For several centuries, Russian Old Believers could not find peace in their native land, and in the 20th century, many of them finally moved abroad. It was far from always possible to settle somewhere close to the Motherland, and therefore today Old Believers can be found in a distant foreign land, for example, in Latin America. In this article, you will learn about the life of Russian farmers from the village of Toborochi, Bolivia. Old Believers, or Old Believers, is a common name for religious movements in Russia that arose as a result of rejection of church reforms in 1605-1681. It all began after the Moscow Patriarch Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of service books, change of rituals). Those who were dissatisfied with the "anti-Christ" reforms were united by the archpriest Avvakum. The Old Believers were severely persecuted by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside Russia, fleeing persecution. Nicholas II, and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like the stubborn ones. In Bolivia, a three-hour drive from the city of Santa Cruz, in the town of Toborochi, the first Russian Old Believers settled 40 years ago. Even now, this settlement cannot be found on maps, and in the 1970s there were absolutely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle. Fedor and Tatiana Anufrievs were born in China, and went to Bolivia among the first immigrants from Brazil. In addition to the Anufrievs, the Revtovs, Murachevs, Kaluginovs, Kulikovs, Anfilofievs, Zaitsevs live in Toborochi. The village of Toborochi consists of two dozen courtyards located at a decent distance from each other. Most of the houses are brick. Santa Cruz has a very hot and humid climate, and mosquitoes pester all year round. Mosquito nets, so familiar and familiar in Russia, are placed on windows and in the Bolivian wilderness. Old Believers cherish their traditions. Men wear shirts with belts. They sew them themselves, but they buy trousers in the city. Women prefer sundresses and floor-length dresses. Hair is grown from birth and is braided. Most Old Believers do not allow strangers to photograph themselves, but family albums are in every home. Young people keep up with the times and master smartphones with might and main. Many electronic devices in the village are formally prohibited, but progress cannot be hidden even in such a wilderness. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines, microwave ovens and TVs; adults communicate with distant relatives via the mobile Internet. The main occupation in Toborochi is agriculture, as well as breeding of Amazonian pacu fish in artificial reservoirs. Fish are fed twice a day - at dawn and in the evening. The feed is produced right there in the mini-factory. On vast fields, the Old Believers grow beans, corn, wheat, and eucalyptus in the forests. It was in Toborochi that the only Bolivian bean variety that is now popular throughout the country was bred. The rest of the legumes are imported from Brazil. In a village factory, the crop is processed, bagged and sold to wholesalers. Bolivian soil bears fruit up to three times a year, and fertilization began only a couple of years ago. Women are engaged in needlework and housekeeping, raising children and grandchildren. Most of the Old Believer families have many children. The names of the children are chosen according to the Psalter, according to the birthday. A newborn is named on the eighth day of his life. The names of Toborochins are unusual not only for the Bolivian ear: Lukiyan, Cyprian, Zasim, Fedosya, Kuzma, Agripena, Pinarita, Abraham, Agapit, Palageya, Mamelfa, Stefan, Anin, Vasilisa, Marimia, Elizar, Inafa Sestralamania, Salamania. The villagers often encounter wildlife: monkeys, ostriches, poisonous snakes and even small crocodiles who love to feast on fish in the lagoons. For such cases, the Old Believers always have a gun at the ready. Once a week, women go to the nearest city fair, where they sell cheese, milk, pastries. Cottage cheese and sour cream never caught on in Bolivia. To work in the fields, the Russians employ Bolivian peasants called Kolya. There is no language barrier, since the Old Believers, in addition to Russian, speak Spanish, and the older generation has not yet forgotten Portuguese and Chinese. By the age of 16, boys have acquired the necessary field experience and can get married. Marriages between relatives up to the seventh generation are strictly forbidden among the Old Believers, so they are looking for brides in other villages of South and North America. They rarely get to Russia. Girls can get married at the age of 13. The first "adult" gift for a girl is a collection of Russian songs, from which the mother makes another copy and gives her daughter for her birthday. Ten years ago, the Bolivian authorities financed the construction of the school. It consists of two buildings and is divided into three classes: children 5-8 years old, 8-11 and 12-14 years old. Boys and girls study together. The school is taught by two Bolivian teachers. The main subjects are Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, drawing. Russian is taught at home. In oral speech, the Toborochins are used to mixing two languages, and some Spanish words have completely supplanted Russian ones. So, gasoline in the village is called nothing but "gasoline", the fair - "feria", the market - "mercado", garbage - "basura". Spanish words have long been Russified and are inclined according to the rules of the native language. There are also neologisms: for example, instead of the expression “download from the Internet”, the word “descargarit” is used from the Spanish descargar. Some Russian words that are ubiquitous in Toborochi have long gone out of use in modern Russia. Instead of “very,” the Old Believers say “awfully”, the tree is called “wood”. The older generation mixes with all this variety the Portuguese words of the Brazilian spill. In general, the material for dialectologists in Toborochi is a whole book. Primary education is not compulsory, but the Bolivian government encourages all students in public schools: the military comes once a year, paying each student 200 boliviano (about $ 30). Old Believers attend church twice a week, not counting Orthodox holidays: services are held on Saturday from 17 to 19 hours and on Sunday from 4 to 7 in the morning. Men and women come to church in everything clean, wearing dark clothes over them. The black cape symbolizes the equality of all before God. Most of the South American Old Believers have never been to Russia, but they remember their history, reflecting its main moments in artistic creation. Sunday is the only day off. Everyone goes to visit each other, men go fishing. It gets dark early in the village, go to bed by 10 pm.

