2010.05.02: Bolivia's pristine vistas cast spell Peace Corps Volunteer Joe Lowe
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2010.05.02: Bolivia's pristine vistas cast spell Peace Corps Volunteer Joe Lowe
Bolivia's pristine vistas cast spell Peace Corps Volunteer Joe Lowe
Lowe recently quit a job as a landscaper to take a summer position as a trailworker in Alaska and will return to Central Ohio in the fall to begin his work on a master's degree in environment and natural resources at Ohio State University. But he wants to share his Bolivian experience with others. He said he's planning a trip back to Northern Tiquipaya from Sept. 13-20, and he is looking for explorers to join him. The trip will be fairly expensive -- at least $1,500 per person -- and will include a flight to La Paz, Bolivia's capital city; another short flight to the town of Cochabamba; and, finally, a four-hour Jeep ride into the mountains, he said. Once the group reaches the reserve, they will spend four days hiking and exploring the area with a biologist, Lowe said. "It's definitely not going to be Club Med," he said. He said the group will be small, likely only seven or eight people other than himself, because the eco-lodge at the reserve can comfortably hold only 10. Lowe said he has many reasons for organizing the journey. While the trip would help support the local community financially, he said he also wants to raise awareness in the United States and, most importantly, support the local conservation efforts.
Bolivia's pristine vistas cast spell Peace Corps Volunteer Joe Lowe
Bolivia's pristine vistas cast spell on Grandview man
Joe Lowe is looking for people to join him when he returns there in September to explore and raise awareness of conservation efforts.
Caption: Joe and Alicia Lowe sit on Bolivian textiles in their home on Thomas Road in Grandview Heights. Joe met his wife, a native Bolivian, while serving in the South American country with the Peace Corps. SNP photo by Donavon Campbell
By DONAVON CAMPBELL
Published: Sunday, May 2, 2010 10:28 AM EDT
Joe Lowe sits in the middle of the Panera Bread restaurant on Grandview Avenue. On the table in front of him is a photo of low clouds sweeping through verdant mountains.
"Sorry," he warns. "I can talk about this for hours."
The photo is of the Northern Tiquipaya wildlife reserve in Bolivia, the place that stole Lowe's heart when he first visited in 2007.
Lowe, 31, grew up in Upper Arlington and now lives with his wife, Alicia -- a native Bolivian -- on Thomas Road in Grandview Heights.
He first traveled to Bolivia in 2003 and stayed there until 2005 as a member of the Peace Corps.
He said it was during this time that he met his future wife, and it was during one of his many trips to visit her that he came across Northern Tiquipaya.
"I was talking to a member of a (nongovernmental organization) down there and he said, 'You want to see a really cool place that isn't messed up yet?' " said Lowe, who found himself on his way to the wildlife reserve at 4 a.m. the next day.
"It was amazing," said Lowe, referring to the first time he saw Northern Tiquipaya, the reserve located on the eastern side of the Andes Mountains where they run into the Amazon River basin.
"It was a place that really struck me -- its natural beauty, its pristine state," he said. "And it just never left me."
Lowe lights up as he describes the reserve, a place where mountain terrain bleeds into forests that flow seamlessly into a sweltering jungle habitat.
"You can be in the mountains, where it's so cold it's almost snowing, and you're looking down into a jungle," Lowe said.
"There are so many ecosystems smashed together in one place," he said. "There is an amazing variety of wildlife, many of them endangered or never studied."
Lowe recently quit a job as a landscaper to take a summer position as a trailworker in Alaska and will return to Central Ohio in the fall to begin his work on a master's degree in environment and natural resources at Ohio State University. But he wants to share his Bolivian experience with others.
He said he's planning a trip back to Northern Tiquipaya from Sept. 13-20, and he is looking for explorers to join him.
The trip will be fairly expensive -- at least $1,500 per person -- and will include a flight to La Paz, Bolivia's capital city; another short flight to the town of Cochabamba; and, finally, a four-hour Jeep ride into the mountains, he said.
Once the group reaches the reserve, they will spend four days hiking and exploring the area with a biologist, Lowe said.
"It's definitely not going to be Club Med," he said.
He said the group will be small, likely only seven or eight people other than himself, because the eco-lodge at the reserve can comfortably hold only 10.
Lowe said he has many reasons for organizing the journey. While the trip would help support the local community financially, he said he also wants to raise awareness in the United States and, most importantly, support the local conservation efforts.
Northern Tiquipaya is protected by the local municipality -- from which it got its name -- and Lowe wants to help show the value of such reserves.
"What I want to do is help this place be successful, because I think we'll see other municipalities start doing what they're doing," Lowe said.
Anyone interested in joining the trip can find out more by e-mailing Lowe at joeinbolivia@yahoo.com.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: May, 2010; Peace Corps Bolivia; Directory of Bolivia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Bolivia RPCVs; Environment; Ohio
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Story Source: Columbus Local News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Bolivia; Environment
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