Indian tribes
The main focus of this article is to outline some historical and esoteric subjects related to the area of the Amazon, where is the presence of many native tribes, some of them even unknown to us. The world is more importantly aware of the situation of various native people, who live in isolation, and it is almost unbelievable that animals have better protection than groups of people living freely in nature, if their wish is to stay forever in isolation. A desire to live this way is the legitimate right - the basic right... The situation of these people is, however, appalling even in spite of the UNO's recommendations.
The Madidi National Park
One of the most attractive and arcane natural parks is the Madidi National Park, which was established on September 21, 1995. It covers the area of almost 19,000 km2 and it is on the Bolivia-Peru border in Latin America. There is not even a full list of the flora and fauna in the area, as this place has been explored only a little until now.
The National Geographic classifies this area as "the reservation with the richest biodiversity in the world". The population consists of various groups, of the uncontacted people, too. In our history, Indians were abused by the influx of white settlers, who made slaves of them, and this is the dark side of the Latin America's history, but in North America it was not much too better. Many Indian tribes experienced their worst times particularly in the period of the so-called "rubber industry", when white migrants massacred them often.
During the age when South America was first explored, some historians followed various native tribes that had never come into contact with the white culture. One of such tribes is the alleged Toromona group of people. During the colonization, Spaniards did not have much luck to settle down in the area of the Amazon, where their main goal was to find a secret place called Patiti - an alleged hiding place of the Incas' biggest treasures, which the Incas concealed from Spaniards. There are also some historical records that confirm the fact that the Incas sealed subterranean tunnels in ritual ceremonies.
Toromona Indians contacted the white civilization only in battle. It is known that they supported the Incas and there are historical records about this tribe, albeit it has never been found. One of their chieftains became famous in a battle against Spaniards and records say that his name was Tarano.
Sometimes in the 20th century, Protestant missionaries observed, during their flight above the Amazon area, an isolated group of Indians somewhere near the Madre de Dios River and they came to a conclusion that it could be these Toromona people. However, later - after making a personal contact with them - they identified them as quite a different group (Araona), the number of which is about one hundred and they live in vulnerable conditions; however, they linguistically belong to the same group as the Toromona tribe.
Cordillera Apolobamba is probably the least explored area in the Andes. It is a line of hills - cordillera, the highest peak of which is Chaupi Orco at 6044 m above the sea level. Many people consider this particular part of the Andes to be a place where El Dorado or Patiti can be found. Apolobamba has a unique eco environment with unknown species of fauna and flora. Father Miguel Cavello Balboa wrote about one city of gold and he described Patiti as a place protected by warrior women; he also mentioned the Toromona tribe with notes that it did not have any mercy in killing.
A route from La Paz (capitol of Bolivia) to Pelechuca (a little city in the heart of Apolobamba) takes about 14 hours by bus and civilized people seldom visit such a wild region. This is certainly one of the reasons why this area is known so little. Apolobamba ends with the Amazon forest on its eastern side; many people died here, as they thought that a way to the legendary "lost city" starts somewhere here. Madre de Dios forest starts here, too; if translated, it is the Mother (Madre) of (de) God (Dios).
A well-known British traveler Percy Fawcett made several expeditions to the Amazon including this region (Apolobamba) and in 1914 he met one Indian tribe called Maxubis in the region of Mato Grosso (Brazil). These people were sun worshippers. They showed him some signs to prove that they had come from a much higher civilization.
We can speak about two types of "alienated" Indian or native tribes - 1) the isolated and 2) the uncontacted ones. Whereabouts of the isolated are known, but they refuse to come into contact with us. There may be some information about the uncontacted, but the contact has never been established. The word "contact" is important to understand here, as it means more than just one meeting with a member of the majority race. For example, among the uncontacted is the Toromona tribe, but also Huaorani or Tagaeri, though the existence of the Toromona people requires an independent confirmation.
On January 18, 2007, FUNAI (Fundacao Nacional do Indio), which is a Brazil's national institute for protection of Indians, confirmed the presence of 67 tribes as the uncontacted, while in the year 2005 FUNAI reported the number of 40.
Albeit the Norwegian biologists Lars Hafskjold, who searched for this ethnic group (Toromona), became quite famous by his disappearance (1997), we still know nothing about the existence of the Toromona tribe. However, it is known that Lars had only one goal - to find this tribe, which is a puzzle to many historians.
Uncontacted tribes in South America
Brazil is the country with the biggest number of unknown ethnic groups in the world; their number in a group is about 20 to 400 aborigines.
Bolivia: Sinabo/Kapuibo (Nahua), Yanaigua, Yuqui...
