SHAMANS IN ECUADOR

Ecuador has few villages that are without their shaman or healer; one who knows all about herbs and plants, and can correct spiritual imbalances. People of the forest have become sophisticated chemists by necessity, utilizing plants for every aspect of their lives. Often, the entire knowledge of a tribe resides in the mind of the shaman - the tribe's doctor and spiritual leader - the man or woman who is this generation's link in a long cultural chain that stretches back into pre-history. They encode their wisdom in the language of myth and dreams, and live in a world where magic is as ordinary as daylight. Only through them is it possible to interpret the bewildering profusion of botanical information collected by their people.