Map of our Trip!

Hi again, friends!

Here is a look at what our route will be while in Venezuela. As I mentioned in the previous post, we will be starting with a few orientation days in Caracas along with students from Evergreen's program: Venezuela: Building Economic and Social Justice. Then, there will be a short trip to the coast where we'll visit a cacao cooperative & cooperatively managed processing plant in nearby Barlovento, (Miranda State).

Here's what Anne Fischel, one of the professors of the Evergreen program has to say about Barlovento. Barlovento "is a region, not a town, northeast of Caracas. It is where escaped and freed slaves settled, so today it is known as a center of Afro-Venezuelan life and culture.

We are going to an organic cacao plantation that is a family-owned cooperative. We will also be visiting either a cacao processing plant or the most recent addition, a plant that actually produces and packages chocolate. They are also starting to market their products to the nation. Both plants, as I understand it, are cooperatives, and both are co-owned by the local communal council, a new organ of participatory democracy in Venezuela."

More about Caracas and Barlovento when we actually arrive in Venezuela (today's flight was canceled for snow and ice and we've been rebooked for Sunday as of this posting). For now, here's a map of the region we'll be visiting–whenever we get there. Wish us luck!






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