The Road Goes Ever On and On

But for me, the road has come to an end for the summer. I leave tomorrow, from La Paz to Santa Cruz to Miami to Raleigh! Phew, I'm tired just writing it. Its been an amazing summer and I can't wait to return next year!

A brief recap of the past 2 weeks: la feria, la feria, la feria!! Copacabana hosts a fair every year in honor of the Virgin of Copacabana, a carved wooden virgin with an interesting history-- carved by an Inka post-contact and preserved for 300 or so years here in Copa (more details here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_Copacabana). Approximately 50,000 people (majority Peruvians) come to Copa from August 3-6 (officially) to celebrate the virgin, get their cars/houses/families blessed and ask for favors for the coming year. Oh and to sell, sell, sell! The main streets were totally packed with vendors for 3-4 days, only passable by squeezing through the crowds on foot. And because most of the vendors and people are from Peru, everything is sold in Peruvian soles! Mosdt vendors can also accept bolivianos, but I had at least 3 people tell me they took soles only. In Bolivia! Crazy.

You could buy basically anything you can think of-- from touristy cloth to axes to food to toys to pottery, both fancy and utilitarian. Needless to say, souvenirs were purchased aplenty! Mega fireworks and parties at night of course as well. It was fun to walk around and see all the things (and people) but its nice to have Copa back to its quiet self for a few days.

I'm already making plans to come back next year to finish up my research and hang out with my friends here. So, all of you reading this who want to visit, start saving money and come hang out with me in Bolivia next summer! :) Peace out for now.

And whither then, I cannot say...

A Day in the Life

Its the final 2 weeks here in Bolivia and we finally made it through all the major events for the summer, excepting the Fair of Copacabana which begins Wednesday. Luckily there are no dances to learn nor clothes to buy for that, just enjoyment to be had!

So I realized, I've mostly talked about major events down here, not the day to day life I've been having. Entonces, here is an average day in the life of Sara Juengst whilst in Copacabana, Bolivia.

Normally, I wake up between 830 and 9, to the morning sun peeking through my curtains. In order to get motivated (and warm enough) to get out of bed, I generally sit in the sun in my bed for awhile and then venture down to the kitchen to get breakfast. Luxoriuously, I take my coffee and bread (and sometimes sausage or cookies!) back to my room where I climb back into bed and read while eating. Its a good way to start the day!

The rest of the morning is usually spent in the lab with my bones. I've made my way through 2 major collections this summer and will start a third, to be finished next summer. Lots of washing, sorting, note taking, and finally taking pictures. Oh and labelling. The lab is nice and warm all day and I blast some music so work generally passes quickly.

Lunch around 1/1:30, generally in the yard to enjoy the sun. Lunch is the main meal of the day here, with at least 2 courses, soup and then a main dish of some kind-- but almost always with potatoes. Coffee or tea or fruit juice after lunch to finish it off!

Afternoons pass more slowly, as it gets fairly chilly in the lab by 430/5 so I generally finish up by then, either heading to the internet or to wander around town. There are several big hills (aka mountains) surrounding the town plus the lakeshore, so there's lots of explore! Sometimes I work on the computer in the evening too, writing up the days notes and labelling photos etc. Dinner is usually around 7 or 8 and after we usually watch the news or some tv or a video of some kind. Generally to bed early(ish)-- 10 or so.

Anyway, thats the exciting life of me in Bolivia. Sadly, only 11 more days of it!

Hello, I Love You (Won’t You Tell Me Your Name?)

After almost two solid weeks of working everyday, we spent a long weekend in La Paz for the 16^th of July celebration, dancing in the group called Chacaltaya. 200-some years ago there was a revolution in La Paz on July 16^th, thus the festival. Theoretically, the parade that we participated in is dedicated to the Virgen of Carmen but we never saw her, nor did we enter a church. Good Catholic practice.

