Famous People From Bolivia
US Department Of State Post Report
Rio de Janeiro, the center of a metropolitan area of about 14 million people, offers one of the world’s most beautiful physical settings. Set adjacent to an ocean bay off the Atlantic Ocean and facing south, Rio is surrounded by mountains with spectacular formations and tropical greenery, and is truly what its residents, the Cariocas, call the Cidade Maravilhosa (marvelous city). Its landmarks are the striking Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pão de Açucar) and Corcovado Mountain with its famous Christ Statue overlooking the city. Brazil’s seasons are the reverse of those in the U.S., with summer from December to March. Rio’s normal temperatures range from 75 to 95ºF. Extremes vary from 40ºF during winter to 105ºF in the hot, humid summer. Intense rainfall also occurs throughout the year and may occasionally cause severe flooding within the city itself. Infrequent landslides affect housing on mountain slopes in densely populated slum areas known as favelas. ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
Uruguay’s economy has traditionally been based on agricultural products such as beef, leather and wool. In the last two decades, services such as banking and tourism, and non-traditional exports such as textiles, shoes and rice have started playing a more important role. Although Uruguay has no known hydrocarbon deposits, it is generously endowed with hydroelectric resources, now mostly developed. During the 1950s, with rising exports of agricultural products, Uruguayans’ incomes were among the highest in Latin America. However, in the early 1960s Uruguay followed an import-substitution model that protected local industry through high tariffs. While at first successful, the long-term results were high inflation, lagging p ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
West of Quito, 3 hours by car down the Andean slope, is Santo Domingo de Los Colorados, home of indigenous people who traditionally color their hair and skin with natural pigments. The area offers a wide variety of tropical fruits and other products. Further down the road, 6–8 hours by car from Quito, is Guayaquil, the nation’s largest city. Up and down the coast are beaches, some deserted, some dirty, some beautiful, and some highly urbanized, that offer a pleasant reprieve from Quito’s altitude. The Galapagos Islands, 600 miles off the coast, are famous for their wildlife. In recent years, Ecuador has taken great care to preserve the flora and fauna of the islands, strictly licensing and controlling the tourist industry that flourishes there. A proper tour of the islands takes at least a week. Ships operating in the tourist trade range from converted fishing sloops with room for no more than six passengers to luxurious cruise vessels offering all the comforts of a large hotel. [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
General traffic and driving practices differ greatly from those in the U.S. Traffic signs are widely disregarded. Improper signaling, failure to signal, and excessive speeding are frequent. Traffic signals frequently fail, compounding congestion and confusion. Lima's traffic can be nerve-racking at first, but most people soon adjust to the improvised driving patterns. Traffic in Peru moves on the right as in the U.S. License plates can be obtained through the General Services Office (GSO). Personnel must pay about US $ 10 for the cost of plates and registration. The Peruvian Foreign Office requires a letter issued by a local insurance company certifying that you have obtained "Third-Party liability" and "Obligatory Insurance for Traffic Accidents"(SOAT) insurance policies before issuing license plates and registration. The Mission requires all American employees to purchase the above mentio ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
Miami, FL 33181APO Address: American Embassy Unit 4750 [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
If you do not want to drive to and from the suburbs, you can commute by train, although the closest train stop is about a half mile from the Embassy. Three separate lines run from the Retiro station in downtown Buenos Aires: the General Belgrano, General Bartolome Mitre, and General San Martin Railroads. The Mitre line is the one most commonly used by Mission personnel. It serves the suburbs of Vicente Lopez, La Lucila, Olivos, Martinez, Acassuso, San Isidro, etc., all the way north to Tigre. Rush hour trains usually run 10 to 15 minutes apart. To travel from the downtown area to the suburbs takes from 30–45 minutes. ... [Read More]
Department of State Washington File: Byliner: Research Fellow on Agricultural Biodiversity
Within any particular crop species, genetic diversity has long been important in pest control too. In a genetically diverse planting, some individual plants will likely fare better during an infestation than others, and of course farmers will be quick to notice the best performers. The late Jack Harlan, an economic botanist from the United States, turned up an extreme example of this phenomenon on a visit to Turkey in 1948. He was there to study wheat, and he collected a particularly inauspicious looking specimen in one field: "tall, thin-stemmed, lodges badly [that is, it won't stay upright] ... lacks winter hardiness... and has poor baking qualities." Yet when Harlan's seed collection was later evaluated, plant breeders discovered that this variety was "resistant to four races of stripe rust, 35 races of common bunt, ten races of dwarf bunt and [had] good tolerance to flag smut and snow mold." Over the centuries, in years when major outbreaks struck the Turkish fields, that variety m ... [Read More]
Prosperity Paper No. 5
Entrepreneurship can arise whenever there is an opportunityto bring service to the market and reward to the visionary. Itmay flow from a sense of technological possibility, such asChester Carlson brought to what became Xerox in the 1950s. Orentrepreneurship may result from seeing the neglected potentialin a well-established combination of technologies, as Fred Smithdid in creating Federal Express in the early 1970s. Or it maystem from identifying an existing good that needs no development,such as Levi Strauss' coming to California amid the 1849 goldrush to make sails for ships and staying to make blue jeans forminers. ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
Copacabana is a town 88 miles (140 kilometers) from La Paz on Lake Titicaca known for its Shrine of the Virgin of Copacabana to which many Bolivians make pilgrimages. Copacabana can be reached by car from La Paz in about 4 hours via paved road with beautiful views of Incan-built terraces. A day tour from La Paz includes a hydrofoil boat ride from Huatajata (a town on the lake) to Copacabana. The road trip includes a ferry crossing on barges at the Straits of Taquina. Since barges only operate during the day and few hotel accommodations are available at the straits, arrive in Copacabana before dusk. Copacabana has several two star hotels. Daytrips by motorboat to the Island of the Sun and Moon, famous in Incan mythology, can be made from Copacabana. On the way to the western shore of Lake Titicaca, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from La Paz, are the ruins of the advanced Aymara culture at Tiwanaku, which is a 2½ hours drive from La Paz. ... [Read More]
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