Before I launch into more stuff about what we have done here, I thought it might be a good idea to describe some of the interesting things we have discovered about Bolivia and the Bolivians. It is like no other place we have been.
Firstly, they like their pizza, and it is really good. Even the smallest, most remote place we have been has a pizzeria. They use those special ovens, and even though I don't like pizza, I can tell it is good by the smell, the look of the crust, and the raptures everyone goes into while eating it. I can make pizza and it is good because I can make a good crust, but I think they have me beat.
Second, they have the US beat on displays of public art. As I read somewhere, and it is true, even the smallest of villages have at least two Blessed Virgins and one Bolivar. There are statues of everyone who ever did anything noteworthy in Bolivia. And the buildings have murals painted on them. I love that. The parks are filled with fountains and sculpted plants.
Third, there is graffiti everywhere. It cannot be used as the marker of a bad neighborhood, because it is literally in all different parts of every town. It is not scary because if you look closely, it is all boyfriend/girlfriend stuff rather than cryptic gang crap.
Bolivians are very friendly and always want to know where you are from. And even though officially the US is not in favor here (we have no embassy, we were kicked out a few years ago along with the DEA) no one has ever treated us badly. I think speaking Spanish helps, even though I am far from fluent. However. this trip has been a real immersion experience for us because there are many times when the people we are dealing with speak no English. We have even decided when we tour a museum or church or whatever, we choose the Spanish language tour instead of waiting for an English one. Both of us are learning a lot from that, and I don't think we miss much. When we went on our trip to the Salar de Uyuni (a giant salt flat area that I will tell more about later), although our guide spoke English, we told him we wanted to speak Spanish as much as we could. So that is what we did. When we ran out of words, we switched to English. We helped him learn new words as well, so it was a fun exchange. People are very curious about the US and how things are done there
The shopping is to die for - I almost wish I lived in a cold climate so I could buy some of the gorgeous sweaters and other knit goods out of alpaca, which is the softest wool I have ever felt, even giving cashmere a run for its money. But all those lovely things would do is sit in my closet, probably getting ruined in some way. I think we might get some ponchos, though, because once in a great while it gets chilly on night watch. We were eating dinner one night at a rooftop restaurant- I forget exactly where - and it started to get pretty chilly once the sun went down. We were dressed for the sunny day, and the waitress brought two ponchos over for us to wear while we were eating. They were wonderfully warm and comfortable. They also sell silver jewelry and I am seriously contemplating new earrings and maybe a bracelet.
The mountains are absolutely huge and impressive and almost dwarf the Colorado Rockies. All the towns are surrounded by volcanos (God forbid these dormant giants should ever decide to wake up, it would be a horrible disaster) that all have mythological stories about them. In fact, the religious aspect of Bolivia is another wonder. Everyone is pretty much a devout Catholic, but with overtones of the original polytheistic religions of the indigenous people. For example, the earth itself is thought to be the Goddess Pachamama. There are many rituals associated with her, and she is also associated with the Virgin Mary. It is easy to see why Catholicism works here, the church seems to be very tolerant about this. Even the shamans, who would be considered witch doctors in the US, always have pictures of Jesus and different saints around their shrines while at the same time they are conducting their various rituals, like burning llama fetuses and other objects in an attempt to bring good fortune or cure various problems. This is something even upper and middle class Bolivians take very seriously. They consult these shamans (for lack of a better term, they are called "brujos" here, which means witches, but there are nuances that make it pretty well untranslatable into English) and fortunetellers on a regular basis.
Another interesting thing here is that there are many, many people here for whom Spanish is a second language. These people speak Ayamara or Quechua, depending on where you are. There is also sort of a mixture of Spanish and these languages, which means that you can be chatting along nicely in Spanish only to encounter a word that you can't understand. And some people, like in the markets, don't speak much Spanish at all. This country has a HUGE indigenous population that never really culturally assimilated to the Spanish culture, and ever since Evo Morales was elected, there has been a resurgence in the various indigenous groups asserting their unique cultural ways. There is true diversity here, and although there is still some discrimination against the indigenous population, it is not very evident to an outsider.
Now a word about Evo Morales, who is certainly controversial in the US as he does not like us, is a former coca farmer, and threw the DEA out. Most people here seem to like him well enough. The indigenous and poorer people really like him. The income of the poor has doubled since he came into power, and the percentage of people living in what is considered abject poverty has dropped from 40% to about 17%. The rich people do not like him very much, as he nationalizes things and did this deal where it is now limited how much land one entity can own, making things better for small farmers but delivering a big hit to agribusiness. There is no real freedom of the press here, but then that is pretty much the norm all through South America. He did some fancy footwork to allow himself to run for a third term, and I think he suppresses dissent, again something not uncommon in this neck of the woods. He is planning to do something with gasoline (Bolivia is working on dealing effectively with its oil resources) that I do not completely understand, but people are not happy about it as it is believed the price of gas may rise. But having said all that, he seems to be well liked, even though he makes incredibly stupid statements that he later has to take back. So I guess only time will tell on that one.
About coca. Coca growing is a big business here, and not just for the drug cartels to make into cocaine and sell to Europe and the US. People use it here for many things. Coca tea is for sale in any grocery store. It is supposed to aid digestion, help with the altitude, and other things. It does not make you high in any way - actually it is soothing, like any other herbal tea, like chamomile. People do chew the leaves (Not exactly chew, more like sucking a huge wad in one side of your face), especially people who do hard physical labor. There is no stigma at all to it. The leaves are sold openly in the markets. When we visited a working mine in Potosi (again, more later on that) we were expected to buy bags of coca leaves in the miner's market as gifts for allowing us to gawk at them while they worked. You can't get high off the leaves, and all I felt (yes, of course I tried it) was that my cheek got numb on that side. I did not notice any help with the breathlessness effect of the altitude. I had more effects from chewing betelnut in Taiwan. But it is a way of life here, and I have not noticed any coke freaks hanging around causing trouble. In fact, we have been approached way less by drug dealers here than in any other place where we have spent time. (Mike's pony tail and beard seem to attract them). I haven't even seen too many drunks, even though these people are not afraid of their alcohol. The Bolivians believe in any excuse for a party, and a party involves lots of drinking. As a side note, Bolivian beer is very good.
So that is all for today. I have been sitting in my hotel room (while Mike takes a midday nap) because it was pouring rain outside. But since the rain has stopped and the sun is coming out, it is time to get outside and explore more of the wonderful city of Sucre.
"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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