South American Studies Program – Bolivia

Our last learning tour of the semester was to the modern European-style city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Part of our assignments was to compare and contrast this huge city with the Andean world we have visited on our other tours. We discovered this was not a difficult assignment as one almost immediately feels as though they have left the Latin America we have known and have entered Paris or Rome or New York. Our first day we took a walking tour of the downtown core which is also the historical setting for the founding of Buenos Aires. Tall buildings, wide paved streets, pedestrian-only shopping areas, lighter skinned people, business suits, hustle and bustle, sidewalk cafes, and elite leather shops immediately caught our attention.

Our tour included the Casa Rosada (Counterpart of our US White House), the Metropolitan Cathedral, remains of the Jesuit center and school, the memorial for the “desaparecidos” (disappeared ones from the “dirty wars” of the 70′s & 80′s) and small passageways of immigrant housing. The Argentina Congress Building is a replica of the US Congress in Washington DC.

Other exploring on our own took us to museums, plazas, “Saturday Market” fair, the national cemetery, the remodeled port and docks, shopping malls and coffee shops. We celebrated our semester together and our two graduating seniors at a dress-up dinner at Juana M, a favorite restaurant noted in the guidebooks.

Buenos Aires was a delightful change of pace before entering our final two weeks of our South American Studies Program. We have lived the daily-ness of life in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We have walked the paths of pre-Inca, Inca and indigenous civilizations in La Paz and Cuzco. We have moved through the streets of colonial Sucre and the mining center of Potosi. We experienced a taste of the Jesuit missionary endeavors in San Javier and Concepcion. And now we have added a modern big city to our composite picture of the continent of South America. What an experience. Our worldview is so much larger than it was just four months ago.

Our second day in Buenos Aires, we took an excursion to the Tigre River Delta. As the river slows and wends its way to the Parana, to the Rio de la Plata and finally to the Atlantic Ocean, a large area of small islands formed from river sediment. Some liken this area to the Louisiana bayous. In Argentina, the area became the vacation destination for the elite. Our bus carried us north out of the city of Buenos Aires to the town of Tigre where we boarded a river boat to explore this water and island world. Along our hour-long cruise we saw the grocery boat, the taxi boat, the garbage boat, the local gas station, rusted out remains of someone’s dreams and vacation homes from tiny to mansions. We were made aware of the differences in lifestyle of those who live close to water and the oceans compared to land-locked Bolivia and the high Andes where we have had most of our experiences up until now. On our return, we took a short train ride to the town of San Lorenzo, location of a large Gothic-style church and small market area.

One of the highlights of our travels to Argentina was a day at Cataratas de Iguazu. Actually there are more than 270 falls combined in one huge horseshoe shaped precipice of the Iguazu River, significantly higher than Niagra Falls in New York. The thunder of sound, the drenching of spray, the visual of foam, crystal-clear water, rapids, rainbows, colorful butterflies set in a tropical rain forest all merge into an unforgettable montage of sensory experiences.

About half our group added to the thrill of the day with a Grand Adventure boat trip up into the plunging water, through rapids and down through the jungle. In a couple of the pictures below you will see them in one of the powerful boats and then looking very closely you might catch a glimpse of their boat as it enters into the spray of one of the falls.

The weather was our true friend for the day with warm sunshine and fluffy white clouds adding to the joy of the experience. The only oops! was missing our scheduled flight from Buenos Aires the afternoon before, but thankfully there was space available to reschedule later that evening.

Hope you enjoy these visual images of one of my favorite places on the globe and our group enjoying it.

Bolivians love to celebrate together. Cameron’s birthday was a great reason for his host family to invite our whole group to their home for a traditional parrillada, dinner, cake, music and a pinata. Thanks Hugo and Elsa! We had fun.

     And everyone, adults included scrambled through the blue talc confetti to retrieve pinata goodies!

A significant part of our South American experience is spending two days each week serving in Christian social service agencies throughout the greater city of Santa Cruz.

