This is the boat on which we are going to travel approximately 7-8 days.
We are probably 10 people on the boat. Most of them are local people.
Actually, I really don't know how it is going to be like.
We will sleep on hammocks at night.
I will shoot a video from time to time.
By the way, as the boat already departs,
they are carrying lots of food and drink to places where indigenous people live.
There is lots of stuff inside;  the boat is about 15 meters length but there are more things than people.
It's not so easy to go to indigenous people because
you have to get official permission from the organization called "FUNAY" which is dependent on the state.
It is really very difficult to get this permission.
However my  Brazilian anthropologist friend managed to get it for himself and me somehow.
I waited here around 2 weeks  for the permission.
Our trip has been delayed for the last 5 days.
We are going to depart today.
We were supposed to leave at 7 a.m. but it's 1 p.m. and we are still here.
This is my hammock with a mosquito net.
We are leaving soon.
I also had to get permission from indigenous people.
They required me to rent a big boat so I rented this boat for 1 month. It cost me around 1500 USD
I took only drinking water and snacks with me.
I will dine with locals.
It's about 6 p.m. ; time  to eat.
They use river water to cook.There is nothing to do.I have to eat.
Probably,we will keep going during the night.
We had our dinner, now it's time to sleep.
It's 7:30 a.m. We are having a break somewhere around Peru.
I don't know how long we will stop but I guess we will leave in 30 minutes.
We are about to pass the military control.
We passed 2 check points.
They checked our passports and permission papers.
It is impossible to pass here without permission because this river is the only way to go.
This is our anthropologist friend Adolf
We have been traveling for almost 24 hours.
And we have been waiting here for 1 hour as the engine has become so hot.
I guess we will wait more.
This is our dinner.
To be honest, this dish is not so tasty.
It's dangeours to travel at night because the light is not so good.
Our boat has been grounded on a tiny piece of land, something like a small island.
They are going to try to push and save the boat.
The boat has grounded here and they are trying to save it.
They have been able to save the boat in 30 minutes and now we are leaving.
This is our third day, at noon.
We are somewhere like a beach.
They are looking for turtle eggs.
As there are traces of turtles, it's not going to be hard to find them.
This is the heart of Amazon.
It's like a beach.
There are traces of turtles over there.
Probably it left its eggs up.
Our men have collected them. Now I am going to them.
There are 8-9 eggs. I have never eaten before but I may try if they cook.
He's found much more here.
It's time to take a bath now. It's our third day.
The others have been bathing in the mornings and evenings but I haven't wanted to enter this water.
There are crocodiles, anacondas,etc. However there is nothing to do,I have to bath.
We are in Javari River.
We collected turtle eggs on the beach.
We had to bath here.
It is known that there are piranhas and crocodiles in the water...
... but we have nothing to do; the men say they won't come closer.
Apart from them, there are some fish like thornback.They say they may bite your feet.
so we are bathing together in the same place.If there is a move, they don't approach.
It's raining heavily. We have to wait for the rain stop.
We could continue our trip after rain had stopped.
Having a clear sky after  heavy rain is so usual in Amazon.
It's our third day, around 5 p.m. We have a break every 4-5 hours.
Break time is never longer than 30 minutes - 1 hour.
I don't know how long we will travel more but I guess we have 3-4 days left.
Water level is very low which is not good for us. We might hit small islands like last night.
That's why it's dangerous to travel at night.
It would be better if water level was high but it's normal  during this season.
You can understand from traces over there.
Our boat has been grounded on island again.It is worse than last  night.
It's around 8 p.m. now.
Let's see, they will try to save the boat again.
As we are already on the land they are fishing. He has caught a fish so quickly.
He missed one fish while cleaning  :)
He had 2 fish but now he has 1 left.
OMG!
It's better not to wander so much.We may have unwanted visiters.
I dont' know if it is clearly visible but there are traces of a big animal's foot.
If you bear a torch this way you will see red eyes of many animals.They say that these eyes  probably belong to crocodiles.
It's across the river.
We are back to the boat.
Here is our dish mixed with rice and chicken.
By the way this water is the river's water.
We have a break here now for shower and toilet. They will also search for turtle eggs.
