This
year's journey started off well enough with the flight Málaga to Madrid in a
small propeller plane.There was a veritable
mountain of people in Madrid waiting for the flight to Santa Cruz. With the exception
of about six passengers the rest were all Bolivians and many were travelling
with small children, and even newborns.I calculate there had to be about 35-40 children on the plane.It was quite entertaining to watch the human
spectacle particularly watching many of the women whose every movement and
demeanour cried out that they would normally have worn polleras and their hair in plaits, but abroad they had their hair
loose and wore trousers.
When
time came for embarkation, the Air Europa crew arrived on time - but not a
minute earlier.However, they did not
start the embarkation procedure but began to make announcements for two
unaccompanied minors who did not turn up for 20 minutes.
Only
when they had located them did embarkation begin. It followed the usual
procedure: first families with children under five (except that anyone with a
child of any age joined that queue), then rows 30-44, followed by rows
15-44.When the front rows were allowed
to embark we were informed that there was no space left for our hand luggage,
so they took everything away and put it in the hold.This did not surprise me because I had seen
people carry on pieces of"hand luggage"
which were bigger than the suitcase I had checked in.
The 11+
hours overnight flight was as uncomfortable as usual with very little legroom,
but it did arrived 15 minute earlier than scheduled.
The
first thing I did was ask an official whether suitcases theoretically checked
through to Cochabamba would actually go there direct or not.In Málaga they told me that this would be the
case but I had grave doubts about it, which were confirmed:no, all luggage must be collected in Santa
Cruz.
With
that clear in my head I was ready to face the immigration procedure. They
formed three queues: families with children would go through the diplomatic
channel; Bolivian citizens would go through the left hand channel and
foreigners would go through the centre. Fine, except that because we had
arrived early there were no immigration officials to attend to us.As suspected, they arrived about 10 minutes
after the scheduled time of arrival so we had been standing in the queue for
about 25 minutes by then.The next step
was that the lady official who was supposed to attend to foreigners decided
that she would also attend to the families with children so that group had two
channels and foreigners had none until another official arrived to fill the
gap.With new fangled cameras and
technology to entertain them each person's procedure took longer than before because everyone had
to be photographed for posterity by the immigration officials whose demeanour
and attitude is as friendly and reassuring as always - ha ha!!!
It took
an hour to clear immigration.
Next
step luggage collection.There is only
one carousel in Santa Cruz and the luggage hall is about 100m2. Chaos is an
understatement.Clearly many families
who have been living and working in Europe are now returning and some of them
had 7-10 huge suitcases, baby pushchairs and other goods. Three families were traveling
with their dogs.I was glad to see that
they got about the best deal because they did not put them on the luggage belt
but carried their crates to one side.The poor things were beside themselves with joy when they saw a familiar
face and heard a familiar voice amid the chaos which was growing by the minute.
The children were delighted to see their pets too.
Suitcases
were going round and round and people were grabbing cases off the belt which
then piled up in the centre of the room with the result that it was impossible
to move. Other cases were falling off the belt and there was not way to move
out of the way because we were imprisoned by suitcases.
Eventually
it was clear that many of the cases not on the belt had not actually been
claimed (People had just grabbed them and left them there), so, when the worst
of the crush subsided, I was able to do a tour.None of the cases in the centre of the room belonged to me.Mine was not on the belt and had never come
around.Finally in a far corner I spied
a burgundy suitcase that looked like mine.Sure enough, it was. Someone had obviously taken it off the belt as soon
as it appeared and just left it there.
Next was
the long queue for customs. After another hour the suitcase adventure was over.
Now to
find the check-in counter of Amaszonas, a small airline that I had never flown
with.Already the queue was long - so
another wait. As the aircraft we were to fly in was small, they were only
accepting one checked-in bag and one piece of hand luggage.For me that was not a problem: I just put the
briefcase inside the cabin case, but for people travelling with up to 10
suitcases it was certainly a dilemma. They had to choose which two pieces would
travel with them and the remaining luggage would be sent on later.
I
reached the counter just as the baggage controller announced that he would
accept only 5 more cases. He would not accept my carry-on case as cabin
luggage, though, so I had to take the briefcase out again.However, as both cases were well under the
weight limit, he allowed them to pass. Another hour had passed by this time, so
three hours after landing I had finally completed the bureaucratic procedures.
