Hear Rosa María:
"I went to the mines at a really, really early age . . . my environment at that age was just really poverty, barrenness – in a way a sense of hopelessness."
[TRANSCRIPT - 1.1]
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Rosa María's father died when she was a young child. It was the mid-1950s, and Rosa María's
mother struggled to support her two daughters (women were not commonly accepted in the workplace at the time). She sold selling mining equipment on commission, and took Rosa María with her as they travelled throughout Bolivia, visiting the mines.
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At about age seven, Rosa María and her mother took a month-long vacation trip to the region that is now Madidi National Park. It was the beginning of Rosa María's lifelong love affair with this vast, wilderness.
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After rafting down a river with members of the Moseten tribe, they stayed in a village. While Rosa María's mother socialized with village residents during the day, Rosa María would cross the river to explore the forest. There she met members of the Tacana tribe. By developing a close relationship with the Tacanas, she gained a second home, and came to identify closely with them. Throughout her childhood and teenage years, Rosa María returned to the forest whenever possible – often by herself – sometimes playing hooky from school. She eventually befriended a pilot who would let her ride along to a forest airstrip.
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Feb. '99 Journal