THE FENCE

THE FENCE

25.05.1994

Although the dairy plant is set in 82,000 square metres of land, there was no place to let the dogs run free, so we decided to have a fence built just around one side of the house so that we could let them wander around.  At first we got quotations from various  joiners but (seeing that we are "gringos") they wanted to make us a fence using "almendrillo" which is a precious Amazon hardwood and extremely expensive. This was acceptable neither from the ecological point of view nor from the economic one.  It was then suggested that we should have a fence made by one of the tribal people, a Yura, who are the traditional enemies of the Yukis that I went to visit.  This sounded like a good idea so, one of the workers at the dairy whose "wife is half-Yura" (according to him) - in fact, they are both full-blooded Yuras, but he does not want to admit this in case people think he is "less" than they are - brought along his brother-in-law to give a quotation.  He did and it was one third what everyone else wanted, so we told him to go ahead.  That was just before the nationwide barricade.

He started cutting the wood.  This is done on the banks of the river where he cut straight branches and saplings, stripped off the bark and cut them to size.  He then brought them up by canoe to his house near the village.  On account of the barricade he could go no further than that, and once the barricade was over his mother-in-law died so proceedings stopped for a few days.  She had had pains for a long time, he said, so she was better off.

When he started work he brought along two little boys, one aged 5 and the other 10.  These are his youngest children.  He has had 7 and his wife is expecting another one any day now which makes 8.  The third child, a daughter, died of chickenpox when she was 10 months old.  His eldest son is 21 years old.  He himself does not look much older than that, because here men have very little beard (a genetic feature attesting to their Mongol origin when the American continent was part of a larger landmass)  and very fresh faces.  In fact, he is 36 years old, so he had his first child at the age of 15.

He measured away and with extreme precision situated the master posts.  He and his eldest son, who came on subsequent days, dug the holes which they filled in neatly once the posts were in place.  Then he prepared the horizontal pieces and, once they were in place, the uprights were attached.  Traditionally they would have been attached using a cord made from tree bark but he opted to use a more modern (and less effective) method, so we subsequently used wire to hold them in place once the initial shrinkage had taken place.  In any event, he is the most meticulous and perfectionist worker we have come across in Bolivia.  Robert went out to congratulate him, because he had reached the conclusion that such workers did not exist in the country.  He was very pleased at that.

We had given him a one third advance to get the work going and when the job was about half-way through he asked if he could have 100Bs. to buy groceries for the family.  The remainder he got when the work was completed.  


Since the children came with him every day, I asked if they did not go to school.  He replied that he had wanted to send them, because he himself did not go to school, but so far he has not had the money to do so.  On the last day, I asked him how much it cost to register the children in school.  THE EQUIVALENT OF TWO US DOLLARS! - about a pound, so I gave him  the equivalent of five pounds extra on the condition that he was to use it to register the children in school and buy their books etc with it.  He went off very happy, so I only hope he has in fact done that.  

It was interesting to speak to him, because, when I congratulated him on his excellent care and workmanship, his reply was that he had worked for three years with the Brazilian road-building company that builds the disasters in the country.  When I insisted that he may have learned about measuring and so forth  there but that his knowledge and skill for working in wood must be part of his heritage, he reluctantly admitted that this might be so.  Of course, he still had not admitted that he was a Yura.  He agreed that he had been brought up "in the country" - not the jungle, mind you, the "country".  When I said that I had made a trip down the river and thought that the area was magnificent, he was pleased at that and said "Thank you, Ma'am, thank you".  Then I asked him if he knew how to make canoes and he proudly asserted that he was also a "navegante" or navigator and was skilled in making canoes.  Then he warmed to his subject and explained how they made the canoes water-tight by applying a mixture of pitch.  This was as a result of my saying that I did not want to paint the fence because I wanted to see the natural colour of the wood and therefore would prefer to protect it with diesel. Up-market people here paint their fences, you see.  Still he did not admit that he was a Yura.  The nearest we got was that his wife was part Yura, so it would seem to be all right for wives to be "part" tribal.  Interesting how these reactions occur as a safety mechanism to protect people who are different.

A real giveaway of their origins, however, is that fact that they did not take part in the barricade and consequently were fined by the town committee.  Logically, they would not take part, because their jungle culture has no ties with the cultivation of coca leaf and they feel no attachment to it, with the result that they do not get involved in the protection of it.  They are not agriculturalists, since their jungle culture is based on hunting and gathering, so when they come up to the "village" they do all kinds of odd jobs as and when they come up, specializing in river navigation and woodworking when they get the chance.  

Attitudes to work can be strange.  Filippo and Monica have got a maid in Chimoré.  Her name is María and she is a typical little indigenous girl with her "pollera" (wide skirt), bodice blouse and two long plaits down her back.  She comes in and does nothing until she is told what to do.  When she finishes one job, she will wait until she is given another, but does nothing on her own initiative.  In the middle of a job she might just sit down and look out the window or go out and have a look around and then come back later.  When Filippo and Monica went to Santa Cruz to the Agricultural Fair she did not come back, and when inquiries were made she said that there was nothing to do in that house because it was too clean.  Dusting and tidying and removing cobwebs and organizing bookshelves are peripheral minutiae and what does it matter anyway?  Cleaning means sturdy washing and such things.  This is one of the reasons why I do not have anybody to help me, because I would rather just get on and do it myself rather than have to follow up what someone else is doing.