Inca & Amazon 76 - Book Bus in Tena
Posted
by
Seth
on 29 Mar 2010
The following entry is from Daisy Bard:
Monday March 15th 2010
Today we had the pleasure of attending a press conference at the site of Bajo Ongota (the first school we had visited, so this was our second time there). Amongst the dignitaries present were journalists, the minister of education, the mayor of Tena, a famous children´s writer and the British Ambassador to Ecuador. We worked with the kids for two hours (my group read and acted out parts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, drawing the grotesque characters and penning new culinary inventions), and put some of their art up around the classrooms. Next came the speeches and in typical Latin Amerian style, everyone had something to say! The award-winning writer had written something for the chidren which she read aloud, all about the Ventureco explorers and their treasure trove (the Book Bus) of smiles, fantasy and excitement. The main focus of the speeches (apart from thanking the communities for their support and welcome) seemed to be the fundamental importance of reading in education. Afterwards, each school we had visited presented a song or dance. They had all come to Bajo Ongota and there were ten performances, including a traditional dance with water pots, spears and plants as props. Finally, we all got up and had a little dancey with all of them, and refreshments commenced (a long-awaited treat in such a scorching and humid climate). Our lunch, which Bajo Ongota provided, was an exotic mix of whole barbecued fish, cocoa beans, yuca and palm hearts. After some football, clapping games and general frolicking, we were back in our beloved book bus (and Dave even had to eject some strangers who´d mistaken it for a public one).
Tuesday March 16th
Jacob´s birthday celebration; the whole group cross-dressed for the night. This would be a longer entry but it´s not for the tender eyes of our naive parents. Good fun was had by all, and little remembered the next morning!
Wednesday March 17th
We visited the school of Shandia, where they make Kallari chocolate; the plan was to have lunch and then go swimming in the river (an exciting cocktail of non-recommended activity), but the torrential rain was verging on a monsoon and quashed our ambitions. The lunch was nonetheless delicious, as was the company.
Thursday 18th March
We´ve officially been here a month. After the book bus session we headed off in a canoe to rural Ahuano, where a nice German-Ecuadorian couple looked after us, with their pet snake, whom we named Diego. The group took a trip to the little beach (again in their caneo), and most of them got stuck on a rock they´d insistently swum to despite the currents. They had to be ferried back. In the meantime, those less foolhardy descaled some freshly-caught fish, and became true Amazonians in the process.