I traveled for three days on a section of the Interoceanic Highway from the Pacific Coast of Peru to the Brazilian Amazon. The highway continues to São Paulo, Brazil, over 3,900 miles away. The highway spans three time zones, and is the first to cross the entire continent of South America. Many have called it one of the greatest construction projects in Latin America since the Panama Canal. Since its completion, the Interoceanic has raised Peru’s GDP by 1.5% a year. However, the highway has had many detrimental impacts on the local people and environments. The remote Peruvian Amazon was once five to seven days from Cusco Peru by truck. But now the trip takes less than 9 hours. Illegal gold mining and logging has increased exponentially in the last 5 years and residents of Puerto Maldonado, a dusty, frontier boom town, have expressed their concern about the benefits the highway promised to bring.
I asked Malena, a women who worked at the Tarapoto Hostel how the Interoceanic has changed the town. “It hasn’t brought more jobs, it’s actually taken them away,” she replied. “Miners and other people like that just come here, take everything away, and destroy the nature we have here,” Malena added. “The highway has also brought in a lot more delinquency and crime.”
The impact of the highway is being felt especially hard in the remote regions of the Amazon where 15 tribes have been displaced. The Interoceanic now runs through the heart of their homeland, bringing diseases, disrupting wildlife habitat, and ruining their sustainable lifestyle. The Amazon, one of the worlds great ecosystems, is still rich and plentiful, but for how much longer will it remain?
An hour outside of Cusco, the Interoceanic Highways begins its climb over the Andes.
The highway passes through indigenous villages where over 90% of the population still speaks Quechua.
At 15,500 ft above sea level, the pass between Cusco and Puerto Maldonado, deep in the Peruvian Amazon, is one of the highest paved roads in the worlds.
The Highway takes a dramatic turn after reaching the pass, suddenly plunging over 13,000 feet in the span of a few hours.
Brasiléia, located on the border with Bolivia, was in the midst of an intense Dengue and Chikungunya outbreak. City officials handed out pamphlets on the highway through town.
Brasiléia has also been a major transit route for Haitian refugees after the earthquake there in 2010. 20,000 Haitians have already passed through the town, with many more arriving every day. Most leave Haiti for Colombia or Ecuador, passing through the Amazon, Brasiléia, and on to São Paulo, the economic capital of Latin America. A thousand Haitians still reside in a building built for 200 in Brasiléia.
Many parts of Acre, a large Amazonian state in far northwestern Brazil, has been affected greatly by logging interests.
Since 1978 over 289,000 square miles of Amazonian rainforest have been cut down. Since the year 2000, 75% of that has been for cattle ranching. Cattle ranching and soy represent the largest threats today to the Amazon.
Between Brasiléia and Rio Branco, we stopped for gas in Xapuri. This was the birthplace of Chico Mendes, the famous rubber tapper and environmental activist who was murdered by ranchers in 1988. Chico Mendes once said, “At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.”
Dusk on the Acre River, in Rio Branco, a sleepy city in the heart of the rich Amazonian rainforest. Rio Branco sprang up out of the jungle less than a hundred years ago as a rubber tapping outpost.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Walker then majored in International Relations and Chinese at the New School University in NYC. He began traveling during a high school exchange to Argentina, and hasn’t stopped since. Walker has always sought out the more unusual and off the beaten path locations and is combining his love for photography and travel to kickstart a career as a journalist, striving to redefine the profession in rapidly changing world.
While in no way a comprehensive list of the continent (Venezuela, Ecuador and the Guayanas are missing), these are our favorite off the beaten path destinations for 2015. Most of these destinations are a bit rough to say the least, but whoever is willing to forgo some basic comforts will be rewarded with a lifetime of great memories.
#5 La Rinconada, Peru
Tin shacks cover La Rinconada.
La Rinconada is the highest inhabited place on planet earth. At a staggering 18,000 feet above sea level, this gold mining town shows how far people are willing to go in pursuit of money and the allure of wealth. The city of 60,000 sits perched on the edge of a cliff, with glacier covered peaks at a touching distance. You can walk with incredibly friendly locals, who will be more than happy to show you the gold they’ve extracted that day, and they may even invite you to their house to meet their family and have a cup of tea.
La Rinconada should come with a word of warning; this is rough travel. 18,000 feet above sea level is no joke and the piles of trash lining most streets will turn many people away. If you are willing to look beyond the trash and brave the extreme heights, La Rinconada may be one of the least visited and most fascinating places of this planet.
#4 Goiás, Brazil
An old farmer in Ouro Verde de Goias.
