Palegoldenrod

(Another pathetic attempt to catch up with my blogging. This stuff is more than a month old now).

Jay and I walked across the border from Argentina to Bolivia at the twin towns of La Quiaca (Argentina) and Villazón (Bolivia). You can’t catch buses across the border - you need to walk or go by car. The crossing is actually formed by a very small bridge over a dried river bed, the border posts at either end.

The crossing was the least painful so far - in 10 minutes or so, and without questions or bag checks, we were into Bolivia and what felt like a different world. The street immediately on the Bolivian side of the border is full of colours and smells and clothing that isn’t really seen in Argentina - it set the scene for the rest of our travels in Evo’s land.

I was sick - I hadn’t managed to shake the cough that I had followed me around for the last week, and even walking the five or six blocks from our La Quiaca hostel to the bus terminal in Villazón had me out of breath and feeling wretched.

We were lucky enough to snag a ticket on a bus leaving for Tupiza almost straight away and were glad of it (the next one was apparently not for another ten hours or so, and there is very little to do in Villazón). Our first taste of bus travel in Bolivia was fun. The bus was ricketty and aged, but appeared up tot he task. There didn’t appear to be much of a road - our driver chose dried river beds and rocky outcrops seemingly as often as the faint dust tracks of the “road”. Given that the border crossing and trip to Tupiza is a common one I was left wondering what the road situation was like in the rest of Bolivia and how the government decided where to pave roads, if at all.

Tupiza turned out to be a sweet, small town nestled in amongst wind and water eroded dirt hills. It was one of those places where there are so few foreigners that they all say hello to each other on sight; there was no ATM - only cash advances using your passport and credit card, please; and maybe 4 places to eat in town, all with similar cuisine.

We stayed at one of the local HI Hostels (there are two) and booked our tour of the Salt Flats to leave the next day (via the hostel travel service, if you were wondering). We learned there would be two or three others with us.

I think if I had more time I would have liked to stay in Tupiza a few more days - it is well known for its horse riding trails, hiking and climbing and seemed like a pleasant place to chillax for a while.

The next day we were off on our 4 day jeep ride to Uyuni via the salt flats, with our driver Emilio, our cook Dehsi and our new travel companions - three brilliant English girls who call themselves Sarah, Sophia and Anna. While I resigned myself to the fact that I was in for 4 days of “Have you been to pub X in suburb Y in London?”, “Shall I be mother?” and occasional adoration of Shane Warne from my English friends, I had to admit that we had a good group and the outlook for the trip was promising.

The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world - visible from space. I had been to the salt flats in Chile in the Atacama desert, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from this famous landmark. Much the same but bigger? Would it be worth the expense of the jeep ride just to see the a similar landscape?

It was worth every cent. The company was excellent, the terrain changed almost every half hour and the tiny villages we stayed in were gorgeous. I looked forward to my regular evening stroll with the others and, when we finally entered onto the salt flat itself on our last day, I was blown away by the immensity and beauty of the damn thing. It really is unbelievable.

The food on the tour was delicious (Dehsi really knows how to cook a veggie soup!), and while a few of us had a bit of a bad night at the highest point (due to perhaps pushing ourselves a bit hard on our sunset walk that afternoon) aside from shortness of breath we were generally unaffected by the altitude. The tour took us as high as 5000m above sea level.

We stayed in a salt hotel on the last night - the beds were carved from salt rock, the floor was crushed salt gravel, the walls were made of salt bricks. The moon rise over the plains that night was something of fairy tales: a large, bright silver disc hanging in that still silence, seeming to be only just out of reach of your fingertips. It threw soft light over the low hills near the hostel and disappearing out onto the edges of the flats themselves, highlighting only some small feature here and there and leaving the rest in shadow. It is not something that can be described easily, especially by someone having as limited a vocabulary as I. I hope I can at least keep that clear memory with me for some time to come.

We celebrated Jay’s birthday on our final morning, an unhealthily early start to the day in order to see the sunrise on the salt. There is an “island” in the middle of the flats, (maybe it is more like a tor?) covered in cactuses and rubble. We fought the altitude and climbed it (well, I fought more than the others, hehe) and were rewarded by a 360º view of the sea of white - Jay mentioned that apparently the salt flats could contain Wales in its entirety.

Arrival at Uyuni confirmed the rumours we had all heard. It is an unattractive, dusty town with little of interest and little to do. We didn’t want to stay any longer than we really needed. We booked a bus that night to take us to La Paz (the girls included), and killed the rest of the afternoon using the internet and drinking and discussing terrible coffee. As we killed the time, I realised with dismay that the English had managed to insert the word “fancy” into my vocabulary.

