
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.