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). :)