Anyway, this was a much bigger deal than I anticipated. 60 groups of dancers, performing folkloric dances from all over Bolivia, all with their own marching bands to accompany them. Our group, Chalcataya, had 2000 people dancing the morenada, one of Bolivia’s most famous (and more basic) dances. Within Chacaltaya there are different subgroups because organising 2000 people is fairly hard. Our block was called Siempre Compadres and we were the largest of the blocks, rivalled by the other large block called Siempre Amigos. And they were very competitive, cheering back and forth across event halls with their names etc. But I get ahead of myself...

In preparation for this event, we spent 8 hours in a line (8 hours!!!) to pick up our clothing designed specially for this event. We had one final practice before Friday, the day of the main event, the Entrada. Friday around noon we started to march/dance through El Alto, the city above La Paz. We danced until about 4 or 5, with 3 breaks when we drank beer and complained about our sore feet with all the other ladies. We passed the governing officials of El Alto and La Paz at one point, to much applause. As one might imagine, two gringas (white women) in pollera caused quite a scene, int he midst of tons of Bolivian ladies! Lots of whistles and bravos (not to mention marriage proposals and i love you’s) aimed at Stasia and I, just for having whitish skin and light colored eyes. Finally, we stopped and were immediately offered beers and snacks and to have our photo taken. Once the men caught up, we snuck off to a friend’s nearby house to relax before heading home for the day. Other participants though drank all night—proven by some ladies wearing the same outfit the next day!

Saturday was less formal, one more dance through the streets but shorter, only about an hour or two. Then LOTS more drinking, first on the street and then in the event hall rented by Chacaltaya. A few famous Bolivian bands played for us there and we danced and drank basically from noon until 7, when Sergio, Stasia and I ran off to eat something and nap at that friends house while our compadres continued to drink until midnight! We finally went back to their house in La Paz around 12:30, both of the older Bolivians totally passed out in the car from too much drinking and dancing. Sunday morning was not fun for them!

Totally crazy event. Exhausting and my feet are a little torn up from 2 days in chollita shoes, but worth it, especially now that its over! Its both fun and weird to be stared at continually for being a white person in traditional dress, but its definitely a quick way to find a husband, ladies! I had one woman offer me her son who is, apparently, 28, single, and has a house. Not too bad J Maybe next year.

We’re now back in Copacabana, but the festivities are only over until this weekend, when we go to a small community called Kollasuyu. They have an annual celebration for Santiago and Illampu, the nearest snow-capped mountain, that we attended last year as well. This year we return to perform another Peruvian dance called Pukartambo. But we haven’t learned it yet—our dance instructor arrives today and then we will probably spend every night this week learning it! Never a dull moment...

Oh and there are pictures of me in full costume on facebook, but the internet here doesn't love to upload them to this blog site. Sorry!

Trivia Night, Bolivia Style

So I’ve been telling lots of stories about events that have been happening to me here but I also wanbted to share lots of random things about Bolivia that may or may not be interesting. Whatever your opinion, here they are:

1. The car market here is dominated by Japanese cars. Toyota (or Toyosa as the local manufacturer/distributor is called) is the main brand, mostly station wagons and late 90s toyotas tearing around the streets. Nissans and Suzukis also do well here. The only times I’ve seen Dodges, Fords, or Chevys, they are generally heavy duty pickup trucks, of the F150 variety. I guess no one can do huge gas-guzzling pickups like the United States!

2. On a related note, there are pratically no rules about driving here. Just don’t kill anybody and try to avoid hitting dogs and you won’t have any problems with the law. Lanes are a laughable idea—if theres room for a car to fit by, its allowed to do so and it will. Theoretically, areas where you can pass someone on the larger roads are marked but I’ve seen adventurous drivers pass around blind curves, sometimes to almost fatal consequences. Only the strong and quick survive here!

