tzerem´s story

here is a little story
told by tzerem (juan) kunchikuy
one night after supper
in the jungle at yachana lodge
it was inspired by my questions of jaguars...

I have been lost in the jungle two times in my life. I was 14 years old and I was hunting with my father and brothers. We walked many days into the jungle to look for wild pigs and made a camp on the bank of the river. From there we would go out every day and hunt for pigs. One morning I decided to go around the main hunting area and try to come from behind, deep in the jungle to chase the pigs towards our camp. I woke up very early when it was still dark and walked into the jungle. I was walking very very fast through the jungle thinking to make a big circle and come around behind the area where I thought the pigs would be. I carried my blowgun, my quiver of darts, the pirahna teeth and my poison. And I was walking very fast. I did not realize how fast and how far I was walking and when i changed direction to come back towards the camp, I did not realize that I had walked in the wrong direction. I walked for many hours even faster and I knew something was wrong. I know I should have reached the river long ago, but still there was no river, only jungle. When the sun sets in the jungle, it sets very fast because we are on the equator. As the afternoon came, I knew I was lost and I knew the sun would set soon. This is dangerous to be alone in the deep jungle walking at night. I remembered my father had taught me through his stories, that if a person gets lost in the jungle, he must find a tree with the large roots for protection - a big tree, but not the biggest trees. It is the belief of my people that the ancient trees can have spirits within them because they are so old and so big. These spirits can be very dangerous to humans and do wicked things to us. I found a tree big enough to protect me, but not one of the ancient trees. The roots formed a wall to my back and I made a circle of many stakes pointing outwards for protection. I did this as the stories told me to do. I found a large leaf of a palm, larger than me and with a very thick stem that I had to use two hands to hold. This I put down as a wall in front of the stakes and sat down to wait the night through. When the darkness came, it was very fast and the mosquitos were so terrible I keep waving my hands and slapping at them but it was no good. They were all around me covering my body and my face. And then I heard this sound. It was far away and sounded like a giant horse crashing through the jungle - WHOMP! WHOMP! WHOMP! I could hear it coming straight for me getting louder and louder and all the other sounds of the jungle were quiet or drowned out by this sound. Finally, it came to my tree and stopped. I could hear this deep breathing sound and a SNFFF SNFFF as it moved slowly around. Jaguar. A big one. I was very scared and even with the tree behind me and the palm leaf hiding me, I knew I had to do something. Jaguars never attack from the front. They like to circle around and around until they come up behind their prey. Then they attack very fast and bite down on the neck with enough power to break the neck. That is how they hunt. That is how they kill. I know this from the stories. I also knew that I had to do something very soon or the jaguar would soon find me and attack and then it would be too late. But I was very scared. Jaguars are very good at climbing trees. I could hear the SNFFF! SNFFF! right in front of me, very close now so I grabbed the stalk of the plam in both of my hands and jumped up screaming AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYY! and waved the giant palm leaf back and forward madly with my eyes big and wide. I kept screaming and waving the palm for many minutes before I realized the jaguar was gone. Very probably it was gone as soon as I jumped up and screamed and waved. I do not know because I did not see anything - only the black dark of the jungle. But I was very scared and it took some time for me to calm down. After, I sat down again with my back to the tree, but the jaguar did not return. The stories of my father were right and I did not get eaten by the jaguar that night. How I know it was a jaguar? Because when the sun rose in the morning I saw the prints in the mud. They were bigger than my entire hand and they were jaguar. When the sun came up, I started to walk and eventually I found a little river. This river I followed back to the main river and soon I could hear my fathers and brothers calling my name and searching for me. That was my first time I was lost in the jungle and my first time I encounter jaguar.

-tzerem's story as told by ko