IN STEREO

One place that attracts me here is the mountain. It was the first thing that attracted me. I had an image of being there. I worked as a music teacher at an NGO and I worked with mining children for six years. This gentleman arrived who is an educator. He came from Cochabamba – he worked with children and drug addicts. I was contracted to give music lessons to the children, who are from Pailaviri, Maria, Caracoles, Robertito, and so many mines that have now gone from my mind. What was the purpose of the foundation? It was that the miner’s child did not go to work in the mine. Basil was my student, [along with] his brother. We went up with more kids, to the top. We climbed in two hours, up to the side where now it looks like a slip.

We got there. Here there was a very large stone. There were native palliris’ tables, with their minerals. That would have been a very large space for the palliris. This area was not [yet] sunk, and it is unfortunate because [now] they have been buried. That gave me great sadness. My students indicated to me: “This is this; this is that...” Your students know more than you! When you are born in the mine, you know more. I cannot believe that four children were the ones who took me up, up to the peak. You normally do not arrive to the top in two hours, but they already knew the way. We went up – “Come here; come this way” – and they took me to this key place. I feel so lucky to have gone to these types of places. I have pieces of mineral from that. – Lucho