Helen's Andean Adventure

Trip to the altiplano (contd)

Wednesday
After braving the morning cold and frozen water, we left the little town of Macha and went along the rocky dusty road to another pueblito to meet some of the PCI technicians and visit some more schools.Most of the schools in the area were on vacation, but we were still able to talk to some of the PTA members responsible for preparing the school breakfast.Most of the teachers live in bigger towns and only come during the week. The most interesting part of this day was a visit to a very remote and high village to examine their school, which was a good change from visiting only the schools that were closer to main roads. This was probably one of the poorest areas in Bolivia: it takes about 5 hours walking to get to the nearest town; barely anyone speaks Spanish, and the people seem to be completely isolated from what we call civilization.It was definitely good to know that PCI works in such areas and has had success (most of the technicians that work in this municipality speak Quechua).We visited some more towns located in different spots along an incredibly winding and narrow mountain road. The scenery along the way was truly breathtaking...no camera could ever capture it.Upon arrival back to Oruro, I opted not to spend the night there and took a bus back to La Paz.

posted by HM @ 3:41 PM