Many travelers often call Bolivia one of the most attractive and interesting countries: here you can find unusually beautiful places, strange species of plants and animals. Everyone who comes to Bolivia will certainly become a hostage of their own unforgettable impressions. But what actually awaits the one who decided not only to drive through the impressive environs of Bolivia, but also to stay in the country that is often called the "Tibet" of South America.

To begin with, I would like to note that about 50% of the total population are Indians who have preserved most of their folk traditions until the 21st century. They do not care about high technologies and many signs of civilization - they feel quite well without hot water and a comfortable toilet. That is why one can often come across statements that Bolivia is a country where a high percentage of the population lives below the poverty line, does not have a stable income and does not have access to the basic benefits of a developed state. But for many Bolivians, it is enough that they have a roof over their heads, arms and legs for work and food for food.

Bolivia is a country with a developed industry, but a low standard of living - any foreigner with an amount of several tens of thousands of dollars can freely plunge into a rich life by local standards.

Bolivia is also known to many thanks to the free coca growing throughout the country. It is grown by whole plantations and is freely sold and bought literally on every corner. It is believed that chewing coca leaves has a tonic effect on the entire body, although all tourists are strongly advised to treat the use of coca as carefully as possible, especially in the highlands. Besides the fact that coca is grown under absolutely legal conditions, the production of drugs in this country is one of the most profitable activities, although still a shadow industry in Bolivian industry.

About adaptation in Bolivia

It is interesting that those few who, having visited Bolivia as a tourist-traveler, having seen enough of its beauty and decided to settle here for permanent residence, subsequently regret their choice. Although this does not mean that it is really difficult to exist normally in this country, it is not for nothing that there is a proverb “everywhere it’s good, where we are not,” and tourism and emigration should not be confused.

The Bolivians themselves, despite the very significant number of emigrants who have settled here since time immemorial, do not really like visitors. Among such vivid examples are the Old Believers who preserved the traditions and customs of their Russian ancestors, creating their own tiny states on the territory of Bolivia, which Bolivians sometimes even perceive as foreign, often without even looking into their places of settlement.

For the indigenous inhabitants of this country, that the Mennonites, that the Old Believers, that the Japanese are strangers, for a strange reason living in Bolivia. By the way, for example, Old Believers, having a Bolivian passport, and hence citizenship, speaking in Spanish, often giving work to the people around them and participating in the economy, do not consider themselves Bolivians, so this attitude towards them is quite natural.