Today is Blog Action Day around the world and this year’s topic is poverty. As I am currently in Bolivia I thought I’d post a little about the country, some statistics and a little about the current situation.

It is difficult for me, as an outsider who has only been here for a month, to explain Bolivia and its issues relating to poverty, politics (international and internal), economics, employment etc. But hopefully I can provide a few bits and pieces that might help to shed a little light.

I wish I could change the timing of the Blog Action Day and my plans. Next week I start my volunteering at a local orphanage, which would (I expect) make for much more interesting reading than what I am about to provide. But if you return at the end of next week I will hopefully have posted something about the orphanage for you.

First, a little background info. Bolivia is landlocked in the centre of South America and is one of the poorer countries on the continent. It is the 3rd largest producer of coca in the world, after Colombia and Peru.

Last year Evo Morales was elected with a 54% majority (an unusually high figure in Bolivia) and became the first indigenous president of the country.

Evo and Coca Farming

Evo was also a coca farmer which puts him in an interesting position. Where the US had been encouraging (and financially supporting) eradication of the coca crop entirely, Evo’s view is “Coca yes, cocaine no” and so gives full support to legitimate farming of the crop. The farming of coca (for uses such as teas, medicine etc - not exclusively for cocaine production, which is illegal) supports a significant portion of the Bolivian workforce. While I don’t have a solution for the cocaine production issue, I am sure that the sudden and complete halt of coca farming in Bolivia would be disastrous.

Current Situation: Sucession of Provinces

There is a wide gap between upper and lower classes in Bolivia which also seems to be roughly the breakup between people of Spanish descent and those of indigenous descent. The provinces containing the upper classes don’t want to participate in Evo’s plan to restructure and redirect funds to support the poorer provinces. As they prefer to keep their earnings in their own provinces, they are trying to suceed and establish their own government. This has prompted violence in those areas and a long series of negotiations which are taking place on neutral territory here in Cochabamba.

Now, I don’t have an opinion here. But the issue is interesting… when some parts of the nation are incredibly wealthy and others have high levels of poverty, what can be done to help restore the balance? Should anything be done?

Stats: Wealth Distribution and Health

Bolivia has such an imbalance of prosperity internally (a minority hold the majority of the wealth) that the number of people in the lower classes and the issues facing the government relating to investment in infrastructure and social support, mean that overall Bolivia is struggling compared to most other countries.

The UN Human Development Report for this year ranks Bolivia as 117th out of 177 countries - putting it in the “medium human development” category. Lets have a look at a few statistics compared to Australia, my home country, ranked 3rd of 177.

The enormity of the wealth imbalance astounds me still, even though I have read these and similar statistics many times in the last month. And there are countries that are worse off in the world. Scary, no?

As expected, the effects of poverty are visible in health as well.

I have come to appreciate clean and drinkable running water, a flushing toilet and a clean bathroom so much more since having spent time in South America

Emloyment and Income as an Indicator of Improvement

The informal labour market supports a significant part of the Bolivian population, which makes it difficult to really get an idea of the emlpoyment situation of many Bolivians. As Diego Cevallos points out in his article Not Everyone Celebrates Improved Poverty Statistics:

By adding cans to the products she scavenges and sells, Guadalupe raised her average monthly earnings from 70 to 85 dollars. But she feels as hard-pressed as before and finds no reason to celebrate.

An increase in income or even a job in the informal labour market is not necessarily a good indicator of an improvement in situation or of a financial situation at all.

Current Political Situation: Further Impact on Economy

Compounding the impact of the worldwide financial crisis, Bolivia´s political issues (internal relating to sucession of some provinces, external relating to diplomatic relations with the US) are also having an effect on the economy. There are significantly less foreigners in the country, and therefore less money being pumped into the multitude of businesses in the tourism industry, as well as vendors and beggars on the street that usually rely on donations from comparatively wealthy travellers.

In addition, according to local news, some factories for US companies are considering shutting down operations operations in Bolivia and relocating to a country with a better diplomatic relationship. If this happens, it is likely that many Bolivians will be out of work, many businesses that supply these factories may lose their primary client and of course the knock on effect could be dramatic. I imagine that some existing trade or financial aid agreements with many allies of the US may be in jeopardy too.

In Australia when such a significant event occurs the government may be able to offer some support or guarantee to the employees of those companies. Here, where the government doesn’t appear to have enough money to provide well paved roads between many of its major cities, I wonder if those workers will have anything when (if?) those companies leave.

