Conclusion

Our time in Bolivia was truly a moving and impactful learning experience. We were tested with a very immersive challenge in a different culture, difficult business problems, significant language barrier, and emotional backdrop. Our team made the absolute best of the experience in the beautiful city of Cochabamba, with the incredible people of CEOLI, and in the fascinating culture of Bolivia. We are very excited to continue the partnership between PBL and CEOLI and see whatever we can do to help them continue their amazing work. I am very grateful for the support of Pitt Business and Amizade that allowed myself and our PBL team to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study, live, and learn for a week in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Farewell

Cochabamba Slides

Dancing Attire

Saturday

The time had come to wrap up our trip as we prepared for Saturday, our final day in Cochabamba. After sleeping in a little, we attended dance classes and learned about traditional Bolivian folkloric dances. Taught and popular all across Bolivia and unique to each region and group of people, these dances are an important part of Bolivian culture. Each dance was accompanied by a traditional costume that we got to see. After learning about all of the dances, we got to try a few of them out ourselves and had a great time learning the steps. We then enjoyed one final Bolivian buffet for lunch and then went off for our last activity. Not far from our hostel, there is a park with huge slides that are a popular attraction. Our group went down the slides a few times to close out our trip and headed back to the hotel to pack. After sad goodbyes to Jean Carla, Rolando, and Cochabamba, we started out for another long day-night-day of travel.

Friday

Friday was our last full day in Bolivia and our last day visiting CEOLI. The team at CEOLI intended for our time there today to be a celebration of the work that we have conducted and will continue to pursue. We exchanged gifts with the children and staff and played with the children as they enjoyed the new coloring books that we brought for them. Then, the whole school was brought together for to dance and celebrate our time together. We cherished our time with the children and were moved by their expressions of joy and friendship towards us. In addition to our time spent celebrating, we had the opportunity to meet one of the talented artists of the CEOLI cards. An alumnus of CEOLI, he had an inspiring story about how he found his way to art and his painting process. We departed CEOLI inspired to continue our work and help them continue support these children far into the future. In the afternoon, we headed to Aha Bolivia for another site visit, this time involving a discussion on marketing in Bolivia and in the United States. Discussing marketing concepts and techniques, we also got into a substantial discussion about Aha Bolivia and how to improve their brand in the US. Into the evening, we went to our farewell dinner. We enjoyed a terrific meal of pasta and exchanged thanks and gifts with all of our wonderful partners over the last week: Jean Carla and Allison, our tremendous Amizade leaders, Nataly and Adri, our kind and patient translators and friends, and Rolando, our special driver and guide. For our last night in Cochabamba, we went out with Nataly and our Amizade friends from West Virginia to continue celebrating an amazing week.

Thursday

With Thursday came a big day for our group, as we presented our work to CEOLI through a conversation with Ronald, the Director, and Jean Carla. After a detailed conversation to gather more information and gather our complete recommendations, we presented information to CEOLI that explained what PBL would be doing next. In regards to the CEOLI Cards project, we gave recommendations of product development and enhancement for the US market for future work. Additionally, we laid out promotion strategies, distribution channels, and pricing recommendations that could take effect immediately and be carried through into future operations. As we look to continue this partnership for years to come, we also presented ideas about how we can further the partnership, talking about how PBL could provide the marketing and promotion work in the United States through an intern and also giving ideas for projects for future groups including marketing the child produced jewelry to the United States and working on the water filtration business for CEOLI. Overall, the conversation we had was extremely productive and a great cap to our work over the last few months and especially this week. In the afternoon, we had a site visit to the office of Aha Bolivia, also known as Tote Le Monde. The company is based in Cochabamba and manufactures handbags and knitwear for various noted designers available in the US, Europe, and South America. Through our conversation with Anna, the company's founder, we learned about their interesting history, important emphasis on ethical manufacturing and fair trade, and current challenges faced during business both in Bolivia and in the international market. After a great conversation with Anna about the business, we toured both the office and store facility as well as a nearby factory, in which workers produced these beautiful products by hand. Aha Bolivia and its ethical sources provided great insight into the business environment in Bolivia, marked with many complexities. A very productive and busy day was capped with dinner and time to spend out in Cochabamba, as we look forward to tomorrow with excitement and emotion nearing the end of our trip.