Next Country --> 5. Peru
La Paz
See all photos of Bolivia --> Bolivia Photos
I had decided a few months prior to leaving on my trip through Latin America, that I’d spend two weeks in Bolivia and Peru with a bunch of friends from San Francisco. Our friend, Naomi, had recently taken a six month sabbatical from work, raised over $111k and was using that to build sixteen houses in Bolivia with the support of Habitat for Humanity (if interested you can check out her project at http://www.buildchangewithnaomi.com/). Those houses would end up supporting 100 new homeowners who were among lower income families. We spent our first week helping her build one of the houses in a town called Cochabamba. The experience would end up being one of the highlights of my trip.
We all flew into La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia and were completely out of breath. The airport in La Paz sits at 13.3k ft, so it’s a big transition from the coast. Fortunately, Cochabamba, where we’d be working, was only at around 7.4k ft and would give us time to acclimatize before heading back to La Paz and traveling throughout the highlands of Peru. But for now we had some time before our flight to Cochabamba, so we took a taxi into the center of La Paz. We grabbed breakfast, bought a few souvineers, and ended up walking around town. All of us were out of breath just looking at the hills.
La Paz is a fascinating city in many ways, least of which is how it’s built. According to our friend Wikipedia:
“La Paz’s geography, in particular the altitude, reflects society: the lower you go, the more affluent. While many middle-class people live in high-rise condos near the center, the really rich houses are located in the lower neighborhoods. The reason for this division is that the lower you go in the city, the more oxygen is in the air and the milder the weather is. And looking up from the center, the surrounding hills are plastered with makeshift brick houses of those struggling in the hope of one day reaching the bottom.”
Pretty wild, eh? When you look at this city from afar, you can’t help but think how these makeshift houses on the hills are able to stay in place through the heavy rains. Or even how people would get to them during landslides and mudslides. But as was proven to me over and over again throughout this trip, people are very resilient.
Cochabamba (Volunteering for Habitat for Humanity)
After a quick stay in La Paz, admiring the geography and the way of life, we took a flight to Cochabamba, and the headaches and breathless moments disappeared. In Cochabamba we stayed at an incredible hostel where Habitat volunteers would usually stay during their projects. I can see why they put them up here. Great food, comfortable rooms, friendly staff. I almost felt guilty at first. Of course, the hard work which was to follow made that guilt disappear pretty quickly.
We all showed up at the construction site the next morning and met the Siles family – father, mother, son, and daughter, as well as the Habitat crew. After the friendly introductions, Naomi gave us the lay of the land, told us what had to be done and we got started. No messin around.
There were a few basic things that we were able to help out with. The first, and most critical for the family, was filling in the foundation of the home. This is often a task that the family has to do on their own without the help from the hired workers who spend the time building and constructing the house. It can take weeks, or even months, of back-breaking work to completely fill in the foundation. Our task was to dig up dirt and rocks near the construction site and wheel them into the two bedrooms, the bathroom, and the kitchen in order to eventually lay over the concrete flooring. The majority of us worked on this for about three to four days. Another task was to mix the cement that would be used as mortar to pour in between the bricks. If we weren’t wheeling dirt and rocks around, then we were mixing cement and handing it up to the builders to construct the walls. The third task was to prepare for the construction of the roofs by helping to create a foundation for the roof to sit on. Without going into gory detail (and partly just because I forgot all the details) this step was using a lot of rebar and twisting a lot of wire.
By the fifth day we finished filling in the foundation, completed the walls, and prepared the foundation of the roof. The Director of Habitat for Humanity in Bolivia flew out from the city of Santa Cruz and performed a blessing for the house and for the family. Naomi also spoke and everyone thanked her for what an incredible job she had done organizing this project. The family we built the house for was so appreciative and everyone pretty much showed a tear or ten. Although it only lasted five days, the project left a lasting impression on all of us. We were able to experience firsthand the spirit of the people in the community and the desire of the families to make a better life for themselves. This experience in many ways was so much more meaningful than touring around visiting different historical sites and chalking them up as yet another place I saw on my travels.
That said, our next destination was Peru to visit the historical sites of Lake Titicaca, Cusco and Machu Picchu. :) If there’s any one place to see, though, before you die, go there.
Bus Ride to Peru
We flew back to La Paz and stayed there over night. This time we were more accustomed to the high altitude and experienced fewer severe headaches. The next day we took a bus from La Paz to the border of Peru. The drive to the border may be one of the most poverty stricken regions I´d ever seen. The conditions are incredibly tough for the people who live there -- barren lands, extremely high altitudes, hot temperature in the day and freezing at night, half finished buildings if that, and dirt and dust everywhere. The people seemed rugged and weathered but with a strong and gentle spirit. 
We eventually arrived at the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, took a fairy across a small inlet, and continued on until the city of Copacabana. From there we hopped on another bus that would eventually take us to the border of Peru and Bolivia.
It was an incredible experience. One week in Bolivia would leave an impression for a lifetime.