This is cowboy country, Brazilian style. Goiás is a giant state in the interior of the country and it is marked by an arid savanna like landscape, great colonial towns, incredible traditional Brazilian food, and quite possibly the friendliest locals in South America. Many travelers make it to Brasilia (which the state of Goiás surrounds), but those looking for another side of Brazil, one far from the hoards of tourists in Rio, should go to Goiás and get lost in this amazing land of red earth and cowboys.
#3 El Alto, Bolivia
A Shaman closes shop in El Alto.
El Alto, located high above the city of La Paz, is the largest indigenous city in the Western Hemesphere, as well as the highest city in the world (13,600 feet above sea level) with over a million people. The city is a chaotic place where massive open air markets flood into the already crowded streets, where one is met with curious stares and friendly smiles. You should come to El Alto if you are interested in indigenous South American culture; this is the modern day epicenter of it all. With the indigenous Evo Morales government, Aymara natives are rapidly beginning to embrace their indigenous roots which were for so many centuries suppressed by the Spanish and Mestizo elite. This cultural renaissance has transformed El Alto into a modern, 21st century indigenous metropolis.
#2 Paraguay
Getting wild after an incredible afternoon in the Chaco. Guns, beer, and nature.
Paraguay is lost in a bygone era. It’s a flat, hot, landlocked country in the middle of South America, whose charms come less from cobblestoned streets and old churches, but more from its people and their hospitality. There may not be many sights to check off, but that doesn’t matter when you are warmly invited to a restaurant opening complete with a fantastic blues band, taken to photography exhibitions or hosted by a family for four days for free. Most travelers skip Paraguay completely, but that’s their loss. Let them have the hordes of tourists and high prices, I’ll take my Paraguay the way it is.
#1 São Paulo, Brazil
Check out an exhibition by the world famous São Paulo graffiti duo, Os Gemeos.
São Paulo is in the midst of a renaissance. Forget Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, this is where you need to come if you want to see a true South American metropolis. With 32 million people in the metro area, there is no denying that São Paulo is somewhat intimidating. Yes, its expensive, the public transportation is crowded, and it doesn’t win many points in the architecture department, but get beyond the initial shock, and you surely will begin to fall for its dynamic energy.
São Paulo is about diversity; it has the largest concentration of Japanese people outside of Japan, there are millions of Arabs and Italians inhabitants, as well as neighborhoods where orthodox Jews rub shoulders with recent Korean and Bolivian immigrants. São Paulo’s diversity is best experienced through the gastronomic boom that is currently happening in the city. Burritos, shawarmas, curries and sushi can all be found within 5 minutes of each other.
São Paulo also has an incredibly vibrant underground culture and some of the best nightlife in all of South America. Brazilians play Mexican mariachi, jazz, blues, reggae and rock, the alternative art scene pops up everywhere across the city, old alleyways are transformed into canvases for artists, old factories are becoming galleries, and museums are constantly highlighting local Paulista artists. After a day of feasting on delicious food from around the planet and enjoying alternative art, you can finish off the night in an underground bar, where people perform improv theater, a faint scent of weed lingers in the air, and locals sip on dark Brazilian microbrews. São Paulo is hot, and you’d be crazy to miss it.
We spent over a month in Southern Peru, starting in Cusco, the ancient heart of the Incan Empire. From Cusco we visited Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world where indigenous tribes live on floating islands and ancient communal living structures are still in use today.
After Lake Titicaca we endured the grueling trip up to the gold mining town of La Rinconada. Everyone had warmed us that road was the most dangerous in all of Peru because of frequent roadside robberies, in fact two people were shot for their gold on the night that we left, but this did not deter us. At 18,000 ft. above sea level La Rinconada is the highest inhabited place on earth. We spent two days recording a short documentary about life there, talking with locals, exploring the glacier and getting far off the beaten path.
Next stop was Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city, and the perfect place to begin an adventure to Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and home to the Andean Condor, the largest bird in the world, as well as many distinct ethnic groups.
We ended our journey through the South of Peru at the magnificent Machu Picchu.
We spent two weeks traveling across southern Bolivia through some of the most spectacular landscapes on planet earth. After nearly being denied entry into Bolivia and getting told to “get your backpacks and get the fuck out of here” by the Bolivian border guard, we eventually made it in.
We ascended into the Andes to the capital city of Sucre. Sucre is a pleasant city with lots of Spanish colonial architecture, and one of the largest middle classes in Bolivia.
