Bolivian Voices

Mónica Ticona writes about activities in the municipality of San Andrés de Machaca in Ingavi Province. During the dates around Worker Day (May 1), a football tournament is held in the community of Laquinamaya. Mónica describes a bit about the Altiplano town:

This community sits on the border with the Republic of Peru between the markers 23 and 28. The climate is frigid and the residents raise cattle. There are vast pamapas, but with very little vegetation. The people work from sunrise until sunset. For the residents fo the community there are no Sundays or holidays.

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Original: Los Centros de Internet y Los Jovenes

Everyday, Internet cafes are filled with children and teenagers, but sadly, in most cases they spend their time playing games for many hours. In many cases, our students are left without money for recess and without bus fares because they spend their money on these games. The owners of these internet cafés should be more aware and they should not allow these minors and students to play at all. Also, the authorities should make them comply with established rules. But those who should be most interested in solving this are the parents, so they must organize themselves and complain to the proper authorities.

Translation by Jose Gregorio del Sol Cobos

Original: Otro Sábado Con Voces Bolivianas

The day started with something rather heavy, after a worrying experience last night. One of the many skills that I am very fond of is the sport of basketball. I can rely on my feline-like agility, so every night we decide to play with the guys from the neighborhood. We met some new people, who shared our ball with, and the game started. In one of my many moves, my elbow opened up and struck the faces of one of my new friends. It sounded similar to what one might hear when you crush a potato chip, but only duller. I turned around to see which part of his anatomy had bumped into my elbow, and I found that his right nostril had been hit. I became terribly worried, but I was later calmed. The first thing I did was to find a thin pen in order to correct the damage that I caused. After that, things calmed down, thank God.

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Original: Mi Barrio

I am going to tell you about about my neighborhood as a little tour just in case you decide to come visit here. If you visit Santa Cruz, don’t forget to pass by here. The neighborhood is located the zone called Plan 3000. The tour will start from the new bus station, where one can take a bus (lines 85, 59) or a taxi for those who want some comfort. But let us suppose we take the line 59.

1: Going out from the station you go towards the Tres Pasos Avenue until you reach the third Ring, then you enter the neighborhood called Estación Argentina (Argentina Station).

2: In this neighborhood, one finds the School - Fe y Alegria Aniceto Arce (Faith and Joy) and the church in front of that school; next you will pass by the square, in which there is a police station. Before it became a square, it was a market where people stocked up their needs.

3: Continuing with this tour, you will reach the Fourth Ring where you also enter into the neighborhood Cañada Pailita, and where you might bump into the threshing machine.

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Original: La Ciudad de la Alegria
En Aymara: pronto.

La Ciudad de la Alegría (City of Joy) is a very beautiful place, with a sports complex, futsal courts, football fields, pools, and many more things. Going to Ciudad de la Alegría is a beautiful experience because we took many photos and we went to the neighborhood university to take more photos. It was very fun because we talked, and later unfortunately it began to rain. That didn’t stop us because we continued to take photos and got wet. The rain continued and there was nowhere to hide except for some small trees. We continued to walk and some wanted to wait because they didn’t want to get wet. I arrived to this neighborhood in 2006 and it is a neighborhood with many good things, as well as some bad things. Hopefully some day there will only be good things.

Ciudad de la Alegría has a church Master Divine Jesus, where there is a wooden altarpiece made with polychrome wood from the Chiquitania. At the university, there are the programs of tourism, information technology, and theater, and is sponsored by the Catholic University of Bolivia. The home “Messengers of Peace” houses 16 children, where they are taught and supported in their homework. The university residence houses 45 young people, 15 women and 30 men where also study at the Ciudad de la Alegría school and at the Autonomous University of Gabriel Rene Moreno. The microenterprise nursery houses five businesses that were started by the students. The Valencia coliseum has a capacity for 1000 spectators, where sporting events take place. The swimming pool is that thing enjoyed by the most amount of people in the area. Admission is Bs. 5 (60 cents USD) on weekdays. Farewell to our friends of Voces Bolivianas.