Some men are fishing, too. Let's see what we will have.
They have caught 2-3 fish.
By the way there is a problem with the rudder. It sometimes gets stuck.
We are grounded headlong.
They are trying to fix it.
It has been 45 minutes but we are still waiting.
There is a baby bird with its mother.
Here are 2 other eggs.I tell them to set free the mother but they don't.I don't know if they will eat the bird.
Nobody says anything.I hope they won't eat.
Fortunately, its mother has come, she is wandering around. I hope they will set free the other bird.
The mothers of all eggs have come.They are waiting in front of the eggs.
They've caught a big fish.
At the same time, dinner is being prepared. It has been 1.5 hours but they couldn't fix the rudder yet.
Chickens are being cleaned and they use this water to cook.
There is nothing to do but eating.
We have been here for 2 hours.
Some are fixing the rudder,some are cleaning fish and chicken,some are fishing.
I am only shooting videos and taking pictures.
We are just waiting.Atmosphere is good and authentic.
There are some mosquitos but I have sprayed insect repellent all over my body; it's all right.
The boat is ready after 2.5 hours.
Now it's time to cook,I guess.
Our dinner is rice with banana and chicken.
The rudder is locked again but they realized earlier this time.
We have been travelling for 5 days.
They have seen turtle traces on the beach again.
They are going to get the eggs.
Normally, these nests are covered by sand but they can find them by examining by their feet or fingers.
There are also small dolphins here but they sometimes hide themselves. I have seen some but I couldn't capture them.
Turtle eggs are being cooked.
I couldn't understand why this plane is here but hopefully we will figure it out soon.
There is mayor of Atalaya.He joined us with his wife.They are on our boat.I couldn't understand what is happening actually but I will learn soon.
We are in Sao Sebastiao.
The people who were on plane are the mayor, his wife and his 2 men.
They have an election 2 months later.
He is trying to go to the same place like us
but they couldn't go further as the water level is low.
We are here tonight because of this problem.We will continue with canoes tomorrow morning.
Let's see what will happen in the morning.
Here is another village of Marubo people.
This type of houses is called Maloka and  3 or 4 families stay together.
Her name is (trying to spell it).
We won't sleep on the boat tonight.
Because there are many mosquitos in the river. Therefore we may have malaria.
There is a place like a health center. Fortunately, they gave us this room.
As I was on my way, my tonsils were swollen. I have  been feeling bad for 5 days.
They gave me medicine. I had my own medicine, but it was not so helpful.
On the third day, my stomach was not good by eating food made from river water. I have diarrhea.
And that affected my lips. I couldn't use my lower lip.
Then I have taken drugs for that. Let's see. We're going to keep going in the morning. I'm going to get better.
Some families invited us to dinner. I guess there is  fish. We are lucky. We are going there now.
There's a banquet here. I guess there are 50 people in there.
I have gathered everything so we could move on today but it didn't go as we planned.
Water level is very low. We couldn't arrange  canoes. We will have to wait until tomorrow morning.
I brought all of my stuff here.We'll sleep here tonight.
I guess we will continue with canoes in the morning.Let's see.
Here's San Sebastiao village where we arrived last night.
It's 6:30 a.m.
The place that you see is the village school.
Now I will enter into the big house called Maloka.
There is the mayor and other men who came with us yesterday inside. Let's have a look.
There is a lunch table like yesterday. Women eat at the back.
I can't go to other parts and shoot now but I will try later.
This is Marubo's tradition.
We're in the big Maloko. They allowed for photo and video but it is very dark inside.
It is not easy to take a good photo.
They sleep on hammocks as always.
Probably 4 or 5 families live together here.
I will ask and learn.
Inside is quite huge.
There is fish in it.It is cooked by smoke which comes from the fire.
There is another fish and it's quite big.
Her name is (trying to spell it).
This is the river on which we've been travelling and will go further.
Water level is getting lower. It looks so wide but the deepest place does not exceed 1 meter.
Suddenly it's started to rain now we're going into a Maloka.
120 people live in this village.
As far as I can see, 2/3 of them are children.
I can't shoot a video of women they are extremely shy they just run away.
