Leaving Bolivia
Who knew how time flies. Yesterday morning we arrived on a night bus at our final destination on this trip: Argentina. We are now in the northern city of Salta, our heads somewhat spinning from the enormous difference already apparent between here and Bolivia, where we spent the whole of the past month.
On our last day in Bolivia, we took a gorgeous hike in the cactus-studded canyons around Tupiza after our hardcore week of jeep adventuring and got to reflect on the country we were leaving behind. I feel like we experienced a great cross-section of Bolivia; we navigated the teeming streets of La Paz during a political referendum, camped on the riverbed in the Amazon basin, crawled into the mines of Potosí, witnessed the extreme simplicity of rural life, and watched the sun rise over the world´s largest salt flat.
The country is at once breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreakingly unfortunate. Consistently poor political management after years of greedy colonization means that the country, so rich in natural resources, has not been able to reap the benefits of its situation and as a result the day to day life of the vast majority of its inhabitants consists of little more than getting by.
The people of Bolivia are warm but also very direct, and I have never witnessed such hard workers as the people of this country, always without complaint. There is hardly ever a superfluous ingredient to life in Bolivia - rarely did we come across any level of luxury or frivolity (outside of the major cities). The only paint on the mud-brick houses consists of political opinion, and I left Bolivia extremely humbled at the stark contrast between the quality of life of the Bolivian compared with my own expectations and hopes of what my future will consist of. It´s great when your surroundings cause you to step outside of your own skin, and I think I´ll be thinking on these things for a while to come. Bye for now, Bolivia.
Labels: Boliva, South America
posted by millay at
17:53
1 Comments:
millay ,,,
You simultaneously "get" Bolivia as well as her wonderful people, and have been richly rewarded and well educated by your incredible experiences there.
What will be interesting, is the manner in which you return the favor as you are already doing in your blog, which by itself can help Bolivia by increasing tourism.
Might I suggest another?
If you hail from a nation whose neo-liberal colonization policies result in keeping Bolivia's economy and people subjugated to the forces of global capitalism--to help Bolivia most--I'd suggest working within your nation to change those policies, so the people of Bolivia can decide their own future without outside interferences.
The USA (my country (ashamedly)) is without question leading the efforts to keep Bolivia divided so as to be easier exploited and manipulated from without, while the hard-working Bolivians receive little if any result from their hard work and abundant natural resources.
If your country has joined the US in destabilization efforts to keep Bolivia an impoverished client-state, IMNSHO, the very best way you could help Bolivia would be to work toward the reversal of those policies at home.
Congratulations on having the openness and curiosity to be able to experience the Bolivia I too, have come to love and admire, in spite of the conditions throughout Bolivia which are the result of 500 years of continuous subjugation and exploitation. Comments?
Happy and safe trails,,,John
26 May 2008 09:45
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