A real Bolivian, in fact, can be considered one who, among other things, was born in Bolivia and loves the country in which he lives, rightfully calling it his homeland. Moreover, it does not matter what color his skin is - there are quite a lot of "white" indigenous people in this country.

Today's immigrants often say that even after several years of legal residence in Bolivia, they feel more like tourists than residents. The negative factors and difficulties of adaptation in the new country include the fact that many Russians complain of bouts of disgust and discontent. It is possible that the reasons for such an attitude will seem insignificant to someone, but this is only until you plunge into this yourself.

Living in La Paz, many emigrants recall bread sold in vacuum packaging in their home cities and countries - in Bolivia, you can often find an unpleasant picture when splashes of mud from puddles, exhaust gases from rudimentary buses, and dirty the hands of the loader, literally tossing loaves on the pitiful counters.

Discourse on Poverty in Bolivia

As mentioned above, Bolivia and Bolivians in particular cannot be called poor. In this context, this word is somewhat inappropriate, if only because there are practically no hungry people among them.

Travelers unfamiliar with the local lifestyle may be amazed by the fact that a completely beggar-looking bomb with a kettle in his hands can afford to go to a restaurant to taste a hot soup. By the way, it should be noted that there are practically no beggars here, or they look quite well-off - with gold teeth and a lot of tasteless jewelry.

In Bolivia, even the poorest Indian family allows themselves the first, second and third course at the table. Of course, this does not mean that they live well, but if a person is not hungry, then his existence, perhaps, can be considered acceptable.

A feature of the "common people" (that is, the majority, since in Bolivia most of the population is a category of people belonging to the middle class - they are neither rich nor poor) is that in ordinary everyday life they look bad because of their shapeless, patched and dirty national clothes. It is not customary here to dress up when going to the bazaar. All the best clothes and decorations are taken care of for the carnival - then brocade skirts and other attributes are fished out "for the light".

The same applies to basic living conditions - electricity, hot water, a toilet in the house, etc. Not every peasant who can improve his living conditions will do this. For a Bolivian, this is not familiar, and therefore not necessary.

Bolivia is also supported by the fact that most of the buildings are fundamental brick structures with a good roof and windows. Here you will not find huts built from scrap materials (cardboard, plywood) and more reminiscent of doghouses than normal housing for a civilized person. True, along with this, you will not find supermarkets and mega-centers.

As one Russian emigrant who has lived in Bolivia for more than three years said: “I returned to Russia with a light heart and soul. I enjoyed this event like a child. I thought that after living in Bolivia, my former life would seem like paradise to me. But I was bitterly disappointed and suddenly I was drawn back ... To the country of color, vivid impressions and too simple-minded inhabitants. "

“Here, in Bolivia, Old Believers perfectly preserve the Russian language”

This is just a photojournalist's dream: the jungle, "many, many wild monkeys" and against this outlandish background - she, a blue-eyed girl in a sundress and with a fair-haired braid to the waist.

And here is the village, where blond boys in embroidered shirts are running through the streets, and women are sure to tuck their hair under shashmura - a special headdress. Unless the huts are not log cabins, but instead of birch trees, palm trees. Russia, which we have lost, has survived in South America.

There, after long wanderings, the Old Believers found refuge in their desire to preserve the faith and the foundations of their ancestors. As a result, they managed to preserve not only this, but also the Russian language of past centuries, for which, like a treasure, linguists go to South America. Senior Research Fellow, Institute of the Russian Language, Russian Academy of Sciences Olga Rovnova recently returned from another, already the ninth expedition to South America. This time she visited Bolivia, in Toborochi village founded by Old Believers in the 1980s. The linguist told the Russian Planet portal about the life of the Russian language on the other side of the earth.

How did Old Believers end up in South America in a nutshell?

Their ancestors fled from Russia in the late 1920s and early 1930s to China from the Soviet regime. They lived in China until the end of the 1950s, until they began to build communism there and drive everyone to collective farms.

The Old Believers took off again and moved to South America - to Brazil and Argentina.

