Achuar Photo Essay

July 2010 | Mitch Anderson

For centuries the Achuar people have lived in harmony with the Amazon rainforest. But now, the unrelenting drive for oil has reached the deepest regions of their territory. Canadian oil company Talisman Energy has already cleared hundred of kilometers of seismic lines in the northern Peruvian Amazon – and is now beginning to drill exploratory wells.

This is a photo essay from a recent trip into the territory of a fierce, beautiful people defending their lands against the threat of oil development.

A gift of Patarashca (freshly caught fish wrapped in banana leaves) offered by a Kandoshi woman after we stopped on the banks of the river to give her son a ride to the nearest village. The Kandoshi live downriver from the Achuar on the Huitoyaco and Pastaza Rivers.
A woman collects fresh water at dawn in the Kandoshi community of Pifayal where we spent the night on the way to the Achuar meeting in Kuyuntsa. We were greeted by the entire village and enjoyed a hearty meal of huangana (wild boar) and patarashca. In the early morning we departed for Kuyuntsa.
An Achuar woman prepares a chicken for dinner in the community of Limon Cocha, the first Achuar community on the Huitoyaco River.
The Achuar meeting was held in Kuyuntsa on the Manchari River. The river was so low we had to hike there for several hours from the Huitoyaco.
A huge Achuar house in Kuyuntsa village. Here, a father will live together with his daughters and their families under one roof. Only the most respected elder Achuar men can count on the support of the village needed to weave thousands of palm fronds into a roof of this size.
Before dawn, the day of the meeting. The Achuar rise to drink wayusa, exchange stories and discuss plans for the day before purging their bodies of aches and pains from the previous day's work by vomiting. Wayusa is a sweet tea made from infusing the leaves of the Wayusa plant grown in Achuar gardens.
A treacherous walk down a slippery river bank in the morning to bathe. Here a boy returns from a fishing trip.
Carrying firewood to prepare lunch for the community. Achuar Apus (chiefs) have traveled from all over Achuar territory to attend the meeting and they will need to be well fed.
Any Achuar meeting is preceded by drinking vast quantities of masato served by all the women of the village.
Masato is made by boiling and mashing manioc, then chewing and spitting the thick paste to encourage fermentation. The result is watered down to create a weak 'manioc beer' which any visitor is expected to drink.
The Achuar were meeting to decide how to respond to the government's creation of an oil concession over their ancestral territory (Lote 64) and exploratory drilling in ancient hunting grounds by Canadian oil company Talisman Energy.
An Achuar war dance ceremony: The Achuar inaugurate the meeting with a traditional war dance and 'interview', where the visitors speak with the hosts in a ritualized, rythmic speech justifying their reasons for coming.
The war dance is a ritualized dance and confrontation from times gone by when the Achuar lived in constant warfare. Today the Achuar are united and peaceful, but they complain that the oil company Talisman is provoking division and violence amongst the Achuar.
The trail back to the Huitoyaco River, the first leg on the three-day trip back to Lima, by boat, road and plane. The Achuar live in the remote rainforest in Northern Peru near the border with Ecuador. Their villages are connected by an incredibly elaborate network of jungle trails.
Departing Achuar terriitory, a peaceful sunset on the Huitoyaco river.

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