Nearly
there! The flight was called on time and we got on the small plane, a Canadair
Bombardier. We began to move away from the parking stance but after about 5
metres, the captain announced that there was a technical problem and we would
go back. Ten minutes later they announced that it was fixed so we moved off
again only to turn back after about 10m. This time they decided that we should
disembark, which was probably a good thing given the temperature outside which
was high enough and the even higher temperature inside the plane.
Finally
2 hours late we reached Cochabamba. The locals returning from Europe set up a
unison cry that their first stop would be to eat choclo, a whitish form of corn on the cob which is much larger than
the sweetcorn usually sold in Europe and the US.
Journey
over.
10/03/2014
Today
started off in martial style.As the
person I have to meet sent a message to say that he would not be down until
10am, I decided to take a walk while the air was still cool.As I approached the main square, I could hear
the sounds of a military band. Lined up in front of the Town Hall and Army
headquarters were representatives of the three armed forces, bands and
representatives of students from the military school in Sucre which is the real
capital of Bolivia although La Paz is the administrative centre.
For some
time now Bolivia has been waging a campaign to recover its coastal territories
lost in the Pacific War of the mid-nineteenth century. Someone was reading a
declaration stating Bolivia's right to recover its coastal land "stolen
illegitimately by the Chileans".
When
that was over, the march began.Of
course the main protagonists were the navy and the naval bands. It was quite
funny to watch because as they approached the official buildings the naval
person in charge of each group called out "Acción" and with the next
step they began to march "goosestep style" until they passed the
officials. When the turn of the army came, they did not call out but the head
of each group raised his or her arm for goosestepping to begin. Clearly they
did not do this very often because some of the conscripts had their tongue
stuck out and clamped between their teeth while others had their lips so pursed
in concentration that you could only see a slit where the mouth should be. One
poor chap got mixed up and had to fumble around to get back in step.
As the
bands passed, one of the naval officers clearly had a problem either with his
ears or because the music was too loud because he kept raising his hand to
cover his ears in an "undercover" way: he would ostensibly scratch
his ear or rub it all the while covering it to reduce the noise.
The
façade of the building was covered with two huge banners.One was a homage to modern Bolivia presided
over - of course - by Evo Morales. The other was a flag designed in the
nineteenth century where the 9 departments of Bolivia are clustered in the top
left corner while the 10th. coastal department is in the bottom right on a
background of deep blue symbolising the ocean.
This is
nation-building surely!
Then we
went off to change money with the money changer on the street before heading
off to the market La Cancha to buy towels, socks, soap, toothpaste and tooth
brushes.It was a heavy load to carry
but we managed to get a taxi fairly quickly to transport it all. That is actually
the heaviest task done.
Day 2
11/03/2014
This
morning's task was to go to the shoe factory.We left just before 9 and took the microbus to Quillacollo and then
another micro to the factory.Not much
improvement in hygiene standards was to be seen in Quillacollo - the same
nauseating stench of decaying rubbish lying everywhere.
The
MANACO factory is a delicious reserve of peace, tranquillity and cleanliness
amid the general chaos. MANACO is an affiliate of Bata Shoes.They have three tanning rooms, one for wet
processes and two for dry. They have a plastics processing room for plastic
sandals and that is the only place where I felt that they had improvements to
make because most of the workers were not wearing masks despite the strong
smell of glues and other toxic products.They also cut the uppers and complete the shoes. Other items are
imported from other factories elsewhere.While we waited for our order to be packed, I saw that safety boots
which resist acids and other products are made in Bata's Mexican factory.
The
company employs 800 workers at this factory and they have a medical centre and
dining-room for staff. The factory is surrounded by a well-kept garden and the
workers also have an outdoor dining-room where they can eat in summer. The man
who deals with our order told me that the company is investing quite heavily in
the factory and they expect to take on more workers.
This
year we managed to get a taxi without too much of a problem and after dropping
me off in the centre of Cochabamba, Primo continued to the stance where he
would be able to get a trufi-taxi (Trufis are communal taxis) to take him and
all the boxes of shoes up to San Benito.
