Moving for permanent residence and obtaining Bolivian citizenship. How did Russian Old Believers end up in distant Bolivia, and do they have a good life there? Martyan Anufriev Old Believer farmer Bolivia

Many Russians are now interested in the question of how to obtain Bolivian citizenship. Acquiring a second citizenship is an issue that currently concerns many residents of our country. And we are not just talking about moving or the opportunity to take an indefinite holiday outside of Russia, we are talking about business immigration.

View of the capital of Bolivia - La Paz

Latin America is a promising direction. It is clear that the best countries for immigration are considered here, Panama. But it is quite difficult to obtain citizenship of these countries, and this cannot be done in a short period of time (except in this country it is carried out in an expedited manner).

Location of South American countries on the map

Due to the fact that in these promising countries obtaining citizenship is a complex procedure, you should pay attention to a country like Bolivia.

Bolivian citizenship actually provides a lot of advantages that the least-initiated person may not even be aware of.

Bolivia and Spain have an agreement providing for dual citizenship for residents of these countries(if desired, a citizen of Bolivia in an accelerated manner, in about 2 years, and, therefore, with all the ensuing consequences).

There is a real opportunity to live in this country. Bolivia is not an expensive country by Russian standards, and a person even with a small capital can settle here comfortably.

Average price of basic products in Bolivia

If we talk about the disadvantages, the Bolivian passport is not one of the so-called good travel documents. Bolivians visit almost every country in the world with a visa.

Citizenship can be obtained based on origin, based on residence in the country for 2 years. For some categories of citizens this period is reduced to one year. Those who have:

• spouse - citizen of Bolivia;
• children - citizens of Bolivia;
• specialized education and work in Bolivia in the fields of education, science, technology, industry or agriculture;
• the right to military service (or one who performs military service in the ranks of the Bolivian army);
• gratitude for services to the Republic.

What documents must be provided to obtain Bolivian citizenship?

To obtain citizenship you must provide the following documents:

• Russian foreign passport (or Russian birth certificate);
• on the territory of the Russian Federation;
• photographs (here you will need not only standard ones, but also photographs of the right and left profile, they are taken in La Paz, the capital of the state);
• fingerprints of both hands.

When applying for citizenship, a person (or an entire family) must be in Bolivia. The registration procedure as a whole can last from 6 to 9 months. The cost of the procedure is 50-90 thousand dollars. All Russian documents must be translated into Spanish and be notarized.

Pay attention to the video: preparing documents for living in Bolivia for permanent residence.

Standard of living in Bolivia

All interested parties are concerned with the following questions:

• real estate in Bolivia: prices, possibilities of purchase, rental;
• what language do Bolivians speak and who are they;
• transport in Bolivia: how best to move around the country, how much it costs to buy a personal car, how much gasoline costs;
• work in Bolivia for Russian immigrants;
• prices for food, clothing, personal belongings, treatment, utilities.

It is clear that life in Bolivia is not much like a fairy tale, because Latin America is still not North America. On the other hand, knowledgeable people have long called this country Latin American Tibet, since it is strongly isolated from the rest of Latin America, and this, oddly enough, is a big plus. There is actually little good in the neighborhood of large Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.

The population of Bolivia is Indians and mestizos. Moreover, in terms of the number of Indians, Bolivia is the leader among Latin American countries. They speak a mixture of local dialects and Spanish. The official language is Spanish.

Typical Indians of the country

Public transport in Bolivia is poorly developed, and not everyone has personal cars.

Although you can buy any model, prices in Bolivia are low by European and Russian standards. Gasoline is cheap, but the roads are not very good. The best choice is an SUV, especially if you live in a rural area.

Bolivia is a small country, landlocked, surrounded by the Andes, so the situation with real estate in Bolivia, especially in large cities, is not easy. But it is quite possible to buy a house in a rural area. It will not cost much (by Russian standards).

