Preparing the Soil, 1995
A native of Tiwanaku, Alvaro (the man pictured here), is familiar
with the annual planting and harvesting cycles followed in the campo.
As Bolivia is south of the Equator, Aymara people plant their spring
crops in November. Now a resident of El Alto (the name of the outlying
city sprawl around La Paz), Alvaro regularly returns to his family's
farm to help his parents and siblings cultivate the food they will
need for the following year. Here Alvaro gathers dried sheep dung
in a bag to use as fertilizer for their potato crop. Being the primary
staple in the Andes, potatoes are the only crops Aymara people organically
fertilize. Dried dung from larger animals, such as cows, is used for
cooking fuel in the home.
