Rainforest Ghosts

 My little Amazon diorama has reappeared on my desk.  The big fishbowl I found in Las Cruces sat there empty for a long time.  I liked the vessel's clarity and shape.  Then, recently, I saw a small fern I liked and soon afterward a miniature African Violet. I made a quick trip into the Sandia foothills for some moss; that and a bit of potting soil brought the terrarium back to life.

 Last night's PBS news included an interview with a Norwegian human rights investigator about the currently dreadful state of life in the Northwest Amazon where the tropical forest is being destroyed by timber harvesters, oil exploitation and agricultural clear cutting.  Drug cartels reign there now over vast areas with little effective resistance offered by national government forces.

Such a contrast to the time I was there when Colombia's perpetual violence was at a low level. At that point rubber harvesting had receded in importance, and the wisdom of indigenous tradition allowed the region's peoples to regain some degree of dignity and independence.