BCC in Ecuador – Part 2
(left-right) Sven, Efrain, Jonathon, Antonio, Melvin, Nora, Macario, Bartolo, (below) Nai & Vicki
Tree climbing workshop
The Siekopai are no strangers to climbing trees. In fact, hardly a day goes by where the children of the community aren’t spotted clambering about the web of branches high in one of the village trees, creating games or picking fruit to share out amongst themselves. Our visit to the Siekopai Remolino in September was not to encourage members of the community to climb the trees, this is already well practiced within their culture, but instead our aim was to introduce them to climbing systems that would allow them to climb a specific tree, the morete palm, to reach the fruit safely and with minimal damage to the tree.
Climbing workshop
The workshop began with a demonstration, to show the would-be participants what we mean when we talk about arboriculture techniques.
The seven Siekopai who would be attending the workshop, as well as a handful of curious community members, watched as Nora ascended into one of the trees in the village, with Vicki and Sven giving explanations throughout. High in the tree, Nora demonstrated how climbing with a rope and harness could provide them a safe means of moving around their forest canopy and offering an efficient way of harvesting from their trees.
In the following days the Siekopai learned for themselves how to throw a line up into the high branches, fixing and ascending the line, moving around the tree while remaining anchored, and descending safely down to the ground. The group picked these skills up quickly and were eager to practice and get every technique down to perfection.
Static & Moving Rope Systems for fruit harvests
These techniques were vital in moving on to the next stage of the workshop, setting the group up perfectly to learn to climb the morete palm.
It’s important to note at this point that we were thrown into a very new environment in which to teach climbing skills in trees we weren’t familiar with, in a different language with temperatures of over 35 degrees celsius and 100% humidity! There was a lot of learning on both sides!
Prior to the trip, the team acquired equipment which they expected to be suitable for the morete palm climbing system that would offer the safest and most efficient means to harvest the fruits however without actual Morete palm trees to practise on we knew we wouldn’t be arriving with all the answers! Without wanting to pretend we knew the best way to climb these palm trees we had used our contacts, access to information and equipment to research options knowing that we’d need the input of the Siekopai, their knowledge and a little bit of extra time in the forest to create the best system.
The ‘Tree Stand’
In combination with a choked climbing system set above the climber these portable climbing seats were used to ‘walk’ up the tree offering a workable platform for harvesting the fruits.
Having learnt the basic access techniques and double rope systems very quickly we moved onto problem solving the method of accessing the Morete palms. 6 months prior to our visit two members of our now climbing team, Jonathon and Macario had attended a one day climbing workshop introducing a specific method for climbing Morete palms in Peru, the Maquisapa Technique. Based on a set of slings made from stiff cord choked around the stem and used as footloops to step up the tree with, this technique offered a simple, effective way to access the palms but lacked a means of quick descent and rescue access. Jonathon explained that the palms are home to snakes, wasps and other potential dangers that means having a quick get away and rescue option very important!
In grand Western mentally style we threw as much of the best equipment we could at this problem to see what would work best! What unfolded was a beautiful example of what can happen when a group of people with different experience and knowledge come together with the sole aim to create a solution that works best for the group as a whole. The team liked the stability of the chair, it also offered a good platform to work from once the were high enough to cut the fruits down but the stems of some of the palms increased in diameter halfway up the tree and the chair couldn’t go beyond a certain size. The Maquisapa technique felt more secure on the access but left them in an uncomfortable position with no quick descent method when at the top of the palm.
Maquisapa Technique
Stiff cord is choked around the stem and used as footloops to walk up the tree.
Originally we’d suggested spikes as a means to access the palm stems, when taught correctly it could have offered a fast, efficient and cheaper option however spikes would have punctured the relatively soft stems of the palm opening wounds that beetles could lay their larvae and upon hatching eat the palm from the inside out.
As a final part of the tree climbing workshop the team taught the group how to perform rescues. A scenario was set up with one climber up high in the morete palm, simulating that they had run into difficulty. The arb team taught the group how to send another climber up to assist them. This was the most technical part of the workshop, requiring the majority of the skills that they had learned so far. The Siekopai performed brilliantly, with every one of them successfully rescuing their partner in this scenario and abseiling them back to the ground.
