A Gem of Peach and Lilac
Tuesday, November 22nd, 200521 November 2005 (Monday) – Santa Cruz, Bolivia
True enough, there were loads and loads of plastic hair-clips sold along the streets!! Brazil flash-back!
As I popped my nose into several of the fancier shops all over Santa Cruz today, I was surprised at some of the prices!! For a pair of sandals (pretty low-quality if I may add), it was 130 bolivianos… that is about US$16 or S$28 (Singapore dollar). But I believe I could get something like that for about S$15-S$18 in Singapore. A skirt… 280 bolivianos, or US$35 which is S$60. Perhaps, I could get something like that for around S$40-S$50 and even then, I would consider it expensive!!
Later, I realised many of the shops did not even go the ‘boliviano’ way. They quoted me all the prices in US dollars directly. A simple blouse, US$25… another skirt, US$40… I looked around me and there were serious shoppers, looking to buy. They obviously blinked less than I on hearing the prices.
Gosh, I really did not understand how anyone could afford such things based on what I assumed to be their salaries here. I remembered a conversation in Ecuador, where a man asked me how much I earned a month. Before I could reply, he asked if I earned more than US$500. Err… yes, I do. And he went on to say that that was a lot of money. Yet, I had seen sweaters there sold for US$25 when I could get the same for S$25 in my country! I guess, for the basic survival items, everything was more or less alright for their salaries. But for anything else, they were only meant for the Really Rich. And the Really Rich here in Santa Cruz must be really, really, and I mean, profanely, obscenely rich.
The area called Siete Calles (Seven Streets) in Santa Cruz is an area where several streets (I am assuming there are seven of them) converged, creating a melee of activities and honking vehicles. There were the fancy shops selling evening gowns, sexy tops, nice jeans, costume jewelleries, real jewelleries, crystal wares, silver photo frames, branded sunglasses, bags, lots and lots of shoes and where everything was priced in US dollars.
And right in front of them, were the street vendors selling rather similar-looking items (perhaps, a tad lower quality) in bolivianos, obviously contrabands from Brazil. In the cool breeze of the evening, there were lots of movements here. It had a really festive shopping atmosphere.
A nice unique architectural aspect I noticed of Santa Cruz is that many of the pavements around Santa Cruz are covered. You may not find this important, but believe me, when it rains, you will surely appreciate a covered pavement. To support the roofs, there are sometimes concrete columns along the pavements, and for some of the older buildings, wooden columns. On top of these wooden columns, one might also find wooden balconies above. All these wooden balconies, columns and red tiles, kinda give Santa Cruz a little ‘cowboy’ look, I thought.
Anyway, speaking of jewelleries, there is a gem called ‘bolivianito’ which is a peach-and-lilac stone. They tell me it is unique in Bolivia. I do not know for sure, but it was certainly my first time seeing such gems. They cut the gems in such a way that on the stone on a necklace or an earring, the gem would have a little of the peach and lilac colours. Very very lovely. I had been eyeing them since La Paz. Should I splash on a pair of earrings? For sure, I do not belong to the Really Rich, but on the other hand… they are really unique, lovely and when would I come back to Bolivia again?
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