Life on the Altiplano
Claudia Binet
October 10, 2011

I love going to the altiplano. It is such a strange but beautiful place! From Todos Santos, which is already about 2400 meters high, you take the road and go up and up and up until you reach a plateau between 3000 and 3700 meters above sea level. The temperature is very cold and the vegetation is almost nonexistent: small bushes, pale grass, a few trees and rocks. And the very eye-catching tall orange flowers that people plant on the sides of the roads.

We work in a number of the communities on the altiplano because they are so far away from the village and they don’t have many resources, so being part of the program is a really good opportunity for them. The only thing that indigenous people can cultivate on the altiplano is potatoes, because of the chilly temperature. Nearly 100% of the women invest their loans in this activity, while a few others have a small store or sell fabric. They seem to really appreciate the program: in some of the communities, there are as many as 45 women participating, which I think is awesome!

The living conditions are very rough over there. Most of the communities, if not all of them, do not have running water. What do they do? They dig big holes in the ground, cover the dirt with plastic, and collect rain water. As a lid, they use corrugated tin panels (what they also use for the roof of houses). But a lot of bugs end up in the water, which is pretty inconvenient. A few communities have big plastic tanks to collect the water, but it is a luxury that not everyone has the chance to possess.

The downside of going to the altiplano is the way to get there. Depending on the community, it can take as much as 2 hours one way, on a motorcycle, on very bumpy and/or muddy roads. Also, they are doing construction work on the main road so we sometimes have to wait for hours before we can go through. Because of this, one day it took us 3 hours to get back to Todos Santos. It was 4 o’clock, it was cold and rainy and we hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast! This is a reality that the promoters have to live with almost everyday, which makes me appreciate even more the fabulous work conditions of my last job in Canada!