Occidental Petroleum...the Cofan, Sionas, Secoyas, Shuar, Quichua indigenous peoples...loss of biodiversity...roads through the jungle that bring colonists...class-action law-suit against Texaco, the first of its kind...missionaries...the Rio Aguarico slick with oil...international debt...the Conquest...

There is a connection to all these things, and I am about to see it firsthand. I have been in Ecuador for almost two weeks now--spent some time on the coast and at an organic farm, and now am back in Quito doing last minute preparations. We bought our ´sleepings´ (funny how various English words have slipped into the Spanish language--or maybe not so funny, given the bigger picture Latin America´s relationship with the Western world), so we got our sleeping bags and mats, because quien sabe on what we´ll be sleeping for the next week and a half. Quien sabe means ´who knows´--and is a good response to a lot of the questions I have.

Tomorrow, we have an interview with the U.S. Embassy, and then Thursday, salimos. We go to the place that some scientists think was one of the only un-frozen ´refuges´ for the entire Amazon basin during the last ice-age, which might be one reason why its smorgasbord of lifeforms are unlike anywhere else in the world.

It´s funny to think that a year ago at this time, I was heading towards the other earthly extreme--where survival is so very difficult that the largest land-dwelling animal is the wingless midge, a bizarrely classified fly (what do you call a fly with no wings...) In Antarctica, diversity is small, but populations are large enough to take advantage of the vastness of the sky and sea. And there I was compelled come into the presence of something magnificent, to recieve it with openness and without judgement--I cannot hope to replicate such an experience. But I do hope for the clarity to see with eyes of compassion, hear with a heart of joy, process with a critical mind, and respond with grace that is not my own.

I don´t know how much electricity we will have, much less internet. So send good thoughts to the equator, and ¡hasta pronto!