Heading east from the city of Cochabamba one finds the region of Chapare, which is a large rain-forest area in the Upper Amazon Basin. Cochabamba is dry and more desert-like than tropical, so the drastic change in the scenery on the drive there was surprising. It was incredibly humid when we stepped off our bus, which prompted those of us from the east coast of the US to exclaim with a mix of surprise, disappointment and nostalgia, “ewwww, this feels kind of like home in the summer time!”
The town our hotel was in is called Villa Tunari, which at one time was the hot-spot for narco-traffickers, but has changed into the central location to bring in tourists. On Saturday we visited a coca farmer; tried to visit the FELCN (Fuerza Especial de la Lucha contra el Carcotráfico) the Bolivian anti-narcotics forces; Parque Machia which is an animal reserve; and went out to dinner to enjoy some delicious fish. On Sunday we went to a national park called Parque Nacional Carrasco and a trout farm for lunch on our way back to Cochabamba.
Before describing the visit in more detail, I’d like to talk about coca. Before coming here, I didn’t know what the coca plant looked like, smelled like or what it could be used for besides cocaine. Since being here, I have discovered there is a whole lot more to coca than that. For ages and ages, the coca leaf has played a very important role in the Andean cultures. For example, it gives strength and demonstrates honor and respect by exchanging it with another person. Bolivia has a history of exploitation especially in her rich mines. The colonists recruited indigenous people to work in the mines, usually staying down for days at a time. I can’t imagine what that would be like but I’m sure I’d get hungry and tired pretty quickly. In order to help them keep up their energy and suppress their grumbling tummies, the miners constantly chewed coca.
Coca can be used to make a tea, which is the way I usually consume it. It’s great for altitude adjustment, digestive problems and upset stomachs especially. It can also be made into flour, candy, baked goods, juice etc. The coca plant can be harvested up to 4 times a year and has a life of 10-20 years. It’s extremely light to transport and grows very easily in sub-tropical regions. There is a coca union here, so after the farmer harvests it, the coca is brought to a central location where it is processed and put on the market. According to what I was told, it is sold at the same price for legal and illegal purposes.
The use of coca for cocaine really only started here in the 1970’s when General Banzer was dictator, as I understand the story. In 2004, the Bolivian government made an agreement with the Six Federations of the Chapare coca farmers to set the legal limit of coca growth per person to one “cato” which is 1600 square meters. With this amount of land, farmers can earn about US$1000-1200 per year from coca (according to Andean Information Network). See picture below of one cato just harvested.
This cato of coca is owned by a farmer we were able to visit and talk with. He also grows cocoa plants, rubber trees, palms to get heart of palms, and black pepper. He talked about his story and how awful it was when coca started to be used for the wrong reasons. It came as a real shock to him when it happened. He doesn’t want to stop growing it because it’s more lucrative than other crops, it’s able to be harvested repeatedly and it’s easy to transport, which is a big deal for farmers in the midst of poor roads in Chapare. Below is a picture of the farmer's rubber trees.
After visiting the cocalera (coca farmer) we attempted to visit the FELCN (Fuerza Especial de la Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico) the Bolivian anti-narcotics forces station, but they changed a ceremony’s location so we weren’t able to. On the drive back, we went past a training school where Bolivians are trained in anti-narcotic efforts in rural jungle regions. I was told that while in school, every person’s name is taken away and they are called “elements” and that many people who are a part of the leadership and teachers there were trained in Fort Benning, GA at WHINSEC (formerly known as the School of Americas).
We took a break from the subject of coca in the afternoon to go to Parque Machia, which is a private reserve for monkeys, macaws and pumas, although we didn’t get to see the puma. They say that the animals are saved from captivity, but I also read that they’re the animals misplaced from their homes by construction of roads or commercial interests. Therefore, I’m not sure why exactly the animals are there, but it enabled me to have an up-close-and-personal encounter with several monkeys!
When we arrived, some monkeys were sitting in the park volunteers’ laps or hanging out in the trees. They started to climb onto us visitors and inspect people’s hair and pockets. I decided that I wanted to go see the macaws so I started walking down the path when all of a sudden a mama monkey with her baby hanging on to her front crawled up my legs and onto my back. Not 3 seconds later, another monkey jumped on my head. I stood still with tense shoulders, not really knowing what to do because there weren’t any park volunteers around me. After a little while, I started walking and once I got to a railing all 3 decided to hop off.
