In the 1990s, Luis was a teacher in La Gloria. Most of his students didn’t own books, and they had no way to get them. The area around La Gloria was very rural. The nearest library was miles away. Few roads were paved, and many people didn’t have cars.
Luis decided to share his own collection of 70 books, and he knew exactly how to transport them. He renamed his two donkeys Alfa and Beto. Together, their names spelled the Spanish word for alphabet, alfabeto. He then made special saddlebags for the donkeys and stuffed them with books.
The traveling library was hard work. Luis rode through forests and waded across rivers. When he arrived at a town, he put up a sign that read “Biblioburro”: biblio for library and burro for donkey.
People initially laughed at the surprising sight, but Biblioburro quickly gained popularity. At every town, Luis gathered kids and read to them. He let them borrow books until his next visit.