Article in "AiF"
(Unique in that it grows from year to year without external inflow)
Sundresses under coconuts
The Arguments and Facts columnist came to Russia, where jaguars live in the forests, pineapples are planted in vegetable gardens, and indigenous Siberians do not know what snow looks like. And he didn't get it!
-Oh, are you going to our village, good sir? But in vain. Nonecha heat, and such a dusty, such a dusty one stands on the path - you will swallow plenty! - a woman in a blue sundress spoke in a patter with a clear Siberian accent, and I could hardly understand her melodious words. After showing them the best way to get to the village, Stepanida turned and walked on, towards a coconut grove rustling with leaves. Beside her, a boy in a loose shirt and cap picked a mango from a nearby tree and followed his mother, brushing off the mosquitoes.
"Chrysanthus! I heard a stern voice. “How many times have I told you, fool, don’t eat manga, they’re so green, then raid at night!”
“You won’t go to the forest for mushrooms - and there are no mushrooms, and they will eat you yourself”
... THE FIRST Russian villages in the small South American state of Bolivia appeared a very long time ago. When exactly - the locals do not even remember. It seems that the very first settlers arrived already in 1865 (the authorities then distributed arable land to the colonists for free), and seventy years later a whole crowd of Siberian and Ural peasant families arrived from China, who had to flee Russia after the Bolshevik revolution. Now, two hundred kilometers from the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, three large villages of Russian immigrants are located at once, where about two thousand people live. To one of these villages - Taboroche - we drove along a dusty road along the endless Bolivian fields overgrown with Russian sunflowers.
... The door of the house of the village head Martyan Onufriyev was opened by his daughter, a gray-eyed shy beauty in a sundress. “Aunties are gone. They left for the city on business. Yes, you do not stand on the threshold, go into the hut. "Izboy" is a strong stone house with a tiled roof, in the manner of those that are built in Germany. At first, Russian men in Bolivia sawed elephant palms and made houses from logs, but they quickly abandoned this idea: in conditions of tropical humidity and the ubiquitous termites, the dwelling immediately began to rot and soon turned into dust. It is impossible to describe the Russian village in Bolivia in words - it simply must be seen. Dogs in booths (which shocks the Bolivians - why does a dog need a separate house?!) and lowing cows grazing in the shade of banana palms. In the gardens, people with the song "Oh frost, frost!" weeds pineapples. Bearded men in embroidered shirts, belted with sashes, smartly drive Japanese jeeps, talking on mobile phones, and girls in sundresses and kokoshniks rush to the field and back on Honda motorcycles. Impressions in the first five minutes were enough so that the mouth could hardly be closed.
Now they have begun to live well, thank God, - says 37-year-old peasant woman Natalya, who also invited me to the “hut”. - And for the first time, as people arrived, they didn’t have tractors, they didn’t have horses - they plowed earth on women. Someone got rich, and someone did not, but we all live together. Mama used to say that in Russia the poor are jealous of the rich. Is that how it is for him? After all, God created people unequal. It is not worth envying someone else's wealth, especially if people are at work. Who's stopping you? Take it and make money!
Natalya was born in one of the Russian Old Believer villages, deep in the jungles of Brazil. She moved here when she got married - at the age of 17: she got used to living, but she still doesn’t speak Spanish: “I don’t even know how to count in their language. Why should I? So, a little, if I go to the market. Her father was taken out of the Khabarovsk province at the age of five, now he is over eighty. Natalya has never been to her father's homeland, although she really wants to go. “Tya talks very beautifully about Russia - my heart aches agio. Oh, he says, nature is so beautiful. And you will go to the forest, there are so many tama mushrooms - you will pick up full baskets. And then don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, yes, God forbid, and the narvessi jaguar - they got into the habit, accursed, to go to the watering hole.