Why did they move to Bolivia?

Not everyone was able to settle down in Brazil on the lands that the government allocated to them. It was a jungle that had to be uprooted by hand, plus the soil had a very thin fertile layer - hellish conditions awaited them. Therefore, after a few years, some of the Old Believers began to look for new territories. Someone went to Bolivia and Uruguay: here they were also offered jungle plots, but the soil in Bolivia is more fertile. Someone found out that the United States, in the state of Oregon, is also selling land.

They sent a delegation for reconnaissance, they returned with the most favorable impressions, and some of the Old Believers moved to Oregon. But since the Old Believers' families are large and they need a lot of living space, then from Oregon they eventually went to Minnesota and further, to Alaska, where a certain amount of the Russian population has long lived. Some even went to Australia. The proverb “A fish seeks where it is deeper, and a man - where is better” is very suitable for our Old Believers.

What are they doing in new places?

In Bolivia and in Latin America in general - agriculture. In the village of Toborochi, where we were this year, they grow wheat, beans, corn, and in artificial ponds they breed Amazonian fish pacu. And you know, they are good at it. Working on the land gives them a good income. Of course, there are different situations, but mainly Latin American Old Believers are very wealthy people. In the United States, the situation is slightly different - there some families work in factories and in the service sector.

What is the Russian language of Latin American Old Believers?

It is a living dialectal Russian language, which was spoken in Russia in the 19th century. Clean, without an accent, but this is precisely a dialect, not a literary language. This is a rare situation: linguists are well aware that in the event of emigration, people lose their native language already in the third generation. That is, the grandchildren of those who have left usually no longer speak the native language of their grandparents. We see this in the examples of both the first and second waves of emigration. And here, in Bolivia, Old Believers perfectly preserve their language: the fourth generation speaks pure Russian. This time we recorded a 10-year-old boy. His name is Diy, at school he studies in Spanish, but at home he speaks Russian dialect.

At the same time, it is important that the language of the Old Believers is not conserved. He is alive, he is developing. True, in isolation from Russia, it develops in a different way. In their speech there are a lot of words borrowed from Spanish. But they build them into the system of the Russian language - lexically, morphologically. For example, they call a gas station "gasoline" from the Spanish word gasolinera. They do not have the phrase "agriculture", so they say to themselves: "We are engaged in agriculture, we are agriculturalists." And these borrowings are mixed in their speech with outdated words that can no longer be found in our language. For example, their tree is a forest.

This situation is typical for all Old Believers living in South America. While in the USA or Australia, the situation is reversed. There, the second generation is completely switching over to English. For example, if a grandmother lives in Bolivia, and a grandson in Oregon or Alaska, then they can no longer communicate directly.

And why is the Russian language better preserved in South America than in North America?

There is a general tendency: the richer a country is, the more powerful influence it has on Old Believers - both economically and linguistically.

In the same Oregon, women are involved in economic activities. As a rule, they work - in the service sector or in manufacturing. And, of course, they themselves are actively learning the language of the host country. Children go to an English-speaking school, watch TV in English. The native language is gradually disappearing.

Not so in Latin America. The task of making money lies entirely with the man. Women are not required to work and, therefore, they communicate less with the local population. The task of a woman is to run a household and raise children. They are not only the keepers of the hearth, but also the keepers of the language.

The settlement where Old Believers live is also important. Here in Bolivia, Old Believers live in their village, completely in their own environment. Their children attend school where they are taught in Spanish, but what is typical: in both Bolivia and Brazil, Old Believers try to build a school in their village - often at their own expense - and arrange for teachers to visit them, instead of send children to someone else's village or city. Therefore, the children are constantly in the village, in which - with the exception of the school - they speak only Russian everywhere. By the way, in Russia, too, the keepers of dialects are rural women. Men lose their dialect much faster.

After all, what dialect of the area do the Old Believers speak?

Basically, they took with them the language of the area from which they fled abroad. For example, in Estonia, on the shores of Lake Peipsi, there are Old Believers who once came from the Pskov region. And the Pskov dialect can still be traced in their speech.

