The next morning we were up and into the smaller paddle canoe before 7 am. The bugs from the night before were long gone. We were looking for monkeys but though we could hear them jumping in the trees, we couldn’t see them. A little after 8 am we headed back to the lodge for breakfast. It was just us at the lodge but 3 other guests would be joining us later that day. After breakfast Paula told us we would be hiking in the forest for about 4 to 5 hours. Was she serious? She was. Claudio joined us on the hike. There was so much to see and hear. The jungle was alive with bird sounds. Later in the trip, as we became more acclimated with the jungle, we could tell where we were by the sounds; if we could hear the birds we were close to the water, if the jungle was quieter we were more inland. Paula and Claudio were both great about taking time to point out animals and medicinal plants. The Chicklet tree was a favorite. The Chicklet tree produces a white sweet milky sap that tastes a little like marshmallows. The sap is used as a medicine for upset stomach and also used as a sweetner in Chicklet gum. It was a nice treat in the middle of our hike. The kids really had a great time, swinging on the vines, and putting Bird of Paradise flowers on their nose to look like Toucans. As Paula was talking to us, Claudio was cutting something off a tree trunk. He came back with these huge sharp thorns, at least 3 or 4 inches tall, and stuck them on Tessa’s forehead. They made great devil horns! Because Claudio didn’t speak English, Paula translated for him. Later she let him speak in his native language. Of course we don’t speak Quichuan, but by really staying present moment, really listening and watching his body language, we understood most of what he was saying. We were pretty proud of ourselves! The hike was long but fascinating. The jungle contained so many important medicinal plants as well as giant spiders and ferocious ants. We are very close to Yasuni National Park which in January scientists documented “shatters world records for a wide variety of plant and animal groups from amphibians to trees to insects”. And here we were, like something out of a National Geographic special. As we walked along, I kept saying to myself, ” We are actually in the Amazon! We brought our children to the Amazon.” I try never to forget what an amazing path our life was following. After lunch, we again boarded the paddle canoe with Claudio and Paula and headed away from the main part of the river and into the smaller, narrower branches of the river. With the smaller canoe, we were able to slip quietly into harder to reach areas to look for wildlife. We still hadn’t sighted monkeys, but we did spot a rare sight, an owl high in the trees. Claudio was great at finding wildlife. He had a repertoire of animal sounds he would use. Most of the animals seemed to answer him back. We didn’t return to the lodge until close to dinnertime. The other guests, Maria from California, Camilla from England and Sarah from the US were waiting for us. We gave them some tips on how to prepare their cabins against the bugs. After dinner, we decided to enjoy the hammocks and play games with the kids instead of doing the night hike. We heard some screams from the jungle and decided we didn’t miss anything. There was no electricity in the main dining area, so pretty much after the night walk, everyone headed to bed. As Maria and Camilla entered their cabin, we heard what would become the nightly scream, as one of them found some animal in their room, a giant spider, a huge frog, the worlds biggest cockroach. It became our nightly entertainment.

The drive from Lago Agrio to the River was long.  Our smooth paved road soon gave way to a bumpy gravel road, taking us further away from civilization.  Along the way we would occasionally see people on the side of the road, usually a family with a baby, hoping to catch a ride.  Ricardo would pick them up in the middle of nowhere and drop them off further down the road, in the middle of nowhere. We passed an oil facility heavily patrolled by armed guards, but other than that, just miles of tree lined road.  After nearly 2 hours Ricardo pulled off the main road and came to a stop by the riverbank.  Here was where we would catch our canoe for the ride down river.

While waiting for the canoe to arrive, Ricardo passed out the meals the tour company had provided.  The food was delicious.  The fresh made salsa that accompanied the chicken was the best we ever tasted.   For dessert we had a Maracuya, a type of passion fruit, yellow and egg shaped.  The outer coating was thick and you kind of ripped it open and inside were seeds covered in pulp.  You eat the seeds and the pulp.  The taste was amazing, not too sweet and not too tart.  After lunch the canoe arrived.  Coming back from the lodge were two women from the Netherlands and a guy from Scotland.  I asked them about their experience.  They said they had a great time and saw lots of animals, including monkeys.  Great news!  Monkeys were a top priority.