3. Obviously, ‘manners’ are culturally derived so what is socially acceptable here is different from socially acceptable in the US (and of course this varies by area within Bolivia as well). One huge difference is the United Statesian prohibition on commenting on how someone looks—especially if its something negative. But here, staring and commenting on someones physical appearance isn’t a big deal and physical differences are often the root of the many nicknames given out. For instance, there’s this one man in Copacabana whose name is Demetrio and he happens to be exceptionally short, even for Bolivians (like maybe 4 feet tall). So, they call him Demetr-y-medio or, ‘a meter and a half’. Less cleverly, chubby boys and girls are frequently called ‘gorditos’ (which means ‘little chubby’, although you certainly don’t have to be chubby to earn this nickname either as it is basically just a term of affection.

4. Like many places, baseball caps are in vogue here and I’ve seen lots of logos of teams from the United States represented (3 UNC hats to date, by the way, not counting the one I brought to give to Rodrigo). Its somewhat amusing because I’m positive many of the people wearing them have no idea what the logo means, what team it is, or even what sport. Just for fun I’m keeping track of the ones I see and am continually surprised by some. The Yankees are the most popular (not surprising bc the NY symbol is probably the prestigious draw and is often totally out of context or in different colors etc) but I’ve also seen UGA, UVA, the Cleveland Indians, and Uconn Huskies. Who knew?!

5. There are some health beliefs here that seem odd (to me anyway). First, they believe that if you have been sweating(which is rare bc its so cold, believe me), you need to put on more clothes, otherwise you will get sick. So even if you are hot and sticky, you must put on a jacket to prevent a cold (this may actually be logical considering drying sweat does rapidly cool your body temperature and possibly could dampen your immune system, but still. Seems counterintuitive). More pertinent to me is the idea that if you get a cut while handling skeletons, you’ll probably contract osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection of the bone and ironically one of the pathologies I’m looking for. Not sure how widespread this one is or if it only applies to human bone but something to look out for!

Okay, I think thats all I have for now. Its been really cold and windy here recently and actually snowed a lot of the weekend—crazy because this is the dry season! We were in La Paz this weekend for Chacaltaya practice (oh, of which I won’t be queen but am dancing in (in a normal pollera) and was interviewed by Bolivian TV on Saturday! Only 80% sure of what I said, hahaha) and our practice in the streets Friday night was cut short because it was snowing so hard. Seriously. So for all you Carolinians (or other North American) sweltering in the summer heat, enjoy it for me! My frozen fingers and toes are jealous (a little). :)

A Burning Ring of Fire

This past week has been full of fire and ritual. First, last Tuesday, June21, was the Aymara New Year celebration. Its also the winter solstice here but that celebration is pushed back until the 24th—more on that to come! The Aymara New Year is a day to toast Pachamama and ask for a lucky year to come. For the record, we just started year 5519, according to the Aymara calendar. Not really sure what they are counting from, except possibly the bones that I’m studying! Anyway, in order to properly ring in the new year, we got up pre-dawn and went up to the top of a local cerro with an offering and a shaman to prepare it. Not quite a mountaintop but a good 20-30 minute hike straight up! As Stasia pointed out, shamans here don’t need to use hallucinagens here, they just hyperventilate on their way up! :)
Once we found a good spot where we could see both the town of Copacabana and the sunrise, we started to prepare the offering. First we all selected the most perfect coca leaves from a huge pile and remembered those that we love, one person for each leaf. Then Angel, our shaman, (ironically named of course) took all the leaves we selected and buried them with a toast of grain alcohol to Pachamama. Then, we brought out the supplies for the larger offering, including tiles made of flour and sugar with words and images painted on them (like health and home), spices of some sort, coca leaves, little sugar figurines of llamas and andean crosses, and the fat of a wild cat. Angel organized them as he saw fit and let us add a few things here and there, again naming people important to us along the way. Interestingly, he also named all the local mountains, which are traditionally conceived of as ancestors, or apus, as they are known here. Finally, once a layer of wool, tinsel, and coca leaves had been sprinkled over top, we placed the whole bundle on a fire. We each in turn threw alcohol over the fire in the 4 cardinal directions, and then were able to pass special objects over the flames, effectively blessing them. Then we were instructed to ignore the fire to let Pachamama eat in peace. During this whole process, we were treated to a splendid sunrise! After some more coca chewing, we descended back to the car and went home for breakfast of coffee, hot chocolate, and cake! (The cake was for Sergio and Stasia{s anniversary, not exactly traditional but definitely delicious!) After a long nap, the entire afternoon and evening was devoted to lounging in the backyard and eating barbeque of the best sort—potatoes, oka, and, my favorite, chorizo!

