Projects worth the journey: brave indigenous women that unite tourism, tradition and conservation
Indigenous and woman… A combination that in itself makes life difficult all over the world. It is no different in South America. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, only one in ten indigenous girls finishes secondary school in Latin America.
In general, being a woman is hard enough in these parts. Even I, a privileged white woman, often notice it when they explain to me how the world works, when they don’t believe I know how to drive, or when they correct my Spanish because they use a different word here and the one I use is probably made up. Depending on the day, I don’t cope too well with it.
Imagine not having had the opportunity to receive a good basic education, living in a tribe and growing up in a cultural and economic context different from that of the upper caste. In short, you are in the lowest possible status. The realities of the rich and the poor differ much more in this part of the world. But sometimes you come across extraordinary initiatives that seek to change the paradigm somewhat.
The women of the community of San Pedro, in Misahuallí Ecuador, are one such example to follow. Despite being indigenous, and women, they have created their own business from which a whole community lives. And it is beautiful.
Sinchi Warmi Lodge – Brave women
In 2002, Betty and the women of the community of San Pedro, in Misahuallí, started a tourism project with three objectives: to preserve their culture, care for nature and improve their living conditions. That’s how Sinchi Warmi started.
They began little by little, constructing the buildings to accommodate tourists, all in the traditional style of the Kichwa Indians. The result? A beautiful little hotel was born, hidden among plants and surrounded by lagoons.
The lagoons are crossed by a bridge, the perfect place to spend the days. We settled there to watch the fish passing by. And not just any fish.
The monster of the Amazonian rivers
Sofia welcomes us. She explains everything to us, invites us to guayusa tea and prepares some potato chunks, which is what they have at the moment instead of bread, then takes us to the bridge and throws the chunks into the water. Bam! There is a loud noise in the water. It is the mouth of something gigantic. “A paiche of about 2.50 metres,” she explains. It spits out again the potato, the fish doesn’t like vegetables too much.
The paiche, also known as arapaima or pirarucu, is one of the largest freshwater fish, reaching up to four metres and weighing up to 200 kilos. It has large black scales and a huge red tail. Its eyes and tail scales reflect the light of torches at night. It looks like a giant monster approaching with only its eyes showing.
It feeds mainly on other fish, but also eats birds, insects and other small mammals. They hunt them by suction: they open their big mouths and create a vacuum that attracts their prey, which causes that characteristic noise.
At Sinchi Warmi they have three giants, the oldest is about eight years old. The fish accompanies us throughout our stay and, at night, we can hear them hunting as they propel themselves quickly to catch their prey. By the way, it is also a very tasty fish to eat.
A rainbow at night
We spend the day relaxing and doing small jobs in the car, and in the evening we put on our wellies. The women of Sinchi Warmi let us roam their land freely. It is not very big, but it is a small jungle refuge in the middle of a lot of deforested land.
Together with the lagoons that surround the entire property, it is a small sanctuary for many species. We see pacas and possums, hear the monkeys and also encounter snakes. The first night we come across a false coral that disappears almost immediately. The second night, already a bit discouraged at the end of the walk, we see many colours shining.
A two metre long rainbow boa! Michael takes lots of photos of it, although he wishes he had taken more. The next day we talk to the women and they ask us curiously if we saw anything at night. I tell them about the snake and show them the photos. Normally, people are afraid of snakes and want to kill them. These women, on the other hand, are impressed by the fact that there is such an animal on their property, it makes them happy.
They are Sinchi Warmi – brave women – who leave a great legacy to their community and show that there are projects that want to conserve nature with all its members.
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