This smoke is gathering above then goes out through the hay.
Ther is no unpleasant odors or soot inside.
It's our seventh day, it's 10:00 a.m.  I guess 4-5 people will go with this canoe.
There are other friends in that other canoe.
They say it will take 2 days
I don't know how to go with this canoefor  2 days because when it rains, it rains a lot.
Let's see. I don't know where will we sleep at night.
So for now like this.
We are leaving from San Sebastiao now
I guess we are about 7-8 people in the canoe.
These is our food. I'm sick of eating bananas but there is nothing to do.I  have bear 2 more days.
I can find different types food for eating.
They saw an animal on the edge of the creek.I couldn't see it.
They went to shoot it with a rifle.
The animal escaped. They couldn't shoot it.
Now, someone's going to wait ahead.If he sees on the edge, he will try to shoot.
We have a break here,I don't know if we will continue later.
We came here from other side.They will make a fire now.
We are quite crowded, there were 4 canoes.
Just now, they've gone into the jungle and caught a monkey.
They eat monkey here.
I don't know when they shot and cleaned it but he is cutting it up now. It happened so fast.
Everything  happened in only 20 minutes.
I guess they will boil here.
Some are fishing.Let's see.
Women are chopping bananas there.
Mobile cooker was set.
I think this is how life is in the jungle.
There is the monkey in the big pot below . They chopped it. They put its head, too.
I will try.
He caught a fish.
Monkey from the forest, fish from the river. I've heard  rifle sounds from the forest.
They might have shot something else.
He caught a really big fish.
The big pot on the right has the monkey.
The left-most pot has bananas and turtle eggs in the middle.
I don't know what is in on the far right , I will look.
We were overwhelmed with the sun on the way. We will bath.
This is third fish.
They put monkey on the fire.
There is fish here.
These are turtle eggs.
Those are boiled bananas.
Now I'm used to eating turtle eggs, it's tasty.
Some dishes have been cooked.We are waiting for some. Meanwhile we are eating turtle eggs.
We are about 20 people here.
Head of fish.
Fish is ready.
We are starting with fish.There is rice and banana. Monkey isn't ready yet.
It's monkey meat,I will try soon.
It's monkey meat,I will try now.Everybody is looking at me and waiting for my comment.
No taste of it,
like boiled liver,not bad at all.
We've been here for 2 hours.
We have eaten fish and monkey.
The taste of the monkey was like calf liver.
I guess we are slowly leaving.
It is getting dark.We are departing.
We departed now, it's 8:00 p.m.
There's lightening somewhere.I hope we don't get caught in the rain.
If we get caught it will be bad for us because we are in open air.
We continue with a lantern  but there is moonlight it's a bit enough.
Bad side is lightning flashes ahead.If we get caught it will be bad for us as I said.
We've been going like this for about an hour.
We arrived somewhere about at midnight.We'll sleep until 6.a.m. here like a house.We'll continue in the morning.
We woke up at 5 a.m.We are going to our canoes to continue.
It's 5:30 a.m.
Today is 8th day of departure.
I'm really tired now.
It will end today, probably 8 hours left.
Anyway, we continue, I hope we'll arrive without any problems.
They've seen something like a chicken,he is going to shoot it.
We heard  rifle sound 1 time but let's see.
We heard 3  rifle sounds. He shot all three.
Not 3, he shot 4
It's like a turkey.It's pretty heavy.
They started to clean up immediately.
I'm cleaning up one.
We've cleaned up all the animals.We keep going, 4 more hours left.
Fortunately, there is no rain today like last night.
So we don't have any problems.
We had 2 hours left but they wanted to stop and eat the hunted animals which look like turkey.
They just make a fire.I will shoot more.
They have made a fire here again.
They have made the hammock at once.
They are not houses but probably shelters to protect themselves from rain.
Everybody has his own hammock with him.They just lay it, rest and wait until rain stops.
We have turtle eggs again before meal.
In the left pot hunted animals are being cooked and in the right pot there is pasta.
and here boiled bananas and rice.
Meal is ready.Taste of animals is a bit different from chicken taste but I don't know how to describe it but it tastes good.
