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TARAPARI Botanical Garden to be Inaugurated
10/21/2009
On Thursday, October 29, the TARAPARI Botanical Garden, located in Chulumani, South Yungas, will be officially inaugurated and presented to the greater community of Chulumani. The environmental education and biodiversity conservation project has been supported by the Rufford Small Grants Foundation  (UK) and is currently executing its second Rufford Grant to improve the garden and its museum and facilitate student visits.

The inauguration will take place from 4-6:30pm on Thursday, October 29th, 2009, and will include guided visits of the garden and museum, a brief demonstration of the garden's website (www.tarapari.org), refreshments and music. All are welcome!

For more information, please call 591-715-43918 or send an email to info@tarapari.org.
La Paz on Foot Receives Grant from UCODEP for Community-based Tourism Project in Lake Titicaca
10/09/2009
La Paz on Foot is very happy to announce that we have received a grant from the Italian NGO UCODEP for our work in Santiago de Okola, a small, lake-side village where we have been supporting the development of a community-based tourism project focused on the region's rich agricultural heritage. In addition to being in a beautiful location on the shore of the lake and at the base of a magnificent rock out-cropping known as the Sleeping Dragon, Santiago de Okola is a micro-center for agro-biodiversity and local farmers steward more than more than 40 varieties of potatoes. 

The funds provided by UCODEP come from the IFAD-sponsored project "Global Program to Address the Marginalization of Poor Farmers and Migrants through Market Linkages and the Promotion of Diversity."
The support will be used to strengthening the community's administration of their project, a workshop on using local ingredients to prepare food for tourists, signage for paths and other important sites, displays in the community museum being developed and several other needs. 

The funds will also permit La Paz on Foot to have a more sustained presence in the community so that  the project moves forward quickly and peacefully as Santiago de Okola prepares to "go public" and begin to promote its story and attractions the the general public in March 2010. 
La Paz on Foot Receives Second Grant from Rufford Small Grants in Support of the Chulumani Conservation Garden
05/15/2009

Paz on Foot is proud to announce that we have received our second Rufford Small Grant for Biodiversity Conservation in support of the Chulumani Conservation Garden. The generous grant will be used to put the finishing touches on the conservation garden´s infraestructure and museum, run a training program for local teachers so that they can ring sudent groups themselves, design a website fot the garden, and increase the number of student groups that visit the garden, so please send us an email if you would like to get involved.

To learn more, visit our Conservation Program section and the Rufford Small Grant website www.ruffordsmallgrants.org. To visit the garden, for additional information or to get involved, send us an email: info@lapazonfoot.com

 
La Paz on Foot Hosts First Tour of Andean Eco-hous
03/21/2009

Last Saturday, La Paz on Foot hosted its first tour of local eco-houses in the valley of La Paz. Seventeen professors and students from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres’s Architecture School visited two ecological houses near La Paz, one in Achocalla and another in Chicani, both small rural towns about 30 minute from downtown.

The first house, in Achocalla, built by two German biologists who migrated to La Paz more than ten years ago, featured earthen walls and plasters, passive solar heating, two composting toilets, solar oven (cooking their dogs lunch this time!) and other elements designed to minimize non-renewable resource use, take advantage of local materials and traditional building knowledge. The second house, in the town of Chicani and also built by biologists, featured a roof made from totora reeds from Lake Titicaca, a solar hot water heater, a large garden and greenhouse that supplies about 40% of the family’s vegetables, FSC-certified tajibo wooden floors and a grey-water treatment system for purifying water from showers, laundry and the kitchen. 

La Paz on Foot is hoping to increase activities with local, Bolivian residents in an effort to promote appreciation of traditional technologies and natural and cultural landscapes that surround La Paz. For more information or to set up a tour of Andean eco-houses, please send us an email, info@lapazonfoot.com.
La Paz on Foot Runs Second Prescott College “Food
02/06/2009

This past January, La Paz on Foot completed its second course, Food Systems of the Central Andes, for the Prescott, Arizona (USA) liberal arts and environmental sciences college Prescott College. Using the city and markets of La Paz as a base for exploring the dynamic food systems of the Central Andes, students and instructors explored six different agro-ecosystems that provide consumers of  La Paz and El Alto with the vast majority of their food products. Starting out in Hampaturi Valley, just outside of La Paz, the course then visited Lake Titicaca, Apolobamba National Park, South Yungas and Rurrenabaque. The agro-ecosystems visited were Cabecera de Valle, Dry and Humid Puna, Interandean Valley, Yungas, and Tropical Rainforest.

Students visited farms and agricultural landscapes in each of the agro-ecosystems and were able to interview farmers, observe agricultural practices, learn about successful and unsuccessful development projects, participate in agriculturally-related rituals and otherwise learn about the complex and ancient food and farming systems that feed millions of people in the Central Andes. Students prepared final presentations and papers on each of the six agroecosystems; final presentations were very creative and included a museum exhibit on the Dry Puna agroecosystem, a Jeopardy-style quiz game on the Humid Puna, and a cooking lesson on common dishes from the Interandean Valleys.

For more information about our courses and longer, theme based tours, please write to us as info@lapazonfoot.com.
La Paz on Foot "adopted" by the Fundación Neoempre
06/30/2008

La Paz on Foot is pleased to announce that we have been adopted by the "Fundacion Neoempresa." The Fundacion Neoempresa is a small-business incubator and is helping La Paz on Foot develop a business plan and strategy and improve publicity materials such as our website ad catalog. La Paz on Foot and the Fundacion Neoempresa will be working together for three years. For more information, please visit the foundation's website
www.neoempresa.org.bo