Chicagoans and Quilmes Bottles in the Rain Forest

After two exciting days at Iguazu Falls, it was time for us to enter the rain forest just outside of the national park so I climbed on for the second horseback ride of my trip to South America. Excited to encounter native Guarani people residing in the forests, to come face to face with tropical animals, and to explore the hidden depths of the unknown, we entered the woods...

AND, prepared for anything, the first living creatures that we came across were not indigenous people or poisonous snakes or tropical birds but rather fellow Chicagoans. That's right. We were in the middle of the rain forest in South America, and the only other four people on our tour happened to be from Oak Park, Illinois. After marvelling at the coincidence for awhile, we continued on our trek. At the entrance of the rainforest was the sign pictured above this post. The saying on the sign, "Aujevéte," means "welcome, enjoy your stay, and pleasant travels."




The truth is that we never did encounter any wild tropical animals, but we did get to visit a Guarani village. There, we saw huts where the Guarani people live (such as the one pictured at left), as well as their school and their place of worship. We also got a chance to get off our horses and admire (and purchase) some of the arts and crafts that the Guarani people had created and sell to tourists at extremely prices. Our tour guide showed us some of the hunting techniques employed by the Guarani people as well. In the picture below, right, our guide is demonstrating a contraption that the Guarani use to catch medium-sized ground animals.







Although the Guarani people live in relative harmony with Iguazu residents and tourists alike, they are certainly not without their problems. One major problem that the Guarani natives have is an alcohol problem. Our tour guide explained to us that, although the people work very hard throughout the week, nearly every single weekend, nearly every person (men and women included) gets drunk and remains drunk for the entire weekend. For this reason, it is often difficult to even enter their territory without provoking them into some sort of confrontation, and we were very lucky to get the opportunity. When one of the other women on the tour heard this, she told her daughter that the reason why the indigenous people drink so much is that it's "in their blood." According to her, in some way, these people are destined to become drunkards as a result of the genes they carry at birth. It's really amazing how ignorant some people are...



Anyway, the Guarani people have also been adversely affected by modern societies. Believe it or not, even though the Guarani people did not have plumbing, roads, or any of the normal modern conveniences we take for granted, they did have a cable line coming into the middle of the rainforest to allow them to watch their favorite soap operas and knock off reality shows. As our guide explained, this influx of modern media has destroyed much of the culture of indigenous peoples throughout the region and throughout the world. The elders no longer pass on old cultural rituals and traditions to the younger generations in the same way that they used to, and a vital part of our heritage as human beings is being lost in the process.

Another problem that is arising with the Guarani and other groups of indigenous people is the problem of litter. These people are not familiar with trash collection and recycling techniques. Consequently, after downing a Quilmes (the national beer of Argentina), they will simply throw the bottle over their shoulders without a second thought. The result, as we witnessed, is forest floors covered with beer bottles, discarded food items, and other miscellaneous trash. Besides being an eye sore and a health risk, there is a chance that such litter will affect the Guaranis' ability to hunt effectively and to grow crops for consumption and sale. Our guide told us that a group of students from abroad is trying to develop a program whereby they can teach the Guarani people to take better care of their land, but the chances of success remain unknown. Only time will tell...