As part of our ongoing REI series, Radio Nature, we take you to Southwest Colorado, where guest worker sheepherders are brought from Latin America to carry out one of the world’s toughest and oldest professions. Bolivian immigrant Eraclio Beltran is one of the nearly 300 Latin American shepherds in Colorado who spend months at a time in complete isolation, surrounded by the natural landscapes of the American West. Latino USA’s Andres Caballero reports from Colorado.

RadioNature is a year-long series that looks at how people of color connect with nature. Funding comes from the REI Foundation. This piece was produced by Andres Caballero and edited by Leda Hartman. Voice over work was done by Rosalino Ramos.

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Andrés Caballero has been an active contributor to Latino USA for more than a year. He holds a M.S. in Journalism from the Columbia University School of Journalism, and a B.S. in Political Science from Notre Dame De Namur University. He covers issues that affect Latinos across the U.S., and he has also contributed to New America Media, the Hispanic Link News Service in Washington D.C., and El Tecolote in San Francisco.’