This year’s assignments include: Centro Jordan (training and support center for at risk young mothers seeking to establish themselves off the streets of the city); Guardaria Stansberry (daycare for children of single parents working in the markets and marginal areas of the city); Mision Esperanza (free medical clinic for those with little resources); El Alfarero (YWAM sponsored home for girls rescued off the streets); Hogar de Ninas Cristo Viene (home for at-risk girls placed by the court system); Talita Cumi (orphanage for girls and boys); Vida Feliz (activity and meal center for the oft-forgotten aged); Colegio Buenas Nuevas (scholarship based semi-private school in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city); Centro Compassion Iglesia Misionera; (A Compassion International after school/before school center for needy children).

We’ll share some pictures of our interactions with these people but without specific identification to protect the privacy of children/youth/adults involved. And hopefully you will catch some of the challenge and blessing we have received through our service.

Three months into our semester-long stay in Bolivia have allowed us to make a number of interesting observations about culture and the way life seems. A recent class assignment allowed us time to put some of our thoughts onto paper.

“Life in Bolivia is as unique as I could have imagined it and still it surprises me almost every day. Daily life in Santa Cruz has become one solid adventure, be it using the Micro (bus) system, taking a taxi, eating out, or walking down the street. I have come to expect the unexpected and accept everything as what it is instead of turning the other way and not embracing this unusual and different culture.”

“As I ride the micro to the university, my first bus is usually never busy and I can find a seat or at least have my own personal space, but as soon as I step off the 87 or 48, I am doomed to morph into a sardine and be packed into the tin can called The Number 12 or 13 Micro. If I am fortunate enough to catch a bus on time, it will usually be stuffed to the gills and people will literally be hanging out the door.”

“(my host family) has been very gracious in accepting me into their home. Being accepted into their family, however, has created some demands for me to act according to the expectations of a son of such a family….As my stay with them carried on, I realize that many of the restrictions such as curfew are vital to the smooth running machine and continued success of the family unit as a whole.”

“Relationships assume priority over many things in life such as perception of time (promptness), productivity, and individuality. Identity is established through association instead of individual characteristics and accomplishments.”

“In the US we tend to create a space bubble of about three feet all the way around us, and we start to get uncomfortable if strangers enter into that bubble. In Bolivia my bubble has shrunk to nearly zero. I have come past the awkward “who do I kiss?” stage … my sister even told me that when we are at church, if I am unsure if I should use the “Bolivian greeting (kiss),” just use it anyways, because it would be considered more rude if I didn’t that if I did.”

“I have seen a man splash water from the street upon his face to ‘cleanse’ it, and I have seen homes far more elegant that any I have ever been in. Bolivia is quite possibly the most diverse place in the world. Not only is the climate entirely different in every corner but also the people are so vast and varied that I have an incredibly hard time remembering all the names for each people group. Yet it is what makes Bolivia beautiful.”

“Business hours are often shaped by the core value of family, allowing time in the middle of the day for the family to get together for lunch and enjoy each other’s company…. an hour and a half for lunch in our University schedule, a two and a half hour lunch break at my internship, and a three hour lunch break that my mom and sister have to allow them to travel home to all eat lunch together during the work day…If someone was asked to take a three hour lunch break in the United States and stay at work until 8:00 (to complete a full work-day), I think this would be a source of much frustration and feelings of wasted time in the middle of the day.”

“Male-female relationships have stood out to me for a couple of reasons. The first is the way guys in Bolivia treat me. The constant whistles and comments seem incredibly disrespectful to me, but it is perceived as totally normal here. Some girls even say it’s a compliment, but it makes me feel uncomfortable. By now I have learned to not be bothered by it, but I don’t think that it is right.”

“Many people will tell you that in order to change a life it requires discipline, dedication, and divine intervention. I’m going to disagree. If you want to change someone’s life all you have to do is consistently change one tiny detail in that life. In the case of my study abroad group, all our lives will be altered because we took many daily details of our daily lives and turned them on their heads.”

