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Small game is a staple in the diet of both mestizo and indigenous peoples in the Upper Amazon. Small game is generally gutted but not skinned. Once I was helping my jungle survival instructor, Gerineldo Moises Chavez, field dress an agouti — essentially a large rat. “In North America,” I said, “we generally take off the head.” He looked at me as if I was crazy. “Lots of good things in the head,” he said.
Suri are the grubs of palm beetles, Rhynchophorus palmarum, which grow in the stumps of chonta palms, Euterpe spp., that have been felled to harvest their edible palm hearts. The palm hearts are delicious. The grubs are fat, pale, curved, and large — up to five inches long. They are considered a great treat.
The temperature in the jungle remains pretty steady at around 85 degrees and the relative humidity at about 90 percent. You can certainly walk around the jungle naked without discomfort, at least from the weather. Still, the jungle is pretty much filled with insects and sharp objects, and many indigenous people wear clothing of one sort or another. In the Upper Amazon, the traditional dress of a number of indigenous peoples — the Matsigenka, Asháninka, Yine, Conibo, Cashibo — is the cushma.