Munduruku

We went to The Amazon.

We served the Munduruku Indian tribe, and we were on the Amazon River for two weeks in an open-air boat, and we slept in hammocks on a boat.

It was amazing.

That was where I think my heart changed, and I knew that I wanted to continue to do this.

Ancient Tupi is the basis of the lingua geral, the inter-tribal tongue on the middle Amazon.

The semi-civilized Ticunas, Mundurucus, etc., have one costume, the men in trousers and white cotton shirts, the women in calico petticoats, with short, loose chemises, and their hair held in a knot on the top of the head by a comb, usually of foreign make, but sometimes made of bamboo splinters.

The wild tribes north and south go nearly or quite nude, while those on the western tributaries wear cotton or bark togas or ponchos.

The habitations are generally a framework of poles thatched with palm leaves, the walls sometimes latticed and plastered with mud, and the furniture chiefly hammocks and earthen vessels.

The Mundurucus are the most numerous and warlike tribe in Amazonia.

They inhabit both banks of the Tapajós and can muster, it is said, 2,000 fighting men.

They are friendly to the whites and industrious, selling to traders large quantities of farina, sarsaparilla, rubber, and tonka beans.

Their houses are conical or quadrangular huts, sometimes open sheds, and generally contain many families.