Giving a Living to a Life in the Rainforests of Peru

Now that we have been down here for about a month it is probably about time to describe the community of Chipaota where the majority of our work is being done.  Chipaota is a small indigenous village about twenty minutes down the river from Chazuta.  To get there we travel in long skinny boats with motors mounted on back, seated along the wooden sides with chickens and platanoes piled about our feet.  Chipaota is marked by a tall concrete staircase that leads up the bank of the river into the community.  Unfortunately, the staircase collapsed after flooding last year so we are forced to clamber up the dusty sides of the hill, passing women washing clothes and children bathing as we go.  After catching our breath we look up to see the beautiful, quaint little village laid out in front of us.  There are no cars or motorcycles here so only a slender foot path cuts through the grass in the center of two rows of thatched wooden houses.  We start along the path and stop at almost every house to shake hands and exchange greetings with the people inside.  In most houses a gourd full of massato (a drink made of fermented yucca, sometimes chewed and spit back in by the maker) is brought out and passed to each of us to drink from.  All of us have a hard time getting through a few sips of this and we struggle to smile and express our thanks without inadvertently being served more.  The people in Chipaota are extremely hospitable and go out of their way to offer us all that they have.  Each time we go we are given fresh coconuts to drink from or glasses of soda or bouquets of flowers from the children.  We are always made to feel and home and it is obvious that the people there really care for us and are happy we are there.

An interesting thing about Chipaota is that every family has a ‘chakra’ (a small plot of land where they grow crops and raise animals) that is located up in the mountains above the community.  The way it works is that there are actually two parts of the village.  There is the newer section that is located right next to the river but there is also an older part (named Chipaota Vieja) that is located roughly an hour walking above the river.  It is in this higher area that each family’s chakra is located and most travel daily from one area to the other.  Everyone in the community was originally located in the higher area but they all decided to move fifteen years ago to be closer to the river so that their children could have access to better education.  Now the norm is to commute back and forth, staying intermittently in both places.  Just yesterday we had the opportunity to go up and stay the night in Chipaota Vieja and we had a really great time getting to know the deeper jungle there.

We are slowly but surely getting started on the projects that we came here to work on, including working with the group that makes brooms as well as the artisan group.  We have spent the last few weeks getting to know the people in each group and attending meetings to better understand how things work.  Both groups seem well-organized and there are energized individuals who want to see these alternative means of income succeed.  We are still figuring out just how we may be able to help to achieve this goal. The next month we spend here should be more focused on planning sessions with the groups and coordinating to get workshops built for both groups.  We have also started to teach informal English classes in Chazuta and hope to do the same for school children in Chipaota who receive no language instruction.  Our overarching mission is to truly immerse ourselves in the culture and community here and to give back in whatever ways that we can.  This is just as much a learning experience for us as for those we are working with.