The workers finished loading the canoe and we took our seats. The wood canoe was pretty basic.  It was long, fairly narrow, wide enough only for 2 people to sit next to each other on wooden seats.  Dan and I sat in front of the kids and the 3 guides sat behind them.  The first hour or so was great.  Dan really enjoyed being on the river and it was cloudy so we didn’t have to worry about too much sun.  Then came the downpour.  For at least the next hour we were hit with torrential rains, so strong at some points I couldn’t see in front of me.  Luckily they provided us with heavy rubber ponchos.  There was nothing to do but huddle totally underneath them and hope the driver knew where he was going. When the rain finally ended we were again treated to blue skies.  The trip really was interesting.  We passed barges carrying trucks down the river, barges loaded with supplies and smaller canoes like our own, carrying families.  Many times we saw people in the water, bathing or doing laundry.  We took a branch off the main river onto the Cuyabeno River.  About thirty minutes down this river we again branched off and soon we pulled up to the lodge.  Ok, it really wasn’t a lodge. There was a main open air building right by the river.  Inside this building, hammocks hung from the ceiling and we saw a long dining table.  Behind this building were the cabins, cute wood buildings with thatched roofs.  Paula met us as we got out of the canoe.  She was our guide.  She showed us around and told us to take any cabin we wanted.  There was one other guest there, but he was leaving the next day.  Randomly we chose a cabin and headed off to store our stuff. 

We picked a cabin in the second row.  They all seemed the same.  Each building was actually divided into 2 cabins.  Inside each cabin were three beds and a bathroom with a sink and shower.  They seemed fine, a little rustic, but fine.  The bathroom had electricity, but next to the bed was a candle.  That was interesting.  The kids took the right side and we took the left.  It was nice to have them next door so we could have some privacy.  We dumped our suitcases on one of the beds and headed off to explore.  Dinner was served around 6 pm.  We wouldn’t go hungry here.  First course was soup, then the main course of a meat and vegetable and a fruit dessert.  Paula ate dinner with us and she filled us in on our itinerary.  After dinner, we would go out into the rainforest for an hour or so walk.  In the dark.  In the Jungle.  Were we ready for that? 

It was very dark outside as we followed Paula into the supply building to get our ponchos and boots.  As she sorted through the boots a giant cockroach scurried across the floor.  She seemed unphased and told us to be sure to store our boots upside down at night so no animals crawled in and to be sure to check them before we put them on.  Ok.  This was a surprise to us, but hey, rainforest….. Amazon…..  Paula introduced us to Claudio who would lead us into the rainforest.  Claudio was a Quichua Indian, an ethnic group indigenous to the rainforest.  He spoke Quichuan and Spanish but no English.  We quickly put on our boots and ponchos and headed into the jungle just as it started to rain.  To say we were a bit nervous was an understatement.  It was raining, it was dark, there were all kinds of sounds we never heard before, plus every once in a while we would hear something big crashing in the trees nearby.  We gripped our flashlights tightly and stuck close to Paula and Sacajawea (Claudio) as he led us deeper into the jungle.  Every once in awhile, Claudio would motion us to stay where we were and he would head off into the dark.  Just as I thought he wasn’t coming  back he returned and led us to a small or VERY large spider or bug he found.  He would lead us off one way, then that path would be blocked and we would have to backtrack.  We’d start another way then that wasn’t right.  All the time he was looking up and around or talking quietly to Paula. 

Sacagawherearewe?  I was sure we were lost.  I was so sure we would be spending the night in the jungle I started taking inventory of what I had on me.  DId I have food in my pockets?  Could we start a fire? Would anyone ever find us????  I was certainly not going to sit on the ground.  Could I sleep standing up? 

At one point, as we were getting ready to walk out of the jungle Paula had us stand in one place, turn off our flashlights and listen to the sounds of the jungle.  It was spooky.  The Amazon was very noisy at night. We heard every type of sound and it seemed the crashing branches noise was getting closer.  After about a minute with no lights, I felt a sharp bite on my leg. It hurt!  I turned to Dan and whispered that something bit me.  A few seconds later he got bit too.  It was something that was coming up under our pants and up our legs.  Tristan was bitten next.  After that I turned my flashlight back on and told Paula we were getting bit.  We must have been standing on top of some bug or ant hill.  What were the odds?  We started moving to the end of the jungle and toward the clearing that was the back of our cabins.  It seemed we had been in the middle of nowhere when in reality we hadn’t ventured that far from the lodge. As we exited the jungle a flock of huge fruit bats zig zaged past us and headed to the rafters on one of the cabins. (thankfully not ours!)  I was becoming less and less amorous about the jungle.

