Staying with the Zurita family (Mashaquipe)

Alba and Toni

As part of my volunteering at Mashaquipe, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to stay with a local family.  Even luckier for me, Nicolas (from Mashaquipe) organised for me to stay with the family who produced the sugar cane juice and who I had already visited a few times.  The Zurita family (Zurita is their surname) are Nicolas and Vilma and their two children Alba (5 years old) and Jose Antonio (Toni, 10 years old).  They have three more grown up children who live in Rurre and La Paz and who are studying and working.

Toni opening a coconut, picked fresh from the tree, for me to drink

My bedroom

So after packing my mosquito net, camping map and a bag of food, I joined one of the groups going back to Rurre in the boat so they could drop me off on the way to spend four days with the Zurita family.  I hadn’t realised that I was the first tourist to stay with the Zuritas so it’s not surprising that Nicolas and Vilma were initially concerned about my stay and what to do with me for four days.  Nicolas from Mashaquipe explained that they didn’t need to do anything special, that I spoke good Spanish (sort of true by this stage) and that I was there to help them with their work and to learn more about how life is for families living in this part of Bolivia.  Of course, the small daily fee I was paying to volunteer would also go straight to the Zuritas and I was glad that I could pay this money to them directly myself and to know that it might help them a little bit with their living expenses or school fees.

Running through fields and trying to avoid the cows

I’d brought along a couple of packets of coloured pencils and a blank drawing book, which were good icebreakers with Alba and Toni.  It was the school holidays so I was lucky to get to spend time with Toni and Alba.  The whole family was so lovely and made me feel very welcome in their home.  As I didn’t have a tent Nicolas helped me set up the mosquito net under their sugar cane cooking shelter, they even found me a bigger plastic ground sheet.  When we saw a viper eating a mouse less than two metres from where I would be sleeping, Nicolas quickly killed it with his machete and reminded me to carefully check the sleeping and shower areas before hand.  Alba and Toni joined me each afternoon for a siesta on the plastic sheet, one day even helping me by pulling out my grey hairs (thanks Toni) and trying to get some kind of tick out from under my eye (thanks Alba but not a job I would recommend for a five-year old).

Toni picking fruit from the tree for us to eat (photo by Alba)

Over the four days the Zuritas were so generous in sharing their home, work and life with me, and it was a real privilege to help with their work and learn so much from them.  Toni taught me how to play chess (and he even let me almost win a few times!) and he showed me his school books so I could learn the names of the local cultures and languages, and also learn a few words of Tacana (don’t think I’ll be fluent any time soon!).  Vilma let me help with picking lemons from the trees with a special wooden stick that she had designed, and help (all afternoon and into the night assisted by torches) with shelling a mound of roasted criollo chocolate beans from which she made her famous pure chocolate paste to sell in the market.

Shelling criollo chocolate beans by hand, one by one

I helped Nicolas and Toni (and the horse) press the sugar cane to make sugar cane juice, which could then be boiled to make sugar cane honey (syrup) or boiled even more to make sweet fudge/toffee blocks.  Alba taught be how to play tula tula, which is essentially a game of tag, and she had me running around for hours (which made Nicolas and Vilma laugh).  Alba was also a bit of a hot-shot with my digital camera, even though she had never used one before.

Shelling criollo chocolate beans (photo by Alba)

Vilma also let me sit with her (and ask a million questions) while she prepared and cooked meals, so I learnt a lot about cooking.  I found I had a lot in common with the Zuritas when it came to our opinions about food, despite me being vegetarian and them being (more or less) subsistence farmers.  We all agreed that it was better to produce and consume better quality produce in small amounts rather than use mass farming methods to grow lesser quality varieties, that it was better to eat organic food where possible, and they recommended I eat fish three times a week if possible.  I learnt that criollo varieties of fruit and veg are better than regular because they are native and have better nutrients and better flavour.  This is certainly true of the cucumbers, oranges, lemons, chocolate beans and eggs that I tried.  The yolk in the egg was almost orange (rather than pale yellow) and with so much flavour.  The same with cucumber, which are greener inside and with an amazing flavour (I’m not normally a big fan of cucumber).

Shelling criollo chcolate beans by torch light (photo by Alba)

Their kitchen was basic (outside, on a wooden fire, no electricity so no fridge) but that didn’t stop Vilma making delicious meals three times a day.  Because I was staying (and had brought some fresh fruit and vegetables with me) we had salad with most meals, which they wouldn’t usually have quite so often.  Imagine my surprise when Alba started drawing pictures of carrots because they are her favourite food – how many five-year olds do you know who say that?!  Charque (dried meat) is the main source of protein (it’s made without preservatives but still keeps well without a fridge) accompanied by a few vegetables and other local staples such as rice, plantain and yuca.  I had amazing soup (in Bolivia lunch isn’t lunch without soup) and one of my favourite main meals (not a pudding) was rice cooked with water, milk powder (there’s no fresh milk in the jungle) and some of the chocolate paste I made with Vilma.  It was so delicious because the chocolate was such good quality.  We also had delicious drinks made from different fruits and also hot chocolate made from the famous chocolate paste.  Despite the food being simple, the fresh ingredients made everything taste delicious!

Drying the chocolate paste on banana leaves

250g chocolate paste blocks ready to sell at the market

After four amazing days I didn’t want to leave!  I was very sad to go and it was especially hard to say goodbye to Alba and Toni.  The day after I left there was a massive storm and some trees fell on power cables in Rurre causing power cuts.  Fortunately, the Zurita family’s house was ok.  I had been concerned after they described to me how much damage was caused to their house and in other communities when there had been so much rain and flooding earlier in the year in February.  Some families had still not moved back to their properties and aid that had been promised by the local government had never arrived.

Heating the sugar cane juice (photo by Alba)

Stirring the thick, hot syrup to make fudge/toffee (this was harder than it looks because there was a sepcific technique to get the right consistency)

Making the fudge/toffee blocks (we weren't allowed to lick the bowl but we did get to try a little bit fresh from the pot)

Up early to press sugar cane

The kitchen (photo by Alba)

Outside the house

Hanging out in the dining room/kitchen

Nicolas (photo by Alba)

My drawing of Madidi National Park (photo by Toni)

Last photo of Toni and Alba before my battery died