Bolivian Old Believers entered China through two corridors. One group came to Xinjiang province from Altai. The second group fled from Primorye. They crossed the Amur and settled in Harbin, and there are differences in their speech, which I will talk about a little later.

But what is interesting is that both Xinjiang and Harbin, as they call themselves, in their bulk are Kerzhaks, the descendants of Old Believers from the Nizhny Novgorod province. Under Peter I, they were forced to flee to Siberia, and the dialect of the Nizhny Novgorod province can be traced in their speech.

And what is this dialect?

I will have to tell you literally in a couple of words about Russian dialects. There are two large groups of dialects - Northern dialect and Southern dialect. The most famous differences in pronunciation are as follows: in the north “okayut”, and in the south - “akayut”, in the north the sound [r] is explosive, and in the south it is fricative, in a weak position it is pronounced as [x]. And between these two dialects there is a wide strip of Central Russian dialects. They are very colorful, but each took something from the Northern dialect, and something from the Southern. For example, the Moscow dialect, which formed the basis of the Russian literary language, is also a Central Russian dialect. It is characterized by the southern "akanya" and at the same time the northern explosive [g]. The dialect of the South American Old Believers is Central Russian, but it differs from the Moscow one.

They also "akayut", but from the northern dialect they took, for example, the so-called contraction of vowels, that is, they say "Such a beautiful girl", "Taka took a beautiful girl to wife."

Are there differences in language among different communities of American Old Believers?

There is. And these differences are not due to who in what area now lives, but from which part of China they left for America. Although their speech is very similar, there are features in the speech of the Xinjiang people that make the Harbin people laugh. For example, Xinjiang people say [s] instead of the sound [q]. Instead of a chicken, they have a "roll", "sar" instead of a tsar. And they pronounce [h] as [u]: son, sonny, shop. It really hurts the ear, especially at the beginning of communication. And the Harbinians, who do not have all this, consider their speech more correct, more similar to the Russian one. In general, it is very important for Old Believers to realize their closeness to Russia.

By the way, what do Old Believers think about our Russian language?

They are very worried about him. They do not understand many words that have appeared in Russia in recent years. A typical example, we were in the same house, and there relatives from Alaska came to the owners. One of them asks what language is now spoken in Russia. In Russian, I answer. "What kind of Russian is it if they call kufayka sweater!"

Old Believers have no respect for TV, but they still watch Russian films, and then they start asking me questions. Once they ask me: "What is a mistress?" I explain to them, and they say: “Ah! So this is our "boyfriend"! " Or a girl who loves to cook, having looked at our culinary forums, asks me what cakes are - “I know pies, and pies, but I don’t know cakes”.

Indeed, it would seem that Old Believers should avoid all these modern technologies, but do they even use the Internet?

This is discouraged, but not prohibited either. In their work, they use modern technology: in the fields they have tractors and John Deer combines. And at home - Skype, with the help of which they keep in touch with their families around the world, and also find brides and grooms for their children - in both the Americas and Australia.

I just wanted to ask about marriages, because closed communities are characterized by closely related unions and, as a result, an increase in genetic problems.

This is not about Old Believers. Not knowing genetics, their ancestors established the rule of the eighth generation: marriages between relatives up to the eighth generation are prohibited. They know very well their ancestry to such a depth, all their relatives. And the Internet is important to them in order to find new families in conditions when Old Believers have settled all over the world.

However, they also allow marriages with strangers, provided that they accept the faith and learn prayers. On this visit, we saw a young local man who was courting a girl from the village. He speaks very interestingly: in dialectal Russian with a Spanish accent.

And to what extent do Old Believers themselves speak Spanish?

Enough to live in the country. As a rule, men speak the language better. But when I went into the store with one of the women and realized that my Spanish was clearly not enough to talk to the saleswoman, my companion turned out to be a very lively translator.

What, in your opinion, is the future fate of the Russian dialect language in South America? Will he live on?

