No more paperwork please!

I cannot take any more, please not another "tramite" or document... such is the never ending Bolivian bureaucracy (and with which I believe the British Embassy is in connivance.)

So just how complicated can it be to get married in Bolivia and for my betrothed to get a visa to come to live in the UK? Well, not only do I need my birth certificate, passport, a declaration that I am single (issued by my Embassy after 21 days of notice), title deeds of my property, proof of savings but we also have to get documents translated into Spanish (by an offical language translation service, I cannot do it), certified by the British Embassy and then further certified by the equivalent of the Home Office in Bolivia.

I nearly lost my rag yesterday in La Paz, not only were the documents not ready in the British Embassy (a two and a half hour wait), then we headed off to the Cancilleria, the Bolivian Government Department that deals with certifying documents. There were a mere 100 people in front of us in the queue, hence another wait, this time of 4 hours. When it finally came to our turn, the official refused to certify the British Embassy certified copies of my birth certificate and would only certify the translation. There is no logic and they will certify the photocopy of my passport, but it is not worth arguing with these officials. I thought the day's tramites were over, but no, we had to pay. $43 of stamps that they attach to the document we purchased in another office in the aforementioned building, but inexplicably the fee for processing their services had to be paid into a bank (it was 3.42pm, the banks shut at 4pm), before they return the documentation to you. Of course while there are dozens of banks in this district, the one where we had to pay the fee was nowhere near the Cancilleria, it is the other side of town. When we got there, there was no bank machine and we were out of money so while I was queuing Marioly went in search of money. We then had to rush back to the Cancilleria, which itself was officially closed (though they let you in a side entrance) and queue a bit more to hand over the bank receipt in return for our documentation.

I really hate to say it but I think the bureaucracy contributes to the country being underdeveloped. Firstly, if the Bolivian administration can make the most simple thing so complicated, how is it ever going to cope with the complicated? Secondly, there is no doubt that the pointless bureaucracy invites corruption, and we are talking about the continent's second most corrupt country. I would have been tempted to pay a bribe to circumvent some of the aforementioned!

Oh, and the Catholic Church has taken the lead from the Bolivian adminstration, have their own bureaucracy. They have interviewed me, Marioly and our witnesses , I have signed various declarations and now we must attend 4 days of evening classes - compulsory for marrying over here.

I am not sure if I want to get Bolivian nationality, imagine how much paperwork that will involve!

I have to confess....

....that I do not like milk. How does one admit that when working with the Association of Dairy Producers in Achacachi, near Lake Titicaca?

I had a tough and simultaneously very rewarding week of work in this north western part of Bolivia. Achacachi is at 3,800 metres, the sun is really strong and the scenery of lake, river and snow capped mountains captivating... though also misleading, as the altiplano is one of the country´s poorest zones.

For 6 days our team of 4 worked ten hours a day first to build 27 biogas systems and then install them. In terms of getting around, since our boss sold his 4 x 4 car and went to study in Spain, we had to make do with local transport. And make do we did - during the week we travelled between the nine communities that make up Achacachi by taxi, by lorry, by boat, on the back of a motor bike and of course on foot. Those who know me well will no doubt find it hard to believe that I was getting up at 6.30am and tucked up in bed by 10pm. Evenings were very quiet, the town goes to sleep by 10pm and my craving for pizza could not be sated. We did push the boat out one night to treat ourself to the local brew and karaoke in the town´s one (half decent) drinking establishment.



The community is primarily Aymara speaking though most understand Spanish. Amusingly, one of my colleagues though born in Bolivia has lived nearly all his life in Argentina and has a gaucho accent to go with it... half the locals could not understand him and looked to me to translate into Spanish!

In all, there are over 200 families that could benefit from biogas, eco toilets and showers. We have funds to install 27 systems as demonstration projects with the long-term aim of continuing the project if there is demand form the community. One of the funders is the British Embassy in La Paz, and on Friday 16th a representative from the Embassy came to visit. She was very impressed by the tour, meeting and food (see right!) we organised, and while making no promises until she sees everything fully operational, has suggested that the Embassy´s support will not be a one-off.

This was my third and final project with the NGO, overall I have really enjoyed it, have no doubt about the quality and benefits of the projects and my only wish is that I would have liked to have done more. Now I have to get down to lots of report writing as I am not sure that the funders accept web blog entries as an official reporting mechanism....

This is why I came to Bolivia....

I had one of my most rewarding days in my working life today. The story began about 5 months ago with an offer from an ex-colleague of the Camden Green Fair, who suggested that his charitable trust would be open to receiving an application for a project benefiting young people in Bolivia. After identifying the community and working out the details of the project together, I submitted an application and within a month we received the wonderful news that ₤4,000 was on its way.

So what have we done with the money? Well the most important aspect was that young people from the community played a major role - both in terms of physical manpower and also in terms of educational benefit - in creating what we believe is Bolivia´s first renewable energy powered primary school. The school has been transformed, replacing holes in the floor with flushing toilets, ice cold showers that now have solar heating, biogas for cooking, electricity powered by a bicyle, solar panel and mini windmill, a solar oven for cooking outside, a new building for the kitchen so that the teacher no longer has to share his bedroom with the cooking facilities, a library of educational books, software and DVDs and a new colour printer. While the project was initially meant to involve the young people and benefit the children who attend the primary school, the truth is that the whole community will benefit and make use of the new facilities.

The official inauguration was a wonderful day, and a great way to acknowledge all the hard work by the community as well as their appreciation for our input. About 70 people attended of the community's 170 residents, the rest were working. The local mayor was invited, though by the time we left - 4 hours after the official starting time - he was still not to be seen, though given Bolivian timekeeping, it is quite likely he arrived later. I gave a 10 minute speech in Spanish, which hopefully they understood (like me, the majority's first language is not in fact Spanish, but Quechua), we unveiled and exchanged various plaques and we were covered in confetti, garlands of flowers and toasted the completion of the project with the local brew, chichi (not recommended in large quantities).

A special thank you to Stefano Casalotti and Greenboard who funded this project. The process as well as the end product really have made a difference to this community's quality of life.