The Three People You Meet In Bolivia

Obviously there are more than three types of people here in Bolivia, but these are people that I have found myself constantly interacting with.

1.  The Taxi Drivers:
   Some of the taxi drivers pick you up, ask you for your destination and the only other words that are exchanged during your ride are about the cost of the ride.  Then there are the very talkative ones that want to know all about your life and have a secret love affair with the USA.

 Example 1:  Coming home from my friend Caro's house a very nice taxi driver drove me home and his daughter was fast asleep in the front seat.  We chatted about why I was in Bolivia, where I was from, etc.  He proudly told me that he had family in Virginia and that he hopes to visit them soon (which is actually a very common place for Bolivians to live, many of the Bolivians I know that have family in the states have family in Virginia!)  We didn't discuss anything profound, but it definitely beats sitting in silence in the cab.  He was also very patient with my slower Spanish and answered all my questions about the city!

  Example 2:  We had class at our professor Ismael's house and instead of taking two different micros and spending about an hour to get there, I took a cab which was only 15 minutes!  The way there nothing too exciting happened, aside from the taxi driver trying to convince the Gringa that she had the wrong address, I definitely didn't and made him drive up and down the block until we found the house -- it was the correct address!  Anyway, on the way home almost the first question out of the taxi driver's mouth was "Where are you from?"  I answered from the US and he was immediately very excited and asked me where, I told him Pennsylvania and to give people perspective I usually say it's under New York because almost every Bolivian knows where NYC is!  And he said "Pennsylvania... la campana de libertad??"  (Liberty Bell) and I explained that was far away from me and that I was from Pittsburgh, where the Steelers play and his next statement was "You lost on Sunday!"  I was so taken aback that he knew we had lost that I couldn't even respond, so thinking I hadn't understood he repeated himself.  I only knew we lost because my mom told me the day before, so how on earth does this man know!?  It turns out he loves ALL SPORTS and has a cable package that lets him watch fútbol americano and 'his team' is the San Francisco 49ers!  We also talked about the Wilstermann vs Bolivar soccer match, golf, the Premier League in England and he listed all the other sports he loves - aka every sport ever invented.  It was a very lively conversation and completely unexpected.  His name is Mauricio and some day he hopes to go to a 49ers game in the states.

2.  The People That Can Speak English:
 Surprise, surprise, in Bolivia they speak Spanish.  And even though my sister Valerie can speak English well, and the rest of my family can understand the basics, they are not supposed to let me speak any English in the house and that way I learn Spanish much faster!  But then there are the relatives... my uncle (who is actually close to 6'6"!!) loves to greet me with a very straight "HELLO" and a handshake, which is not how you greet people in Bolivia - some even consider it rude! Everyone is greeted with a kiss on the cheek, and a brief hug - no matter if it is your mom or your sister's friend from high school that you just met, it is all the same.  But, because he knows I'm from the states I think he likes to show me that he knows our customs, just like I know theirs.  And it doesn't bother me, it's a very nice gesture (although it does make me wonder if people think I can only speak English... but we'll go with the 'nice gesture!')  Anyway, it's very nice but switching to English when talking to Bolivians is harder than you'd think.  For example, my mom's coworkers came for lunch on Saturday and she introduced one professor as being able to speak English very well and after the introductions, this woman began asking me questions in English and my instinct was to answer in Spanish... but she was speaking English, but we were in Bolivia and well my brain just hurt trying to come up with what to do!  Eventually I responded in English, but it probably took longer than any response I gave in Spanish!  Luckily my host mom stepped in and gently 'reminded' both of us that I was in Bolivia to learn Spanish!  My final example are the people you run into on the street.  While crossing the street, or waiting in line if you move out of the way most people say "Gracias" but every once in a while someone will tell me "Thank You."  I don't know these people well, or even to what extent they can actually speak English but it is always startling to realize the reason you understood something was because it was in English!

3.  The Rebels:
  I don't mean 'rebel' in the sense that they listen to angsty music and cause trouble.  I'm talking about the people that are part of Bolivia's history.  Many of the people here in Cochabamba were part of La Guerra del Agua (The Water War) which happened in 2000 when the Bolivian government tried to privatize water.  Almost immediately water bills were up 200%+ and no one was having that -- so they rebelled, really I don't blame them.  And because it happened rather recently, from a historical standpoint, many of the people here were part of it.  For example many of our lecturers will say things like "I was in the courthouses in Cochabamba when they opened fire..." or "I was in La Paz for work during the Indigenous marches and did x, y, z..."  and all of us are in awe, and they are talking about it like it was just another day.

On Tuesday we had class at my professor Ismael's house where we watched films and talked about the dictators of Bolivia and it turns out he was held in a government run political prison for four months during Banzer's reign!  He made a film about it -- which is awesome (the link is below) -- but I never would have  guessed and it just makes me respect him even more.  I guess because Bolivia is still struggling on so many levels even today, that these events are just part of everyone's life story and being part of this coup, those protests or that march is commonplace when you're in Bolivia.

http://vimeo.com/48098585 -- "80" a film by Ismael Saavedra


It is very true that these are the people I interact with most often.  But I think this post was truly sparked because an SIT alumnus (of 2005) came back to Bolivia to visit his host family.  We first met him in Sucre where he surprised Ismael, Heidi and Patti and he then accompanied us to the Masis concert.  And we all kind of put him out of our minds after that.   Then on Monday he presented his ISP documentary to us, and we got to ask him questions about the process, what he's doing now, what he wants to do and really just pick his brain about his time in Bolivia and life after SIT.  And for me, the most important thing he said was that we should use our time in Bolivia and our time researching to foster relationships, because those relationships are the things you are going to remember.  What you think you know changes, but relationships and people are the things that sustain us.  It was a brief presentation, but a very profound and eye opening one nonetheless and something that I will definitely try to keep in mind, even after Bolivia.  Because what he said has been very true in my world thus far, so maybe I'm already fostering those relationships, or maybe it started with the three people that I've met in Bolivia.


To cultivating relationships and all the people I have yet to meet,
Carly