Deck the hammock with a Chris, relaxed and comfortable, swaying in the heat of the selva
Many of you may be wondering, "Just how to they celebrate the Christmas holiday in the Amazon jungle?" Well, let me tell you, they pretty much don't. That's right, no Christmas insanity! Many of my readers are probably feeling sorry for me in this moment and wishing I had the chance to experience the traditional holiday procession, but you're sympathizing with the wrong person if that's the case. I couldn't be more thrilled about the prospect of no Christmas catastrophes, no quilombos navideños, this year!
Yes! No "Jingle All the Way", no packed malls, no traffic, no worrying about what to get for Jon Doe's girlfriend's niece, no getting fat, no burnt cookies, no ringing bells, no tacky decorations (okay, so maybe there are some of those, I'll explain later) and, best of all, NO WHITE CHRISTMAS, ZERO SNOW OR ICE! Oh I'm thrilled, in case you couldn't tell. I'm sorry my people, but you just don't realize how insane it has all gotten with the commercialization of Christ's Mass. My words can't explain how liberating it is to be free of all of that and see it from the outside. Do you guys remember what Christmas is even about? Why do we go through all of that holiday insanity in the US? Well, while you're thinking about the true meaning of the holiday, I will be here, resting in my hammock and writing away.
Don't think that no Christmas mayhem means that the people here aren't happy, really it's quite the contrary. The thing is, people here are, in general, alegre (happy) and there's not really anything that they are missing in celebrating Christmas that would make them happier. Would buying a bunch of presents and gifting them make them happier? Not quite, what money are they going to use to buy all of these presents and what would they buy anyway? The nearest supermarket is about four hours away by canoe and bus. Do we need Christmas trees? We're surrounded by the Amazon Forrest. Christmas music? We've got Salsa, Merengue and Reggaeton, like always :-). I'll I want for Christmas is for the arenillas to quit biting me!
Here in the selva, people don't really need to use a holiday as an excuse to spend time with their family, they do that every day. Some of the practices that we try to employ during the holidays are things that should be common sense and take place year round. Here, they do. The holidays are a time for sharing, for being happy, for celebrating and for being with loved ones and relaxing? Like I've always said, life here is just more simple. Well, every day here in the selva we share food and other simple gifts, we celebrate life and the naturaleza, we work together, we spend time with each other and you can bet we relax. We certainly don't need to stress out about money and whether we'll have enough to gift material objects, we gift our compañerismo, our comradeship.
Just when I was beginning to think that there would be absolutely no earmarks of the western commercialized Christmas, I came upon quite a sight upon my return to the lodge, after the last break. As I walked up to the reception area, I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw horribly draped dancing lights around the desk, that awful plastic type of garland and the ugliest little LED Christmas tree I have ever laid eyes on. Well, I guess they felt like they had to satisfy any foreign guests we might have during the month of December. On second thought, the guests may be so appalled by the horrid sight of the adornment that they run all the way back down to the river and hop into the first canoe that passes by.
We have few days left in this academic session; we have a shortened term this time around for the coming holiday break. Instead of twenty one days, we are only in for fourteen this time around. At the end of this week, we will all be leaving Yachana and beginning a three week vacation, I know you envy me and I apologize :-). I have plans to go to, you guessed it, the great gran Quito. The holiday celebrations in Quito, and the rest of the sierra, are much different than those of the selva, but I will write about those later on this month.
Don't worry, I didn't do away with all of the Christmas traditions:
"Lake is frozen over, trees are white with snow, and all around reminders of you are everywhere I go...Merry Christmas, my love..."
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