Prices for rental housing in Bolivia

In the twentieth century, Russian Old Believers, who had reached the eastern borders of Russia after 400 years of persecution, had to finally become emigrants. Circumstances scattered them across continents, forcing them to establish a life in an exotic foreign land.
Old Believers, or Old Believers, is a common name for religious movements in Russia that arose as a result of the rejection of church reforms in the 17th century. It all started after Moscow Patriarch Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of liturgical books, changes in rituals). Those dissatisfied with the “anti-Christ” reforms were united by Archpriest Avvakum. Old Believers were subjected to severe persecution by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside of Russia to escape persecution. Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like stubborn people. 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, but in the 1970s there were completely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle

Old Believer village in the jungle of Bolivia. There, women wear woven sundresses and embroider shirts for their husbands. They weed gardens that grow pineapples, not radishes or potatoes. They are exceptionally well adapted to local conditions.
Many men are millionaires, great entrepreneurs who combine peasant acumen with an incredible sense of the new. Thus, the Old Believers in Bolivia have modern equipment in their fields with a GPS-based control system - that is, the cars drive without a driver, receiving commands from a single center. At the same time, Old Believers do not use the Internet, do not watch TV, are afraid of banking transactions, preferring cash...+

These are the descendants of those few surviving strong peasant families who were massacred after the Jewish revolution of 1917.

A version of this film that also contains an interview with a priest and a brief official history of the Old Believers in Russia:

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, and therefore today Old Believers can also be found in distant foreign lands, for example, in Latin America

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 not always possible to settle somewhere close to the Motherland, and therefore today Old Believers can also be found in distant foreign lands, 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,which arose as a result of the rejection of church reforms in 1605-1681. It all started after the Moscow PatriarchNikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of liturgical books, changes in rituals).Those dissatisfied with the “anti-Christ” reforms were united by Archpriest Avvakum. Old Believers were subjected to severe persecutionby both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside of Russia to escape persecution.

Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like stubborn people. In Bolivia, three hours from the city of Santa Cruz,The first Russian Old Believers settled in the town of Toboroch 40 years ago. Even now this settlement cannot be found on maps,and in the 1970s there were completely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle.

Fedor and Tatyana Anufriev 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, and Zaitsevs live in Toboroch.

Santa Cruz has a very hot and humid climate, and mosquitoes are a problem all year round.

Mosquito nets, so familiar and familiar in Russia, are placed on windows even in the Bolivian wilderness.

Young people keep up with the times and are mastering smartphones with all their might. Many electronic devices are formally prohibited in the village,but you can’t hide from progress even in such a wilderness. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines,microwaves and televisions, adults communicate with distant relatives via mobile Internet.

The main occupation in Toboroch is agriculture, as well as the breeding of Amazonian pacu fish in artificial reservoirs.

The fish are fed twice a day - at dawn and in the evening. The food is produced right there in the mini-factory.

The Old Believers grow beans, corn, and wheat in vast fields, and eucalyptus in the forests.

It was in Toborochi that the only variety of Bolivian beans was developed, which is now popular throughout the country.

The rest of the legumes are imported from Brazil.

At the village factory, the harvest is processed, bagged and sold to wholesalers.

Bolivian soil bears fruit up to three times a year, but they began to fertilize it only a couple of years ago.

Women do handicrafts and run the household, raise children and grandchildren. Most Old Believer families have many children.Children's names are chosen according to the Psalter, according to their birthday. A newborn is named on the eighth day of his life.The names of Toboroch residents are unusual not only to the Bolivian ear: Lukiyan, Kipriyan, Zasim, Fedosya, Kuzma, Agripena,Pinarita, Abraham, Agapit, Palageya, Mamelfa, Stefan, Anin, Vasilisa, Marimia, Elizar, Inafa, Salamania, Selivester.

Village residents often encounter representatives of wildlife: monkeys, ostriches,poisonous snakes and even small crocodiles that love to eat fish in the lagoons.

For such cases, the Old Believers always have a gun ready.

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 experience of working in the fields and can get married.

Among the Old Believers, marriages between relatives up to the seventh generation are strictly prohibited, so they look for brides in other villagesSouth and North America. They rarely get to Russia.

Ten years ago, Bolivian authorities financed the construction of a 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 language is taught at home. In oral speech, Toboroch residents are accustomed to mixing two languages, and some Spanish words andcompletely ousted by the Russians. Thus, gasoline in the village is called nothing more than “gasolina”, a fair is called “feria”, a market is called “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 “descargar” from the Spanish descargar is used. Some Russian wordswidely used in Toboroch, have long gone out of use in modern Russia. Instead of “very”, Old Believers say “very”,the tree is called "forest". The older generation mixes Brazilian Portuguese words into all this diversity.In general, there is enough material for dialectologists in Toboroch to fill a whole book.