We have eaten so much and it was very delicious.
We have finished eating and now it's time to continue.
Finally we arrived in Maronal on our 8th day evening.
They prepared a welcoming ceremony.
As soon as we jumped off the canoes the girls took our hands and brought us in a rush to the village square.
We turned around the square and they were dancing and shouting.
then we came inside of this big Maluka,they will continue here.
The most important man of the village is playing the instrument.
The thing he is using is called .......
one man is blowing something like tobacco into anothers nose hole with a stick
and it enters through the hole. I will try it soon.
"I am shooting video"
Only once.
Little more.
Thanks.
It was really hard,if I take it more it can affect me much more.
We had our dinner and drink, had fun, now it's time to go sleep.
Last night we settled this place like a heatlh care center.
We were lucky to find a spare room and made our hammocks.
When we entered Maronal yesterday,it was a bit dark in the evening.
That's why I could'nt take many photos and videos.
They had a very good welcoming ceremony for us.
They danced and sang songs, we had fun together.
They have very different rituals, I couldn't shoot them but I will certainly write about them in the future.
We are starting to discover the village today.
This is the main square of the village.
In this Moloko the village leader and his family are living.
This is another square of the village.
Around 25 people are living in this Moloko,which is in the middle.
When 4 or 5 families come together they live in this big Moloko.
A normal size family is living in this small house like this.
There are many people everywhere but when they see my camera they run away.
First we need to be friends.
When I was walking around I met these 2 guys.
It is hard to communicate but I am trying my best.
These chopped woods are for the festival tonight.
There is going to be a small celebration.
It will last 4-5 days.
All foods will be cooked in this big Moloko.
Thanks.
Delicious.
I don't know what it is but it's tasty.
This is inside of the big Moloko.
This animal which looks like a chicken is really friendly.
We are going to another Moloko which is 10 minutes away from the square.
They are painting their bodies for the festival.
They use this paint which is made from a fruit.
Now we are entering this house.There is an old woman inside.
I am walking with the nurse.
Houses are usually same like this.There are 1 or 2 ovens.
They are like yuka potatoes.
Meals are cooked like this way.
There is a small shelf like a bench.
They put raw meat of animals they hunt in these baskets.
It is cooked by the smoke which comes from the fire.
I have seen 1 generator and a few simple solar energy systems in some parts.
We are in the big Moloko.
Each part belongs to one family.
This is something like a potato.
I don't know what it is but its called "manishe".
This big thing is like a drum.
Maybe you have seen this before or you will see later in some of my videos.
As these people  don't have flour or bread,they consume bananas and yuka so much.
There are many types of bananas here but I am sick of eating  bananas.
Yuka is like a potato as I mentioned previously.
I asked them why they were hanging all foods like this.
They said we always put the foods in the middle so everybody could eat freely.
So..
"If one person is hungry, we are all hungry.If one person is full we are all full". This is their answer.
There couldn't be a better explanation.
I have never seen that mothers feed their babies who have grown enough to walk by themselves.
Most of the babies are alone by themselves mothers put their meals in front of them and babies can eat alone.
They have shot a parrot.They normally eat it and claim that it's delicious.
It's quite big.
The went for huning but they couldn't find a big animal or monkey. They shot this.
They say ther is nothing else to eat.
They have cooked the parrot.
I am not going to eat to be full,I will just taste a small piece.
I will eat this small piece.It's a parrot.
I am tasting.
It tastes like lamb,it's really good.
Very delicious.
It tastes really good.
My first plan was to taste only a small piece but it was delicious so I will eat one more.
I really love animals but it Amazons there is nothing to do but eating them.
We are all hungry there is no other food to eat.
Panenewa is in her 70's. She makes earthenware pots and boilers.
As I don't know their language, we can't communicate.
I asked her to show me how to make it.She went inside and will come back.
This is her house.
When we couldn't communicate she brought this girl.
We can understand each other better.
She know a bit Portuguese and I know a bit Spanish,which is enough for us.
I wanted to shoot a video while she was making boiler but there was no sand to make.
She had already finished everything.
That's why I can't shoot anything.
She has made all of these things.There are some more inside other houses.
