After seeing most of the Bolivian cities I wanted to experience a bit of rural life. I was recommended to visit the project called Independencia in the town of Independencia. I wasn’t really interested in weaving, but more in getting of the beaten path and experiencing the Quechuan culture and the way of life. Here are some parts of my diary.

The description of the project is on the webpage of Sustainable Bolivia : www.sustainablebolivia.org/projectindependencia.thml?l=en.

Dorinda's blog: pazabolivia.org

13.4   After going out in Cochabamba with other volunteers I had one hour to arrange my things and get the 5.30 a.m bus. The taxidrivers went on strike at 4.00 a.m so I couldn’t call a cab. Luckily I could catch one from the street. It drove me to a dodgy area from where the bus to Independencia was supposed to leave. There was no bus so we had to take a trufi (minivan) to Quillacollo to catch a bus from there. It took us more than an hour to find our way there, because of all the blockades (the Bolivian way to demonstrate). After a weird drive we could finally catch the right bus. Indipendencia is located on the eastern Andean range (cordillera) just 220 km from Cochabamba. Normally the trip takes 7-8 hours because of the unpaved and winding roads. Because of the roadworks I could enjoy the bumpy ride for 9 hours. After a long night without sleeping and 11 hours of traveling I was quite tired and out of this world. Dorinda came to pick me up and we climbed the steep streets to her house located above the village of Independencia.   

14.4  I slept very well after a long day of traveling. Saturday was a day of dye workshop. After loading all the things we climbed on the bed of the truck and traveled to a countryside (campo). The participants were local indigenous women (cholitas) of the community called Chuñavi. The life of the local women is busy and hard. They raise their numerous children, take care of their sheeps and cows, cook and do all the other household work. After all this they try to earn some money by doing the handicrafts for sale. The idea of the workshops is to give them a change to dye the threads they produce from the sheep wool and to develop their skills of dying. After all the introductions it was time to work. First the leaves were taken off from the branches and boiled for an hour in the big pots. This was actually the only part where I could help. Most of the time I just watched and tried to learn something.The other parts of the project are shown below.

 

First the leaves were boilt  for one hour. The green leaves where too fresh and din’t

give the good color so the women had to go quickly to pick up some

branches of Chilka (yellow flower) which luckily worked well.

 

 

The chemical reaction with salt (of aluminium)  gave the mixture a different color

depending on the leaves used.

 

The mixture of yellow flowers (Suyku) and red liquid (Cochi) was very efective.

Suyku gave the thread a nice yellow color. Chilka is boiling in the other pot.

Ready for weaving.

Different kind of potatoes for lunch.

 

In the evening boys from the neighbour came to ask for a help with their math homework. It seems that  also here the teachers like to limit the free time of the kids by giving them lot of homework.  After doing the homework I sent the kids home at 7 p.m, but asked them to come back tomorrow.

15.4 The boys came back before 9 o’clock in the morning just after I woke up. They played some computer games while I was having breakfast. We were supposed to go for a walk around the village, but as it started to rain we watched the animated version of Tintin. The film was as exiting for them as for me. I used to be a big fan of his comic books when I was a kid. Meanwhile one girl came in and needed help with her math homeworks.

After watching the movie and doing the homeworks the rain stopped and finally we could go for a walk. They wanted to show me the river and the hills nearby. The kids tried to teach me some Quuechua and to pick up some English words from me. They spoke Spanish to me, but Qechua among themselves. While I tried to follow the kids in the steep hills it started to rain again. We tried to return quickly, but couldn’t avoid getting wet. The kids went home and we had some lunch. Dorinda had cooked some tasty jacked potatoes and steaks in her traditional clay oven. In the afternoon we walked around the village. Only the local guys racing with their motorbikes ruined the peaceful atmosphere. There was some life to be found in the center as the sunday is the only real marketday in Independencia. There were some hawkers in their stalls selling their handicrafts and buckets of roses indicating that the Chicherias (the bars selling homemade cornbeer) were open. We just walked by saluting the people in the streets.

