A Dangerous Turning Point: Entering the Land of the Savages

 The Amazon 5000 Expedition Continues

The Amazon Jungle is full of wonder and mystery, but it is also full of danger. In the remote jungle there are no rules, there is no enforcement,  everyone lives by the law of their own land.

No one knows this more than the 4 indigenous tribesmen who have joined Mickey for the Amazon 5000 Expedition. These men have been born and raised in the jungles of the Amazon. This jungle is their home, their playground and yet there is still a part of
this jungle that brings much fear to these people.It is the land of the Tagaeri's.

In the heart of the Amazon Jungle, near the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border is the territory of the Tagaeri's. The Tagaeri Tribe is one of the last known uncontacted indigenous tribes in the world. They live a very primitive life and are hostile to those who cross their territory. They are most known for their deadly weapon, the spear. Known as one of the world's most violent tribes, they are in every essence of the word, savages.

The Tagaeri, once a part of the Huaorani tribe, live in voluntary isolation and have a distrust of the outside world due to the deforestation controversial oil companies are doing in the area that has been killing off their food source. Living off the land, it is essential that they protect it by any means possible. It is the most valuable thing to them, they can not survive if their food sources are contaminated, consumed, burned or torn down.

In his years as adventures leader in the Amazon basin region, running his Eco-Planet Adventure travel company, Mickey had a brush with fate. Mickey had a brief close encounter with the Tagaeri people. He knows first hand about this tribe.  Now Mickey and his team are about to enter this perilous land of the Tagaeri people to continue the lengthy Amazon trek of 5000 miles East. This most ominous path he is taking now will bring aboard a great chance he will encounter with the Tagaeri people - once again! The only difference is then he traveled only at the outskirts of this territory while now he is intending to cross straight through it, into the heart of the Tagaeri land.

Many stories about encounters with the Tagaeri's turned deadly. One of the most famous encounters was depicted in the film End of The Spears. A film about missionaries who came to visit the tribe and were speared to death as soon as they arrived to the community.

These events, encountering the Tagaeri, hit close to home for Amazon 5000 expedition team member, Bartolo. Bartolo has a horrifying story of his own.  

Read here as Mickey unfolds a very dark moment from Bartolo's past and what happened when his family encountered the Tagaeri's...  

   

Mickey:
Bartolo is a 38 year old Ecuadorian from Pavacachi, a member of the Kichwa tribe.  I have known this man for a little over 6 years, he has helped me on several occasions as a guide while I led my eco-adventure survival courses through his land located at the Amazon basin.  Bartolo is a helpful member of the Amazon 5000 expedition team, he is the strongest of the indigenous and has the most energy.  He served some time on duty in the Ecuadorian military where his physical strength and strong mental endurance probably came from.  

After a short break of few days  in my expedition, giving my team members time to gain energy back, I am now preparing to embark on Leg 6 to my expedition and ready to enter the dangerous land of the savage. For the past several days I have met  with local people of the region and interviewed them about the Tagaeri tribe and their known habits to the locals in that stretch of land I am about to cross . Bartolo, who lives with his family along the South edge of the Tagaeri territory became agitated as our final preparation took final shape. Its obvious he is nervous. He carries a heavy load of memories on his strong built shoulders and he decided he will share it with the expedition team so we will all know what’s ahead of us. At no point did Bartolo suggest he is pulling back and leaving the expedition.

We are sitting by the fire letting the last light of the day vanish into the canopies and the last sound of the Amazon birds turn to silence. 

 
Knowledge is power and I agree with Bartolo and support his decision to tell us all his story:

Bartolo:
The Tagaeries are a family clan that separated from the Huaorani tribe.  They are a very violent and vicious tribe that remains uncontacted to this day!  

 
About 8 years ago my father in-law, mother in-law, and my 6 year old son were traveling up the Curary river to bring their load of fruit from our land to a far friendly community along the river. they stopped on the way and camped out riverside in a small thatched roof shelter that they quickly fixed up before night fell that day.  Being all alone  and knowing the jungle rules they purposefully camped out on the South riverside that was opposite of the Tagaeri territory to avoid any confrontation with them.  The river was by local acquiescence the border between the Kichwa and the Tagaeri tribes. One accepts civilization, the other not! The Tagaeri are hostile to the Kichwa community for adapting civilization.

