¡Manos al Sol!

From the club...

            The event started at 4 am, which obviously meant we couldn’t go to sleep and wake up for it, so we decided to go out our favorite club before, “la pimienta.” Leaving the club at 3 am was considered early according to Bolivian standards, as it is normal to get home around 5 or 6 am. So we got home, changed into some warmer clothes and made “breakfast” at 3:30 am. Half asleep, myself and three other girls from France, Germany and the U.S., boarded a bus to Quillacollo, a small town near Cochabamba. From there we were supposed to meet our guide who would take us to the ritual site. However, typical Bolivia, our guide was nowhere in sight, and I in my half awake state had forgotten my phone with his number. So after wandering around the dark plaza, we decided to follow a large group of Bolivians who we figured were going to the same event. After dozing off during a 20 minute trufi ride, along dirt roads, we arrived. None of us knew where we were, but it was the right place because we were surrounded by hundreds of other Bolivians who were also there to celebrate “El Año Nuevo Andino.” The Andean New Year is celebrated on June 21, winter solstice the shortest day of the year. From our guide the night before, we had learned that this celebration is about giving offerings to the “pachamama” (mother earth) and appreciating the unity in the universe, and welcoming the new cycle of the new year.

To the mountains?

After wandering through hundreds of people huddled around fires, we encountered our guide who was holding a large rainbow flag, which is the symbol of the indigenous people, and “pachamama.” I was very confused and groggy at this point, and our guide took us to meet a group of men, who we later found out were the mayor of Cochabamba and other government members. They welcomed us to the celebration and asked where we were from and why we had come, as we were the only gringos in attendance. Just for kicks I told them I was from Canada and my American friend said she was from the U.S. A few minutes later we heard on a loud speaker “Welcome brothers and sisters from Canada! Germany! France!” Not surprisingly they somehow failed to welcome the American.. We then chewed on coca leaves, drank chicha (a celebratory drink made from maize) and danced around a fire as we were being filmed by the local Bolivian news.

Finally as the sun was about to rise, everyone
gathered around a fire where a sacrificial plate of coca leaves and other herbs was burned for the “pachamama”. We were told that a llama would also be scarified, but luckily today the llama was spared. The smoke smelled pungent, but delicious as people danced to the sound of drums and flutes. As the first rays of sun came over the mountain everyone lifted up their hands to welcome the newyear and receive the sun’s energy. At this point I had forgotten my lack of sleep, and was in awe..

Once the sun had fully risen, there was more music, dancing, and chicha.. we drank apí (a delicious warm non-alcoholic corn drink) and had salteñas, the typical breakfast food, which are similar to empanadas, but the meat on the inside is much juicier mmmm!

Then after passing out on the floor of a bus, I made it back to my bed at 11 am.. luckily I didn’t have to work because Evo recently made June 21 a holiday, the only nationally recognized indigenous holiday hooray!

Samaipata!

6/8-6/11

Last weekend I wasn’t able to go to Machu Picchu or the Salar because I had to work on Monday, but I did get the chance to go to Santa Cruz and Samaipata. Entering the bus station was complete chaos. "La Paz, Santa Cruz treinta bolivianos semi-cama, full cama!" From all directions people shouted asking where we were going, telling us to go with them not the other guy’s bus. Luckily I was traveling with a sassy Spanish woman, from“pais vasco,” who helped us find a good price, 30 bolivianos ($4) for full cama (bed). We were off, only 12 hours to Santa Cruz. Full cama does not mean you get a bed to sleep in on the overnight bus ride, but your chair reclines and you have a foot rest, more comfortable than any cattle car seat on a plane. However, my chair refused to stay in the reclined position, which posed quite a problem for even me, master sleeper. However after 12 hours of attempting to sleep, as my chair would slowly rise to above upright position, through the bus window, I saw one of the most beautiful sunrises ever over the vast, barren lowland plains in the Santa Cruz area. No sleep, but I was content.