They normally don't wear any tops but if there is a stranger in the village they cover their bodies.
There is an old woman named Ibiba.
She is making pots like Panenewa.
These are her boilers.
There are some things inside them.
Yama(This girl) is cleaning Yukas.
Now I am entering this house.
Some of the Marubo people know Portuguese.
Portuguese and Spanish are similar languages. I know a bit Spanish. So we can communicate somehow.
But it becomes difficult to communicate when they don't know any Portuguese.
Mother of this house,Neto,is 33 years old.
That's all I can understand without any shared language.
I am thankful to her because she let me in her house and take some pictures and videos.
They are animal chins but I couldn't understand which animal they are.
There are also animal chins on the other gate.
This is not Moloko, just a normal house but it's big.
It's so usual for them to sleep on hammocks.
Some hammocks are covered by nets for protection from mosquitos and insects.
There is a bird like this here. It has an owner. It can't fly because it's just a baby.
Her name is Friranda but she can't smile.
She is a bit shy.
In this tribe you can't see any disabled person.
The reason is that when a baby is born with disabilities they don't let it live.
Besides, even if a person becomes disabled later in his life they don't let him live this way.
Another tradition is that if a mother gives birth to 2 or more babies they let only one baby live and kill the others.
In their belief, plurality means bad luck.
There are 4 - 5 different areas,which are all in walking distance.
This is where I stay,like a community health center.
There are community health centers in some villages where the population is crowded.
There isn't any doctor but there are nurses and medical staff and equipments for Malaria control.
They gave us this room. We have been staying here for a couple of days.
They are eating in this big Moloko.
They have let me take videos.
Men are eating in the front while women are at the back side.
They are cooking turtle for lunch.
This is the turtle's shell.
It's ready to eat.
I will try soon.
Now I am tasting turtle.
It tastes like a calf meat.
It is delicious.
Let me take one more piece.
It's good for me to eat.
Okay thanks.
It's delicious. Even the skin of turtle can be eaten.I am surprised.
A man who is known as a sorcerer is going to the forest with 3-4 guys to collect leaves and herb.I am going with them.
This man is actually a shamanist but he is powerful.
That guy at the front is a shamanist even he is more powerful than shamanists.
They say he is a sorcerer.
We have been doing our Ayahuasca experiments with that shamanist for 2 days.
More precisely he had 2 more shamanists with him.
They are collecting leaves.
For what?
There are some leaves which are used for treatment of several diseases.
He is collecting these leaves and teaching the other men at the same time.
The back side of this leaf is very strange if you suffer from insomnia you collect them,
there are many of them over there, and boil in water.
Then if you use this water to bath you can sleep well a couple of days.
This leaf is called "Shumanoka".
They squeeze it and use it's water to wash the women's brests
who don't have enough milk to feed their babies.
It gives you energy when you dry these leaves, boil them in water and drink.
You will be able to walk and run more according to men.
He says many things about each leaf,but he speaks in his Marubo language.
I can hardly understand some points when I ask.
Now we are going to enter the jungle in order to learn some points about Ayahuasca plant :
1.On which trees is Ayahuasca found?
2. How can it be collected?
It's not far away ; there are some trees in the walking distance.
We have found a tree.
Ayahuasca is on that tree's common ivy which you are looking at now
And that is the common ivy.
They cut it in pieces like this size, then break in to small pieces (like mincing) and later boil it in water.
It needs to be boiled at least 1 hour.
Then it is formed as Ayahuasca.
A way to understand if this plant is Ayahuasca is to find that leaf just on the roots of the tree.
Ayahuasca is made from this common ivy.
There is another one on that tree which is thinner.
There are small leaves on some parts on the tree.
As you can see here.
These people can understand by looking here or smelling the plant.
As I said before they cut the plant into small parts,
boil them in water at least 1 hour.After  boiling,
Ayahuasca sinks and they drink it.
I can say this part is their field.
There are different types of bananas.
I asked them whether I could take some photos.
But then they started to laugh.
They are both washing their clothes and bahting here.
I can't stop myself when I see this animal.I gently fondle it like a kitty and it approaches me quickly.
