Welcome to the jungle

Stopped by the jungle on the way back to Quito from Baños. Tena is one of the largest towns in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but planning to go to a smaller town later today. Staying in a nice hotel in the trees overlooking a fast-moving river that is surprisingly clear and clean considering all the development around here. There's even wi-fi in the hotel, which I'm using to post this blog entry.

Thinking about the people I met in Baños and the current conditions in Ecuador I've been learning about from the news media and from talking with my Spanish teacher all week. The country is in the midst of a natural crisis with the severe rains that have destroyed many of the towns and crops in the lowlands, as well as a political crisis with the invasion a week ago by the Colombian army, who killed a group of guerrillas camped and sleeping in Ecuador near the border. Ecuador is neutral in regard to the Colombian civil war and of course this was a violation of national sovereignty. Colombia's position is that they were pursuing "terrorists" who were gathering their forces for a major attack, but this was apparently not true and there have been terrorists on both sides of the war.

Ecuador also formed a national assembly last year to rewrite the constitution so now many of the laws could change, hopefully for the better. I've read about a lot of resistance to the US military base on the coast in Manta, and a question about tariffs increasing on exports to the US due to the expiration of an Andean trade agreement linked to eradication of coca. The president has proposed protecting from oil exploration vast tracts of Amazonian forest as a carbon reservoir for the planet. However, the proposal would require partial compensation by the international community, which so far has not responded.

Also reflecting on the tenuousness of the lives of people living next to the volcano in Baños. About nine years ago when there was a time of very intense volcanic activity, my teacher Marco and his family had to leave their homes and livelihoods, and quickly evacuate to another city for a year. This was almost necessary again about a month ago. Marco is indigenous and also Christian. In Spanish he told some great stories about how he was brought to his faith and about miracles and fulfilled prophesies that he and his friends had witnessed. I also heard about 4-year-old kids being sold into slavery or working and living on the street.

written by

cjones on March 8, 2008 from Tena, Ecuador

from the travel blog: so-journ

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