Santa Cruz is one of the largest cities in Bolivia, and it is also the wealthiest and most modern, which was an interesting contrast to the more industrial Cochabamba. I also found out that people from Santa Cruz are very different from Cochabambinos they even have different accents. They say “Santa Cru” and a taxi driver informed me there are also many different words and expressions, and food of course. We spent the morning walking around the city center where we saw the main plaza and Cathedral.

Then we went to the zoo, which featured all local Bolivian animals, which was interesting but also kind of depressing, because many of the cages were quite small.

Local Bolivian animal?

Then we took a Trufi, which is a large van that serves as a shared taxi, to Samaipata. Our first stop at the gas station, everyone had to exit the van, because apparently if you put gas in while people are inside the vehicle, the tank will explode, that’s safe..On the way we passed through many small towns situated along the road with small stands selling fruit and pollo, amidst packs of stray dogs and chickens. As we ascended into the mountains, the towns were replaced by lush green jungle all around. We had entered the cloud forest, or the jungle in the moutains, the view was incredible as our Trufi climbed the narrow winding road.

Everyone had told me, you’re going to the jungle it’s going to be hot! But when we arrived in Samaipata, a tiny backpacker town situated in the jungle foothills, I thought my feet were going to freeze off. We ran into a friendly woman who brought us to her hostel, only 25bs (less than $3 a night!). The residents in the hostel were artesanos, basically people who make bracelets and such, to travel. It was quite the cliché hostel scene drum playing, bracelet making, dread wearing…but it was interesting to talk with them, the artesano life, more on that later..

The next day we traveled to “El Fuerte” an ancient sacred religious site and now rock ruin, dating back to pre-Columbian times. It is said to have been built by the Chané people, a pre-Incan tribe. During their militaristic expansion, the Incans invaded the temple and built a city nearby. During the colonization, the Spanish also built villages surrounding this site. It was very interesting to see the progression of history within the different ruins. Additionally the site, situated at the top of a mountain, offered stunning views!

The next day we walked through the countryside in Samaipata to a nearby “Refugio” or wild animal rescue center. There were many different types of animals, mostly local monkies who were able to be free throughout the grounds.

Making new friends!

While at the Refugio we met several Bolivian tourists who were friendly and took us out to lunch to eat one of Bolivia’s most famous dishes, “El Pique Macho.” This dish consists of French fries, chopped peppers, sausages, beef, hot dogs, and egg, (they should serve it in American bars..) but it was actually quite delicious!

New friends&food!

With our bellies quite full, we packed our bags said good-bye to our artesano friends and perritos, and accompanied our new Bolivian friends to “Las Cuevas,” which means caves, but we actually went to waterfalls.

After another 12 hour bus ride we were home, back in Cochabamba, 7 am just as the market stands were opening. I had my first day of work at 9 am…

Arrival

I had been warned about the altitude in La Paz, but I was completely unprepared when I stepped off the plane yesterday at 5 am. I felt dizzy and thought my head was going to explode and my heart was beating faster than ever before. It was still dark out and below freezing outside. As I exited the plane via metal stairs of questionable stability, I realized that my carry-on backpack with my visa papers had been checked when I boarded the plane. No one could help me, so followed everyone else towards the immigration line, hoping I could still get through without my papers, that my bag wasn’t gone, and that I wouldn’t pass out. Luckily I was able to fill out new forms, get through immigration, and some nice kids from a church group also going to Cochabamba offered me water and a cracker, fainting averted. I successfully found both my bags, success I had made it!

