Journey to the Andes: January 2006

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Shoeshine boys and street theater...

I didn´t have a thing to do today. On top of that, almost everything is closed on Sunday, and there are hardly any people out and about. Not wanting to become a typical gringo, I avoided Pepe´s Cafe Bar and went to San Francisco Plaza to get some comida that regular Bolivians eat. I got some samosa-esque things (very popular here...but they´re not actually samosas, they´re like a traditional bolivian equivilant) for 1B each (about 15 cents) I sat down on the stairs near the church and watched a bunch of shoeshine boys play soccer (or futbol, as its referred to here as...pfff, spaniards...) A couple of really young shoeshine boys came over to me, 13, 10, and 5 years old. We talked a little bit and we ended up going for lunch together. They took me to a bolivian chicken joint and I bought them lunch. They were really nice kids...its just too bad that I couldnt understand what they said most of the time. They´re all brothers. Francisco, the 10 year old, wants to be a polititian when he grows up (I was very proud) and the other one (I can´t remember his name) wants to be a doctor. They have to shine shoes all day so they can help to support their family, and then they go to school in the evening. A full time job plus school on top...its really sad. They were such fun kids though. We went back to San Francisco Plaza and i rented them bicycles and ripped around the plaza for 10 minutes, all while an Andean music group played in the background and I (tryed to) talk to an old man sitting beside me.
In a different area of the plaza there was a street theater group performing to a few hundred people, so me and the boys went to watch. I sat there for a few solid hours, they were really good...i just couldn´t understand what they were saying!!! But it was still funny, as it was very slapstick-esque. And boy, do they like to make fun of gringos. They took me up from my seet and made a bunch of jokes about me (that I didn´t understand, mind you) it was great! Something about me kissing other boys and old women hitting on me....everyone else thought it was funny, and I just laughed along, bahahaha. Afterwards I watched the Andean music group for a little bit and now I´m here...! I expected my day to be crap but it turned out really well, and I got a few good pictures as well, that I may try to upload soon.

Buenas noches, mi amigos, hasta luego.

posted by Ben @ 4:47 PM 6 comments

Saturday, January 28, 2006

From the land of purple toilet paper...

Sadly, I never did get to go to Tiawaniku today because those silly german gringos never e-mailed me back. While shopping for a present for a certain someone up north I bumped into one of Patricias friends that I was partying with last night, and we ended up spending the day together. I saw my first movie in spanish...Los Hermanos Grimm....and I pretty much was lost the whole time, but it was amusing nonetheless. Particularily because its an english movie that was dubbed in spanish...haha...I could pick out words like "Faster, faster!" and "Lets go!" but thats about it...hahaha.

I get frustrated not knowing spanish because I cannot converse with the people that I really want to get to know. I want to talk to strangers in cafes, the indigenous people that are so marginalized here, the 12 year olds that shine shoes all day, the buskers and musicians, the transients from across south america, the people who search through garbage every night on the roadsides to make a living, the people cooking hamburguesas on the sidewalk late at night, the women who sell vegetables in the markets, and the children who play in the rain every afternoon...but I know that I have plenty of time, and in a month or two I will be able to do all the things that I want to, and everything will work out in the end.

I e-mailed a spanish teacher in La Paz today, and I am hoping that I can get some lessons for a few weeks. Which means that I will likely be in La Paz for the next month, which isnt terrible, but not my first choice.

So yeah, Patty and her friends took me out partying last night....we danced until the wee hours of the morning to latino music. It was really great. They serve alchohol in buckets here, its really funny. Oh, and the toilet paper is all one-ply and purple. Who knew?

So my trip to Copacabana this week is on with Patt-meister. Were off to Lake Titicaca for 2-3 days, it should be great.

Anyways, its approaching midnight and I have a brand new charango to play...buenas noches, amigos.

posted by Ben @ 7:35 PM 6 comments

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Pepes Barro de Cafe

Hey everyone. Just to give you a quick update (as its late and I dont have much else to do) I met some German gringos today at Pepes Coffee Bar. They knew english and we talked for a little bit. Theyre in Bolivia and Peru for 6 weeks, doing the same thing Im doing. Theyre heading to Tiahuanaco (spelling?) on Saturday and Im probably going to join them. Its an ancient Incan ruin site about 2 hours away from La Paz, so well probably spend the day there.

