Life in Moro Moro, Bolivia

Moro Moro is both a town (pueblo) and a district. We live in the pueblo, which has a population of about 500 people (although we've heard drastically different numbers than that). In town there is a high school and an elementary school and a health clinic with a pharmacy, nurse station, doctor, and dentist. There are two churches: one Catholic church, which resembles small Catholic churches you might find in New Mexico, and a protestant church. Services in the protestant church are held in a room that fits about 10 8-foot benches and a little stage and pulpit. Like many buildings here, the church has a dirt floor and adobe walls. Roofs are variable - we have seen many people replacing their mud roofs with red clay tiles, while other folks have tin metal roofs. There are also multiple tiendas (small stores) in Moro Moro. In fact, there are two just on our block, two on the block where our hotel room is, and one down the block in the other direction. The tiendas are basically living rooms of people's homes that have been stocked with basic food items, bathroom and kitchen supplies, and a few toys and tools. We are told that the same supplier stocks all the tiendas, so you can walk up to any tienda and find basically the same items and brands. What's even more interesting is that you do not walk into these tiendas, but instead stand at the door and ask for the items you want. This is particularly a challenge for those of us with limited Spanish vocabulary, but so far we've been able to manage. For the next few weeks, the couple we're replacing is still living in the house we'll move into, so we're living in a hotel room. The owner of the hotel and her daughter serve us lunch and dinner every day. Moro Moro Bolivians eat more than we're used to eating: lunch is usually a large bowl of soup and another large plate piled with food. Yesterday the second plate had a mound of rice, a mound of lentils, and a small pile of tomatoes and onions, all topped with a plate-sized piece of breaded chicken. For most folks, dinner is very small--perhaps just bread and fruit--but until a few days ago our hosts fed us as much at dinner as at lunch. We finally realized that we couldn't keep eating so much, so I asked our hostess if we could just share a plate. I was worried that would be rude, but she just laughed and said that would be fine. She and her three children have been very patient with our Spanish. They speak no English, but each night we've managed to sit and talk with them for two hours or more. I'm afraid we're getting spoiled, because they all speak very clear Spanish, while many of the folks we'll work with speak less clearly and with many more Quechua (an indigenous language) words mixed in.

The district of Moro Moro has, I think, around 3000 people, many of whom live in "communities" of different names. These communities might only have 3 or 4 homes, and the homes might be fairly isolated from each other, but the area is given a name and called a community, I'm assuming so that people know how to describe where they live. Life in the campo, or the area outside the pueblo, is fascinating to us. Last Tuesday we drove to a home in the campo to start work on a latrine and finish up some work on a spring-fed water system. The house was 45 minutes from the pueblo on dirt roads that would be called 4X4 trails in the U.S. We got there in a small Toyota station wagon. Driving through the campo, we were surrounded by mountains on all sides, but instead of being places where only wild animals and trees live, the mountains here make up the homes, pastures, and farm fields of many people. It is a strange sight to look up the face of a steep, rugged mountain and see potato fields on the slightly less steep parts and fence rows running straight up even the nearly-vertical mountain faces. We often encounter cows, horses, and donkeys on the roads that we've traveled. Last Saturday we hiked to the top of a ridge that had spectacular views of the surrounding valleys. However, even the ridge top had a small wheat field and half a dozen cattle. I can't get over how weird it is to encounter farms on the tops of what to me are huge mountains.

People in Moro Moro are quite reserved. Most speak softly and don't go out of their way to introduce themselves or start up a conversation. However, no one ever passes you on the street without saying hello, good morning, or how are you. Andy and I and the couple who were here before us (who are leaving soon) are the only foreigners in Moro Moro, and so we attract a lot of stares. This has been pretty unnerving to me, but after just a few days the folks on the couple streets we walk down the most have already become much more friendly, and they smile and say good afternoon instead of staring. Kids stare the most, but as soon as one of us says hello or good afternoon, they immediately smile and say something back to us.

So far we've filled our days with work on latrines and water systems, spanish studies, conversations in spanish, and meeting the folks in town that we'll need to know to carry out our work. We usually finish dinner and chatting with our host family at about 8:30 at night, then we have a little time to read and talk to each other before we crash at 9:30 or so. Sleep comes easily when you have to concentrate intensely just to talk to people.

Andy got a good introduction to the motorcycles this weekend. One broke, and our boss drove another up from the city, just to have it also refuse to start the next day. There's a "mechanic" in town, but he appears to know maybe slightly less than Andy does about engines. Andy and Brian, our friend here, spent an entire day Sunday working on the moto, and finally got it working perfectly in time for a busy work schedule this week. They're awesome! We had our first ride together today. There are lots of hills so steep that we both have to lean forward to get up them (or, we could "use our feet" as Brian put it today). Tomorrow we'll help with a workshop on building and maintaining latrines, and the rest of the week will be full of water systems work. We're getting a great introduction to our work, and our Spanish is coming along nicely. We still feel pretty out of sorts physically and emotionally, but everyday it gets better. We miss lots of people and things already, and are already looking forward to family visits! Thanks for all who are thinking of us and praying for us. It's difficult to contact you all directly, but just know you're appreciated. Peace!