If that wasn’t enough earth-honoring and fire-gazing, Friday the 24th was the festival of San Juan (John the Baptist). This holiday is conveniently placed on the 24th by the Spanish to take a native ritual—Inti Raymi—and make it ‘civilized’. Inti Raymi is actually from the Inka empire (although certainly has a longer history) and literally means ‘Sun Party’ (inti=sun/sun god, raymi=fiesta/party). The Inka would have had a huge celebration, espeically in Cusco, for one of their primiere dieties, Inti, and likely would have symbolically married and literally sacrificed a few perfectly beautiful children, just for good measure (this is likely the reason why they find the perfect ice mummies in the Andes. Look up Juanita the Ice Princess if you don’t know what I’m talking about, its incredible. Also, Clinton once said he’d ask her out on a date. True Story). Today, there is little child sacrifice but lots of flame and creation of miniature suns here on earth! The whole town basically sets anything and everything on fire—bonfires in the streets, on the hills, in backyards. Driving through town basically felt like driving through a post-apocalyptic videogame world. So cool. What fire has to do with John the Baptist beats me (unless he baptized with fire? But wasnt that good ole Jesus?) but I’m glad they do it!

Just as a final note—I do actually do work here too. Most days are not very fiery and instead filled with bone dust and india ink (for labelling bones). I’m getting a lot done, data-wise, (although I could do more if we weren’t so involved with the community. But where’s the fun/value/anthropology in that?) and have found some really interesting individuals-- lots of OA, cavities, periostitis and even some trauma! wheee (for me, not them)

Also, I glued a skull back together yesterday that was in 33 different pieces when I started. Boom!

A Wedding! I love weddings! Drinks all around!

Okay so I just posted the jungle piece, but more has happened since then and I have to keep them seperate in my head!

So we got back to Copacabana on Friday night and had about an hour to shower, relax, etc before we went to the event hall for the wedding to do a traditional pre-wedding Mother Earth (Pachamama) offering. Totally not Catholic-approved but everyone (everyone Aymara anyway) does it. Anyway, we sat around and chewed coca and drank beer with the bride, groom,a nd their closest friends and relatives. Sergio and Stasia are the padrinos (godparents, sponsers etc) for the wedding so we were guests of honor.

The main event took place on Saturday, with first a church service in the morning, then a drive through Copacabana in our car, leaning on the horn the entire time so everyone would look and see the novios in the front seats. This was followed by lunch and photos on the floating islands where our group of 10 in the car was joined by family from La Paz. Finally, we went back into town around 3 or 4 to the event hall where we drank and toasted and danced and ate cake until 10:30ish!! It was a lot of fun- the family from La Paz adopted me at their table and suggested they might kidnap me back to La Paz with them. Luckily they didnt but they were really nice and after a few beers we were even able to communicate! hahah my Spanish is coming along, albeit slowly...

Woke up Sunday a little bit hungover but doing okay until Stasia came to my room to tell me to get ready because this was day 2 and the newlyweds and co would be at the house around noon with a band and more beer to drnk! Thus, sunday passed in blur of more beer and dancing- first on the rooftop patio of our house overlooking the lake, then we danced our way through the streets back to the event hall. This time we only stayed until 8ish, when the bride was so drunk she was having trouble walking. Eeek! Good times though, I suppose :)

Relaxed and got back to work on bones earlier today because tomorrow is the Aymara New Year so we are going to get up around 5am, go up a neighboring hill/mtn and toast Pachamama! I'll be sure to give updates on that later but for now-- happy Inti Raymi!!

