Pablo Blazquez Photography Features

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	BELTERRA, FROM RUBBER TO SOYA Belterra is a city in the Brazilian Amazon in Para rich on rubber trees. The demand of rubber from the Second World War and the car industries in Europe and USA made this place to develop very fast around the 1940s. The American millionaire Henry Ford, owner of the Ford Company, wanted to establish in the Amazon the biggest rubber producer place in the world. He first tried in Fordlandia but it was a failure. Then, Belterra was born around 1934 in the middle of the forest near the Rio Tapajos as it had better communications and soil. Soon Brazilians an Americans moved in to work and quickly Belterra started to have hospitals, sport areas, schools, American architecture buildings and houses, harbours, cinemas, entertainment areas, … The end of the 2nd World War, and mainly the new Malayan synthetic rubber brought the project down, and Belterra was finally sold to the Brazilian Government. Many serengueiros “rubber collectors” have now stopped collecting latex because of the low price they get for it, and the deforestation suffered in the area the area...
	THAI-BURMA BORDER Burma is a country of a huge ethnical diversity. Burma has since 1962 been ruled by dictator Burmans regimens. Pro democrats and minority ethnics have since been object of human rights abuses and armed minority ethnic groups has appeared bringing a state of Civil War. This situation makes every days people to flee their villages. Some choose to go to Thailand while others remain deep in the jungle or ...
	THE CATADORES Brazil generates 200000 tons of trash everyday, and only one per cent is recycled. The Catadores (scavengers or binners) who are the people that collect trash selectively to sell it to recycling companies, recycle 99 per cent of all the recycled material in the country. This occupation is growing ...
	BALI. BEGINNING OF A LIFE Bali is the largest Hinduism place outside India, but its practice is very different to that in India. Balinese has developed their own Hinduism from the interpretation of religious ideas from China, India, and Java. It is called Agama Tirta or "Science of the Holy Water". Balinese have their own ceremonies. They also believe on reincarnation or cycle of life, but they have a special way to celebrate birth and dead. They assume a foetus comes from the heaven. After birth, the baby is still considered a spirit ...
	THE EMPALAOS The Empalaos is a pilgrimage that takes place on Good Fridays in Valverde de la Vera, a village in the agricultural region of Extremadura, Spain. This ritual, comes from time immemorial, it is believed to have existed already with the Vetons, who were Celtic warriors, and had survived throughout history by adapting to different life styles, as happened when the Romans were in Spain. They did so by transforming into peasants and Christians. It also survived clandestinely after ...