Bridget Besaw | 2013 | 10 min.
2014 Official Selection
Javier Vera is a 20-year-old, third generation gaucho living in the Aysen region of Chilean Patagonia, a region that has deteriorated significantly due to agricultural use by previous generations of gauchos. While maintaining a traditional gaucho lifestyle, Javier is one of many young locals working in conservation-based tourism initiatives across Patagonia that are serving as new models for conserving the region’s wild lands. Javier is not tempted by the lure of a faster paced lifestyle and instead believes strongly in the joy and beauty of rural life. This is a portrait of a young man living a dichotomous life in one of the world’s last remaining truly wild places.