I had
lunch at GOPAL, a little Indian vegetarian restaurant which caters mostly to
hitch-hikers, where you can eat a simple meal of soup, salad and a main course,
bread, desert and juice for €2.They
have a choice of 20 salads, 2 soups and 2 main courses. The food is served on
stainless steel trays like they use in Indian ashrams.
Day 3
12/03/2014
It is
quite clear that the business of the moment is opticians' shops.In one street I counted more than 20! The
other thing that seems to be booming is manicure places offering acrylic nails,
nail extensions and other benefits of modern technology. Even down in the market
there are manicure places, but you must not conjure up an image of a
sophisticated salon.No, these are
mostly holes in the wall with a small table, two chairs and a variety of nail
varnishes.
Signs of
social change are everywhere to be seen.The number of women wearing the traditional pollera or wide skirt has dwindled dramatically even since last
year.Most of those wearing at least
some form of traditional clothing are to be seen south of the 25th May market.
Carrying babies in awayus, the
colourful woven cloth that has been used for centuries to carry everything from
babies to vegetables, is also waning as baby slings and other new devices hit
the market. Some brave souls, fresh from their European migrant adventure, even
brave taking their babies out in prams and pushchairs.With pavements - where there are any - uneven
and full of potholes, I think it will not be long before the wheels will break.
Other
signs of the migrant adventures are plentiful too. Young boys have spiked hair,
dyed all over or with highlights in colours that do not suit their natural
flesh tones.The boy on the stall next
to the one where we bought our toiletries yesterday had purple highlights and a
safety pin stuck through his ear at two points. The overall effect is to make
them look like petty criminals or members of some gang. Some girls have also
opted for the blond look which does nothing for them either.
Small
businesses set up by returning migrants reveal where they spent their time with
a growing number of eateries boasting Italian names and offering pizzas. The
one business that rarely fails in Cochabamba is eating places.The Cochabambinos eat all day long and the
portions are not small.
The
other sign of the migrant experience is that there are more people to be seen
walking little dogs on a lead. This would have been impossible only a few years
ago.The fact that three families
returning from Spain on the same flight as mine had gone to the trouble to
bring their pet dogs back with them is an indication of a huge mentality
change.
Building
continues all around Cochabamba and in the High Valleys as returning migrants
invest their savings building new homes.The major problem is that Cochabamba does not have enough water to
support this expansion.For the most
part these creeping districts are supplied with water cisterns.
Having
written the above yesterday evening, today the "real Bolivia" made
its presence felt. It was like being transported back 20 years.When I went down to the main square 14th of
September this morning all kinds of awnings were being put up and a stage was
being erected in the middle of the square.When I looked around at the banners, they all bore names of places in
the Chapare where the UN project Roberto worked on had initiatives.The coca growers were out in force and today
was National Acullicu Day. Rivers of
campesinos were flooding into the square carrying wipalas, the multicoloured flag of the original peoples of
America.The coca middle-men, except
that in the case of coca they are almost always middle-women, were setting up
their stalls with piles of coca leaf spread out on awayus on the ground. All
the campesinos were coming by to pick
up their plastic bag of coca and then settled down on the ground to chew. The cholitas with their polleras, plaits and babies in awayus
were equally active.
At first
the authorities tried to keep them off the grass and flower-beds in the square
but that was a hopeless task so in the end they gave up.
Around
11 the official ceremonies began. This was a "mixed" event, because
the coca was combined with political slogans in favour of President Maduro of
Venezuela and most of the morning was spent listening to diatribes in favour of
Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina, the only democratic countries in
the world, and against the US and Obama in particular.An effigy of Obama was dragged along the
street and people took turns at whipping him with a leather belt.
When
Google, as the representative of North American Imperialism, finally allows me
to get into my blog, I shall upload the photos and some video clips.I can't put them on YouTube because, of
course, that also belongs to the Google stable.
What is
clear from the much greater number of coca syndicates present in the square is
that coca leaf production has expanded enormously.The sad thing for me was to see that there
are now syndicates in the Mamoré region.This means that more rainforest has been chopped down and colonisation
has expanded further into the forest.This is bad news indeed for the environment and for the forest tribes
whose homeland is the rainforest. When people talk about imperialism, it is
always someone else's imperialism and never their own.The altiplano
campesinos have been invading the rainforest for decades, first of all as
part of a government plan to relocate miners when the tin market crashed and
later for coca growing, but nobody ever takes into account the forest tribes,
like the Yukis, Trinitarios and so on, whose homes they are usurping.That seems to be OK and
"democratic".
