Friday, June 02, 2006
Back on the coca, bugs in the arm...


Last night I squeezed the swollen sack thing on my arm where, as the doctor says, an insect laid eggs in my arm several weeks ago when I was in Rurrenebaque. A bunch of pus and little black insect eggs oozed out. It was gross.

I'm in Potosi right now, formally one of the largest and most wealthy cities in the whole world. There are silver mines here that have been in use since the spanish conquest 500 years ago. The silver from the mines in Potosi supplied the colonial spanish economy with virtually all of it's silver, adorning the castles of the rich in Europe while millions of indigenous and african slaves were worked to death underground. The mines are still in use today, and tomorrow or the next day I am going to take a tour to the mines to visit with the workers there.

In other news, Peru heads to elections soon...the Chavez-endorsed left candidate is 4 percent behind the other guy...it'll be a close one! Buen suerte a ti, Ollanda! (good luck to you, Ollanda!)

I'm back on chewing coca, which I havn't done since I was in La Paz. Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world, and when you walk up stairs you feel like you're dying. It's quite hard to breathe. Coca, by the way, helps with oxygenating the blood, and it's really popular among the people who live in the altiplano here in Bolivia and other countries in South America...though only among the native people. The whites view chewing coca as a "dirty indian habit" (to quote my friends Ron and Diane) though they're happy to drink the tea. The bearucrats in Washington who are trying to eradicate coca cultivation in South America should come visit down here and try to fare without it.


Last night I spent 40 Bolivianos (about $5.50 CAD) on a hostel room. It was the most expensive room to date.


So, I'm probably going south next to Topiza and maybe Tarija, then likely via airplane to Cochabamba, where I might take some more spanish lessons. Then, on the 21st on June there's a big Aymara festival at some pre-Inca ruins close to La Paz, and I'll DEFINETLY be there. Then it's off to Peru for a week or two, including a trip to Macchu Picchu, and then finally...*gulp*...BACK HOME!!!

posted by Ben @ 11:38 AM  
5 Comments:
  • At 5:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Ben. The visual on the insect (eggs) bite was too much for me to handle!! That's just plain nasty!! PLEASE keep it clean (says nurse Mom). Hope your trip to the mines proves insightful. Take some good photos. You never know when you might need them for a future university project. By the way....what was the demonstration that was going on during our phone call last night? Love Mom

     
  • At 6:06 PM, Blogger Ben said…

    That's what I was going for.

    As for the demonstration, I don't actually know. It sounded like there was another protest of some sort this afternoon, but didn't get close enough to see it.

    I found out that tomorrow is the beginning of some sort of special festival for the miners, where they drink lots and sacrifice llamas. So, after my mine tour tomorrow, I get to see llamas get cut open. I'll take pictures.

     
  • At 10:51 AM, Blogger Andrés Paz said…

    Hmmm,

    Live Large!

     
  • At 12:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    EEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! OH GOD!!!

    - Conor

     
  • At 11:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    So after tomorrow you'll be an expert on llama sacrafice. Better take lots of pictures because the gods over here are angry. jk.
    What's it like chewing coca leaves? Do they have the same effects as cocaine only mild or are they completely different?
    I'm glad you got rid of those buggies. Hope it didn't hurt too much (buy bug spray).
    Eleanore

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