The Jungle Book, "Agriculture"

My third day in the jungle, after a hot night under a mosquito net in a small community near Nauta, Emira, Amarylis, and I went to the community of Santa Cruz to see their camu-camu fields. Minga's work deals primarily with the radio program and empowerment workshops; however, they also sometimes provide supplies to build fish farms and camu-camu fields. Income generation is the third step to their program and helps women in rural communities earn money independently. Soreida, a socia for Minga's network in Santa Cruz, showed us her ground across the river and a hike into the jungle.



Above is Amarylis and me with Soreida. We are about to head into the jungle.



We hiked into the jungle into a patch of banana and papaya trees. The banana trees look nothing like trees at all but like blades of grass with huge leaves blooming out of the top. I felt like Gulliver in Brobdingnag (the giants' land).



We kept hiking along (Soreida cutting down the foliage in our path with her machete) until we reached her field. She is taking advantage of the land by planting several crops in one field. We came upon the frijoles (beans) first as seen in the picture above. They are vines so they are planted next to sticks so they can grow straight up.



Next was the camu-camu shown above. Camu-camu is a yellow/purple fruit about the size of a grape. It's very acidic tasting, not sweet at all. They put sugar in the juice (and mix it with sugar cane alcohol for a good time). You can't see them on the plant here, because harvest isn't until September. She also was growning corn and aji dulce (a sweet chili).



I even got to do some farm work! Although, I really didn't have to go all the way to the Amazon Rainforest to do it. I have been chopping weeds on my parents' farm every summer since I was twelve. They even have some of the same weeds we have in Arkansas such as Pigweed, Thistle weed, and Morning Glories. However, chopping with a machete was a new one for me.



After visiting her field, Soreida led us to a grouping of papaya tries and cut some yellow ones down for us.



Amarylis split one open in the boat with Soreida's machete, and we chowed down. It was incredibly delicious!

I really enjoyed listening to Soreida talk about her crops, how she prepared the ground, cultivated, and cared for the plants. She was extremely proud of her work and excited about the resources it would bring her come harvest time. I felt the same kind of excitement the day before when the women of Amazonas showed me the construction on their fish farms. How wonderful that these women can use income generation as another step to their empowerment!

By the way, the necklace I am wearing in these photos is a string of seeds called lagrimas de Virgen and huayruro. On the end of the string is a crocodile tooth! Early that morning in Nauta we ran into a promotora, Doris, from a village called San Francisco in the market. She had her artisanry work spread across a blanket. Upon seeing us her eyes lit up. I was introduced, and she picked up this necklace from her collection and slipped it around my neck. She put seed bracelets on Emira and Amarylis as well. The kindness of these women was extremely touching.