My family woke up around 05:30 (as costumed here) to prepare a fire for breakfast.  My father in-law was busy preparing the fire while the grandmother and grandson - my child - were down at the river washing. It was a peaceful morning not revealing what is about to happen. They have not noticed they were followed the evening before by eyes and shadows hiding behind the thick jungle trees on the North side of the river. Under cover of darkness of that night while my family slept sound a small group of the Tagaeri had swam across the river and prepared to attack my family. they waited until first light to make their move.  My father in-law was the first to be attacked... when I went later that day to seek for them I found my father in-law’s body with 13 spears pierced into his heart and soul.  The Tagaeries, as per their custom, marked their kill by leaving their spears in him.

And then, they hid again!
When grandma and my son came up back to camp she immediately noticed her husband’s lifeless body impaled by the Tagaeries’ spears.  she began to scream frantically!  Yelling for her grandson to go run as far as he can and hide!  My son could not move at first, she pushed him and his feet finally began to move and he ran into the jungle and hid.  From his hiding place he watched in horror as the Tagaeries impaled his grandmother with 6 spears.  Holding back his cry, understanding this is a very bad moment he looked at the scene with eyes wide open afraid they will come after him next.  

 
The Tagaeries did not wait too long after they killed my in-laws and began to strip them of all their belongings.  They then looked for my son, but couldn’t find him. luckily he had a very good hiding spot and remained undiscovered.  

When the Tagaeries finally left, my young boy stayed hidden without a move until nightfall. It  began to rain very hard and he knew he had to survive.  All alone and with no one to help him he went back to the shelter my in-laws built the night before and cuddled up against his grandparents bodies. Frightened and tired he fell asleep shortly after. The next day he traveled along the river until he saw some people riding a canoe. They picked him up and brought him back to my community where he fell to my arms and told me what had happened.  

It took him two days to finally get home and be comforted by his family for the horrors that befell his eyes. Once I heard my son’s story I went immediately down river to see for myself what my son’s eyes witnessed  and to retrieve the bodies.  When I arrived to the site my in-laws still had the spears in them and were laying lifelessly in the same places where the Tagaeries murdered them.  
My son is still very disturbed from that event.  He is now 14 years old and cries every time someone asks him about that horrific day.  

As Mickey and his team progress on the Amazon 5000 Expedition they will now be entering the land of the Tagaeri's. After hearing Bartolo's chilling story it is clear just how dangerous this expedition really is. Passing through this land has cast a dark shadow over the team and they move with much caution and now carry arms.  The anticipation has frightened one team member so much he has chosen to depart mid-route!

But the Tagaeri's are not the only dangers that lie in the jungle and along this expedition Leg. If Mickey chose to avoid the danger of running into the Tagaeri tribe his only other option would be to follow the Napo river down to Peru. As soon as he crossed the border into Peru territory he would be entering the Red zone of the drug underworld. Narcotics are trafficked along the watery highway here, the same watery highway pirates and bandits patrol.

Mickey was faced with a dilemma. Shall he proceed through the thick jungle and risk facing the ferocious warriors of the Tagaeri Tribe or dare sticking to the river and running into the drug infested world of the amazon jungle?

What would YOU have done if you were in Mickey's shoes?

 Bartolo's story as you have just read here, has been filmed on location of the Amazon 5000 Expedition for Mickey's documentary the Impossible, Possible Journey! So that you (the reader) will be able to watch Bartolo tell it all on film.

Mickey's Blog - Amazon 5000 Expedition - Down the Eastern Andes and a Bear Mace Story

Down the Eastern Andes to the Tropical Orient!

7-2-2012:  Today we continued on through the foothills of the Sumaco Volcano, we have finally passed it after working so hard to get here these last weeks.  The weather is getting a little warmer but it is still impossible for us to communicate with the outside world due to the dense canopy.  The canopy is still too thick for our satellite communication devices to penetrate.  The rain here is still constant and now it is much stronger!  It ranges from a light rain to a very heavy downpour!  We are all still soaked to the bone, and unable to make fire.  Today I have encountered fairly interesting specie, a native to the Rain-forest.  I found a giant earthworm.  This one was about 4 ft long but they reach up to 8ft.  It was huge! and surprisingly fast moving one.  We continued on through the eastern slopes of the eastern Andes, up and down hills, slipping in the mud.  I am very excited to get to the tropical jungle where I don’t have to deal with these mountains any longer. (Sigh)

  

A BEAR MACE story - or, the most powerful pepper spray in the world:

7-3-2012:  What an interesting day!  I witnessed some of the most extreme stupidity and pain that I have ever seen, and yes, you guessed it!  It was brought to us by none other than Matt Saxman. 

