2014-7 A Visit to Tierra Negra.
In July, Fernando Arango, co-founder of Fundación Escuela Sintana y Tierra Negra, with his wife, Kathryn, Jairo Vargas and Javier Dingula, a young Kogi boy who has lived with the Vargas family since he was 3, camped out on Tierra Negra, sleeping in hammocks in a shelter with no walls that el Jate and his sons built re-using the zinc roofing sheets left by the previous owners. There are not enough palm leaves on the property to use for roofs. We have to wait for them to grow out more.
In spite of the hardest drought in recent history, the place was beautiful. We saw diverse bird life, heard howler monkeys, and many ripe hobo fruit on the forest floor. This juicy, sweet fruit sustains many kinds of animals. The Buritaca River, the second largest on the Caribbean side of the Sierra (Palomino is the longest) was low, but still flowing. Sadly many other rivers are totally dry. And there are many wildfires. The Kogi family that was staying on Tierra Negra left to stay close to their homes in Taminaka where fires had destroyed half the town.
We are lucky at Tierra Negra because we still have water. Jate found a spring way up on the mountainside where water was still coming out from between some rocks. With plastic hoses, using gravity it could be brought to the "house".
El Jate has talked with several mamas who are willing to teach at Tierra Negra. We need to accommodate the place first – build a kiosk for the mama and his family, have enough food and coca growing on the land to support them. Slowly but surely we are headed down the path …
In July, Fernando Arango, co-founder of Fundación Escuela Sintana y Tierra Negra, with his wife, Kathryn, Jairo Vargas and Javier Dingula, a young Kogi boy who has lived with the Vargas family since he was 3, camped out on Tierra Negra, sleeping in hammocks in a shelter with no walls that el Jate and his sons built re-using the zinc roofing sheets left by the previous owners. There are not enough palm leaves on the property to use for roofs. We have to wait for them to grow out more.
In spite of the hardest drought in recent history, the place was beautiful. We saw diverse bird life, heard howler monkeys, and many ripe hobo fruit on the forest floor. This juicy, sweet fruit sustains many kinds of animals. The Buritaca River, the second largest on the Caribbean side of the Sierra (Palomino is the longest) was low, but still flowing. Sadly many other rivers are totally dry. And there are many wildfires. The Kogi family that was staying on Tierra Negra left to stay close to their homes in Taminaka where fires had destroyed half the town.
We are lucky at Tierra Negra because we still have water. Jate found a spring way up on the mountainside where water was still coming out from between some rocks. With plastic hoses, using gravity it could be brought to the "house".
El Jate has talked with several mamas who are willing to teach at Tierra Negra. We need to accommodate the place first – build a kiosk for the mama and his family, have enough food and coca growing on the land to support them. Slowly but surely we are headed down the path …