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A Traveler's Guide to El Dorado & the Inca Empire, by Lynn Meisch (Penguin Books). Full of interesting details and sketches on the textiles, crafts, peoples, markets, fiestas, archaeology and travel etiquette of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The Conquest of the Incas, by John Hemming (Harcourt Brace & Co.). A classic account of the Spanish arrival. Crafts of Ecuador, by Pablo Cuvi (Dinediciones). Beautiful photos of Ecuadorian crafts. Amazon Worlds, by Noemi Paymal and Catalina Sosa (Quito: Sincha Sacha Foundation). Beautiful photos of the indigenous cultures of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Los Viejos, by Grace Halsell, Bantam paperback. An light story about an American woman who visits the "sacred valley" of Vilcabamba, Ecuador in search of their secrets of long life. A tidbit on the daily life of a remote little Andean village. The Rivers Amazon, by Alex Shoumatoff, Sierra Club Paperback. An 8-month odyssey by bus, plane, boat and on foot, following the Amazon River and its tributaries to their headwaters high in the Peruvian Andes. An exciting ecological and cultural adventure. Herbs of Ecuador, by Alan White, Ediciones Llibri Mundi (can be bought in Quito). A bilingual guide, with fine descriptions and illustrations, of every medicinal plant in the country. Birding Birding Ecuador, by Clive Green. Up-to-date and detailed directions to the hottest bird spots and natural areas in Ecuador. A Guide to the Birds of Colombia, by Steven Hilty and William Brown. One of the best detailed field guide to the birds of Ecuador and Colombia. South American Birds, by John Dunning (Harrowwood Books, Newtown Sq., Pa.). 1,000 color photos. Galapagos and Nature A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, and Ecosystems of the New World Tropics, by John Kricher, (Princeton Univ. Press). Written for the lay person. The Last Rainforest, edited by Mark Collins (Oxford Univ. Press). In the Rainforest, by Catherine Caulfield (Univ. of Chicago Press). A Traveler's Guide to the Galapagos Islands, by Barry Boyce. An excellent Galapagos guide! Galapagos: A Natural History Guide, by Michael H. Jackson. A Field Guide to the Birds of the Galapagos, by Michael Harris. |