Just a final note to let you all know I've made it home safe. It is wonderful to be back in the Northeast readjusting to this life in the late summer humidity. Thank you all for reading this blog and sending me lots of love and encouragement through email and so on over the past few months. I look forward to being in touch now that I'm back in the same hemisphere. Much love to all!
Nora
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
From Bolivia to Georgia, Waging Wars and Civil Unrest
These past few days have been both interesting and politically exciting here in Bolivia. We've made it back to Cochabamba through blockades and protests with few hold ups. Since we've been back here the streets have been crowded with people shouting, protesting and marching either for or against the major political figures in this country that went up for reelection on the 10th. As far as I can tell there has been little to no coverage and or explanation of this situation in the States. I don't have much time but here is what I can say briefly:
Evo was reelected by a larger margin which is great but not so surprising. Evo ultimately is not where the frustration and violence really lies. Instead, the governors some of whom were supported and others who were surprisingly voted out are what have and will cause most of the unrest. Here in Cochabamba our governor, Manfred Reyes Villa, a very conservative anti-Evo Politician was voted out. He has anounced that he refuses to recognize the vote against him and will continue to govern until he is forced out...which unfortunately is likely to happen with probably more violence than anyone would really like to believe or admit to. Hopefully by the time all of this sparks up I will be on the flight home.
Equally if not more disturbing is the current violence that is taking place in Georgia. I feel so far away and helpless but have many friends over there who I can only hope are safe and have not lost any of their own loved ones. Whether you pray, meditate or just think good thoughts, please send some that way. It is amazing how useless one can feel in the face of so much war.
And yet, these last few days promise to fly happily by with final visits with friends and family here, a few more adventures and a couple days of carnaval right at the end.
Much love and health to you all!
N
Evo was reelected by a larger margin which is great but not so surprising. Evo ultimately is not where the frustration and violence really lies. Instead, the governors some of whom were supported and others who were surprisingly voted out are what have and will cause most of the unrest. Here in Cochabamba our governor, Manfred Reyes Villa, a very conservative anti-Evo Politician was voted out. He has anounced that he refuses to recognize the vote against him and will continue to govern until he is forced out...which unfortunately is likely to happen with probably more violence than anyone would really like to believe or admit to. Hopefully by the time all of this sparks up I will be on the flight home.
Equally if not more disturbing is the current violence that is taking place in Georgia. I feel so far away and helpless but have many friends over there who I can only hope are safe and have not lost any of their own loved ones. Whether you pray, meditate or just think good thoughts, please send some that way. It is amazing how useless one can feel in the face of so much war.
And yet, these last few days promise to fly happily by with final visits with friends and family here, a few more adventures and a couple days of carnaval right at the end.
Much love and health to you all!
N
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Silver Mines and The Milkyway: The Travels Continue
It was just 40 degrees outside my covers when I woke up to trekk to the Silver Mines in the old city of Potosi in Southern Bolivia. Since the program has been over I´ve been traveling with a great friend, Whitney all over parts of this coutnry I have been wanting to explore. We´ve been taking buses everywhere, which is not without trial, breaking down in the middle of nowhere, getting stuck at road blockades or protests, having to hike through the lower Andes to finally reach the little cities and pueblos we´ve been sleeping in over the past week or so. When we made it to Potosi we were unsure about visiting the mines. I´d been strongly advised against it by a number of Bolivians who seem to feel ashamed of the conditions of this place or just wouldn´t want me to have to see such profound poverty. But Whitney and I both decided that the mining culture that continues to exist today in this country is such an important part of trying to understand both the hisotry and current state of affairs in Bolivia. They say that the mining in Potosi almsot single handedly funded the Industrial Revolution and for a short period of time was the richest city in the world. It is hard to believe this walking the streets of modern day Potosi where poverty and exhasut fumes from the trucks, the machinery and the mines themeselves cloud your every view. I can say now that it was a good decision to go down into the ground and tour the working conditions and climb through tiny crawl spaces of crumbling zinc with an ex-miner. However, I can´t say that it wasn´t one of the scarier things I´ve ever done in my life. It felt good to walk back out into the sun and to breath a little lighter. Afterwards we celbrated the 1st day of August with yet another llama sacrifice and some dancing. The Bolivians are never short of things to celebrate, friendship, love, fridays (yes indeed, every friday the miners spend the day drinking and chewing coca...as far as I can tell it is the least they deserve for the kind of work they live through, if they even make it through their because of the rampent lung disease that kills hundreds).
