Guide to Samaipata

About us

Some time ago I read Desert Flower by Waris Dirie, where she tells of her nomadic life in Africa. And I reflect, can we (my family and I) call ourselves nomads?

Jan (Norwegian) and I (Bolivian) got married at the end of 2004, and this month we broke the record of staying in one place for 24 months. Yes, that's the most we've lasted. Unlike Waris, it has not been the lack of water or grass that has made us move. Whatever the reason, it has almost never been planned.

In December 2007 we arrived in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, to spend the Christmas holidays with my parents and siblings. Jan had been offered a job in American Samoa and they were waiting for us in January.

Things didn't turn out as we expected, and suddenly we were living in a city that Jan doesn't like that much, staying in a house not suitable for children, on a street where, if one of my children put a foot, it was more likely that we would never see him again. The traffic there is simply catastrophic.

Eager to have a break from the city, we made a trip to Buena Vista, a beautiful town, just a few hours from Santa Cruz. Though beautiful, it was too hot, and with not much to offer to visitors with children under 3 years. However for us it was an overwhelming relief to our exhausting days in Santa Cruz.

After the experience in Buena Vista, we decided to make another short trip, this time we chose Samaipata. Our plan was to stay there for a couple of days, but those days just flew with so much peace that we decided to stay there, until the day to fly again would come.

We didn't have more clean clothes nor any money, and Jan didn't want to go back to Santa Cruz. He fell in love with Samaipata! So I offered to go to Santa Cruz to bring some indispensable stuff (clothes, money, some utensils) to start our new life. I made the trip with the baby and Jan stayed with Jan Thomas, by then, 2 years old.

Before my trip, we saw some houses. We didn't find much on offer or didn't know where to look for. The few we found, were too expensive, or weren't safe. When you have children you have to check every detail. We didn't have much time for that, so we made a decision lightly.

While I was giving the news to my family in Santa Cruz – who thought we were a bit crazy because we couldn't stay still in one place – Jan was busy closing the deal with the person in charge of the chosen house. Very pretty house, very nicely decorated. However not suitable for cold weather or rain as we discovered while we lived there. It is impossible to find the flaws at first sight.

We arrived just when the rainy season was starting. To get to the house we had to walk more than a block by a dirt path, which meant to arrive muddy, with wet feet, and carrying children. Everything inside the house was damp. One consequence was that our documents were in danger. Whenever the sun came out, we used to take them out to dry, the same with our clothes and shoes. And when it was cold – in general, the nights in Samaipata are pretty cool – there was no blanket capable to keep us warm, not even sleeping the four of us together!

So we just endured a month in that house. Our second house in Samaipata turned out to be much better and more comfortable, besides, now we were living almost downtown. Our street was paved, and in one front we had a playground, and in the other front we had a grocery store. What else could we ask for?!

Our life in the town was incomparable! The inhabitants are pleasant and easy people, accustomed to live amongst different cultures, because in Samaipata you find, living in peace, Europeans, Americans, natives, and a few from other continents.

Thanks to this mix of cultures, its climate, and surroundings, the town has achieved an uniqueness hard to find in any other town in Bolivia. Because talking about 'towns' in this country, one would imagine only humble dwellings, agricultural population, with only the basic necessities; of course, no one would imagine that one can find also theatre every month, concerts, libraries, restaurants with fine cuisine offering national and international dishes; chalets, resorts, Internet – though not the fastest yet; but it does exist!

That mixture of a real town – with crop fields, goats, pigs, chickens, cows all around the centre, magnificent views, milk straight from the cow to your door – with the comfort that foreign investment has made possible, it really is an attraction stronger than a magnet!

If all this is a paradise for us, imagine how it is for children! Running free in the middle of nature, watching lines of ants, bees, wasps, flowers of all colours, streams, enjoying a walk in the woods, no more than a few steps from the town centre.

No, we could not let go completely. We had to give something back to this town that gave us so much in only four months!

And here it is, guidetosamaipata.com is our contribution to this wonderful Samaipata!

Odaly Fernandez Esquivel

August, 2010.

	CULTURES NEWS
Workshop of drawing and comic books. The 25th and 26th of August.