Desarrollo Sostenible en la Amazonia.

This past weekend we visited the Amazon Rain Forest and stayed along the Nano River, which is one of the main tribuataires. We began our journey with a short flight (30 min) to Coca and then a 2.5 hour motorized canoe ride up river to the Yuchana Lodge, offering incredible accomadations with beautiful views.

We hiked through the Amazon, seeing spiders, birds, monkeys, toucans, and parots; and tried delicious food such as piranahs, talapia, and I even ate a live larvae...which I most say was quite large. Pictures will certainly need to be shared.

There are so many problems facing indigenious communities in the Amazon, and the most important one is the poverty due to lack of education and public services. The Yuchana Lodge has started it´s own school which focus and teaches only practical applications - farming in the jungle, how to repair outboard motors (which nearly all canoes use) and how to build only relative objects. In a region with a 15% graduation rate, Yuchana boasts one of 64% - clearly something is working.

They also focus a lot on sustainable development in the rainforest. The natives here are encouraged by Yuchana to purchase a $15 solar rechargable LED light, which over the course of 10 years (its average suspected life time) can save a family between $1500 and $2000. In a community whose average annual income is $400, that´s nothing to ignore. Yuchana also focuses on how to purifer water in an energy eficient manner. The brains behind this operation was a bankrupt businessman from Kentucky, Douglas, who moved to Ecuador in the early 1980s, and has since changed the lives of thousands. He was quite the character and I am very glad I got to meet him and talk to him about so many things - he truly inspires change in others.

The Amazon also consisted of playing a huge futbol (that´s soccer for you gringos) game which students from both Yuchana and St. Olaf participated. It POURED for 45 minutes...so much fun! We also did a lot of swimming, hiking, eating, sleeping, and more hiking. The bugs were surprisingly not that bad, but I also wore long pants and sleeves the whole time.

Upcoming adventures include the Equator, Cloud Forests, and natural hot springs at 14,000 ft.

Much Love!
CM