In the twentieth century, Russian Old Believers, who had reached the eastern borders of Russia after 400 years of persecution, had to finally become emigrants. Circumstances scattered them across continents, forcing them to establish a life in an exotic foreign land. Photographer Maria Plotnikova visited one of these settlements - the Bolivian village of Toborochi.

Old Believers, or Old Believers, is a common name for religious movements in Russia that arose as a result of the rejection of church reforms in the 17th century. It all started after Moscow Patriarch Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of liturgical books, changes in rituals). Those dissatisfied with the “anti-Christ” reforms were united by Archpriest Avvakum. Old Believers were subjected to severe persecution by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside of Russia to escape persecution. Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like stubborn people. 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, but in the 1970s there were completely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle.

Fedor and Tatyana Anufriev 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, and Zaitsevs live in Toboroch.

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

There are thousands of hectares of agricultural land around the settlement. The roads are only dirt.

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

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

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

Most Old Believers do not allow strangers to take photographs of themselves, but there are family albums in every home.

Young people keep up with the times and are mastering smartphones with all their might. Many electronic devices are formally prohibited in the village, but you can’t hide from progress even in such a wilderness. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines, microwaves and televisions; adults communicate with distant relatives via mobile Internet (in the video below Martyan says that they don’t use the Internet).

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

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

At the village factory, the harvest is processed, bagged and sold to wholesalers. Bolivian soil bears fruit up to three times a year, but they began to fertilize it only a couple of years ago.

Several varieties of coconut are grown on coconut plantations.

Women do handicrafts and run the household, raise children and grandchildren. Most Old Believer families have many children. Children's names are chosen according to the Psalter, according to their birthday. A newborn is named on the eighth day of his life. The names of the Toboroch people are unusual not only to the Bolivian ear: Lukiyan, Kipriyan, Zasim, Fedosya, Kuzma, Agripena, Pinarita, Abraham, Agapit, Palageya, Mamelfa, Stefan, Anin, Vasilisa, Marimia, Elizar, Inafa, Salamania, Selivester.

Watermelons, mangoes, papaya, and pineapples grow all year round. Kvass, mash, and jam are made from fruits.

Village residents often encounter representatives of wildlife: rheas, poisonous snakes and even small alligators that like to feast on fish in the lagoons. For such cases, the Old Believers always have a gun ready.

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

To work in the fields, the Russians hire Bolivian peasants, who are called Kolyas.

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.

Residents move around the village on mopeds and motorcycles. During the rainy season, the roads become very muddy and a pedestrian can get stuck in the mud.

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

Girls can get married when they reach 13 years of age.

The first “adult” gift for a girl is a collection of Russian songs, from which the mother makes another copy and gives it to her daughter for her birthday.

All the girls are great fashionistas. They come up with the style themselves and sew their own dresses. Fabrics are purchased in large cities - Santa Cruz or La Paz. The average wardrobe has 20-30 dresses and sundresses. The girls change their outfits almost every day.

Ten years ago, Bolivian authorities financed the construction of a 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 language is taught at home. In oral speech, Toboroch residents are accustomed to mixing two languages, and some Spanish words have been completely supplanted by Russians. Thus, gasoline in the village is called nothing more than “gasolina”, a fair is called “feria”, a market is called “mercado”, and garbage is called “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 “descargar” from the Spanish descargar is used. Some Russian words, commonly used in Toboroch, have long gone out of use in modern Russia. Instead of “very,” Old Believers say “very”; the tree is called “forest.” The older generation mixes Brazilian Portuguese words into all this diversity. In general, there is enough material for dialectologists in Toboroch to fill a whole book.

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

It is not clear what to do with the money: there is not a single store in Toboroch, and no one will let the children go to the city. We have to give what we honestly earned to our parents.

Old Believers attend church twice a week, not counting Orthodox holidays: services are held on Saturday from 5 to 7 pm and on Sunday from 4 to 7 am.

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

Old Believers carefully preserve the memories of their ancestors, who also lived far from their historical homeland.

