Day 24 (cont'd)

(my fraternity had this exact type of party when I was back in college)

Otobo has been strutting around Bameno with a bit of a confident step, which is not surprising as from the info gathered by us before and during this trip, apparently he is considering a leader amongst the Huaorani and many of the men actually fear him. Another possible reason that he is displaying some alpha-male behavior is that he recently informed me that he is currently on the look-out for another wife (polygamy was traditionally practiced by the Huaorani). When I asked him why, he explained that his wife Carmen does not do any cooking or other household activities. I tried to rationalize with him saying that many cultures are afflicted with these types of women—in fact it has become sort of a world-wide epidemic. I advised him not to pursue another wife, lest he fall victim to possessing two with the same disease.
The Repeator shows up in Bameno, fresh from his recent trip to The Outside. For the first time we are actually anxious to talk to him as we know he probably bears news from Tom and Mariela about when they are coming to The Inside to take us out of here. The Repeator’s news is a bit startling—he claims to have spoken with them and they stated that they are arriving on July 25th, which is a week earlier than their previously stated date of Aug 2. The Repeator is notoriously unreliable so we take this news with a grain of salt.

Later in the day Joe and I along with some of the Hauo men prepare food that has been brought in with the Huao women’s group—courtesy of them and the Peace Corps. We feel the need to lend a major hand in this preparation as we fully expect to consume and continue consuming the assortment of vegetables that they brought from The Outside. Joe and I have become more than adept in the art of scavenging.
That night after dinner, a group of Huaorani put on a show of their traditional dancing and singing. We have seen a bit of this before but the display is still quite interesting. After the show, non-tradition techno music is fired up on the generator run boom box and many of the Huao men are asking the gringo female visitors present to dance. Joe and I sense that it will be not long before we are forced to entertain on the dance floor, so we creep out the back of hut and head for out tent. While falling asleep in the tent we had two surprise visitors—the first was Otobo, who had purchased (at a high mark-up) three beers (of about 20 that were transported from the Outside to Bameno by other groups) and gave them to Joe and I, rewarding his faithful laborers. We excitedly polished off the beers in our tent, mostly with the thought they would help the process of sleeping straight on the hard ground. Our next visitor was a large monkey, who was seeking shelter from the drizzling rain in our tent flaps. At first we were resolved to let him hang there until he started to try and open the zippers to get in. As Joe and I had been with
without a female companion in some time, that monkey was in some serious danger so I decided to shoo him off before he fell for Joe's sweet-talking ability.