Growing up on his family’s subsistence farm in Mindo, Efrain’s days were spent helping his dad log tropical hardwood trees and hunting wild animals with his brother. The intimate contact he had with his surroundings allowed Efra to become the self-taught naturalist that he is today. But as is true of unsustainable resource extraction, the trees in the forests of Mindo became scarce and wild animals became threatened by overhunting and the effects of deforestation on native species. As Mindo’s farmers, loggers, and hunters struggled to make a living, Efrain took an unusual opportunity to leave Mindo to travel extensively throughout Europe. During his time away, Efrain uncovered a deep appreciation for his home country. Reflecting on the land of his birth through the lens of an observant traveler cultivated newfound respect for the indigenous culture of the cloud forest in which he was raised.

In 1987, Efrain began his environmental activism working with a local Mindo foundation called Amigos de la Naturaleza, which in cooperation with the Ecuadorian Government, declared 19,200 ha. (47,444 acres) of primary cloud forest as the Mindo-Nambillo Protected Forest. This designation has helped shift the main economic activities of our community from logging, hunting, and fishing, to more sustainable alternatives. In the early 90s, Efrain helped to found the Pacaso & Pacaso Foundation to help the people of Mindo learn and adopt sustainable practices fundamental for the conservation of the environment. As Mindo became known in the scientific community internationally as an area incomparably rich in biodiversity, ecotourism became the clear path for economic sustainability in our region. With the declaration of Mindo as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Birdlife International in 1997, Mindo gained a reputation within the international birdwatching community and ecotourism has been thriving in our region ever since.