Ive been doing a lot of walking...I found some really beautiful colonial statues in various plazas here in La Paz, and some remarkable cathedrals.

Im going to get myself a spanish teacher, my gringo buddies have a really good teacher that theyre reccomending. I also am planning to pick myself up a charango, which is like a mandolin type instrument from the andes. I dont want to lug around a guitar for half a year so thats my next choice! Plus Ill be able to impress all the hot babes when I come back to Canada, playing such an exotic and mysterious instrument.

Speaking of hot babes, Patricia and I (hahahaha) have been hanging out some more. Her parents are driving me mental. Shes twenty freaking years old and she has to be home by 8 00. It looks like she will likely be able to go to Titicaca with me, so Im pretty excited about that.

I have tons of fun when Im with Patty or talking to other people here, but it gets kind of lonely when Im by myself! Patty tried to give me a spanish lesson today...holey hell...i cant remember any of the vocabulary that she teaches me. Seriously, shell tell me a word and Ill say it, and ten seconds later Ill have to ask her what it is again. For god sake. When Im more confident with my spanish, though, I plan on conversing with as many people as I can.

I found the Canadian consulate, finally...it was mislabed on the map I had or had moved since it had been printed.

Thanks for the comment Mom, its really nice to hear from you and Dad. The hostel is fine...its clean and safe, what more could I ask for? Im sharing a room with 2 austrailians and a dutchman right now, and theyre all really nice. I can stay here as long as I need to, I think. And the weather has been like a handful of shit, actually. Its the rainy season right now, and it rains for at least 2 hours a day. Though when its not raining its usually nice, but sometimes overcast. Holey hell is the sun strong at 4100 meters, though, my face is all pink and peeling off.

Tomorrow night Im will be bailando con Patricia, and that sould be a blast. I also have to get used to being able to buy alchohol, as the drinking age is 18 here....

Adios!

posted by Ben @ 6:09 PM 9 comments

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Uno mas dia en La Paz...

Buenas noches, mi amigos. I am currently in an internet cafe in downtown La Paz...there is so much to say, and many of you are wondering what it´s like down here...but I am short for words because there is so much to say. I went to dinner with Patricia yesterday, and we´ve become good friends. We spent some time together as well at the Festival de Alatistas (i think that´s the word) which is a traditional Bolivian festivle held in January where people sell very small things. As in tiny toy houses, cars, fake money, dolls, etc etc...there were thousands of people at the main plaza today, it was fascinating. It seems that it is a cultural thing for native people to burn coca powder (i think that´s what it is) in bowls full of charcole....it acts as a kind of incense, and it smells soooo good. Patricia and I ate llama today as well, obviously a first for me. It was really good. Anytime you have a chance to chow down on some llama, I reccomend it. The food here is pretty spicy...they add a spicy tomatoe sauce to pretty much everything, haha. And they eat lots of potatoes and maize, which is like corn. I´ve yet to try chicha (maize alchohol) and coca tea, but I am looking foreward to them both.

La Paz is a city where the new and the old mix...because it is a capital of Bolivia, there is a lot of business here, and a number of people with lots of money. There seems to be a large middle class here....depending on what area of town you´re in, anyways. And there is an obvious western influence, particularily in the clothing. A lot of the young people here wear very western clothing...but there are also many indigenous people that wear their traditional andean clothing....beautifully woven panchos, scarves and toques made from llama wool.

Though there are many middle class people here, the poverty is obvious....on my way here from my hostel I saw probably 6 kids, about 8 or 9 years old, curled up in corners with plastic bags over their head to cover them from the rain. And it is common to see young kids selling candy or shining shoes on the street...it´s heartbreaking...and tremendously moving when they smile and talk to you. The indiginous people are faced with a disproportionate amount of the poverty....i havn´t seen a poor latino yet. And from what I gather, El Alto (the giant slum) is almost exclusivly indigenous.

Patricia and I are hoping to travel to Lake Titicaca before she has to start her next semester of university. However, Bolivian culture is much more "family oriented" than Canada is. When you´re 18 you don´t do whatever the hell you want, haha. Sometime within the next few days she´s going to ask her parents and see what the verdict is. Otherwise I´ll likely head on down there by myself next week, or maybe with a few other people from my hostel (most of them seem to be from Austrailia and Europe, and speak english, thankfully) I hear it´s very beautiful.

