Week Three – We are all Maria

Week Three – We are all Maria

June 2019

Author: Masha

Photographers: Masha & Yessica

This week, we continued our long days of a class. Quichua grammar, and lectures on Quichua culture in the morning, and intensive Quichua language in the afternoon. However, our awesome afternoon teacher, N., has had some trouble remembering our names. She remembers my middle name, Maria, but has trouble with the names of the other six women, and has often mistakenly called them ‘Maria’ as well. It happened so frequently, and with every woman in the group, that she finally gave up saying, “that Maria, not that Maria, I meant the other Maria.” She has a good sense of humor. Eventually, we just said, “we are all Maria.”

On Thursday, the graduate students with a health-focus had the opportunity to accompany the University of Pittsburgh students on a trip to a traditional Midwifery clinic and witness a demonstration birth in the traditional manner.

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Both during class and the times not spent in class, I have been enjoying the setting that we are in, here at the lodge.

The area is picturesque. Every morning I wake up to the sound of Napo river and birds chirping. On my walk to class, I peregrinate over a stone path through a lush canopy and enjoy the fragrant smells of the flora. During breakfast, I sit on the second story of the building where the dining hall is located, and gaze at the river, dense forest on the other side, and wisps of clouds emerging from the trees. After breakfast, I sit in an outdoor classroom with a thatched roof to protect from the rain. In addition to the beauty of the area, the lodge and surrounding area is, in my opinion, quite posh. Yes, there are scorpions, spiders, tarantulas, and all manner of creatures in between, but we are in the Amazon, not at Disney World. The Lodge has consistent, hot, running water, electricity, wifi access for a few hours a day, and spacious rooms (in addition to the two beds in my room, there is enough room for two clothes lines, a yoga mat, and all our stuff). Moreover, the food is excellent. I have eaten a lot of Maitu, a traditional dish in this area comprised of freshly caught tilapia steamed in banana leaves, yuka, and a variety of greens. But, I have also eaten a lot of comfort food. The lodge, used to foreigners, has served shishkabob, french cheese, grilled cheese, spaghetti and tomato sauce, and pot-roast, always with sides of locally grown fruit and salad with avocado.

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This week, a group of us have also begun running after class along the side of the road. While running, we came across three snakes, all on different runs, that had recently been hit by cars. I was only carrying my camera one of the three times (see the picture below). The first snake (in the picture below) was completely harmless. The second snake was a Fer-de-Lance, if you know what that is feel free to cringe. And the third snake was maybe two-feet long and rather plain looking, we weren’t able to identify it.

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On Saturday, a group of us went tubing. Not tubing like last week, when we just repeated the same 200 yard strip in front of the lodge, but 7km of tubing downriver. We were told to show up at the beach with a backpack with money, a change of clothes, towel, and shoes. We put the backpack and our shoes in the boat, put on the life jacket, and hopped on a tube. It was like nothing I have ever done before in my life. And it was exhilarating. For seven kilometers, we paddled (the tubing required quite a bit of upper body work, as if we were partially swimming) along the winding bends of the river, holding on through low-grade rapids, and taking in the stunning scenery: The white-caps in the river, the rainforest on both sides, spirals of clouds reaching upwards, and the silhouette of the Andes. 

Eventually, we swam to shore in a small town called Misahualli, changed, and got snacks before catching a cab back up to the lodge. We ate grilled grubs (yes, the large insect, cheese empanadas, mango, lichi fruit, and Maitu.