Communal Dining

When I told my parents I was traveling solo, their main concern was me being alone — would I have people to eat with? To talk with? Thanks to my travel planner Laura, she connected me with True Colombia, who set me up with a private guide and an itinerary that promised immersion and connection. That became immediately evident once I sat down for lunch at the communal table. I would be eating together with the guests of the Calanoa. Thankfully my guest, friends from Mexico and a couple from Germany, also spoke English. We had a delicious lunch and shared a bit about our experience and what brought us to this part of the Amazon. All the food was local and so fresh and flavorful. Lorenzo, my guide, is also a great source of companionship and conversation!

It was humid — very humid. I thought being from North Carolina, I’d be able to handle it. It definitely hits different. I was still really thirsty and wanted to drink lots of water — of which I did from their jugs of filtered rainwater. It was delicious and refreshing! As someone who has a hard time drinking plain water at home (hello LMNT / Liquid IV), I had no problem refilling my water bottle over and over throughout my stay. Maybe I’ll have to start collecting rainwater back home and filtering it myself! 😂

Visiting the Mocagua Community

The Calanoa Amazonas property has an outreach program, the Calanoa Foundation that “helps to support the nearby Indigenous communities through projects that contribute to environmental education, sustainable economic practices, and the preservation and recovery of ancestral knowledge and cultural traditions.” (Source: https://www.bethreiber.com/tag/calanoa-amazonas/) They really do a lot for the community and it was evident from the beginning how connected they are.

We meet with our guide who was from the community to lead us on a tour. As we walked over (they are “next door”) we heard and spotted a family of squirrel monkeys! It was so much fun to watch them jump and climb across the tree branches. They were cute too. 😍

Once we entered the community, we stopped into their “eco-tourism” classroom to learn about the connections between conservation, community, and tourism. They are working to help protect the forest and reduce the need for cutting down trees (deforestation) and hunting for food, so there is a vibrant partnership among all the communities to support each other in protection of this natural resource and way of life. There is a strong spirit of wanting to teach visitors about their way of life, and how nature truly does provide for us all, and how we need to be better “inhabitants” of earth. It really helped me realize how industrialization is negatively impacting our natural resources and contributing to climate change. I was seeing it in front us with the lowering water levels of the Amazon that puts a strain on the environment.

Here’s the classroom for two. Lorenzo translated everything into English for me and translated back my questions in Spanish. He was so helpful! We studied the poster that discussed the cycle of ecotourism. This was important to me because prior to coming, I was concerned about imposing on Indigenous communities, so this helped me realize how we are a positive part of this model.

As we walked, I saw an abundance of natural tropical fruit around us, fresh mango, cacao, papaya, passionfruit… we even picked a ripe cacao pod and I had my chance to taste the origins of chocolate. No notes of chocolate yet, but it was sweet.

Almost all of the “homes” have some kind of symbolic association, often through an animal. Some also painted about legends and beliefs. Like we saw a painting of their version of Adam and Eve. Another talks about the legend of the pink dolphin that turns into a human at night and impregnates the village women.

Jungle Walk

No rest for the weary! After we returned from the community, we set out on a Jungle walk to learn about medicinal plants, how different plants may be used for shelter, weaving baskets, etc. At Calanoa, all of the guides were from the Mocagua community. True experts of the jungle. I really gained an appreciation for how much they know and have passed down from generations. There is a true connection to the jungle. They know what works for healing headaches, stomach aches, inflammation, etc. This is what they teach in these community schools: how to fish, how to identify and use plants, how to find the right plants to build a sturdy roof and shelter, how to speak their language. (Not so much subjects like math and science). You may have heard the story (or seen the documentary) about the plane carrying 3 Indigeneous adults and 4 children trying to escape a guerrilla group approaching their community. The plane crashed, killing the 3 adults on board, but the 4 children survived and lasted 40 days in the jungle until search and rescue efforts found them alive. They were well-prepared to forage the jungle to find food and build shelter to help them survive. They are raised to be self-sufficient, and it served them well! Story: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/17/1182715412/colombia-rescue-plane-crash-indigenous-children (Excuse the long link, I am typing on a new website platform from my iPad and haven’t found the hyperlink button yet!)

On our walk, the guide cut from the tree bark and a white liquid came out — collecting this and ingesting about a 1/4 of it will help with gastrointestinal issues. Then we found antihistamine (like Benadryl) which can be prepared by boiling the root and drinking the water. Another plant, a large leaf, can be ground up into small pieces and rubbed through the hair like shampoo to treat migraines and headaches.

The guide heard a bird call and got really excited. He stalked it for a while with his binoculars. We spotted a pair and I did see the flash of red. It was so much fun to watch the joy in his face for having spotted it, only being his third time to see them.

We finished the walk with a refreshing and cold local beer to watch the sunset over the Amazon. As someone who loves sunsets, this was a special surprise and icing on the cake after such an eye-opening day. We sat in the chairs and shared what kinds of “pictures” we saw in the clouds, a great way to exercise our imagination and share what we saw with each other. A thunderstorm was also brewing across the river, and that was fun to watch with the juxtaposition of the setting sun on the other side of the horizon.

Dinner & Night Jungle Walk

Dinner was delicious! Started off with a passionfruit cocktail and we dined over an interesting spread, I couldn’t even describe most of what I ate, but it was outstanding food. We also had great conversation around the table about what we learned and saw that day. We shared itineraries of our trips with each other, learning about different places people are visiting. It really was neat to be able to just have an easy, casual conversation with each other.

After dinner we went out for a night hike in the Jungle. We found a poisonous frog (super small but mighty!), two tarantulas, a scorpion, and bioluminescent fungi! What was also really neat was all the sounds that came out — frogs, bugs, birds, monkeys…it really felt like it came alive with activity.

I was exhausted when I got to the room, but a good one! I was glad to get out of the sticky clothes and take a shower — it was my first realization to not have access to hot water! (I should have figured by then!) But it was an outdoor rain shower and it actually felt very refreshing once I got used to it. As I went to sleep with the mosquito nets closed, I watched the thunderstorm across the river as I fell asleep.