 

16.4  Monday was the day of workshop in the other community called Huan Carani. First we climbed up the mountain by a truck, but got off at the top. The views were amazing and the weather was sunny, but fresh. We walked down to a village picking up the yellow flowers (Misiqo) used for dying on the way. The idea of the workshop was the same as Saturday, but there were more participitants. Huan Carani was pronounced the first official community of women in the area. Potatoes and the fresh lamb was cooked in a traditional way to celebrate this event. In the meantime I visited the local elementary school with 17 pupils and 2 teachers.

17.4  In the morning we went to a local school to ask if I could observe some classes. The principle was a friendly lady and promised to arrange something. In the afternoon we went with cholitas to pick up some Suykus for the thursday’s dye workshops. We found loads of them and there was a lot of work to separate the flowers, the leaves and the branches from eac other. It was interesting to observe the cholitas and listen the Quechua language, but real communication seemed to be very difficult due to language and the culture.

20.4  The trip to collect the Misiqos (yellow flowers) for dying turned out to be a trekking for 5 hours in the mountains. That was fine for me. The air was fresh, the views were amazing and it was good to exercise for a change. On the mountains we met cows, sheeps with their shepherds and some local people doing their daily tasks like planting potatoes. I decided to start do more walking and running again being very exhausted after the trek.

22.4  The students of the local schools were having their Olympic games from Thursday to Sunday. They were doing different kinds of sports and playing loud their wind instruments all day long. The matches of volleyball, futsal, and soccer were quite entertaining. The older boys were playing like professionals. This was a big event in a village where normally nothing happens.In the evening I tried to run up the steep road up to the hill. Suddenly I found a drunk man lying in the ground. Sunday is a main day for markets and after selling their products the men used to gather to drink some chicha. This gentleman had had a little bit too much, but all of a sudden he got up and continued his long walk (4 hours) to Huan Guarani. I hope he could make it and his wife was just happy to see her husband coming home.

23.4  On Monday morning I started to participitate the classes of mathematics in the local secondary school called “Fe y Alegria”. The first lesson with every class that I visited was spent for a cultural exchange though. I explained the students about the geography, climate and the life in Finland. Most of the time they seemed to be quite interested in my stories and asked some questions too. In the actual classes the teachers were explaining the theory and giving some examples which students were copying in their notebooks. The students got eventually bored in the long classes (70 minutes) and started to talk and move around in the classroom.  Most of them couldn’t do the exercises either due to lack of books. In general the teenagers behave quite well and listen to their teachers, but sizes of the groups are too big (40 students) and the teachers can't keep all the students active.

In the evening one 18 year old girl come to our house to ask if I could teach her to use the Internet and e-mail. She is the first Internet virgin teenager that I have met, but there must be more in this village. Many kids seemed to have their own mobiles though. Unfortunately the only place with Internet was closed like it has been every day during my stay. I hope she will get the introduction to an iexiting world of Internet sooner or later.

26.4  Today I made my last visit to a school and had my last presentation about my country. I had also a chance to watch the 6th-graders in their math exam while their teacher was in the meeting. The exam was about trigonometry and the students seemed to have lot of problems with it. They tried to cheat by having a book under the desk or asking some advice from me. I tried to do my best to not to let them cheating. After half an hour the teacher came back and actually let the students use their books, because they didn’t seem to know anything. It was interesting experience for my last class. I decided not to visit the school anymore on Friday to have some more time to explore the surrounding nature once more and to pack my things for the return journey. All the classes were just having exams anyway. In the evening I went to play football with some of the teachers and the students. It was good to experience the same thing on the field as I already saw on Sunday. The players of the school’s team were too quick and talented for me, but luckily I was able to score once.

28.4.  On saturday I had to leave, because Dorinda went to States for her vacation. The morning bus  (6.30 a.m) was full of people and their stuff. Some people had to stand the whole journey of ten hours, because there were no seats for everyone. After all my visit was more ecotourism that actual volunteering. It was interesting, but there weren't  not much to do for me. On the other hand it was good just to chill out enjoying the nature and the silence. On May there will be a lot of travelling and touring.