By Monica Machicao
EL ALTO, Bolivia (Reuters) – In Bolivia’s highland metropolis of El Alto, the row of colourful corrugated metallic roofs – blues, oranges, reds and greens – for a second distracts from the terrifying sight under: a precipitous drop inches (cm) from the homes, recognized domestically as “suicide homes” for the excessive threat the inhabitants take.
The skinny row of flimsy buildings hangs on the sting of a cliff fashioned of earth with a sheer drop a whole lot of toes (meters) to the rocky escarpment under. Specialists and metropolis officers say the cliff is eroding, making the properties much more harmful – therefore their nickname.
The precarious properties typically function workplaces for Aymara shamans, often called yatiris, the place they make choices to the Pachamama, or Earth Mom. However heavy rains and international warming are more and more undermining the buildings’ foundations.
“The precipice in this valley is 90 degrees,” mentioned Gabriel Pari, municipal secretary of water, sanitation, environmental administration and threat at El Alto’s mayoral workplace.
“That is precisely why we want them to leave this place, if they do not want to leave we are going to have to use force.”
The shamans, nevertheless, are clinging on, regardless of the again doorways of the rickety properties having solely a slim ledge earlier than the bottom drops away utterly.
“We are not going to move from this place, because this is our daily work place,” mentioned yatiri Manuel Mamani, making an providing to the Pachamama with a hearth exterior his residence.
“But we are going to take care of the soil, especially the rainwater, we are going to channel it so that the water goes somewhere else.”
El Alto, and the highland political capital of La Paz nestled within the valley under it, typically bend the thoughts with the sheer panorama that displays the encompassing Andean mountains. It led native authorities to construct cable vehicles to assist folks get round.
And that panorama is getting extra treacherous as climate patterns grow to be extra excessive, one thing that has been exacerbated by local weather change.
Gabriel Lopez Chiva, one other yatiri, mentioned he was assured, nevertheless, that the Pachamama would defend him.
“We can do an offering ceremony, we do it as a payment and in this way the land will never move because Pachamama needs an offering. It is like giving food and this way this place will not move. On the contrary it will stabilize,” he mentioned.