Rescues!
A unique yet fantastic way to get people laughing! Nai rescuing her uncle Bartolo.
The workshop as a whole was a pleasure to watch unfold. Seeing this group of 7 Siekopai begin the training with very little knowledge of the skills and gear involved in this way of tree climbing, for them to then progress and gain confidence day after day, and ultimately become fully proficient in everything which we had travelled there to teach them. To see such joy amongst the group too was wonderful, while understandably cautious at times, there was not a day of training without smiles and laughter from the group.
6 months on, what has been created has been a combination of everything learned. Static rope and moving rope techniques, Maquisapa and chair now all play a part in the systems used to access these key stone palm trees. Antonio explained how their knowledge of the forest and early years climbing trees set the foundation to spring from when given the opportunity to use new equipment with the correct training. The team, thanks to all our sponsors and supporters have their own climbing equipment that they regularly use to meet up and practise. They have been part of a workshop for other tree climbers working within the rainforest, sharing knowledge and techniques and creating a network of local indigenous people enthusiastic to use tree climbing as another means to explore their forests and continue the resistance against extraction companies.
An amazonian tree climbing workshop
Macario, Nai, Antonio, Jonathon, & Efrain from our climbing team sharing their knowledge and techniques with others in their region.
We’re excited what we will learn from them on our next visit :)
Herbalism
Another key goal which we had travelled to the Siekopai community to achieve was the herbal side of preparing for the morete harvest. The main goal of the tree climbing was to learn how to safely collect the morete fruit from the nearby palms, and so it was important that we also make efforts to help the community however we can to make the very best use of the fruit. Bex and Lies of the BCC team got stuck in from day one, with discussions and experiments to help discover which products could be made from plants and ingredients found in the Siekopai territory, and with the equipment already in the lab at this time.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
While not planned, our trip had timed in perfectly with a visit from Juan, a distillation expert who has been working closely with the Siekopai since last year. Juan has spent a lot of time working and discussing with Fanny, a Siekopai elder with extensive knowledge of the fruits and flora in the area. Between them they have been teaching younger members of the community what to harvest, which plants have which uses, and how to process these into products, essential oils in particular.
Bex and Lies were eager to join discussions and find out how we could help with the lab and products. It was fantastic speaking with Juan about how the essential oils could be extracted from the plants through distillation. Discussions soon became focussed around what the community could use these oils for, and which products it would be most suitable to create from them. This led to some experiments making morete butter, using the essential oil from the morete fruit as a key ingredient, and with cacao butter to thicken it up. A morete butter, it was decided, would be a step in the right direction as it can be sold as a ready-to-use product, to be applied directly to the skin, rather than selling the oil as a raw ingredient.
Toasting cocoa over a fire
Cocoa butter and cocoa products are a favourite going forwards as they are locally sourced and can be easily processed in the lab to come.
Bex went on to work with Fanny, Marecella and Macarius to create a homemade cacao butter, with the intention of streamlining the process, avoiding the time and expense of buying the butter in. We followed along as the cacao beans were dried, peeled and roasted, then ground and put through the cold press. After some trial and error, the experiment was a success, every ingredient could now be sourced locally and processed in the lab. This was a huge step forward in creating the morete butter, and it was fantastic to see the whole process through in one location.
Yokó
A coffee-like drink made from a liana and drank in the morning to give energy
While sad to leave the community, we came away delighted with the help we had been able to offer the Siekopai, and the knowledge that we had shared. We feel absolute assurance that the tree climbers of the village have all the gear they need, with spares, and the know-how to scale the trees around their village safely, harvesting the morete fruit when the season comes. We are confident, also, that the funds that are being raised for the laboratory will be made very good use of, with the Siekopai already proficient with distillation methods, and with good ideas as to the sort of products that will be most sustainable for them to make and sell. Vicki and Bex remain in the loop about the progress being made by the Siekopai in both the tree work and herbalism, and by keeping a line of communication they can continue to provide help wherever needed as this new chapter of the Siekopai story unfolds.