Trip Dates:		August 4-8, 2003
Guides:		Jenny Getty, Lorena Pérez, Hilario, and Yawá
Participants:		Ferdnand Bolly, the Cheng family, Lucy and Kim Hammerberg, Sue Heineman, Dion Maas, Fred and Anderson Mclaughlin, Joost Pullens, Sari Taicher and family, Jeff Weisner

The ecologically sustainable resort at Kapawi is in south-east Ecuador, and consists of twenty huts sitting over a lagoon on a tributary of the Amazon river. The surrounding area is inhabited by the Achuar people, who were only "discovered" about thirty-five years ago. Although they wear western clothing and have (sort of) embraced Christianity and Catholocism, the Achuar mostly live as they used to, following old customs and residing in open huts made from local materials (palm, mostly). We stayed in Kapawi for five days, making day trips into the rain forest with Lorena, our Ecuadorian guide, and with Hilario, our Achuar guide. Our guiding was cast in a somewhat depressing light because one of Hilario's baby daughters had just passed away the week before, but he didn't really show any emotion during the week, other than generally being silent. We were really unable to get close to most of the wildlife we saw -- except for the insects, which were plentiful and large. Still, we had a fantastic time! My journal follows, accompanied by photographs from each day.