The
number of very young coca growers was large.When I say young, I mean adolescents or early 20s. This does not augur
well for the future.If the future of
Bolivia is to be based on coca growing, I think it will not go far. There is no
doubt that coca leaf has many medicinal properties and it should be recognised
as a valuable resource, but the coca leaf grown in the Chapare is mostly
destined for cocaine production as its alkaloid content is high.The "sweet" coca for chewing comes
from the Yungas near La Paz. However, as Evo Molares is still the President of
the coca growers association, he uses this movement for political purposes and,
as some Bolivians say, they are "manipulated like a flock of sheep".
As the
speeches progressed, it became clearer that the day's events had indeed been
programmed by MAS, the political party of Evo Morales, (They tried to recruit
me as a member!), and part of the pitch was to class as traitors any campesinos who had preferred to find
alternative sources of income.That
explained why certain campesino
groups that I knew from the Chapare were not present because they had made the
transition from coca growing to other crops such as tea.
With
loudspeakers booming, firecrackers banging, speeches raving, campesinos milling, coca smelling, there
comes a point when enough is enough and it is time to go!
Day 4:
Unexpected encounter
The main
business of today was to pay for the books and school materials and also the
uniforms. Of course they both arrived late but the transactions were done.
There is a glitch though.The uniforms
are not ready and will not be packed by tomorrow because Vito has to go to Santa
Cruz to sign customs papers for the import of cloth for another order. This is
a setback because this evening Primo will have to contact the children's
families to warn them not to come tomorrow.It is particularly important to contact the children up on the puna
because many of those families walk down and it is a long way down the mountain
and back up again.The revised plan is
to meet on Saturday morning at 10:30.Vito will collect me at 9:30 and I will travel up with him. Cutting
things a bit fine, but nothing for it...
This
morning, as I waited for Primo to come, I went browsing around the second-hand
and new booksellers in the vicinity of the telephone company building. It is a
motley collection.Medical textbooks
dominated one stall but on others they shared pride of place with other
subjects, mainly mathematics and business studies. At one end of the passageway
there was a peppering of self-help books which gradually took over. By the
other end of the passage Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence books held
sway backed up by Osho and Louise Hay. Yesterday in the midst of the coca
growers' demonstration there was also a stall selling Quechua books and ...
Louise Hay! Quite mind-blowing in its own way.
Then I
discovered a whole world of tourist emporia I had been unaware of before. There
were lots of little shops and even a "Mall", the Galindo Mall (The
Galindos are one of the big Cochabamba families) selling all kinds of tourist
items from awayu cloths to bracelets.
Later, as
I passed in front of the main government building in the main square, two young
students passed by with a dog on a lead and wearing a notice hanging around his
neck which read "You have the right to protect us". Not unnaturally
this attracted my attention as it is so unusual here.I saw they were distributing pamphlets so I
followed them across the street and asked them what they did with the animals.
They explained that they belonged to a youth organisation and were campaigning
in favour of animal rights.Then a young
woman came along with another little dog.She is the person in charge of an animal rescue organization which has
set up a refuge called St. Martin of Porres. The dogs' names are Ricardo and
Milo.
When I
explained to them what my interest in animals was, they told me that they are
holding a forum to discuss ways to draft rules for animal protection and
wellbeing and they invited me to come along.The meeting is at 8:30 tomorrow morning, so I am keen to see and hear
what this initiative is about.It
certainly deserves support!
Day 5
Animal Rights Forum
I went along to the forum this morning.It was a bit late starting because the
organisers had been invited to a radio interview. Naturally there were all the
usual procedures: identification by the police before being allowed to go up to
the meeting room and I had to leave my passport with them.The Bolivians had to leave their ID cards.
There were 4 speakers: a vet, a lawyer, a member of
parliament and the girl I met yesterday who is also a law graduate. They
spoke about the current situation and legal vacuum and what they wish to
enshrine in legislation. They also explored the defects of other pieces of
legislation being presented to parliament and the MP explained the procedures
for presenting a piece of legislation and the obstacles that will be faced, not
least that most MPs do not actually know what the correct procedures are so
they are not respected. This means that the people presenting the bill are
never contacted to present their case.