“The fact that eleven Americans, six of whom do not speak Spanish well, travel by car, bus, and train, attend soccer games, intern at job placements, and live Bolivian lives without major incident is solely by the grace of God. Divine intervention is the blessing of the change, not the cause of the change. I truly feel God called me to Bolivia, as I truly believe many of our group were called, and this can be construed as a divine summons to pick up the cross. And you could select any one of us to talk extensively about how our lives HAVE changed.”

Our classroom went on the road again. This time to the “official” judicial capital of Sucre, Bolivia and to the historic mining center of Potosi. Sucre is a beautiful spring-like city also known as the “White City” for the required white paint and red tile roofs of the downtown area since colonial times.

   We got to see a rooftop view of Sucre from the top of one of the Catholic churches and convent

Our day trip up to Potosi, Bolivia, was long but interesting. We especially enjoyed visiting the mines up on Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) that has been the source of mineral wealth for 450 years. Our visit included interviews with a miner, a miner’s wife and highlighted with meeting a 72-year old miner’s widow who continues to live by breaking up ore debris to cull small bits of silver.

     Along the way we saw some of the churches of Potosi and many hours of the Potosi altiplano (high plain).

     Last weekend we took our classroom on the road again to learn first hand about the missionary endeavors of the Jesuit order of Catholic priests from the late 1500′s into the mid-1600′s.

Their methodology was to bring nomadic indigeneous people into communities, give them structure, teach them musical, woodworking, reading and writing skills and teach them about Jesus Christ. They were actually so successful that they became suspect by the Spanish Crown and were eventually expelled from South America.

What remains today in Bolivia is a series of 7 communities where the churches, musical instruments and musical compositions and cultural influences have been restored. These are now under the direction of Franciscan priests, but have been named World Heritage sites by UNESCO.

       These pictures have been from the small community of San Javier. The next group of pictures are from the larger community of Concepcion, about 60 more kilometers into the Bolivian jungle.

Just a few more thoughts on our cultural observations and reactions.

Storti says, “…You are used to being subject to your emotions but not to subjecting those emotions to conscious observation…” I had to do something very difficult, but it all happened so fast and I had not had any opportunity to process what had happened. This was an experience where my emotions had taken over but I was able later to tie them back to an experience. I realize the importance of processing my experiences and emotions while I’m in Bolivia and at my internship.

I found myself completely lost on a micro that was on the opposite side of town. I was forced to use the Spanish I had to communicate so I could try to find my way back home. My confidence grew as I found the people encouraging me and helping me find my way…

“You cannot see things until you roughly know what you are looking for.”

I’m still struggling to know what it means to have “culturally appropriate” expectations of my family, because there seems to be no consistency or norm that I can make sense of yet, but I can work on recognizing my feelings and reactions and try to re-examine the situations to see why certain things bother me.

“The born traveller – the man who is without prejudices, who sets out wanting to learn rather than to criticize, who is stimulated by oddity, who recognizes that every man is his brother, however strange and ludicrous he may be in dress and appearance – has always been comparatively rare.”

“I truly love people watching and being able to grasp what’s going on based on what I’m seeing. I’ve found it very hard to watch people here in Bolivia because people are watching me … but I’m thoroughly enjoying picking up cultural context through observation.”

I’m still struggling to understand what others are saying and that can put a real damper on anyone’s experience. … Talking in English is not even my strong point so making small talk in Spanish is ten times as difficult.

Speaking a language is easy but knowing how to express certain phrases or words is challenging. I think learning and understanding a language is a medium to the local people and culture but doesn’t take you to the core expressions and minds of the people.

Not being able to go where I want is quite possibly my biggest frustration at the moment. I want to see Bolivia but I’ve seen little more than the inside walls of my house.

