Our last two days in Tarairi were spent wrapping up filming and enjoying more of the school, the small town, and Villamontes. We picked up the last few bits of footage we needed, ate at our favorite steak restaurant, and prepared for the end of our trip.
After visiting the office one last time on Monday, we returned to CEAAT to pack up our things and say goodbye to Marcelino, the staff and the students. All of the kids were there to see us off including Rosa, Fernando, Marcelo and even little Daniel. As we packed up our room, the kids peered in through our open window, asking us where we would be going next, sneaking looks at the photos Sam was collecting to give to the school. Even as we exchanged laughs and a few things we couldn’t take with us (Marcelo inherited our knockoff Spanish Monopoly set with a smile), both the team and the students found it hard to hide the sadness and the abruptness of this last meeting. It had only been weeks before that Marcelino had sat us in front of them in the dining hall, listening to four Americans explain in broken Spanish that we wanted to film their lives. Suddenly, we were exchanging e-mail addresses, taking group photographs, and hugging everyone goodbye. And before we knew it, the students were gone.
It’s strange to know that we will probably never see any of them again. A part of me wants to watch Rosa, Fernando and Marcelo grow up, to see them become the smart, capable, innovative young men and women I suspect they will be. I would like to think that the education Marcelo and Marcelino are offering them will help them achieve much of what they deserve. But, as Marcelo said, so much of what the students need depends on radical, fundamental change in attitudes about Bolivian agriculture. I really hope they can break through the glass ceiling, change what is expected from a farmer and to recognize the importance of community and self-sufficiency in agriculture. I think they have it in them. We’ll see if the world around them does too.
We left the school with Marcelo and Marcelino and enjoyed the most of a rushed dinner at, once again, our favorite place. Carsten swung by as well, and we relished the chance to have one last conversation with our three guides. We raised our glasses of Kohlberg to the school, shook hands with our hosts, and before we knew it, we were on a bus to Santa Cruz.
-Jack