But first let me tell you it is getting warmer and warmer every day.  We also are hearing much more animals now. Last night was a nice one. It is nice to hear the sounds of the night creatures rather than endless silence we’ve experienced on the high mountain ridges.  We woke up at about 05:00 and were off.  We continued to hack our way through dense vegetation, up and down over mountains and through valleys.  We have been coming across several rivers and small waterfalls.  They are still rushing rivers and rapids, and quite a challenge to cross. 

I was walking along hacking my way through this dense vegetation when all of a sudden one of the indigenous ran up to me screaming!  He was going nuts yelling SANGRE (Spanish for blood) SANGRE MATT, and pointing at his genital.  I knew this couldn’t be good!  I quickly turned back down the trail and ran as fast as I could towards the screams of pain coming from a small stream.  When I arrived all I could see was Matt’s white butt through the trees.  I had my Delorme satellite device in my hands and was ready to press the emergency evacuation button!  I came up to him, as he was letting out these strange yelps of pain.  I said; show me your injury! He yelled something out in his weird shriek that I did not understand.  He had his genital in the waterfall and seemed to be rinsing it off.  I said again; show me you injury!  I was worried and though he was in shock!  He turned around and there was nothing there but his shriveled up wiener. No SANGRE, no blood - NADA! Right then I finally understood what he was yelling, he was screaming BEAR MACE!!!  We have been carrying bear mace in case we come across a dangerous wildlife.  I later found out that the bear mace that was tied on his backpack fell off and he put it in his pocket.  Like an idiot!  A few minutes later he fell down and the bear mace went off all over his crotch.  Once I realized what happened I broke out into laughter!  I could have never in my wildest dreams imagined this guy or anyone else accidentally spray there genitals with the most powerful pepper spray in the world!  He was crying out and begging me to hit the evac rescue button.  I laughed even harder and asked what he was going to tell them?  That he was an idiot and bear maced his balls!?  There’s no way I was going to let that happen.  I told him to sit down in the river and let the poison dilute itself.  He sat there for about 10 minutes yelping in agony.  He also asked me to give him some Morphine or some of the very strong pain killers we are carrying for an extreme emergency.  I told him No way! These are only for broken bones or other severe injuries!  After an hour of recovery time I told him that it’s going to hurt walking just as much as it does sitting.  I made him grab his gear and we continued on.  The rest of the day I could hear him moan and groan with every step.  He was in much pain from the bear mace accident.  The indigenous all laughed at his expense, but not surprised...  We continued on through rivers and over mountains until we reached a nice place to camp around 17:00.  It is 20:00 now and Matt is still in pain from the earlier incident.  I think I will let him have some Advil so he can sleep it off.

Mickey's Blog - Amazon 5000 expedition - Still crossing the Eastern Andes

7-1-2012:  We have now been walking more than 11 days crossing the Eastern Andes at the Sumaco National Park looking for the foothills of Volcano Sumaco. We are now going downhill towards San Jose de Payamino.  We have been trekking through dense, dense, dense vegetation.  We are soaked from head to toe and are still very cold!  We are also covered in mud due to the loose ground.  What I am describing here is nothing compared to reality, the conditions are so incredibly miserable and tough that there is no word to describe it.  I seek for another word that is worse than hell to describe how miserable the situation we are in is.  We are also very hungry!  We have no energy from no food and the long cold sleepless nights.  Worst of all there is no way to make a fire since everything is so wet.  We are trapped at the point of no return with only one way to go, forward.  We must continue towards Sumaco.  The indigenous quit on me a couple of days ago, but they have had no other choice but to continue along side of me.  Their options are to continue with me or risk their life going alone, as they are now not certain of the way back. So we are together again for bad or good despite our disagreements of few days ago. It was defiantly a clash between two worlds, between modern technology world and old tradition of “father to son” methods of the jungle world. Being caught in the tangled mountains at cold weather and high elevation, my indigenous support team – Indians from the tropical flat Amazon jungle, have lost trust in the satellite communication devices I carry. They got panicked as they realized we cannot follow the directions our GPS devices suggest. The high elevation mountains have basically blocked us. The deep gorges surrounded us, rapid rivers beneath us, winds and downpours above us, and the life threaten situation has become obvious! They insisted to navigate their way, the only way they know, thought by father to son. With much respect I let them do it. I had to give them the confident that I trust them. I know them for many years and witnessed their great navigation skills at their tropical jungle of flat land. Could they suggest a way to penetrate these mountains?

