Culture & Customs of the Rainforest

 Day 1  July 5,  2005   

Dear Reader,

            Alexis and Julia stayed back in the tent to rest, but Amber and I decided to go exploring.  As we left the camp, I couldn’t believe how much my feet sunk in the thick layer of decaying leaves and other things I wasn’t sure about.  Traveling was hard for thorn bushes grabbed us and slowed us down.  We kept stumbling over tree roots.  I couldn’t help but wish there were cars and roads.  Soon we found ourselves standing in front of a river next to the Rainforest People.  It took them a minute to understand that we were asking them what they were doing.  Eventually they translated back that they were making a canoe.  We were pleased at how skilled they were at making the hollowed out log into a canoe.  I couldn’t have been more flabbergasted than when 11 of their people climbed into the canoe though!  I didn’t think a canoe could hold that many people!

            They invited us to come to their village for supper.  We took the invitation gratefully for after the long day with the canoes, we were quite exhausted and hungry.  Traveling was much easier than the journey to the river for they had paths, but the paths were only wide enough for one or two people to fit.  While we walked the people began to sing a pleasant harmony.  When we arrived at the village, the women rushed to get the food.  While we ate they told us about how people were destroying the rainforest for different things, even though the rainforest provided things such as lotions, shampoos, conditioners, and a variety of other things without being destroyed.

            The people also told us how much they depend on the forest for its wood, animals, and other objects to make products to trade.  They sadly told us that people had been arrested and even killed protesting against the Amazon’s destruction.  I fell asleep with this thought on my mind.

Day  2     July ,6  2005

            The next day we woke up covered in sweat, but were soon ready to go meet the forest people in their village.  On our way, we ran into a huge snake-like creature that made my heart jump into my throat.  It turned out to be an Anaconda.  When we reached our destination, we found ourselves pulling thorns out of our pants and socks.  The people greeted us merrily and for the first time I realized what strange clothes some of them were wearing.

            I couldn’t believe that their houses were only poles of wood supporting a thick thatch vine and leaf roof.  There was no privacy.  I barely stifled a scream as a snake slithered toward me.  To my relief, I found that the forest people have pets and the snake was just one of them, but I still think I’d lean toward the birds and turtles.  The people even have pigs, chickens, and dogs as pets.  As we wondered through the village we saw children painting faces, playing with dolls, shooting arrows, and swimming in a far river.  Some children were doing work such as weaving baskets, fishing, cooking, and hunting.  All the children talked and laughed.  No one seemed to be sad.  I felt sick when I saw what was cooking: alligator and sloth.  Yuck!  We got to have our faces painted with paint made from their local berries.  It tickled so much I burst out laughing.  I attracted a lot of attention.  I slept well for I was so tired.         

Tropical Rainforest- ,of or like the tropics: tropical heat, a very thick forest in a place where rain is very heavy all through the

year. Bananas are tropical fruit. Rainforests are usually in tropical areas.