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!