Today I've been interviewing some more people of the Sani; wanting more views on how people react towards the projects coming in.

We also went to the other side of the river, meeting a woman named Romelia - known for her handicrafts. She uses plastic bags; she rips them into long shreds of thread, and knits them into bags. It's an ingenious use of old plastic - one RP will definitely need to take up as a possible part-time project.

Me and Michel have been discussing lots of angles and questions posed for both of our documentaries; him making a film being totally different from producing reportages of text and image. It's an interesting difference, and yet an obvious equality.

Alfred is sick. He's resting in his hammock, doing OK. Jaime has promised to get him a natural cure for tomorrow.


Children caring for children is common; many women work the cocoa and coffee plantations all day

Today was a day full of interesting meeting; the central area of Sani Isla was today's host for the communal soccer game. Soccer, being almost like religion here in Ecuador, is one of the things that regurarly bring people of the Amazon together; people can travel miles to see the game.



Jom cutting out the fibres



Another fibre vital to the community; palm heart

But first we took another tour of the jungle, for Jom to show us even more stuff. Important plants from the forest includes trees of whose fibre people make rope; we wanted to get a feel for what's being used and what not.


Men and women from all over arrived for the weekly gathering


Jaime and Javier explaining to the gathered women about RP's project

After coming back, at about 10, the meetings and general socialisation began. People arrived in canoes from all over; trade taking place while the young teams battled for the communal cup. Luckily we had Javier with us today; originally from Sani Isla he went to the US for a year, and his english is excellent. He helped us by translating wherever we went; he knows both Spanish, English and the Quechua - the language spoken by many indigenous people including the Sani Isla population.


The handicraft women of Sani Isla already make. Vital for the economy, and growing even mroe important for the environment - Project CD will show why


Empowering women can mean neglecting their kids; a balance is vital

Among the first things to happen, the people from Rainforest Partnership - Niyanta and Hazel - gathered all the women from the village for a meeting. One of the Rainforest Partnership's main goals is to enable women to make money; and empowering women to earn an income will be a main focus to reach a sustainable future for the Quechua in Sani Isla. This will in many ways help the environment and help save the rainforest, which you will learn more from once the Project CD documentary is finished.


Don Oscar and two of the girls listening in

The meeting went well, and RP has several things to work on before being able to implement the project fully into Sani Isla. All in all people reacted positively; it's a beautiful things seeing wheels in motion. We continued to make interviews with several important people, including the oldest man in the region - Don Oscar - who's reached the incredible age of 71. That's not common in this area.


Margareta and her daughter; my interview with them got interesting answers

I saw to it that we interviewed one of the important women as well, Margareta, who previously was the head woman of Sani Isla. She gave valuable insight into the regular days in the village, and compared today with the situation of 20 years ago. I focus much on problematizing the techniques in motion. Despite the positive perspective - and the impeccable positive aspect of a project like RP's - what could be the negative outcome of this kind of project? You can't simply walk into a remote village culture like this, and expect that your help is recieved without consequences. Keeping cultural aspects in mind will prove very important. I got interesting answers.


Battling for the communal cup

After the meetings the soccer game was fully underway. And why bring the tele-photo-lens 300/2,8 to the middle of the Amazon, if not to photograph soccer? I got great shots of Amazonian soccer; pictures I'll be glad to send them.


A cocoa nursery, plants in their early stages


The cocoa trees grow between 1-3 metres high; the cocoa fruits going from yelloy/green to cocoa brown

Afterwards we had more time for exploration; and together with Jaime we went to document another part of the cocoa production chain. Going with canoe downriver we visited a cocoa nursery, where we got loads of hands-on information about how the business really goes down. The figures are scary. It's now certain we will make the cocoa industry a large part of the documentary - it's impact on the economy of this Amazonian region is to large to grasp. This is true both economically and environmentally.


Cocoa beans; these one's already dried

Right now it's getting mighty dark, but skies are clear. I'm photographing stars while taking care of Alfred. He's bad, but better. Looking forward to Jaime's cure tomorrow.

This has been a long, beautiful day!


A chinese Oil-company's drilling station; the Ecuadorian forests are home to loads of international companies

We went up really early in Sacha, and the guys from CyD took us and all our gear towards Pompeya. On the way there we passed through huge amounts of secondary rainforest - the kind that has grown back from once being cut down. The air instantly became clearer; as we head into the forest you could tell we were heading out of civilization.


