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.

Downtown Cochabamba

Quillacolla

Wednesday

Nearing the halfway point of our trip on Wednesday, we went to CEOLI today to continue our project and perform service for the school. To add depth to our project and more fully understand CEOLI and help the community, we worked today on painting and restoring the main entrance to CEOLI. By providing this activity for the school, we helped them with a needed project, bonded among ourselves and with CEOLI personnel, and had good fun. After another delicious Bolivian buffet for lunch, we headed out of Cochabamba to visit an Incan ruins archaeological site called Quillacolla. Taken through the site by noted Bolivian archaeologist David Pereira, the Incas used this site for storage of maize grown in this region. There are estimated to be remains of 2,000 silos on this picturesque hilltop with cool breezes that acted as a natural refridgerator, some of which have been replicated now. The views of the Bolivian countryside were spectacular from this location. On our way back to Cochabamba, we stopped to visit a ritualist who was a friend of David. She treated us to a blessing for good health, travels, and studies. Upon return to Cochabamba, we toured the downtown area of the city. A beautiful green space surrounded by incredible architecture, the town square was bustling with activity and people in the early evening. We closed off the night with dinner at a Chinese restaurant showing more of the influence of the other cultural groups on Cochabamba society. On Thursday, we will have an important presentation and conversation to discuss our findings, plans and recommendations for CEOLI in regards to our project.

Wilstermann Victory

Inside the Convent

Tuesday

With Tuesday, our second day at CEOLI, we got the chance to really get into the bulk of our project content. To better facilitate our work, we broke down into three groups: one speaking specifically with the people involved in the CEOLI cards project, one working on CEOLI's water filtration project, and one learning more about CEOLI in general, interacting with students directly, and looking for other potential areas of interest. I spent most of the time working on the water filtration project. In Cochabamba, water scarcity is a significant issue for all business and households, which many companies seize as an opportunity for business. Selling bottled purified water can be a profitable business in Cochabamba, and CEOLI decided to get in on this market when they received a filtration and bottling system from a donor. The employee working with the water system walked our team through their operations and challenges. We learned about current production capabilities, limited by a number of factors, and optimal production capabilities. Through this conversation and a later talk with Ronald, we got more details into estimated demand, client base, costs and pricing, the competitive environment, and marketing goals and challenges. While their market is very competitive and challenges are significant, the opportunities within the water filtration space are bright and could make a positive impact on CEOLI's overall position. Our team will be doing some more research and analysis to provide advise for CEOLI to improve their water filtration business. I additionally spent time with the group working on the cards during our conversation with Ronald. Within the cards business, CEOLI's current strategy leaves room for a significant amount of positive impacts. Our initial assessment is that CEOLI can price their cards competitively in the United States and capture strong margins to bring money into CEOLI for support of all their operations. We will continue our work on both these projects throughout the trip and make recommendations later. Following lunch at a Bolivian buffet and a short break at the hotel, we were ready for an interesting and fun evening. First, we took a tour of the Convento de Santa Teresa, a centuries-old cloister convent. Currently under a restoration process, the convent had beautiful relics and interesting architecture to separate the cloistered nuns from the rest of the community. We also visited the attached church, newly restored and one of the nicest in Cochabamba. For our evening activity, we were treated to a football match between Cochabamba's own Wilstermann and a team from Uruguay called Penarol as part of the Copa Libertadores tournament. An electric atmosphere filled the stadium as the home team came away with a 6-2 victory in a very exciting match. We all had a great time as newfound Wilstermann fans fully embracing Cochabamba's team and culture.

Monday

On Monday, our first full day in Cochabamba, we started off our project with CEOLI. We arrived at the school early in the morning and were shown around the facility. For the first time, our team had the chance to see the incredible children and dedicated staff that our work would support. They took us from classroom to classroom, introducing us to all the people making CEOLI run including the teachers, physical therapists, and even our West Virginia Amizade counterparts, who are completing a semester-long study aboard program in Cochabamba. We could see the excitement and the joy of the children being given a supporting and inclusive environment to grow into the world at CEOLI. Following our tour, we had a briefing with Ronald, the Director of CEOLI. He discussed with us the vision and operations of CEOLI, giving us a great deal of information with which we could move forward on our project. After our meeting with Ronald, we closed out our time at CEOLI some more time spent with the children, watching and helping as they made cards and jewelry. An inspiring first day at CEOLI has set us up well for the rest of the week. After lunch at a Brazilian buffet and a short break at the hotel, we prepared to visit La Cancha, a sprawling market complex in Cochabamba that is one of the largest in Latin America. I delivered a brief presentation based on my prior research and experience into markets, and Jean Carla and Allison gave information about La Cancha specifically to help prepare us for our time. We visited the handcraft market, explored all the tremendous products available, and practiced some bargain skills as we all found items of interest for purchase. La Cancha was a very exciting, fast-paced, and culturally intensive place to visit, and a great way to continue the immersion into Bolivian culture. In the evening, we had a lecture by Dr. Vivian Schwarz, a professor of sociology and political science in Cochabamba, on the contemporary issues of Bolivia. Dr. Schwarz's talk was extremely fascinating and provided a great amount of depth and detail into the issues that we would find in our project with CEOLI and our experience within Bolivia in general. Later in the evening, our group went out to see more of Cochabamba and cap off a great first full day.

First Lunch

Thornton and Erlanger Survey the Area

El Cristo de la Concordia

Some Views of Cochabamba

Day One from the Cristo Statue

Saturday-Sunday

At 7 AM on Saturday, March 4th, our team left campus for Pittsburgh International Airport. 24 hours later we arrived in Cochabamba, after four flights and three countries and having come through the dual trials of immigration and altitude at La Paz. Welcomed by our fantastic companions from Amizade, Jean Carla and Rolando, our team (despite exhaustion) was really excited to become fully immersed into Cochabamba's culture. After a short rest at the Hostel Maya, we headed out for lunch to a spot picked by Jean Carla. A homey yet busy indoor/outdoor place with fantastic food, decor and a mariachi band; we were immediately exposed to the culture. Calvin and I ate a fried Guinea Pig, and we all enjoyed excellent conversation with Rolando. Following lunch, we headed up to El Cristo De La Concordia, a statue of Jesus built to commemorate a visit of Pope John Paul II to the city in the 1980's. From this mountain side with picturesque views of Cochabamba City and the surrounding region, we took in the sites and established memories of the place we will call home for the next week. Later, we walked through the main portion of town on our way to a terrific dinner and ice cream to close out a long but excited two day stretch. Now that we have settled into Cochabamba, we can get down to work tomorrow with CEOLI to start making a difference through our project.

Predeparture

Hello!

My name is Alex Thornton and I am currently the President of Phi Beta Lambda at the University of Pittsburgh. From March 4th to March 12th, myself and 11 other members of Pitt PBL will be traveling to Cochabamba, Bolivia to work on a Global Service Learning consulting project in coordination with Pitt Business and Amizade. We will be working with CEOLI, a Bolivian-based nonprofit that supports children with developmental disabilities. Over the last 8 weeks, our team has been preparing for our trip by attending classes and conducting preliminary work under the direction of Pitt Business faculty Dr. Audrey Murrell, Bryan Schultz, Moriah Mock, and Hillary Koller. We are incredibly excited to get down to work with our CEOLI and Amizade partners in Cochabamba and become fully immersed in Bolivian culture. I will be writing about our experiences here on this blog, so stay tuned to learn more about PBL's experience in Bolivia!