Chapter 17: Rainbow Family in the jungle

I was so blessed to be welcome by my loving Tom soon after I arrived... actually less that an hour after our landing... After a month being away! So nice to be together again =)

We went to a 5-soles-hammock-hostel (less than £2) and met a really nice group of people, who told us that the couchsurfer we were about to stay at was actually a conman! They just came back from the place and got stolen money! They were also all heading to a place called Comunidad Arco Iris... But wait, that sound a lot like the rainbow family in Iquitos that Felipe told us about, no? Yes, of course, arco iris = rainbow in Spanish hehe

Life there was like paradise! Eating 2 of the healthiest meals ever per day (porridge and exotic fruit salads for breakfast, and huge stews made of numerous beans, seeds and vegetables from the jungle for lunch), living with such a huge respect for environment (carbon filter in order to use the water from the river, using ashes and lemon for dish, clothes and body washing – even the teeth! -, dried toilet to reuse as compost in the garden, plantation of fruit trees like papayas, bananas and cocos, as well as vegetables, sugar cane, etc...), and of course, no electricity.

For my birthday, which happened during the first week, I decided to do was I do the best: organise games! And then the whole community turned into a big holiday camp: little games in the circle before meals, killer game throughout day, treasure hunt in the different places of the land... SO much fun =)

A little bit about the history of the place. It is owned by a French guy, Arnaud, who came in Iquitos 10 years ago; he was then 22, and bought 80 hectares of Amazonian forest for only 10 000€! (By the way, there is 40 hectares to buy next land, for the same price – yep, price doubled in 10 years!-, for those who want to do an eco-friendly investment... Knowing that they are about to cut 30 000 HECTARES in Iquitos area, just for the sake of a f**king ridiculous palm tree plantation to produce palm oil for a Malaysian company!).

He is living there since then, offering a wonderful place for a rainbow family to happen (permanent rainbow gathering with some adaptation, that means that the spirit is the same, but for the sake of a permanency, some modification are brought to the system, like paying for a short stay). Well, my first rainbow experience was a success!

We stayed there 2 weeks together, feeling as light as feathers and spending a lot of time appreciating Nature in our own ways. We were blessed to get a private casa with the only double bed on site (again, what luck!), casa de Krishna.

The kitchen

The rio, to wash dishes, clothes... and body!

Our clay cooker

David, from Canada

The living room

The ladies washing...

Dany, Soul of a godess

Manu & Agustin

Eileen & Gaston

Eileen & Audrey

Arnaud & Tom

Shamanic art

Casa Krishna, our home home with double bed

Mystic fruits of the jungle...

Our jungle cat, Huanbisa

Jungle rats and mouse story:

I was recently missing the presence of animals, and especially rats that I use to have and cherish. One day I found a nest of rats next to the food shed, a lovely grey young mum and a litter of 5 2-days-old baby rats. We had to remove them from the food shed, but the mum got scared and I was worried that she wouldn't come back for the babies. Indeed, the next day, even though we tried to leave the nest as intact as possible, the babies were still here, pink like prawns and eyes not yet opened. The following days, I tried my best to save them, building a cage to protect them from bigger animals, feeding them with milk through the corner of a plastic bag... but it failed, and one after the other they died.

It was very interesting experience, to give as much love as possible to save these little creatures but fighting no to get attached because of the high risk of death, and finally fully accepting their death as part of life, with nothing negative in it... to the point where I could just give the little dead bodies to the cats without excessive grief. I'm grateful for that experience.

The day before leaving, while I was cooking, something fell from the ceiling just next to me. It was a tiny mouse! She didn't move, just stayed there, staring at me. So I took it, and she just stayed on me, hiding in my clothes! I finally got the partner I asked for! But it didn't last long before she went over the shock and escape from my care. It made me quite sad, and I still miss my rats and hope I have the opportunity soon to get a new one.