Answer choices: A) Guyana B) Argentina C) Bolivia D) Paraguay

Correct Answer: B) Argentina and D) Paraguay

Summary: The Amazon rainforest is a massive area that spans almost entirely from the west coast of the continent of South America to the east coast. The area of the rainforest is approximately 2.6 million square miles. The countries that are incorporated within this vast forest include Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The Amazon Basin occupies roughly 40% of all of South America. Argentina does contain a patch of tropical rainforest like the Amazon, but is fed by the Paraná River system and not the mighty Amazon. All of these countries are rapidly developing in terms of population and economic growth and there is no question of how important the Amazon is to their overall well-being.

Map of the bounded area of the entire Amazon rainforest

Source: World Wildlife Fund; Amazon: World’s largest tropical rain forest and river basin; http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/amazon/index.html#

Answer Choices:

A) Guyana

B) Argentina

C) Bolivia

D) Paraguay

Click here for answer, explanation and links.

Answer choices:

A) 10 miles

B) 50 miles

C) 125 miles

D) 1,000 miles

Click HERE for answer, explanation and links.

Answer choices: A) 10 miles B) 50 miles C) 125 miles D) 1,000 miles

Correct Answer: C) 125 miles

Summary: Explorers, sailors, and other adventurers traveling to the eastern coast of South America would reach a point where the ocean water would transition into pure fresh water. This occurred about 125 miles from the many mouths of the Amazon River. The river releases water at a force of 55 million gallons per second and drains an area about the size of the United States. It is also eleven times as voluminous as the Mississippi River.

See photo of Amazon fresh water mixing with sea

Source: Monga Bay, Rhett Butler

Answer choices:

A)     Octopi

B)     Stingray

C)     Sharks

D)     Dolphins

Correct Answers:

A)     Dolphins and B) Stingrays

Campbell Plowden and Amazon river dolphin at Novo Airao, Brazil

Stingrays from Ucayali River in Iquitos, Peru. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

Main source: Monga Bay, Rhett Butler; http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/

To learn more about Amazon river dolphins visit:

Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_river_dolphin

Photos: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/dolphins/schafer-photography

Video: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/mammals-kids/pink-river-dolphin-kids.html

To learn more about Amazon stingrings visit:

Information:

http://www.raylady.com/Potamotrygon/Natural_History.html

Images:  http://www.oceanwideimages.com/images/12580/large/motoro-ray-43M2755-27.jpg

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110309-stingrays-new-species-amazon-science-animals-water/

Question: Which two groups of marine animals also have freshwater species living in the Amazon River?

Answer choices:

A)     Octopi

B)     Stingray

C)     Sharks

D)     Dolphins

Click HERE for answer, explanation, and links to more information and images.

Answer: [C] the Congo River

Summary: At one time the Amazon River flowed westward, not eastward as it does today. This may have taken place when the pre-Congo river system flowed through present-day Africa when the continents were formed in the supercontinent, Gondwana. Over 400 million years ago, Gondwana existed before it was broken up over time into the seven continents we know today. This separation is due to plate tectonics, a phenomenon that is still pushing continents together and pulling them apart. The Amazon River now flows from west to east with its headwaters in the Peruvian Andes.

Source: Monga Bay, Rhett Butler; http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/

See Map of Gondwana when the ancient Amazon River was connected to Africa.

Which other well-known river system shares an ancient history with the Amazon River?

Answer choices:

[A] the Mississippi River

[B] the Nile River

[C] the Congo River

[D] the Ganges River

Click HERE for answer, explanation and links to more information and images.

Dog at Ocaina village of Nueva Esperanza. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

After some days of getting right to work, I enjoyed having some time in Nueva Esperanza to do my morning exercises carefully watched by a little dog named Candy.   I was unfortunately too exuberant with my shoulder stretches and an upward swing of my right arm broke off a piece of coiled red bulb hanging from a rafter.  We of course pledged to replace it – wondering playfully if the owner of the house who was away was planning on using the colored light as the center-piece of a disco set-up after he finished expanding the floor space.

Maloca behind mango trees in Ocaina Village of Nueva Esperanza. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

After breakfast I appreciated one unusual feature of the village – an expansive outhouse enclosed on three sides looking out to a vista of the river.  Another asset of Nueva Esperanza was a grove of mango trees planted near the maloca (traditional house of the curaca sometimes used for festivals) when the village was founded about 18 years ago.  The site was chosen because it was the only one in the area that was never flooded during the rainy season.  It still has a greater than average quotient of mosquitos, but I would gladly spend time there when mango fruits ripen and fall from the trees for several months.

