Last Thursday we strarted working on the distribution line. Due to
current road construction, we had to alter our design so that the
pipeline wouldn´t follow the roads as much.
When we were mapping out the new pipeline most of the community members were walking with us, telling us where their land was, where we could cross their land and where they wanted us to start the pipe that would run to their houses.
Overall most of the community members are involved in the project and have paid the 150 Bolivianos (about U$21) and are willing to work their required 30 days of work.
What has been the most interesting for me is the culture of the Aymarian people (which is an indigenous group here in Bolivia).
From what I was told by a couple members in the community, the Aymarians in Quincucirca still speak Aymarian, they uphold communial values such as doing favors for their neighbors, and using the barter system. They also still wear more traditional attire, rather than Western attire and they weave blankets, which they use to carry stuff on their backs, such as goods or small children.
Another interesting component of the trip has been the language barriers. In our Engineers Without Borders-UC Davis group, Kevin has been able to translate a majority of the time. Then when we´re out supervising construction I´ve been able to understand at least half of what people are saying when they´re speaking Spanish. Though sometimes it can be frustrating when I don´t understand what the people are trying to say to me and then they´re becoming frustrated as well. However it´s been really interesting watching Allison and our mentor Anand communicate with Spanish speaking people when they only know a few words of Spanish. They both have been able to pick up some Spanish, though hand gestures tend to help all of us understand what we and they are saying.
Luckily for us there are three people in the community that know English and are able to help translate between Spanish and English and vice versa.
On Saturday the president of Bolivia is suppose to come to Sorata in order to generate support for his reelection. There is much buzz with everyone in the area and there has been a great effort to clean up and beautify Sorata. Also, most of the families are going to bring a dish for the president, as a sort of massive potluck. We´re expecting the city of Sorata to be very crowded on Saturday.
Jordan Theonnes, undergraduate in Engineering, UC Davis
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| Photo courtesy Kevin Dumler |
When we were mapping out the new pipeline most of the community members were walking with us, telling us where their land was, where we could cross their land and where they wanted us to start the pipe that would run to their houses.
Overall most of the community members are involved in the project and have paid the 150 Bolivianos (about U$21) and are willing to work their required 30 days of work.
What has been the most interesting for me is the culture of the Aymarian people (which is an indigenous group here in Bolivia).
From what I was told by a couple members in the community, the Aymarians in Quincucirca still speak Aymarian, they uphold communial values such as doing favors for their neighbors, and using the barter system. They also still wear more traditional attire, rather than Western attire and they weave blankets, which they use to carry stuff on their backs, such as goods or small children.
Another interesting component of the trip has been the language barriers. In our Engineers Without Borders-UC Davis group, Kevin has been able to translate a majority of the time. Then when we´re out supervising construction I´ve been able to understand at least half of what people are saying when they´re speaking Spanish. Though sometimes it can be frustrating when I don´t understand what the people are trying to say to me and then they´re becoming frustrated as well. However it´s been really interesting watching Allison and our mentor Anand communicate with Spanish speaking people when they only know a few words of Spanish. They both have been able to pick up some Spanish, though hand gestures tend to help all of us understand what we and they are saying.
Luckily for us there are three people in the community that know English and are able to help translate between Spanish and English and vice versa.
On Saturday the president of Bolivia is suppose to come to Sorata in order to generate support for his reelection. There is much buzz with everyone in the area and there has been a great effort to clean up and beautify Sorata. Also, most of the families are going to bring a dish for the president, as a sort of massive potluck. We´re expecting the city of Sorata to be very crowded on Saturday.
Jordan Theonnes, undergraduate in Engineering, UC Davis
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