Cochabamba is in a valley, cupped tightly in the hand of the Andean cordillera. From everywhere in the city, you can see the green mountains of the Tunari National Park stretching into the distance. One Sunday night, I noticed a bright string of lights climbing the hillside. I had heard there were some informal settlements quite high up, so I assumed streetlights had just been installed there.
It wasn’t until the next day that the smoke and ash started to cloud the city centre. They weren’t street lights: the mountainside was on fire. Throughout the day, firefighters rushed to the fire and two helicopters dropped water on the site. People were urged not to go and tackle the blaze themselves, but to bring sweets (for a quick energy fix) and other essentials as donations to the fire station in town.