But even with employment there is something I don’t understand. Here in Cochabamba there are people on almost every block asking for money, or busking - including children who seem to be only 2 or 3 years old with no parent in sight. Yet, when I walk down the streets in the centre of town every second store has a “help wanted” sign in the window - almost all of them have been there since I arrived. I’m not sure why these jobs aren’t being filled…. maybe one of you can help me figure that one out.

Resources

Here are a few resources for you:

• Sustainable Bolivia - Non Profit - volunteering support and co-oridinator of sustainability projects in Bolivia
• Volunteer Bolivia
• Kiva - financing entrepreneurship in underdeveloped communities
• UNICEF - Poverty in Bolivia
• Global Call to Action Against Poverty - Bolivia
• WorldBank’s PovertyNet Library - Bolivia
• Freerice - expand your vocab while providing rice to those who need it

Wrap Up

Thanks for reading. I’d like to encourage you to find out more about why I posted this at the Blog Action Day site.

Next week I plan to post about my experiences volunteering at the orphanage. I hope you gained some small insight into Bolivia from this spiel. If you have anything to add or ask, please comment below.

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

This year, Blog Action Day is on Wednesday the 15th October and is on the topic of poverty. Get involved: register your blog and write about poverty on the day, contribute to the project in other ways, or be inspired to get out and do something to combat poverty in your part of the world.

As for Palegoldenrod, I hope to write something relating to Bolivia, where I have been for almost a month now. I haven’t quite decided on the exact topic yet, hehe.

Catch you on the 15th!

Blog Action Day website

A 23 hour bus ride from Iguazu to Salta left me feeling a little drained, but it was still good to see a familiar face in Jay when I arrived. Through some fluke we both ended up there at the same time, and were planning to travel north in roughly the same direction at the same time too. high five

Salta was warm, fairly tranquil and generally a nice city. We stayed at one of the HI Hostels (the one in calle Buenos Aires) which, as well as having a bar, breakfast and a good feel also had a pool and dinner included most nights as well. This was a great opportunity to meet people and have some good food while saving that precious ca$h.

My accomplishments in the week I was in Salta were few. Jay and I climbed the nearby hill - by the steps, not via the pansy cable car doohicky, mind you. 1070 steps up, 1070 back. It was a good walk, though it did remind me how unfit I am! I sampled many a coffee in the areas around the main plaza too - nothing too memorable there.

We met some other guys and gals on a day tour to Cafayate, which took us through some beautiful countryside as well as a short walk in a few gorges and finally to Cafayate itself where we sampled wine at two vineyards, had lunch and lazed on the grass in the sun in the main plaza. We also got to have photos with the “World Famous” llama named Thalia. Thalia selected Jay as the only member of our tour to spit upon, which he narrowly avoided due to quick reflexes. It was a great day.

One memory I will keep from Salta: The night before the Cafayate tour I wasn’t able to sleep, so I got up at 5.30am or so and went for a walk. Continuing with my trend of speaking with homeless people, I started talking to a vagabond (Fernando) who had some stories about how he lost his daughter and how he had been living on the streets for years, as well as a bit of poetry here and there. He shared some gin with me while a working girl came up and started talking to us as well. There was an awkward silence at one point which was then filled by Fernando’s (impromptu, I think) recitation in Spanish. I can’t remember the exact Spanish words, but the gist of it in English was:

I have no words for you, friend
Only the warm sun on my face
And the gentle breeze at my back.
I’m sorry.

After which he gave me a hug and wandered away into the early morning light, almost-empty gin bottle dangling loosely in his fingertips.

We went out to the clubs a few times - all the clubs are on one street, and were OK. While walking home one night with Jay and Claire, we saw what appeared to be a working girl sauntering towards us, dressed in the expected revealing attire. As we passed this person, they let out the biggest, most masculine grunt imaginable - as if to prove the point that “she” was in fact a “he”. We all looked at each other as we kept walking, and finally burst out laughing uncontrollably. It was so unexpected, and, while I am not capable of describing it well, was hilarious.

On our last night we went to a traditional restaurant that is not well known by tourists, but is popular with locals. The food was great, and there was a group of 3 guys (with guitar and cajon) singing Andean music which was excellent.

Eventually Jay and I bought our tickets to La Quica (the town on the border with Bolivia) and caught a bus up there. We had heard about unrest in Bolivia (it turned out to be only parts of it). We had even been told by the information desk at the Salta that the Bolivian border was closed and we couldn’t enter. They were wrong.

We slept through our 6 or 7 hour bus ride to La Quiaca, stayed the night in a random hostel and then walked across the border to Bolivia without incident the next morning.