Bolivia… Being All it Can Be
I have been here for twenty-four days. I was enjoying Bolivia in Uyuni, Potosi and Sucre, but soon after arriving in La Paz the charm of this country was basically gone. I soon started to learn that the people here are as ignorant as I hope I ever encounter again. Maybe you think that is a harsh thing to say about a country, but my opinion seems to be shared by most of the people I am traveling with. Bolivia always seems to aim for the lowest level of service and lowest denominator and it is quite successful at it. I was wondering why this country is looked down so much by its neighbors and I wondered if it was bigotry against this mostly-indigenous country. Well now I share their opinion and it has nothing to do with who Bolivians are race-wise, but rather just about what they are all about. Of course, I have met some wonderful Bolivians, but the overall population that I have encountered is a group of people I can only feel sorry for and certainly not understand.
It is obvious that drugs are a major problem here. I don’t involve myself in that scene and it was even obvious to me that there are a lot of people here whacked out of their minds on cocaine. I was told that it is very cheap and very good and that’s not a good combination. Marijuana use is rampant. Bismark, my favorite (not) guide, supplied it to the Israelis in my group and he smoked it with them. Yes, what a guide he is! Another guide in the pampas walked around with a hat with a marijuana leaf insignia. Now, I certainly don’t give a damn about marijuana use, but when things are so screwed up in so many ways I do have to question where their priorities in life are at. And, of course, the biggest problem drug of all, alcohol, is quite a problem here as well. It is becoming quite obvious to me that the more dire the circumstances are for a group of people, the more they consume in order to escape their circumstance. It’s a bad spiral to be in.
Safety is a non-concern in most of Latin America and Bolivia takes it to new levels. I went on a tour with ATVs in La Paz on my last day with some friends. It was a great escape from the drudgery of being in La Paz one more day. I was concerned, though, that it would not be very safe. I was extremely surprised to find that helmets were available. Caryn, a new friend from San Francisco, and I were the only ones who chose to wear them. We were with Israelis and I saw a lot more Israelis and none of them wore helmets. I’ll blog about the Israelis soon to clarify this situation. In twenty-four days I only witnessed safety concerns twice – the ATV helmets and the zipline tour. Beyond that, good luck to all in Bolivia. Crazy buses, crazy drivers, crazy tours. Given the great experiences available in the countries surrounding Bolivia (except, I am sure, in Paraguay), I do not understand why people come here for vacation. It is so disappointing to me coming in with high hopes and loving Potosi and Sucre so much. What I can say is that Bolivia is the cheapest place you’ll find. Cheap is good except Bolivians target everything to being so cheap and therefore nothing is really of good value. I would rather pay more in the neighboring countries and get something that matches the money. I would especially say that if you are coming to South America for a special 2-4 week trip (different from those of us on multi-month trips), go to another country.
I get the impression that education is not a real priority in this country. I would hate to see exactly what is being taught. Their president, Evo Morales, is the first indigenous president elected. He is proud to say that he has only five years of schooling and a whole lot of experience. I understand he was some kind of thug involved in coca leaf business. He is a great friend of Chavez and Castro. He is nationalizing petroleum and will nationalize other industries. I wonder if they will still be running in five years given that Bolivians are taking them over. For now, he has advertisements running every few minutes on TV telling everyone how great he is and how much money he is creating for Bolivia by nationalizing the foreign industries. These TV ads are really slick and they reminded me of the ones I saw in Cuba except they are even more professional and scary. The people here love Evo. He is one of them they say. I believe he is probably just another corrupt South American leader preparing to screw over his country royally. And I bet they will love him even more for it. Bolivia has had a 188 real presidents (not counting the temps in between) in 187 years. Politically-speaking, need I say anything more?
One of those presidents met with a king in Brazil and loved his two white horses. He decided he would trade a big chunk of his country for those two horses so he could become wealthy breedng them. I guess white horses was considered special. The king took his offer. The president did not get any wealthier because he failed to notice that both horses were male. Evo decided to scrap an agreement with Brazil for gas. He dictated the new price to Brazil. He has no education in how economics works and he soon learned a little… maybe. The Brazilians told him to stuff his gas and they made an agreement with Argentina to supply the gas instead. 50% of the Bolivian armed forces is under 18!!!
I was speaking to an Israeli who runs a business in Rurrenabaque. He explained to me that the Bolivians charge the lowest possible amount for tours and other goods so they can sell the most. They compete against each other just for the pride of saying I sold more. They do this to the point of losing money and don’t care as long as they can brag that they sold more than their competition. They have no imagination. If someone is successful with something, they only want to copy it. In the end, you get the same exact product being sold by too many people and they have a price war. A woman was selling trinkets at the market on Sunday. A friend of the Israeli businessman wanted all that she had because he thought they would make nice gifts. He said he would pay the same price for all as she wanted for one. She said no because then she would have nothing to sell and she had nothing else to do that day. Similarly, a store had two bars of soap and when someone tried to buy both they would only sell one of them because they had to have at least one on the shelf. Throughout Bolivia, you see the same businesses packed together. The Israeli suggested to a guy wanting to open a store to open it on another block instead of the one where the same four stores existed. He said that was a stupid idea and his proof was that the four stores existing are so profitable. They are not because they just compete against each other for who can sell the most bars of soap.
It took me three weeks, but I now understand why Bolivia is the second poorest country in South America. Their big goal is to be third. The neighbors dislike this country because it is stupid. They have taken half of Bolivia since the 1800s probably because Bolivia deserved to lose it. My guess is that they have all done more good things with that land than Bolivia would have managed. This all may sound harsh, but this is not a case of where there is a country that has deserved more. I think they probably have received exactly what they have deserved. I would like to say there is a brighter future here. I would like to say this country is on the right track. I would like to say that Evo is their answer and he is going to lead this country all the way to fourth poorest in South America. But I can’t say these things because I am very skeptical of Bolivia’s real desire to improve itself and its ability to do so. With 85% in poverty (less than $25 per month income), 10% middle class ($25-100 per month) and 5% elite (more than $100 per month), this country seems like an extreme disaster.
I am so happy to be leaving Bolivia today and getting back to Peru for the final two weeks. It reminds me of how much I wanted to get out of Cuba. Last night I went out to dinner with new friends that I spent the day with hiking Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca. I chose a restaurant that looked better than the rest. We ordered fish, pizza and other items. The entrees arrived with warm fish, but the rice, potatoes and veggies were ICE cold. So were the plates. The ·$”//&)(==! chef obviously cooked them hours or days ago and removed the plates from the refrigerator when serving the fish. Only in Bolivia. The waiter did not give a damn and said they must have gotten cold during the walk from the kitchen to the table. Only in Bolivia. I think I will skip Venezuela now that I have visited two out of the three whacky “socialist” nations of Latin America.
Tags: bolivia, south america, Travel
vagabondrick
Don’t go there redneck, we don’t want your dirty ass over there, GO HOME gringo go home