Look who used one of my photos for a piece about Bolivia

First I got published in a Japanese magazine and now in this article in "Masa Acher" a leading geographical and cultural magazine, published monthly in Israel.

חמישים גרם אבקת צפרדעים
http://www.ifeel.co.il/page/13500

and also here on this funny site Una calle Salvador Allenda, dedicated to images around the world using Salvador Allende's name who published my photo from Mozambique.
http://www.abacq.org/calle/

Somehow, my pictures look much cooler surrounded by a foreign alphabet.

A short Bolivia Tutorial

Bolivia is a country of almost 9 million people high up in the Andes in South America. It's Latin America's 5th largest country though much of its territory is sparsely inhabited due to rugged landscape and a harsh climate. The low population density contributes to vast, incredible, untouched, raw, barren beauty. On the altiplano, snowy mountain peaks always remind you that you are soaring in high altitudes. (That and the fact that you can only climb two of three stairs at a time because you are gasping for breath in an effort to inhale just a little bit of oxygen.)

Salar de Uyuni

Bolivia's most dramatic natural beauty lies in the Salar de Uyuni, better known as the Salt Flats, a 12,000 km area on the southern end of the altiplano near the Chilean border. This area has kilometer after kilometer of spectacular landscape. Deep red mountains rise out of sandy plateaus. Active volcanoes spew smoke. Brightly colored lagoons suddenly appear around each corner. Their colors come from their high mineral contents and the red, green, deep aqua blue burst out amongst the tans and browns of the open terrain. The edges of the horizon were met with clear bright blue skies.

A link to photos from my Bolivia Trip

PHOTOS FROM BOLIVIA

Silvermines in Potosi, Bolivia

One of the stops on the trip was in Potosi. It is a small silver mining city where the Spanish Empire reaped the majority of its wealth. In the height of the empire Potosi was larger and more important that London and Paris. Money was pouring out of the city and it was the place for entrepreneurs to come make their fortunes. Today Potosi looks beleaguered. While there are little signs of its older grandeur with ornate churches lining many of the streets, it shows more signs of the reaping and pillaging of colonial empires, than the investment of people planning to stay.

During the Spanish Empire over 9 million people died in the mines. Today silver mining is still the main job provider in Potosi. And while job conditions have gotten a little better than in colonial times the average life of a miner is still only 10-20 years from the time he starts working. Arsenic poison attacks their lungs. As Westerners, who have been able to choose our professions, it was very hard for us to look in the miners eyes without why do they keep doing these jobs? How does one start a job when they know it’s an early death sentence? How can you father the average 6 kids and then leave your wife as a widow at 30 or 40 years old to raise them, when for the most part there are no almost no pensions or support after you die? But, in reality, we had to reflect back that this is all these people know. For hundreds of years the men of Potosi have been sacrificing themselves to dig up silver and now other minerals like zinc. Their fathers died as they will too.

We were able to go into the mines and experience a bit closer what life is like. We climbed through little tunnels and traveled deep into the mine. We met miners and even got to experience a dynamite blast and hear the broken rock fall away in the tunnels around us. At times in the mine I really began to question what I was doing there. Safety seemed to be a secondary concern. The smoky dusty explosive filled air sent sharp pains through my sinuses. Darkness, mud and deep holes were treacherous parts of our journey, but I am an experiential explorer and feeling that blast of air from the dynamite that practically pushed me over might be the coolest thing I’ve ever felt. The process we experienced is how most minerals are retrieved and I got to feel it first hand in a way I'd never be allowed in most countries.

In the end, I must say though I’m looking at silver in a new way now. Capitalism pushes for the lowest price for commodities but if you saw the conditions that people worked wouldn't you pay a little more for your trinkets???

Beautiful Bolivia

Hats, hats and more hats! If only those sales ladies really would have let me take their photo?!? Can you see them?



Tiwanaku, the worlds second oldest civilization, existing almost 3000 years before the Incas


The sprawling Salar de Uyuni


White churches, public squares and kids playing soccer... Bolivia in a nutshell.


Yes, I am off again, for a mental health break from job searching. I've headed down south to Bolivia, tucked up in the Andes at 12,000 feet above sea level! Yes, that means I'm high up in the mountains! Its beautiful, traditional and oh so very alive. Bolivia has the largest indigenous population in Latin American with between 50-60% of its people having pure Indian blood. It makes for fascinating people watching. Its a country with even more hats!