Campbell Plowden with Ocaina village Nueva Esepranza Vice-President. Photo by Yully Rojas/CACE

While waiting for someone to open up the meeting house, Elieser brought me into a storage room with their radio, battery and charge controller for their solar panel.   I told him I had had a few solar panels at my house in the Tembé village in Brazil, so he asked me if I could figure out why their system wasn’t working.  All of their connections looked firm so I could only suggest they get a voltmeter to measure the output of the battery.  I had burned through several batteries before I learned to monitor their level and not pull out too much juice.

Nueva Esperanza artisan Gloria Vasquez with woven chambira bags. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

"Roba mujer" craft demonstration at Ocaina village of Nueva Esperanza. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

Yully Rojas explaining designs for coin purse crafts to Ocaina artisans at Nueva Esperanza. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

Nueva Esperanza artisan Mirtha Vasquez with chambira palm fiber bracelets. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

The Ocaina community listened attentively to our presentation about our work in Brillo Nuevo, admired the Bora handiwork, and endorsed our proposal to work with them.

Their core group of six artisans displayed various bags and bracelets they had made with chambira palm fiber.

One man showed me a string full of an unfamiliar object that had a stiff ring attached to a tube of woven bonbonage cane.  Asking me to put my finger in this end while he gripped the other, he then pulled me across the room with this one-sided Chinese handcuff.  I didn’t imagine this “roba mujer” (woman stealer) would become a top seller for us, but we asked this fellow to make us a half-dozen of these with alternating strips of blond bonbonage and walnut shade bacaba fiber.

We had contemplated asking the women to make prototypes of cell-phone holders, but seeing their current wares, we opted to start with a simpler product – little chambira coin purses.  I drew a few basic designs and color schemes on the chalk board, and Yully explained the details.

Each woman then volunteered to make a few pieces that matched her level of confidence.  Yully will return next month to see how they have fared in their first venture with us.

The son of the curaca (traditional leader) came up to me after we had wrapped up things with the women and showed me a heavy pointed dark red carving of “palo sangre” wood.  He said this was a small replica of a five-foot long “macana” (called a bijawoho in the Ocaina language) that his people used to fell trees in the pre-metal age. They would whack at the base of a tree until it could be bent over.  They would then dig out earth and roots beneath the exposed base with the spear and stoke a fire there until the tree could be knocked over.

Drawing of traditional Ocaina macana (wooden ax) in Plowden field notebook. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

I could easily envision the outline of the macana as a signature logo for these artisans.  It was also obvious why native Amazonians would have immediately welcomed steel axes from any outsider.

I wrapped up our layover in Nueva Esperanza by interviewing a few village leaders and artisans.  Carlos reminded me that the original homeland of the Ocaina (as well as the Bora and Huitoto) people was in Colombia.  They had been slaves in plantations there and brought to Peru some 80 years ago by their former masters when a regional war threatened their operations.  The first Ocaina in the Ampiyacu region were based around the village of Puerto Izango.  This community has now virtually disintegrated leaving the young Nueva Esperanza as the only intact Ocaina settlement in the area.  I hope our efforts can help them develop some new thread of economic development and strengthen their grasp on their culture.

Ocaina man and daughter untangling fishing net at Nueva Esperanza. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

As we carried our gear down to our boat, we passed by one man carefully untangling a fishing net with his daughter.  He noticed my small camera and asked me the one question I have come to dread: “How much does one of those cost?” followed by “I might like you to bring me one of those.”

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For more information about the Center for Amazon Community Ecology, please visit us on Facebook and our homepage at www.amazonecology.org.

Bora artisan with tapete. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

Yully and I finish about half of our breakfast before the stream of artisans and other visitors began.  Some brought their tapetes, belts and first rolls of dog leashes and collars for final inspection.  After a few rounds of feedback, most had worked out little kinks and were ready for us to accept.

Yully had already paid the fellows who worked with us on the copal survey in the week, but following a tradition I started a few years ago, Beder invited the team back to receive a gift of a baseball cap.

Bora men who did copal survey at Brillo Nuevo in July, 2011. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

I had picked up a nice assortment from the Trash to Treasures event at Penn State University at the end of the term when the school sells off tons of items left in dormitory rooms to support the local United Way.

