Village and Reserve
That said, there is not much of Africa in daily life, apart from the making of drums and some charming traditional dances which the children can sometimes be persuaded to perform for visitors. Spanish is the only language spoken, and most are nominally Catholic. However, when a local man died stories which swirled just under the surface made it clear that there's still a lot of Old Africa in what they believe about the demons who walk among us.
The 52 hunter-gather families who make up this community are not indigenous, but the descendants of African slaves who, some 500 years ago, were brought as far up Rio Santiago as was possible to travel by boat to pan for gold at Playa de Oro (Beach of Gold). They didn't mind the gold panning, and, in fact, still do a fair bit. But they didn't care much for slavery. In secret, they built a cannon of an iron-hard wood found in the forest. One day, when the Spanish slave master came paddling up to collect the day's nuggets, they blew him away. From that time forward they were a free people, co-existing peacefully but not intermingling with the indigenous Chachis who live along other rivers in the Chocó rainforest.
In the early twentieth century, the British came and cleaned out most of the remaining gold. Then they went away. In the 1970s, the Ecuadorian military came, built a large barracks a little upriver from Playa de Oro, and looked for any gold the British missed. Finding none, the soldiers went away. Upon leaving, they donated their barracks to the community. As the barracks was a two-hour walk from the village, the locals had no use for it, so it was abandoned.
In 1990, logging companies invaded the Chocó and, moving inland from the coast, destroyed the tropical rainforest as they went. US AID, in an effort to help Playa de Oro protect at least some of its ancestral forests, arranged for the community get title to 10,000 hectares–this in exchange for their agreement to adopt a "sustainable" logging plan. The Playa de Orans agreed to this. The community also established a democratic government consisting of a presidente (mayor) and cabildo (council), elected annually, with everyone over the age of 14 having a vote.
However, once Playa de Oro received title to its land, the people refused to do commercial logging, or to allow a road to be built into their territory which would permit anyone else to cut trees. Despite many gifts from US AID, (a visitors' centre, a chicken project, a boat motor, a generator, a VCR, and other things) the community resisted pressure to allow a road into its territory, and rejected logging as a source of income. In 2000, the community asked US AID and its subcontractors to leave.
Meanwhile, in 1997, representatives of Earthways Foundation met with the Playa de Oro council, and came to an agreement whereby the community would designate its 10,000 hectares of rainforest as a protected area for all species of indigenous jungle cats. (This includes jaguar and puma, although the big cats were hunted out before the reserve was established. Nowadays, tracks indicate that they pass through Playa de Oro's territory only occasionally in transit.) Once Playa de Oro made its territory a jungle cat reserve, Earthways provided the community with seed money to renovate that old military barracks, half an hour upriver from the village, into a comfortable lodge for eco-tourists and researchers.
The lodge opened in 2000. All renovation work--designing and building the furniture, paving paths with river stones, planting a "food forest" to provide locally-grown produce for the lodge, running a water line from a spring high up the mountain, constructing a boat in the traditional, dugout way from a single tree, and more–-was done by local people under the direction of one of their own. Soon big Quito tour agencies got wind of the place and made offers which involved their getting an "exclusive" to bring guests to Playa de Oro. The community, fearing that this would result in Playa de Oro having less than 100% control of its territory, rejected these offers, too. The community understands that not opening itself to large tour groups means less income. But they are also aware that small groups and independent visitors are less stressful on the environment and their culture.
In the village, there have been a few changes. A community-wide plumbing project has allowed for a water faucet in the front yard of every dwelling. There are now a couple of outboard motors in the community, so almost everyone has had an opportunity to visit downriver towns like Selva Alegre and Borbon. But overall, the people of Playa de Oro follow the traditions of their ancestors, living in stilted huts and subsisting on what they take from forest and river.
The average visitor to Playa de Oro, seeing only a bunch of poor black folks wearing ragged shorts and big smiles, is unlikely to notice how special these mostly-illiterate people are; the quiet pride and uncommon good sense which has caused them to say no to all the First Worlders who have come motoring up Rio Santiago to "help" them by stealing their gold, their timber, and most recently, their eco-tourism potential. Playa de Orans are shy but not subservient. They know who they are and value what they have. Visitors are warmly welcomed, as long as they come in friendship and take nothing but memories away.
