For some thoughts on the rest of my trip to Bolivia, click
here.
The highlight of my trip to Bolivia in September was a short visit to Chirimoyas, a community established around 3 years ago from a chunk of
land previously owned by one landowner. Valeria worked as a volunteer to get this
land out of the pockets of one person and back to the hands of the people. Those who settled there came from all walks of life, from
indigenous to city dwellers, but had one thing in common: they needed land to
start a new life and a fresh start. The community is working on making the
land viable for crop production and developing a safe,
healthy, and prosperous town for its members. It
was amazing finally seeing a type of agrarian reform in action,
instead of just hearing about the huge inequalities of land
distribution in South America from Spanish classes.
I had the opportunity to learn more about how this community started, meet some of the amazing people who live there, and experience life in Chirimoyas first hand, the struggles and the triumphs. This experience really made me slow down and appreciate everything I have. Even though the visit was shorter than I anticipated, only 3 full days, Chirimoyas left more of an impression on me than 2 years at Grinnell.
 |
| Bottom right: map of
Bolivia. Bottom left: map of the region Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Top left: hard
to make out, but the darker gray rectangular-ish region is Chirimoyas. If
you're good at reading maps, you can see where Chirimoyas is located. Right above the
"M" in "Jose Miguel de Velasco", a little to the west of the triangle indent on the eastern border of Bolivia. |
The trip from La Paz to Chirimoyas started out around noon on Sunday, the 15th of September and we finally arrived around 2 am Tuesday. 32 hours of driving was an adventure. The ticket salespeople in bus stations would drag us around trying to sell us their tickets, claiming their buses were the most luxurious available. Obviously they were just trying to make a sale. Then, from Santa Cruz to Chirimoyas, we had car trouble because the company hadn't done maintenance on the van for years. Then, the driver left us in a town 2 hours away from Chirimoyas saying that he didn't know the directions. But in the end we ended up getting there safe and sound. The views from the drive were unforgettable, so it made up for the logistical chaos.
We set up our tents in the town-wide gathering space because no one was awake. While I was lying inside the tent listening to the sounds of roosters crowing, dogs barking, and bugs zooming around outside, it began to sink in that I was in a completely different world.
 |
| Welcome to the agro-ecological community "Chirimoyas" We slept in the building in the background the first night, and then to the left further back the other two nights. The building style is the norm. |
|
The town had a completely different energy than anything I've experienced, it was close to the tranquility I've felt at campfires from church camp. The days were so long; the first day I was there it felt like a week. Not necessarily because a lot of things happened or because I was extremely tired. On the contrary, I felt rejuvenated and refreshed; time just seemed to pass differently there. Anywhere I walked, I could look people in the face and smile and get a "Buen Día" (good day) in return. That sense of community and connection reminded me a little of Minnesota-nice and the close-knit campus of my college.
In addition to the energy felt while I was there, the views of the surrounding forest were spectacular. We took a one-hour hike in the middle of the jungle, no path, to a rock that offered a magnificent view of the trees below.
 |
| We climbed over fallen trees, ducked under hanging palm trees, and pulled off lots of ticks in the end. And I got a pretty bad sunburn. |
 |
| It stretched out all around us, for miles and miles. |
One night, Valeria needed to make a cell phone call. So what did we do? Drove 10 minutes up the red dirt road and climbed to the top of another rock. The only place Chirimoyas had signal! That night we had clear skies and a full moon. At the top of the rock Valeria and I were talking about how we felt an absolute tranquility up here. The trees surrounding us, the moon shining down, the shooting stars... it was "paz total" (total peace).
And yet...
Poverty. All the while, I was thinking about
this awesome article. While I was feeling rejuvenated, energized, and refreshed from being cut off from the city, I had this itch in the back of my brain. These people are suffering from a lack of resources. Even though they seem to live in a paradise, they struggle for everyday things we ALWAYS take for granted. The children only go to school until age 12. Even that's rare; some of them go to work before their done with their education because they need to make MONEY. The children play in the rough dirt road with flip flops or no shoes. Even though they could grow their own food, they don't have the farming resources so they eat the cheapest food they can find: rice and the peanuts they're able to cultivate, no vegetables. The papayas that grow abundantly on trees here are considered less valuable than water. The first day we had water no problem. The second day the motor broke and there was no water to wash your hands, clean the food, and drink. These people need to get resources like tractors and teachers in order to make their community into a sustainable, safe, and healthy town for the people who live there.
Like I mentioned before, Chirimoyas is working on getting the land ready for chia, sesame, and peanut production. They need the land in order to make a living. But the rainforest is shrinking every year. I got stuck in a moral dilemma while I saw some of that deforestation happen while I was cruising down the red dirt road in the back of a motorcycle wagon drinking a beer. It was a wild experience, living two realities at once: seeing people tear down the rainforest while seeing people living in poverty because they can't grow enough food right now. I'm not sure how to resolve this conflict in my head.
 |
| The road that passes through inside the forest, leading to the peanut crops. |
 |
| The man driving the tractor paused to take a swig of beer before getting back to work. |
 |
| And it's... gone. |
 |
| This man is throwing peanuts in the air, using the wind to separate the dirt and leaves from the actual peanut. |
Valeria spends a considerable amount of time volunteering with Chirimoyas to start different programs that could bring money into the town, from making beehives to sell honey to creating a website to capture some tourism. While I only saw a completely superficial tour of the town, and barely got to know the people I shared meals with, I felt a really strong pull to go back and work with them on education or female empowerment. Time will tell whether I end up going, but I hope someday I can go back to Chirimoyas and get to know its people better, to step back from all the materialism and appreciate a different life.