Jaime, our guide to get to Sani Isla

In Pompeya we met Jaime; a round little man working for both CyD and the joint organisation of the cocoa companies. He will be accompanying us for the next couple of days, as we head into the Amazon - to Sani Isla, and to the village where we'll live. Soon after meeting him we bumped into the first (of many) problems with getting out onto the Amazon. No one seemed to have enough gas for our trip! Maybe not so strange, considering us being gringos people tend to want more money for their services. But Jaime negotiated well, and soon we had our 15 gallons of fuel for the there&return trip.


Heading downstream on the Rio Napo branch of the Amazon river

And what a trip. Sani Isla, the community, is located on the middle of the Rio Napo. We headed out onto the river, clear skies and a blaxing sun above us. The canoe took us downstream with speed, water hissing up it's sides. The trip took several hours, and along the way we saw huts on one side, oil-refueling-stations on the other. Civilization draws nearer, but everywhere nature grows back. Abandoned places are soon overgrown with vines, as the forest takes back what it once owned.


A map of the Ecuadorian Amazon; pinpointed is Sani Isla

Arriving in Sani Isla was like arriving home after a long trip; friendly hands helping us carry all of our gear, and eager eyes peering through the bushes - children playing, smiling, cheering. We were welcome indeed.


Us arriving stirred a lot of curiosity

The village is beautifully remote; so very different, but so very easy to get used to. We met with one of the village elders, and he told us to settle in as good as possible. Apart from all the huts in the center of the village, there is a small office (beloning to Jaime) where we will be able to cook food. The only other modern house is the little medical cabin - where we will take up residence for the next couple of days.


Jom, our invaluable resource for getting around the forest


Not wasting time, we only stuffed our gear away before heading out into the forest - our guide being Jom, a local teenager. He took us for a walk around the area, for us to get a feel for the place; all the while turning out to be a wilderness expert. Everywhere he showed us plants and flower with different uses; some for entertainment - and some for curing snakebites. "Un guia muy bueno", as we told him.


Sani Isla in sunset


Right now I'm lying writing in the hammock, as a thundering rain is moving in; I'm not getting wet! We have just enough roof to cover our hammocks; we've put the hammocks up between to poles outside the medical cabin, and this will serve as our home for the next couple of days. Everyone is asleep, cikadas are singing. I feel completely at rest.

Lots happened in Quito yesterday. RP had a meeting with the CyD - Conservacion & Desarollo - who are working intimately with the Sani Isla community where we'll be going. The meeting was great to get a feeling for where we are going; José and Leonor gave us most of the information we needed. They act as a intermediary between the Amazon indigenous villages and charity organisations; in this case, they will help Rainforest Partnership establish their activities in Sani Isla.



Today we got up early and flew to Lago Agrio, and met up with the CyD-team who help us get around. Ricardo is a wonderful man, and saw to it we got the time to arrange everything in due time. After arriving in Lago Agrio we first went to a community of the Cofanés - one of the indigenous tribes RP is thinking of working with. But most importantly today - we went to one of the local cacao processing plants.



During this trip (and during the whole tropical rainforest part of Project CD), the insight into cacao production will be very important. Cacao is a major export from Ecuador; the country's economy depends on people all over the world to eat their chocolate. But at the same time, cacao plantations also need space; farmers clearing forest to plant their cocoa trees endanger the environment. So what feeds the local farmer family also poses a danger. This is a big threat to the forests of the Ecuador Amazon - where huge amounts of cacao is grown. It's a fine balance; this is where preservation organisations come in. Knowledge must be spread; done properly, cacao production won't pose such a threat.



Towards sunset we had to head home; the cacao plantation was located very close to the Colombian border. Heavily armed guards can be found almost everywhere; conflicts seem to be common. Tonight we spend the night in Sacha, on of the frontier towns on the border to the jungle. But first we have to do a little late night last minute shopping! Tomorrow we head out onto the river, not to return for 5 days. We need a lot of food, and especially a lot of clean water!

We're settled in Quito; yesterday we met up with Niyanta and Michel Scott (the filmmaker also joining the RP trip). Felt great to finally meet the faces; up til now they've only been voices over the phone and words in an email. They're devoted to the cause, and it will be wonderful working with them.

We had a wonderful day, went up to the top of the Quito volcano - getting a view of the city really shapes your perception of it. It's huge! Narrow streets blend in between large crossroads; cars are everywhere, but even so it's easy to get around. We'll stay here a couple of more days next week too, and we'll be sure to capture the city of Quito in images.

Today is one of those transitional days. We're heading for a meeting between the Rainforest Partnership and the CyD - their partner in Ecuador, providing the link to the community of Sani Isla. Tomorrow morning we're flying to Coca and heading into the Amazon; to Sani Isla, the community at the very heart of RP's efforts in Ecuador.