Brazil: Apiaka, Apurina, Arua, Ava-Canoeiros, Guaja, Ingarune, Kanibo (Mayo), Kaniwa (Korubo), Karafawyana, Karitiana, Katawixi, Kayapo do Rio Liberdade, Kayapo-Pu'ro, Kayapo-Pituiaro, Kayapo-Kararao, Kulina, Maku (Nadeb), Mamaindé, Hi-Marima, Mayoruna, Miqueleno (Cujubi), Nereyana, Pakaa-Nova, Papavo group, then Pariuaia, Piriutiti, Sateré, Tupi-Kawahib (Piripicura), Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, Wayapi (Yawapi), Yakarawakta...
Columbia: Karabayo, Guaviare Macusa
Ecuador: Huaorani
Guyana: Wapishana
French Guiana: Wayapi
Peru: Morunahua, Parquenahua, Pisabo
Surinam: Akulio
Venezuela: Yanomami
Paraguay: Totobiegosode clan
Aramu Muru
Aramu Muru, a mysterious door found only recently (1996), can be photographed some 34 km from Puno, a city in Peru in 3825 m above the sea level near the lake Titicaca. After discovering this mysterious door, a wider public became more interested in an Indian legend that spoke of a "gate to the land of Gods". The "stargate" near the lake Titicaca is a stone construction seven meters high and seven meters wide. There is a legend about an Incan priest, Aramu Muru, who belonged to the "seven rays cult"; one day he set off from Tiahuanaco to Cusco with a golden disc that represented the "Key of the Seven Rays Gods". The disc had allegedly controlled openings into subterranean tunnels. The priest disappeared on his way and nobody has ever seen him since then.
Native people living nearby say that strange phenomena can be seen sometimes near this door, for example, high men accompanied by shining "balls of light", or "people" entering into this door and disappearing there. For those who live here, it is clear evidence that legends really contain messages of gods. In addition, there are many historical records about tunnels in South America; these reports appeared immediately after Spaniards found that the Incas concealed most of their gold and used the tunnel system to hide it. Does not the "door" of Aramu Muru look like an entrance into the underground?
http://www.karinya.com/door1.htm
More from history
There are theories about an ancient migration from Asia to America. Nobody denies that the ancient history of South America can yet even today reveal unknown secrets from the time of many years before Christ, and that more civilizations co-existed here. Albeit scholars consider the Olmecs to be the oldest civilization, other cultures like Pucara and Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku) are often mentioned in historical relation to the lake Titicaca, from the waters of which Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo arose - as the legends say - who founded the Inca Empire. There is an Island of the Sun with very ancient temple in the middle of the lake.
Before the Inca Empire, the Aymará culture lived here. It is the ethnic group living in part of the Andes, especially in Peru and Bolivia, even today. The heritage of this culture is also Pachamama (Mother of God), who has her shrines in Peru and Bolivia. The Incas absorbed Pachamama as a "dragon goddess" of fertility, but the best translation is "Mother Earth". The Aymará culture, which had prospered near the lake Titicaca already some 1500 years before Christ, left various archeological artifacts here. In the 15th century, the Incas conquered this civilization.
The Incas
Most historians agree that the Incas had 13 emperors: 1. Manco Capac, 2. Sinchi Roca, 3. Lloque Yupanqui, 4. Maita Capac, 5. Capac Yupanqui, 6. Inca Roca, 7. Yahuar Huacac, 8. Inca Viracocha, 9. Pachacuti-Inca-Yupanqui, 10. Topa Inca Yupanqui, 11. Huayna Capac, 12. Huascar, 13. Atahuallpa. The Inca Empire arose in the year 1200 AD and ended in 1535 AD.
People in Peru, Bolivia and the rest of the Inca Empire were not all the "true Incas", but Indians of the Quechua and Aymará origin. The Incas were the elite governors of other race, who were convinced that they had come from a bearded messenger of gods, whom they worshipped as Viracocha. It is known that this is the reason why they welcomed Spaniards with such a great respect; however, they made a mistake and their genocide followed soon. After the Spanish colonization the Indians, who refused to become Christians, were made slaves. The Inca Empire was remarkable by making it possible to build the territorially biggest Empire in the pre-Columbian America and its political center was Cusco, a city in nowadays Peru. The Empire did not last too long. Spaniards destroyed it in the 16th century also because the Empire was undergoing a severe crisis in the time when Atahualpa, who reigned in the North, and his brother Huascar, engaged in combats against each other. Thus, the Spanish conquistador, Francisco Pizarro, entered into historical records as the conqueror of the Inca Empire.
