Suicide Homes – The Weird Side of the Internet

Suicide Homes – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.

I’ve been fortunate in my life that I’ve never lived in a flood zone. I lived on a hill that had had some mudslides, but nowhere near anyone. Biggest threat was to a driver at night hitting the straightaway street above. And no one I know ever got caught up in it.

But hey, me, first-world problems. Let’s go to the Bolivian city of El Alto, and eclectic mix of commerce and culture in the Andes. Most specifically, the Avenida Panoramica, and the geological truth the roadside tourists might not even see. Houses that open up into a very deep, very steep, very precarious cliff-s edge.

The houses have doors that lead to tiny patios that lead to a screaming chasm that each day threatens to claim the homes with even the slightest errant shift, the most pin prick mudslide. A hard sneeze could send dozens of homes into perdition.

They’re called “The Suicide Homes” and are lived in by a mix of merchants and shaman, who have considered stabilizing their properties through the use of offerings to the Andean deity, Pachamama.

It’s a story told around the world, though maybe not to this degree. These people won’t move, and will probably be moved out by force by the government. But they’ll make that happen. Because a people are tied to their homes, to their land. They’ll do anything to stay connected, and I’ll be even these people, if acting as real estate agents on their own behalf, would show buyers the wonderful view.

We might not see it like they do in the Andes, the whole thing with land. We fight for lots of things, and land is usually just territory where one thing or another is ascribed to. But we don’t feel tied to the land like a ghost might be tied to a hotel. We can and do just move, even if only down the block.

Will these people be there in a couple of years? Most people don’t think so. Heavy rains are a part of life there, and really, one hard sneeze.

Make sure you make an offering for them.

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