Although there are rivalries between them it’s always dealt with in very good humour.
Probably at least a quarter of the entire population of Ecuador belong to or are connected with one of the many different indigenous tribes that still remain. The main ones are the Quichuas, the Huaoranis, the Shuars (also known as the Jivaros), the Awas, the Chachis, the Tsachilas (also known as the Colorados), the Otavalenos, the Mantas and the Canaris. There were many more small tribes existing in previous periods but they have either been destroyed by the hostile and violent actions of others from outside the jungle, or by misuse of their environment by prospectors and loggers. Some have been forced to ‘disappear’ back into the jungle they love and only they seem to understand. There are still some very small ‘stone-age’ tribes who remain well hidden within the jungle, periodically frightened by the huge silver and evil ‘birds’ that roar through the sky overhead. The tribes know, or have learned to their cost, that they must never be found if they are to survive.
The indigenous tribespeople orally pass on their history, their culture and their traditions as well as their family stories, from generation to generation, father to son and mother to daughter; nothing is ever written down. Their religion is based on belief in Mother Nature (Mama Pacha) and worship of the sun, the moon and the stars, the mountains and rivers and the snake (anaconda) and other rainforest and jungle creatures. The land is everything and it must be protected above all. Anything that destroys the land also destroys the people. Many indigenous people have died due to disease, neglect and expulsion from their tribal and ancient lands, and tribe numbers have been decimated so that some can now only be counted in their hundreds, whereas before the Spaniards came they numbered many hundreds of thousands or even more. That was their time, and they enjoyed the jungle and rainforest as their own. Above all, they enjoyed their freedom. It is impossible now to turn the clock back and the only way forward can be to observe and learn from the past. The here and now should be treated as the present that it is, allowing us all the opportunities to influence what the future will become.
The largest tribe of indigenous people in the whole country is the Quichuas, who number approximately 1,500,000 and are primarily based in or around the Napo and Pastaza Provinces. In the Morona Santiao Province, the Quichuas and the Shuars tribespeople live side by side and together they total around 100,000. Many indigenous tribespeople do not always have the language or the ability to count in large numbers, which are often related back to the number two. One will be used therefore to mean one and also approximately one, with five often being expressed as two and two and one. Invariably they like to live in smaller communities, where the number of others with them may not exceed the numbe
r they can count using their fingers, and possibly also their toes.
The Shuars speak Quechua, the language introduced by the Incas, as do the indigenous peoples of the Sierra, although the Amazon and Sierra tribes lead entirely different ways of life. The Oriente (Amazonas) tribes live in the jungle in their stilted houses and they farm a tiny area, a chacra, on which they grow vegetables, mainly cassava, corn and rice. The soil is poor and every few years they must leave and move on, to build a new house and cultivate a new area. The jungle quickly claims back the old area and very soon it’s as if they were never there. The burgeoning oil industry, however, constantly encroaches into their traditional way of life and threatens their lands, and they are harried by ‘progress’ and are always under threat.
Small numbers of indigenous people live in the coastal regions, primarily the Awas, the Tsachilas and the Chachis. The Tsachilas are famed for their shamans, the traditional medicine and wise men of the villages, always willing to dispense advice as well as medicine. Many Ecuadorians, including those living in towns and cities, use the shaman to provide jungle remedies and potions to deal with their problems of body and mind. The shaman can be asked to deal with all kinds of things ranging from a cure for malaria, to relief from anxiety, to providing a love potion. The tools of the shaman can include the whole range of plant and tree remedies, as well as guinea pigs, eggs, amulets, coloured dolls and their secret and guarded incantations and spells. This knowledge is passed down from generation to generation, usually from father to son, but sometimes from mother to daughter. All kinds of rituals accompany the passing over of this sacred information, as well as the secrets about cures, including the use of the jaguar, the anaconda, the caiman, the eagle and the incredible variety of spiders that abounds in the jungle and rainforest. The shaman’s specialised knowledge of the herbs that can be used to deal with numerous ailments is quite incredible and there are thought to be over 900 different plants they might use.
However, like the indigenous tribespeople themselves, the knowledge of the shaman is dying out, as the rainforest where these plants grow continues to disappear.
A ritual which is still practised to test the courage of a young boy and initiate him into manhood is to fashion a ‘glove’ of leaves, fill it with red biting ants, put his hand inside and see how long he can survive the pain. Afterwards special herbs are used to reduce the swellings and ease the pain. Most tribespeople chew the coca leaf and it has many uses in dealing with pain and sickness as well as providing pleasure. Chewing the powder alone can make a person delirious, so unless that is the purpose aimed for, it is mixed with fire ash.