However, there are several points that will probably
prove to be major stumbling blocks:
a. the army uses animals in training
to desensitise soldiers who have to kill the animals by ripping them
open. They didn't say so but I imagine they also have to stick their
heads in the blood and all that. These are training techniques introduced
by the CIA throughout Latin America starting in El Salvador.
b. the sale of bitches (particularly muscular breeds such as
the pitbull types) for the purposes of bestiality. Apparently this is a
widespread practice and crosses social class boundaries.
c. the indiscriminate sale of animals in markets: these
animals come from clandestine breeding places where the animals are kept in
horrendous, insalubrious conditions.
d. street dogs and other animals that are caught for use in
laboratories and universities - even for vivisection practice.
e. the municipal authorities round up animals at night (The
government has just bought seven new vans for this purpose). The dogs
(mostly they are dogs but cats are also hung from trees etc.) are then beaten
to death or until nearly dead, then disposed of. This municipal activity
is not regulated and in any case, when the animals are taken to the pounds,
they are killed after 5 days - if they last that long that is.
As you can see, not a pretty picture, but the people who were there are very
committed and seem prepared to stand up and be counted. I was able to put them
in touch with animal rights lawyers in Argentina and other countries so they
can get some advice on what seems to work and what is more difficult. I
hope they are successful.
At least this street dog has his priorities right!
Day 6 - San Benito
Today, at the last gasp, the uniforms were ready and
packed. Vito, the owner of the little company that has been making the uniforms
for us since the beginning came to collect me at 9:30.From the tiny operation he had when we
started with 3-4 workers, he now employs 25 workers and has won the contact to
supply the work clothes for the maintenance department of the BOA airline and
also for the oil company YPFB.His two
daughters are now grown.One has
graduated as a doctor and the other is halfway through her degree in industrial
engineering.
Being Saturday, there was a lot of traffic on the road
and there was a long queue at the toll booths. There is a lot of money sloshing
about here in Bolivia.One of the cars
that passed us was a Hummer and Vito told me that when he went to the Santa
Cruz motor show a couple of years ago ALL the Hummers had sold tags on them! It
would appear that the soya farmers are the main customers for this type of
vehicle.
The building boom is still going strong, although
perhaps not so strong as t was a couple of years ago.The hills all around Cochabamba are covered
with buildings and all the way up to the High Valleys it is the same story. The
government has bought a lot of land and is giving it to miners from the Potosí
and other regions to build houses on.
All the children and their parents were already seated
by the time we got up to San Benito. Sister Rubina and
the school headmistress
were both present.Sister read a short
passage and led a prayer and then we were able to give out the things to the
children. They all got their uniforms, shoes, school materials, socks, soap,
toothbrush, toothpaste and towel, and looked very happy with their booty.
When that was done, I took the photographs which I
hope will have turned out well and I will send them next week once I draw my
breath and identify each individual.
Now it is time to pack in readiness for an early start
tomorrow morning.
Days 7 & 8 Return Journey
If getting into Bolivia is a nightmare, then getting
out is beyond words.
8.30 am: At this precise moment in time I am
fuming!It used to be that there was
only narcotics control in Santa Cruz.Now they also have t on Cochabamba and after rifling through all my
belongings, they took me into a cubicle where I was half undressed and a
hands-on body search ensued - into underwear, pressing the abdomen and then a
throat search.Then an interrogation as
to why I was in Bolivia, where I was going and so forth. Enough is enough.
Let's see what happens in Santa Cruz ...
The flight from Cochabamba should have left at 9:30
but no sooner had I sat down than the screen changed indicating that we would
leave at 10.In the end it was 10:30
before we taxied off.
On arrival in Santa Cruz luggage had to be
collected.The luggage retrieval was a
slow process despite the fact that the plane was only about 100m away from the
carousel point. I had checked in online yesterday but it had proved impossible
to print out the boarding passes.The
most important thing, for me at least, was that I had managed to get an aisle
seat towards the front of the plane. While we waited they were already
announcing that the Madrid flight was in the pre-embarkation area. So, after
checking in my hold luggage, upstairs right away.
