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| Heading to the “Best Place in the Jungle” |
Lili, an environmental activist from Guayaquil, participated in the Intercultural Meeting of the Cofán People that took place a few days ago in the community of Dureno (Sucumbíos, Ecuador). Now she tells us about her experience:
I undertook this trip after overcoming many obstacles. I live in Guayaquil and I realized how tied I am to many obligations; but my motivation to learn about the reality of the aboriginal people, their customs, their struggle and their resistance against the oil companies was much stronger. Because of all this and with the desire to continue getting to know Ecuador, I undertook a trip of about 16 hours to their territory in the province of Sucumbíos.
Being an hour and a half from our arrival point Lago Agrio and with the first rays of dawn, the first thing that struck me was seeing how people live in poverty among the most beautiful mountains, how trucks loaded with wood pass in line, and how many families sell wood outside their homes. Are there reforestation projects?
Hundreds and hundreds of km of pipeline run through the mountains and landscapes of Sucumbíos, the pipeline passes next to houses, crops, schools, underground, it looks like a big catheter sucking the blood of the earth. The cutting edge technology is a lie, you can see from afar how rusty and fragile the pipes are and the stories of spills begin to be heard when asking some of the travelers - one here, another over there - the same pipe looks very fragile and with many patches in some places.
After the stop at Lago Agrio, we arrived at Dureno, the land of the Cofanes. The air smells different. You have to cross by canoe to get to the other side and enter the community. We walked for about 10 minutes before seeing the first house. It was a tall, very beautiful hut. The people are very kind. Fidel opened the doors of his house to us and lent us his living room to set up our tents.
The first night we went to the video screening. Walking through the jungle at night for the first time is too much. Everything is so dark, it smells cold and fresh. The smells of the plants reach my nose completely pure. Everything has music, everything has life. We watched two videos, one about oil terrorism on their land and the oil companies' pollution on it, and another about the Sarayaku case called Sumak Kawsay, which is without oil. Hearing them speak in Cofán (A'ingae) is incredible. I don't understand anything, but they understand me because they all speak Spanish.
From early in the morning, the party started with chicha, traditional games, etc. I participated in two but I didn't win any, I was talking with the children, I taught two of them how to take photos with my camera and they took some photos, they are beautiful.
In addition to the music and crafts exhibition, they also read the history of the Cofanes. I would have loved to have been taught this at school.
Night came and we prepared for the yagé ceremony, with hammocks, blankets and well covered to sleep in the middle of the jungle.
The experience of the entire ceremony is indescribable, the sensations, the flavors, the sounds, the smell of the jungle, how pure the odors reach my nose.
The next day I painted with the children, they are very friendly, they are not at all afraid of not knowing me, they just sat down to paint with me.
After cleaning one of their hands, I returned to Fidel's house to rest. In the afternoon we went out for a walk. It got dark in the square, talking, laughing, and wondering how we were going to get back without a flashlight... With the light from our cell phone, half-dark, half-seeing, we returned, and before crossing the river we went further in to listen to the music of the jungle. It was incredible, hearing everything without the slightest noise interrupting was like listening to a symphony, seeing the Milky Way in the sky and the galaxies in the sky.
On the last day we began to prepare for the return because I had to return to Guayaquil to my responsibilities. After 16 hours of traveling I was back in the city, and everything seemed like a lie, and now I understand why many people are not aware of much of what we do in the city, of how much damage we do to the planet with our actions, and it is because we do not know any other way of living than the one we have, a simpler one, in constant contact with nature and traditions.
By: Lili
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