Sarayaku

Sarayaku (Quechuan: "The River of Corn"; also transcribed Sarayacu) is a territory and a village situated by the Bobonaza River in the province of Pastaza in the southern part of el Oriente, the Amazonic region of Ecuador. The territory incorporates a number of villages.

It has a total population figure of between 1,000 and 2,000 Kichwa-speaking people, who call themselves the Runa people of Sarayaku, or the Sarayaku people. These indigenous people are organized as the “Organización de Pueblos Indígenas de Pastaza” (OPIP). The leader of the Sarayaku people is Jose Gualinga (2011).

Since the early 21st century, the Sarayaku have engaged in a decade-long effort to resist efforts to drill for oil in their community, putting them at cross purposes with the Ecuadorian government and various multinational oil companies. The Sarayaku have used protests and legal challenges, successfully pursuing a suit in court.

The village of Sarayaku is situated in tropical rainforest; it is approximately 25 minutes by plane or one day by canoe in the southeast direction from the nearest city, Puyo. Puyo is 50 kilometres east of the better known city of Baños. The Bobonaza River drains into the Amazon River at Iquitos in Peru, via the Pastaza and the Marañón rivers.

Since the late 20th century, the Sarayaku people have emphasized ecotourism as a means to make a sustainable living while preserving their culture and lands. They work to preserve the distinctive character and ecology of their delicate rainforest.

In the fall of 2003, university studies were established in Sarayaku. The program was developed through the cooperation of the universities of Cuenca, Ecuador, and Lleida, Spain. The main goal of the university program is to raise the quality of multicultural and multilingual education among the indigenous communities in the province of Pastaza. The people will be able to develop their own educational resources, and have an opportunity to learn at the university level about cultural identity and cultural traditions, other philosophies, and the Indian cosmo vision.

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