From the Peru-Ecuador border of Huaquillas to Guayaquil it is a couple of hours’ drive; I reckon the distance is some 250 kilometers. I had checked my guidebooks and it seemed that the first part of our travels in Ecuador wouldn’t be the most interesting.
I was wrong.
On the northern side of South Korea is the Peace Dam and next to it are a Peace Park and a World Peace Park.
What’s this ‘peace stuff’ all about?
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”
~Jawaharial Nehru
Los Llanos are vast plains of grasslands and savanna and had traversed them in Colombia.
Now we would explore them in Venezuela.
“The Miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.” ~Thích Nhât Hanh
Several travelers and locals had mentioned it to us: Heladería Holanda, an ice cream parlor in Cajamarca. Since the owner is Dutch, and so are Coen and I, it made sense to visit it when in Cajamarca.
What is it about wanting to connect with your countrymen when abroad?
During Coen’s photography assignment for Bevrijde Wereld, a Belgium NGO that supports agricultural projects with a focus on food security, we visited various rural communities in Bolivia. One of the aspects I loved most during these meetings was lunch as it was a great way to taste Bolivia’s traditional dishes.
Sharing food was a big part of these meetings.
During Coen’s photography assignment for Bevrijde Wereld (meanwhile called Solidagro and locally called Mundo Nuevo), a Belgian NGO that supports agricultural projects with the emphasis on food safety, we visited a project focusing on women empowerment: A yogurt factory in …
During Coen’s photography assignment for Bevrijde Wereld (now Solidagro), a Belgian NGO that supports agricultural projects with a focus on food safety, we visited various rural communities in Bolivia. In the village of Koya each household received six fruit trees and was instructed on how to plant and maintain them.
Planting trees? You dig a hole, put in the tree, close the hole and water the tree, right?
Or is it not that simple?
Bolivia is one of the world’s producers of Arabica coffee. While the Yungas (north of La Paz) is Bolivia’s traditional and principal coffee-growing region, the country’s largest exporter is situated in the department of Santa Cruz – in Buena Vista, to be exact.
A friend suggested visiting a coffee plantation-cum-factory and, of course, to taste some high-quality, organic coffee.
We were on our way to Hacienda El Cafetal.
Just outside Guayaramerím, in northeast Bolivia, we stumbled upon Ituaba Eco Hotel, a hotel-cum-animal-refuge-center-cum-recreation park.
During our visit the animal refuge center was home to two blue-and-gold and two scarlet macaws, two toucans, two ocelots (medium-sized wild cats), wild boars, a young tapir and a couple of emus.
Can we stop hunting and trafficking them, please?
Do you know anybody who doesn’t like peanut butter? I don’t and nobody has ever understood why I didn’t like it.
Neither did I. I just didn’t.
Until…
“We would leave on Monday, be gone the entire week fishing in either the lakes or if there was not enough water we’d go out on the ocean and return on Saturday. We’d have one day at home and we were off again.”
With his six brothers and parents, Marinaldo lived on fishing. Day in, day out.