A boardwalk had been built to connect all of the cabins and the path to the jungle. This kept people from walking on the grass and turning it into mud.  The problem was when it rained (which in the Amazon was most of the time) the rubber boots we wore became very slick on the bottom.  I nearly fell twice in the first 5 feet.  Paula and Claudio were in front, Tristan and Tessa followed and Dan and I brought up the rear.  All at once Tristan screamed “OW!”  At the same time he jumped, his feet slipped out from under him and poncho and flashlight headed skyward and his butt hit hard on the boardwalk.

I quickly moved to help him up.  “Are you ok?  What happened?” 

“I got bit by something.  It really hurt!”

Paulo and Claudio looked at us with concern.  Dan and I checked him over for bugs but couldn’t find anything. 

“You need to be careful because this is slick.  You can’t jump if something bites you or you’ll fall again.”

We hadn’t walked ten feet when it happened again.  The scream “OW!”, the feet flying up in the air,  poncho and flashlight heading to the ground, the hard landing on the boardwalk.  It was like someone tasered him!  Dan and I quickly picked him up.  Claudio and Paula seemed less concerned this time. 

“What’s going on?”  I asked a little loudly.

“I keep getting bit!”

We again checked him over and found nothing. 

“We can’t find anything,” I tell him.  “You have got to stop jumping up if you get bit. You are really going to hurt yourself landing on this hard wood!”

Paula and Claudio were leading us to the river to wash off our boots.  Fifty feet of slick boardwalk lay between us and the water.  We moved another ten feet and I can’t believe it but it happened again. The scream, then the feet flying up and the hard thump.  Paula and Claudio don’t even stop this time.  Tristan was nearly in tears.  I was less than sympathetic.

“Something keeps biting me!”  (Later we found out it was biting ants.)

“I understand, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.  We’ll get your clothes off in a minute but for now you need to stay off the boardwalk and walk in the grass.  You are really going to get hurt!”

But he refused to walk in the grass.  On we went.  I was prepared though.  The next time I heard him scream I shoved him off onto the grass.  I know, not exactly a “Mom of the Year Move” but I had no choice.  In the process of pushing him off the boardwalk I step on a rotted end of a board, breaking it and nearly falling myself.  This trip was not what I had planned.

Tristan seemed better once we rinsed our boots off in the river and Dan and I breathed a sigh of relief as we headed back to our cabin, thinking the worse was over.  Someone had lit a candle outside our cabin and inside next to our bed.  How cute we thought at first until we realized this was our light for the evening.  The bathroom light was electric (but went out at ten pm) but the cabins were lit by a single candle, open flame, placed ominously close to the bed with I’m sure a highly flammable mosquito net.  Tessa came into our cabin and said she had ants in her bed.  Nice.  Dan and I went in and swept them out, put down her mosquito net and assured her it was fine.  I believe the words we used were “The ants won’t bother you”  Hmmm.

We went back into our cabin to get our clothes out of our backpacks.  Our backpacks with our clothes and snacks were on the extra bed in our cabin.  As we opened the snackbag, ants literally swarmed out, from everywhere.  My backpack was half unzipped and ants were making their way to and fro.  As I looked inside a GIANT cockroach was about to bury itself deep inside.  Knowing if the cockroach buried itself in my backpack I would never be able to get it out, nor would I ever be able to go into my backpack again, I acted on pure instinct.  I reached my hand in and scooped him out, flinging him somewhere in the cabin.

Dan, who was standing next to me asked, “Where did it go?”

A few seconds later he was yelling and trying to get something out of his head.  Found it!

The four of us stood, literally huddled together in the center of our cabin.  What were we going to do?  We couldn’t stay here with biting ants and cockroaches.  There was another canoe coming tomorrow bringing more guests, my thought was we needed to be on it.  Dan and I both looked at the candle on the table, our only source of light besides our flashlights.  We had about 3 inches of light left.  As we huddled together, a horrified American family, deep in the Amazon, wondering what to do, our survival instincts kicked in.  Dan and I realized that we must be doing something wrong. There was no way people would live like this or tour groups would stay here.  We rallied. We swept as  much of the ants, who were leaving on their own anyway, from the bed and bags and tucked the mosquito net tight around the bed.  Then we got Tessa and Tristan into their rooms and tried to get them settled.  Tristan calmly informed us that there was a mouse in their bathroom.  Really???  What else?  The mouse was apparently as scared as we were.  We left it alone.  I was so proud of the kids.  They didn’t complain, or say they wanted to leave.  They sucked it up and made the best of it and trusted us when we told them they would be safe under the mosquito nets. 

