ABSTRACT
This essay, originally published in Earth Island Journal in 2001, takes readers to Bahía de Caráquez, a city of forty thousand that suffered devastating natural disasters in 1998, from El Niño mudslides to an earthquake. Berg recounts how he became involved in efforts to repair damage, while setting up an office/apartment for Planet Drum Foundation in Bahía in 2000. One night shortly after his arrival, unnumbered hordes of whirring crickets flew into the unscreened apartment and weighed down the netting that covered Berg’s bed, the persistent insects crawling just above his eyes and mouth and pressing down upon his body, an unforgettable initiation into the tropics. Work by Berg and Bahía residents gets under way quickly, continuing restoration of mangroves, replanting the mud banks with indigenous plants, and forming Ecology Clubs for the area’s youth, soon to become the next generation of bioregionalistas.