I would very much like to come to them in 20 years and see what their Russian language will be like. Of course it will be different. But you know, I have no anxiety about the Russian language in Bolivia. They speak without an accent. Their dialect is extremely tenacious. This is a completely unique combination of archaism and innovation. When they need to name a new phenomenon, they easily invent new words. For example, they call cartoons the word "skipping", garlands of light bulbs - "winks", the headband on the hair - "dress". They know the word "loan", but they themselves say "take for payment."

Old Believers use metaphors very widely to refer to new objects or concepts. For example, I show a boy a tree in their village - a large tree with large fragrant bright red bunches of flowers. I ask: what is it called? “I don’t know, my sister is calling lilac,” the boy answers me. Other flowers, a different scent, but a similar shape of bunches - and here's a lilac. And they call tangerines "mimosa". Apparently for their round shape and bright color. I ask the girl where her brother is. “Fadeyka? They will clean the mimosa. " Look, peels tangerines ...

Without knowing anything about such a science as sociolinguistics, the Old Believers in Bolivia do exactly what must be done to preserve the language. They live apart and demand that only Russian be spoken at home in the village. And I really hope that the Russian language will be heard in Bolivia for a long time.

Interviewed by Milena Bakhvalova

Three women with completely different fates. Nana, Sveta and Natasha.

RTW 2006-07: 18-19.04 sucre

Uyuni with a salt lake - Potosi with dynamite - and we arrived in Sucre, a city with a Russian hairdresser.

It's warm here. The height is only 2000 m. Above sea level.

In the whole city I remember most of all Central market... A huge indoor space filled to capacity with trays of fresh fruit, fruit cocktails, salads, juices and cakes. A mug of fruit cocktail with juice costs 4.5 rubles, a cup of fruit salad - 3.5 rubles. Lunch - $ 2 for two, with meat and soup.

But our acquaintances became much more significant. In Sucre, we met three Russian women who had been living in Bolivia for a long time.

Three women with completely different fates.

Natashin the phone was given to us by our friends from Moscow. She met us in her own car, with two children. Natasha is married to a Bolivian. He works in La Paz, she doesn't like the noisy and dirty city, and they live in a pleasant and clean Sucre with her husband's parents. She just opened her furniture showroom. She dreams of creating a Russian settlement (Russian region). She also publishes a newspaper in Russian and sends it to the Russian embassy.

We sat first in the ice cream park, then in Natasha's salon. Sveta looks great, she has enough money to implement a wide variety of ideas. Yet she did not come across as a happy woman. Maybe it just seemed to us, but everything in her stories looked "seemingly not bad." I don't even know how to describe it. No, she was not trying to look very successful and unnaturally content. Rather, on the contrary, she seemed to be quite honest about everything. And some kind of slight dissatisfaction showed through in all the stories.

Asking Natasha for advice on where to get a haircut, we immediately found the next friend. Light... Sveta is studying to be a hairdresser and working in a salon. Rather, there is only one real salon in Sucre. But the one where Sveta works will soon be equipped with equipment, and there will be a second salon in the city.

On the way, the taxi driver asked us what to see in Russia, if he ever gets there, whether he can work there, and whether it is necessary to speak Russian (is Russian and Spanish so different? speak Spanish?).

Sveta is Natasha's friend. She is also married to a Bolivian. He studied in Ukraine, so he brought his wife with him. It was very difficult for Sveta there and it was not clear how to be and what to do next. So she actually ran away. Here, too, is not easy. Not much money. If Natasha can afford to open a furniture salon that is not yet profitable, she has to study and work about Sveta. In the words of Sveta, uncertainty shines through. Maybe something would have worked out at home? Or maybe it would be worse. She doesn't look very happy either. Not unhappy - no. But not entirely happy either. The most difficult thing in Sveta's life is her relationship with her husband's parents. Natasha is also not perfect in this regard, although she completely voluntarily lives in Sucre with her husband's parents.

We spent the evening with new friends in the Jоyride cafe in the very center of the city. Cool place. Good and not cheap. Or rather, not cheap by local standards. For us, $ 1.50 for an alcoholic cocktail ... well, you get the idea.

