Ecuador with New Community Project

Its been so long since I was in Ecuador. I feel bad, but I want to write this all down someplace. I barely remember all the details, and I'm not sure the best way to go about writing this. I think I'm just going to use the pictures that I posted on facebook and hope that I can remember all the details that go along with it.

Generally speaking, the trip was great. I learned and saw a lot. I saw a beautiful country with lots of problems. They are trying to figure out how to deal with this world where oil will make you big bucks and may help pull your country out of poverty, but they know they have a beautiful resource sitting above all that oil. Nobody pays your country to preserve the rain forest. Letting the rainforest-and the people and animals that live in it- be - doesn't allow for investment in roads, schools, and medical clinics. And without an educated and healthy population - the country and its people will never be able to pull itself out of poverty and minimal-wage jobs.

The Beauty

An Anaconda sitting on a log. The native people believe that the world was created by an Anaconda and an eagle. The anaconda created the water and the land and the eagle created the sky. We saw both an eagle and an Anaconda within a matter of moments out on the river.

I caught a piranha!

The People

Victorianio and his wife. They are some of the oldest community leaders. he told us that the medical problems the community was facing - particularly the children - was his top priority. He passed away a couple weeks after this photo was taken.

Dielo was our guide. He is a shaman - a spiritual leader. He knew so much. He has experienced so much. I wish I could spend more time with him, learning everything he knows.

The Oil

On our way into the rainforest, we saw some trees on their way out. 

We stopped at an oil pit. This is where all the chemicals from the oil separation process end up. Its a large , un-lined pit. These chemicals seep into the ground and certainly end up in the towns drinking and washing water. 

Texaco-Chevaron has been involved in a 20 year lawsuit over an oil spill. They still haven't given a dime to the Ecuadorian people. There was lots of grafiti along this oil pipeline.

I could give all kinds of specific stories about what I learned. If you want to know more, let me know, I'd be happy to tell you all about it. But the overall point is that environmental issues like the rainforest are incredibly important, but so much more complicated than I ever thought possible. If you were to choose between destroying the rainforest and making enough money to feed your family, what would you choose? Would there even be a choice?