Once Dan and I were finally in bed, with the candle out, we heard all kinds of rustling sounds, like some giant animal up in the rafters.  Then we heard crashing tree sounds outside the cabin.  The kids called Dan in a few times.  Tessa thought she had a few lingering ants.  Tristan wanted Dan to check on something big on his  netting.  He assured Tristan it was nothing, but when he came back to bed he told me Tristan had the biggest spider he had ever seen on his mosquito net.   He killed it. Morning would not come soon enough.

Mother’s Day was off to a great start.  At 8am sharp, Pablo, from Dracaena and our driver arrived outside our hostel.  Pablo, who had come along to get us settled, introduced us to Ricardo, the man who would be our driver for at least the next 7 hours.  Ricardo spoke even less English than we did Spanish so it was bound to be an eventful ride.  Pablo again reiterated to us (in English) that we would stop at the hot springs in Papallacta, stop for lunch, and stop for a hike to Ecuador’s highest waterfall and basically the trip was ours, we could stop where we wanted.  As we hopped into the dual cab pickup, the weather in Quito was a comfortable 60 degrees with sunny skies.  Over the next 7 hours the weather would change drastically.

The ride started out smooth enough.  Not too far outside of Quito we headed straight up.  That was a surprise.  We were already over 9000 feet in Quito and I guess we just expected we would be heading down to the Amazon, not up.  The higher we climbed, the more the clouds and patches of rain moved in and the colder we became.  Luckily Ricardo expected this and handed us a blanket.  Tristan looked up the route in the guidebook and it showed our route would take us up to 13,451 feet. We would definitely be getting much colder. There wasn’t much to see at this altitude, as the clouds  really covered everything.  Occasionally you would see a house or a cow, but mainly the view was rocky soil with little growth.  About 2 hours later and at a little lower altitude of  3300 meters (10826 feet) we arrived at the town of Papallacta home of the best hot springs in Ecuador, the Termas de Papallacta.  Ricardo dropped us off and went to park (and, we hoped, wait for us) and we grabbed our swimsuits and headed into the baths. 

The price of $7 per adult was a little high for Ecuador we thought, but we didn’t want to miss this.  The baths were beautifully landscaped.  Although there were several pools, in large, medium and small sizes, the pools were secluded behind lush trees or bushes with beautiful red and orange flowers, making it seem more like a garden.  The pools themselves were artfully done with clear water in bright blue tiled pools.  Stone paths lead from one pool to another.  It was really very beautiful.  The changing room was interesting.  It was a unisex bathhouse so to speak,  and inside you went into these tiny changing rooms.  There were no sides designated male or female, but you were changing in a stall with a curtain so it was fine.  Tessa and I changed first then waited for Dan and Tristan.  Next we rented towels, then huddled together to decide which pool to start with.  Luckily for us we were there early and it wasn’t too crowded yet.  Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy. We hurried to the closest bath we could find.  It was warm but not as warm as we were expecting so we moved on to the next one.  It was better but soon Tristan and Tessa left in search of even warmer water.  I must say we were quite the oddity for some reason.  People were very curious about us. We didn’t mind.  We just smiled and enjoyed ourselves. On a great weather day at the baths, you had intense sun.  On a bad weather day, like that day, you got cold rain.  On a great weather day you could see snow capped  Volcan Antisana, the volcano that last erupted November 2002.  That day we saw only partially up the mountain with the clouds blocking our view.  But still, sitting in the warm pool with my family, the rain gently falling, the clouds incredibly close, it was my best Mother’s Day ever. 

We enjoyed the pools for about an hour then it began to get crowded.  Realizing we had a long trip in front of us, we dried off, changed our clothes, bought some snacks and headed back to Ricardo. We had just driven out of Papallacta when Ricardo’s cell phone rang.  He pulled to the side to take the call.  (A side note here.  Every time we were in a private car or van and the driver’s cell phone rang, the driver would pull off the road to talk.  I’m sure it wasn’t a law, but we appreciated the safety.)  Of course the conversation was in Spanish and we didn’t know who he was talking to, but we inferred from the words we could understand that he was telling someone we were just leaving Papallacta and had about 5 or 6 hours to go.  We didn’t think too much about it at the time but about an hour later he received another phone call and the conversation was about the same, wondering when he would be at a certain place.  It was then that Ricardo started driving faster.