In general, in Bolivia, we feel very strange. We look like hippie bums in our clothes, worn out during the journey, in old shoes, with backpacks torn apart by travels. And yet we can easily afford to pay for well-dressed local girls. We are even uncomfortable with the realization that here we can afford everything in general. Land and apartments in Bolivia cost almost nothing. But this is nothing very difficult to earn here. We honestly told Natasha and Sveta that in 8 months we had saved up $ 20,000 for a trip at home, and over 6 months on the way we spent $ 12,000. And they were the first to marvel at these amounts. Rather, until now everyone was also amazed, but in the spirit of "you spent so little." Now the situation was reversed.

We go to the hotel again by taxi. Bargaining is easy here.
You sit in a taxi and start a dialogue on the way:
-How much will you take?
-4 boliviano per person ($ 0.5).
-Can it be for 3? Oh please!
-Maybe for 3.

Here I will also tell you about Nane, owner of a Georgian cafe in the town of Oruro... Nana is from Tbilisi, but has been living in Bolivia for 11 years. I came here for my daughter after the death of her husband. The daughter is married to a Bolivian. Nana has a good relationship with her daughter's husband's family. But, of course, she misses Tbilisi - you can even see it in her eyes. It's hard to get used to the new rules. But he does what he can. So, she opened a cafe, from 5 to 9 pm she bakes cakes and eclairs, pancakes and khachapuri here.

Nana, Sveta and Natasha. Very pleasant and not very happy. I would like to believe that they simply do not know how to get settled in life very well, and that it would be more difficult for them to be in Bolivia, and it would be harder at home.

But back to the city of Sucre. Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia.

Its real capital is business, noisy and dirty La Paz. Sucre looks more like the village seat of government. Historic, sophisticated, green, with wooden balconies and light houses. With one supermarket for the whole city back in 2007.

The main attraction of the area is dinosaur footprints.

Sometime not far from Sucre, cement began to be mined and a seam with dinosaur footprints was dug up. 68 million years ago it was the bottom of the lake. But then, due to tectonic processes, the lake reared up, and now its bottom has turned into a wall of a quarry.

The workers were driven away and the tourists were overtaken. We made something like a park. Very weak park. With a couple of dinosaur figures, a 15-minute excursion and ice cream.

For several centuries, Russian Old Believers could not find peace in their native land, and in the 20th century, many of them finally moved abroad. It was far from always possible to settle somewhere close to the Motherland, and therefore today Old Believers can be found in a distant foreign land, for example, in Latin America. In this article, you will learn about the life of Russian farmers from the village of Toborochi, Bolivia.

Old Believers, or Old Believers - a common name for religious movements in Russia,
resulting from the rejection of church reforms in 1605-1681. It all started after the Moscow Patriarch
Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correcting the liturgical books, changing rituals).
Those who were dissatisfied with the "anti-Christ" reforms were united by the archpriest Avvakum. Old Believers were severely persecuted
on the part of both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside Russia, fleeing persecution.
Nicholas II, and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like the stubborn ones. In Bolivia, three hours from the city of Santa Cruz,
the first Russian Old Believers settled in Toborochi 40 years ago. Even now, this settlement cannot be found on the maps,
and in the 1970s there were completely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle.

Fedor and Tatiana Anufrievs were born in China, and went to Bolivia among the first immigrants from Brazil.
In addition to the Anufrievs, the Revtovs, Murachevs, Kaluginovs, Kulikovs, Anfilofievs, Zaitsevs live in Toborochi.

The village of Toborochi consists of two dozen courtyards located at a decent distance from each other.
Most of the houses are brick.

Santa Cruz has a very hot and humid climate, and mosquitoes pester all year round.
Mosquito nets, so familiar and familiar in Russia, are placed on windows and in the Bolivian wilderness.

Old Believers cherish their traditions. Men wear shirts with belts. They sew them themselves, but they buy trousers in the city.

Women prefer sundresses and floor-length dresses. Hair is grown from birth and is braided.