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

Boys play football and volleyball. Football is the most popular game in Toboroch. The local team has won school amateur tournaments more than once.

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

The Bolivian selva became a small homeland for the Russian Old Believers; the fertile land provided everything they needed, and if not for the heat, they could not have wished for a better place to live.

(Copy-paste from lenta.ru)

Maxim Lemos, a professional cameraman and director who lives in Latin America and periodically takes our tourists to the Old Believers.

I'll tell you how I got there for the first time. I accompanied tourists, we drove by car to different cities in Argentina and Uruguay. And we decided to visit the Old Believers. There is very little information about Old Believers on the Internet, there are no clear coordinates, it is not clear where to look for them, and it is generally not clear how relevant the information is. There was only information that a colony of Old Believers was located near the city of San Javier. We arrived in this city, and I began to find out from the locals where to find Russians. “Ahhh, barbudos!?” - they said in the first store. “Barbudos” in Spanish means bearded men. “Yes, they live nearby. But they won’t let you in, they are aggressive,” the San Javiers told us. This statement was a little alarming. But still, I figured out how to get there using country dirt roads. The Uruguayans said that the “barbudos” did not accept anyone and did not communicate with anyone. Fortunately, this turned out not to be the case. Surprisingly, many “Russian” San Javiers don’t really know anything about their Russian neighbors. And, as you know, people are afraid of everything incomprehensible and other things. Therefore, there is no special friendship between the former Russian Sanjaviers and Russian Old Believers.

We were getting ready to hit the road in search of the village, but at that moment one of the San Javiers called out to us, pointing at the ATM. “This is just one of them,” he said. A strange-looking man in a green shirt lined with a rope belt and with a goatee came out of the bank. A conversation ensued. In Russian. The man turned out to be not aggressive at all, but on the contrary, kind and open. The first thing that struck me was his language, his dialect. He spoke a language that I had only heard in movies. That is, this is our Russian language, but many words there are pronounced differently, and there are many words that we no longer use at all, for example, they call a house “izbo”, instead they say “shibko”. They don’t say “you know”, but “you know”, “you want”, “you understand”... Instead of “stronger” they say “more powerful”. They say not “it happens” but “there are”, not “can” but “may”, not “you will begin” but “you will conceive”, not “others” but “friends”. How many, evoshny, back and forth, nearby... After talking so briefly, we asked if it was possible to see how they live there. The Starover agreed, and we went to pick up his car. We were lucky that we met him; without him, according to the diagram drawn by the San Javiers, we definitely would not have found anything. And so we arrived at the village...

When you first enter the village of Old Believers, you experience shock. It feels like you've gone back in time in a time machine. This is exactly what Russia once looked like... We enter a village, a house, in the yard a woman in a sundress is milking a cow, barefoot children in shirts and sundresses are running around... This is a piece of old Russia that was taken out of it and transferred to another, alien world. And since the Russians did not integrate into this alien world, this allowed this piece of old Russia to survive to this day.

It is strictly forbidden to take photographs in this colony. And all the pictures that you will see below were taken with the permission of the Old Believers. That is, group, “official” photographs are possible. You cannot secretly photograph their lives without asking. When we found out why they didn’t like photographers so much, it turned out that journalists were making their way to them under the guise of tourists. They filmed them and then put them up as clowns for ridicule. One of these stupid and meaningless reports was made by Uruguayan TV with a hidden camera

Their technology is very serious. Everything is owned. There are trucks, combines, and various irrigators and sprinklers.

Arriving in the village, we met one of the elders, and he told us about the life of this piece of old Russia... Just as they are interesting to us, we are interesting to them. We are part of the Russia that they somehow imagine in their heads, with which they have lived for many generations, but which they have never seen.

The Old Believers do not waste their time, but work like Papa Carlo. They own about 60 hectares, and rent about another 500 hectares. Here in this village live about 15 families, about 200 people in total. That is, according to the simplest calculation, each family has an average of 13 people. So it is, seven are big, a lot of kids.

Here are some “official”, authorized photos. Those without beards are not Old Believers - that’s me and my tourists.

And here are more photographs taken with the permission of the Old Believers by a man who worked for them as a combine operator. His name is Slava. A simple Russian guy traveled for a long time to different Latin American countries and came to work with the Old Believers. They accepted him, and he lived with them for 2 whole months. After which he still chose to quit. He is an artist, that’s why the photos turned out so good.

