Jungle-tastic Tales

By Helen Pugh

From the author of Inca-tastic Tales comes: Jungle-tastic Tales!

Are you brave enough to join Yacumama, the Amazon's most humongous and powerful snake, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip? 
You are? Fab! Then grab your camera, mosquito net and raincoat, and LET'S GO!
You're gonna travel through thousands of years of history and culture (a lot of which not many grown-ups know about!). 
For example, did you know...? 
- There were once huge cities in the Amazon rainforest.
- The Amazon is home to millions of different species of animals and plants.
- The first city in Peru to get electric street lights was in the Amazon Region.
- A Premier League footballer grew up in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

If that's got your interest, then jump in the canoe and we'll get started straight away. We'll start with the Ice Age and go right the way through to modern times. Oh, and Yacumama promises not to bite you! She'll be on her best behaviour.

Praise for The Mysterious Helpers:
"really exciting"
"a good yarn"
"I believe everyone should read this beautiful story."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Helen Pugh
• Release date: Nov 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005992859

Helen Pugh

Helen Pugh is the author of Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire, an accessible non-fiction historical account of incredible Inca women who lived hundreds of years ago. She has also written Jungle-tastic Tales and Inca-tastic Tales, short story anthologies for children based on extensive research into the rainforest and Inca history, respectively, as well as Cuentos incatásticos for Spanish speakers and several shorter ebooks that are free of charge.Her interest in South America and the Incas began in 2006, when she first went to Ecuador. Then, from 2011 she lived there for 7 continuous years, 6 in the Amazon Region and 1 in Quito. Her children are half Ecuadorian, which was another driving force for exploring South American heritage. She experienced domestic violence and very long and traumatic legal battles in Ecuador so can relate to some of the Inca women in the book on that front.Helen studied Spanish and Italian at university and has a lifelong passion for history, especially that of historical women who made history, but have been sidelined.

Book preview

Jungle-tastic Tales by Helen Pugh

Stories from the Western Amazon Region

Copyright Helen Pugh 2022.

All rights reserved.

THE RIGHT OF HELEN Pugh to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

No part of this ebook may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, except as permitted by UK copyright law or the author. For licensing requests, please contact the author at [e-mail].

First published in 2022

ISBN: 9781005992859

Available at http://books2read.com/jungletastic

Cover by: Helen Pugh

Table of Contents

Introduction

Map of the Amazon Region

Jungle-tastic Facts about the Amazon Region

Let’s meet the Western Amazonian countries

List of Indigenous Nationalities Mentioned

EARLY HUMANS

Ancient Art Galleries

Chinchipe and the Chocolate Factory

The Garden Cities

INDIGENOUS LEGENDS

The Jungle Comes to Life (a Shuar legend)

A River Is Born (a Waorani legend)

The Mysterious Helpers (a Kichwa legend)

The Sister Trees (an Awajún legend)

Kuartam the Frog (a Shuar legend)

Stars and Pumas (a Kichwa legend)

COLONIAL TIMES

The River’s Names Are Taken

For Freedom

A Voyage of Terror and Tears

Lucy’s Light

POST-COLONIAL TIMES

Omarino Crosses the Ocean

Sun, Camera, Action!

Rainforest to Riches

Hasta Luego

Just For Fun

Tricky Words

Thank You!

About the Author

Magic and mystery,

Legends and history.

Colours and sounds,

Creatures abound.

Beauty and power,

Poisonous flowers.

Floods and sunshine,

Snakelike vines.

Amazed and scared,

Enter if you dare!

(Sumaco volcano crater, Ecuadorian Amazon)

To Dianne and Jake, for your love of animals and football; and for Yutsu and Mindal, for your love of animals, history and your heritage.

All images are my own unless otherwise stated. Images that do not belong to me are all in the public domain.

Introduction

How’s it going? I’m Yacumama (ya coo MA ma). Welcome to the Amazon Region. You've just arrived. Have you packed everything? Here's a check-list just in case:

mosquito net

insect repellent

camera

waterproof coat

wellies

Spanish and Portuguese dictionaries

money for each country

spare clothes

sunglasses

hand gel

favourite teddy

water bottle and snacks

(wellies, teddy bear, sunglasses from needpix; coins from Wikimedia Commons)

IF YOU'VE FORGOTTEN anything, we can buy them in a jungle town somewhere (except your favourite cuddly toy!).

As I said, I’m Yacumama. My name means ‘water mum’ in the Quechua language, which is spoken in many parts of South America in various dialects. In the Highlands and Amazon Region of Peru and Bolivia, many people speak Quechua. In Ecuador, they have two main dialects: Quichua de la sierra in the Highlands and Kichwa del oriente in the Amazon Region.

First things first, if you get stuck on any tricky words, just skip to the section that is helpfully named Tricky Words.

