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One Year in Latin America - Un Año en Latina America - Un an en Amerique du Sud
This is a short illustrated story of the past year's (May 2006 - May 2007) great adventures and lessons in Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina. I give thanks to the very many people who helped me and hope to publish a more in depth essay soon. I hope in the future to return to these faces & places and give back the favors, keep up the wonderful friendships and help develop projects bridging cultures and disciplines.
Este relato es una descripcion de las adventuras y lecciones que pudé experimentar este ultimo año (Mayo 2006 - Mayo 2007) en Venezuela, Bolivia y Argentina. Gracias a todos que me han ayudado. Espero publicar una descripcion mas detaillado pronto. Tambien espero regresar a ver la gente y los lugares y devolver el apoyo que me brindaron, seguir las amistades y ayudar en el desarrollo de proyectos que vinculan culturas y disciplinas.
Cette histoire raconte les adventures et leçons en Venezuela, Bolivie et Argentine que j'ai pu experiencer cette dernière année (Mai 2006 - Mai 2007). Merci a tout ce qui m'ont t'aidé. J'espère publier une disertation plus detaillé bientot. Je souhait retourner voir les visages et lieux et rendre les faveurs, developper plus les amities et aider a developer des projects qui lie divers cultures et disciplines.
you can use the images just give reference to the source (renee of asteriarecords.com)
pueden usar los imagenes simplemente menciona el origen (renee de asteriarecords.com)
vous pouvez utiliser les images juste mentionner le source (renee de asteriarecords.com)
Venezuela
05/2006 - 09/2006
CARACAS
Parroquia 23 de Enero, Caracas-Venezuela
Caracas is the most stressful, contaminated, dangerous and difficult place for a solo female to travel that I have encountered so far in my short life. BUT the people of Caracas and Venezuela in general - are generous, warm and do not judge the individual based on his or her country of birth's government. Hence I was very well received despite being officially an American citizen mixed in the current political tension between Chavez and Bush. The nature of my work - a research assistant for Dr. Charles Briggs (University of California, Berkeley - Anthropology Dept.) allowed me to get below the surface and develop an idea of the people's experience with the Chavez regime - in particular the social programs such as Mision Barrio Adentro. I lived in the center of town (El Silencio) renting a room from a wonderful family. For nearly 3 months every day I would go to Parroquia 23 de Enero (a historically leftist and revolutionary part of Caracas) accompanied by community leaders (especially members of the Comite de Salud - health promotors) and eventually alone. I interviewed people (open ended questions, 1 to 3 hours recorded) and took photos in an attempt to document the impact of Chavez regime using the words of the people. For obvious reasons it was harder to speak to people of the opposition - but I did manage to speak to a range of people - both genders, all ages, different political views, different levels of participation in community leadership and programs and varying levels of socio-economic status.
My brief conclusion is that many social programs have benefited the population - especially Mision Barrio Adentro - the public health care initiative that provides a diversity of health services for free to everyone - and the literacy programs (Mision Robinson). Also there is a promising initiative to develop participatory democracy via the creation of mini-governments at the level of 350 families - called Consejos Comunales - which are democratically elected community representatives who develop programs and projects that can receive direct funding from the national government without having to go through a mess of bureaucracy. On the other hand - there is very little room for dialogue between Chavistas (pro-government) and the opposition, virtually no mechanism for constructive criticism of new programs and policies and few human resources to follow-up on the use of resources destined for a particular community-based need. I really hope that this changes in order to allow for a sustained social revolution.
Daniel (health promotor, promotor de salud, agent de sante publique) & family, familia, famille
San Juan - 23 de Enero
Election Day in Las Delicias - 23 de Enero. Eleccions para los Consejos Comunales. Les Elections.
My favorite picture - friendly drunk guys I interviewed outside of a Barrio Adentro health center.
Mi foto preferida - unos borrachos que he entrevistado frente a un centro de salud de Mision Barrio Adentro.
Ma photo prefere - des bourrees - que j'ai pu faire un entretien devant une centre de sante de Mision Barrio Adentro.