No, they couldn’t. These high elevation mountains are not their typical land and the survival codes here are far from the ones they know. Leading us blindly they pulled west rather east with no way to recover. It was Sunday afternoon when we descended half way a 3000 meter mountain and found ourselves in a lower valley locked in between deep gorges. I have ordered a retreat to Friday’s camp so we can head east from there. The mutiny became now obvious. They refused to climb up back to the mountain ridge we just left 2 days ago. I didn’t blame them. That is a tough terrain! Add to it the constant rain, low temperatures and high gusting winds, none of us could adjust to the cold climate. It hurt our bodies and kill our spirits. We are heading back to Friday’s camp!  We must find our way to the lower tropics soon!

Norma, one of my indigenous videographers, is very sick with a high fever.  She is constantly shaking and can barely move. She seems to suffer from dehydration and we treat her with fever reducers and with jungle “Shamanic” methods she is accustomed to. It is so cold and raining all the time and people forget to maintain hydration. This can be fatal for her if not dealt with immediately. I encourage my expedition team to push forward rapidly so to get to a point where I can evacuate her. Nixon, one of my other indigenous videographers, has severely injured his ankle. These illnesses have really slowed us down and prolonged our descent back to warmth at a low elevation. I have injured my knee and ribs badly, every step is a struggle for me at this point but we must continue. There is no trail, and each inch must be opened by machete. We are constantly fighting off saw grass, as it cuts every exposed inch of our body. Our faces, wrists, and especially our hands are covered in cuts and scrapes. There is also other thorny vegetation that we sometimes grab by reflex as we slip in the mud. Every person falls almost every other step, it is impossible to count how many times a day we all fall since the number is so high. 

All of us feel that this Cloud-forest jungle wants to kills us and keep us here. Everything is holding us back and trying to keep us from moving forward. I feel like this place wants to keep me here forever! I am constantly tangled in webbing bamboo, and it is always trying to pull me down to the ground.  Another dangerous part to this is that everything the indigenous cut with the machete is at an angle, making it like a spear sticking out of the ground. It is like the bamboo traps from Vietnam War! I have almost been impaled by the bamboo spears several times, one time it would have gone through my shoulder if it weren’t for my backpack strap deflecting the blow. We have had to cross several rivers that are rushing rapids! Very dangerous, they rise very high from all the constant rain. Some of them are rushing so powerfully that we cannot even maintain our footing, we have to hold on to a rope and pull ourselves across as our bodies are dragged through the water. 

Yesterday, Matt had a mental break down.  He has injured his ankle and has become the slowest of all of us.  He fell further behind than usual and when he finally caught up he told me he was crying because it is so tough!  He said he hasn’t cried like that in at least ten years.  He is exhausted from this extreme and difficult terrain.  To top all this off we are all still carrying our 50lb packs.  All these packs have our state of the art tech equipment, for satellite communication.  We haven’t been able to use these communication devises for the last few days due to the dense canopy.  The signals are not able to penetrate through the canopies and other over head vegetation.  Some of the trees here are over 200 ft tall with incredibly thick canopies, so if the rain ever does let up which it only has once or twice,  there is no way for us to charge our electronic equipment.  All of our batteries are charge by solar, and since we have no sun, we have no power.  This place really wants to get the best of us and is doing its best to make us quit, however I will not quit!  I will push everyone to keep going on and make it through this hell!  This is my Amazon 5000 expedition, and I am here to make the Impossible Possible!