The Incas, when they understood that they lost in the war, ran away into the mountains. Many of them fell to slavery or were killed by diseases that Europeans had brought here.
Religion
The concept of Viracocha or Apu Qun Tiqsi Wiraqutra and, too, Con-Tici Viracocha - the god of the Incas, was taken from the culture of inhabitants living in the region before the Incas took over. The legend has it that Viracocha had a son - Inti, and a daughter called Pachamama. The legend also speaks about the deluge in which the two Inti's children had been saved - the son Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo (mother of fertility), who rebuilt the world thereafter.
I've noticed a lot of changes in myself as a direct consequence of aging. Overall, I have a higher level of equanimity than I did as a 30 year old. I'm better at accepting without agreeing with points of view that diverge from my own on almost any subject. I more regularly and rigorously remind myself that my beliefs - even my strongly held ones - are not facts, and that each of my corresponding points of view is simply that. I think I've attained some wisdom (as distinguished from enlightenment) from having my backside kicked and as a result, make generally better choices than I did at 30 or 40.
Three developments have surprised me as I've aged, however. First, my patience regarding some things has actually diminished, which contradicts what I was led to believe by my parents - that I'd become much more patient as I got older. As a result, I now avoid two types of people like the plague: The first are those who uniformly put their own interests ahead of those of other people, including their own families and closest friends. The key word here is "uniformly." The second are people who I refer to as "naysayers, doomsdayers, and dreamslayers." Those people view every glass as half empty and every personal aspiration as out-of-reach or self-indulgent.
The second development is my sense of urgency to accomplish things as my vitality naturally diminishes with age, albeit only a bit. Next year I'm climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. There's nothing magic about this particular goal except as a metaphor and for propulsion. I'm also publishing a book entitled "Redefining Type A" (the subtitle is still being debated). I feel as if I have a long way to go and a short - or shorter - time to get there.
Coincidental to what I do for a living is the third development: my frustration with people who have stopped growing and are OK with that. These are people who seem to believe that the first 25% of life is for growing and the last 75% is for resting. They are who they are going to be. They're satisfied, entitled, bored or resentful. Their skills are outdated and/or their perspectives have congealed and solidified. They pine for the way things used to be and whine about how things are. Many regard themselves as victims and all others as villains. I'm fortunate, however. The people who gravitate to working with me are not those people. My clients are executives and business owners committed to fulfilling productive visions of their lives.
The great business philosopher/consultant/speaker Jim Rohn once said, in describing what he did for a living, that he "worked on issues that matter with people who care." I'd love to steal that and have it printed on the back of my business card. It describes me and my business to a tee.
Here are my wishes for you: Create the life you dream about. No excuses, no blame, no guilt. Do more; give more; spend some; save some. Become the person you have always wanted to be. Establish goals and take relevant action toward their achievement. Measure your progress; make course corrections along the way. Learn from your mistakes, of which there will be many if you're actually doing things. Read the great books. Visit museums. Develop new skills. Make new friends and appreciate the ones you already have.
Most of all, whatever your aspirations, never quit!
My friend and trainer to elite athletes (Drew Brees and LaDanien Tomlinson, among others), Todd Durkin, admonishes and encourages others with the phrase "and then some." You want to be a great leader? Be a great leader, AND THEN SOME! A great dad? Be a great dad, AND THEN SOME! Along the same line, here's my question for you: If it isn't worth doing well, is it worth doing at all?
Don't wait; the time for action is now!!
A couple of years ago, I invoked the name of John Goddard to make a point about personal growth. His name, his life and his accomplishments are worth mentioning again here, for context.
Goddard is one of the world's great adventurers. Articles about him have been written in many renowned publications. At the age of 15, he created a list of the things he wanted to do, see or experience during his lifetime. Among his accomplishments, he visited the Great Wall of China; he attended the Rose Parade; he retraced the route of Marco Polo; he climbed the Matterhorn in a blizzard that was so bad, even the professional climbers wouldn't do it.
Here's Goddard's wish list. Items with an asterisk are those he completed by the age of 74.
