A bit closer to home, literally

In my last post, I mentioned that La Paz was all nice and quiet even though Bolivia is facing a "political situation". Well today I got to be a little more into the action. As I went grocery shopping, I suddenly realised that right on the other side of the street was a demonstration blocking the street. I went on, wanting to be away from it as all consular memos tell you to. But as I came back from the grocery store about 45 minutes later (thinking they had moved on) I realised that they had only moved about 20 meters, to be on a dead stop in front of my building. They stopped because, right in front of my building, was about 30 cops from the riot police with the big shields. It's not quite a fun sight to see. But I have to say it was really peaceful. The people marching were mostly Aymaras asking for justice for the Pando massacre of a few days ago, but they didn't seem angry, just peacefully marching. And they spread out quickly without a fuss. Nonetheless, after being bombarded with bleak news stories about where Bolivia could be headed, it was a bit disconcerting to see this in front of my home. As an aside, I met a friend of mine at the grocery store who gave me an invitation to her wedding October 4th. It was really weird to hear myself say, totally seriously "Of course I'll go! Well, unless there's a civil war by then" and she answered, "Yeah, I don't think there will be one. I hope not, that would ruin the wedding". I think everyone is rather optimistic that this can be resolved through mediation and talks, which started yesterday and are apparently fruitful. But you only need one idiot to go kill someone and restart hostilities and I believe the proverbial shit will hit the fan... Anyways, I'm rather optimist too, but know that I also am preparing an exit strategy "just in case".

on the political side...

I realize that my posts are of a more personal nature. That's the point of this blog, give friends and family some news and pictures while I'm away for a long time. However, in the slight case that you guys have heard about Bolivia in the news recently (and not just about the US ambassador being kicked out), I guess I should address the recent political developments. There has been increasing violence and conflict in Bolivia, especially in the last week. All of this is happening in the eastern parts of the country where there are movements for autonomy of these provinces. So on a personal note, there is almost no repercussions here. As usual, I hear the noise of people marching outside for one reason or another (that's almost everyday here, and I kinda like to see that people aren't afraid to take the streets for their demands) so I'm assuming that lately it might be some pro-Evo rallies in this time of conflict. I live in Evo's stronghold, and he just received a huge 66% approval rate in the country, so democracy is on his side for now. One problem that could eventually affect me directly is that protesters in the south are blowing up natural gas pipelines or blocking gas transport so there will be (and apparently is right now) a gas shortage even in La Paz. But that doesn't worry me too much. All it will do is make me eat lots of sandwiches because I have a gas stove.

What is more worrisome for the future is if the conflict escalate further instead of running out of steam... It could potentially maybe lead to some sort of civil war. I think the leaders on both camps want to avoid that though, so it's just a matter of controlling the mobs. This obviously isn't a fun prospect, and quite frankly, I am not equipped to fully understand the situation and explaining it to you. Luckily, if you're interested in understanding it further like I am, there are great blogs available like http://gringotambo.wordpress.com/ and http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/index.htm . This is how I get my information about the whole situation. It is well contextualised so you don't need to have lived here for years to understand the ramifications of certain developments (I feel like I'm reading a "fill in the blanks" when I read local newspapers).

Happy (?) reading!

Update: the gringo tambo blog posted the link to this really interesting interview that discusses clearly and simply what are the issues in Bolivia. It's a great introductory course on Bolivia!

Bolivia is weird

As I'm writing here, I am being serenaded very loudly by Mariachis. I'm in my room, they are somewhere outside with microphones and speakers... I actually really enjoy the randomness of this! If they're still playing around midnight I might have to get violent.

This tops a really funny weird day for me. Not really that weird given I've been here often, but still. Today I went back to Tiwanaku because it was the opening of a weekend long festival (the most important one for Tiwanaku given the solstice is a national holiday rather than a local one), in honor of the Señor de la exaltacion which is another name for Jesus. Here he is, pretty similar to regular Jesus:

I went there alone assuming I would know some people. First people I knew I finally encountered were two Bolivian archaeologists that work within the site. However, they looked slightly different than usual...
In typical Tiwanaku fashion, the "entrada" (people dancing and making an entrance I guess) started 3 hours late, which meant I missed most of it. I wanted to leave around 5pm to make sure I could find a bus back and wouldn't be in La Paz too late. I did forget to pack some food and most of what was being sold was "street food" which isn't always to the peak of cleanliness standards. Although I never heard of "listeriose" here... Plus they don't give you cutlery so you have to eat with your hands.

I was going there mostly to see one of my favorite person in the world, our cook Aurora, dancing. Turns out her "help" Eli who has been working with us for two years and is a sweetheart was dancing too! And luckily, they were among the first groups to dance so I actually saw them before leaving. I figured I should introduce them to you since they are so important to me, my belly, and my expanded figure (I'm now going to the gym and eating less because what I cook isn't as good so none of you will see me in the expanded state). Although I wondering if I did post pictures of them before, and I can't go check right now. Anyways, they're good pictures too.

Here is Aurora:
And here's Eli:
On a side note, the mariachis are still playing...

Oh, and as far as introduction goes, I thought I should post a picture of Tiwanaku's mayor because I was shocked the first time I saw her. First of all, it's a "her". Second of all, I think she's my age. She's dressed up in the blue cholita outfit to the far left (although last time I saw her she was wearing jeans so she usually doesn't dress as a cholita). She was signing papers right before doing her walkabout in the plaza.As you may have noticed, I'm a bit tired and don't have much to say. I sort of prefer showing pictures right now, so I think I'll just end with a medley of weird pictures...

For that last picture, I just liked that it was written "coqueto" on the back of their costumes. I'm not sure what it means in spanish, but in french, coquet would be someone who's really careful about their appearances, on a vain and slightly effeminate tangent... Update: after talking with Machi and Tony, sounds like coqueto means pretty much the same thing in spanish although you need to add "flirty" to the list.

And speaking of liking their appearance. This guy asked me to take a picture of him. And he's pimp.