Driving through the desert of Bolivia seeing cactuses, mud huts, dried up river beds and roaming donkeys gives you a sense of how difficult life is for the majority of Bolivians. La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, is complex and diverse in its make up. The city maintains a mystery that is visible in its variety, offering everything from a vibrant street life- with crowded markets on every corner-, serene valley views surrounded by snow capped mountains and cosmopolitan cafes to seedy hostals (story to come later) and indigneous peoples living in abject poverty. For us this odd mix made for excellent exploring. In the markets especially, we found two unique treasures of Bolivian culture, llama fetuses and coca leaves. The llama fetuses (with or without wool) were sold by large, toothless, brightly dressed, coca leaf chewing indigenous women for use in health remedies. (And are also excellent souvenirs for friends and family...) Being the granola eating, soul searching, cultural immersion seeking travelers that we are, we had to munch on some coca leaves to see what the hype was all about. We´re here to report that these strange tasting, small, paper-like leaves do nothing but turn your spit green and make your tongue numb. (Oh and don´t get caught taking them over the Argentinian border...a mildly relevant fact we learned after crossing the border.)
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
3 comments:
Can't wait to read the post from Argentina. As I passed through the airport in Boston this weekend... (Boston is a quaint little town and a study in contrasts; filled with history but focused on the future. Home to some of the countries best most intelligent students and yet worst, most impatient drivers) I came across a publication called Vanity Fair that featured a photo spread of models from Argentina. In many of the photos nude, androgenous models were frolicking by the pools and drinking with women in fuck me boots and cocktail dresses. I thought to myself...I hope Jay and Jenny experience this cultural phenomenon as they trek through S. America.
T
I think if the education gig doesn't work out you might consider writing travelogues. Sounds like you're having a fascinating adventure- keep the posts coming.
Argentina´s storied past and turbulent present exhibits a culture steeped in rich interpersonal, political, artistic and culinary traditions, all of which were completely overshadowed by the stunning models we encountered in the park yesterday. Before stripping down and joining the frolick entravaganza, I was struck not by the androgenaity of these neutral young lads, but by their hairstyles: the strange combination of rat tails and mullets which seem to permeate Argentinan culture. Now you may be asking yourself, ¨When you are carelessly dancing through a public park fountain, surrounded by the queens of the fashion industry, wearing nothing but the fur on your backside, how is it that something as frivolous as a hair style can distract you?¨ But friend, Thomas, if you will, you have no idea how powerfully hideous these pervavise mullet/rat tail combinations can be.
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