First stage was the usual "security control"
that now tortures us in every airport.After that migration control where the new toys make the procedure much
longer than before. Not only that: before, this control was in the front part
of the room and then passengers continued on to the third control. Now, since
they have to have counters for cameras and such things, a queue is formed on
the right hand side of the room.Then
when passengers have been through that rigmarole, they must go back to the
point of entry and join another queue for Interpol anti-narcotics control -
again.
As I stood in the queue a soldier from the FELCN
(anti-narcotics) came down the line and decided, for some reason which I have
not fathomed, that I should go to the head of the queue.Good! I asked the lady soldier why we had to
go through this all over again when we had already done so in Cochabamba."That's the regulation. Go to table
7".
At table 7 all the contents of my hand luggage were
scrutinised, my homoeopathic travel kit attracting particular attention. I
managed to convince him what it was. When that was over I was sent to join
another queue for another physical examination. Once again I asked why we had
to repeat this procedure and once again the same reply.
By this time we should have been boarding but there
was no sign of any activity at the gate, and then they changed the gate. One of
the stewardesses later told me that before boarding could begin FELCN went on
board with the dogs and checked out every inch of the plane. When boarding did
begin, it was a slow process because another new procedure has been
introduced.When the last section of the
finger is full of passengers, no more are allowed to enter.We were then told to stand on the left hand
side of the finger and place our hand luggage on the right hand side.There was a sniffer dog (both lovely yellow
labs) at each end of the finger. The one nearest the plane came up and checked
all the bags while the other one at the entrance to the finger came down and
sniffed every passenger.
Finally 1 hour and 10 minutes after our scheduled time
of departure the plane doors were closed when one poor devil who had clearly
been put through a gruelling experience came on board.The person in question was the man in front
of me at the Cochabamba checkpoint. When he boarded the plane his eyes were
watering and red and his face was puce. I'm glad it was not me, is all I can
say.
The irony of this whole situation is that the
President of this country is the President of the coca growers association, and
anyone who owns land in the Chapare, where coca leaf is grown, and does not
have a certain percentage under coca, has the land confiscated. When we were in
the Chapare, coca leaf was dried in the sun.Now they have big industrial buildings full of clothes driers to dry the
leaf.In the past the pasta base was exported to Colombia to
be transformed into cocaine.Now this
process is also carried out in the Chapare. So, the long and the short of it is
that the whole thing is completely hypocritical and a farce.
The flight path on this Air Europe direct flight is
different from the flights going to Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo.Instead of coming in over Fortaleza and
following a roughly north-south path, this flight comes in further north over
Cayenne and then flies a diagonal path across the Amazon over Manaus.
Leaving Santa Cruz late meant that the arrival in
Madrid was also late with only 45 minutes to get through immigration
(Fortunately the procedure is less gruelling and exhausting than in Bolivia), security
and change terminals.However, Fate was
on my side and I reached the boarding gate 10 minutes before take-off.
This
morning was an early start as Vito, the man who makes the uniforms
for the children, was coming to pick me up and we would go up to the
High Valleys together. On the way I could see that Cochabamba is
growing tremendously. Vito told me that one of his workers had bought
a plot 15 years ago for US$800 and he had just sold it for US$40,000!
This has to be money from the drug trafficking circuit because in
terms of normal salaries this simply does not make sense.
In
recent years there has been a lot of building in the communities on
the road up to San Benito because many people emigrated to Spain and
other parts of Europe and started building veritable mansions with
their savings. However, most of the migrants have now returned due
to the economic crisis in Europe so most of these fantasies are
unfinished shells.
When
we arrived in San Benito, many families were already at the school,
but we could not start until the people from the puna and other
outlying districts arrived so there was quite a wait. The president
of the the “Social Vigilance Committee” was there. Despite the
threatening-sounding title, she was actually quite a nice lady.
No
gathering in Bolivia can get started without the inevitable speeches.
First of all the school coordinator said a few words, then the
“Social Vigilance” lady, then Primo and then me. The new
headmistress then out in an appearance and also made her speech.
Significantly she as well as all the other educational authorities
are now Aymaras, so the trend continues.
