Two weeks ago I hopped in the back of a pickup truck that took me out to Capellani, a Quechua speaking village up in the mountains that overlook the Cochabamba valley. We had a meeting with most of the villagers and I was introduced as a new student/worker for Agruco, my school, which has been doing various projects in this community for many years now. I shook everyone's hand, apologized for not speaking Quechua, and explained to them that I simply wanted to learn from them a little about their daily life and experience.
That is how I started my field work for my thesis. Last week was the first time I really got to get a glimpse of the community though. On Tuesday I went up to Waca Playa, another village farther up in the mountains where it is cold and it looks like you could reach up and touch the clouds, for a community potato planting work day. I came home that night with the other Agruco worker I was with, but the next morning set out for Capellani. The village as not quite as geographically isolated as I would have liked, but I'm learning it will do just fine. From home I take a minibus out to Quillacollo, a small town just 15 miles from Cochabamba. From there I take another minibus to Sipe Sipe, an even smaller town another 10 miles down the road. And then I get in a car that drives me to Siqui Siquia, which of course is even smaller and further away, settled at the foot of the mountains. After I get out of that car it is a two-hour hike up to Capellani, which I don't mind too much because it's absolutely gorgeous. Up in the village our institution has a small room in the schoolhouse with a couple beds, a gas burner, a table, and a cabinet with a few things to eat, and of course a sack of potatoes. That is where I get to stay for now until I get to know the community more after which I hope to do a few home stays with families.
So on Wednesday I finally arrive just before noon and after making a little lunch I go around behind the schoolhouse to don Andres' house and ask for him. He's not here, he's gone somewhere and won't be back this week. Great, he was the only guy I knew a little better and the only one who's house I could locate. So now what? Well, a couple hours later a man comes by, Alejandro, and I acompany him to a spring where I helped him repair a little retaining wall and afterwards he invited me to come work with him the next morning. After cooking some more potatoes for dinner and finishing the one book I brought by flashlight, I went to sleep at 8pm because it was dark and I was tired just from getting up there that day. The next morning I found Alejandro's house without any trouble, where we spent the whole day together, learning Quechua and English, cleaning out the manure in the sheep pen, watching guinea pigs give birth, digging irrigation ditches across the mountainside, and of course, eating potatoes. The next morning I met another, older man who came by school and invited me to his home. After offering me some api (like a corn porridge) and soup he gave me a pickaxe and anounced we were going to harvest potatoes, which we did for the next 2 or 3 hours, which gave me a few blisters. We then came back to the house, had another bowl of soup, and then climbed up to a neighbor's place to help them with the potato planting. I was just about to learn how to drive a team of oxen and plow when I had to go back down to the schoolhouse and pack my things to go. Someone from school was supposed to pick me up at noon to go home, but that didn't happen and I'm sure it won't be the only time.
I go back out tomorrow and will just be gone until Thursday this week because I have to be back for out goddaughter's birthday. But for now that is all I will be doing-- just accompanying people and helping where I can as we all get used to each other and get to know each other before I dive into my project. I've been told my topic of study will be interesting, but it is a very sensitive issue with the community because there is a lot of conflict between the evangelical church there and the rest of the community, which is exactly what I am there to study.
I'll have more details on that next time, a little more of a reflection (and photos), but for now this entry is long enough. Just pray for my safety there, for success in my study, and for wisdom to be true to my faith without alienating anyone and compromising my study.