Marmalade Sunsets: A dance through the Amazon jungles in Northern Peru with Rainforest Partnership (video interview)

I am convinced that my addictive fascination for Amazonia started in the 80’s. Yeah, I was that young girl prancing around in my delicate, pink ballet slippers, deemed only for proper girls (still mind-boggling as to how I made it into that category), convinced that I could perform the Lambada, the Forbidden Dance, and dance into the night with the indigenous peoples of Brazil as I save the rainforests with my hypnotic dance techniques. Those pink ballet shoes have since grown up (just slightly) and I am drawn back into the Amazon jungles, into a world where 60% of the population lives on less than 5 soles ($1.75) per day and malnutrition hungers every consuming thought. I met Niyanta one evening at a Peruvian art fundraiser and was enamored by her drive to work with the Chipaota community in Northern Peru. Niyanta’s project aims at identifying sustainable harvesting of the piassaba palm within this region, one of the main sources of income. I felt a connection to this project, not only because it focuses on resolving real issues of deforestation, but also because it provides an opportunity to explore the emotions of a wondrous rainforest, the exoticism of dancing with the Chipaota people, the sensation of uncovering my eagerness to examine innovative ways of developing projects.

I wonder sometimes, that throughout our journeys, we are challenged to adapt to constant impulses, blending sensations of falling in blissful love; feelings of sadness or the anguish of rejection. It’s when we are able to place ourselves in an environment where your next meal could determine whether you’ll live for the next week, we are given the opportunity to readdress our periodic perplexities and see our dilemma from a vey different perspective.

If you would like to learn more about this project, you can reach Niyanta Spelman at http://www.rainforestpartnership.org/
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