Potable Water in Sorata with Miraflores

Rotary Club Miraflores donated more than $3,000 with the help of Rotary clubs in the U.S. to a Potable water project in a small village in the hills/ mountains of Sorata, a farming community about 3-4 hours outside of La Paz. They teamed up with a Quaker NGO that did the coordinating of the project and helped the families with technical assistance. The people in the community did all of the manual labor and built the piping, tanks, and distribution themselves.
So last week on a Friday we got up early and headed for Sorata at 7:30 for the inauguration ceremonies. El capitán, a naval retiree, is the president of Rotary club Miraflores here in La Paz and was the special guest along with two reps. from the NGO.

This of course didn’t mean we would get there in 3-4 hours. Because of a shortage of gas, protestors in El Alto( the sprawling city above La Paz through which the only road from La Paz runs through), made a bloqueo so we were stuck in a sea of sardined minibuses, taxis, and 1940’s dodge school buses for about an hour.

We were led by Rigoberto who we casually called Rigoberta Menchu. He took the role of holding my life in his hands as our loyal pilot ( he was a real pilot too). I saw the true altiplano for the first time and the massive mountain ranges that line it on both sides. Absolutely stunning views, I’ll post some pics once I get them. We passed through a number of small towns and finally made it to another mountain range we had to cross before going back down the subtropical level of Sorata.

As it is the raining season there were massive blocks of fog, derrumbes ( land slides), and no guardrails as we whipped around switchbacks thousands of feet in the air. Once we began our decent the weather cleared up and we entered into the overwhelming subtropical andes. Although we made it through the fog and barely manageable roads that didn’t mean things would get better i.e. I wouldn't be on the verge of death. Instead we climbed another 30 minutes on extremely narrow and washed out, bumpy and, again, non-guard-railed pathways. Finally we reached a stopping point and hiked another 20 minutes to the location of the village passing small farms, hogs in the trail, and glimpses of the thin but forceful mountain stream in the distance.

All of the families were present and had set up a wonderful wooden fencing structure decked with beautiful flowers in front of a table on a plateu. The small terrace of flat land among the sloping hill overlooked an unbelievable view (pictures coming soon).
The ceremonies began with words from many of the village leaders who spoke Spanish but who’s first language was Aimara ( I might be mistaken, it might have been quechua, but I’m pretty sure it was Aimara). They thanked Rotary and the Quaker NGO and welcomed me as a representative from the United States. El Capitan said a few words of congratulations and we shared a communal meal (see list of things I’ve eaten). The men were separated from the women and children and we were seated on a long bench along the wood structure they put up.
The meal was delicious as we ate handfuls of multicolored popcorn and drank Tampico. Finally we climbed a slope to inaugurate the water tank. El capitan smashed a champagne bottle on the side, some of the younger kids tried to scare everyone with a firecracker and the families officially celebrated the first time they had had potable running water in their houses.
We then ate another meal called an Andean Breakfast ( see list of things I’ve eaten) and concluded with handshakes, saludos and a beautiful drive home.

(please note cheese del altiplano in the list of things I've eaten: el capitan stopped in a small town and bought us all a cheese disk and buns for an afternoon snack. Delicious!)