The road to Lago Agrio was very winding.  The scenery, was really beautiful.  It seemed around every hairpin turn was another waterfall.  Tessa amused Tristan by quoting from the Frommer’s Spanish Phrasefinder and Dictionary trying to find the funniest phrases.  First she would read them in Spanish, then translate, then they would dissolve into giggles. 

Tessa:  “Ese pasajero se ests comportando sospechosamente. The passenger is acting suspiciously. ”

Tristan and Tessa would then crack up.

Tessa:  “Necisito una bolsa para mareos.  I need an airsickness bag.”

Hysterical laughter. She was actually doing a really good job.  But instead of complimenting Tessa on speaking Spanish correctly and reading Spanish, I said,  “Stop it.  You know Ricardo can understand what you are saying!”

More laughter from both of them.  My admonishment only fueled the fire.

Tessa: “Huelo algo extrano.  I smell something strange.”

Side splitting laughter that time.  Even I was laughing.  Ricardo was smiling too.  This went on for about another half an hour.  Then things started to turn dark. 

Ricardo got another phone call.  We were starting to put the picture together now.  It was Mother’s Day and he was supposed to be somewhere else, not driving us to Lago Agrio.  Every time the phone rang, he drove faster.  This wouldn’t have been so bad, but the roads were very winding.  Tristan was the first to go down.

“Mom, I think I’m going to throw up.”

“No, you’re not going to throw up.”  I handed him a Wet One to put behind his neck.  It didn’t seem to help. Again he said he’s going to be sick.

“Take your finger and start tapping on the middle of your forehead.”

Ok, I know this sounded strange, but sometimes it works. You take your finger and tap on a point on your forehead, just up from the bridge of your nose.  It’s in the location of what they call your “third eye”.  I’ve found that tapping on it somehow resets your body. Tristan started  tapping but he wasn’t doing it with much enthusiasm.  I leaned over Tessa, who was in between us and started tapping on his forehead. I wasn’t  sure how long I could keep it up.  Fortunately, in a few minutes he felt a little better.  I told him we would get him some Sprite when we stopped for lunch.

By now it was getting close to noon and those of us who weren’t carsick were starving. We kept thinking Ricardo would stop for lunch soon, but he showed no indication.  No sooner did we get Tristan feeling better, then Tessa, who was seated in the middle, started getting sick. 

“I’m going to throw up” she yelled and clamped her hands over her mouth.

“No! Tap your forehead!”

The scenery was rushing by us, Ricardo is nearly on two wheels around the hairpin curves and I’m tapping on my daughter’s forehead like a crazy woman. 

Tessa: “It’s not working!”

Me: “Ok, pinch your earlobe instead.”  Ok, I was just making stuff up here but what would you do?  There was no place to pull over and I wasn’t sure what the proper phrase would be.  What we needed was something to drink.  I asked Ricardo to slow down, which he did, for awhile.  Then I asked him about lunch, but he suspiciously didn’t seem to understand.  Meanwhile I kept tapping Tessa’s head and pinching her earlobe.  Finally Ricardo pulls off onto a side road and we thought maybe we were stopping for lunch.   Actually we were at the San Rafael Falls.  Ricardo told us that it was a $10 per person admission and a 40 minute walk.  That  was just not an option for us right then.  Dan, Tristan and I were starving and Tessa was sick.  We told him no thanks and again I mention lunch and he again seemed  to ignore that.  We did stay there for a few minutes, trying to settle Tessa’s stomach before we started off again.  In the next 20 minutes we have to stop the car at least twice for Tessa. I felt so bad but there was nothing to do.  Even slowing down hadn’t seem to help and there was no other choice for her but to get back in the truck and make the best of it.    Finally I get smart and have her sit by the door, where for the of the trip she hangs her head out the window like a dog. It worked.  She felt better. Now it was my turn to sit in the middle and become sick. 

