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The third day of our Amazonas tour with On Vacation began with an excursion to visit a Yagua community. The Yagua are an indigenous tribe who settled in the specific area around the late 1970s. This excursion was included in the package.
Arrival
We boarded a rickety old boat at our hotel at 8:30am and sailed up a small tributary of the Amazon. After a short walk through the village, the Yagua residents greeted us at a basketball court by painting our faces with a local plant and telling us what the symbols meant.
Boot Rental
Since there was a hike through the jungle as part of the visit, we were able to rent boots for a few thousand pesos while the local children watched our shoes.
Shaman
Next, a shaman talked to the group about the community and how they survive in the jungle. Members of the tribe then performed a traditional dance and invited visitors to join in. When the dance was over, the children came by with animals and allowed the visitors to handle them for a small tip. Then the shaman asked each visitor to pay a small admission fee. This definitely caught a few visitors by surprise.
Jungle Walk
An hour long walk through the jungle was guided by a Yagua tribesman. Our guide, Martín, stopped at many of the trees along the way and pointed out their medicinal properties and/or traditional uses. It was very interesting and we learned a lot about survival in the jungle.
Finally, we went back to the village where the locals washed our boots. We returned the boots, gathered our shoes, and got back on the boats to head back to the resort for lunch.
