The Indigenous Chachi originally lived in Ecuador’s highlands, but in the face of the Incan and Spanish conquistadors, they fled to the Pacific Coast.

Though the Chachi have faced a great deal of pressure from modern Ecuador to assimilate, many still maintain a traditional way of life. And three particular communities, found in the buffer zone of the Cotacachi-Cayapas National Park, are payed to act as rainforest guardians to ensure that the environmental integrity of their area is maintained.

With notes from Terralingua