We passed through a small town and we saw people eating at a restaurant.  I said to Ricardo “Necisito almuerzo (lunch)”  He shook his head and said, in English, “No.  Not good here.  Lago Agrio eat.”  The restaurants looked fine to us, and we have eaten in all kinds of places but it was clear he had no intentions of stopping until Lago Agrio.  It’s also clear to us he had somewhere he needed to be at a certain time.  Rich ado told us that it wasn’t much longer, about 95 kilometers but we were suspicious.  He did stop at a gas station when I asked him to and we were able to get some Gatorade, which helped.  At this point we would all be glad to reach Lago Agrio.

While the car sickness drama had been going on, we have been passing by an ever changing panorama.  After Papallacta the terrain was mostly downhill.  Waterfalls were so abundant, I soon stopped taking pictures.  The mountains were an incredible shade of green and the rain soon gave away to sunnier skies.  On a bad note, soon after leaving Papallacta, we noticed this ugly large pipe running parallel to the road.  This pipeline brings oil from the Amazon to the Northern Provinces in Ecuador.  The Amazon unfortunately is big oil business. (See story at end of this entry)  Texaco was the first oil company to drill here.  The town was originally named Nueva Loja but was nicknamed Lago Agrio after Texaco’s hometown of Sour Lake Texas. 

Further down the road we stop for gas.  We  brought snacks with us for our stay in the Amazon but unfortunately they were in the back of the truck and we can’t reach them.  I did have the big Snickers bar given to me that morning for part of my Mother’s Day gift.  Generously and dramatically I agreed to share my treasure with the group.  It was much appreciated.  By that time the weather was hot and the landscape was flat, less trees and more grass.  There were more small communities too and more traffic.  Large trucks working for the oil companies dominated the road.  Close to 5:00 we pulled into the unglamorous town of Lago Agrio.  Here was how Lonely Planet described Lago Agrio:

Few tourists step foot here and locals seem exasperated by the town’s sad reputation .  But certain realities exist, including a high amount of prostitution and crime related to the nearby Colombian border. 

Richardo drops us off at the Hotel D’Mario.  We choose to stay here because it was the best of the available hotels on the strip and also where we would be picked up in the morning for the remainder of our journey to the Cuyabeno reserve.  Dan asked me about tipping Ricardo (Pablo had suggested $20) and I said absolutely not.  The trip was insane,  Besides, we wouldn’t be seeing him again anyway.  It would be different if we were but since we weren’t, forget it.

Another reason for our hotel choice was air conditioning.  Lago Agrio was hot and humid.  After coming from spring like Quito it was very hard to get used to.  Except for a quick venture out to buy flip flops for Tristan (he left his on the plane) sunglasses for Dan (his fell apart as soon as we got to Lago Agrio) and a flashlight and batteries for the Amazon we stayed inside. Prices in the town, except for the hotel, were actually reasonable for the last outpost before the Amazon.  The sunglasses were $4, the flipflops $6, the flashlight $3 and batteries 50 cents.  Beer and pop were equally reasonable, a 22oz bottle of Pilsener (a great tasting beer) for under a dollar.  In fact further down the river you could buy case of 22oz bottles for under $10.00.

Here’s a link to prices in Ecuador and it seems accurate.

http://www.ecuador-travel-guide.org/general/Cost.htm

We had an alright meal at the hotel and stayed in the remainder of the evening, enjoying our much needed air conditioned rooms.  The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast and joined the other tourists, with different tour groups, who were waiting for their rides. That day we would have a 2 hour taxi ride to reach the canoes on the river.  From there we would have a 3 hour canoe trip to the Cuyabeno reserve.  It would be a long but fun day.  Our pickup time was 9:00 am. On the dot our ride, a pickup truck from Dracaena arrived to pick us up.  To our dismay, Ricardo greeted us with smiles and loaded our bags into the truck.  Apparently he didn’t hold a grudge.

                     Texaco in Lago Agrio Ecuador

Between 1964 and 1992 Texaco (now owned by Chevron) and Petroecuador have taken 5.3 billion liters of oil from this area.  During this time, Texaco admits it intentionally dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic oil and wastewater into the forest including 18 million gallons of crude, twice that of the Exxon Valdez. 

Here is a link for a current article on the National Geographic http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/05/weep-for-ecuador.html

The spill poisoned the water and forest which in turn poisoned the indigenous populations, especially the Cofan and Secoya tribes.  These tribes live in the Amazon today much the same way they have for an eternity.  The spill has resulted in increased rates of cancer and birth defects.  It is an incredibly sad story. When you compare what has happened to the Amazon from an American company, with our anger at BP for a potential threat to our environment, it really makes you think.