Welcome to the Jungle!

Well, dear reader, I just took a vacation while on (semi) vacation. How luxurious is that! We went to Sorata, a town 4 hours from here in the ¨lowlands¨to get some heat and fresh fruits! Sorata is at 2500m above sea level but compared to the altiplano (4000-4400m) and Copacabana (3800m), it seemed like an intense jungle! Lots of green plants, flowers, and fruits (oranges, bananas, grenadillas (which look like monkey brains but are soooo tasty), melons, hot peppers, and more!) all at the base of the eastern cordillera of the Andes. So, with the warm weather we also got great views of snow-capped peaks and glaciers!

We visited a small gold mine while there-- basically a few crevices in the side of the mountain. I wandered far enough in to get a bit freaked out in the pitch dark. Felt like Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli only I chose not to face my own mortality at the hands of an army of the dead! Not being the King of Gondor, this was probably a wise choice.

We also went to La Gruta San Pedro-- a huge cave system under another mountain with a sizeable lake in it! I wandered around, telling riddles and wondering what was in my pocket, but made it safely back out without having to have too much adventure or any great leaps. It was really really hot and humid in the cave, especially near the lake, which Stasia suggested meant there was magma somewhere underneath us. Eek!

Dinner was mediocre but we were all so tired after exploring all day that it didnt matter as long as we could get to bed soon! The next day (friday) involved a long search for chirimoya fruits- an andean favorite (for more info: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annona_cherimola). A lady at the market said that only villages 2 hours past Sorata, further into the valleys, had Chirimoya right now, but we were deteremined and struck out on a quest. Eventually, we wound our way down to a house that Pablo decided had some (for who knows what reason) and they did! We were greeted by a somewhat startled family who very graciously gave us a lunch of grenadillas and bananas (fresh from their garden, soooo good) and then we explored their jungle of a garden and bought lots of fruit from them. Crazy!

Returned to Copacabana friday night in order to get up and go to a wedding Saturday! More on that to come...

In place of the Dark Lord, you will set up a Queen!

I totally meant to update this sooner but... I havent. And so much has happened since my last post!

Last Tuesday, we left La Paz for Copacabana, where the house and lab are and where most the summer will be spent. It was great to get here and see everyone from last year and the kids! They all remembered me except the youngest who wasn't too sure. But after all the toys I gave them, he's warmed up! :)

There have been alot of strikes in Bolivia recently so just getting around the country has been a bit of adventure. Driving to Copacabana we had to skirt a road block that was in protest of oil prices being really high. This involved traversing some semi-paved neighborhoods, fording a small stream, and driving up the side of a cliff! Well, Pablo drove and we all got out and hiked behind the car! Good thing Sergio owns a beast of a vehicle, like any good archaeologist! The blockade lasted a few days apparently and got bigger so we got past it at the right time. Another transportation strike begins today, possibly lasting all week depending on how it goes. Striking/blokading is pretty common here and relatively effective at getting the government's attention. Something to think about, United Statesiens!

I spent last week getting my lab set up and reviewing some of the bodies that my SAA presentation was on this year. Need to get more details and pictures so that I can write it up as an article! Lots of arthritis to be examined, on just about every bone of every person. Unfortunately , this means I think I'm getting arthritis from bending over to take pics and label things etc. Eeesh!

We went into La Paz again this weekend to buy wedding clothes for Agustina, a friend and sponsee of Sergio and Stasia who is getting married this Saturday here in Copacabana. The pollera (big traditional skirt) industry is crazy here and we went to several different malls full of different colors, fabrics, styles... The newest styles for the year will be announced next week-ish after a series of important dances happen in La Paz and El Alto next week. Exciting times in the life of a chollita!

