Indiana Jones

Or in this case: Indian and Jones. Indian being the name for the natives and Jones being the Brit who is currently sharing their land.

There are 4 tribes in the surrounding area, and each one speaks their own language, with the younger generations also speaking Spanish. From what I have been told, they tend to keep themselves to themselves by ways of marriage and one of the 4 groups are viewed by the others as ‘savages’ and can be subjected to social exclusion. The excuse for such treatment is that they still practice their ancient heritage i.e. prefer to be without clothes (at home, though they dress for social situations), wear decorative items e.g. traditional headdresses and materials of the forest, and the older generation wear earplugs. It as shame discrimination happens within their own society… but it seems like the world over is the same. Their skin colours are a rich chocolate colour and with thick black or dark brown hair. The height of the local women varies around 5 foot (I am at the tall end here) the men are generally taller but not lofty by any means. Their speech is soft (with me at least).  

I was privileged to spend 4 days with three of the tribes, who came to the centre to share their weaving skills (and to teach those of them that did not know/forgot the techniques). All age groups were represented and a wide variety of products were produced by the end of the week, from baskets, bags, purposeful and decorative items, all made from plants of the forest. It was fascinating to watch and I gave a couple of the weaving techniques a go, and boy was it hard! It also gave me a sore neck afterwards from gazing down constantly, I don’t know how they manage it, as for some people it is part of their livelihood.

The population of Ecuador is interesting too. Firstly, the conquistadors who came to this area ended up settling and having families, so most of the people here have white ancestry and the skin tones/hair and eye colour can vary widely. These people are called ‘Meicizo’ (mixed-Ecuadorians). It should be noted that in the southern parts of South America, the conquistadors did not settle, instead tried to wipe all the natives out, so the differences between people in the north of the continent and the south can vary because of this. On top of that in the coastal regions of Ecuador (especially in the province of Esmeraldes) people can be very dark from black heritage, when the slave boats came over from Africa, only for some reason ended up here and the Africans managed to escape into the jungle. So all in all there doesn’t seem to be a ‘typical Ecuadorian’.

In the town here, there are the locals, people from the coastal regions and a few black people, so quite a diversity considering its size and location. This is probably influenced by the oil companies around here bring in workers from other parts of Ecuador and some of whom settle in the area.

4 hours down the main river there are Indians who are as natural as they come and live in and off the forest. You only visit if you are invited.

All the people I’ve been in contact with are very friendly and generous (even if I can’t speak too much with them) and I been made to feel very welcome (I guess it helps that I play football… it always seems to be a good way to ‘fit in’ community wherever I go). I am the only white person in the area (though one did pass through town a while ago), so I do get ‘extra looks’ but they are much more discrete about it, more-so than other white-minority places I’ve been, which I do appreciate, as I don’t really appreciate being centre of attention. In all fairness I can understand it because after looking at darker skinned people all day, I am a little surprised when I see myself in a mirror and realise how white I am in comparison.

Anyhow so yes, that’s a window into what the society is like here. Learning about the diversity of the local and national Ecuadorians is quite the history lesson