Very atmospheric, like in Russia... before. Today in Russia there are no combine harvesters and no tractors either. Everything has rotted and the villages are empty. Russia was so busy getting up from its knees by selling oil and gas to the Gay Europeans that it did not notice how the Russian village died. But in Uruguay the Russian village is alive! This is how it could be in Russia now! Of course, I’m exaggerating, somewhere in Russia, of course, there are combine harvesters, but I saw with my own eyes many dead villages along the main Russian highways. And that's impressive.

Let us very delicately, with great respect, look behind the curtain of the private life of the Old Believers. The photos I post here were taken by them themselves. That is, these are official photos that the Old Believers themselves posted publicly on social networks. And I just collected from Facebook and reposted these photos here for you, my dear reader. All photographs here are from different South American Old Believers colonies.

In Brazil, Old Believers live in the state of Mato Grosso, 40 km from the city of Prmiavera do Leste. In the state of Amazonas, near the town of Humaita. And also in the state of Parana, near Ponta Grossa.

In Bolivia they live in the province of Santa Cruz, in the settlement of Toborochi.

And in Argentina, a settlement of Old Believers is located near the town of Choel Choel.

And here I will tell you everything that I learned from the Old Believers about their way of life and traditions.

It’s a strange feeling when you start communicating with them. At first it seems that they must be something completely different, “not of this world,” immersed in their religion, and nothing earthly can interest them. But when communicating, it turns out that they are the same as us, only a little from the past. But this does not mean that they are somehow detached and are not interested in anything!

These costumes are not some kind of masquerade. This is how they live, this is how they walk. Women in sundresses, men in shirts tied with a rope belt. Women sew their own clothes. Yes, of course, these photos are mostly from holidays, so the clothes are especially elegant.

But as you can see, in everyday life, Old Believers dress in the Old Russian way.

It is impossible to believe that all these people were born and raised outside of Russia. Moreover, their parents were also born here in South America...

And pay attention to their faces, they are all smiling. Still, this is a strong difference between our Russian believers and the South American Old Believers. For some reason, Russian Orthodox Christians have a mournfully tragic face when talking about God and religion. And the stronger a modern Russian believes in God, the sadder his face. For the Old Believers, everything is positive, and so is religion. And I think in old Russia it was the same as with them. After all, the great Russian poet Pushkin joked and mocked the “pop-cloth forehead,” and this was in the order of things then.

Old Believers have been living in South America for almost 90 years. In the 30s, they fled from the USSR because they sensed danger from the new Soviet government in time. And they did the right thing; they would not have survived. They fled first to Manchuria. But over time, the local communist authorities began to oppress them there, and then they moved to South-North America and Australia. The largest colony of Old Believers is in Alaska. In the USA they also live in the states of Oregon and Minnesota. The Old Believers I visit in Uruguay first lived in Brazil. But they became uncomfortable there, and in 1971 many families moved to Uruguay. They spent a long time choosing land, and finally settled next to the “Russian” city of San Javier. The Uruguayan authorities themselves recommended this place to the Russians. The logic is simple, those Russians are those Russians, maybe together they are better. But Russians don’t always love Russians, this is our national peculiarity, so Russian San Hoviers did not have much friendship with Old Believers.

We arrived to an empty place. They began to build everything and settle in an open field. Amazingly, there was no electricity in the Uruguayan colony until 1986! Everything was lit with kerosene lamps. Well, we’ve adapted to living in the sun. Therefore, the Uruguayan colony is the most interesting, because just 30 years ago they were completely cut off from the rest of the world. And life then was really like in the century before last in Russia. Water was carried with rockers, the land was plowed on horses, and houses were made of wood back then. Different colonies lived differently, some were more integrated into the country where they were located, for example, the American colonies. There is no particular reason for some colonies to integrate, for example the Bolivian colony. After all, Bolivia is a rather wild and backward country. There, outside the colony, there is such poverty and devastation, what about this integration!

The Old Believers often have Old Slavonic names: Athanasius, Evlampea, Capitolina, Martha, Paraskovea, Euphrosyne, Ulyana, Kuzma, Vasilisa, Dionysius...

