The Blaus - South America and Europe

3 de Abril - Sucre, Bolivia

Today is our last day in Sucre, after spending 10 days here taking Spanish classes at the Academia LatinoAmericana de Español. The two of us were placed at different levels. Jen was in the nerdy, snooty class that was far advanced over Billy´s class. She had 3 other girls in her class, and they learned vocabulary and conjugations in past and present tenses in the morning, and then headed out into the streets during the second half of class to practice with the locals. They went to the central market, to El Patio for salteñas (the best breakfast in Sucre), and to get ice cream at the heladeria (Chirimoya...a kind of custard apple...is the best flavor). Billy had his own teacher since nobody else was placed at his level (he was relieved to know that there were people who tested below his level), and did far more basic exercises, like singing along with Bolivian songs and being forced out into the plaza to ask strangers for directions. On his first day of class, he was shown flashcards of famous people and when George Bush was presented he quickly responded with "El diablo." We both feel more comfortable with Spanish, and learned a lot from our classes, especially about Bolivian culture.

Yes, everything we needed to know about Bolivia we learned in Sucre. Spanish classes were extremely helpful because we finally had a chance to ask all of the language related questions we had been storing up for 3 months and in addition we learned a lot about Bolivian culture and customs. We may take another week or two of classes in Cusco and/or in Quito. This same language school has branches in both of those cities, so we could easily pick up where we left off.

Sucre is a very conservative town, it is the Judicial capital of Bolivia, and home to almost 350,000 Catholics. Our teachers told us about how conservative it is here, and how the community looks down upon a lot of dating rituals that we consider very normal in the States. Yesterday when the news that the Pope died hit the town, all the churches rang their bells for 30 minutes, and we saw people in the streets weeping and wailing. Although almost everyone in Sucre is Catholic, they also worship Pachamama (mother earth), who is the Incan God that was worshipped before Colonialism. There is an interesting mix of traditional Catholic practices and traditional Indian practices, and the two seem not to be at odds at all. Both seem to live in harmony. A common practice is to give offerings to Pachamama, because Pachamama gives the community life. This type of ritual is something that Catholics do to show appreciation for their more pagan roots.

After our classes, we spent afternoons exploring the town. Our favorite place is the Campesino Market, about one mile outside the center of town. This is the market where all the people come from the Campos (or small rural towns) to sell their produce and goods. Campesinos literally means country-folk or farmers, specifically referring to the indigenous population in Bolivia. The market is enormous, it takes up an entire section of town with little stands lining the streets with fruits, vegetables, housewares, spices, clothes, electronics, shoes, and anything else you could possibly want. There is a section called the witch (bruja) market where we found the most interesting things from offerings for Pachamama to llama fetuses. The people that work in the fields and that weave the colorful sweaters, ponchos, rugs, and wall hangings that are so common in Bolivia set out offerings to Pachamama every morning. Part of these offerings are bought in the witch markets, and they include dead owls, llama fetuses, certain spices, flowers, and other dead animals that look like road kill. They sell these dead animals hanging upside down from their stands, often bumping their heads into the dead llama fetuses or the owls wings. It is good for a few photographs, but not a place to stay to long. We hear that there are much larger witches markets in La Paz.

After classes we usually went straight to lunch before exploring. Every place in Sucre has a set menu for lunch, usually for $1 per person. Lunches included soup, a choice of entrees, usually spicy chicken and potatoes with rice, and a dessert. Lunch is the most important meal of the day in Bolivia. On Bolivian food...locotos are really spicy peppers that seem to be in all the picante sauces and are even a popular topping on pizza. We have been eating plenty of locoto in llajua (a Quechua word), which is a spicy salsa that is eaten with bread and is the traditional Bolivian accompaniment to lunch.

Yesterday we went to two great museums. One was an anthropological museum of textiles and weaving (displaying and selling work of the indigenous people in this area of Bolivia). The second museum (museo etnografia y folclore) had beautiful masks, clothing and photographs on display...again all from indigenous cultural ceremonies and celebrations (like Carnival, but specific to Bolivia). Apparently Bolivia is one of the only countries in South America that has an indigenous population and they are very proud of their heritage.

There are a couple of famous Bolivian painters that we have come to know here in Sucre. The one artist that is our favorite so far is Mamani Mamani. Apparently, he has made quite an impression on some NYC art collectors and museum curators. His name is unusual, isn´t it? When people get married here, the custom is to take both the wife´s maiden name and the husband´s last name and combine them. Mamani is a very common last name in Bolivia, and this artist happened to marry a woman with the same last name (no relation), so their family name is Mamani Mamani.

