Today was our last full day in Rurre, and it was a pretty chill day hanging out around the hammocks and Rurre. In the morning, we met with town officials to ask them questions about our lenses but not before getting a snack from a nearby bakery. We learned about Bolivia’s economy, government, culture, and geography from the officials. After that, we worked on composing thank you letters for Jacob and Joselo. After the slow process of translating the letters into Spanish, we finally went to lunch.
In the afternoon, we did another bead ceremony and talked about global citizenship and what it means to be a global citizen. We came to the conclusion that a global citizen is a kind, open minded, resourceful, brave, hardworking, determined, positive, culturally aware, strong human being. After showing off our lack of art skills by drawing a global citizen, we took a hike with Joselo and his son, Daniel, up to a local waterfall. The hike was fun giving us a chance to talk and move around after having a calm morning. The waterfall was no Niagra Falls, but we didn’t care; it was still fun.
When we got back from the hike, we packed and got ready for the goodbye dinner with Joselo and Jacob and their families. While packing, we realized it was our last night in Rurre that had become our home away from home. Some of us (especially Perry) will miss the comfortable beds we have here in the hostel. All packed up and ready for the next adventure in La Paz and Isle del Sol, we set out to the goodbye dinner. At the dinner, we feasted on fish, chicken, rice, vegetables, and pork. Joselo gave us a wonderful thank you speech, and we did our best to match it. We all left the dinner with full bellies, a smile, and certificates for our hard work with the Rio Beni Health Foundation.
Leaving will be bittersweet, but we have our boots tied tight and packs on our backs ready to take another step into our trip through Bolivia. A couple of us can’t wait to be in the cold, while others are nervous about going up to altitude, but we are all ready to see the beautiful Isle del Sol.
Final task: working shoulder-to-shoulder with Joselo, our NGO director, mentor, and friend.