I was warned that these monkeys were very forward and you shouldn’t take any jewelry with you or anything in your pockets because they will take it. For this reason I didn’t bring a camera but some of my friends risked it and so I have some pictures from them to share.
The next day we got up and went to the ecological park, Parque Nacional Carrasco, which was probably my favorite part of the trip. The park protects about 6,200 km. of multiple ecosystems on the slopes of the Andes, including high grasslands, cloudforests, and tropical rainforests, as low as 300m and up to 4,000m. There are over 700 species of birds and lots of awesome animals like jaguar, tapir and peccary. The big threats are illegal logging, hunting and deforestation for agriculture by people along the northern and southern borders of the park. There are people who live in the parkland and we came across someone’s cato (plot of coca) while on our walk.
To enter the part of the park where we spent most of our time, we crossed a river in a little cart. We walked for a couple hours through the jungle and it was just beautiful, beautiful! There were tons of plants, trees with crazy roots, butterflies, leaf-cutter ants, bats, funny flowers, caves and even more than my imagination could handle. At one point we walked up into part of a semi-cave, from which was coming a loud rackety noise. Turns out the noise was coming from birds, which I think were guacharós, oil birds. They’re nocturnal, eat fruit, make clicking sounds in order to navigate and are found in few places of S. America. Again, amazing how MUCH biodiversity there is in such a small country.
A few days after returning from Chapare, some friends invited me to go on a day trip to Tapacari, about 3 hours drive from Cochabamba. Here are Jenna and I at a self-made rest stop on the way there. No restroom stall at a rest stop in the states has this good of a view!
In Tapacari there is a small village that didn’t used to have water, but now does because of a project that lasted for over a year to transport it from 15 km up the way. Jason, who is a civil engineer and a Maryknoll missioner, lived out there for about a year helping with the project. All the manual labor was done voluntarily by local people. They now get water but Jason thinks there were a couple kinks in the original planning and they could be getting more water than they are. When I asked how the people felt, he said they were and are grateful to have water but were also disappointed that the output was not what they were told to expect.
Above is the peninsula and at the tip is where the pueblo is. At the top of the picture, is about where the source of water is, about 15 km. After hanging out in the plaza so Jason could catch up with old friends, we ate lunch and were joined by a little girl who had her dress on backwards, no underwear but was the cutest and most diligent teacher of quechua to my friend Minh.
We then drove up to the stream that gives water to the town. This is a suspension bridge, which is holding the piping to transport the water. Jason said the villagers carried all the parts on their backs up this very steep and slippery hill we climbed so that I could take this picture...I have no clue how they did that because I had to use both hands to grab on to the plants in order not to fall backwards.
Going up we got some pretty incredible views as well. I really enjoyed the day and it was good to be somewhere out of the city.
There was one moment that struck me especially. As we were in the plaza, a group of three people arrived carrying large loads in their aguayos (large pieces of colorful cloth). As they took them off their backs with sighs of relief and set them on the ground next to their feet, my eyes stopped. Their feet. They were wearing sandals made of tire rubber and yet the skin of their feet didn’t really look like skin anymore, it had been so weathered; it was as if I was looking at a clay sculpture of feet. The next day I was out in a restaurant of Cochabamba and looked down the line of people sitting at a table next to us…all very nice, very pretty shoes and feet (mine included). Incredible. These two images are very vivid in my mind and I think about them a lot.
I’m ready. I’m ready to enter more into the lives of those tough, weathered yet very strong feet; that is, if they’ll have me. There is goodness and wisdom in each person and I hope that I can continue to build friendships with Bolivians of many different paths, those well-paved as well as those a little rougher to travel. It’s a hopeful future I’m looking at as I leave language school and start trying to find my place here in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
For pictures of my trip to Chapare, please click on this link
http://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/ChapareBlog# For pictures of my trip to Tapacari, please click on this link
http://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/TapacariTrip#5 Things I’m thankful for: lush green tropical forests; fresh fish; postcards from friends; a little girl with sandals that squeaked and lit up with each waddle-step she took…oh that was funny; I have a place to sleep at night and it’s surprisingly warmer than my host-family’s house.
