Week Five: Calle Jean

Since nothing much was happening this past weekend, I decided to head out Saturday morning to a barbershop that I had passed a number of times on an old colonial street named Calle Jean. The street is so narrow that it would be easy to miss if you didn't know it was there. From the main road, one enters Calle Jean from under an archway that effectively disguises the street as being a building front. Although the cobblestoned street is just over 100 meters long, it is home to five museums, including the former house of Pedro Domingo Murillo, the man who first claimed Bolivian autonomy from Spain in 1809 (unfortunately he was hung a year later and never lived to actually witness Bolivia's independence in 1825).

A plaque on the side of a house on Calle Jean reads:

"The Green Cross

Tradition has it that in colonial times Calle Jean was the site of scary appearances by supernatural beings and phenomena (ghosts, goblins, grieving souls and noises made by horses dragging chains along the ground). The most curious presence was that of a convicted widow who would seduce all of the drunken men who came to the street late at night and take them on a mysterious adventure. So, the residents of the street, from strong Catholic faiths, decided to put up a green cross to scare away the evil creatures."

I wasn´t standing outside the barbershop for more than five seconds, wondering whether I should go in, before the barber jumped outside and invited me in. Upon entering the shop I was handed some vintage erotica comics to pass my time before it was my turn in the seat. When it sat down, the barber used what could only be described as an antique flamethrower to clean the manual hair clippers. All in all, it was a new and very pleasant experience for me. It´s just too bad my hair wouldn't agree.

When I left the barbershop, I thought to myself: Well, at least I can hide my hair (or lack thereof) with my hat. Unfortunately, the hat didn't help. For some reason the hat looked about three times bigger than my head without the hair as a transition between the two. I felt desperate; I even tried my hat on backwards. Although this alternative was a bit better, for some odd reason I felt like I looked a lot like Samuel L. Jackson. Since I already feel like I stand out here because of my appearance, I figured that resembling a famous Hollywood movie star would only amplify that sentiment. So, I decided to forget about the hat all together and just start with the healing process.

And I´m glad to say that it is going well. I received a nice comment from someone at the gym and I figure that this way I don't have to wash it as much, so things are looking up.

***Interesting Fact: La Paz is home to San Pedro prison, where the prisoner´s families actually live with them in the prison. Family members are free to come and go as they please, but they cannot generally afford a place in the city without the financial contributions of the husband/father. The prison is like a mini city, complete with markets, hotels and even a soccer league. Every section of the prison has a team and good players are even bought by wealthier teams. Inside the prison walls, there are not even guards; inmates set the rules. In the past, tourists could pay inmates to protect them while they took a tour of the prison. These tours have stopped now because prisoners were selling cocaine to tourists. Of the 1500 inmates, 80% are there for drug-related offenses but only 25% are actually servicing sentences. The remaining 75% are awaiting trial. ***

Week Four: The Yungas

This past weekend I headed out with some fellow Canadians to a tourist town called Coroico in the Yungas region of Bolivia, which is about three hours northeast of La Paz. The climate in the Yungas is much warmer than in La Paz as it is located between the highlands and the forests to the east of the Andes. It was a very nice place to go to relax and warm up a bit. On Saturday we took a trip out of town to visit some waterfalls, but unfortunately it is the end of the dry season and so only one of the three waterfalls actually had water falling from it. It was still a very nice excursion and the scenery was amazing.

When we got back to the hotel, we took full advantage of the pool and sauna. At night we went out for a bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant and I had some incredible chicken enchiladas. I feel bad saying this, but it was easily the best dish I´ve had in Bolivia to date. After that we headed out to a karaoke bar for the rest of the evening. On Sunday we just kicked around the pool for the morning and the early afternoon and then it was back to the city to get ready for the workweek.

Even the bus ride to and from Coroico was amazing. The bus passed through the clouds atop the mountain range and wounds its way down the mountainside, giving us a great view of the deep valleys and lush vegetation below. We took the new road connecting La Paz and the Yungas, aptly called the ‘New Road’, instead of the old road nicknamed ‘Death Road’. It is called this because it is an unpaved road on the edge of an incredibly steep cliff and there is hardly enough space for two vehicles to pass one another.

So, I have been thinking that I might start to do some ‘feature posts’ instead of simply describing what I’ve been up during the week. I thought it would be good to focus on some of the different aspects of Bolivia such as architecture, plants, animals, vehicles and food. If anyone has any suggestions of themes that they would like to know more about, please advise me and I will do my best to include them.

***Interesting Fact: Because there is so much pressure in the air in La Paz, it is extremely difficult to pour beer into a glass without getting a lot of foam. For this reason, very few bars have beer on tap.***

[The view from the hotel room]

Week Three: Huffing and Puffing

This past week has been relatively quiet for me and this has allowed me to nicely settle into life in Bolivia. I joined a gym, began Spanish lessons and did a whole heck of a lot of walking. Well, I shouldn´t say that I did that much walking, but at this altitude it really hits you quickly. By the time I walk from work to the gym, which is a 10-minute walk uphill, I feel as though I’ve already had my workout and I’m ready to call it a day. Right now my goal is to break a sweat. Because the air is so thin at this altitude, your heart and lungs are required to work overtime and I find myself out of breath and ready to pass out before my body even starts to perspire.

On Friday I celebrated my 28^th birthday and I would like to thank everyone for all the very nice birthday wishes that I received from back home. At the end of the work day, my colleagues and I sat in my office and ate the single-biggest pizza I´ve ever laid eyes on. No joke, this thing was massive!!!

When I returned home from work, my 9-year old sister, Jimena, gave me two cards and two little presents. She must have been trying to compensate for the fact that I was thousands of kilometers away from my family and friends on my birthday.

On Saturday, my Bolivian family and I went to the soccer stadium in La Paz. Although the semi-professional players did not produce the most awe-inspiring performance, the experience was still quite entertaining. While I wouldn´t call it unnecessary or excessive, there was definitely a plethora of firecrackers at the game (It´s just too bad I can´t say the same about the number of people in attendance). We just sat there in the stands together, watching the game and eating an ice cream. If it sounds very wholesome, it’s because it was. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the ice cream. I don´t want to knock Bolivian ice cream or anything, but I probably would not recommend the cinnamon flavour to anyone.

The political situation here appears to have calmed down since last week, with the two sides agreeing to sit down and try to reach an agreement. Last week a governor in the region where the 30 deaths occurred was arrested for allegedly ordering an ambush that killed 16 peasants. Today, thousands of government supporters were expected to arrive in Santa Cruz armed with slings, clubs, pistols, shotguns and dynamite after a 10 day march to the city (Santa Cruz is the city where anti-government protestors took over government-owned business a couple of weeks ago). So, although I said that it appears for now that things have calmed down, deep divisions still exist and I don’t think it would take much to spark further confrontations between pro- and anti-government supporters.

"Long Live High Altitude Sports" from inside the La Paz soccer stadium

***Interesting Fact: In May, 2007, Fifa banned international soccer matches from being played at altitudes over 2,500 meters above sea level. This means that, in addition to many other Andean cities, international games cannot be played in the capital cities of Bolivia, Ecuador or Columbia (La Paz – 3,600m, Quito – 2,800m, Bogota – 2640m). Fifa claims that the ban was put into place due to health concerns for players unaccustomed to the thin air. Bolivians view Fifa´s decision as discriminatory because they cannot play where they were born.***

[A picture of my office building]