A few more thoughts on Arutam

After thinking about things more, I think I actually have more mixed feelings about Arutam than I conveyed in my original writing. While I still feel like they mostly see volunteers solely as a source of money, I think that some of them really do genuinely care about preserving the rainforest. Some of the ways in which they treated the volunteers made us feel like they really didn’t care about us. One of the biggest issues was food. In spite of my normal food-snobbery, I have accepted that at most places where I am volunteering I will not be fed particularly good food. But Arutam took it to a whole new level, feeding us nothing but boiled “Papa China” (sort of like potato but the color of newspaper and about as flavorful) for three meals a day. While I normally am not one to complain about the food at places where I am volunteering, it seemed pretty unfair to give us this very unbalanced, nutrient-poor diet in return for our work and $7 a day… especially since the other volunteers saw them buying and eating other things that were not shared with us. At the same time though, they did make an effort in other ways to make sure the volunteers got something positive out of the experience. Every week, they scheduled in a long hike to a waterfall and other little excursions through the forest. One day, we went hunting for fallen orchids and bromeliads to take back and decorate the volunteer house with. At least a few of the members of the community – particularly Jose – also seemed really proud of their culture and interested in sharing it.