No pictures as of yet, but when I take some good ones I´ll see if I can upload some for you lovely Canadians to peruse.

Havn´t found the Canadian consulate yet...I looked again today and I went to exactly where it said it was on the map and it was not freaking there. I asked people about it on the streets and they didn´t know either...for god sake. I got the address off the internet tonight, maybe that will work.

I must head off to bed now...I don´t know what I´m going to do tomorrow, perhaps the musical instrument museum, haha. Or maybe I might just practice my spanish. Whatever I do, I will have fun. Take care everyone, buenos noches!!!

posted by Ben @ 6:32 PM 3 comments

Monday, January 23, 2006

GO RED BLOOD CELLS, GO!!!

I have arrived safe and sound to the wonderful city which is La Paz. Hoooley hell, its breathtaking (sorry for any typos, these hispanic computers are a little different...) Its been a pretty awesome day so far. I got a taxi from the airport, which is located at the very top of La Paz, in the sub city of El Alto, which is basically a giant slum of 1,000,000 people. About 2 million people live in the greater La Paz area. My hostel, El Solario, is located in what seems to be downtown La Paz, in not such an affulant area. The taxi ride was amazing...it was just after sunrise, and when you look at La Paz coming down that winding road it looks like the city was carved right into the mountains.

The traffic is, naturally, anarchistic, though it all seems to work out. Driving or walking down the streets you will often see campasinas (native women) wearing their traditional cultural attire...its very beautiful.

You do not see many beggars on the street, rather, shoe shine boys. They usually look like theyre in their 20s, and for a few measley bolivianos they shine your shoes (one boliviano is about 15 cents) and you can tell them apart by the clothes they wear...baseball cap, hoodie, jeans....all badly worn. Occasionally you will see a kid, maybe 12 years old, be shining shoes, and not in school.

I got lost twice today. Not entirely lost, just "Where the shit am i..." Fortunately I had my compass with me and pointed myself in the general direction. I spent about 2 hours today looking for the freaking canadian consulate and I couldnt find it. Even after someone told me, in perfect english, "Its just two blocks down there" It is my goal to find it tomorrow.

I want to put it out there right now that I LOVE MADAMME AUBIN. Im teaching myself a refresh course on spanish with a teach yourself book, but most of the spanish that I know has come from that wonderful woman, and it has been amazingly useful. I actually carried on a simple conversation with the taxi driver today.

I did not get to go to the World Social Forum...but...I got the next best thing...

TODAY I WAVED AT HUGO CHAVEZ!!!!

He is visiting La Paz today to meet with Evo Morales , the new Socialist president of Bolivia. There was a hoard of people waiting outside the university (where the meeting was held) for hours. I myself waited about 3 hours to see him, as nobody knew when he was coming. But hell it was worth it. Hundreds of people waving Bolivian, Venezuelan, and Cuban flags cheering at Chavez and him waving back and smiling like he always does. I can now say that I have physically seen and been within 50 meters of one of my idols (I, in fact, had a picture of him on my wall at one point)

While I was waiting around for chavez, people watching and sipping my water, it started to rain and many people went home, as they were fed up with waiting. Do you think a little rain would stop the mighty B Fat from seeing Hugo Chavez? Absolutely not. there was another determined one beside me, a girl, and she started talking to me. I pulled my usual "Hablo espaniol solo mui basico, lo siento" (I only speak very basic spanish, sorry) But she kept on, and we hung out for about 45 minutes. Her name is Patricia. To make a long story short, Im meeting her in a few hours for dinner! w00t w00t!!! She was super nice. A linguistics student at the university, which means she speaks ENGLISH!!! YESSSS. Hopefully I can pick up a thing or two of spanish with her.

And if youre wondering about the title...THE AIR IS SO FREAKING THIN. Its exhausting just walking, never mind going up and down stairs or the very mountainous environment of this city. When you first get off the plane it actually hurts your chest and stomach...as if you had really bad gas (which I did not). And even just a little movement makes you feel light headed.

My plans for the next little while include visiting El Alto, spending some more time with Patricia, and probably heading down to Lake Titicaka. Things are going great so far, take care everyone!!!

posted by Ben @ 11:33 AM 10 comments

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Adios, North America...

