Not Quite Isolated

Campamento Santa Barbara is a small agricultural town in the interior of the landlocked country of Bolivia in South America. Campamento Santa Barbara may be one of the remotest and poorest towns of the country, but its significance cannot be set aside. The region where the town is located, Beni, is one of the biggest in land area in Bolivia and is one of the richest forest bio diversity in the world. Campamento Santa Barbara's contribution to the country's economy may be small but their stewardship of the forest landscape in and around Madidi National Park is vital not only for the people of Bolivia but the world as well.

Bolivia is a landlocked country, which means it has no direct access to the sea. The country, named after the famous South America liberator Simeon Bolivar, is bordered by powerful countries Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west. In fact, the region (or called the department under the Bolivian political system) of Beni where Campamento Santa Barbara belonged to, is cut off from major highways and roads.

Access to Campamento Santa Barbara and its bigger, more important department neighbors like La Santisima Trinidad (the regions biggest city and trading enter) and Rurrenabaque (the biggest tourist destination) is sparse. There are no highways leading to these cities and the dirt roads that exist are often bogged by mud during the rainy season. The few existing roads will take travelers up to 25 hours of a bumpy drive.

The best access to Beni and its cities and towns is through the air or through the river. There are daily flights from Brazilian cities as well as from Bolivian cities of La Paz and Santa Cruz to Beni. Trips by rivers is also a romantic, more rustic option, with daily boats and barges leaving Puerto Villarroel in Cochabamba's Chapare region to the border city (with Brazil) of Guayaramerin. The river cruises will take two to three days.

Campamento Santa Barbara traces its roots to the Inca's but its road to modernity was built when Spanish missionaries arrived in the town to convert the natives. The foot prints of the missionaries can be found all over the region, in fact, as can be seen in the names of its towns, which are named after saints, feast days and Christian virtues.

Ironically, the town's historic and colorful past is marred with speculations that it is serving as a main transit point in the South American drug ring. Although agriculture and cattle raising remains to be the biggest industries in the surface, narcotic trade has flourished in and around the area in recent years. Cocaine laboratories are said to hide amid the farms, ranches and the forests.

This is plausible. Cut off from many cities (and police) Campamento Santa Barbara is a paradise for people involved in clandestine and illegal activities. There is huge money being poured into the war against drugs from South American governments as well from the United States, the biggest market for these products. The day of reckoning against these drug kingpins is fast approaching.