Our travel to the Andes was actually taking the classroom “on the road.” We were all required to keep journals and reflect on what we were hearing and seeing, relating it to what we had been reading and discussing in our classes back in Santa Cruz.

Here are a few quotes out of our journals:

“Interacting with the people of La Paz helped me appreciate even more their talent, their outlook on life, and their desire of unity. I think all these characteristics are great. At the same time I believe indigenous people have to be careful to not become like the Spaniards, by wanting to overtake and control communities, but to seek to be recognized and valued by their people.”

“I loved meeting Jen and her beautiful daughter, Abby today (Eastern Mennonite missionaries in Cuzco). It’s so encouraging to know God is working through them here in Peru. Then in the afternoon to have met the girls at The Meeting Place (an outreach pastry shop in Cuzco). It was so great! It made me want to move to Peru and work there. I guess since the “Spaniards’ gospel” didn’t have the best implications for the Peruvians and Bolivians, I am excited and encouraged to know that there are Christians here that are sharing the true gospel — the Love of Christ.”

“I decided it best to do most of my exploring by day, and not at night. Aside from the usual safety reasons, it was mid-carnaval, and people are a bit rowdier than usual.Vendors sold brightly colored hand sewn costumes, paper confetti, colored sugar confetti, all kinds of offerings to Pachamama (mostly alchohol). Animism painted itself alive in wild paint….It was almost as if the witches market was trying to sell the animistic culture to foreigners as something fun and inviting. In north America and many western cultures animism and the spirit world is not as apparent. It exists only in the fringe societies in subtle ways. In Bolivia it appears that animism is not only seen more often, it is accepted and welcomed by much of mainstream culture.”

“All the aspects of ancient civilizations we gawk at are present here in the Andes. The engineering of the pyramids is matched, mummifications of the Egyptians equalled, and aquaducts of Rome surpassed by the irrigation techniques of the Incas. What a truly remarkable civilization.”

“We have talked in class how women have been mistreated and oppressed throughout history, especially indigenous women. This bothers me a lot. I hate seeing women out on the streets trying to sell or geb to provide for their kids — especially if the men (fathers of the children) are being irresponsible and are with other women and just messing around without facing the consequences. It makes me wish that new revolutions or laws would be passed to equalize rights and social standing for women.”

“I found it beneficial to be able to see so much of what we have been talking about. Being able to visualize things helps me tremendously. One example is seeing Lake Titicaca. I could better imagine the myth of the god and his sister spouse arising from the lake onto the Isla del Sol. After reading When Invisible Children Sing, seeing El Alto and La Paz, and experiencing the climate, helped me better understand the whole book. .. what Dr. Chi’s experience was probably like working with the street children in the area.”

“Our guide said that the Tiahuanacu people (pre-Inca civilization) survived for so long and influenced so well partly due to their desire not for a military empire, but rather a community that has influence on others in more positive ways instead of violence and conquering.”

“Last night I was given the opportunity to share the gospel with a mon on the street. I could see relief spread across his face as I told him about a loving, forgiving God. It was an awesome experience, one that I will not forget, and tangible evidence of what the people of Cuzco are lacking.”

“Although the Incas seemed like a primitive culture because of the lack of steel and gunpowder, their empire was far from primitive. The stone walls alone prove that they had architechtural intelligence far beyond what modern man can do with machines and computers. Their irrigation systems are still dumbfounding scientists and archeologists today and they had a grasp of the cosmos and solar movements. It is unfair, to say the least, that Spaniards came and taught them to be unskilled and quite possibly barbaric because they had no written language and practiced sacrifices.”

“I noticed in the markets that specific items are grouped and sold together. If one wants to buy fish from Lake Titicaca, he would go to a certain street where fish would always be sold. There were also sections that seemed designated for only potatoes, bananas, produce or materials needed for the Pachamama. These are all essential for the Aymara, but I wonder how the markets were set up when the Spanish lived in LaPaz.”