            Professor Pei in comparative politics always said, you could judge the state of a country by its airport. Bolivia, being the poorest country in South America, I expected much worse. Security was not as thorough as most western airports, but I was pleasantly surprised to find free wifi, an abundance of charging outlets,  which were not available in LAX or Miami, and I was able to sit at nice café with a view of a large snow covered mountain. My plane left on time, and I had a great view of the Andes as we departed, I was even given jugo de mango and a cookie in nice box with a picture of the Cristo, and the flight was only 30 min. On the 5 hour American Airline flight to Miami sandwiches were $10, not even free peanuts…

            On the descent to Cochabamba, I noticed the landscape was very different from La Paz, as the mountains were smaller and there was much more agriculture. I was greeted at the airport by Erin from Sustainable Bolivia, who explained the traffic was extra busy due to the Cochabmaba hosting the Organization de Los Estados Americanos (OEA) conference, which in English is the Organization of American States (OAS). It is one of the world's oldest regional bodies established to promote peace and justice, and promote solidarity and establish collaboration between the states. I also found that a new law restricted certain cars from entering the city center on certain days, determined by license plate numbers. Today, was our taxi cabs day, so we took a round about route to my new home, Casa Bolivar. I was shown my new room, which is fairly large, with a double size bed, armoire, small desk, and even a coat hanger! (Bojana you would appreciate this!) Seven other people live in the house, from France, Germany, Australia, Brazil, England, and the U.S.

The first person I met, Megan form Massachusetts, asked me if I wanted to accompany her to market, so even though I was exhausted from 24 hours of traveling I tagged along. She showed me the streets by our house which don’t have street signs you just have to know, this could get interesting…and she explained that you just cross the street whenever you can, cars will not stop, they may even try to hit you! After dodging lots of cars, and the frequent “eyy beautiful,” we made it to the market. I expected we were going to a traditional super market, similar to the one I recently went to in Panama, however this market consisted of indoor stands selling everything from fresh produce, to scoops of cat food by the kilo, to power tools. It was overwhelming, but fascinating; there were so many things to buy. I couldn’t decide what to buy, even though I will be cooking for myself for the next two months, we’ll see how that goes…On the walk home, we stopped for Choripan, which is an Argentinian Chorizo sandwhich. It was quite tasty, however only when I returned home, was I advised to avoid street food in the beginning oops…luckily so far the Choripan and my stomach got along just fine. Everyone has told me I will get sick, there is no avoiding it, yay can’t wait! I survived for 3 weeks in Ecuador without getting sick, while Tokyo last winter was a different story so we’ll see..

After taking a much-needed siesta, I went to the main house, just a block a away, for a charla (discussion) and shared dinner prepared by the Germans. In the charla we talked about Bolivian cultural differences. For example, in the Western world we run on monochromatic time, which means our daily tasks happen on a line, we finish one thing and move onto the next, and things usually occur on time. While in the Andean culture, time is cyclical or polychromatic, everything is happening at once, and certain occurrences shape and trigger others. This is why in a meeting a Bolivian will answer their phone and it is not considered rude, and nothing usually runs on time. I’ve never thought about time like this before, but I kind of like the idea of letting things run their course and accepting and adjusting to changes in one’s daily plan, and not worrying about being late for work sounds nice too. I also learned that when you enter a room you greet everyone with a kiss on the cheek,  even if they’re busy with someone else.

            At the dinner I met the rest of the people at Sustainable Bolivia, and learned a little about what they were doing here. There are about 25 other volunteers, most of them older than me from around the world. My favorite response was a guy from England who had “proper” job but was bored working in an office, so he decided to come to Bolivia, and he’s been here for almost 6 months and doesn’t know when he’s going back. It was great meet and talk with everyone, and I was even invited to travel to Machu Picchu or Salar de Uni (the salt lake) this weekend! So we’ll see what happens, I am beyond excited! Well I’m off to go explore the city,

Chau for now!

About

For the next 8 months, I will be living, working, traveling, studying, and exploring South America. For the first two months I will be living and interning in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with an organization called Sustainable Bolivia, where I will be partnered with a local Bolivian organization called Fundacion Gaia Pacha. Working to promote environmental awareness and conservation, I will be a part of the environmental advocacy campaign.

 After two months in Bolivia, I will travel to Buenos Aires where I will live with a family and study at University of Buenos Aires for the semester. I can’t wait for all of the travels and adventures ahead. I hope to provide updates of my travels and give an insight on Simone in South America!