Writing once more from Iquitos - but not for long!
As I wrote last time, I headed to El Estrecho from the city last Wednesday, August 28. After three days of very exciting work, though, logistical problems led me to leave. I went back to Iquitos with several hours of Northern Máíhɨ̃ki recordings and worked on them for a day and a bit. Then on Monday, I caught the first possible boat from Iquitos to the Máíhuna village of Sucusari, which is on the Rio Sucusari near the mouth of the Rio Napo, so that I could explore the possibility of working there instead.
Sucusari is a small and rural community, but because of SIL, missionary, and scientific activity in the area, it's been host to a lot of outsiders. I had a great time visiting it on Tuesday - almost all of which I spent with the older adults at a thatch-making minga (cooperative work party) - and Wednesday. The Sucusarinos were surprised to see me but glad to give me permission to work in the community, so later today I'm heading back there for a month of fieldwork. If all goes well, I'll briefly visit Iquitos at the end of that month, then head back to Sucusari to continue fieldwork until the end of November.
But this isn't a goodbye to the internet just yet! The Maihuna people on the Sucusari have some unusual neighbors a little downriver: the staff and guests at ExplorNapo Lodge, an ecotourism business. (Explorama Tours, the parent company of ExplorNapo, has been incredibly gracious to me in helping to arrange travel and transportation of my luggage between Iquitos and the Sucusari - thanks to them for helping to make my work in lower Napo possible!) ExplorNapo is only about 30 minutes by boat from the village, and they have an internet connection which they've generously agreed to let me use once a week or so while I'm in the field. So if I write again before October 7, it'll be from the Rio Sucusari itself - and if not, ta for now!