Los Nevados - Merida
Los Nevados - Merida - Venezuela
Though I was mostly in Caracas - I managed to do a bit of traveling and made it to Merida - and was introduced to an entirely different Venezuela - the rural the Andes in the west - and visit a totally different community - Los Nevados - nestled in the mountains - only accessible via a bumpy 5 hour jeep ride from Merida (one of Venezuela's tourist hubs) - a 2 day hike - or via an expensive trip up the longest hanging rail car (telepherique - I don't know how to say this in English ...) and then a donkey ride up past the 4000 m pass and then down to Los Nevados - 2700 m. I traveled up in jeep and then made my way down on foot. I made wonderful friends with a local guy - Albeiro - 17 years old - who took me camping, fishing and told me many stories of the region. We had the idea of getting a project together to document his community's history. I hope to return and to this.
Albeiro (17) and a HUGE worm / y un gusano ENORME / et un ver de terre ENORME
Albeiro's family / familia / famille
I caught 2 fish / he atrapado 2 peces / j'ai peche 2 poissons
Me Walking back / Yo en camino / Moi en chemin
Me contemplating / Contemplando / Pensant
Bolivia
09/2006 - 11/2006
Bolivia is a magical country - like no other - with "out of this world" cultural and natural diversity - a must see for those wanting to experience "South America". Obviously I am bias as I am Bolivian (my father Carlos Aranibar Peñaloza - born in Oruro). It is the country other than the US, Canada and France where I have spent the most time - regular visits starting when I was 8 months old. It is where I plan to raise my kids and retire. This past year I only passed a breif month - not long enough - breif visit with my family and friends - a week long trek and week long stay with the Chiman & Moseten peoples of the Beni department rainforest.
an Inca Trail - un camino de los incas - un chemin des incas
Laguna Verde 4100 m - Los Andes - La Paz
Having never trekked the high mountains in Bolivia - I managed to get a taste. I went to investigate at the Club Andina Boliviano (La Paz) potential routes and found a guide - Boris (24 yrs, 20$ per day, tent and camping gear provided) who helped me to organize 1 week long trek starting at a dam at 4000 m right outside of El Alto (high neighborhood of La Paz) - climbing to over 5000 m where we passed next to Huayna Potosi ( 6200 m about) famous peak and hiked down to 1300 m (rain forest) to reach the road which heads to Coroico - a "popular" tourist hub.
Me / yo / moi
Chulumani
Llamas
Boris
Boris & 2 girls from Argentina who we met / y 2 mujeres de Argentina que encontramos / et 2 femmes qu'on a rencontre
Llama
MaPAJO indigenous Ecotourism
Chimane family / familia / famille
Six years ago when I was 19 one of my first field work experiences was to participate in the establishment of an all indigenous run ecotourism business amongst the communities of Chiman and Moseten in the Biosphere reserve of Pilon Lajas along the river of Quiquibey, a tributary of the Beni river. In 2001, I spent 3 months working with a group of women to try help develop a system of meal planning including deciding menues and calculating quantities of supplies needed in order to satisfy the dietary and lodging needs of future tourists. It was an eye opening experience. I did not return until last year (2006) - and did a small evaluation for PRAIA (Bolivian foundation helping the project) via short interviews of the participating communities of the impact of the MAPAJO project which is ongoing. It was amazing to return. A few still remember me - only remarking how my face was rounder and older as I had gained a few pounds and obviously years! The project appears to have had a mixed impact - benefiting those directly involved in management from the get go. However I was sad to not see a few faces - as it appears that there were rivalries created and quite a few members left to create communities up stream. I cannot really judge what impact it has had on the conservation of resources and indigenous culture which was one of the goals of setting up the ecotourism business - representing a "sustainable" alternative to logging and other natural resource extraction for income generation. Nevertheless I do recommend this as the way to visit the Bolivian rainforest. Visit http://mapajo.com for information about packages and how to get there.
Chimane school / escuela / ecole
Teacher from Asuncion community / Profesor de Asuncion / Professeur de Asuncion
Beni River / Rio / Riviere
Moseten Family / Familia / Famille
Sunset / Atardecer / Coucher du Soleil
you can use the images just give reference to the source (renee of asteriarecords.com)
pueden usar los imagenes simplemente menciona el origen (renee de asteriarecords.com)
vous pouvez utiliser les images juste mentionner le source (renee de asteriarecords.com)
BUENOS AIRES SOON TO COME ............