Ecuador is exiting the past in Quito, and it is coming into important aspects of the future in Bahia de Caraquez. Last night, national television showed the capitol with lights glaring into packed throngs in the street, smiling men and women wearing ponchos and indigenous hats, soldiers with rifles slung from their shoulders walking casually beside student protesters waving Ecuadorean flags. CONAIE, the confederation of […]

Ecuador Eco-Gathering Report #7San Francisco, California It’s a few days after the vernal equinox in San Francisco, a date when the equal length of days and nights is the same here as it is all year in Ecuador. How remarkable to find anything similar to what happened there just three weeks ago. The festivities for Bahia de Caraquez’s Declaration as a “Ciudad Ecologica” (Ecological City) […]

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eco-gathering (This is probably the last account of events here until after the Eco-Gathering February 27-28. In fact, there may not be a chance to send another before leaving Ecuador March 6 because of uncertainty about travel and e-capability.) The barrio of Santa Martinita is a workers’ district of cement block houses near the center of town that rises on a […]

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eco-gathering Report #5 Our species has probably been as intelligent, creative and physically similar for at least the last 100,000 years. Agriculture has been practiced for only about the last 10,000 years, or one-tenth of that time. The Industrial Era probably began in the middle of the 17th Century, but has been prominent for only the last 200 years, or just […]

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Letter #2 Dear Friends, If you are part of an informal group or belong to an organization that is associated with bioregional activities or sustainability in any form, please write an e-letter of congratulations and support to Patricio Tamariz and the Ecuador Eco-Gathering in Bahia de Caraquez at archtour@srv1.telconet.netso that it can make an impression on the national and other officials who […]

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eco-gathering Report #4 Finding enjoyable aspects of Bahia is as easy for a stranger as anywhere I’ve been. All of the most populous areas of the city — market, ferry landing, municipal building and downtown businesses — are within a few blocks of each other. Walking to them is so full of contact with residents and visitors that it can’t be […]

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Letter #1 Dear Friends, Nicola & Dario spent several hours with Patricio, Flor-Maria & myself last night planning an Eco-Bahia Support Group meeting for later this week. A group of 50 or so including both officials and barrio leaders, youth and worker sectors will divide into committees to support aspects of eco-city such as transportation, water, etc. They will also bring […]

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eco-Gathering Report #3 Even when you know what it is, the government-provided shack village at Fanca for people who were made homeless by the mudslides and earthquake here is a powerfully stark and incomprehensible sight. All of the 50 or so rough-finished wood stilt and bamboo-sided dwellings are above your head and only reached by steep stair-ladders. They float peculiarly as […]

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador — Report #2 It’s unbelievable that a small city that was already visited last year by an El Nino about four times as severe as the worst one in previous recent experience could once again endure a hillside-saturating and road-swamping season, this time by La Nina. But it has rained almost every day, sometimes extremely heavily, for the last week. Concern […]

Report From Ecuador #1 It’s in the humid summerish 80s Fahrenheit here a few minutes south of the equator, with curtain-rippling breezes and light gray clouds. The small city of Bahia de Caraquez (named as though it was a whole bay in the ocean) is shaped like a thumb (with the part of the hand that holds it) jutting out into the Pacific on a […]