We got to know our neighborhood and the people in it quite well. There is a little team of shoe shine boys who hang around our hotel. These kids are no more than 7 years old, and will offer to shine your shoes even if you are wearing flip flops. They are all cute little guys, and run around exactly as you would imagine a shoe shine kid in a third world country. They are dirty from head to toe, carrying just their small box with them, and a hat for collecting money. There were also a few families and older women that sat in the same place every day with their hats out begging for money or food. This is the first city where we have seen a lot of begging since we arrived in South America. Although Sucre is clean and safe, there is a great deal of poverty here, but the people are always nice and never pushy about panhandling. One boy today yelled at us as we passed him, "Gringos, da me plata." which means "Gringos, give me money." He was definitely the exception, not the norm.

Speaking of Gringos...there are 3 theories about the origin of the word gringo. I wondered if the word held a negative connotation, so I asked my Spanish teacher about it and did some research to learn the history of the name we have developed as travelers in Latin America. The first theory is that the word was developed during the Mexican-American War, when the Mexicans overheard American frontiersmen singing a song that contained the words "Green Grow the Lilacs." Green grow or Gringo then became the name for the Americans. The second theory is that during the same war the Mexicans overheard the orders of American troops who were wearing green uniforms. The soldiers would command "Green go!"...which turned into Gringo. This is the theory that my Bolivian teacher believed and told us about. The third theory claims that Gringo comes from the Spanish word for Greek, which is Griego...as in it´s all Greek to me...assuming that Americans were speaking unintelligible gibberish to the Mexicans. The only truth that these 3 theories seem to share is that the word became a name for foreigners in Mexico, Central America and Latin America and is still used today.

Some other interesting things that we learned in our classes...there is a name for the time in between midnight and 6 in the morning. It is madruga. There is even a verb for this late night/early morning time for activity...madrugar. It is also used when referring to waking up before dawn. So it seems that Argentina is not the only country of night owls in South America. Perhaps we will see for ourselves when we get to a big city like La Paz.

On Bolivian music...La cumba is the name for the traditional South American music that we hear everywhere. It has a very recognizable beat and we hear it blaring on car stereos and in dance clubs everywhere in South America.

Not every learning experience in Sucre has been taught in the classroom. We got a lesson in Bolivian Correos (post or mail) by attempting to send a package home from Sucre. We went to the post office and explained that we wanted to ship a package to the US. They informed us that we would need to go to the central market to buy a box and tape, then pack our items in the box and address it with a thick black marker, and finally return to the post office the next day at 10am en punto. The process was very different from going to the post office at home, where you can buy all the shipping supplies and labels, and it can all be accomplished under one roof and in one visit. So, like good little Gringos, we went to the central market with the intention of finding a shipping supplies tienda (store or shop), where we could purchase all the necessary items. Instead, we learned that the only boxes for sale there were old, used boxes that the vendors kept around just in case Gringos like us needed them. So, we bought a box in the best condition possible, and it happened to contain cans of pineapples in a former life. At the end of this boxes career, it will have traveled from Thailand to Bolivia and then on to the US. We found tape at another stall in the central market area, and borrowed a thick, black marker from the front desk of our hostel to address the package to my mom. I had a bit of deja vu at this point, because years ago while traveling in Ireland I sent a suitcase home to my parent´s address, which finally arrived at their doorstep 9 months later. At that point, I had almost forgotten all about the suitcase, and it was like looking through a time capsule when I opened it up and rediscovered all the treasures from my European travels. Anyway, after all that trouble with this package in Sucre, we actually began to see the logic in the process. Why don´t we send packages in used boxes at home in the States? Wouldn´t it be an environmentally friendly way to do things? We could minimize waste and feel good about recycling at the same time. These are lessons that we will take home with us and try to incorporate into our lives at home.

We taped the package up with extreme care and set out the next morning for the post office. When we arrived, we were surprised to find that the package part of the post office was closed. The day before the gentleman working there told us to report back at 10am en punto, so we looked at our watches and discovered that we were a bit early. A post office official came out and lectured us in Spanish that we were wasting our time waiting around the post office this day, since the office was clearly closed. I had faith however, and I really didn´t want to lug this box to the next Bolivian city just to go through the process again at another Oficina de Correos. Soon enough, the kind gentleman we spoke with the day before appeared at the office with his 4 year old daughter in tow. He had made a promise to us, and he kept it, despite the fact that this was his day off. We were so grateful to him and his simpatica little daughter (who played with rubber stamps and shouted destinations at us while she waited for her dad, she was clearly a postal worker in training). Sometimes we are disappointed that things here don´t work the same way that they do at home, and we shake our heads at the lack of centralization, systems, and organization. And then there are the times when we appreciate the differences, especially when someone goes out of their way to help us like this kind Bolivian post office worker did in this situation.

We have really enjoyed spending time in one place and getting to know the town and the people, but are also ready for a different place to explore. Tonight we make our way to Cochabamba.

Our mistake, we have been spelling the word chau the Italian way. The correct spelling of the word for the expression "goodbye, but not forever" in Latin America is CHAU. So, chau for now.

posted by The Blaus @ 5:07 PM