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“Put the camera away.” said Oscar.

“Huh?” I stalled, hearing Oscar but not wanting to comply.

“Put the camera away.” Oscar repeated. He looked worried so I obeyed.

As the waterproof bag clicked shut I realised what was happening as I was soaked with a bucket of dirty water. The girl who threw it was shouting in Ashaninka – she sounded very upset - slow, rhythmical words in an alarmed pitch.

Water throwing, I have learned, is used in serious situations. Last week a chief from a village where I stayed had water thrown over him because he badly beat his wife whilst he was drunk.

We were next to where a new school was being built and the next bucket that came was full of sloppy concrete. Then at least two more of the same. As I looked around at all the villagers who were surrounding me none of them were laughing. I felt remarkably calm although slightly pathetic completely covered in concrete. The girl then actually started pushing wet concrete mix into my mouth.

“We should leave.” I said to Oscar, spitting sand and cement. I shook the hand of the village president and as we turned and headed towards the river I noticed that some fresh bags of cement had got wet in the incident. I remember bizarrely thinking that they should make a new mix before the bags went hard.

Oscar and I had progressed only two days with the new permits. The problem is that there is an Argentine oil company, Pluspetrol, which is about to extract oil from the Ashaninka’s land. They are due to arrive this month. The Ashaninka are scared, angry and fiercely defensive and they think I represent Pluspetrol because I am white.

The village HF radio network that we had used to our advantage the week before to send news of our arrival was being used to pass the message that Pluspetrol has come and not to let them through. They are coming indeed - but its not me!

What a mess.

Oscar works for CARE, the organisation that represents the Ashaninkas on the Rio Ene, and he was being threatened that he would have spikes stuck in him and that the next village was waiting for us. This is also bad because I don’t want the local communities to start distrusting CARE because of their association with me.

We hurried down to the river, inflated the pack-rafts and started paddling downstream. Once we were a little distance away we both sat back and just floated with the current. I had wanted to continue walking on the other bank but that is the “Colonos” side and Oscar is a “Nativo” (Ashaninka) so he would not have any of it. As a result we were heading downstream for the port again.

This was my 3rd crack at the Ene – helped by Oswaldo, then Elias, now Oscar I had progressed only slighty more with each guide.

A man I told about this last night said that the Nativos in that part are “bad” and stand in the way of progression for Peru. He is repeating verbatim the propaganda that is being pumped into Peruvians by President Garcia. The TV ads say “Peru Advances” with shiney happy people extracting oil and other natural resources. Peru’s economy is indeed advancing - the fastest in South America this last year - but at what cost?

100% of the Peruvian Amazon (outside of the few protected areas) is now allocated for resource extraction of some kind. 100%. Here “conservation” is a dirty word and stands in the way of progress. The map below from 2007 shows the areas already contracted out for oil extraction in green, the lots under negotiation in orange and yellow are areas still up for grabs…

Elsewhere in Peru where the oil companies have already started extracting, native communities have been irreversibly changed. The process is dirty and pollution (largely from spills in transportation) is high leaving rivers filthy and void of fish. The locals are often compensated with salary such as 1,000 US$ a month. Enough to live like a king in the communities and be permanently drunk - which is what often happens alongside a sharp rise in domestic violence.

The Ashaninkas’ reaction to me was actually good to see. They only want to protect their land and their lifestyle and I hope they can do both. I am disappointed though that I will not have more contact with them (on the Rio Ene at least) as the communities that were not alarmed were very kind and family oriented.

I am tired now and so am having a day rest in Satipo, a nearby town, then I will go back to the Ene a fourth time to try and get it finished. I will walk on the Colonos side and avoid Ashaninka communities by cutting inland as necessary. With a bit of luck the next blog will be from the Rio Tambo.