Secondly, I may be a snake but I’ll be your friend on this journey. Don’t worry! I won’t bite, especially if you believe in legends and magic.

You do? Oh, that’s good because I’m a legendary, magical snake who lives in the Amazon River. The legends say that a fisherman who lived near Pucallpa in Peru a long time ago was the first person to ever meet me. The gods and goddesses of the sky sent down four tapirs from the sky to distract me long enough so that he could escape. Luckily for him, tapirs taste better than fishermen!

Although I have to kill to eat and live, I’m a mother to all the other creatures who live in the waters out here. That’s why my other name is Mayumama, meaning ‘river mum’. And as a mother, I give birth to hot and cold waters depending on my mood.

By the way, the river itself was named after me, or at least after the fact that it looks like a snake. The Quechua and Kichwa people call it the Amaru Mayu– the snake river.

Did I mention that I’m big? Well, actually, I’m being modest. I’m ENORMOUS! Think of an anaconda but much bigger.

I give life to all the lakes and rivers of the Amazon. Extra-cool, I know! If ever I were to die, it would cause chaos: the lakes and rivers could dry up and then all their other animals would die too.

Other interesting points about me are... that I can hypnotise people and I can roar underwater to cause vibrations through the rivers and riverbanks. You’d better watch out if I’m about! I’m not always the friendliest animal you’d want to meet– some people have entered my waters and never got out again, particularly fisher people who come to steal my food. Local people try to scare me away by blowing into a shell trumpet before daring to draw near to my territory. In some places, only the most powerful shamans can approach my rivers. Yes, people fear me.

But for you, young human, I’m going to behave. So come right to the water’s edge, don’t be scared. I’m actually here to guide you through this area and tell you some jungle-tastic tales! I’ll be sharing lots of stories and jungle-tastic gems (or pieces) of information with you.

We’re going to travel through time and space. We’ll jump into the Ice Age (but there won’t be any snow in the Amazon forest so you won’t need thick coats!), pass through pre-Columbian times (that’s before the Europeans arrived), learn about Spanish conquerors, find out what happened in the 1900s and end with modern-day jungle-tastic stories.

If you’re ready, let’s dive in... but don’t actually jump in– you don’t want to swim anywhere near me! And be careful, it’s a jungle out there. Quite literally! A jungle that cannot be tamed...

(Image from publicdomainfiles.com)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Website

Diccionario de mitos y leyendas

Las serpientes gigantes de la Amazonía by Victor Velásquez Zea

Terrifying Legends of Peru #3: Yacumama and Sachamama by Michael Lee Dreckschmidt 

This River Kills Everything that Falls into it by Simon Worrall

Map of the Amazon Region

On the map below, the grey outline shows just how BIG the Amazon Region is. You can see which countries have Amazonian land in them.

Jungle-tastic Facts about the Amazon Region

The Amazon Region is in South America, a continent that is also known as Abya Yala. The Guna people in Panama and coastal Colombia have used the name Abya Yala to refer to the continent since before the Spanish Conquest. Nowadays, many Indigenous and non-Indigenous people prefer to say Abya Yala as it is an older name and unlike the term ‘South America’, it isn’t a European invention.

The Amazon is the biggest tropical rainforest on the planet. It is more than 17 times larger than the UK and Ireland put together!

The Amazon Region extends across 8 countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and Brazil, as well as an overseas territory belonging to France called French Guiana.

Around 1 million Indigenous people live in the Amazon Region. Some people estimate that humans first started living in this area around 32,000 to 39,000 years ago. There are about 400 different Indigenous groups, often called nationalities or peoples.

The Amazon is home to several million different species. For example, there are at least 40,000 plant species, 427 mammals, 1,300 bird species, 378 reptile species and 3,000 freshwater fish species. Many species have not even been recorded by scientists yet. In this book, you’ll get to meet some of the animals and plants we do know about!

The most important river in the Amazon is of course the Amazon River itself. As the second-longest river in the whole world, it’s 4,345 miles long.

It’s not called the rainforest for nothing: the Amazon receives very heavy rain and lots of it– between 1,500mm and 3,000mm each year. You could sing in the rain all you want!

The Amazon Region needs help! It is facing a lot of problems these days such as people chopping down trees to make room for loads of beef farming, gold mining and petroleum oil extraction. These activities also contaminate this tropical rainforest. Indigenous peoples living in the Amazon are often thrown off their land for activities like these as well as for dam-building projects.

(The Ecuadorian Amazon Region)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Encyclopaedia Britannica online

National Geographic Kids website

Survival International website

WWF website

Let’s meet the Western Amazonian countries

Here we are, friendssss , in the western part of the Amazon Region. In this book, we’ll focus on the Amazon Region in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and western Brazil. Let’ssss find out a little more about each one.

