Paulino and his family have had a little so called museum there, but their sign is almost invisible from the road. This is the reason why not many people visit the place, and unless you are specifically looking for the museum, it is easy to miss it and pass by without meeting these wonderful people.
Paulino Estebans museum sign by the road in Huatajata...
- The reed boat builder school pretends to keep alive the reed boat building tradition.
- Most people from this area moved to the city in order to get jobs and a "better" life.
- Most people still living in the area, have changed their reed boats for wooden fishing boats, most of them with a motor.
- For a great while, to own a reed boat instead of a wooden boat was seen as inferior or less developed.
- The school pretends to change this view among the local population, making them see that there are lots of people from many nations who would love to learn how to build a reed boat.
- The school will bring back the feeling of dignity that this traditional knowledge should represent, trying to get younger people to be interested in re-learning the ancient methods of reed boat construction.
- The school wants to mix the old methods of construction and blend them with the new knowledge aquired by the Esteban family in the building of big boats capable of sailing across the oceans.
The School Campus
Our Bolivian right hand...Rita del Carmen doing the blessing of the Pachamama...
The existing museum and the piece of land where the school will run its workshops.
Inside the actual museum with Paulino and Porfirio...
