It’s hard to return to the ordinary when I have visited the extraordinary for the last two weeks.   The extraordinary included extraordinary beauty, extraordinary people, and extraordinary challenges.

The people of Bolivia I met were hard-working, hopeful, generous and kind.  I was lucky to have two home stays.  My first home-stay let me help her with her farm animals.  I was in awe of Sra. M.’s strength, agricultural management, and systems that allow her to care for her animals, and make and sell cheese.  My second homestay was in a home that was part of an eco-tourism community.   The community leadership, and planning for tourists was surprising in a community of just 80 families.  This community had a vision, and made it come to fruition.

The beauty of the mountains, the farms, and the people will linger in my mind forever.  Bolivia has magical landscapes, and the people I met were kind and generous.

The challenges of resource scarcity and economic development are enormous, and yet, people seem to persist hoping it will all work out.

I am back in my own home, thinking I need the strength, and systems of management I learned from Sra. M.   I am also keenly aware that I need to take action to protect our resources. I need the vision of the people who started an eco-tourism cooperative.  Resources are a community commodity because what one person/farm/community does impacts us all.  My actions to protect our resources will help the Bolivian people I met, and my own family.  My Bolivian adventure taught me so much, I am committed to work for a sustainable world for us all.