Cats are bred in houses specifically to catch lizards
To be honest, I simply did not expect that I would hear Russian speech in Taboroch. At work, I had to communicate a lot with the children of the White Guards, who had grown old in France and the USA - they all spoke good Russian, but noticeably distorted the words. But here a surprise awaited me. These people, who have never been to Russia, and many of whose fathers and grandfathers were born on the soil of South America, communicate in Russian in the same way as their ancestors a hundred years ago. This is the language of the Siberian countryside, without the slightest accent, melodious and affectionate, replete with words that have long been out of use in Russia itself. In Taboroch they say “wish” instead of “want”, “wonderful” instead of “surprising”, “very much” instead of “very”, they don’t know the words “five-year plan” and “industrialization”, they don’t understand Russian slang in the form of “well, damn it” and “not a damn thing to yourself”. Here, near the rainforest entwined with lianas, pre-revolutionary Russia, which we no longer remember, has been preserved in some incredible way. And the thought arises: maybe this is exactly what the Russian village would be like now (of course, with the exception of pineapples in the garden), if October had not happened?
Six-year-old Evdokia, sitting on the threshold, plays with a grown kitten. - Unlike Russia, the cat, for lack of mice, catches lizards in the house. A red parrot flies past, but the girl, accustomed to them, does not pay attention to the bird. Evdokia speaks only Russian: up to the age of seven, children are brought up in the village, in the home world, so that they memorize the language, and then they are sent to school to learn Spanish. Mothers tell their children fairy tales that they pass on from generation to generation: about Ivan the Fool, Emelya and the pike, the Humpbacked Horse. The settlers have practically no books, and where in the Bolivian wilderness can you get a collection of Russian fairy tales. Men speak Spanish without exception, but women - not so much. “What does a girl need to know Spanish? - says Natalya's neighbor, portly Theodosia. - She will marry, the children will go there - you have to manage the housework and bake pies, and let the peasant plow his field.
“You speak wrong, you wear the kokoshnik crookedly, you cook bad cabbage soup!”
AFTERNOON the inhabitants of Taboroche and Vera can easily be found in the field. They grow everything they can: corn, wheat, sunflowers. “Only that which you cannot plant does not grow in this land!” - jokes one of the bearded men, sitting astride a tractor. One of the Old Believers, even last year, was awarded an article in the local newspaper - he collected the largest crop of soybeans and ... pineapples. “There were those who saved up some money and went to see Russia,” says Terenty. They returned so wonderful - all eyes clap-clap. They say: in the villages in Siberia, people are starving and drinking vodka, but for some reason they can’t plow the land. I say: yes, how is it - how much land is there, take it and grow bread, or what else! Yes, they are lazy, they say. What trouble, Lord - what are the Bolsheviks with poor Russia done! And it was also wonderful to him that everyone around him spoke Russian - he just couldn’t believe it. We are accustomed here that if you ask a person what is on the street, he will answer in Spanish. I listened to him and I am also saving money for the trip - if God grants, I will definitely come in a couple of years.
Russian peasants go to Santa Cruz to sell what they have grown. Arriving, they settle in such hotels so that there is no TV and radio (this is a sin), they take dishes with them - “to not get dirty with them.” But no one leaves the village to live in the city. “I myself have six children,” says 40-year-old Terenty. - And in Santa Cruz there are many demonic temptations: nothing good will come of life there. Sons will marry Bolivian women, girls will marry Bolivian women, but this is in vain - they don’t even know how to cross their foreheads in our opinion.
Bolivian, as well as other men and women, in principle, can marry the inhabitants of Russian villages, but on one condition - they should be baptized in the "Russian faith", dress, read and speak Russian. There were two such marriages, and both fell apart. The Bolivian girl who “went” for a Russian guy could not stand the constant skirmishes with her mother-in-law: you wear a kokoshnik crookedly, and you speak Russian incorrectly, you cook bad cabbage soup, and you pray to God unzealously. As a result, the young wife ran away, and the husband, to the delight of his mother, went to Uruguay for a Russian bride. Another citizen of Bolivia (by the way, an Aymara Indian), who married a Russian girl, was received in Taboroche with caution - “all black, like a black man, as if the girl couldn’t find a lighter one,” but later the whole village condemned his divorce from his wife: “Avon, they already have five children - they sit on the benches, wipe the snot. If you have done a drain - be patient, and do not leave the woman with them. But such "international" weddings are rare, which is why almost all the villagers of Taboroch have blue eyes, noses like potatoes, freckles all over their faces, and blond or wheaten hair on their heads. Alcohol (even harmless beer) is strictly prohibited, smoking too: but for all the time in the village not a single person drank himself drunk and did not die of lung cancer. But the craving for civilization takes its toll - some peasants quietly keep small portable TVs under their beds, which, after muffling the sound, watch at night. However, no one admits this openly. On Sunday, everyone must go to church and read the Bible with the children at home.
