Road-construction
One could talk for ages about bolivian roads. They are saddening and make me laugh at the same time. I’m not the only one there, bolivians spend a lot of time joking about the roads. But in the end, the state of the roads has implications on the daily life that are purely sad.
At the moment it is dry season, therefore the dust on the streets is dry. Every car causes a great stir, raising a huge cloud of dust. Next to the roads, the plants are whitish. Sounds like an uninteresting detail. But life in bolivia takes place on the streets. In the jungle, settlements are located directly on the street. People sell food to passengers, kids play on the streets. If everything is covered by dust as it is next to the main roads, then the lungs are as well. This is in fact a problem in the area.
I am amazed by the fact that farmers actually drive around in their “normal” automobiles. But apparently it works. However, people tell me that during rainy season, everything is a lot worse. Cars get stuck in the muddy potholed roads and lot of the roads become completely impassable, as they partially decide to develop into rivers. And when this happens, people get disconnected from local trade, education and health care. Some farmers can’t sell their crops, woman in labor can’t expect help and children stop going to school.
That’s the way the roads look like.
O.S.C.A.R. has got two jeeps. Even though compared to a normal automobile this is luxury driving, we get stuck in the road twice.