Bolivian Voices

Columba Stettner is a blogger from Guayaramerín in the Department of Beni. She currently resides in Germany. Her degree is in World Religions and she is pursuing a Master’s degree in History and Political Science. She also has plans to return to Bolivia one day. The topics of her blog named “Guayaramerín Analitica” concentrate on providing information on the history, legends, and culture of Guayaramerín. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 40,000. She writes:

Guayaramerín was founded by the pioneers of the rubber industry in 1892 with the name Port Palmira. Between 1905 and 1915, it was named Port Sucre, but later it became known as Guayaramerín. It currently sits at 45,000 residents. It is located in the Amazon region next to the Brasilian city of Guajará-Mirim and is separated only by the majestic Mamoré River. It sits at 212 meters above sea level. Currently, Guayaramerín is a commercial center and has a spirit of a bordertown, with the cordial atmosphere of a tropical city. The people of Guayaramerín is warm like the land, its people are joyful, hard-working, who enjoy the land, its natural resources like the streams and animals.

She thinks that there are not many blogs in her city because of the high costs of internet (average of Bs. 10 per hour = $1.35 USD). In her opinion, another factor is that many Benians study in other cities and now identify more with their new cities like Santa Cruz of Cochabamba.