In 5 hours I will begin my long, gruelling transit to La Paz. It is currently 3:19 AM...I've been playing my little cousin Sam's Game Cube for about 3 hours, determined to keep winning in Mario Kart...for the past few days I've been sucking up as much Western "culture" as I can while I still have access to it. Napoleon Dynamite, Godzilla vs. Mothra and King Giadora, Power Rangers (Sam's choice), fast food, lattes, pizza, sushi, Mario Dance Dance Revolution, and Mario Kart...soon I shall be drinking Chicha and eating rice, beans, and potatoes.

It's been good hanging out with my relatives for the past few days. I hardly ever get to see them, so it's always a pleasure. Hanging out with the little ones Sam and Gavin was enjoyable, though often very taxing...Southern culture is a huge shock, though. Today when were were driving in downtown Macon there were young soldiers in the streets in their fatigues selling Crispy Cream doughnuts to raise money for the Marines. Oooookay. There are also McDonalds in the FREAKING HOSPITALS!!! I could go on and on about the anomalies and stark contrasts to Canada, but I won't, because it's 3:30 in the morning and I have to get up in 3 hours.

Despite the good times here with my extended fam, this whole week I've been very excited about getting on that plane to South America (naturally). When I leave this house at 8 am I will have approximately 23 hours in transit to La Paz. I have a 4.5 hour layover in Dalas, Texas (horrah) and a 2 hour layover in Miami. Lots of time to watch football with everyone else. w00t w00t!!!

I, unfortunately, will not likely be going to the World Social Forum in Caracas. I got all the info from my friend Mike and I was going to hook up with the Vancouver chapter of Hands Off Venezuela (www.handsoffvenezuela.org) but it turns out that the WSF starts one day after I arrive in Bolivia, leaving me one day to get accross the continent. So, unless I find some backpackers in my hostel that will be traveling to the WSF from La Paz, I'll have to wait a year or two before I can go :) Too bad, but at least I tried!!!

Hope everything is well with you all. I have no idea how long it will be before I have a chance to (or feel like) updating this, but it shall likely be in a few days.

¡Hablaré con usted todo pronto!

posted by Ben @ 12:17 AM 1 comments

Monday, January 16, 2006

Reporting From Georgia, Ya'll!

Greetings, comrades from the Great White North. After shedding some tears at the airport, I have successfully ventured to Macon, Georgia, in the southern United States of Amarica! I'm making a pit stop for a week to visit my Uncle Bill, Aunt Usha, and cousins Sam and Gavin while I'm in their neck of the woods.

On my first plane ride from Vancouver, BC to Dalas, Texas, I sat beside a humble and lanky young fellow from Sao Paulo, Brazil! I told him that I was going to Bolivia and he said "Go to Brazil." Hahaha. A little too late for that, but a nice invitation nonetheless. Sadly I didn't get to talk to him more because I had to get up at 4:30 that morning to catch my plane, so I was pretty much asleep for both of my plane rides here...

Dalas has to be the ugliest freaking dump I have seen in my life...even from a couple thousand feet up I was like "...THAT'S Dalas? Eww..." Overcast, grey, dull sky above and brown, mountainless dirt as far as you can see, littered with pavement, houses and skyscrapers. And holey hell, do Texans sure like football. Indeonapolis versus Phillidelphia was playing in the airport, and virtually EVERYONE was glued to the screen and cheering on their team...while I sat there akwardly waiting for my flight to Atlanta.

Since I've been in Atlanta I've been hanging out with my Uncle and Aunt and the eager little one, Sam. Lots of fast food places here...and the greater Atlanta area is ENOURMOUS. And it's definetly Republican territory...*shudder*

I'll probably update again before I leave. I'll be on my way down to Bolivia this Sunday.

Sam wants to say something that he's spelt before.

"yaeh"

Hahha. Best wishes everyone, I hope you're all doing well!

*BREAKING NEWS*

Let me copy part of a message from my buddy Mike Palecek from Vancouver...

> Good luck on your trip! I'm so jealous! It turns out I'm going to

> Venezuela at the end of next week, but I'll only be there a week. I'm

> just going for the World Social Forum, then I'm coming right back. Any

> chance you can make it to Caracas in the next couple weeks?

*closes gaping mouth*

Well kiddies, it looks like I might be going to the World Social Forum...

ps: Don't vote Conservative.

posted by Ben @ 3:18 PM 6 comments

Ben Martin's log of his 6-month journey to the South American Andean nation of Bolivia.

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