My Bolivia!
Meet Ricardo, his family and friends
Illustrated by
Matteo Piana
Young Readers | real lives
Wilma Suarez - Paolo Trevisanato
My Bolivia!
Meet Ricardo, his family and friends
2
Hello, my name’s Ricardo. I’m nine years old. It’s my birthday soon and I’ll be ten!
I live in Bolivia in a village called Postrervalle, in an area called Santa Cruz. It’s in the heart of South America.
Salar de Uyuni
This is the largest salt desert in the world. People come from all over the world to see this fantastic place. I haven’t been to Salar de Uyuni, but when I’m big, I want to go there, too!
Mission church of San Miguel de Velasco
Jesuit Missions
The Jesuits came from Europe and arrived in South America in the 16th and 17th centuries. Here they built the first churches. They are very big and beautiful. Inside you can see great works of art.
Lake Titicaca
Here you can see Lake Titicaca. It’s the largest navigable lake in the world. It’s situated 4,000 metres above sea level. Tourists usually take a boat from Copacabana to the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). On the Isla del Sol there are communities that speak Aymara, a native American language.
Fuerte di Samaipata
This is an important archaeological site from Chané culture. In 1998 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s on the top of a high mountain. There’s a stone hill where you can see a variety of geometric and animal shapes like jaguars, snakes and cats. ‘El fuerte’ means ‘fort’.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
This is my favourite city. It’s a modern city next to the Piraí River. Lots of my friends and family live here. They call it the city of rings because the main roads are like rings.
There are lots of different cultural traditions in Bolivia. There are different ways to dress, eat and speak. In fact, it is officially called the ‘Plurinational State of Bolivia’. Most people in Bolivia speak Spanish and the native languages, Quechua and Aymara.
The oldest cities such as La Paz, Potosí and Sucre are in the Andes. Here the women wear a skirt called a ‘pollera’.
The Carnival of Oruro is a fantastic, religious festival. During Carnival, the people do an amazing dance. They wear colourful costumes and there’s lots of music.
In the flatland areas the women wear a ‘tipoy’. It is a dress to keep them cool when it’s hot. They also wear flowers in their hair. Many people speak Guarani, another native language of this part of the country. In this area there are very big forests and very important rivers such as the Rio Grande. Lots of tropical and exotic fruits grow in this area such as ‘carambola’ starfruit and ‘achachairú’.
Carambola
4 This is me! I’m in front of our house. It’s my grandma’s house and I live here with my grandma, my mum and my little sister.
My grandma is the most famous baker in my town! She makes yummy ‘roscas de maís’ (maize doughnuts). People come from near and far to buy her bread.
My mum is a teacher in the village high school. Her students are older than me. Some students live in the village and others come from neighbouring valleys. They all love my mum. She’s a great teacher! During the traditional town festival we play typical games like ‘el palo encebao’, ‘el tatu’ or the ‘carrera de tinajas’.
In this photo you can see my mum. She’s playing the ‘carrera de tinajas’ game. She’s running with a saucepan on her head. In this game the saucepan is full of water and you mustn’t hold it with your hands. You mustn’t drop any water! She was the winner!
I often go for long walks with my mum and my sister. We go to see the potato fields and the cows in the paddocks. We only travel by bus when we go to the city. There’s one bus a day and it takes 8 hours to go to Santa Cruz. In these photos you can see me, my little sister and some friends.
I like going to school. We do lots of fun activities and we learn new things.
I love dancing the ‘chacarera’, a special dance of the city of Tarija in southern Bolivia.
We go to school from February to November. We study from 7a.m. to midday and then in the afternoon we study from 2p.m. to 6p.m. The boys wear blue trousers and a white shirt while the girls wear a blue skirt and a white blouse. The name of my school is ‘Plácido Lino’.
In this photo it’s the last day of school. I’m wearing special clothes for diploma day.
One day my mum told me some great news.
‘Your aunt Lenny is coming from Santa Cruz. She’s coming with the children from Mano Amiga, the children’s home where she works’.
My aunt Lenny
Aunt Lenny moved to Santa Cruz when I was a baby. When she comes to see me, she always tells me about the children she helps. There are little children, others are my age, and the girls are like the students in my mum’s class. The children live at the Mano Amiga children’s home for different reasons.
My elder sister is called Carla. She lives with my aunt in Santa Cruz. In the morning she studies at university. Then, in the afternoon she helps the 8
In the evening my new friends arrived. The bus arrived in the town square and everyone came to see the children. There was a big party!
At night the children slept in the village school. There were beds made of straw in the empty classrooms for the children to sleep on.
The next morning we went on a day trip. This is my ‘morral’, my rucksack. Our rucksacks were full of rice, chicken and vegetables to cook for lunch.
Along the road we stopped for a rest. In this photo you can see my friends. They found two kittens!