“What is the black cobra afraid of? He gave a heel on the head - she and a skiff.
ABOUT twenty families have recently moved to Bolivia from the USA. “It’s hard for the Americans for the Russians,” explains the former resident of Alaska, Eleutherius, stroking his beard. - They have everything tacos built so that all Americans are, they are blurring us. Many of our children no longer speak Russian, although they are all baptized and wear embroidered shirts - just grief. So they came here so that the children would not start speaking American and would not forget God.
None of the inhabitants of Taboroche, born in Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay and holding national passports, do not consider these countries their homeland. For them, their homeland is Russia, which they have never seen. “Well, I was born in Bolivia, well, I have lived here all my life, so why am I somehow a Bolivian? Ivan is surprised. “I am a Russian person, a believer in Christ, and I will remain so.” The migrants were not used to the amazing heat (in January in the Santa Cruz region, plus 40 degrees), “What a horror! You stand at Christmas in the church, praying - the floor is all wet, the sweat is flowing from everyone. But they ask with interest about the snow: what does it look like? What does it feel like? You can’t express how you feel when you explain to hereditary Siberians about snow and frost, and they look at you with round eyes and repeat: “Yes, it can’t be!” Russian peasants no longer take any tropical diseases - among the very first settlers who drained the swamps in the jungles of Bolivia and Brazil, there were many deaths from yellow fever, and now, as the residents say phlegmatically, “we don’t see that fever.” Only mosquitoes irritate, but they are fought in the old fashioned way - they are driven away, fumigating with smoke. Dangerous snakes, including a black cobra spitting poison, also crawl from the jungle onto the village mounds. But the Old Believers easily manage with them. “What about a snake? - Chrysanthus, who is chewing mango, boasts again secretly from his mother. - He gave a heel on the head - she and a skiff. Ivan's wife, the 18-year-old freckled beauty Zoya (her native village is in the state of Goias in Brazil), also speaks of poisonous reptiles with Olympic calmness: “The window in our hut was broken, and my father was too lazy to plug it with a pillow - and so they say, it's hot. So through that hole the cobra will jump to the floor at night! I slapped her on the head with the handle of a broom - and killed her.
About modern political life in Russia, the settlers know little (you can’t watch TV, you can’t get into the Internet - it’s also a sin), but they heard about Beslan and served a prayer service in the church for the repose of the souls of “children killed by infidels”. They feel their homeland in their soul. The owner of the optical salon in the center of Santa Cruz, a former resident of the Kuban, Lyuba told me how the settler Ignat came to her and she showed him a photo album about Russian nature published in Moscow. Not at all surprised, Ignat shrugged his shoulders and said: “It is strange, but I have already seen all this. I dream of churches and fields all the time at night. And I also see my grandfather’s village in my dreams.”
... Recently, Russian colonists began to leave Taboroche - land rent has risen in price. “We are like gypsies,” Feodosia laughs. - A little bit, we’re filming and we’re going. ” new land they rent it to the south, across the river - it's cheaper there, and the grown corn is transported to Brazil for sale. Being forced to leave Russia for various reasons, these peasants built for themselves a new island of their former, familiar life in exotic Bolivia, creating their own Rus' here with coconut palms and jaguars in the forest. They do not keep any resentment or anger at their homeland, they do not wish her any troubles, thereby radically different from many modern Russian emigrants. Having preserved their identity, language and culture in the depths of the Bolivian jungle, these people remained truly Russian - both in character, in language, and in style of thinking. And there is no doubt that these small islands of old Russia in Latin America will exist in a hundred or two hundred years. Because people live there who are proud to be Russian.