The List EXPLORE:
1. * Nile River
2. * Amazon River
3. * Congo River
4. * Colorado River
5. Yangtze River, China
6. Niger River
7. Orinoco River, Venezuela
8. * Rio Coco, Nicaragua
STUDY PRIMITIVE CULTURES IN:
9. * The Congo
10. * New Guinea
11. * Brazil
12. * Borneo
13. * The Sudan (nearly buried alive in a sandstorm)
14. * Australia
15. * Kenya
16. * The Philippines
17. * Tanganyika (Now Tanzania)
18. * Ethiopia
19. * Nigeria
20. * Alaska
CLIMB:
21. Mt. Everest
22. Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina
23. Mt. McKinley
24. * Mt. Hauscaran, Peru
25. * Mt. Kilimanjaro
26. * Mt. Ararat, Turkey
27. * Mt. Kenya
28. Mt. Cook, New Zealand
29. * Mt. Popocatepetl, Mexico
30. * The Matterhorn
31. * Mt. Rainier
32. * Mt. Fuji
33. * Mt. Vesuvius
34. * Mt. Bromo, Java
35. * Grand Tetons
36. * Mt. Baldy, California
37.Carry out careers in medicine and exploration (studied premed, treats illnesses among primitive tribes)
38. Visit every country in the world (30 to go)
39. * Study Navaho and Hopi Indians
40. * Learn to fly a plane
41. * Ride horse in Rose Parade
PHOTOGRAPH:
42. * Iguacu Falls, Brazil
43. * Victoria Falls, Rhodesia (chased by a warthog in the process)
44. * Sutherland Falls, New Zealand
45. * Yosemite Falls
46. * Niagara Falls
47. * Retrace travels of Marco Polo and Alexander the Great
EXPLORE UNDERWATER:
48. * Coral reefs of Florida
49. * Great Barrier Reef, Australia (photographed a 300-pound clam)
50. * Red Sea
51. * Fiji Islands
52. * The Bahamas
53. * Explore Okefenokee Swamp and the Everglades
VISIT:
54. North and South Poles
55. * Great Wall of China
56. * Panama and Suez Canals
57. * Easter Island
58. * The Galapagos Islands
59. * Vatican City (saw the Pope)
60. * The Taj Mahal
61. * The Eiffel Tower
62. * The Blue Grotto
63. * The Tower of London
64. * The Leaning Tower of Pisa
65. * The Sacred Well of Chichen-Itza, Mexico
66. * Climb Ayers Rock in Australia
67. Follow River Jordan from Sea of Galilee to Dead Sea
SWIM IN:
68. * Lake Victoria
69. * Lake Superior
70. * Lake Tanganyika
71. * Lake Titicaca, S. America
72. * Lake Nicaragua
ACCOMPLISH:
73. * Become an Eagle Scout
74. * Dive in a submarine
75. * Land on and take of from an aircraft carrier
76. * Fly in a blimp, balloon and glider
77. * Ride an elephant, camel, ostrich and bronco
78. * Skin dive to 40 feet and hold breath two and a half minutes underwater.
79. * Catch a ten-pound lobster and a ten-inch abalone
80. * Play flute and violin
81. * Type 50 words a minute
82. * Make a parachute jump
83. * Learn water and snow skiing
84. * Go on a church mission
85. * Follow the John Muir trail
86. * Study native medicines and bring back useful ones
87. * Bag camera trophies of elephant, lion, rhino, cheetah, cape buffalo and whale
88. * Learn to fence
89. * Learn jujitsu
90. * Teach a college course
91. * Watch a cremation ceremony in Bali
92. * Explore depths of the sea
93. Appear in a Tarzan movie (He now considers this an irrelevant boyhood dream.)
94. Own a horse, chimpanzee, cheetah, ocelot, and coyote (yet to own a chimp or cheetah)
95. Become a ham radio operator
96. * Build own telescope
97. * Write a book (about his Nile trip)
98. * Publish an article in National Geographic Magazine
99. * High jump five feet
100. * Broad jump 15 feet
101. * Run mile in five minutes
102. * Weigh 175 pounds stripped (still does)
103. * Perform 200 sit-ups and 20 pull-ups
104. * Learn French, Spanish and Arabic
105. Study dragon lizards on Komodo Island (boat broke down within 20 miles of island)
106. * Visit birthplace of Grandfather Sorenson in Denmark
107. * Visit birthplace of Grandfather Goddard in England
108 * Ship aboard a freighter as a seaman
109. Read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (read extensive parts in each volume)
110. * Read the Bible from cover to cover
111.* Read the works of Shakespeare, Plato, Aristotle, Dickens, Thoreau, Rousseau, Conrad, Hemingway, Twain, Burroughs, Talmage, Tolstoi, Longfellow, Keats, Poe, Bacon, Whittier, and Emerson (not every work of each)
112.* Become familiar with the compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Ibert, Mendelssohn, Lalo, Liszt, Rimski-Korsakov, Respighi, Rachmaninoff, Paganini, Stravinsky, Toch, Tschaikosvsky, Verdi
113.* Become proficient in the use of a plane, motorcycle, tractor, surfboard, rifle, pistol, canoe, microscope, football, basketball, bow and arrow, lariat and boomerang
114. * Compose music
115. * Play Clair de Lune on the piano
116. * Watch fire-walking ceremony (in Bali and Surinam)
117. * Milk a poisonous snake (bitten by diamondback during photo session)
118. * Light a match with.22 rifle
119. * Visit a movie studio
120. * Climb Cheops' pyramid
121. * Become a member of the Explorer's Club and the Adventure's Club
122. * Learn to play polo
123. * Travel through the Grand Canyon on foot and by boat
124. * Circumnavigate the globe (four times)
125. Visit the moon ("Someday, if God wills")
126. * Marry and have children (has five children)
127. * Live to see the 21st century
What are you waiting for?
