Olly had good and bad experiences while living in the Peruvian jungle with the Machigenga. Check out some of his worst moments in no particular order.
1. Tunche – bringing in a bad spirit into the village. Not our fault, but we caused huge anxiety to our friends. Hugely relieved Huan was there to exorcise the demons.
2. Silvano going missing – the longest day. Horrific seeing Rosita’s face get more and more contorted with worry and pain, knowing she had lost her eldest son. But seeing Jose never ever give up hope was a timeless inspiration.
3. First Monkey meal – still trying to forget eating the claws, feet, nails, even the skin from the palm of the hand. Still haunts me in my inner eye.
4. Birth – days of not knowing whether the baby would make it.
5. Killing deer – another accident but the worst thing we did … the only plus point was that it became a fascinating looking glass to explore deeper into the Machigenga’s belief system.
6. Koran Korata Games – failing at the rafting and gluttony when they had rested the hopes of the village on my pathetic shoulders. In fact this really stands for all the times I let them down!
7. Ant bites – one of the most painful experiences of my life. Never again (hopefully).
8. Departure – the sadness of leaving friends and not knowing when I’d ever see them again.
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