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). :)