BUA RECUARTE THE YU

BUA RECUARTE - THE YUKIS


01.03.1994

Some time after he came to the project, conversation  with one of the agronomists, who is a Quechua, turned to the tribal people in Bolivia.  As Robert expressed an interest in the topic, José mentioned the possibility of visiting one of these tribes and, of course, Robert showed even more enthusiasm.  Nothing more was said, but the day after I arrived in the Chapare (Feb. 12) José came to say that he had managed to make contact with the Yuki tribe and it might be possible to visit them. He himself had tried to contact them 3 years ago, but he did not dare enter their territory because he did not have a contact.  The priest from the parish of San Carlos was wounded by an arrow when he once tried to land without permission. Now a member of the tribe lives in Chimoré, the village where the project office is, and José got to know him.  It was arranged that this contact would speak to the other members of the tribe and see what they thought.

On February 28th. José was calling insistently on the radio and Robert could not understand why, so he went up to the essential oils plant which is where José works.  Lo and behold two young couples with a 2 month old baby had come up from the tribal area to examine the prospective visitors - complete with bows and arrows!  They are keen to make contact because they are under the yoke of an American missionary, called Alan (I don't know whether this is his name or whether it is Allen a surname) who has forced European clothing upon them and forbidden the use of their traditional medicine and they are having health problems.  They want to have an alternative and would like to find an outlet for their handicraft, which is the reason why they brought along some bows and arrows to show.   Robert bought some from them for they are beautiful: the bow is made of ebony as are the tips whilst the arrow shaft is made of bamboo with coloured bird feathers at the end for the flight.  Each arrow head is different depending on the kind of animal it is designed to kill.  For large animals the arrow tip has a kind of elongated bamboo "spoon".  When the arrow sticks in the animal, the weight of the shaft pulls downwards and the blood runs out through the "spoon" until the animal drops dead.

Having examined the proposed visitors, at first they wanted to charge 200 bolivianos per person, but Robert said he did not think that they were zoo exhibits.  If they wanted to be that he would have no part of it and would not go, but if what they wanted was for him to go and evaluate their situation and see what outlets could be found for them and help in the medical line, then that was a different ballgame.  A visit was arranged for March 11th.  The expert in essential oils, David Baker, was there during this encounter and he was dying to come also, so he and his Granadian wife, who was due to arrive on March 4th, came on the expedition too.  We had to get equipped with sleeping bags and mosquito nets!

There are some 34 families, about 160 people, in the Yuki tribe and they are fortunate in that they would appear to have secured their territory.  There is another tribe, the Yuracarés, who are apparently being squeezed between the Yukis, the colonizers from  a settlement called Villa 14 and logging interests.  They are more difficult to contact and their predicament would seem to be more acute.


On the appointed day Robert was unfortunately unable to come on the trip on account of an impromptu visit from a government minister and the chief of the UMOPAR which had been announced the night before.  Robert was refusing to meet the military personnel and also refusing them entry to the project in view of the damage this could do. So, he had to remain behind.  We therefore decided to make this first visit a one day affair.

Setting off from home at 6.30, by the time everyone was organized and we reached the river bank it was 8.30.  The boatman, a member of the Yuki tribe who now lives in Chimoré, arrived shortly afterwards with his dugout canoe and we all clambered in.  The canoe is made of a tropical hardwood called "ochoó" and it has narrow bench-like seats at intervals. This particular one was powered by an outboard motor, although the traditional canoe is manoevred using a broad-ended paddle.

The course of the river Chimoré is approximately 1Km. wide, although at the moment the water does not fill the whole course.  After heavy rains, when the river is in spate, it is impossible to travel on it because the flow of water is too powerful: it uproots trees and carries them downstream making any river-borne travel extremely dangerous.  On our trip Ademar Arias, the canoe owner, navigated for his son who manipulated the engine.  Navigation involved spying out barely covered sandbanks  and pointing out the route to avoid the large number of tree trunks sticking up out of the water or lying under the surface.

