San Jose de Uchupiamonas
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The Quechua-Tacana
of San Jose Uchupiamonas, is a community located within Madidi
National Park. The park spans nearly 4.5 million acres in the tropical
Andes, and is the home of impressive numbers of bird species, including
toucans, macaus, aracaris, trogons, and mot-mots. |
The indigenous people who live in the
area are primarily Quechua-Tacana in tribal origins, now Spanish-speaking and
Spanish-educated, these gentle and friendly people long ago gave up the
lifestyles of their forest ancestors in favor of village life. Their village is
San Jose de Uchupiamonas (population 500), an isolated community of
thatched-roof, adobe houses, with dirt paths for roads, no guest
accommodations and few of the comforts of "civilization" but boasting
a good school and a "big-house" town hall with solar electric power.
The people of San Jose subsist primarily on primitive forest agriculture and the gifts of the rainforest. They are very much aware of the fragility of their home environment and the need to protect it from exploitation as they try to make the transition and adjustment to encroaching "civilization." Isolated though they are, their unique forests are still threatened by logging, petroleum and hydroelectric dam interests.