Manolo Morales: If you want to know what living in the countryside is like, just ask Luis Soriano. He lives in a small rural town in Colombia called La Gloria.
Luis Soriano (translated by Manolo): La Gloria taught me things a city kid would never know. I learned the different kinds of birds, I learned how to identify bird’s nests, how to recognize their sounds, how a mountain sounds at night, how the crickets sing at night, when it’s bee season, or when it’s time for the iguanas to lay their eggs.
Manolo: La Gloria sounds like one of these places Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez would write in his books. Many of the people who live in La Gloria are hard-working campesinos. Most are dedicated farmers who work in the fields growing fruits and vegetables. Luis grew up planting in these fields, but he’s taken on a different path. He’s an educator, and he also runs a bookmobile. Except this one’s a little different. He’s not driving a car or a bus. Instead, he’s riding a donkey. And instead of calling his operation a bookmobile, he calls it Biblioburro. I’m Manolo Morales, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Today we’re heading to La Gloria to learn how Luis Soriano has spent over 20 years running his Biblioburro with his two donkeys, and how it all nearly came to an end after an accident.
This is an edited transcript of the Atlas Obscura Podcast: a celebration of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.
Manolo: There’s a story that Luis likes to tell everyone. It’s about the day he was born. Luis’s mother was having a difficult time giving birth to him. The nearest hospital in their town was miles away, so she relied on the help of midwives to give birth. After three days of labor, Luis was born premature. People in town thought he wouldn’t survive. Except for a family friend. She predicted otherwise.
Luis (translated by Manolo): And she said, “He is going to be a doctor when he grows up.” But instead I became a teacher, because becoming a doctor is expensive. But I still think I’ve saved many lives by reading to people.
Manolo: Luis has been an educator for more than 20 years. During his teen years, he was sent off to live with his grandmother in a city hours away from their town. He came back to La Gloria when he finished high school. Then he became a primary school teacher in another town where he taught reading and writing. He loved doing this work. But he often noticed that the students in his class weren’t doing any of their homework and they were making very little progress with their reading. At first, Luis blamed himself. Maybe he was just a bad teacher. But then he also noticed something else. His students had no access to books. Many of them lived in isolated farmsteads, miles away from their school. For some of these kids, this would be a 40-minute walk. He thought of what he could do to help them out. And the answer was just in front of him.
Luis (translated by Manolo): I had 70 books with me. Dictionaries, geographies and history books. I then decided to take these books to my students to help them do their homework. But I soon realized they were too heavy to carry. So I put them on the backs of donkeys.
Manolo: People in town were asking him what he was doing with so many books riding a donkey. He simply put it this way.
Luis (translated by Manolo): It’s a library mounted on a donkey. So, Biblioburro was born.
Manolo: So how does Biblioburro exactly work? Well, Luis actually began this work back in 1997. Most of it was word of mouth. Luis coordinates his visits in other towns with the teachers in that area. He takes two saddles and stacks them with books and mounts one saddle on each of his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto. Together, their names spell “alphabet” in Spanish. Alfabeto. See what he did there? Pretty clever, if you ask me. Basically, he runs Biblioburro like an after-school program.
Luis (translated by Manolo): Biblioburro travels to people’s homes who have very limited resources, who don’t benefit from what a populated city has to offer. We take Alfa and Beto to help kids and adults to read, listen, and fulfill their school commitments.
Manolo: When Luis reaches the towns he’s visiting, he finds a space with plenty of shade and unfolds a table where he unpacks all of his books. Children can pick up a book to read or have Luis help them out with their homework. At this point, Luis has basically memorized every story he has read to the children. He doesn’t have a favorite book because he says it’s like picking your favorite child. But he does often find himself reading the stories of Tito y Pepita, a children’s book series about two hamsters who dislike one another, but in the end, learn a very valuable lesson.
Luis (translated by Manolo): The power of reading is to know what’s written, to open your imagination and transport you to other places without leaving home, to create and feed the mind with magical realism.
Manolo: I selfishly asked Luis to read to me one of my favorite books, 100 Years of Solitude (Cien Años de Soledad), a book that heavily features the magical realism Luis mentions. He read the first page, and as he read, every word mattered. It was easy to see how his words could be captivating to the kids in La Gloria. Summers in La Gloria can be intense, and when the sun is hitting strong, it can be difficult for Luis to make his travels. And sometimes there are threats of heavy rain that can also stop him from doing his work. Luis is close to hitting his 30th anniversary with Biblioburro, and he’s not thinking of retiring anytime soon. But a few years ago, he was close to quitting. In 2010, Luis had a bad accident with Alpha and Beto. He fell off one of them and was stomped on his right leg. The injury was so bad that he caught an infection. Unfortunately, doctors couldn’t save his leg, and they had to amputate it.
Luis (translated by Manolo): I thought I wouldn’t be the same again. I thought that this was the end and I wouldn’t be able to continue with Biblioburro. But when people came to visit me and saw me in a wheelchair, I couldn’t see them sad.
Manolo: Luis did not stop Biblioburro because of the accident. He got a prosthetic leg. It took him some time to adjust. He says it was super heavy, but once he got used to it, he felt like he was walking faster than before. And while Luis is helping out his own community, he’s also making an impact in other parts of the world. Two educators from Dalton, Georgia started a book distribution program after learning what Luis was doing in Colombia. In fact, two teachers from that area, Alice Ensley and Sanjuana Rodriguez, were able to help him out with medical care in 2017, and they continue to help him through a non-profit called Books for Change USA. And his impact does not stop there. He’s also influenced children’s authors to write about him. There’s one book called Waiting for Biblioburro by Monica Brown, and another titled Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia by Jeanette Winter. Luis did not become a doctor. But today, with the help of his two donkeys, he’s teaching the next generation of leaders to read and possibly save lives.
Luis (translated by Manolo): I’ve guided young people who are currently practicing medicine. I’ve guided doctors, bankers, taxi drivers, housewives. Many of them have come to thank me for the time and patience I’ve had with them. And to be reminded of that just fills my soul. And that’s the greatest reward.
Manolo: So if you ever find yourself in a tiny town of La Gloria in Colombia, look for one man with two donkeys and a saddle full of books, and tell him hello from me.
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Our podcast is a co-production of Atlas Obscura and Stitcher Studios. The people who make this show include Dylan Thuras, Doug Baldinger, Chris Naka, Kameel Stanley, Johanna Mayer, Amanda McGowan, Alexa Lim, Casey Holford, and Luz Fleming. Our theme music is by Sam Tindall.