MOST Russian villages in Brazil: about ten, about 7 thousand people live there. For the first time in South America Russian settlers appeared in 1757, founding a Cossack village in Argentina. In addition to the above countries, there are now Russian Old Believer settlements in Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay. Some of the settlers also left for Africa, creating Russian colonies in the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia. But the “white emigration” of 1917–1920 was almost completely “blurred” - very few of the descendants of 5 million (!) Nobles who then settled in Paris bear Russian names and speak Russian: according to experts, this happened due to the fact that the Russians in Paris lived “non-compactly”.
George ZOTOV, Taboroche - Santa Cruz
"Arguments and Facts" original with pictures here.
For several centuries, Russian Old Believers could not find peace in their native land, and in the 20th century many of them finally moved abroad. It was far from always possible to settle down somewhere close to the Motherland, and therefore today Old Believers can also be found in a distant foreign land, for example, in Latin America. In this article, you will learn about the life of Russian farmers from the village of Toborochi, Bolivia.
Old Believers, or Old Believers - a common name for religious movements in Russia,
resulting from the rejection of church reforms in 1605-1681. It all started after the Moscow Patriarch
Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of liturgical books, change of rites).
Archpriest Avvakum united those dissatisfied with the "antichrist" reforms. Old Believers were severely persecuted
from both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside Russia, fleeing persecution.
Both Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like the stubborn ones. In Bolivia, three hours from the city of Santa Cruz,
40 years ago, the first Russian Old Believers settled in the town of Toborochi. Even now this settlement cannot be found on the maps,
and in the 1970s there were absolutely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle.
Fedor and Tatyana Anufriev were born in China, and went to Bolivia among the first settlers from Brazil.
In addition to the Anufrievs, the Revtovs, the Murachevs, the Kaluginovs, the Kulikovs, the Anfilofievs, and the Zaitsevs live in Toborochi.
The village of Toborochi consists of two dozen households located at a decent distance from each other.
Most of the houses are brick.
Santa Cruz has a very hot and humid climate, and mosquitoes pester all year round.
Mosquito nets, so familiar and familiar in Russia, are placed on windows and in the Bolivian wilderness.
Old Believers carefully preserve their traditions. Men wear shirts with belts. They sew them themselves, but they buy trousers in the city.
Women prefer sundresses and dresses to the floor. Hair grows from birth and is braided.
Most Old Believers do not allow strangers to photograph themselves, but there are family albums in every home.
Young people keep up with the times and master smartphones with might and main. Many electronic devices are formally banned in the village,
but progress cannot be hidden even in such wilderness. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines,
microwave ovens and televisions, adults communicate with distant relatives via mobile Internet.
The main occupation in Toborochi - Agriculture, as well as the cultivation of Amazonian pacu fish in artificial reservoirs.
Fish are fed twice a day - at dawn and in the evening. The feed is produced right there, in a mini-factory.
In the vast fields, the Old Believers grow beans, corn, wheat, in the forests - eucalyptus.
It was in Toborochi that the only variety of Bolivian beans that is now popular throughout the country was bred.
The rest of the legumes are imported from Brazil.
At the village factory, the harvest is processed, bagged and sold to wholesalers.
Bolivian land bears fruit up to three times a year, and fertilization began only a couple of years ago.
Women are engaged in needlework and housekeeping, raise children and grandchildren. Most Old Believer families have many children.
Names for children are chosen according to the Psalter, according to the birthday. A newborn is named on the eighth day of his life.
The names of the Toborochins are unusual not only for the Bolivian ear: Lukiyan, Kipriyan, Zasim, Fedosya, Kuzma, Agripena,
Pinarita, Abraham, Agapit, Palagea, Mamelfa, Stefan, Anin, Vasilisa, Marimiya, Elizar, Inafa, Salamania, Selyvestre.
Villagers often encounter wildlife: monkeys, ostriches,
poisonous snakes and even small crocodiles that love to eat fish in the lagoons.
For such cases, the Old Believers always have a gun ready.
Once a week, women go to the nearest city fair, where they sell cheese, milk, pastries.
Cottage cheese and sour cream did not take root in Bolivia.
