Cochabamba is a valley city surrounded by the Andes Mountains. Being in the city, we wonder what more is there to Bolivia. What are in those mountains around us? Half my team, Glenn, Ashley and myself, had the chance to experience the ‘Real Bolivia’ for about 26 hours.
We weren’t sure exactly what w were getting ourselves into. We had these instructions
bring: sleeping bag, warm clothes, toilet paper and water.
So I pack my bag with my warmest clothes, reading materials and a few personal items such a toothpaste and toothbrush. We get picked up at 8am and head out East from Cochabamba into the mountains.
We arrive at our destination a little after 10am. Now we are in the Bolivia that we all wanted to experience. We are in a small town nestled on this huge lake. We are immediately shown where we will be working. Our job is to dig a big hole 9ft x 11ft x 5.5ft which will be used as a septic tank for the one day completed orphanages. Sounds like fun and an easy task since we have had so much practice digging in the mud in Ecuador and the sand in Peru. We get out pick axes and shovels and get to work.
At noon we break for lunch. We grab our food from the work shed and sort out what we have for 4 meals. Time to ration! The food we brought with us is all we have for our time here. We are shown where we will be staying for the night, and are given a stove, propane tank, pots and bowls. Then it is back to work.
Yes I worked super hard! Picking and shoveling!
We work from 1-4pm with a ½ hour break due to a random rainstorm. Steve (our American contact for this project) leaves at 3pm which means we are truly on our own. After work we had 3 choices. Hike up this mountain to the peak, walk to the lake, or rest. We tried resting but it was a tad boring. Rain canceled out the hike so it was to the lake we went.
As team finance, I decided we deserved a snack because of our hard work from the day. We stop at the first tienda (store) we see and get some wafers. We continue our walk to the lake and eat our chocolate wafers. On the way home we stop at another store and get some juice. Which turns out to be this green goo looking stuff. Thanks Glenn (he took on the translating for that one).
At 5pm we begin cooking dinner. We form the hamburger patties, pour the water for the noodles, break the bread for the hamburger buns and tear off lettuce. For awhile we could not get the stove lit which would have meant a sad dinner, but at 5:45pm, we begin our feast. Dishes were done in the bathroom sink.
Our wonderful meal!
By 7pm we were all in bed and ready for sleep.
The next morning breakfast was at 8am. We had some oatmeal and got to warm up some chocolate milk. At 9am it was time to work. More digging. We worked from 9am-12pm and then it was lunch and then time to head back to civilization.
Though I was not really looking forward to this trip, I am so happy I got the chance to go. It was quite the adventure. As Glenn said it (This is how the world used to live). Very simply without many amenities. But I am thankful we had beds to sleep in, a real bathroom with running water, propane and pots and pans. It wasn’t so bad after all!
We dug all this. Broke ground there. It´s about to my knees. And needs to be as deep as I am tall.
I realized this is the first time we were left alone to fend for ourselves. There was really no guidance, except we were staying the night in the mountains, food is provided and we are expected to work. And we were left up there with no communication with Cochabamba or the rest of our team. It was a little unnerving at first, but once I learned to enjoy and be content with our circumstances all turned out okay.
