The man raised his hands and sang enthusiastically to the flamingos overhead, and don't get me wrong, he wasn't an animal lover, he just wanted to catch one and take it back to stew for soup.
The man's name is Grimaldo, and he is from Bolivia, which is a country on a plateau.
Located in the Oruro region of the country, the entire village is surrounded by salt lakes that have been around for over 1,000 years.
The harsh natural conditions have created the unique survival skills of the villagers of Uruchipaya, who use clay to make funnel-shaped houses, which can be well resisted by strong winds.
And the doors of all the houses are uniformly facing east, because that's where the sun rises.
It was cold in the morning and the sun could shine through the crack in the door, but apart from that, because the wind was strong from the afternoon to the night, the funnel house did not have windows installed.
"Water is the source of life", Grimaldo's day begins with digging a well to fetch water.
When the tide receded and the land became unusually dry, the villagers had to cut through the soil layer to find the underground water source, and Grimaldo chiseled a square pit with a hoe.
Then he shoveled out the silt inside, and then inserted a thin stick into the ground to probe the water source, and after a while, the man successfully found a puddle, he used a teacup to scoop the water out and pour it into the green pot, and then he scooped a cup and handed it to his wife to taste.
Today was lucky, the taste was not salty, and the couple carried a large pot of water and went home satisfied.
In the afternoon, the two began to get busy again with quinoa, one of the rare plants that grow in arid saline lands, which is highly alkali tolerant and is known as the mother of grain by the Incas.
Locals began producing this crop in the region 3,000 years ago.
The couple came to the place where the quinoa was stored.
The plants that were draped over the blanket were quinoa, and Grimaldo picked up a stout stick and beat it hard, separating its seeds from the rhizomes, a step very similar to the method of extracting rapeseed.
Then the wives spread the seeds outside, intending to use the wind to blow away the sand in the quinoa.
The woman picks up a basket of quinoa and falls down this step must close her eyes, otherwise it will be attacked by the wind and sand.
At 3,800 meters above sea level, almost half the height of Mount Everest, living in this village makes it difficult to even breathe.
In addition to growing some crops adapted to alkaline nature, people also hunt flamingos, a technique handed down from their ancestors.
From clothing to hunting materials, tradition must be followed, but this work cannot be done by one person, it requires a team.
Grimaldo is going with friends to catch flamingos, a special bird that inhabits the waters of a temperate salt lake.
Their feathers are scarlet, especially the feathers at the base of their wings are shiny and shiny, and from a distance, they look like a raging fire, hence the name of the flamingo.
The lake in front of you is the exclusive gathering place for flamingos, with a maximum number of 1 million, but Grimaldo has only one in a million chances of success, because the choice is too wide and the salt lake is large.
The men surrounded the area of prey's activity, and the soldiers divided into three ways.
They clutched the hunting tools in their hands, which were a simple device, a rope, and a heavy object.
Grimaldo rolled up his trouser legs, stood in the water, swung the rope several times, and then, with the help of inertia, threw it towards the target,
After the flamingo is hit by a heavy object, it will fall from the sky, but it is not easy, and the man's first one is directly thrown into loneliness.
So he decided to change his strategy, only to see him lying on the ridge of the lake, like a tiger focusing on its prey.
However, this method was still not feasible, and the man took a different approach, he stood up and raised his hands, and began to dance.
An ancient song was also sung in their mouths, and it was obvious that the flamingos did not seem to be very satisfied with the show, and they heard the song and even flew farther.
Grimaldo's friend Frank was on the other side of the lake, and after locking on to his target, he confidently got up and swung the rope and threw it out.
The whole set of actions was clean and tidy, but the flamingo didn't buy it.
A long time has passed, and the men still have nothing to gain, I don't know if they are genius hunters, but it is estimated that the ancestors will not be able to speak when they see this scene.
Grimaldo, who returned empty-handed, looked sad, but fortunately, the quinoa he and his wife had planted the other day had sprouted.
The couple planted the selected plantations on the land outside the house, and the remaining quinoa they did not sell,
Because in the food-poor Uruchipaya, this is one of their food sources.
Grimaldo's wife is sautéing these quinoa,
Then she poured the quinoa into the stone mortar, took off her shoes and stood up,
Separate the seed from its shell by pedaling,
Once this process is complete, you can enjoy a delicious quinoa rice.
At night, the village became unusually cold, and the couple made dinner around the fire.
Soon, the wife served Grimaldo a bowl of quinoa rice with a little feta cheese, and looking at the steaming dinner, the man thanked his wife, which was the hard life of the Bolivian Lakers.
Meanwhile, in the Brazilian village of Giudazio, there is a group of people who are struggling to make a living, they are landless farmers from the rainforest, and like Grimaldo, they also hunt birds, except that hunters here have more advanced tools such as muskets.
Sebastian is descended from poor Latins who have no land ownership in the Brazilian rainforest and often steal land to live in order to live, so this group is also known as the Thief Tribe.
Brazil, where there is a huge gap between rich and poor, has many wealthy landlords who live in cities, and large tracts of rural land will be deserted and shelved.
The poor would quietly cultivate crops here, but this practice was easy to spot, and by then the landlords might confiscate their few harvests.
So Sebastian not only managed the crops, but also insisted on hunting.
On this day, it was the day of routine catching birds, and he got up very early, drank a sip of fruit wine, and hurried out,
This was their only chance to eat meat, and the man quickened his pace and soon reached the depths of the rainforest.
He carefully put the gunpowder into the gun, and when he was ready, he looked up and looked around,
He then confidently shot at the treetops, but after two gunshots, no birds appeared in the forest.
At this time, the man found a jaguar approaching him, although at the moment he very much wanted to eat meat, but in the face of such a strong enemy, the man chose to flee first.
Sebastian returns disappointed and the first thing he does when he returns home is to feed his dogs, who will not forget to feed them even if there is a shortage of food, because when he hunts in the rainforest, the dogs will help him find prey.
It was his wife, Linda, who was sorting out her clothes to dry outside the house.
All along, whether the husband catches prey or not, the wife will not complain,
Sebastian said they had a good relationship and the two got along like friends.
The couple had three children, but the younger son suffered from Down syndrome, so in addition to farming, they had to bathe and take care of his life, which made the already poor family worse.