On both banks the vegetation is thick and tangled especially the further downstream one travels because then the settlers are fewer and consequently interference with the natural growth is less.  After about one and a half hours travel the settlers are left behind and Yuki territory begins.  Numerous kingfishers were to be seen diving for food and settling again on branches of fallen trees.  Also to be seen were herons, both of the great grey variety and white ones, tern-like birds, and many other divers and waders as well as an ibis.  We also saw three turtles.  All along the river route are magnificent deserted beaches of fine, white sand.

Three hours after our departure we finally reached the Yuki village, called Buá Recuarté.  We did not call on the American missionary who lives in style in a pretty large house with a very large radio communications antenna and AN AIRSTRIP!!  The whole community,  men women and children, was waiting for us in the community house.  Having explained that we had come mainly to hear what they had to say and find out what they would like to do, we did just that.  The chief of the community, a young man called Jonathan(!), explained that they had three main areas of concern.  They had health problems and required help to obtain medicines.  They would like to find an outlet for crafts as a source of cash because, if they had a medical emergency, although they have an outboard motor, they had no money to buy fuel, and they would like to cultivate some crops both for their own consumption and perhaps for sale outside the community.


Ademar wanted to provide them with a ready solution, suggesting that they should cut down 10 hectares of forest and plant banana, but fortunately Jose, who is an agronomist, intervened and explained that, since they had no agricultural tradition, that would be unwise.  The first thing they would have to find out is where to plant, depending on the soil and climatic conditions, then what to plant and how to rotate their crops so as not to deplete the soil and then have to cut down more forest, because that way in 20 years they would have no forest left and no soil either.  They understood the logic of that since conservation is an integral part of their culture.  

Then we had a look at their crafts.  They make hunting implements, such as bows and arrows which could be marketed as decorating items, hammocks made from a string made out of tree bark and bags and baskets made from the same material.  The hammocks and bags, which also have beads incorporated in the design, could certainly find a market.  However, since there are so few of them, Jose pointed out that it would be better if they combined forces with their Yura neighbours, who have a larger repertoire of crafts.  The Yukis and the Yura are traditional enemies, but it was pointed out that when it is a question of survival it is better to work together rather than against one another. After about two hours we left having agreed that they should contact the Yuras and set up a date for another joint meeting at which these matters could be taken further.

Each extended family has a wooden house raised slightly off the ground.  They have a school building, a building which proclaimed that it was a clinic but did not seem to have any supplies and a carpentry workshop which does not function.  Cocoa and coffee grow freely as well as sugar cane.  The children use the cocoa husks to make little toy boats.  Some people had little monkeys no bigger than a Barbie doll: one was russet coloured and another one was a beautiful greenish-yellow.

Their language, which is rather harsh and guttural with many aspirations, does not belong to the Quechua group.  The language has been written down (presumably by the missionaries) and there were children's books there.  These, I imagine, had been printed by the mission.  The role of the mission remains a bit of a mystery to me.  Apart from brainwashing them with outside ideas and divorcing them from their native culture (they have lost all knowledge of their traditional natural medicine), I did not see much else.  Why is this man, who has been there for 29 years, not helping them with their health, cultivation and marketing problems?  Someone who is in the media has suggested that what the "pastor´" is really involved in is shipping cocaine.  Can that be true?  Nothing is too fanciful here.


P.D. When I returned to Chimoré in 2003, I arrived by bus at dead of night in the middle of the rainy season and had to climb over bodies lying in the dirt street to get into the only hotel (That is an optimistic description) to spend the night.  The following morning I saw that the bodies I had stepped over were those of Yuki tribespeople who are being flushed out of their lands and are now destitute.  It was a sorrowful sight to see.  They are despised by the Quechua colonists and their future is bleak indeed.  I subsequently contacted Survival International but, although they were aware of  developments about ten years our of date, the Yukis are not a priority for them and no action has been taken.