ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY, THE WORK OF PEPPER K. ETTERS

South America: Bolivia 2002

Often referred to as the Tibet of South America, Bolivia is the continent's highest and least developed country. Over sixty percent indigenous, a majority of the population still speaks Spanish as a second language. And while much of the country sits in the high altiplano, the valleys and rivers feed much of the Amazon Basin creating a topography quite similar to the Himalayas and their bordering lowland regions. Containing vast cultural differences and a slowly emerging economy, Bolivia is another location in which you can't help but feel like you have stepped back in time.

A qechua woman sells vegetables on a street corner in La Paz.
   
The sun emits one final flash of color through the clouds before descending past the horizon.
  
A young girl entertains herself with the day's wares as her mother and sister tend shop at a local fruit market.
     
  
The Sun Sets over a portion of the Cordillera ............. in northern Bolivia.
  
A rowboat floats peacefully in a bay of Isla Del Sol on Lake Titicaca.
   
A quechua witch displays her potions, candles, talismans and idols in the alleyways of the witches market of La Paz.
     
  
A woman spins yarn, to later use for knitting, outside her house on the Island of the Sun.
  
An exhausted climber struggles up the last few steps to the 20,090 foot summit of Huyana Potosi.
   
A quechua woman spins yarn to later use in the production of small handbags which she sells on the streets of La Paz
     
  
A young boy plays in a courtyard on Isla del Sol.
   
A climber stands at over 19,000 feet below the crux summit pitch of Huyana Potosi, a huge glaciated mountain outside of La Paz.