AMAZON RIVER BASIN

I go way back with the Amazon. Moved there after high school. Spent seven months living in the 'thick of it," far into the Ecuadorian jungle, known as "El Oriente."

The Amazon, is deep, vast and misunderstood. Very misunderstood. Few people know the reality of the place. Today, many people pass through on a two week eco tour, but have no idea what is hidden deep inside. They see flora and fauna and marvel at the vastness, the beauty. Then they're motored off down river, never knowing the truth. Never seeing what the jungle is all about. The struggle to survive, the poverty of the locals, the incredible customs and traditions that are being encroached upon by oil companies and loggers. I know what is lurking behind the river banks. Deep in the jungle. Deep where no-one dare go.

I spent years in South America and much of it in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I lived downstream from a river town, Mishualli, on the small island the Isla Anaconda. I managed a few small cottages up on stilts, for a hotel owner in Quito. Tourists would float past on hired boats and sometimes stop for the night. $30.00 a night. A lot of money there, I only made $20.00 a month.

But I didn't need more money than that. There's not much to buy in the jungle. Besides I would trade cigarettes to the Auca Indians. Trade for blowguns and feathered crowns I'd sell to tourists.

The Auca would appear from some unknown place deep in the jungle. I never heard them coming. I would look up and see a small, dark skinned Indian with huge gapping holes in his ears standing silently before me. I never knew when they would appear and I never went looking for them. That was a law in the jungle then. You DID NOT venture in to Auca territory. That mystical place somewhere deep in the expansive canopy around you. It was a danger zone. An unmarked arena where all the rules changed and death was certain. The beautiful, peaceful jungle that tourists floated past was really dark and deadly. You never go to the Auca. When they want you, they will come find you. It was that simple.

I remember two German boys were missing in the jungle. Word spread. A German family stopped in the area asking questions. I was glad I never met them. I'd never seen the boys. Blondes, both. I gazed out into the vast green around me. I wondered. Did they? Did they stray off the river's edge? Did they wander into Auca Territory? Cofan Territory? Jivaro land? Were they lost, dead already?

Weeks later an Indian appeared, an Auca I had never seen before. He showed me two heads. Shrunken heads. He told me they were foreigners. He asked if I wanted them for tourists passing through, $10,000 for the pair. Were they real or some sick counterfeits to be sold to an unsuspecting tourist? I don't know for sure. But the two boys were never found.

That was twenty-five years ago. A lot has changed -- and hasn't changed. The Auca no longer want to be referred to as Auca, which means savage. They prefer Huaorani. For me they will always be Auca. Not because they are savages, but that is how I have always known them. We go way back. But they've changed. They appear more often and will sometimes be seen in small jungle towns. But they are still dangerous. While I was there in 2006, eight Auca were brutally murdered by other Auca. A land ownership issue.

I was to return to the Amazon on March 22nd, 2006, but there was an uprising in the jungle, a travel advisory was put out, so my trip was delayed to May 4th.

I spent most of my time divided between the jungle and in the Presidential Palace, informing the government of jungle issues. Things they didn't know. Their food program was corrupt. Alimentation Ecuador was a program of free packaged meals sent to be distributed to impoverished Indians. Instead the food was stolen every month and sold for high prices -- a cost too high for the starving Indians to afford.

I told them of the murder of monkeys for bush meat. Colombian loggers were killing scores of monkeys and transporting them out of the jungle. I have jungle insiders collecting truck license plate numbers so we can track the killers and prosecute them. I worked closely with President Luis Palacio's government, and his advisor Ricardo Solorazano.

I am in the process of assembling a group of volunteer wildlife experts to advise the Ecuadorian government of ecological issues involving the jungle and its wildlife. We will be available to answer any questions and offer any help that we can.

The amazon belongs to all, but has been entrusted to the few impoverished countries around it. It is the lungs of the world and we are all responsible for protecting it. Please see page 13 of the American Society of Primatologists Bulletin (2006)." To visit my fledgling Amazon protection group, please go to: www.amazonwildlifeadvocates.org

Thank you.