Word: cocas
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...COCA, Ecuador — Over the canopy to the south, Ivan, a Quichua Indian, has spotted three macaws in flight. Moments later, binoculars train to a pair of white-throated toucans, and my group murmurs in excitement. The next item noted by our guide Oscar, however, is not a rare bird, deep in the Amazon rainforest: “Over there, the government has authorized a new, private highway from the coast to here...
Standing in a metal tower 120 feet over the grounds of Sacha Lodge (an ecotourism jungle lodge down the Napo River from Coca, Ecuador), signs of human occupation and exploitation do not blemish the horizon. Yet, even at this special refuge within the Amazon, Ecuador’s approaching crossroads looms, a shadow over its mostly optimistic outlook. On the motored canoe ride from Coca to the lodge, several major worksites reveal the presence of oil operations in the region; barges laden with trucks drift by. Oil has been instrumental in Ecuador’s expanding economy, but pursuit...
...outdoors, and is often cultivated in small plots by users themselves ... For most synthetic drugs, the skills needed to access and process the needed chemicals are not widely spread and, consequently, the market tends to favor more organized groups ... In contrast, most of the cultivation of drug crops like coca and opium poppy is confined to small areas within two or three countries. Most of the world's heroin supply is produced on a land area about the size of Greater London...
...spending by the government and attempts to boost Chinese consumers' spending. True, neither is necessarily bad news for foreign firms. It has, however, also meant an increasing reluctance to let U.S. companies call the shots in China. The most visible evidence of this was the denial in March of Coca-Cola's bid to buy juicemaker Huiyuan, but Bremmer says that's just the tip of the iceberg. "The ability of Western companies to do effective business in China over the next five years is going to be increasingly limited," he says...
...many ways, the China market is still more hype than lucrative reality. With the exception of the likes of Shaquille O'Neal, who has signed on with Chinese sporting company Li Ning, most NBA superstars aren't pitching Chinese products. (Foreign companies like Nike and Coca-Cola, however, have had success using NBA pitchmen in China, particularly last year when the country was wrapped up in Olympic fervor.) Pirating of NBA jerseys and other basketball paraphernalia is so rampant in China that it cuts into profits for the U.S. league. And even though China boasts its own professional basketball league...