At the director level, the single most important action taken to develop a sophisticated level of understanding of community leaders with regards to tourism was the Trueque Amazonico. The Trueque Amazonico was a an exchange funded by the CEPF where three community based ecotourism lodges shared their experiences in an extensive format. These three lodges from the Amazon regions of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia (Kapawi, Posada Amazonas, and Chalalan, respectively) had one thing in common - they were the result of partnerships between communities and private sector (Achuar - Canodros, Infierno - RFE and San Jose de Uchupiamonas - Conservation International, respectively). The project conducted months of field work to obtain baseline information on the similarities and differences between communities and their relationship and impacts from tourism. This information was summarized and provided to participants as food for thought during the debates. Participants were six community members selected for their leadership and represented a sector of the community (community leader, staff, guide, handicrafts, etc). Two or three reps from the private partners were also invited. Discussions were held during one week sessions at each lodge - covering the costs of transporting the crew from one country to another. Finally, debates centered around seven topics: What was the dream? Creating Ecotourism Partnerships, Sharing Economic Resources, Building Local Capacity, Tracking Changes in Communities, Managing of Natural or Cultural Resources and Monitoring Impacts. A phrase from the report summarizes the intensity of the debates "Participants often sat back in quiet surprise as it became apparent just how much they had to share, the extent to which they knew, and how far they had come, metaphorically and otherwise."

To give an example at how important this was at developing sophisticated understanding of tourism dynamics, A list selected from the Trueque Amazonico´s report samples the effectiveness of this project at developing a sophisticated understanding of tourism dynamics. Responses are mixed - they are from the three communities.

What things do we do now that we never did before?

.	Change of attitude related to hunting. Before we hunted animals just to kill, but not always for necessity.
.	Now we change money for communal work, with individual contracts, or, alternatively, we pay to get out of communal work obligations.
.	There is greater integration between the Achuar and other communities.
.	Now we don't sell or trade wild animal species.
.	Now we are creating zones for conservation, thinking about future projects.
.	Now we are paying sanctions for breaking rules related to hunting in trails near the lodge
.	We dedicate more time to ecotourism
.	* More abandonment of families
.	More national and international travel for cultural exchange and professional development
.	Greater leadership skills within the community
.	More relations with national and international organizations, and with people from different places and types of knowledge
.	Greater consciousness about conservation
.	Greater interest in professional development
.	Greater concern for assuming responsibility
.	Handicrafts
.	More meetings focused on tourism
.	More investment in education
.	Some engage in fewer everyday activities, such as hunting, fishing, farming and extraction because they are waiting for profits from tourism and other opportunities for work. "Some have misunderstood how much they were going to benefit from ecotourism, and so they do nothing. Instead of tending to their chacra, etc., there are just waiting for tourism money."
.	Personal interests for developing ecotourism apart from the community enterprise
.	More children studying in the community
* Asterisks indicate issues perceived as challenges.