From Sucre we climbed even higher to the silver mining city of Potosí, located at 13,342 feet above sea level. Potosí has a more gritty feel than Sucre, with silver miners flooding the street after work, and brutal temperatures with frequent snowfall. The surprisingly bustling Potosí was founded by the Spanish in 1545 who bankrolled their empire by mining the Cerro Rico. Centuries later the same silver mines are still active, and adventurous travelers can tour them. Although Potosí is not an easy city to visit, it is certainly one of the most authentic cities in Bolivia.
Next we started our three day Salar de Uyuni jeep expedition. We drove across salt flats, passed smoldering volcanoes, bright green, red and pink lakes, and climbed over 16,000 ft passes, and took a sunrise dip in a steaming hot spring. Most people come to this part of Bolivia for the salt flats, but the most impressive part of the journey was the day after. Geographically speaking, this is one of the most spectacular places on earth.
Plautdietsch, a dialect of German that was spoken hundred of years ago in Holland, is still spoken by nearly everyone. Unlike the German communities of southern Brazil, German is still alive and well, with everyone from young children to the elderly speaking it.
Many of the older Mennonites were born in Manitoba, Canada. I asked one man if i could take a portrait of him, and he handed me his hat from Manitoba instead.
Inside the Cooperativa Chorlitzer Supermercado. The market is the main employer in the Menno Colony.
Imported German beer at the local market.
The Cooperativa Chorlitzer produces and sells dairy products across Paraguay and Bolivia. The majority of the employees are Mennonites, who work in a cooperative system, giving away part of their income to the cooperative in order to finanical benefits for their family.
The Loma Plata Public Library feels more like suburban Canada than rural Paraguay. The books are almsot exclusivly in German. The library provides free reading lessons in German for children.
The German Embassy in Paraguay provides financial help for all Mennonite public schools and libraries.
Some Paraguayans have complained that the Mennonites habor racist sentiments. Employment in the the most profitable businesses in town are exclusively reserved for Mennonites.
Many of the Paraguayans that live in Loma Plata are Guarani, an indigenous tribe of 260,000 people who inhabit large sections of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia.
Rubens, a man who is “spreading the word of god” spends his days driving across Paraguay, working in local prisons, teaching the Bible to inmates and working on brining people closer to God.
As I waiting for the bus to Bolivia, Rubens suggested that we hang our head in prayer. He blessed me, thanking me for visiting the Menno Colony and wishing me good luck on the voyage to Bolivia. Rubens opened his eyes after the prayer, ran to his car, opened up a fresh box of Bibles and told me I needed this. He said many Mennonites in Paraguay are slowly becoming less religious, and stated that “this, this Bible, this word of God is what we need.”
As the sun set in the sweltering Chaco, I hitched a ride into town with two Paraguayan men in a mini van. They both worked as doctors in the Chaco, treating the rural indigenous communities. I asked both men about their relationship with the Mennonites. The first man responded, “You have to admire what they have done. They came from nothing and have created this (pointing to the Chortitzer Cooperative). My only complaint is that they think of themselves as superior, as better”. The other doctor responded, “well…they simply are better”.
The Mennonites have resided in the Chaco region of Paraguay since 1927, turning an inhospitable land into one of the most productive and wealthiest regions of the country. Paraguay is a landlocked country sandwiched between the giants of Brazil and Argentina. Often forgotten and overlooked, Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Far from the capital Asuncion, the Mennonites inhabit the most remote and arid part of the country. Today, with diary and ranching, the Mennonite colonies produce 6-7% of Paraguay’s total Gross Domestic Product despite only making up less than 1% of the population.
The Mennonites are a deeply pacifist religious group that originated in Europe during the 16th century and are known for their collectivism and cooperative farming practices. Fleeing religious persecution in Europe, many of them emigrated to Canada. At the turn of the 20th century, the Canadian government implemented mandatory secular education, which angered the Mennonites who saw this as a threat to their way of life. In 1927, the Paraguayan government encouraged the Canadian Mennonites to settle and develop the remote parts of the country near the Bolivian border. This allowed them to practice their religious and culture beliefs without government interference.
Loma Plata (located in Menno Colony) is the oldest and most traditional of the communities. Most people work at the Cooperativa Chortitzer, which producers high-grade dairy products that are sold throughout South America. The Mennonites are generally viewed positively by the Paraguayans. Most seem to admire their perseverance and work ethic, and wonder why the cooperative Mennonite model cannot be implemented across the country. However, some believe that they harbor racist sentiments which translates into hiring discrimination.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Walker then majored in International Relations and Chinese at the New School University in NYC. He began traveling during a high school exchange to Argentina, and hasn’t stopped since. Walker has always sought out the more unusual and off the beaten path locations and is combining his love for photography and travel to kickstart a career as a journalist, striving to redefine the profession in rapidly changing world.
