The Blaus - South America and Europe

Easter in Bolivia

As soon as we arrived in Bolivia in Uyuni, we realized that we had landed in a completely different world in South America. Uyuni is a small town where the people are much more traditional, and the town itself is much less modern than Potosi or Sucre. Most of the older women and men in Uyuni were dressed in traditional Bolivian garb. From head to toe the Bolivians look distinctly different than the Chileans and Argentines. There is more of an influence of indigenous culture here in Bolivia than in the other countries we have visited. The traditional Bolivian women wear black fedoras (like bowler hats), full velvet skirts, nude color stockings pulled up to their knees, and two long braids down to their waists that are sometimes tied together at the ends behind their backs. Their faces are beautifully weathered from the sun, which makes it hard to tell their age. Tied to their backs are colorful woven blankets full of their wares or oftentimes a sleeping child is wrapped up inside. The traditionally dressed men wear colorful woven ponchos and very distinctively pointy Bolivian hats knit of llama wool with earflaps.

Bolivian food is very different from what we have been eating in Argentina and Chile. Salteñas are what Bolivians eat for breakfast or a mid-morning snack...they are like empanadas, but they have a sweeter crust and they are a little messier to eat. Most of the side dishes are made with dehydrated potatoes, regular potatoes or rice. One of our favorite dishes is picante de pollo, which is chicken prepared with a yummy spicy sauce that tastes like a cross between paprika and mole...it´s a bit like Chicken Paprikash that Billy´s mom makes.

The weather in Sucre is very comfortable. We are starting to see signs of Fall in South America, and the days here are warm and sunny. We are at a much lower altitude than we were in Potosi, so we have no altitude sickness here and the temperatures are much more moderate at night.

Sucre itself is a very attractive city with a busy city center, well maintained parks, stunning colonial buildings and churches that are painted all white (just as they were during colonial times). It is a place where we can set up camp for awhile, so we have decided to stay for at least 10 days and take Spanish lessons for a week.

We have been in Sucre for four days waiting for our Spanish classes to begin. In this short amount of time in one place, we have become familiar with the rhythm of life in this city. All the shops and restaurants shut down between 2pm and 6pm and the place becomes a ghost town in the middle of the day. This week may be different from the norm, since it is Semana Santa--the week leading up to Easter, but it has been a quiet couple of days for us. Every night the city comes alive again and we see the streets and sidewalks transform into bustling thoroughfares. We start to recognize the people on the street in the same places each night. There is a little boy who strums away on a small guitar with his hat sitting empty in front of him on the sidewalk waiting for someone to give him a Boliviano or two. During the day, we have seen him sleeping on the sidewalk across the street...he uses his carefully folded sweatshirt as a pillow.

Bolivia is the poorest of the South American countries, but it is rich in culture. We have stolen glimpses of the poverty and have had a few experiences that have taught us that the people here are desperately trying to prosper. There is much natural beauty and a unique culture, from the desert to the salt flats to the jungle to the cities, and it is very affordable to travel here.

The Bolivians are warm and welcoming. There is something about the Bolivian attitude and approach to life that I can´t quite put my finger on. There is a sadness and a grit deep down that is hard to discern and explain. There is opportunism under the surface that is more evident here than in Argentina, Chile, or Uruguay. However, Bolivia is much more industrialized than we expected it to be. Of the countries that we have been to so far, Bolivia is our favorite.

posted by The Blaus @ 6:32 PM