It was a very hot and bumpy, swerving ride to Tarapoto in a packed car on a rough dirt road for over 3 hours but with beautiful views of the Rio Huallaga much of the way. In this part of Peru, there are few cars - mostly motorcycles and mototaxis, like motortricycles. Cars are used mostly as long distance taxis. In Juanjui, as in Campur in Guatemala, people often walk long distances on paths between their houses and fields (chacras). There are no roads in the Rio Abiseo park - access is by river on the east side and by trail on the west.

Many thanks to Alex and Nataly for the accommodations at their house and for many delicious "typical" meals! Alex also helped me out with a loan since I wasn't able to reload my AAA debit card without a long delay and found out that banks in Peru require a PIN for cash advances from a credit card; some accept only VISA. International transfers from a bank in the US take 3 business days.

After arriving in Juanjui today around noon, I met with pastor Jose and his family for lunch. Great to see them again. Meeting them and others tonight to talk more about ideas for environmental education and action next year.

written by  cjones on December 20, 2007 from Tarapoto, Peru
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Arrived at the airport in Quito late last night, then at the hotel early this morning after waiting in line 2 hours for immigration after getting off the plane. Brought more stuff this time including a travel guitar, climbing shoes and harness, a laptop (which it looks like I'll need for the volunteer work here) and more books. So much more that my backpack was over the weight limit and had to quickly shed a few pounds.

On the plane and during the 6-hour wait at the airport in Houston, I continued reading a book on Latin American history called "Born in Blood and Fire." The period of history I read about was the 19th century from the independence wars through the end of (officially sanctioned) slavery and the rise of economic and cultural liberalism. The description in the book of the transformation of the old caste system, based primarily on race, into a new class system, based primarily on wealth and image, seems to echo what I see now in the 21st century. The author refers to the two classes as the common people and the "decent" people, roughly corresponding I think to the postcolonial version of the poor and disadvantaged on the one hand and the rich or privileged on the other. The latter had abandoned the religious conservatism of the Iberian "Peninsulars" (Spanish and Portuguese) and sought to imitate the liberal mores and styles of the English and French. And of course this class looked down upon and exploited the common folk.

This reminds me of another distinction I read about in the book by Wendell Berry, referring to a book by Wallace Stegner on the American West - that between "boomers" and "stickers." Boomers are the exploiters who seek to make it rich and get theirs regardless of what happens to everyone else, and stickers are those who remain faithful - to their roots, principles and traditions.

Is it too simplistic to categorize people in such a binary way? I think of the dichotomies in the Bible. A person cannot serve two masters - one serves either God or Mammon (money). In Proverbs, the fool follows a path of callous self interest that leads to death and a person who serves God follows a path of love and forgiveness that leads to life.

written by  cjones on January 7, 2008 from Quito, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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The last two days have been testing my patience. Mostly because yesterday the hard disk in the laptop I bought just 2 weeks ago wouldn't boot. It seems now that it may have become infected with a boot sector virus, but also the recovery disk I had created a couple of weeks ago just after I bought the computer didn't recover. Finally found a technician today who recovered the few data files I hadn't backed up and I think can restore the OS tomorrow. Didn't have these problems when I didn't carry a computer. Another drawback is that outside of the city, it's easy to find internet cafes but hard to find WiFi locations.

written by  cjones on January 15, 2008 from Quito, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Under the sacred (1800 year old) tree

Rojelio in the vivero

Second day of the workshop in Tumbaco

Appears now that the computer problem (or at least one problem) was a loose connector for the disk drive that prevented booting but not reading the disk. Reinstalled the OS but after inserting a shim to hold the disk in place it seems to be working fine now.

written by  cjones on January 20, 2008 from Tumbaco, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Still defining the goals of my work in the community, but have many ideas for helping with reforestation, mapping for land use planning, and setting up educational programs for health, environmental awareness, and better agricultural practices. One challenge is that none of the crops grown there generate much income from the local market in Santo_Domingo. Another is that much of the land has been seriously degraded from chemical use, burning of crop residues, and monoculture. Some of this land has been leased to mestizo campesinos and the indigenous government has recently decided to not renew the leases and to reclaim the land. This is of course a sensitive issue, but presents an opportunity to make improvements in land management. Yanapuma is working to unite the 7 communities in a cultural rescue effort, which has as one tangible objective the construction of the new cultural center.

Lots of mosquitoes there - much more than anywhere else I've been on the trip. There's a fairly good road but very few vehicles passing by. Some of the main crops are plantains, cacao, yuca, malanga (like taro), maracuya (passion fruit), sugar cane, pineapples, teak and corn.

written by  cjones on January 24, 2008 from Quito, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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I think it's wrong and not effective in the long-term to impose, and it would be arrogant and misguided to promote a set of values if they were just those of one group of people vs. another. However, what if the values come from God? Of course people could disagree about what God wants, but personally I want to promote what I believe that is, not just anything a community wants. What this could mean in a particular context isn't fixed. I believe God desires for us to be humble and continuously turn to him for guidance in prayer.

In the book Tropical Forests and the Human Spirit, it was noted that without a common spiritual tradition, there is little to prevent self-interest (we could say “sin”) from undermining the goals of the best intentioned development efforts.

It may be impossible NOT to promote a set of values. It's just that in a secular organization, these may not be discussed - they could be more implicit. We promote values by the way we live and the kind of relationships we have. How can even the best intentioned really do any good without God?

Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
will do so by the God of truth;
he who takes an oath in the land
will swear by the God of truth.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from my eyes.

Isaiah 65:16

written by  cjones on January 31, 2008 from Quito, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Building the base of the seed dryer/cob oven

Paperng the sand-filled interior of the oven

Spent a couple of days at a farm on the coast, on a nature reserve owned by George and Christine, a couple from Peru who moved from the city to live close to the land, to help organize associations for conservation and organic production, and to set an example for others in how to manage the land more sustainably.

Arrived during the construction of an innovative seed and fruit dryer made out of cob - mixed sand, clay and fiber - and using a passive solar collector and bread oven (depending on the weather) to dry the seeds or fruit (or coffee or cacao beans). Since none of the raw crops generate much income, appropriate technology such as this could add value to products and be enable more economical production. Since some fruits are harvested only during a short season each year, preserving fruits in this way could make a greater diversity of foods available (e.g. mangoes) year round.

Another way to increase income could be to form associations to eliminate some of the distribution costs from farm to market. For example, by joining together, individual farmers may be able to rent a truck themselves to transport produce to market rather than each paying individually to a distributor to pick up and deliver the produce. Also, there may be tax breaks, as well as agricultural benefits, for sustainably managing and obtaining protected status for agroforesty lands.

The dominant economic model promotes exportation and mass production that benefits a few at the expense of many and is damaging to communities and the environment. Rural communities buy Cokes and chips that are mass produced somewhere else and sell bananas and pineapples into the commodity market. Although fairly traded products like cacao could play a role, I think from it's generally more beneficial to strengthen the local economy and allow communities to become more self-sufficient.

It's very challenging to even incrementally improve the income of families in the rural areas with agricultural products. However, it seems that with more awareness, appropriate training and reliance on locally available materials and products, the need for income could be reduced and by a more nutritious locally-grown diet, some health problems could be averted.

written by  cjones on February 14, 2008 from Quito, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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