What a cute animal you are.
And it tweets in a strange way.
After staying in Manulo 4 nights. It's time to return now.
I would like to stay more but unfortunately I can't . The water level is very low so we have to go back.
Even when we were coming here it was low now it is getting worse.
If it gets worse and worse we can never go back.
That's why I have to end my travel after 4 nights.
We will use small canoes for the first 2 nights.I hope there will be no rain.
I will try to shoot some videos on the way back.
I estimate that it will last around 5 days.
We will see.
We can't go further because of the low level.
The bottom of the boat is touching the ground.
We are stuck here.
We stopped here because they saw an animal again.
This is our first day on the way back.
When coming here they shot 4 of this animal.Now we have 1. It is really delicious.
The men are always looking around if there is any animal to hunt.
When they see they never miss.
We will stay here tonight.
They prepared many things but they hunted wild boar but I can't eat pork.
And here turtle eggs are being cooked.They had seen and collected them on the road.
These eggs are enough for me.
There are houses without walls.We are sleeping on hammocks.
I need to stay here 2 - 3 days to make them get used to me and taking photos.
The most important toys for kids are these arrows.
Even before cutting a rooster, they need to hunt with them like target practice.
He is just playing here trying to catch a bird.
They are running away from me.It is hard to get close to them.
I was passing over a bridge when leaving from Manulan. Its height was around 2 meters.
Unfortunately, some woods were broken when I was walking on.
I had many bags on my back and in my hands and I fell down.
I fell on my left foot so I can't push on it.
I've been keep going like this for 2 days.
I can't push on it but at least, my bones aren't broken.
This is at least a good thing for me.
We have four more days to go.
They've seen an animal on a tree again but I don't know what that is. Let's see!
They returned with their hands empty; they couldn't find the animal.
They've seen a monkey, they are going to shoot it now.
It has been around 20 minutes since they went. They are coming back now.
We've heard four gun shots. He has got a monkey.
Our friend has one more, too. In total, we have four monkeys.
Finally, we've reached our boat after 2 days.
Now, we will continue with it. Surely, it will be more comfartable.
We can at least make our hammocks and lie down.
The things are being carried to the big canoe and meal is being cooked.
And you can see the hunted monkeys.
What you see now is a dolphin. There are plenty of them in Amazon river.
This is the animal which looks like a turkey.
My foot has been swelling up and the pain's been increasing every day.
I hurt my right leg when falling down from the bridge.
They've seen turtle traces on the beach again. They are collecting the eggs.
There isn't so much food to eat; we have rice, 4 monkeys and these eggs.
They are coming with two full bags. There are plenty of eggs.
Yukas were chopped for dinner. Woods were collected at the same time.
They will light a fire and cook dinner.
There were two different types of turtles so we have different types of eggs: the small and big one.
I said we already had a stove inside the boat and asked them why they didn't use it for cooking.
They said they had a big turtle so they made a fire to cook it.
They've brought the turtle.
It is being cooked on the fire.
The animal isn't dead yet. They are cooking it alive.
I asked them to kill it before but I couldn't be so effective to change their mind.
I have eaten turtle before but this time,  it's impossible for me.
No matter what I've said, they 've cooked the animal alive.
I couldn't be helpful.
So I have to be full with the egss not the animal itself.
There is nothing more to eat.
They lost the hooks for fishing but they've found them now.
At the same time, they are fishing.
I have only eggs for tonight. I can't wait for fish or other food because I'm so sleepy and tired.
Anyway, I will continue (eating) tomorrow. We still have 3 days to go.
We can't go further at night because we are caught in a storm.
We met with another local fishing boat. They gave us 2 big fish and we gave them some yuka.
You can't use money here but bartering works.
Here are the two fish.
We've seen another fishing boat, he is bartering some bananas for fish.
They gave us 4 big fish for that amount of banana and yuka.
Finally, we are back in Atalay on the 6th day.
That was my last 19 days.
I spent 8 days to go and 6 days to come back. 14 days on the road and 5 days with Marubo people.
I had no Internet connection and a phone.
Food was distress.
Now, it is time to relax.
Hope to see you in another indigenous adventure.