See next country --> 5. Peru
OR
See all photos of Bolivia first --> Bolivia Photos
-------------------------------------------------------
I had decided a few months prior to leaving on my trip through Latin America, that I’d spend two weeks in Bolivia and Peru with a bunch of friends from San Francisco. Our friend, Naomi, had recently taken a six month sabbatical from work, raised over $111k and was using that to build sixteen houses in Bolivia with the support of Habitat for Humanity (if interested you can check out her project at http://www.buildchangewithnaomi.com/). Those houses would end up supporting 100 new homeowners who were among lower income families. We spent our first week helping her build one of the houses in a town called Cochabamba. The experience would end up being one of the highlights of my trip.We all flew into La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia and were completely out of breath. The airport in La Paz sits at 13.3k ft, so it’s a big transition from the coast. Fortunately, Cochabamba, where we’d be working, was only at around 7.4k ft and would give us time to acclimatize before heading back to La Paz and traveling throughout the highlands of Peru. But for now we had some time before our flight to Cochabamba, so we took a taxi into the center of La Paz. We grabbed breakfast, bought a few souvineers, and ended up walking around town. All of us were out of breath just looking at the hills.La Paz is a fascinating city in many ways, least of which is how it’s built. According to our friend Wikipedia:
“La Paz’s geography, in particular the altitude, reflects society: the lower you go, the more affluent. While many middle-class people live in high-rise condos near the center, the really rich houses are located in the lower neighborhoods. The reason for this division is that the lower you go in the city, the more oxygen is in the air and the milder the weather is. And looking up from the center, the surrounding hills are plastered with makeshift brick houses of those struggling in the hope of one day reaching the bottom.”
Pretty wild, eh? When you look at this city from afar, you can’t help but think how these makeshift houses on the hills are able to stay in place through the heavy rains. Or even how people would get to them during landslides and mudslides. But as was proven to me over and over again throughout this trip, people are very resilient.
Cochabamba (Volunteering for Habitat for Humanity)
After a quick stay in La Paz, admiring the geography and the way of life, we took a flight to Cochabamba, and the headaches and breathless moments disappeared. In Cochabamba we stayed at an incredible hostel where Habitat volunteers would usually stay during their projects. I can see why they put them up here. Great food, comfortable rooms, friendly staff. I almost felt guilty at first. Of course, the hard work which was to follow made that guilt disappear pretty quickly.
We all showed up at the construction site the next morning and met the Siles family – father, mother, son, and daughter, as well as the Habitat crew. After the friendly introductions, Naomi gave us the lay of the land, told us what had to be done and we got started. No messin around.There were a few basic things that we were able to help out with. The first, and most critical for the family, was filling in the foundation of the home. This is often a task that the family has to do on their own without the help from the hired workers who spend the time building and constructing the house. It can take weeks, or even months, of back-breaking work to completely fill in the foundation. Our task was to dig up dirt and rocks near the construction site and wheel them into the two bedrooms, the bathroom, and the kitchen in order to eventually lay over the concrete flooring. The majority of us worked on this for about three to four days. Another task was to mix the cement that would be used as mortar to pour in between the bricks. If we weren’t wheeling dirt and rocks around, then we were mixing cement and handing it up to the builders to construct the walls. The third task was to prepare for the construction of the roofs by helping to create a foundation for the roof to sit on. Without going into gory detail (and partly just because I forgot all the details) this step was using a lot of rebar and twisting a lot of wire.
By the fifth day we finished filling in the foundation, completed the walls, and prepared the foundation of the roof. The Director of Habitat for Humanity in Bolivia flew out from the city of Santa Cruz and performed a blessing for the house and for the family. Naomi also spoke and everyone thanked her for what an incredible job she had done organizing this project. The family we built the house for was so appreciative and everyone pretty much showed a tear or ten. Although it only lasted five days, the project left a lasting impression on all of us. We were able to experience firsthand the spirit of the people in the community and the desire of the families to make a better life for themselves. This experience in many ways was so much more meaningful than touring around visiting different historical sites and chalking them up as yet another place I saw on my travels.That said, our next destination was Peru to visit the historical sites of Lake Titicaca, Cusco and Machu Picchu. :) If there’s any one place to see, though, before you die, go there.
Bus Ride to Peru
We flew back to La Paz and stayed there over night. This time we were more accustomed to the high altitude and experienced fewer severe headaches. The next day we took a bus from La Paz to the border of Peru. The drive to the border may be one of the most poverty stricken regions I´d ever seen. The conditions are incredibly tough for the people who live there -- barren lands, extremely high altitudes, hot temperature in the day and freezing at night, half finished buildings if that, and dirt and dust everywhere. The people seemed rugged and weathered but with a strong and gentle spirit. We eventually arrived at the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, took a fairy across a small inlet, and continued on until the city of Copacabana. From there we hopped on another bus that would eventually take us to the border of Peru and Bolivia.
It was an incredible experience. One week in Bolivia would leave an impression for a lifetime.
See next country --> 5. Peru
OR
See all photos of Bolivia first --> Bolivia Photos
-------------------------------------------------------
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