Country: Colombia

Capital city: Bogotá (in the Andes mountains)

Biggest Amazonian city: Florencia

Places mentioned in the book: Chiribiquete National Park, El Encanto, Naimenes, Serranía de La Lindosa.

Country: Ecuador

Capital city: Quito (in the Andes mountains)

Biggest Amazonian city: Lago Agrio (also called Nueva Loja)

Places mentioned in the book: Archidona, Ávila, Canelos, Coca, Galeras mountains, Macas, Lago Agrio, Palanda, Puerto Napo, San Rafael waterfall, Santa Ana (La Florida), Sumaco Valley, Tena.

Country: Peru

Capital city: Lima (on the coast)

Biggest Amazonian city: Iquitos

Places mentioned in the book: Andoas, Chachapoyas, Iquitos, Lagunas, Pucallpa, Pusharo, San Joaquín de los Omaguas.

Country: Bolivia

Capital cities: La Paz and Sucre (they each have different functions; both in the Andes)

Biggest Amazonian city: Montero

Places mentioned in the book: Apere river, Beni department, Matos river, Rapula river, Trinidad, Yacuma river.

Country: Brazil

Capital city: Brasilia (to the south of the Amazon Region)

Biggest Amazonian city: Manaus

Places mentioned in the book: Acre, Gurupá, Manaus, Porto Velho, River Madeira, Santarém.

(flags from Wikimedia Commons)

List of Indigenous Nationalities Mentioned

Achuar – Ecuador and Peru

Andoke / Andoque – Colombia and Peru

Aparianos – Peru (previously)

Asháninka – Peru and Brazil

Awajún / Aguaruna – Peru

Bora – Peru, Colombia and Brazil

Chachapoyas –Peru (previously)

Cocama – Peru, Colombia and Brazil

Cofán / Kofán / A’i – Ecuador and Colombia

Kichwa del oriente – Ecuador and Colombia in their Amazonian areas

Matisguenka / Machiguenga – Peru

Mayo Chinchipe culture – Ecuador and Peru (previously)

Movima – Bolivia

Omagua – before: Ecuador, Peru and Brazil; now: only Peru and Brazil

Puruhá – before: Ecuadorian Andes; now: they speak Quichua de la sierra and think of themselves as Quichua people

Quechua – Peru in its coastal, highland and Amazonian areas; Bolivia in its coastal and Amazonian areas

Quichua de la sierra (also known as Highland Kichwa) – Ecuador and Colombia in their Andean areas.

Quijos – before Ecuador and Peru; now mainly mixed with the Kichwas

Shipibo – Peru

Siona – Ecuador and Colombia

Shuar – Ecuador and Peru

Tikuna / Ticuna – Brazil, Colombia and Peru

Waorani / Huaorani – Ecuador, Colombia and Peru

Witoto / Huitoto – Colombia and Peru

Yagua – Peru and Colombia

Yine / Piro – Peru

(Kichwa necklace: my own photo; Shuar bowl, Achuar headdress & Shipibo textile art: Wikimedia Commons)

EARLY HUMANS

You modern-day humans don’t yet know when people first started living in the Amazon Region, when the discoverers of South America first arrived. Some experts in prehistory think it was as far back as 32,000 or even 39,000 years ago. As an ancient snake, more ancient than the trees, I know. But I’m not here to tell you that. I’m first of all going to transport you back to the Ice Age. We’re going to explore archaeological sites that tell us about early Amazonians. It’s going to blow your mind!

(Border by Adelina ZW on Pixabay; Sun by Sarah Culture on Pixabay; Snake by Open Clipart Vectors on Pixabay; Handprint by Kai Stachowia on Open Clipart Vectors; Llama by GDJ on Open Clipart Vectors)

Ancient Art Galleries

Once upon a time, horses and giant ground sloths roamed South America. There were even animals similar to elephants. Yes, I'm serious! This isn't make-believe. And that’s not all! Long ago, human beings got to see these awesome creatures. They respected and worshipped them.

We’re going to take a look at people who lived in what we now call Colombia at least 13,000 years ago, which was during the last Ice Age that ended 11,700 years ago. We’ll also briefly look at another group who may have lived in Colombia at least 20,000 years ago.

Okay, but how do we know that these ancient Amazonians saw ground sloths and horses, then? Well, it’s because these animals feature in some paintings on rock walls in Colombia. We’ll see more details about this in a second. Let’s start with when and where the paintings were found.

Well, the local Indigenous people knew about them, whereas the rest of the world knew very little until a team of archaeologists led by Professor José Iriarte began to study these mind-blowing rock paintings in 2017. The team travelled to south-eastern Colombia, to an area called Serranía de La Lindosa, to see huge rock faces that are absolutely covered in rock paintings. Most of these paintings are red or brown and were created using ochre, a natural earth pigment.

The ancient inhabitants of the area would have stared in wonder at these rocky areas standing out tall and proud in the landscape. They probably thought of them