To work in the fields, the Russians hire Bolivian peasants, who are called Kolya.
There is no language barrier, since the Old Believers, in addition to Russian, also speak Spanish,
and the older generation has not yet forgotten Portuguese and Chinese.
By the age of 16, boys gain the necessary experience in the field and can get married.
The Old Believers strictly forbid marriages between relatives up to the seventh generation, so they are looking for brides in other villages
South and North America. Rarely get to Russia.
Girls can get married at the age of 13.
The first "adult" gift for a girl is a collection of Russian songs, from which her mother takes
another copy and gives her daughter for her birthday.
Ten years ago, the Bolivian authorities financed the construction of the school. It consists of two buildings and is divided into three classes:
children 5-8 years old, 8-11 and 12-14 years old. Boys and girls study together.
The school is taught by two Bolivian teachers. Main subjects - Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, drawing.
Russian is taught at home. IN oral speech Toboro residents are used to mixing two languages, and some Spanish words and
completely ousted by the Russians. So, gasoline in the village is called nothing more than “gasoline”, the fair is called “feria”, the market is called “mercado”,
garbage - "basura". Spanish words have long become Russified and are inclined according to the rules mother tongue. There are also neologisms: for example,
instead of the expression "download from the Internet", the word "descargar" is used from the Spanish descargar. Some Russian words
commonly used in Toborochi, have long gone out of use in modern Russia. Instead of "very" the Old Believers say "very much"
the tree is called "forest". The older generation mixes Portuguese words of the Brazilian spill with all this diversity.
In general, there is a whole book of material for dialectologists in Toborochi.
Primary education is not compulsory, but the Bolivian government encourages all students
public schools: once a year, the military comes, paying each student 200 bolivianos (about $ 30).
Old Believers attend church twice a week, not counting Orthodox holidays:
Services are held on Saturday from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm and on Sunday from 4:00 am to 7:00 am.
Men and women come to church in all clean clothes, wearing dark clothes over them.
The black cape symbolizes the equality of all before God.
Most of the South American Old Believers have never been to Russia, but they remember their history,
reflecting its main moments in artistic creativity.
Sunday is the only day off. Everyone visits each other, men go fishing.
It gets dark early in the village, they go to bed by 10 pm.
In the 20th century, the Russian Old Believers, who over 400 years of persecution eastern borders Russia had to finally become emigrants. Circumstances scattered them across the continents, forcing them to establish a life in an exotic foreign land.
Old Believers, or Old Believers, is a common name for religious movements in Russia that arose as a result of the rejection of church reforms in the 17th century. It all started after the Moscow Patriarch Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of liturgical books, change of rites). Archpriest Avvakum united those dissatisfied with the "antichrist" reforms. The Old Believers were subjected to severe persecution by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside Russia, fleeing persecution. Both Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like the stubborn ones. In Bolivia, a three-hour drive from the city of Santa Cruz, in the town of Toborochi, 40 years ago, the first Russian Old Believers settled. Even now, this settlement cannot be found on maps, but in the 1970s there were absolutely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle
Old Believer village in the jungles of Bolivia. There, women wear woven sundresses and embroider shirts for their husbands. They weed gardens that grow pineapples, not radishes or potatoes. They are exceptionally well adapted to local conditions.
Many men are millionaires, brilliant entrepreneurs who combine a farmer's acumen with an incredible sense of the new. So, the Old Believers in Bolivia have modern equipment with a GPS-based control system in their fields - that is, cars drive without a driver, receiving commands from a single center. At the same time, the Old Believers do not use the Internet, do not watch TV, are afraid of banking transactions, preferring cash...+
These are the descendants of those few surviving strong peasant families who were massively destroyed after the Jewish revolution of 1917. 
A version of this film, which also contains an interview with a priest and a brief official history of the Old Believers in Russia:
Russians in Bolivia deserve close attention for at least two reasons. Firstly, the Russian community appeared there not in the turbulent 1990s, but back in the 19th century. Secondly, unlike other Latin American countries, Russians in Bolivia practically did not assimilate. Moreover, being citizens of this country, they consider Russia to be their homeland, which they have not even seen on TV screens: after all, they do not favor TVs.