The indigenous tribespeople of the rainforest in Ecuador, as in many other South American countries, can truly be considered ‘stone age’ as they go back to a time when they communed with Nature to a degree which is not easily understood in this very modern world we inhabit. Their relationship with Nature has provided them with special skills and a lifestyle that allows them to rise above the conditions we all too readily accept as ‘normal’. They had and still have the ability to ‘feel’ the forest, sensing the creatures within and communicating with them in a way which can be considered as possibly supernatural. They can even sense something before it happens and so can react to something simultaneously rather than re-acting afterwards. This ability has been described as a ‘precognitive flash’, a flash of insight into the future. It is part of the telepathic and extrasensory perception abilities that some people possess, although most of us do not. Perhaps we all had this ability once and it could still be rediscovered. This ‘sixth sense’ is such an incredible ability, it should be nurtured; we could all gain if they were encouraged to pass this knowledge on. Indigenous leaders from much of the Amazon Basin Region have started to collaborate in order to combine their greater strengths and promote an international appeal. They argue for more protection against those international companies who only seem to care about what they can extract from the rainforest, so little interested in who and what they contain, illustrating only too clearly that they lack the wider and longer-term viewpoint that the whole world vitally needs. Too many politicians will pay lip service to the rights of indigenous peoples without ensuring that effective action is taken to protect them. There are reports of tribal leaders, male and female, no longer being prepared to tolerate endless conferences and seminars on what is needed, but threatening to take stronger and more aggressive action to promote their cause. A saying that illustrates the abuse suffered over the centuries is expressed with considerable sadness: ‘Al Lomo del Indio’, meaning ‘On the Indian’s back’, referring to the days when those who considered themselves of high status even used the ‘Indians’ to fetch and carry them down from the mountains, as well as carrying their goods and other produce.
In the coastal areas, within the Esmeralda and Manabi Provinces and additionally in the Chota Valley in the Sierra to the north of Ibarra, there is also a large grouping of black Afro-Ecuadorians (known as Negro-afroecuatorianos). These people are descended from the African slaves who were brought over mostly in the eighteenth century. They have invariably retained their own way of life and love, song and dance, always using the rhythms of music to express their special cultures and customs. The bomba negra music is truly vigorous and exhilarating. They originally worked in the plantations and the mines owned by the wealthy Spanish landowners and were also used as servants in their sumptuous haciendas. These slaves were considered to be stronger than the ‘Indians’ and were given the hardest and toughest tasks. Slave trading was officially abolished in 1821, but it took until 1852 before slavery itself was totally illegal. Even then, the slaves still had few or no rights, and were left with outstanding debts to their ‘masters’, so they still had to continue as slaves in all but name. The current black population is estimated at around 1,000,000, less than 10 per cent of the total population. Sadly they generally still occupy a lower status generally, are known as ‘negritos’, and must live in a country where a lighter skin colour is still regarded as the preferred prize. Hopefully, that concept and attitude will eventually change in the way it has finally changed within the United States. What is definitely needed is an Ecuadorian Martin Luther King.
On the parámos, the indigenous people are called Chagras and are the ‘cowboys’ of the Sierra and the ranges, spending long days on horseback tending their herds of cattle and searching for strays. They are excellent horsemen used to riding through the difficult terrains without mishap. They are a tough, independent breed and are macho in spirit. The women are known as Chagrahuarmis and have a hard life but never complain, and certainly not to strangers; you get the impression they wouldn’t dare. Indigenous women have difficult lives in this macho society, and there are many divorces or separations and many instances of domestic violence. This has also led to a large number of children living rough and having to find their own precarious ways of earning monies to support themselves.
In this region work starts early, sometimes at dawn. At that time the temperatures are often below freezing so warm clothing is essential, and as well as the colourful poncho they usually wear thick leather trousers called ‘zamarros’. The further protection that you will not see them without is their local ‘trilby’. The indigenous people here live at high altitude with less oxygen, and are exposed to strong sunlight and winds, so consequently have developed a wide thorax and heavily tanned cheeks. The children often walk long distances to school, but if lucky they might hitch a lift on a llama and the willing animals will carry three or even four young children at a time.
Perhaps the most famous of all the Ecuadorian tribes outside the country are the Otavalos or Otavalenos, who are renowned for their constant travelling, particularly throughout Europe. They can often be found in squares and streets, playing their musical instruments and selling their handmade cotton and wool garments and their huge range of handicrafts. At home in Otavalo, north of Quito, they hold on a weekly basis the largest indigenous market in Ecuador, and proba
bly in the whole of South America. This market is based in the Plaza El Centenario and is still known as ‘Mercado de Ponchos’, although the poncho now only comprises a tiny part of what is on offer. The market has several different sections, the main ones being for livestock, fruits and vegetables of all varieties, some of which are not easily recognisable, as well as sections for textiles and pottery. If you can’t find what you want there, then it probably doesn’t exist! The main market is on Saturdays but there is also a daily one. The Otavalenos are renowned weavers, although it is the Salasacas tribe from the Banos area who are actually employed to do the weaving on behalf of the Otavalenos. The weavings are all extremely colourful and full of exotic and eccentric designs. There are rugs, jerseys, shawls, hammocks and of course many types of ponchos.
These colourful and exciting indigenous markets (ferias) are held regularly in towns along the Avenue of the Volcanoes, throughout the Sierra. Other interesting markets worth visiting are held at Guamote, Saquilisi, Zumbahua, Pujili, Cotacachi, Calderon, Tigua, Guano, Cacha. Every tribe wears different clothes and colours, which often relate back to the colonial times when the tribespeople ‘owned’ by a particular employer were made to wear different colour combinations to differentiate them from others. The Otavalenos women, for example, wear blue skirts and highly embroidered blouses while the men wear long ponytails, although usually tucked up inside their trilbys. The Saraguros wear black clothes, although this style is also thought to relate back to their ancient mourning of the death of the still-honoured Inca King Atahualpa.
Climbing The Equator Page 11
