Before we arrived with the Yawanawá, we had to pay them a sum of money. This was to cover the cost of our transport to/from the tribe, living with them, and food costs. Last night we were told that supper would be at the chiefs house where all the food our money had paid for was to be feasted on. We were then advised not to come to the feast as the food bought was mostly fish and meat based, which as vegetarians would have been awkward for us and we would have seemed rude.
To post our blogs we are using an Iridium Go satellite WiFi hub. Using a separate satellite hub from Inmarsat we are able to post our daily videos. On the first couple of days we were here, our satellite hub to post the videos wasnt working well for us, so using the Iridium Go unit we were able to phone technical support and get the Inmarsat up and running. This phone call didnt go unnoticed by the Yawanawá people, and since then we have had several requests to use the Iridium Go unit to make phone calls to other Yawanawa members. This really strained our battery and seeing as the weather is starting to turn we cant afford to share our satellite anymore – this could result in awkwardness! As much as we want to share our equipment its not practical for us. Its a conundrum to us why they felt the need to use technology they would never normally have and it shows us the direction of travel for the tribe is quickly becoming more reliant on the outside world, with everything that that brings.
Out of curiosity we asked the Yawanawá what their word for thank you is. We wanted to be able to say thank you every time we were given food, or help. After much consideration, they came back to us and say that there is no word for thank you in the tribe. This helps us understand that sharing everything is so important in their community.
Martha-Lilly x