It felt good to get out of Potosi where I found it bitterly cold and particularly hard to breathe. What awaited were even colder nights, longer days and an entirely different kind of view of this here country. Our bus broke down on the way to Uyuni, the entrance of the Salt Flats, so we sat for hours by the side of the road, recounting travel stories, humming some Gillian Welch tunes and trying to stay upbeat. When we made it to the pueblo we were met by even colder weather and hoards of gringos waiting to venture out into this bizarre and lovely natural wonder. We spent three days out on the salt flats driving in what seemed to be somewhat of an antique toyota land cruiser. Within the first fifteen minutes we had a flat tire which set us up well for the adventures that would ensue. There are hardly words that can describe this corner of Bolivia. Every time we turned the corner the climate would change from dry arrid desert to lush green bushes, to cactus forrests, to miles and miles of white dense salt, back to arrid lands covered in clay, fields of rock in the distance that seemed to have fallen from the sky. It was a strange and enchanting place which will be best understood, if at all by the photos I will bring back with me. One of the nights out there Whitney, a couple other traveling buddies we´ve pìcked up along the way and I stayed in a small village called San Juan. We visited pre-Tiawanuku mummies (so we´re talking at least 30 centuries ago!) that sat just above the village in old crumbling rock caves. Some of the mummies still wore hats and were visibly in the process of further decomposition. It was an eery and myserious hill, scattered with ancient people, clay pots and tools. The horizon out there was enormous and as soon as the sun set the sky peeled open with milions and millions of stars I have never seen before. All I could recognize for sure was the long white trail of the milkway reaching from one side of the sky in a beautiful arch all the way to the other.Last night we jumped on another bus to Oruro where we will be before heading on to the jungle just South of Cochabamba for a few days. We plan on laying low the day of the referendum but I will be sure to give an update, though there is no doubt in my mind that the results will make international news fo those of you who are interested.
Today is Independence day in Bolivia (I heard a rumor that they are showing our documentary in DC tonight where there is quite a large Bolivian population...but I´m not sure about that one). They are celebrating 183 years of the republic, parades, music, chicha and the like. Whitney and I are off to continue our travels.
Much Love,
N
It felt good to get out of Potosi where I found it bitterly cold and particularly hard to breathe. What awaited were even colder nights, longer days and an entirely different kind of view of this here country. Our bus broke down on the way to Uyuni, the entrance of the Salt Flats, so we sat for hours by the side of the road, recounting travel stories, humming some Gillian Welch tunes and trying to stay upbeat. When we made it to the pueblo we were met by even colder weather and hoards of gringos waiting to venture out into this bizarre and lovely natural wonder. We spent three days out on the salt flats driving in what seemed to be somewhat of an antique toyota land cruiser. Within the first fifteen minutes we had a flat tire which set us up well for the adventures that would ensue. There are hardly words that can describe this corner of Bolivia. Every time we turned the corner the climate would change from dry arrid desert to lush green bushes, to cactus forrests, to miles and miles of white dense salt, back to arrid lands covered in clay, fields of rock in the distance that seemed to have fallen from the sky. It was a strange and enchanting place which will be best understood, if at all by the photos I will bring back with me. One of the nights out there Whitney, a couple other traveling buddies we´ve pìcked up along the way and I stayed in a small village called San Juan. We visited pre-Tiawanuku mummies (so we´re talking at least 30 centuries ago!) that sat just above the village in old crumbling rock caves. Some of the mummies still wore hats and were visibly in the process of further decomposition. It was an eery and myserious hill, scattered with ancient people, clay pots and tools. The horizon out there was enormous and as soon as the sun set the sky peeled open with milions and millions of stars I have never seen before. All I could recognize for sure was the long white trail of the milkway reaching from one side of the sky in a beautiful arch all the way to the other.Last night we jumped on another bus to Oruro where we will be before heading on to the jungle just South of Cochabamba for a few days. We plan on laying low the day of the referendum but I will be sure to give an update, though there is no doubt in my mind that the results will make international news fo those of you who are interested.
Today is Independence day in Bolivia (I heard a rumor that they are showing our documentary in DC tonight where there is quite a large Bolivian population...but I´m not sure about that one). They are celebrating 183 years of the republic, parades, music, chicha and the like. Whitney and I are off to continue our travels.
Much Love,
N
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