This story was originally published on SAPIENS. The Sarayaku territory in Ecuador is a 500-square-mile roadless jungle reachable only by helicopter, small aircraft, or a full day’s canoe trip on the Bobonaza River. For outsiders, opportunities to connect with this community of about 1,200 people are rare. So, when anthropologist Eduardo Kohn received a shaky Skype call out of the blue from Sarayaku President Félix Santi, whom he’d never met, Kohn dropped everything. Santi said he was on his way to Puyo, the nearest town to their territory. Kohn, who…
