Divided into three geological regions - coastal, mountain and jungle - Ecuador is home to about 13 million people. Just over half of these are "Mestizos" - descendants of European colonists who inter-married with indigenous, native Indians. Around a quarter of the population today is counted as "true-blood" indigenous. The main ethnic groups indigenous to Ecuador are the Quichua, Cofan, Shuar, Achuar, Huaorani, Siona and Secoya. Each of these groups is to be found in the east of the country, in the Amazon Basin - an area of mainly secondary, but also some primary, rainforest. The Quichua are also to be found in the mountain region, running north to south along the Andes.

Ecuador's indigenous peoples have become very politically involved in the past 10 years or so. Today they have a more unified, "pan-indigenous" political voice than ever before. In the 2002 Presidential election one of the candidates was himself indigenous for the first time in the country's history. They need this unified voice as they begin to address important aspects of their survival such as education and less ecologically damaging policy on timber and crude oil exploitation in their lands.

The easiest way to visit the Ecuadorian rainforest is through an organized tour booked from one of the many travel agents in the capital, Quito. (I opted not to do this since in my research I found only companies whose itineraries focus on plants and wildlife of the rainforest, with little time spent in indigenous community villages.) A better opportunity is to hire the services of an indigenous guide working through one of various organizations that directly benefit the communities you will visit. RICANCIE (in English, Amazon Community Ecotourism in the Upper Napo of Ecuador, based in the Oriente town of Tena) is probably the best-known such organization. I can personally recommend them. A few of their guides speak English - all speak Spanish. A similar organization is the Organization of Indigenous Nationalities of Pastaza (OPIP), in Puyo. The visitor should be aware that many of the communities in the Amazon Basin are not accessible by road. Most travel will be undertaken by river and on foot. On one extremely interesting day, my Quichua guides and I punted a home-made raft (which they had put together that same morning in about 45 minutes) downstream for about 10 hours to reach the next community on our itinerary. During such a journey the visitor will get a sense of how isolated the indigenous, riverside communities have remained, as well as the extent to which the tributaries of the Amazon river are essential to their transportation and livelihood. We arrived well after dark, exhausted, wet, hungry and mosquito-bitten. This was one of the most personally satisfying journeys I have ever undertaken!

Andean communities, belonging to the Quichua are a little easier to visit. Although roads replace rivers, the most remote communities are best reached on horseback. Here also the services of local Quichua guides are the most informative way to make such visits. (You need to speak at least basic Spanish or Quichua.) The more remote villagers are at very high elevation (10,000 feet and above), where night-time temperatures are very low all year round. Journeys should be planned as carefully and as far in advance as possible, with back-up plans for unexpected situations. Public transport is often weekly or bi-weekly at the most. Vehicles are old and have been known to break down on bleak, windy mountainsides.

We have sponsored two indigenous students in Ecuador. Please consider making a donation so we may sponsor more.

Books

Selverston-Scher, M., (2001) Ethnopolitics in Ecuador: Indigenous Rights and the Strengthening of Democracy. Coral Gables, FL: North-South Center Press.

Martin, P., (2002) The Globalization of Contentious Politics: The Amazonian Indigenous Rights Movement. New York: Routledge.