Most Old Believers do not allow strangers to photograph themselves, but family albums are in every home.

Young people keep up with the times and master smartphones with might and main. Many electronic devices in the village are formally banned.
but progress cannot be hidden even in such a wilderness. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines,
microwaves and TVs, adults communicate with distant relatives via the mobile Internet.

The main occupation in Toborochi is agriculture, as well as breeding of Amazonian pacu fish in artificial reservoirs.
Fish are fed twice a day - at dawn and in the evening. The feed is produced right there in the mini-factory.

On vast fields, the Old Believers grow beans, corn, wheat, and eucalyptus in the forests.
It was in Toborochi that the only Bolivian bean variety that is now popular throughout the country was bred.
The rest of the legumes are imported from Brazil.

In a village factory, the crop is processed, bagged and sold to wholesalers.
Bolivian soil bears fruit up to three times a year, and fertilization began only a couple of years ago.

Women are engaged in needlework and housekeeping, raising children and grandchildren. Most of the Old Believer families have many children.
The names of the children are chosen according to the Psalter, according to the birthday. A newborn is named on the eighth day of his life.
The names of Toborochins are unusual not only for the Bolivian ear: Lukian, Cyprian, Zasim, Fedosya, Kuzma, Agripena,
Pinarita, Abraham, Agapit, Palageya, Mamelfa, Stephen, Anin, Vasilisa, Marimia, Elizar, Inafa, Salamania, Selivester.

Villagers often encounter wildlife: monkeys, ostriches,
poisonous snakes and even small crocodiles that love to feast on fish in the lagoons.
For such cases, the Old Believers always have a gun at the ready.

Once a week, women go to the nearest city fair, where they sell cheese, milk, pastries.
Cottage cheese and sour cream never caught on in Bolivia.

To work in the fields, the Russians employ Bolivian peasants called Kolya.

There is no language barrier, since the Old Believers, in addition to Russian, also speak Spanish,
and the older generation has not yet forgotten Portuguese and Chinese.

By the age of 16, boys have acquired the necessary field experience and can get married.
The Old Believers strictly forbid marriages between relatives up to the seventh generation, so they are looking for brides in other villages.
South and North America. They rarely get to Russia.

Girls can get married at the age of 13.

The first "adult" gift for a girl - a collection of Russian songs, from which the mother removes
another copy and gives her daughter for her birthday.

Ten years ago, the Bolivian authorities financed the construction of the school. It consists of two buildings and is divided into three classes:
children 5-8 years old, 8-11 and 12-14 years old. Boys and girls study together.

The school is taught by two Bolivian teachers. The main subjects are Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, drawing.
Russian is taught at home. In oral speech, Toborochins are used to mixing two languages, and some Spanish words and
completely ousted by the Russians. So, gasoline in the village is called nothing else than "gasoline", the fair - "feria", the market - "mercado",
garbage - "basura". Spanish words have long been Russified and are inclined according to the rules of the native language. There are also neologisms: for example,
instead of the expression "download from the Internet", the word "descargarit" is used from the Spanish descargar. Some Russian words
widely used in Toborochi, have long gone out of use in modern Russia. Instead of "very", Old Believers say "awfully"
the tree is called "forest". The older generation mixes with all this variety the Portuguese words of the Brazilian spill.
In general, the material for dialectologists in Toborochi is a whole book.

Primary education is not compulsory, but the Bolivian government encourages all students
public schools: the military comes once a year, paying each student 200 boliviano (about $ 30).

Old Believers attend church twice a week, not counting Orthodox holidays:
services are held on Saturday from 17 to 19 hours and on Sunday from 4 to 7 in the morning.

Men and women come to church in everything clean, wearing dark clothes over them.
The black cape symbolizes the equality of all before God.

Most of the South American Old Believers have never been to Russia, but they remember their history,
reflecting its main moments in artistic creation.

Sunday is the only day off. Everyone goes to visit each other, men go fishing.

It gets dark early in the village, go to bed by 10 pm.