Speaking of dances, we have several lined up for this summer. The first (besides the wedding of course) is a 3 day affair in El Alto, called The Morenada of Chacaltaya. Morenada is a classic bolivian dance and Chacaltaya is a glacier near La Paz that is almost all melted thanks to global warming... And now I come to this posts title. You might be wondering why I reference queenliness and dominion and here's why: I've been nominated to be the Queen of the Morenada of Chacaltaya. Basically just because I'm the whitest person who will be dancing. But we went to this practice Saturday night (and by practice i mean drinking alot and occasionally dancing) and the women plotted a) to get me drunk and b) to make sure I was elected queen. The vote happens today or tomorrow so we shall see... If I do become queen, I'll march in front of all the dancers wearing a mini pollera (like SUPER mini, as in it comes with fancy panties because they will be showing) and knee high boots and will proabbly be interviewed for the national paper (possibly) and will definitley have way too many photos taken of me. eeeek. i'll keep you all updated... and if i do become queen, hah!! I will require deference from now on :)

Alright I think thats all I got for now... Hope you readers are all doing well!!

La Paz, La Paz

Day 3 in La Paz! Mostly been adjusting to the altitude (aka taking a lot of naps) and investigating museums and markets. Sergio and Stasia arrived yesterday morning and we immediately went back to El Alto (the huge Aymara city on the outskirts of the megacity of La Paz) for a memorial service for a friend of theirs. It was actually just a normal mass but the widow held a framed photo of Jesus with her husband´s name across it and we wore black. Crazy.

Today I wandered around to a modern art museum, which was cool because it mostly featured Bolivian artists. Some of it was pretty crazy, including a lot of futuristic paintings by this guy named Cosme which combined elements of machinery with skeletons and andean imagery. Totally weird and awesome. Also, there was a bunch of brilliantly colored paintings of picasso-esque Aymarans and their llames. I bought some postcards bc obviously my descriptions aren´t cutting it!

Tomorrow, we head to Copacabana! I´m super excited to get back into town, see the kids, and get to work! It´s going to be a pretty busy summer, as Sergio, Stasia and I have been making lots of plans to travel to other places as well as events in Copa and El Alto. There´s a wedding in mid-June in Copacabana, a huge dance in mid-July that we may or may not participate in, and then the festival of Santiago that we went to last year in Kollsuyu at the end of July. On top of all that, we will likely travel to Sorata (in the lower aka jungle parts of Bolivia), and maybe Potosi and hopefully the salt flats!! Oh yeah and I´ll be analyzing several hundred skeletons. No big deal.

In other words, this summer is going to go by wayyy too quickly but will be packed with adventure!

The Eagle has Landed

Made it! Got into La Paz at 5:45 this morning, and got picked up by the lovely Juana and Pablo, parents of the family who we live in Copacabana. I stumbled through some mangled spanish to tell them how happy I was to see them and how happy I was to be back and we drove down from the airport into the heart of La Paz to the hotel. I´ve mostly been sleeping since, as the overnight flight wasn´t the most restful.

Nothing too excited to report yet, just my safe arrival and deposition into the hotel!! Now to go find some lunchings! Yummmm

Return of the Juengst

Okay so... according to this blog, I apparently never returned from Bolivia last summer. That is false. My bad.

so let's pretend that you all are updated on the past 9 months of my life (brief overview: move into 106a high st, anatomy class, research for masters-esque paper, writing paper, fox boiling, classes on disease, turn 25, surviving summer heat) and dive right back in to this summers adventures!

I'm returning to Copacabana, Bolivia this summer, to work with the skeletal collections I began to explore last summer. Excitingly, this will mark the start of official collection of dissertation data (eek!) so it won't ALL be fun and games. Although I do plan to do that too, because as my mailman told me "Play first, research second". Its probably a good life lesson.

[For those who are interested, I'll be looking through about 250-400 skeletons in varying states of preservation to see changes in health with increasing social complexity. Most of these individuals date to 3000-2000 years ago, around the time of the first regional religious traditions and social hierarchies in the Lake Titicaca basin]

Boring part over. Anyway, I leave friday and will hopefully faithfully update this blog at least once a week all summer (gone until August 13).

Now let us go into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, Adventure!