Bolivian 'People of the Water' Try to live Without Their Lake

For many generations, the homeland of the Uru people was not land at all: It was the salty waters of Lake Poopo.

The Uru -"people of the water" - would build a sort of family island using plants when they married. They would live on what they could take from the wide, shallow lake in the highlands of southwestern Bolivia.

"They collected eggs, fished, hunted flamingos¹ and birds. When they fell in love, the couple built their own raft," said Abdón Choque, leader of Punaca, a town of about 180 people.

Now what was Bolivia's second-largest lake is gone. It dried up about five years ago, the result of shrinking mountain glaciers² and water use for farming and mining operations.

During rainy season, small bodies of water reappear in areas of the former lake.

Now, the Uru of Lake Poopo live near the lake's salt-crusted former shoreline in three small settlements. Around 600 people are looking for ways to make a living and trying to save even their culture.

Luis Valero is leader of the Uru communities around the lake. He said, "Our grandfathers thought the lake would last all their lives, and now my people are near extinction³ because our source of life has been lost."

Not long before the lake was lost, the Uru-Cholo language died. Younger generations learned Spanish in school. At work, they use other, more common Indigenous⁴ languages, Aymara and Quechua.

To save their identities, the communities are trying to revive their language - or at least its closest related language. Aided by the government and a local foundation, they have invited teachers from a related group of the Uru, the Uru-Chipaya near the Chilean border to the west, to teach that language to their children. It is one of 36 officially recognized Bolivian languages.

"In these times, everything changes. But we are making efforts to maintain our culture," Valero said. "Our children have to recover the language to distinguish us from our neighbors."

Avelina Choque is a 21-year-old student who would like to teach mathematics someday. She said the Uru-Chipaya teachers use numbers, songs and common expressions to teach the language.

"It's a little difficult to pronounce," she added.

The pandemic has made learning the language even more difficult. The teachers have been unable to hold in-person classes during the pandemic, leaving students to learn from texts, videos and radio programs.

Punaca Mayor Rufino Choque said the Uru began settling on the lakeshore in the past 30 years as the lake began to get smaller. However, there were already people living on most of the lands around the lake.

"We are ancient, but we have no territory. Now we have no source of work, nothing," said the 61-year-old mayor. The round homes of Punaca are lined up along a dirt road.

With no land for farming, the young men work as laborers⁵, herders or miners in nearby towns or more distant cities. "They see the money and they don't return," says Abdón. Some of the women make handicrafts of straw.

The broader Uru people once controlled a large part of the area. There are still branches around Peru and Lake Titicaca to the north, around the Chilean border and near the Argentine border.

Words in This Story

shallow – adj. having a small distance to the bottom from the surface or highest point

extinction – n. the state or situation that results when something (such as a plant or animal species) dies our completely

distinguish – v. to notice or recognize a difference between people or things

herd⁶ – v. to gather and move a group of animals

1 flamingos   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟（羽毛粉红、长颈的大涉禽）( flamingo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Flamingos stand in a salt lake in Larnaca, Cyprus. 塞浦路斯的拉纳卡市一个盐湖中的火烈鸟。 来自互联网
• The research started researchers studied greater flamingos and in a bird sanctuary in southern Spain. 研究人员在西班牙南部的一个鸟类保护区对大型火烈鸟进行研究。 来自互联网

2 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

3 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

4 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

5 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

6 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。