The Altiplano

Driving to the Altiplano we got to see the extreme differences in the Bolivian landscapes… The Altiplano was barren but beautiful and the people were very inviting and gracious. We spent 5 days in Huari, about 5 hours outside of Cochabamba. Here we stayed in a very simple hostel with rooms so tiny we could barely fit our suitcases inside. The doors were also very miniature and we all had to duck to get inside. The hostel had about 15 small rooms, with one pour flush toilet. Needless to say it wasn’t my cleanest week. The mornings and nights in the Altiplano were cold and my new warm sleeping bag was much appreciated. The landscape of the Altiplano was pretty amazing. The big skies reminded me of being out west. The land was flat, with mountains in the distance. There were only 2 types of vegetation, sparse grasses. The main crop there is quinoa, but it was not in season. We saw llamas, vicuñas (wild llamas) and flamingos (in the salt flats!)

Our work site was at a small adobe house in the middle of nowhere. We couldn't’t be seen or heard by anyone in the surrounding area. There were 2 women and 2 younger boys that lived there. They did not have any water, or any type of bathroom or latrine. We worked on drilling a well for them, which was such an amazing experience. Our well drilling rig took about a 1/2 an hour to set up and was a very basic pulley system. The well drilling itself was hard, repetitive work, but we did a lot of switching off. We ended up hitting water at 9 meters, and capped the water with a pipe and pump. Most well drilling must be done in one day because if you take a break the walls tend to cave in, however with the cold nights of the Altiplano and the hard soil we were able to do the job in 2 days. Because of our lack of time we had picnic lunches at the site, which usually included soup, salads and solar oven cooked bananas. One day the Dona of the house made us lamb in an adobe oven and quinua soup! We also started an adobe dry latrine for the family, which will be finished by the Huari volunteer Dan. It was truly a wonderful thing to see how we improved the lives of this family that previously did not have access to clean water. They were so grateful for us and our work, and we left with a feeling of accomplishment.

The rig
Water!