Benjamin
Benjamin is a guide we met at Sacha Lodge in the Amazon who went on all of the hikes with us and spotted many amazing things, including the Dwarf Iguana, lots of frogs, birds, and insects. While I was in the Amazon, I interviewed him and learned a lot of things.
Benjamin lives in a town called Tena (40,000 people), about eight hours from the Sacha Lodge where he guides. He has been guiding for six years now (2008) and his family tradition is to share with people their knowledge about plants, animals, and the Amazonian jungle. On the hikes, he showed us lots of medicines from the jungle which he uses all the time.
Since he has been guiding for six years, he has experienced a lot. He has never gotten lost in the forest, but has gotten stung by a scorpion. The most amazing animal he has seen is a Spectacled Bear in the Andes Mountains, but his favorite to see is the Paka (a type of rodent).
The worst group he ever had was a really rude French group who complained about everything. One of the most surprising things I learned was that all of the hikes were easy because he was used to walking for days with his father (a shaman) in the jungle. He also said that he could survive in a jungle with only a pocket knife. This is what I learned about Benjamin and I think that it would be really fun to guide in the Amazon.