As I began to talk about in my last post, I spent a few days in El Carmen, Bolivia last week.
It is a tiny, rural village from which all of Mauricio’s family originates. Both of his parents were born and raised there and many of his relatives still live in El Carmen.
The pueblo, as they call it, is home to about 1000 residents that live in small homes along a river.
One night I thought I heard rain on the roof, but was told that it was just a herd of horses galloping past. That's when it hit me just how far from the city we were.
We went fishing on the river and Mauricio and his cousins caught several fish; we ate them for lunch. They also caught a huge river stingray and cut out its liver to make oil for cooking and use as a remedy.
One of my flip flops broke, but Mauricio’s uncle fixed it. I probably would have just thrown it away.
Mauricio’s grandma cried when we arrived and cried when we left.
We went to the cemetery and found several coffins dug up and opened. People steal things from them like gold teeth fillings because they need money so badly.
We played pool one day after lunch.
Someone made me an egg for breakfast every single morning.
We travelled in a small airplane that felt smaller than my two-door Honda civic, excluding the tail and wings. On the way back we experienced a lot of turbulence and although I felt fine, I was told that my face turned as white as a sheet. It was after we landed that I felt like my forehead was still in the air and my body was on the ground.
One morning Mauricio’s grandma came into my room crying because 5 of her 6 ducks had died during the night. I’ve never had to worry about my next meal getting sick and dying.
I sat on a horse, although I didn’t actually get to go anywhere on it.
I took 334 photos in four days, some of which will appear here soon.
It is a tiny, rural village from which all of Mauricio’s family originates. Both of his parents were born and raised there and many of his relatives still live in El Carmen.
The pueblo, as they call it, is home to about 1000 residents that live in small homes along a river.
One night I thought I heard rain on the roof, but was told that it was just a herd of horses galloping past. That's when it hit me just how far from the city we were.
We went fishing on the river and Mauricio and his cousins caught several fish; we ate them for lunch. They also caught a huge river stingray and cut out its liver to make oil for cooking and use as a remedy.
One of my flip flops broke, but Mauricio’s uncle fixed it. I probably would have just thrown it away.
Mauricio’s grandma cried when we arrived and cried when we left.
We went to the cemetery and found several coffins dug up and opened. People steal things from them like gold teeth fillings because they need money so badly.
We played pool one day after lunch.
Someone made me an egg for breakfast every single morning.
We travelled in a small airplane that felt smaller than my two-door Honda civic, excluding the tail and wings. On the way back we experienced a lot of turbulence and although I felt fine, I was told that my face turned as white as a sheet. It was after we landed that I felt like my forehead was still in the air and my body was on the ground.
One morning Mauricio’s grandma came into my room crying because 5 of her 6 ducks had died during the night. I’ve never had to worry about my next meal getting sick and dying.
I sat on a horse, although I didn’t actually get to go anywhere on it.
I took 334 photos in four days, some of which will appear here soon.
1 comment(s):
Hi my name is alejandra suarez and I was aslo was born in el carmen now i live in ft.lauderdale florida The pool table was my dads {don lucho } and your boyfriend is my husband's {yerko espinosa} cousin thank you for putting those pictuers of bolivia so other people can see it.. when you come to the usa tell your boyfriend that he should give us a call so you can come visit... my e-mail is alex80suarez@hotmail.com I love seeing my people in Bolivia I cried when i saw those beautiful pictuers
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