The Encounter. A Story of Love, Immigration and Environmental Crime (ePub)

Rite of passage travelogue, social criticism, and denunciation of environmental disaster in the Ecuadorian Amazon by big oil are some facets of the ambitious novel. The protagonists, developed on a double plot structure, are Ernesto, a mestizo youth adopted by a Spanish couple residing in San Diego, and Rosa, a Huaorani girl from Ecuador. The symmetries and vicissitudes experienced by each are interwoven in a narrative that brings them together for just one meeting on a single fleeting, splendid day. Ernesto travels from north to south in search of his origins, but what he finds is redemption for his adoptive father, who is implicated in the pollution of the rainforest by Texaco. Rosa, for her part, leaves Amazonia behind and sets off northward in response to a call from her ailing mother, who immigrated years before, to Oregon. Both itineraries, with attractive and convincing characters as the center of gravity, inspire passion. (Translation of the Spanish language review of the original title in Spanish, from Êl Cultural, Spain's leading literary supplement, by critic Carmen Blásquez).
"El Encuentro" (The Encounter) has been praised at the VI Conference on Spanish Language and Literature of Madrid.
The author visited the Ecuadorian Amazon region before and after the publication of her novel. On his second visit, she had the opportunity to film the lagoons and dumps that still carry toxins to the rivers and tributaries of the Amazon. See the video on Youtube: Toxic Tour - Wirkala
The original Spanish version was presented at the FIL in Guadalajara (December 2011). It was especially timely in light of the $18 billion fine imposed on Chevron-Texaco, which has committed to fighting against the decision to the courts "until hell freezes over." Meanwhile, the residents of northwestern Ecuador continue to face the effects of almost a thousand open dumps full of toxins that poison drinking water and the environment. "The Encounter" describes the origins of this crime while weaving the stories of the two young protagonists and their respective searches for cultural and individual identity