Hurricane Alex, with winds of up to 100km an hour, is hampering efforts to clean-up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The state department has welcomed help from 12 countries offering to assist with the clean-up.

And there has been a rare offer of support from an indigenous community from Ecuador for another indigenous tribe in Louisiana that has been affected by the spill.

Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler joined the Ecuadorians in Louisiana's Bay Baptiste. [June 30, 2010]