Rusty Young was backpacking in South America when he heard about Thomas McFadden, a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia’s notorious San Pedro prison. Intrigued, the young Australian journalist went to La Paz and joined one of Thomas’s illegal tours. They formed an instant friendship and then became partners in an attempt to record Thomas’s experiences in the jail. Rusty bribed the guards to allow him to stay and for the next three months he lived inside the prison, sharing a cell with Thomas and recording one of the strangest and most compelling prison stories of all time. The result is Marching Powder.
This book establishes that San Pedro is not your average prison. Inmates are expected to buy their cells from real estate agents. Others run shops and restaurants. Women and children live with imprisoned family members. It is a place where corrupt politicians and drug lords live in luxury apartments, while the poorest prisoners are subjected to squalor and deprivation. Violence is a constant threat, and sections of San Pedro that echo with the sound of children by day house some of Bolivia’s busiest cocaine laboratories by night. In San Pedro, cocaine – “Bolivian marching powder” – makes life bearable. Even the prison cat is addicted.
Yet Marching Powder is also the tale of friendship, a place where horror is countered by humour and cruelty and compassion can inhabit the same cell. This is cutting-edge travel-writing and a fascinating account of infiltration into the South American drug culture.
The chocolate and coffee projects were set up to help an indigenous community add value to their products and to market them to a wider audience. The project seeks a volunteer who can speak Spanish and has experience in community work, marketing, product design, etc. The volunteer must have the ability to use their own initiative, be very creative, and have a positive attitude when difficulties arise. The volunteer must also have a valid driving license. The project is scheduled to start in May or June 2010 and requires a minimum commitment of 6 months. There is the possibility of acquiring a paid job after the volunteer assignment. The project is located in a very picturesque area, near a beautiful mountain river and bus route into town. There are often other volunteers living in the village, so there would be plenty of company.
Selvamonos, the music and arts festival in Oxapampa, takes place from the 5th-9th October 2010. The festival began in 2009 as an attempt to decentralize culture in Peru and take quality Peruvian artists out of Lima and into the central jungle. Oxapampa is an interesting destination in its own right, as it was founded from a German-Austrian colony in 1891. This year, festival events include a classical concert, a musical project inspired by Andean ancestral spirits and a photograph exhibition. Visitors can also sample local food and take part in lots of dancing.
This family run hostel is located on a 2 hectare farm and is a great base for exploring the beautiful natural and historical surroundings. Facilities include a big and beautiful garden, laundry, TV, internet and wifi, fax, security boxes, spacious living rooms, yoga and meditation lessons, sauna, massage, salsa, tango and joropo lessons and much more. The hostel is looking for volunteers who would like a free stay in exchange of some gardening work, building, cleaning, farming, general maintenance, animal care, assistance with art and eco projects. 
Every four years, the FIFA World Cup brings together the world even as countries find themselves locked in fierce competition. But if the World Cup brings together the stars, the glamour and the fans, away from the spotlight another World Cup brings together the disadvantaged from every corner of the globe.
The first Annual College fair of Art, Design, Handicrafts and Cultural Tourism is under way in 4 cultural centres across Buenos Aires until 24th September 2010. The fair has 140 art exhibitions featuring paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, theatre and dance. There are also a number of conferences with the opportunity to listen to national and international experts lecture on tourism, music, theatre, visual arts, communication and cultural policies. The grand closing party on the 24th will feature a free rock concert.
This community-based indigenous environmental organization works to safeguard the ecological integrity of the national park and the economic, social, cultural and spiritual well being of its indigenous people. Over the last few years the organization has been responding to a major challenge – proposed oil exploration and development in the National Park and surrounding communities. A large American oil company has recently been granted the right to conduct further seismic testing inside the national park, which will involve the cutting of 7 transect lines. A biologist/ecologist is needed to assess the impacts of the lines being cut on the surrounding environment and ecosystem. Scientific evidence and research is needed to help incorporate biodiversity conservation and indigenous community concerns into relevant policies and regulations.
HostelTrail is an online network of hostels and tour companies in Latin America providing up-to-date information for backpackers and independent travellers. The UK project was started in 2006 with the idea of bringing together the largest and the smallest hostels and tour companies in Latin America. 
Based on true events, Backyard is a drama that focuses on the hundreds of unsolved murders of women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The film has two main story lines; one follows Blanca Bravo (Ana de la Reguera), a police detective newly transferred to the city who is soon overwhelmed with cases; the other finds Juanita (Asur Zagada), who moves to the city from the country and joins her cousin working in the maquiladoras, or multinational manufacturing plants set up to take advantage of the cheap labour pool.
Brazil’s government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world’s third biggest hydroelectric dam.