May 29, 2017

So, the second half of my intensive training journey has begun. Once again, I am alone at La Mura. The slow waking up process takes as long as always, stretching over two hours. After eight o'clock, I head into the village. Massed and Nanki are there with a few other guys, probably from San Ramon, in front of the house. Hola - ¿Qué tal? - Bien. And judging by how they're dressed, they seem to be going somewhere. I sit under the roof in front of the store, Marie calls me for breakfast, and Tzama is already up and dressed. He has to go to Palora today to speak with the mayor. He's still looking for someone who can show me what to do in the nursery. Massed and Nanki actually want to leave too, also to Palora. So, in the end, it's Jasmine who joins me an hour later on the way to the nursery. There, we clean some beds of weeds and later she digs up the plants from the seedbed. These need to be transplanted into black plastic bags with soil. It's a quite monotonous job once you figure out which greenery is the weeds and which are the plants to be moved. There's naturally plenty of time for chatting. It's actually such that people here ask everything, it's not considered nosy, it's completely normal. And of course, you can also ask the corresponding counter-questions. After Jasmine had learned everything about my family, I wanted to get her to open up a little. After all, her recently married husband was killed three months ago. She now lives alone in the little house next to village chief Fidel's, and I was simply curious about what will happen to her now. Is she crying? What will happen to her now? Will she stay in this family? Will she go back? Does she belong here now?
Of course, I didn't ask all of this directly, because I read that family matters are not one of the topics to discuss with outsiders. That's why I simply asked what she wants to do in the near future. Actually, she didn't respond to this question as desired. In the end, it turned out that she wants to travel, to China and the USA. Why China, though?... And just like that, we had another topic to talk about.
For lunch, Jasmine cooked the lentils that were left from the morning. I still don't have a great appetite, so I stuck with the lentils. Hardly were we finished, when a car arrived and brought two portions of ready-made food, sent by Tzama. Apparently, he's staying in Palora a while longer. I passed on it, since I was satisfied.
After eating, a short nap and then I went to the nursery alone for an hour and a half, because now I knew what to do.
In the evening, I was already in bed and dusk had fully set in, when Nankim called my name loudly. I answered, and he called back 'compania', and just like that, he was in the hotel 'La Mura' with a woman and her child.
She had come here with a backpack. From Argentina. She told me the story of how and why she came here half an hour later, once their beds were prepared. I didn't understand everything. But I believe she either wants to be healed or become a healer herself. In any case, she is traveling to various shamans throughout South America, with addresses that show the adventures and the lack of preparation one can embark on in South America without worries. From here, all she knew were 'Fidel', 'Tawasap', and 'Shuar'. Apparently, she had been asking about these names in Puyo the day before yesterday, until yesterday a Shuar boy said he could probably help and had asked his relatives, and eventually, she got closer to this address. Unfortunately, her phone's battery had just died...
Unbelievable! I couldn't do that, and I'm not learning it here either. No, I'd rather worry in advance and swallow a headache tablet, than set off with three address fragments and an empty phone, with a three-year-old son by my side and a backpack on my back! Unbelievable, but true here.