Last October, I had the chance to travel to Ecuador with a small Cotopaxi team to visit a couple of the Cotopaxi Foundation’s nonprofit partners. The trip was almost canceled as photoshoot plans changed and travel security alerts intensified due to rising gang violence in the country. But thankfully, we went forward with the trip and felt very safe the whole time.
We skipped Quito and booked it straight to the Amazon, where two nonprofits we support are doing incredible work to help bolster regenerative farming techniques and sustainable livelihoods.
As one of the several strong female Kichwan leaders in the region showed us around her regenerative rainforest farm, we learned about the tradition of chakra farming (no relation to the Sanskrit word!). This is an ancient Indigenous way of farming that prioritizes biodiversity and organic practices.
Check out the story I wrote about chakra farming in the Ecuadorian Amazon over at Cotopaxi’s Common Thread.
And here’s the video I helped concept and produce below, shot and edited by talented Ecuadorian videographer Esteban Barrera:
MAYA SILVER 