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By Michelle Flint and Bob Linde
Article two
YOU MAY NEVER SEE THIS VILLAGE
As we stepped out of our two launches some hundred
children swooped down the embankment to greet us. They ranged from
2 to 12 years of age and were dressed in a hodgepodge of shorts, smocks,
dresses, and T-shirts. Some rushed up immediately, waving and shouting
Buenos dias. Others hung back, excited and curious, but shy at seeing
30 Americans visit their village.
This was Mount Sinai, a small, isolated community
on the Tapiche River, an Amazon tributary. Like other villages on the river,
Mount Sinai had no electricity or running water, but the village was clean
and neat. Our tour guides, Juan and Edgard, introduced us to village elders
and showed us around the village: the church, the school, the plantain
trees and rows of clean, open-air houses. The children moved with us, fascinated
by the tall, fair-skinned visitors who spoke varying degrees of halting
Spanish with them. They were obviously not accustomed to tourists, and
we began to feel less like intruders into their private lives and more
like ambassadors from another culture.
This is by design at International Expeditions,
an American-based company that specializes in global ecotourism. International
Expeditions is the only tourist company running cruises down this tributary
of the Amazon River. Its two cruise boats, the Tourmalina and the Esmeralda,
rotate their village visits along the river, each village receiving visits
no more than once every month or two. This, Juan explains, is to
keep the villagers from becoming economically dependent on tourists. At
Mount Sinai, villagers farm, hunt, raise chickens and weave thatched roofs,
which they sell to other villages along the river. The roof panels are
strong, leakproof and last for years. Craftsmen showed us their work
with great pride.
We gathered back at the school, which had
finished classes in time for lunch and afternoon sports such as soccer.
Judy, a travel agent from California, had brought gifts for everyone.
But first, Edgard explained, they wanted to show us something from their
culture. The children sang Como esta mis amigos, (How are you my friends)
a call-and-response song which required our tour group to sing out Muy
bien! (Very good!) several times. When they asked us to sing to them, we
managed a round of Happy Birthday before they joined in, in Spanish. Soon
everyone was laughing or giggling, depending on height.
When it was time for the gifts to the children,
they stood in practiced rows, hushed with excitement. Edgard passed out
plastic whistles and tiny American flags on toothpicks. And soon
we heard whistles shrilling from every corner of the village. Judy’s husband,
Brian, bet they would be confiscated as soon as we left.
After a couple of hours, we headed back to
the Turmalina , feeling we had made some friends. Whistle-songs followed
us down to our powerboat. If you cruise the Amazon with International Expeditions,
you may not see Mount Sinai, or meet these children. But you will have
the pleasure of meeting people from another village somewhere along the
tributaries of the Amazon. And International Expeditions has ensured that
they will take pleasure in meeting you, too.
Article Two -- ACEER--Careful what
you wish for...
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