Bolivia Tour - Farm to Table

Food First and Global Exchange have organized this innovative tour with La Paz on Foot, a local agro-ecotourism and environmental education company based in La Paz, Bolivia. La Paz on Foot specializes in the natural and cultural history of the Central Andes with and emphasis on the rich, complex farming systems of the region.

The production and consumption of food in the Central Andean Highlands of Bolivia is remarkable for many reasons. Industrialized, mechanized farming as known in the North is practically non-existent, GMOs are virtually unknown, seed saving is commonplace, agro-biodiversity is high, synthetic fertilizer and pesticide use, while present, is limited, and most food consumed by urban populations travels a maximum of 200 kilometers from farm to table.

As Bolivians continue to place public good ahead of corporate greed, social movements seek to redistribute ownership of the country's natural gas reserves, the second largest of the continent behind Venezuela. Successive ex-presidents Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and Carlos Mesa each sought to pass new gas laws turning the country's large natural gas reserves over to private interests. However, Bolivians mobilized against high utility prices and rejected the corporate model in favor of public management, taking to the streets and bringing a dramatic, democratic end to both the Lozada and Mesa administrations. Recapturing the right to make their own decisions about local development, the Bolivian Landless Workers' Movement and others have reclaimed land rights and jobs while indigenous communities have untangled cultural traditions from the complex US drug war, aimed at eliminating coca plantations. The coca farmworkers, or cocaleros, have joined the country's other social movements in demanding a new, more equitable model of development and policy makers are forced to recognize indigenous customs of traditional coca leaf consumption. Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, is supported by millions of Bolivians who are reclaiming their sovereignty, dignity, and access to the most basic of resources- water, heat, shelter, food, and identity- and in the process have built one of the strongest social movements throughout Latin America, if not the world.

The Andean Farms and Food tour provides you with an opportunity to participate in and learn from a complex food system that appears to be much more sustainable than systems in other parts of the world. By interacting with all parts of the La Paz, Bolivia food system from, people to farms to markets to meals, the tour will give you a rich insight into how this system functions, its strengths and weaknesses, and how it has learned to respond to changes and continue to feed more than 2 million people.

After two days in La Paz, you will travel from the highland birthplace of the potato and quinoa on spectacular Lake Titicaca to the suspected center of origin of cocoa in Madidi National Park in the tropical lowlands of Bolivia. We will visit farms and markets, talking with small, medium and large-scale farmers, consumers, technicians from agricultural and development organizations intervening in the food systems, scientists and activists working to create balance between farming and conservation needs, and reflecting upon this incredible region’s unusually rich agricultural and gastronomic heritage.

Trip Cost - $2,000 includes:

• All local transport, including the one-way flight from Rurrenabaque to La Paz, with the exception of local trips for personal needs, such as in Rurrenabaque or La Paz• All shared two-star accommodation and homestays (12 nights)
• All the meals listed on the attached itinerary
• All La Paz on Foot and local guides (there will be one or two, English-speaking La Paz on Foot guides with the group at all times, to facilitate visits, discussions and translation)
• Entrance fees to Madidi National Park and the Tiwanaku archeological site
• La Paz on Foot t-shirts
• Snacks and water (we will always have water on hand however we recommend that participants bring their own water treatment supplies, such as sterilization pills, UV sticks or pumps)

The cost does not include the following:
• Air travel US-La Paz-US
• Tips, personal items such as handicrafts, medicines, extra snacks & water, and alcoholic beverages
• Some meals (see the sample itinerary)
• Local, personal transportation
For more information and to register for this food and farming tour, contact Corina at 1-800-497-1994 ext. 247 or corina [at] globalexchange [dot] org.

Bolivia Food and Farming Tour Itinerary
Thurs. Oct. 7 – La Paz
• Arrival, check-in
Fri. Oct. 8 - La Paz
• Overview of La Paz foodshed, issues faced by farmers, consumers, history of food production in the Andes
• Breakfast and Lunch provided
Sat. Oct. 9 - La Paz, Chulumani
• Visit to markets and Farmer Organizations
• Breakfast and Lunch provided
Sun Oct. 10 – Chulumani
• Overview of farm, farming & food issues in Yungas, discussion group
• Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided
Mon Oct. 11 – Chulumani – Caranavi (Alto Beni)
• Travel to Caranavi, day-hike to see farms, learn about coca, landscape-level ag issues, water
• Breakfast and Lunch provided
Tues. Oct. 12 – Caranavi – Sapecho (Alto Beni)
• Travel to Sapecho to visit cocoa farms and coffee farms
• Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided
Wed. Oct. 13 – Sapecho – Rurrenabaque
• Visits to farms, aid organizations, farmer orgs. Travel to Rurrenabaque
• Breakfast provided
Thurs. Oct 14 – Madidi National Park
• Travel by canoe to visit agro-forestry experimental farm, tropical forest products, sugar, timber
• Breakfast and Lunch provided
Fri. Oct. 15 – Rurrenabaque – Lake Titicaca (travel by air and bus)
• Indigenous farming systems, agrotourism, ag-conservation issues
• Stay with local people in homestays
• Breakfast and Dinner provided
Sat. Oct. 16 – Lake Titicaca: Tiwanaku, Santiago de Okola
• Ancient Andean farming systems, agrobiodiversity conservation. Migration
• Stay with local people in homestays
• Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided
Sun Oct. 17 – Lake Titicaca (Santiago de Okola) – La Paz
• Water and pest management, women & farming, ancient modern technology hybrids, free time
• Breakfast provided
Mon. Oct. 18 – La Paz
• La Paz Markets, reflection and discussion, handicrafts, free time
• Breakfast and Dinner provided
Tues. Oct. 19 – Return to U.S.
For more information and to register for this food and farming tour, contact Corina at 1-800-497-1994 ext. 247 or corina [at] globalexchange [dot] org.