When Success Is Truly Sweet
In a remote region of southern Bolivia, Peace Corps Volunteer Kristina Owens helps farmers to protect and improve their harvest of the cherimoya fruit. She interviews, observes—and even employs techniques of DNA analysis.| Kristina Owens, Bolivia |
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Photographed, written, and narrated by former Peace Corps Volunteer Kristina Owens, who was a
graduate student in the Peace Corps Master's International program when she served in Bolivia. *
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When Success Is Truly Sweet
Kristina Owens
Peace Corps Volunteer
Bolivia, 2000–2002
Hi, my name is Kristina Owens. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to natural resources projects in southern Bolivia. Here I am in the hills above Las Carreras, my site.
Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America. Five other countries surround it: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Paraguay. It is about the size of Texas and Oklahoma together. This country has a diversity of natural resources and ecosystems.
You’ll find the Andes Mountains and the Amazon rain forest there, with various valleys between. Forests grow in the east, and deserts lie in the west.
Some areas of Bolivia are dry; others experience heavy rainfall. My site was semi-arid—often dry but not quite a desert, since it does have a rainy season.
Bolivia is varied not only geographically, but also culturally. There’s a broad mix of Spanish and other European ancestry, as well as indigenous—or native—groups, including Quechua, Guaraní, and Aymara.
Each group contributes significantly to the culture of Bolivia. Holidays often integrate many different customs, thereby creating traditions, such as dances, that are uniquely Bolivian.
Bolivia is home to a wide variety of agricultural crops. Certain areas of the country are ideal for growing tropical fruits and vegetables, and the country is famous for its variety of potatoes.
Yet, despite all its resources, Bolivia remains one of the poorest countries in South America. In the vicinity of my town, as much as 90 percent of the people were living in poverty.
Las Carreras became my home for two years. It lies on the road from Tarija to Potosi. There are about 500 people in the town, which is 2,300 meters, or 7,544 feet, above sea level in the Andes Mountains.
When I lived in Las Carreras, the road from Tarija was unpaved and often treacherous. We had electricity only for about two hours a night—if the generator was working.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I worked on projects related to natural resources and soil conservation. I worked mostly through the school, teaching environmental science and English.
In the shade of an adobe brick house, my seventh graders and I celebrate the end of the school year eating chickens that the students raised.
My class would often take field trips to the hills to draw and photograph trees and other vegetation. The students’ understanding and appreciation for their surroundings was important if they were to work for the conservation of their environment.
Throughout my two years in Las Carerras, I worked with the students to make community and school gardens. We worked to beautify the town, and I started a youth environmental group. I also helped set up a school library.
When I brought out my camera, children would pose and beg me to take their picture.
Since I was not only serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer but was also enrolled in the master's degree program at Michigan Technological University at the same time, I had to write reports to my professors every three to four months. I also had to develop a research project while in Bolivia. My community helped me determine my project.
I consulted with several farmers, such as this man ...
... and these women, and discovered that there were three communities near my site that grew a fruit called chirimoya, or cherimoya, in English.
This is an example of the fruit of the cherimoya, beside my puppy, which I named Chirimoya.
The cherimoya is native to the Andean valleys, where it grows in semi-arid regions along river banks. These trees are more than a hundred years old, and can live as long as 150 years.
In some areas the cherimoya grows wild, but because the fruit is delicious, the tree has been cultivated by the Bolivians for more than 300 years. There is evidence that even the early Incans cultivated the fruit. My study would focus on three sites: La Merced ...
... Acchilla ...
and Villa Abecia. All were relatively near my site. Las Carreras was not growing any cherimoya fruit trees, but when the farmers around me saw the benefits that farmers in other towns were reaping, they planted some of their own.
The cherimoya not only produces delicious fruit for the farmers’ families, but also brings the farmers extra money in the market. With cherimoya fruits, farmers don’t have to depend exclusively on their regular crops—such as potatoes, carrots, onions, and beans. And the trees provide an additional advantage: They help prevent soil erosion.
I proposed to study the diversity of the cherimoya fruit tree in my region. Diversity is important to the survival of any species. If farmers have different varieties of the cherimoya tree, their crop is more likely to survive a disease or change in rainfall. With only one variety, a farmer’s trees could easily be wiped out.
I suggested that if we knew more about which types of trees were present and if we determined some of the problems the farmers were experiencing, we would be better prepared to conserve the different varieties of fruit. I received a small grant for this work.
What exactly is the cherimoya fruit? What does it look like? How does it taste? Well, the fruit is green on the outside, sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy or with indentations. And sometimes it’s all these textures.
Inside, the fruit is like white custard with big black seeds. Sometimes there are many seeds, sometimes only a few. The cherimoya fruit—so highly favored by Bolivians—has been appreciated by others as well. American author Mark Twain called it “deliciousness itself.” People use the fruit for shakes, cookie fillings, and fruit salad, or they eat it by itself.
I planned the study carefully. I talked with my community about where I should study the cherimoya tree. I also contacted agronomists and my village leaders so they could introduce me to the other communities. All three communities were excited to have me interview them and survey their trees.
I then met several times with each of the three communities and explained what I wanted to do. They gave me a tour of the farms and told me about their experiences with the trees.
I collected lots of information about the cherimoya tree and its fruit. Acchilla had been growing the tree for centuries. The tree was experiencing few problems, but was sensitive to the type of soil it was planted in and the temperature around it.
The tree grows best in sheltered valleys near rivers and other good sources of water. Too much rain causes fungal disease. Extremes of temperature cause the trees to lose their branches or to yield only few fruits.
In Acchilla we found what looked like at least nine varieties of cherimoya. I hoped that this indicated that there was a lot of genetic diversity, not just diversity of appearance.
We collected fruit from about 200 trees. To determine the diversity of the trees, we had to extract DNA. When we collected leaves from the trees and dried them, the DNA quality was not good.
So we collected the seeds from different varieties of cherimoya fruits, instead.
Later, I grew seedlings from these seeds in our greenhouse at Michigan Tech. When the seedlings were big enough, I collected young leaves and extracted the DNA from them. Once I had DNA ...
... I ran a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction; then I performed gel electrophoresis, which compared the DNA of the seedlings. This is called DNA fingerprinting. I then used a statistical program to analyze the differences.
I found out several interesting things about the genetic diversity. First, even though the three sites were well separated, their fruits were genetically similar. My interviews offered an explanation. I found that these sites sold their fruit in the same central city.
Some farmers, eying other farmers’ large and beautiful cherimoyas, probably decided to buy the larger fruits and use the seeds to grow their own large and beautiful cherimoyas.
Second, many of the fruits in Acchilla were larger than those in the other two sites. I found that Acchilla had fertile soil and perfect temperature and humidity—conditions that were really important for the fruit trees.
But with extra care, farmers in other villages could also cultivate large cherimoyas. By adding manure to the base of a tree, providing regular irrigation, finding just the right amount of sunlight, or covering a young tree in winter, healthier trees could be produced.
In my two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer and Master’s International student in Bolivia, I grew to understand the people and their surroundings. I believe Bolivians will achieve great progress, based on the enthusiasm of my students and the farmers to do what is best for the environment while making a better life for themselves.
* Map of Bolivia courtesy of National Geographic Xpeditions.
Photographs of Michigan Technological University courtesy of
Blair Orr.