With
76 beneficiaries this year, distributing everything takes quite a lot
longer than it did when we first started. However, Primo has got it
down to a fine art by now: first of all school materials; then
uniforms and schoolbags; next shoes; then socks – boys under 11,
boys over 11, girls under 11, girls over 11; lastly toiletries.
As
we were finishing, the mayor and two lady councillors arrived, so
more speeches had to be made. The mayor also gave me a plaque in
recognition of the 10 years that La Esperanza has been operating in
San Benito. To keep the children entertained during this second round
of speech-making we distributed some lunch.
Several
mothers had brought along bags of peaches for me but, of course, as I
am travelling tomorrow I had to leave behind about 10kg. of peaches!
San Benito is the peach-growing “capital”, although it seems that
this year due to lack of rain they are having problems with the crop.
It
was well after 4 by the time I got back down to Cochabamba, but at
least the mission has been accomplished.
I was beginning to think something was missing as I had not seen a single demonstration since I arrived, but I should not have worried. This morning the traffic was cut in the main square. The reason was to protest against discrimination in the Teacher Training College of Paracaya. I had already heard about this. It seems that in the altiplano where there is an Aymara majority students from other ethnic groups are not being allowed to register and in the rest of the country a percentage of places is being reserved for Aymara students. This would seem to follow the same vein as what is happening in the political field. When a mayor is elected who does notbelong to the president's party, they are making all kinds of allegations to remove them from power and even sending people to prison. Several mayors have taken refuge in Paraguay and Argentina. Since many of these people are educated, they have devised the strategy of giving up their position so that new elections can be held and to date they have all won again. So far the results of these second elections are being respected. Then there is the future of the president, Evo Morales. All indications seem to be that he is preparing the ground to be declared president for life. Yesterday in the main square of La Paz he decorated 6 soldiers. Why? Because they were arrested by the Chilean police. They were pursuing some people involved in bringing contraband vehicles into Bolivia from Chile but they crossed the border and weredetaiend by the Chilean carabineros. As a result Evo has decorated them and raised them to the rank of marshall!
Yesterday
we picked up the shoes from the Manaco factory in Quillacollo. When
we had paid and went to the storeroom to collect the merchandise,
first of all we had a long wait and then they came to say that there
was a problem because some prices had gone up. However, as we had a
quotation which is valid for 15 days, the head of the storeroom tried
to sort it out so that the prices we had would be respected. This is
a long process as he had to go to the management to have it approved.
In the end, it was sorted out and we were able to leave just as the
workers were leaving for lunch.
Getting
into the factory is like a military operation and you have to leave
your ID at the entrance both to the office block and the storerooms.
At least this year there were no disturbances and uprisings like
there were last year when the factory was attacked and all the
windows broken!
After
waiting around outside for a while a taxi came by and we managed to
persuade him to take us to Cochabamba. He was not keen to do this as
he did not know the area where my little hotel is or the bus station
where Primo would have to catch the transport to take the boxes up to
San Benito. Mission accomplished.
The girl in the centre is demonstrating an amazing manual egg beater. She has the most amazing froth of egg whites in that bowl!
Saturday
morning in La Cancha market is a madhouse. It is market day so the
huge market, covered and open, is an anthill with people milling
around in every direction carrying huge bundles of every description.
It is still the domain of the “cholita”, indigenous women wearing
the traditional pollera (skirt), and hat (in Cochabamba made of straw
these days), but now the variety of clothing is much greater ranging
from the pollera to “hot pants” and every imaginable combination
in between. A fairly common syncretic garb among younger women is
leggings and teeshirts but topped by a straw hat. The awayu, the
multicoloured cloth traditionally used to carry everything from
babies to vegetables, has not outlined its usefulness so it is still
very much in evidence.
We
managed to buy 6 and a half dozen pairs of socks, towels and soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes and then carted them back. Primo will
take them up to San Benito this afternoon.
Tomorrow
they have a meeting in the village because the government has
purchased land and allocated it to 720 Aymara families which means
that the Quechua people who have traditionally lived in the High
Valleys will find themselves outnumbered in this locality. They are
searching for ways to prevent this happening and all the villagers
will meet to discuss events.
First
impressions when I arrived at the hotel were of surprise. They have
done up the entrance so it is now looking bright and airy. They have
also rearranged the reception desk and seating area and it seems that
there is more room somehow.
