Project in Tapacari

In this post, I want to show you a project that one of my friends, Jason, worked on. It's out near the small village of Tapacari, which is about 3-4 hours away from Cochabamba. The project's goal was to try to provide a fresher, safer source of water to the village of about 1,000 people. We had to rent a truck with 4-wheel drive just to get there. I was skeptical that it was necessary to get such a vehicle until we turned onto the gravelly mountain road and then drove through patches of the river bed and river. The first picture is from the road a couple of kilometers away from the village. It is surrounded by riverbed. . . thankfully we went during the dry season! There is public transportation to the village only a handful of months out of the year due to the lack-of-roads and landslides during the rainy season. It is absolutely beautiful out there and the air, although thin, is really clean. My lungs appreciated the difference.

The next shot shows me on one of the mountains. We had to climb about half way up to fully appreciate the suspension-like bridge that holds the water pipe. The picture doesn't do it justice, but remember that this work was done largely by hand. 100-lb. bags of cement were carried up the mountain on the backs of villagers so they could hand mix and make concrete blocks to secure the riggings. No machines were used except maybe a winch, which was hand-cranked. Pretty impressive, huh?

The project was a success and the village now has a better source of water. Since the villagers helped with the work, they are invested in keeping the whole production up and running (this wasn't just a hand out). I am unsure just how many kilometers this project spans, but the source of water they are using is far away and the pipeline is very long. They had to hewn out parts of the mountain, dig trenches, and risk life and limb. I think water is something I've taken for granted since I've grown up next to Lake Michigan or lived in cities near fresh water sources and haven't had to worry if it was safe to drink (or even brush my teeth with). The reality here is quite different.

The last pictures I took as I glanced back at the route we had taken. It was a grueling ride. The roads are gravel and/or dirt and the riverbed is strewn with rocks so you feel like you're on a carnival ride that's broken. I was very thankful that I didn't have to drive!