We had so much equipment that the canoes keep running a ground

– I spent most of the time on the trip up the river pushing!!!

Staying in touch with NYC via satellite!!

The canoe being built!

I think this photo is hysterical.  This is one of the little gi...

The Embera' Indians who live in the village of Embera' Puru live in traditional villages as their tribe lived for many generations even before the Spaniards arrived in Central America. There are 24 homes in the village with about 110 people of all ages living in the village. They live in large families, one per home, and also in true community. To get to the village located inside the Chagres National Park, you must drive North for about an hour from Panama City and then travel by motorized dugout canoes, built by the Indians, up river for about another hour.  There are no roads to the village.
 
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Eco-tourism

Eco-tourism is conservation-oriented travel that seeks to preserve the local environment and culture. The United Nations declared 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism and the New York Times called “eco-tourism” the buzzword of the year in 2006. Since then, eco-tourism has gained widespread popularity as more travelers choose this alternative type of vacation. Travelers can choose to go to exotic places and interact with the local people, which can foster better understanding and support for the preservation of unique ecosystems. 


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Located in Central America, Panama is famous for its canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 2007, construction to expand the Panama Canal began. Home to one of the largest rainforests in the Western Hemisphere, the country boasts astonishing fauna and flora including a diversity of tropical birds. You can also find beautiful beaches along its pristine coastlines.

In 1821, Panama obtained independence from Spain and joined a union of Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela called the Republic of Gran Columbia. When the union dissolved nine years later, Panama remained a part of Colombia. However, it seceded from Colombia in 1903 with aid from the United States and signed a treaty with the US to permit the construction of a canal and to allow US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the canal. The Panama Canal took 10 years to build and it cost over $350 million! In 1999, the US finally relinquished the canal to Panama.

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“Chief Isaac”- Chief Isaac, the top chief of the village, poses for a rare portrait.

“Chief Ronnie”- Enneth’s father and Chief Isaac’s brother.

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Over Fishing

From attracting tourists to providing a staple food for the diets of natives, the fish markets in Vanuatu are an essential component of the nation’s livelihood. In the past decade, foreign companies have been depleting the fish populations at rates exceeding the ocean’s ecosystem’s capacity to replenish them. 

The coral reef located along Vanuatu’s coast is home to countless species of tropical fish. Ranging from small exotically colored creatures to large edible fish,...

The Ni-Vanuatu are the indigenous population, mainly Melanesian, of the Republic of Vanuatu comprised of eighty-three islands in the South Pacific Ocean. While some Ni-Vanuatans live in modern houses in urban cities, others continue to live in traditional houses with woven bamboo walls and dirt floors in rural areas. Fishing is an important livelihood for many Vanuatans. Yams, manioc and taro root are the most common crops in Vanuatu. Dancing is a favorite pastime of the Ni-Vanuatu’s. Both men and women enjoy dancing around family dancing grounds called nasara to the music of the slit gong, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk.

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The Republic of Vanuatu is a large constellation of scattered small islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are mostly mountainous, of volcanic origin and have a tropical climate. Melanesians were the first to inhabit this beautiful archipelago in 2000 B.C. Several thousand years later, the French and British arrived in the 1880s. This was a historically dark period as the Europeans forced many natives to work in nearby Australia, where many contracted deadly diseases that drastically reduced Vanuatu’s population. The people of Vanuatu pressed aggressively for self-government in the 1960’s, leading to a transition from a colony to an independent nation in 1980.

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VIDEO:  Exiled Producer Blog: Village Tour

PHOTOS 

Traditional rice farmers in Kerala 

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 India: Learn More About the Issues, Street Children and Orphans

India has the largest population of street children in the world. There are an estimated 18 million children that live and work in the streets of India’s urban centers.  Over 100,000 street children can be found in cities such as Mumbai, Calcutta, and Delhi.. The number of orphans with HIV/AIDS in India is larger than that of any other country in the world and is expected to double in the next five to seven years.

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