Bora man Brito Tilley and dog. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

When I shared my idea with them about training a dog to find copal resin, they thought it was intriguing.  Bora men routinely trained their dogs to find game animals – mostly by bringing a puppy with them when they went hunting and encouraging them to follow any scent.  Brito said he knew of a man who had trained his dog specifically to find cedro trees by the aroma of their roots.

Paraponera (tucandeira/isula) ant in Brazil. Photo by Campbell Plowden

While Yully efficiently took care of labeling the crafts and paying the artisans, I chatted with Beder and Robert about the relative perils of rainforest critters including the jergon pit-viper that accounts for most snake-bites in the area, a white spider whose bite hurts for hours and the infamous isula ant whose sting inflicts severe pain and incapacitation its victim for at least half a day.

Bora men doing traditional chant at Puca Urquillo. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

While almost everyone in the village is bilingual, we pondered why so few Bora children know their traditional songs.  I had recorded Tembé chants at Tekohaw and made a book of the lyrics of these for their schools.  They liked the idea of asking half-dozen of their elders to sing their songs and put them on a CD and make booklets that could be given to families.  An annual contest with prizes for the best singing and costumes might provide a good incentive for parents to encourage their kids to reactivate this part of their culture.

Brillo Nuevo artisan Ines Chichaco and huito leaf patarashka. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

My morning adventure was having Ines dye my hair.  She had gathered the huito leaves earlier in the morning, simmered them with roasted patarashka leaves, and cured them in the sun for several hours.

Ines Chichaco dying Campbell Plowden hair with huito plant dye. Photo by Yully Rojas/CACE

I lay on the floor of her house with my head perched near the door next to a bent aluminum pot filled with the leafy stew.  Ines massaged one handful of the dark mash into my hair after another until my whole head was saturated.

Cascabel snake at Jenaro Herrera. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

Ines Chichaco making cascabel snake model chambira dog leash. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

I sat in the sun with her cat to let the first treatment dry while Ines resumed work on the cascabel snake model dog leash.

Many Brillo Nuevo artisans are highly skilled; Ines is also innovative and fast. She has cranked out four or five pieces in the time it takes most artisans to do one.

Some of this advantage comes from her ability to concentrate on craft-making without the need to care for young children (her older son in the army and younger one is self-sufficient).  She exudes an exuberance and frequent laughter, however, that seems to propel her no matter what she’s doing.

Yully Rojas consulting with Brillo Nuevo artisan about craft order. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

Seeing how well Ines and others made the thin collars immediately suggested shorter versions would also make attractive bracelets. We promptly commissioned three women on the spot to make batches of bracelets with their signature snake designs.

Campbell Plowden and Manuel with huito hairdos. Photo by Yully Rojas/CACE

After finishing round two of my hair and her husband, Ines wrapped an old piece of fabric around our heads to contain the herbal dye.  A third round would have been better, but it was time to go.

Yully Rojas and Beder Tilley in peque-peque on Yaguasyacu River. Photo by Campbell Plowden/CACE

We loaded our heavy bags in Beder’s boat and wrapped them well in a tarp in case of rain.  Beder and his son took turns at the helm of the small engine for the three hour trip downstream to Nueva Esperanza.  Beder mentioned earlier that if Brillo Nuevo extended his contract as local project coordinator, he wanted to buy a 9 horse-power peque engine that would halve the time for these voyages up and down the Yaguasyacu river.  I didn’t mind the leisurely pace.  I got to see an iguana swimming across the river, glimpses of ripples made by pink dolphins, and flocks of squawking parrots flying against the pre-sunset pink sky.

Arriving in Nueva Esperanza in early evening, we carried our essential gear across a flat soggy area up the bank where we were greeted by Elieser – the only fellow who wasn’t attending the soccer match at Santa Lucia when we passed through the village on our way upriver.  He told us he had been replaced as president of the community at their last meeting, but the new official would convene our gathering in the morning.

I walked down to the stream and took a bucket bath off a small raft to wash some of the leaves out of my hair.  Yully commented that it looked much darker – as did parts of my ears, cheeks, neck and back. We hung our hammocks from the rafters of a house near the top of the hill, had a simple dinner of tuna fish and rice and retired for the night.

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For more information about the programs of the Center for Amazon Community Ecology, please visit us on Facebook and our website at www.amazonecology.org.