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First Impressions
The overwhelming first impression of La Paz is the view: stark and immense, with a majestic Mount Illimani standing guard over the city. The earthen colors of the high plains juxtapose against a brilliant blue, endless sky...
Getting Acclimated: "Another Cup of Mate Please."
Thursday was our day to spend the day adjusting to the altitude and taking in whatever we could of La Paz, should we feel up to it physically. It was coincidentally, independence day in Bolivia, and La Paz was alive with festivities.
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Thanking Mother Earth
Friday morning marked the first leg of our trip, destination Caranavi! We would venture to Yungas (literally "Valleys") to document an agricultural and natural resources program. The Yungas road's reputation preceded our journey. It is described in travel books as the scariest road in the world.
An Introduction to MIRNA
We were treated to a series of presentations introducing us to the MIRNA program. We learned of the history of the program and its long-term strategy. MIRNA aims to make low-income farming settlements self-sustaining by providing development training.
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A Day in the Clouds
It is not uncommon to walk through clouds of one sort or another in the remote villages near Caranavi, Bolivia. At this elevation, early morning clouds linger in the lush green mountaintops. In the streams and waterfalls along the winding road that link these tiny villages together, colorful clouds of butterflies also collect and sway gracefully. And dust clouds meet every twist and turn made by foot or wheel along the road. It is strange and beautiful and then strange again.
A History Lesson
Farmers here use slash and burn techniques not out of disrespect for the land, but because it is cheap, it requires little long-term investment and it works. For a short time anyway. When it stops working - usually after two harvests-- they move on. Migrating is how they have learned to cope, to survive. They come to this place, make the most they can from the land, and when it stops providing, they move on.
Agricultural Assistants One Day, Counselors the Next
As we drove on Johnny explained, "Sometimes we are more than agricultural assistant in the areas where we work. We can be doctors one day, technical agricultural assistants the next, and then counselors yet another day. We maintain an agricultural focus, but we must adjust and be sensitive to the needs of our participants."
"I Plan to Stay with This Land Now"
"In this 10 foot square area, Roberto has grown peppers, chiles, beans, limes, bananas, coffee and mandarin oranges. He has worked with CARE for a year and a half. You can see by the diversity of his crops in just this small area that the land will produce for his family. We have worked together so that he now can think of the future here. He can plant trees knowing that they will not produce for two or four years, and he can abide by that."
Bringing in the Coffee Harvest
Coffee farming in the Bolivian lowlands is backbreaking hard labor. Gregorio Huiza can testify to this. His Aymara ancestors lived on the high, cold plains of the altiplano until intense poverty forced them to migrate. They came to Yungas in the hopes that the land would provide at least a subsistence level of production, and perhaps, with luck, a little bit more.
"A Woman?" They Said
Ana is one of the few female agricultural extensionists that was able to withstand the tough physical demands of working for CARE's MIRNA agricultural project in Bolivia. "When I first came to the communities," Ana explains, "they did not want to work with me. 'A woman?' they said. 'Let us see your credentials! Where did you study? How do you know what you are doing?'
continued...
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