"Oh, frost, frost" under the palm trees
These women wear long sundresses, men - shirts with belts. They go down the aisle early: girls are already at 13, guys at 16; they give birth a lot, so even ten children in a family are not uncommon. The names of all are Russian, but old, which you will not hear now: Mamelfa, Agapit, Kipriyan, Inafa, Elizar.
All are peasants. They live by selling the fruits of their labor; On Sunday they rest, go to church. Looks like an ordinary Russian village late XIX century, but around - not fields with birch trees, but the Bolivian selva, and peasants grow not turnips with cabbage, but bananas with pineapples (however, wheat is also held in high esteem).
Everyone speaks Russian clearly, without a hint of an accent, but with occasional splashes of Spanish words. The merits of the Bolivian authorities are not in this: public schools in the country are only Spanish-speaking. The Russian language is kept and instilled by the family, and children are taught to read not only in Russian, but also in Old Church Slavonic, because main book in every family - the Bible - is written in this language. There are about 2,000 such Old Believer peasants in Bolivia. Their villages are located in the tropical departments of the country - Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Las Paz, Beni.
Despite the steadfast observance of traditions that differ sharply from the local culture, and external dissimilarity, the Russian Old Believers never had any conflicts with the Bolivians. They live amicably with their neighbors, they understand each other perfectly (all Old Believers know Spanish well), but they don’t want to get close and marry only with their own, and not within the village (this is forbidden), but by ordering brides from afar. Fortunately, there are enough Old Believers in Latin America.
Keeping the faith
The community was formed gradually, the Old Believers arrived in "waves". The first of them dates back to the second half of the century before last, when part of the Siberian Old Believers, tired of persecution, began to look for a place on the map where they could safely practice their faith. Such a point (or rather, a continent) has become Latin America in general and Bolivia in particular. The first settlers were attracted by the fertile lands and the liberal policy of the local authorities.
If the first wave of immigrants came to Bolivia directly, then the second wave was very difficult. First, in the turbulent years of the civilian Old Believers fled to Manchuria. They seem to have taken root, a new generation was born - and then a revolution broke out already in China. I had to flee again, this time to British Hong Kong. From there, part of the Old Believers moved to Australia, and part to Brazil. Not everyone liked Brazil - they decided to move to Bolivia. But it is possible that the Russians in Bolivia are waiting for a new resettlement.
Back to the Motherland
For the first time in many years, Russian Old Believers had problems with the authorities in the early 2010s. It is not their fault: the leftist government of Evo Morales simply came to power, which took care of the fate of the Indian lands where the Old Believers live and work. Some of them thought about returning to their homeland, especially since these plans were actively supported by the Russian authorities.
In 2011, about 30 people came to Russia from Bolivia, followed by others. Contrary to forecasts, no one returned back, although it was not easy: for example, almost no one remained in the areas allocated to him, they dispersed in all directions. Will the rest of the Russians in Bolivia follow suit? Only time can answer this question.
Today, many are interested in what they were. Really interesting story.
Many travelers often call Bolivia one of the most attractive and interesting countries: here you can find unusually beautiful places, strange-looking plants and animals. Everyone who comes to Bolivia certainly becomes a hostage to their own unforgettable experiences. But what really awaits the one who decided not only to drive through the impressive environs of Bolivia, but also to stay in a country that is often called the "Tibet" of South America.
To begin with, I would like to note that about 50% of the total population are Indians, who have preserved most of their folk traditions until the 21st century. They don't care high tech and many signs of civilization - they feel quite well without hot water and a comfortable toilet. That is precisely why one can often find statements that Bolivia is a country where a high percentage of the population lives below the poverty line, does not have a stable income and access to the basic benefits of a developed state. But for many Bolivians, it is enough that they have a roof over their heads, arms and legs to work, and food to live on.
Bolivia is a country with a developed industry, but a low standard of living - any foreigner with a sum of several tens of thousands of dollars can freely plunge into rich life by today's standards.
