A couple days ago I went to the “nearby” city of Arapata. It is about 1 hr and 45 min of drive time away. But this does not account for the wait time and unpredictability of transit here. I had to travel first to Coroico and then change “buses”. It went pretty smoothly but travel is always contingent on the desire of both a mobilidad driver and other passengers to go to the same destination. Distances in this country are not terribly far but travel times are incredible. Arapata can’t be more than 20 or 30 miles away and it takes a minimum of 2 hours to get there using the same transit as area residents.

I went to Arapata to see a festival that featured traditional dances from some of the surrounding communities. For the most part these dances are unique to the communities. Each group provided its own music with drums and various flutes. My favorite dance is called the Saya it is performed by the residents of Tocaña which is a town inhabited by afro-bolivianos. They drum as well as stereotype says they should. They were proceeded by a group in “blackface” (incredibly) performing a racially sensitive dance representative of the slavery that existed until relatively recently here. Bolivians don’t have the same concept of political correctness as we do.

I went with Sam and three students from our Rural Tourism program. It is always refreshing to have social contact with Bolivians when I spend so much time living and working with Americans. Below we are pictured with Fatima who is fast becoming one of our best friends here. The bags we are drinking out of are filled with a drink made from cooking what I think is sugarcane (the language barrier DOES still exist and the information I got from the students is subject to inaccuracy). It tasted sweet but only sort of pleasant. I got a real kick out of the bags though. They aren’t very uncommon. Often when you ask for a beverage to-go they will pour it into a bag so they can return the bottle for a deposit.

Yesterday I went with Sam and Fatima to her home in Trindad Pampa. It was interesting in every way. We walked and it took about an hour and a half. Trinidad Pampa is in a neighboring valley, coca is the most common crop, below it is pictured with Mango trees.

The next picture was taken about halfway down into the valley. In the foreground are new coca fields and in the background basically everything that isn’t an obvious tree is coca in some stage of development. Brown for new fields, lighter green for new plants or recently trimmed plants, and darker green for more mature or ready to harvest plants. The very darkest green is usually coffee which is grown in the presence of shade trees. In 2000 this valley produced very little coca. After drops in both the global price of coffee and fruit, coca became the best way to earn a living.

Coca production has negative impacts on the ecosystem. It needs to be fertilized using chemicals; other plants here usually use only chicken excrement. After the ground has been terraced it can't be used for other plants; it needs to lie fallow for five years. The creation of terraces can cause severe erosion. Each terrace guides rainwater off the field into a central runoff area (think of street gutters). This area receives so much additional water, that it is washed to the valley floor. Also growing stimulants in the place of food exports demand. So a place like Trinidad Pampa , that 10 years ago was feeding itself, now buys food shipped from La Paz.

In Trinidad Pampa we saw a soccer game. Every Saturday they have games, and most of the town attends. I felt like a bandit in a wild west movie when we arrived. Walking up the dusty main street of a town with closed up doors, shuttered windows, and no one in sight. But when we did meet people they were uncomfortably welcoming.

The following picture shows the game, which was nothing special, a little bit of the town, and some of the less disturbed forests. The tallest peak in the distance is called Uchimacchi, it is the biggest mountain in the area and most of the towns I spend time in are built around it. Carmen Pampa would be on the left.

Thanks for reading, take care

LOVE

Andy