July 2009 Archives

I am now happily settled in San Salvador de Jujuy, having travelled to Mendoza and Bariloche to meet our local partners. San Salvador is the capital of the province of Jujuy, a tourist-friendly area split into four geographical regions.

La Quebrada de Humahuaca is an andean valley, spanning 150 kilometres, where indigenous people have maintained their religious beliefs, rites, festivities, art, music and agricultural techniques. Quebrada was declared a World Heritage site by Unesco in 2003. I look forward to visiting it next week when we go north for a market study with one of our partners.

Besides la Quebrada, there is Yungas in the east of the province with wet, misty, dense woods on the side of the mountains covering an altitude between 400 and 3000 m. The central and southern part of the province is called Los Valles, the Valleys, where San Salvador is located. Finally the Puna, a high andenean plateau where the sun burns during the day and temperatures drop to minus 20 at night.

We urgently need more funds for our South America programmes; to move forward and to achieve our ambitious goals. Please support us today.