Bolivia is also known to many thanks to coca freely growing throughout the country. It is grown in whole plantations and freely sold and bought literally on every corner. It is believed that chewing coca leaves has a tonic effect on the whole body, although all tourists are strongly advised to be as careful as possible about the use of coca, especially within the highlands. In addition to the fact that coca is grown under absolutely legal conditions, the production of drugs in this country is one of the most profitable activities, although it is still a shadow industry in the Bolivian industry.
About adaptation in Bolivia
Interestingly, those few who, having visited Bolivia as a tourist-traveler, having seen enough of its beauty and decided to settle here for permanent residence, subsequently regret their choice. Although this does not mean that it is really difficult to exist in this country normally, it is not for nothing that there is a proverb “everywhere is good where we are not”, and tourism and emigration should not be confused.
The Bolivians themselves, despite the very significant number of emigrants who have settled here since time immemorial, do not really favor visitors. Among such striking examples are the Old Believers, who preserved the traditions and customs of their Russian ancestors, creating their own tiny states on the territory of Bolivia, which Bolivians sometimes even perceive as foreign, often without even looking at their places of settlement.
For the indigenous people of this country, that the Mennonites, that the Old Believers, that the Japanese are strangers, for a strange reason living in Bolivia. By the way, for example, the Old Believers, having a Bolivian passport, and hence citizenship, speaking Spanish, often giving work to people around them and participating in the economy, do not consider themselves Bolivians, so such an attitude towards them is quite natural.
A real Bolivian, in fact, can be considered one who, among other things, was born in Bolivia and loves the country in which he lives, rightfully calling it his homeland. Moreover, it does not matter at all what color his skin is - there are a lot of “white” indigenous people in this country.
Today's immigrants often say that even after several years of legal residence in Bolivia, they feel more like tourists than residents. To the negative factors and difficulties of adaptation in new country one can also attribute the fact that many Russians complain of bouts of disgust and discontent. It is possible that the reasons for such an attitude will seem insignificant to someone, but this is only until you plunge into this yourself.
While living in La Paz, many emigrants recall the bread sold in vacuum packs in their hometowns and countries – in Bolivia, one can often come across an unflattering picture when splashes of mud from puddles, exhaust fumes from rudimentary buses fly onto lying bread, and the dirty hands of a loader, literally throwing loaves onto miserable-looking counters, complement the image.
Reflections on poverty in Bolivia
As mentioned above, Bolivia and Bolivians in particular cannot be called poor. In this context, this word is somewhat inappropriate, if only because there are practically no starving people among them.
Travelers unfamiliar with the local way of life can be struck by the fact that a completely beggar-looking bomb with a bowler hat in his hands can afford to go to a restaurant to taste hot soup. By the way, it should be noted that there are practically no beggars here, or they look quite wealthy - with gold teeth and a lot of tasteless jewelry.
In Bolivia, even the poorest Indian family allows themselves the first, second and third courses at the table. Of course, this does not mean that they live well, but if a person is not hungry, then his existence, perhaps, can be considered acceptable.
A feature of the “common people” (that is, the majority, since in Bolivia most of the population is a category of people belonging to the middle class - they are not rich and not poor) is that in the usual Everyday life they look bad because of the shapeless, patched and dirty national clothes. Here it is not customary to dress up when going to the market. All the best clothes and jewelry are saved for the carnival - then brocade skirts and other attributes are fished out "to the light".
The same applies to basic living conditions - electricity, hot water, a toilet in the house, etc. Not every peasant who is able to improve his living conditions will go for it. For a Bolivian, this is not usual, and therefore not necessary.
It also speaks in favor of Bolivia that most of the buildings are fundamental brick structures with a good roof and windows. Here you will not find shacks built from improvised materials (cardboard, plywood) and more reminiscent of dog kennels than normal housing for a civilized person. True, along with this you will not find supermarkets and megacenters.
As one Russian emigrant who lived in Bolivia for more than three years said: “I returned to Russia with a light heart and soul. I rejoiced at this event like a child. I thought that after living in Bolivia, my former life would seem like paradise to me. But I was bitterly disappointed and suddenly I was drawn back .... To the country of color, vivid impressions and too simple-hearted inhabitants.