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Update # 4 Land Purchase! Oct 25, 2004 La Paz
Bolivia
This is the most exciting update yet. As of Oct,
5 2005 Esperanza de
Libertad owns 115 acres (46 hectares) of rainforest
land in northern
Bolivia. The land is 7 1/2 miles (12 kilometres)
from the town of Ixiamas.
About 20 acres are already cut and the rest is
jungle. We would like to
build and work on the cut land and leave the rest
as untouched as
possible. This land is beautiful and full of wildlife
that now live on
protected land (well, as soon as we can get people
living on it to guard
it from illegal logging and hunting). On our visits
to the land we saw a
group of 15
lion monkeys (read update #2, witness
to a monkey hunt), tyras, anteaters,
macaws,toucans and many different species of birds.
Many of the animals
in this area are in danger of extinction. We hope
to continue raising
money to buy and protect more of the surrounding
land.
This trip we spent about 3 weeks in Ixiamas.
After some struggling with
transportation we managed to put up a large sign
at the entrance of the
land that says "Esperanza de Libertad para
la Vida Silvestre" as well as
the Bolivian environmental law which we will be
enforcing on the land.
This law makes it illegal to take any wild animal
from the wild for
commercialization, meaning it is legal to hunt
for food for you and your
family but illegal to sell wild animals dead or
alive. It is also illegal
to hunt on private property, which our land is.
Franci plans on returning to check on the land
in December. While she is
there she hopes to begin planting banana, papaya,
avocado and cocoa.
Though this will be difficult because she will
have to walk to and from
the land. We are really desperate to raise enough
money to buy a pick up
and start construction of a house so people can
stay permanently on the
land.
I am returning to the United States so keep checking
the website for
presentations- with video and slides of the land.
This last month we
received many emails of support from all over
the world and we would like
to thank you all so much for offering kind words.
Also everyone that
donated time or money to this project thank you
so much. Please read
below for the Spanish update.
Con mucho cariño de Bolivia,
Stella Sythe
Esperanza de Libertad Project Coordinator USA
Franci Pairo
Esperanza de Libertad Project Coordinator Bolivia