In different colonies, Old Believers live differently. Some are more civilized and even rich, others are more modest. But the way of life is the same as in old Russia.

The elders zealously monitor compliance with all rules. Young people are sometimes not very motivated by faith. After all, there are so many interesting temptations around...

Therefore, old people have a difficult task to answer many questions for growing young people. Why can't they drink alcohol? Why can't they listen to music? Why is it not necessary to learn the language of the country you live in? Why can’t they use the Internet and watch movies? Why can't you go and see some beautiful city? Why can’t they communicate with the local population and enter into any bad relations with the locals? Why do you need to pray from three to six in the morning, and from six to eight in the evening? Why fast? Why get baptized? Why observe all other religious rituals?... While the elders somehow manage to answer all these questions...

Old Believers are not allowed to drink. But if you pray and get baptized, then you can. Old Believers drink brew. They prepare it themselves. We were also treated to it. And quite persistently, according to the Russian tradition, practically pouring it inside, glass after glass. But the brew is good and the people are good, why not drink it!

Old Believers love to work on the land most of all. They cannot imagine themselves without this. And in general they are quite hard-working people. Well, who can argue that this is not Russia?!

At first I didn’t understand why the Old Believers of Uruguay, to whom I go, call the Uruguayans “Spaniards”. Then I realized: they themselves are also citizens of Uruguay, that is, Uruguayans. And Uruguayans are called Spaniards because they speak Spanish. In general, the distance between the Uruguayans and the Old Believers is enormous. These are completely different worlds, which is why the Uruguayans of San Javier told us about the “aggressiveness” of the Old Believers. Old Believers characterize the “Spaniards” as lazy slackers who don’t want to work, suck their mate and always complain about the government and the state. The Old Believers have a different approach to the state: the main thing is not to interfere. The Old Believers also have a number of complaints against the Uruguayan government. For example, Uruguay recently passed a crazy law according to which, before you sow the land, you need to ask the authorities what you can sow there. The authorities will send chemists, they will do a soil analysis, and give a verdict: plant tomatoes! And with tomatoes, the Old Believers’ business will fail. They need to plant beans (for example). Therefore, the Old Believers begin to think about whether they should start looking for a new country? And they are keenly interested in how they treat the peasant in Russia? Is it worth moving to Russia? What advice would you give them?

The theme of combines, irrigation, plowing and sowing occupies one of the main places in the life of Old Believers. They can talk about this for hours!

Boundless Brazilian Rus'...

Equipment: combines, irrigators, seeders, etc., the Old Believers have their own. And the Old Believers know how to repair each harvester (which, by the way, costs 200-500 thousand dollars) themselves. They can disassemble and reassemble each of their harvesters! The Old Believers own hundreds of hectares of land. And they rent even more land.

Old Believers have large families. For example, the head of the Uruguayan community to which I sometimes take tourists has as many as 15 children, and he is only 52 years old. There are many grandchildren, he doesn’t remember exactly how many, he has to count by bending his fingers. His wife is also a young and completely down-to-earth woman.

Children are not sent to official schools. It’s all very simple: if children learn the language of the country where they live, then there is a very high probability that they will be tempted by the bright life around them and will choose it. Then the colony will dissolve, and the Russians will dissolve in the same way as in 10 years the Russians from the city of San Javier turned into Uruguayans. And there was already such an example: in a Brazilian colony, children began to go to a regular Brazilian school, which was in the neighborhood. And when almost all of the children grew up, they chose the Brazilian life instead of the Old Believers. I'm not even talking about the Old Believers in the USA. There, in many families, Old Believers already communicate with each other in English.

Senior Old Believers from all colonies are well aware of the risk of the colony dissolving into the country, and are resisting this with all their might. Therefore, they do not send their children to public schools, but try to educate them themselves as best they can.

Most often, children are taught at home. They learn to read Church Slavonic. All the religious books of the Old Believers are written in this language, and in this language they pray daily from 3 to 6 am and from 6 to 9 pm. At 21:00 the Old Believers go to bed in order to get up at 3, pray and go to work. The daily schedule has not changed for centuries and is adjusted to daylight hours. To work while it's still light.

