November 8, 2007
From SATA-Peru-2007
Last night was one of the biggest thunder and lightening storms I¨ve ever seen. This morning when I woke up, it was still raining. We had plans to get going early in order to start on our projects but the rain hindered the process a little. Ultimately, we decided to do smaller, interview-based projects indoors instead.
Hayley and I spoke with two Matsigenka women, Aleja and her daughter-in-law Rojelia. We learned about the rituals surrounding their first menstruation. It was difficult at first, but they soon opened up and we learned how when girls first get their period, they go into isolation for up to a year in one section of their house, specifically set aside for this purpose. Here, only their mom is allowed to enter to give her food. She learns to spin cotton and weave a kushma and make masato (the manioc beer).
We learned to spin cotton this morning with them during the interview and now I understand why it can take up to a year – it´s really hard! The ritual sounded really intense- a year alone in one room spinning and having dietary restrictions: you can´t eat fish, salt, or certain types of fruit. We asked them if it was a sad or lonely time and they said no, that it was “tranquilo” and calm.
During this ritual of the first menstruation, men are never allowed to enter the room. When the girl emerges after her year or so in the “pangotsi”, she emerges as a developed, plump, light-skinned woman ready to enter the kitchen and help her mom and learn all she needs to before finding her husband. Every month from there after she goes back to the pangotsi during her menstration. This doesn´t happen too many times more, though, because she is either pregnant or lactating.
The morning ended with us walking through the forest looking for a certain plant leaf they wanted to rub on our hands to make us better spinners (because clearly we needed it). We didn´t find the certain plant, however we ended up gathering some brazil nuts and mushrooms to eat. It was such a unique experience gathering good from the jungle with some Matsigenka women.
After lunch we were able to start on our projects. Hayley and I crossed “the street” (the river) with Shana and Adonnica and our Matsigenka informants, Ismael and Merino. What a wild afternoon! The actual tagging of trees and plot set up was a bit of a bore, but moving in a small group allowed us to be less conspicuous in the forest. In total, we saw 6 different species of monkeys: wooley monkey, spider monkey, squirrel monkey, and two types of capuchin. Hayley almost got venomous poison squirted on her by a caterpillar/moth creature that Ismael told us hurts so bad when it lands on your skin and that if it gets in a cut or your eyes can kill you. Good thing Hayley is quick and jumped back. Then, not much later, Glenn stepped in a bullet-ant nest. Bullet ants are huge black ants with one of the most painful bites of the forest. He had three crawling on his leg. Ismael alerted him to this fact and helped his swat them off before they were able to bite. Then, not much later, Ismael pointed out a very potent, garlicy smell in the air and told us there were Peccaries nearby. Sure enough, 2 minutes later, a herd of probably almost 200 white-lipped peccaries went charging across the trail 20 meters in front of us! It was incredible and so scary and so exhilarating! Wow, what a day in the forest.