Copyright 2009 Rand Golletz. All rights reserved.
An international campaign to identify the world's Seven Natural Wonders has begun, with places of natural importance from each continent being ranked by voters around the world.
With such attention on some of South America's most spectacular sights, we thought we'd give a Latin America For Less guide to visiting each place that is in contention for the title of South America's most important Natural Wonder.
The Amazon rainforest is currently ranked in first place as South America's most important natural wonder. It is the biggest forest in the world and is home to the single greatest concentration of life on the planet: one tenth of the planet's species are found right here, in the Amazon.
Visiting the Amazon has become increasingly easy in recent years, especially during a Brazil or a Peru vacation, and thanks to the growth of eco-tourism, it's now possible to visit the rainforest while causing minimal disruption to the pristine environment.
Where To Go
There are many options for exploring the Peruvian Amazon, but the three most popular entrance points are Iquitos, Puerto Maldonado and Manu.
Iquitos, the world's largest city not accessible by road, is a genuine frontier outpost deep in the wilderness. You can only get here by air or a long boat journey, but once you've arrived you will discover a truly unique tropical city, with entire neighborhoods of house boats floating on the river, restaurants serving exotic and delicious jungle delicacies, a lively night scene, and plenty of jungle lodges dotted up and downstream, offering a chance to get up close and personal with the wildlife.
Puerto Maldonado meanwhile is a more accessible but somewhat less intriguing town. The appeal of this ramshackle settlement is its proximity to Cusco, another popular Peru vacation destination. Travelers can leave Cusco in the morning and by mid-afternoon be settled in to their tranquil jungle lodge, a long way from civilization.
Finally, the Manu reserve on the eastern flanks of the Andes is some of the most remote and least accessible stretch of jungle in Peru. This is a vast region of protected land, and is a paradise for the jungle's many native species of creatures, especially birds. A visit to Manu offers a genuine taste of jungle life, one of the few remaining places with large populations of large mammals, including jaguars, anteaters and tapirs.
All three destinations offer similar standards of lodges, although the range in Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado is much broader than in Manu.
However, visitors should bear in mind that Iquitos is a large city, with plenty of economic activity focused around the river. Its size and unique atmosphere make it an interesting Peru travel destination in its own right, but also means that the nearby jungle is not a great place for wildlife spotting. You need to journey for several hours, preferably upriver, to get into untouched territory.
Finally, throughout the Amazon, certain restaurants serve questionable produce, including endangered or threatened species such as paiche (an enormous fish), turtle, and caiman. Although it is technically illegal to serve these species, the law is largely un-enforced, but visitors should consult their conscience before indulging.
Imaginative travelers among us Baby Boomers are flocking to enjoy Peru. Adventure tours in Peru are taken in some style these days - no more of that backpacking nonsense for us!
Peru has it all. Desert, mountains, lakes, jungle and of course The Galapagos Islands. But before you imaginative travelers get too excited to book your adventure tour in Peru, here are some tips to help you enjoy Peru even more.
Learn just a few words of Spanish before you travel, it goes a long way with the locals.
When visiting the street markets, buy something. The locals will appreciate the trade.
Pack an open mind in your suitcase! Be willing to try everything especially the Chicha Morada, it's lovely!
Be prepared to encounter poverty and squalor but remember your adventure tour will help some families.
Enjoy the opportunities available on your tour. An overnight bus trip is an experience not an inconvenience.
Tipping: allow US$18 per week for ordinary tips and tip your Tour leader at your own discretion.
Check your vaccinations and take your preferred remedy as recurrent diarrhea can be a problem!
Take out comprehensive travel insurance before you travel otherwise you will have to buy it in Peru.
Finally, do not leave your commonsense in the airport at baggage claims when it comes to your personal safety!
Baby Boomers...an adventure tour in Peru is a trip of a lifetime, take in as many extras as possible. The ultimate wildlife experience must be to visit of the Galapagos Islands. It's so good, so why not?