In the colonies of Brazil and Bolivia, local teachers are invited to school for children to teach them Portuguese and Spanish, respectively. But Old Believers see an exclusively practical meaning in learning a language: it is necessary to do business with the locals. Old Believer children play Russian traditional games, lapta, tag and many others, with purely Russian names.

Most of the photographs you see here are from Old Believer holidays, most often from weddings. Girls most often get married at 14-15 years old. Guys at 16-18. All traditions with matchmaking have been preserved. Parents should choose a wife for their son. They try to select from another colony. That is, a bridegroom is brought from a Uruguayan colony from a Bolivian or Brazilian colony and vice versa. Old Believers try very hard to avoid incest. Don't think that poor underage kids are left with no choice. Formally, parents must choose, but in practice everything happens quite softly and naturally, and of course the teenager’s opinion is taken into account. No one is forced to marry anyone. Yes, you can probably see for yourself from these photographs that there is no sign of violence against the individual here.

But of course, you have a legitimate question - get married at 14 years old??? Yes exactly. And yes, by doing so they violate the laws of the countries in which they live. They noisily celebrate the wedding, after which they live together and are considered husband and wife. And when they turn 18, they register their marriage with the official authorities.

By the way, the Old Believers have a completely different calendar. But they also know what kind of “worldly” year it is: they must understand all the documents about leasing land, purchasing soybeans, and paying bills.

By the way, the Old Believers call Jews Jews. At first I thought it was pure anti-Semitism. But then I realized that they pronounce this word without any negativity at all. After all, that was the name of the Jews in the old days...

Do you see in the photo that everything looks like a match, in identical sundresses? The fact is that clothes and their color play a huge role in the life of Old Believers. Yellow pants - two times ku. For example, at a wedding, all guests on the bride’s side dress in one color, and on the groom’s side, in another. When a society has no color differentiation of pants, then there is no goal, and when there is no goal...

The Old Believers have houses not of logs, but of concrete, built in the traditions of the construction of the place where they live. But the whole way of life is ours, old Russian: canopy, rubble, sitting for women and children while the men are at work.

But inside the house there are still Russians! Old Believers line the inside of the house with wood. It's more alive. And they call the house a hut.

Women and girls (as females are called here) do not work on the land, but are busy with housework. They prepare food, look after the children... The role of women is still slightly downtrodden, in some ways even reminiscent of the role of women in Arab countries, where a woman is a dumb animal. Here are the men sitting and eating. And Martha with a jug, at a distance. “Come on, Marfa, bring more of this and that, and some tomatoes here and there!”, and the silent Marfa rushes to complete the task... It’s somehow awkward even for her. But not everything is so harsh and tough. You see, the women are also sitting, relaxing and using their smartphones.

The men do both hunting and fishing. Quite a busy life. And we have nature here, I’ll tell you!

In addition to beer, they also drink beer. However, I have never heard of drunks. Everything seems to be working. Alcohol does not replace their life.

Here are collected photos from different colonies. And each of them has its own rules, somewhere tougher, and somewhere softer. Cosmetics are not acceptable for women. But if you really want to, then you can.

The Old Believers talk interestingly about picking mushrooms. Naturally, they don’t know about boletus, boletus and boletus. Slightly different mushrooms grow in this area; they are similar to our boletus mushrooms. Among the Old Believers, picking mushrooms is not an obligatory attribute of life. Although they listed some names of mushrooms, and they are Russian, although not familiar to me. About mushrooms they say something like this: “sometimes whoever wants to collect them. But sometimes they pick up bad ones, then their stomachs hurt...” They also have jeep trips into nature, grilled meat, and all the other attributes of picnics that are so familiar to us.

And they even know how to joke. By the way, they also have a good sense of humor.

In general, you see for yourself, the most ordinary people.

Old Believers greet themselves with the word “Good morning!” They don’t use “hello,” much less “hello.” In general, Old Believers do not use the address “You”. Everything is “you”. By the way, they call me “leader”. But the leader does not mean the main one. And in the sense that I lead people. A guide, then.

By the way, did you feel one glaring discrepancy with Russianness? What's wrong with these smiles? Do you feel that when there are photographs with smiles, something is subtly not ours? They smile with teeth. Russians usually smile without showing their teeth. Americans and other foreigners smile with teeth. This detail appeared from somewhere in this parallel little Russia.

