I have been thinking a lot about Bolivia and thought that I would share some additional observations and information about the country.
The People
First and foremost they are really small. I am definitely a giant here. If I had to guess I would say that the people here are on average even shorter than they were in Guatemala. Over half of the population claims to have pure indigenous heritage which is a much higher percentage than any of the other countries I have visited. Depending on where you are the people can be unfriendly which always surprises me when you are trying to buy something from them. However with that said people in the countryside were super friendly and always shouting hello and wanting to chat. In general though I would say this is the least warm country I have been in. The people here appear to also age very quickly. I have talked to a couple of people about this and the general opinion is that it just has to do with the lifestyle here. I don’t want to say that the people live a hard life because that would be judging it but it seems like that their lifestyle causes them to age faster than they would at the US. It is amazing to see the number of missing teeth, people with hunchbacks, and just people looking very aged.
The Dress
For the men it is pretty typical clothing-pants and shirts or sweaters. But the woman wearing the traditional dress on the other hand are fantastic. First off they wear all sorts of hats-boller hats seem to be the most popular. They wear them very high on their heads so I have no idea how they stay on to be honest. They traditionally also wear their hair in 2 long braids that are tied together at the bottom with a fancy piece of cloth with tassels on them. They generally wear a blouse and sweater(s) which can be a variety of colors. I didn’t realize that anyone still wore petticoats but they are all the rage here. So underneath the women’s skirts are at least one petticoat so the skirts are all puffed out. Sometimes they even wear an apron around town to top off the outfit. They always display a vast variety of color combinations as well so it is always fun just to hang out and people watch. You know this description is pretty bad so just look at the pics that I have been and need to post and you will get a better idea of what I am talking about.
Government
If you look up politically instability in the dictionary the example says see Bolivia. In 180 years since independence they have had at least 193 different governments in power. I say at least because they just had an election and I don’t know how many changes there have been since the Lonely Planet was printed. Regardless of the exact number you get the general impression. Maybe because of all this instability Bolivia is also the land of the protest. I think that there is at least one protest somewhere in Bolivia everyday. I think that I witnessed about 3 myself during my time here. At least the people actively participate or display there unhappiness but I am not sure it does them any good.
The Economy
Unfortunately it is also one of the world’s poorer countries...I can’t remember the exact details but they get huge amounts of support from the World Bank. I have read that half of the countries GNP comes from the growing of cocoa leaves for both the cocaine market as well for domestic use. Cocoa leaves when chewed act to suppress appetite, decrease fatigue, and help to prevent altitude sickness. Probably because of the poor economy the people work really hard selling just about anything and everything on the streets in an attempt to earn some money.
As an example of costs I got my haircut in Copacabana the other day and it cost me 3 Bolivianos or about 38 cents. Yes you did read that right. A coke at a restaurant costs about 55 cents and an entrée for dinner costs between 2 or 4 bucks.
Other Random Tidbits
It is one of only 2 landlocked countries in South America which is one of the reasons why Bolivians do not like the Chileans (Chile took Bolivia’s coastal territory during a war in the late 1800´s). It also has a lot of minerals...see the silver mine in Potosi which if my memory serves correctly is or at least was the world’s largest silver deposit. It is also home to the worlds highest everything...city (Potosi) and capital (La Paz). And last but not least how they think that having a slightly depressed shower thing with no curtain would be able to contain the water from a shower head is beyond me.
Jessica and I are off to hike the Inca Trail tomorrow morning.
Love
Scott
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