Digi cameras

walking
Originally uploaded by Cameron/Duff.

Our digital camera was by far the biggest hit of our trip to the jungle. Two young mothers asked me to take a picture of their girls in traditional Hoarani headresses. After I took the picture, i asked them if they wanted to see it. After that, all of the young people of the village wanted their picture taken. I let Fabian take my camera, and he photographed many of his friends, then they all gathered around to watch it on the little screen. When we got back to Quito I made prints and dropped them off with our guide, Julio, who will take them to the village next month. I decided not to share these pictures on the internet, even though i treasure them. Really, those photos were for them. The more pictures we took, the more they wanted to take, and in the end even Vye, our hoarani guide, stripped into the buff, tied up his penis in the traditional way, grabbed his two grandsons, and asked me to take a picture. Most of the older generation did not want their picture taken, but by the end emjoyed looking at the images of babies and mothers, teenagers fishing, kids in trees. They are in such a time of change, with the younger generation speaking Spanish, wearing clothes, no longer marking themselves in the same way as the elders, wanting tourism, wanting money. The oil industry is near, and the cash economy has entered their culture. At this point you can look at the village and see the change through the generations. I feel priviledged that we were able to visit while thier traditional culture is still alive, in a time of peace, and absent other tourists.