Along
the way to the coffee shop to have a drink of fresh fruit juice, I
noticed that there are several new businesses – pharmaceutical
businesses – and new restaurants, so in this part of town at least
things are not looking so bad. Another
novelty was that I saw a few people out walking little dogs. Now
that certainly is a new development!
Sitting
beside me on the plane
from Santa Cruz was a teenage girl. Her
parents are from Quillacollo, a district outside Cochabamba where the
shoe factory that I buy the children's shoes is located. When she
was five, her father emigrated to Spain and found work in Seville.
Two years later she and her mother moved there to join him so she has
spent the last seven years of her life there. Now 16, her parents
have sent her back to Bolivia for a year to finish her secondary
education and get her “bachillerato”. She was in a turmoil: she
did not want to come; she felt like she was being uprooted; she would
miss her friends … but, on the other hand, she realised that her
parents were doing what they thought was right for her because she
did not want to stay at school in Seville and they had told her that
in the long run it was in her best interests to get a qualification.
She was going to spend the next eight months at her aunt and uncle's
house in Quillacollo. Another reason her parents wanted her to spend
some time here is so that she would realise just how fortunate she is
to have everything she needs and more when so many have no choices.
She opened her heart and we
had a long chat. She seems determined to really do her best to
complete her studies so she can return to Seville before Christmas.
Sometimes setting goals concentrates the mind and it certainly seems
to have done so in her case.
Finally
arrived! I left home on Thursday February 28th.
and after 33 hours of travelling at midnight Spanish time I made it.
The
first leg of the journey was novel in its own way. The flight from
Málaga to Lisbon was in a Beechcraft 1009D, a small propeller plane
with a seating capacity for 18 passengers, plus the pilot, a young
woman, and the co-pilot – no air hostesses. It was very nice to
travel in a plane of human dimensions and not the usual over-sized
sardine tins. I think these planes were originally designed as
executive planes. We left our hand luggage, except handbags, at the
foot of the stairs and it was all stowed in the hold to be picked up
again as we came down in Lisbon. There were 15 passengers on the
flight, mostly headed towards Brazil, but a few were going to Cabo
Verde or the Azores.
The
overnight flight to Sao Paulo was smooth but full so no chance of
finding a space to stretch your legs. I had not flown with TAP, the
Portuguese airline, before and I must say the experience was
positive. We left Lisbon a little late and arrived late mostly
because there were strong head winds of around 200km/hour most of the
way. Fortunately transit passengers were met at the gate and taken
through without having to go through more security controls so that
was a good piece of news, particularly after a long flight.
The
flight to Sta. Cruz was also full and I was wondering what all these
people from Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Israel and who know where
else were coming to do in Bolivia. Arrival in Santa Cruz as port of
entry always means the same things: filling in forms repeating the
same information and long queues for immigration and then customs.
However, the dour faces of the officials are quickly dispelled by the
friendliness of the people working in the airport. So far that has
not changed, and the girls I the coffee shop are just as helpful and
smiling as the Cruceños have always been and the fruit juices are
just as delicious too.
The
short hop from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba was uneventful.
Charity Golf Tournament at Royal Sotogrande Golf Club
-->
On Tuesday
November 13th. the Ladies' Golf Team held their annual charity tournament at
the Royal Sotogrande Golf Club, and once again their lady captain was kind enough to
donate the proceeds to La Esperanza.
Many of the
ladies also boughta 2013 La Esperanza
calendar and a pack of greeting cards based on original paintings by Andrea
Blikstad, Yolande Kiener and John Dutfield.
Véronique
Dutfield made it worth everyone's while to attend with the delicious chocolate
and zucchini cakes she had prepared which all the participants enjoyed after
their 4 hour stint on the golf course.
The ladies
played in teams of three and each member of the winning team was presented with
a painting donated by three La Esperanza sponsors. We hope that they will enjoy
them!
Not only
did the ladies make a sizeable donation but six came forward as new sponsors
which was a great relief as their generosity will ensure the continuity of
several children in the project.
It is almost eight years since our web site was first launched and very little has been done to it since, so I thought it was definitely time to give it a face-lift! I have found a very nice person (info@master-design.info) who does a wonderful job, is highly efficient and charges a reasonable fee, so I will let you all know when it goes live!