I AM DEEPLY GRATEFUL to a number of people, on three continents, who helped make this book possible.
To research French documents, I relied on two translators: Jennifer Yanco and Gabriela Ansari. Jennifer Yanco translated articles published in Histoire et memoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences and the collection of letters published in 1895 by Henri Froidevaux, “Documents inédits sur Godin des Odonnais et son séjour à la Guyane.” She also traveled to Saint Amand-Montrond to research and translate documents in the city’s municipal library, which included Jean Godin’s will and various articles by local historians. In Saint Amand, she was graciously assisted by the mayor’s office and the town’s librarians, Madame Alquier, Madame Richard, and Madame Hardy. Jean-Baptiste Baudon, head of the Berry-Chimborazo Friendship Society, also provided her with assistance and time, as did Alain Eclache, owner of the Chateau d’Igny, where there is a stained-glass window with a portrait of Isabel Godin.
Gabriela Ansari ably translated La Condamine’s Journal du voyage fait par ordre du roi à l’équateur and various French letters published in LaFuente and Delgado’s La geometrizacion de la tierra.
My trip down the Bobonaza River was made possible by Cary Kanoy, an American who has been guiding in Ecuador for about a decade and who now has a company called Core Expeditions. I approached a number of guides about making this journey, and he was the only one willing to tackle it. His wife Grace helped with planning the trip.
On that journey, Ricardo Alzamora, an Ecuadorian guide who works with Cary, proved to be a fount of information about the birds of the Amazon and other wildlife that we came upon. In the dugout canoe, I also had the distinct pleasure of sharing stories with Luis Hernandez. A former colonel in the Ecuadorian army, he helped smooth out several bumps we encountered in our trip. One of the lasting rewards of researching this book has been his friendship.
We were piloted down the Bobonaza by Tito Machoa and Marlon Santi, who are from Sarayacu, a traditional village on the upper section of the river. Their navigational skills and their knowledge of the surrounding forest were extraordinary, as was their generosity and grace. In Sarayacu, they put us up with their families, who provided us with food, chicha (a fermented drink), and a memorable evening of talk. I am also grateful to village leaders in Sarayacu who permitted us to continue our voyage downriver, in spite of their concerns about outsiders coming into this region to explore for oil. Finally, at the end of our voyage, near the Peruvian border, we were treated with much hospitality by the Ecuadorian military in their camp at Nuevo Ishpingo.
As Cary Kanoy and I bicycled from Riobamba to Puyo, we were assisted by Sebastián Ponce. On an earlier trip to Ecuador, Ricardo Alzamora and Maria Clara Espinosa arranged for a wonderful day trip to the top of Guagua Pichincha, the volcano climbed by Charles de La Condamine and Pierre Bouguer.
In Riobamba, I am particularly thankful to Adela Irene Moscoso Valarezo, director of the Colegio de Isabel Godin. In an interview, she provided much insight into how extraordinary it was for a woman of eighteenth-century Peru to make the journey that Isabel did and into why Isabel remains an inspiration to the school’s students today. Finally, in Quito, the friendly staff at Casa Sol made the bed-and-breakfast feel like home while I did research there.
I owe a tremendous debt to Amanda Cook, my editor at Basic Books. At the outset, she helped me conceive of how to tell the story, and once I turned in a first draft, she improved it in innumerable ways. She also provided much-appreciated encouragement and guidance throughout the time I was working on the book. I am also grateful to Kathy Delfosse for the skillful copy-editing and to the many others at Perseus who make it such a wonderful house for writers. And as always, my agent Jane Dystel provided me with thoughtful advice and help throughout this lengthy process, starting with the shaping of the initial proposal.
Finally, I am thankful to my wife, Andrea, and my three children, Rabi, Zoey, and Dylan, for their continued love and support.