Although you probably noticed even in these photographs how many positive people have on their faces! And this joy is not feigned. Our people have more of a kind of melancholy and hopelessness.

Old Believers quite often use the Latin alphabet for writing. But they don’t forget the Cyrillic alphabet either.

For the most part, Old Believers are wealthy people. Of course, as in any society, some are richer, some are poorer, but on the whole they live very well.

Here in these photos are mainly the life of the Brazilian, Argentine and Bolivian colonies. There is a whole report about the Bolivian colony of Old Believers; the rules there are not as strict as in the Uruguayan colony and filming is sometimes allowed there.

An ordinary wedding for us, our house in the background. Only two palm trunks make it clear that this is not Russia

Old Believer youth love football. Although they consider this game “not ours.”

Do Old Believers live well or poorly? They live well. In any case, the Uruguayan and Bolivian Old Believers live better than the average Uruguayans and Bolivians. Old Believers drive jeeps worth 40-60 thousand dollars, they have the latest model smartphones...

The main writing of the Old Believers is in Latin and Spanish. But many people also know Russian.

But many restrictions are imposed on the Old Believers. Televisions are prohibited, computers too. And about telephones, Old Believers say that it’s all from the devil. But okay, there is and there is. Televisions would also appear, but they are not needed. Old Believers have become accustomed to living without them for many generations, and no longer understand why they are needed. Computers are prohibited in some colonies, but are used in others. And modern smartphones have mobile Internet...

There are even homemade comics on Old Believers’ Facebook pages. This one didn’t really understand him: “I love her,” “I want to hug him,” “I want to sleep!” By the way, on Facebook, Old Believers often correspond in Portuguese and Spanish. Those who in one way or another received a local education correspond. They were taught to write in Spanish and Portuguese. But they don’t know how to speak Russian, just talk. And they don’t have a Russian keyboard.

Old Believers are very interested in today's Russia. Many of them were told by their grandfathers, who fled Soviet Russia in the 1930s, to return to Russia when conditions were right there. Thus, for almost a century, the Old Believers lived in foreign lands, waiting for a favorable moment to return. But this moment still did not come: Stalin began to drive the people into camps, and the main thing that was important for the Old Believers was to strangle the village with his crazy collectivizations. Then Khrushchev came, who began to take away the people’s livestock and forcefully introduce corn. Then the country began to engage in various arms races, and from abroad, especially from here, from South America, the USSR seemed like a VERY strange and exotic country. Then perestroika began and poverty set in in Russia, and finally Putin came... And with his arrival, the Old Believers perked up. It began to seem that maybe this was the right moment to return. Russia turned out to be a normal country, open to the rest of the world, without exotic communisms and socialisms. Russia has, indeed, begun to take steps towards Russians living in other countries. A “state program on returning to the homeland” appeared, the Russian ambassador to Uruguay came to the Old Believers and began to make friends with them. The Russian authorities also began talking with the Brazilian and Bolivian Old Believers, and in the end, a small group of Old Believers moved to Russia and settled in the village of Dersu, Primorsky Territory. And a Russian TV report about this:

The reporters in this report tell the official version regarding the traditions of the Old Believers. But you shouldn’t think that among the Old Believers everything is so strictly regulated and there is such an ironclad routine. To reporters and various visitors, visitors, whose reports can be found on the Internet, the Old Believers tell how it SHOULD be. But in order for this to happen, people must not be people, but machines. They try to stick to their rules. But they are living people, and the American infection in the form of globalization and other dirty tricks is actively being introduced into their lives. Step by step, a little bit at a time. But it’s too hard to resist...

Everything is our way! Selfie on a smartphone with lips in a bow... Still, native roots! …..Or maybe this American influence has reached here?

…no answer…

In general, it is common to think that any orthodox believers are incomprehensible and very strange people. I don’t know how strongly the Old Believers believe, but they are absolutely normal, down-to-earth, down-to-earth people. With humor, and with all the same desires and desires that you and I have. They are no holier than us. Or we are no worse than them. All good, in general.

And even though the guys grew up on another continent, everything is ours: the plastic bags, and they sit like boys...

Well, who can say that this is not a central Russian picnic?

Eh, Uruguayan Rus'!...