Return to Salvatierra

At the end of a long dusty bike path in the jungles of Bolivia, across two rivers in dugout canoe, sits a remote indigenous village of 50 families.

I had spent two years working with the village of Salvatierra as a Peace Corps volunteer. Those years are hard for me to describe -- but I'll try: they were strange, wild, exhilarating and humbling.  The people taught me about the important things (kindness, fragility, humor). And when I left, and they gave me a gift that only travel to a far off place can provide:  a little bit of perspective. 

I knew that I couldn’t leave for good; I had figure out a clever way to go back.  Often, and with a purpose.  So three years ago, in the closing months of my Peace Corps service in Bolivia, an idea began to grow.   It originated with the women, actually.  They wove beautiful hammocks in the traditional Guarayos way.  But the local market wouldn’t pay what they were worth.  So they suggested – insisted, strongly, over and over and over – that I sell the hammocks in the US.  "Sell them and that will pay for you to come back."  Ahhhh.....a good idea, I thought.  It turned out to be a great idea.

So we – my mother Kathryn and I – started Salvatierra Imports.  (We have since expanded to include the art and handicrafts of other Bolivian cooperatives; now we are selling from over 10 different groups.)

Now, Partners of the Americas (http://www.partners.net) is sponsoring me to return to Salvatierra.  This blog is the story of that return.  For the people who know Bolivia and Salvatierra, I hope what I describe will add color to faded memories.  For those who have never had the chance to make the trip, I’ll take you to a place at the end of the world.  A place that is beautiful, fragile and changing quickly.