Original: Amar La Patria
In Aymara: Soon

I think that everyone far and wide that was born under this blue, pure, and clean sky loves his or her country, like I do. Many of us feel happy to be here in the Orient or Occident, in the north or the south of this country given to us by God. Bolivia is beautiful, isn’t it? Its altiplano, mountains, valleys, yungas, tropics, drylands, and plains, which gave us and the world many natural resources. For that reason, dear countrymen and women, let’s join forces to advance this country. Let’s study and work for its progress, united for a one love for Bolivia. From wherever we are, let’s fight for her, and let’s start her to get to know the country and one another better.

Original: EL DESEO DE SUPERACION
En Aymara: Wakicht’asiñ amuyu

Mrs. Segundina Inca participates in the literacy program, and I had the chance to speak with her about her experiences. She is from Los Andes Province in the Department of La Paz. She was left orphaned as a child, has four brothers, and as she is the eldest sister she became responsible for the household, because her father found another partner. Later, she had to suffer through the flooding of the Katari River, which washed her house and animals away. Because of that she had to migrate to the city, and here she talks a little bit about her experience in learning to read and write.

I started school for a few months, which they referred to during those time as the preparatory cycle, and one of my teachers asked me what the drawing of a house was, and I responded UTA. The teacher told me that it was not UTA, but it was a house. As I did not know Spanish, I had a lot of problems. However, in spite of that, I had every intention to learn how to read and write. Sometimes when I was with the cattle in the plains, I would draw some letters in the dirt, which were erased very easily. I also drew some figures and numbers on some flat rocks. When I was younger, I looked for people that could teach me to read and write, even offering to pay money. Now with this literacy program, I am learning and I hope to read and write some day because even for something like getting on a mini-bus, one must read the letters of its destination…

Segundina is a very strong person that fights on a daily basis to move forward.

Original: Los Globazos Juego Cruel
In Aymara: Jan waliw umamp jaqusiñ anatañaxa

You can now feel that it is Carnaval in Bolivia. Neither the climate, nor the social conflicts stop people, especially young people to begin to play with water, as they do during these holidays. In the entire country, everyone plays with water (especially boys that throw water on girls), but this does not stop with one drenching. It goes much further, for example in Santa Cruz, they throw them in puddles, something that I don’t like at all, but what can one do?

Here in El Alto, the boys from the UPEA (Public University of El Alto), are already playing with water, and you know who are paying the consequences of this cruel game? Yes, you guessed correctly it is the girls, including me. When I say that it is a cruel game, I say so for the following reasons:

1 - Isn’t it cruel when you fix yourself up and dress nicely to go to the university in order to flirt with a boy that you like or look your best and all of a sudden they drench you and they leave you a disaster?

2 - Isn’t it cruel when you are walking to class and all of sudden you feel a horrible slap on your back or another part of your body, thanks to those deadly water balloons that in addition to getting you wet, even breaks your skin?

3 - Isn’t it cruel when you are walking to the university to fulfill our obligations as a student and all of a sudden one of those water balloons hit directly on your notebooks and textbooks leaving them soaking wet and ruined?

For these and other reasons, I say that these games of water balloons are cruel. On the other hand, I must admit that on the last day of classes before the Carnaval holiday, I enjoy this cruel game because it is not cruel anymore, when you are ready to play with water and ready to exact our revenge on all those boys that made suffer during class.

Original: Ferias y/o Mercados
In Aymara: Coming Soon

In El Alto, there are a large diversity of fairs that are a grand attraction for foreigners. The difference between these fairs and markets are that they are annual, montly, and also the majority offer agricultural products, arts and crafts, and weavngs. Markets usually offer manufactured products. Another big difference is that the markets are open during office hours, meaning 8 hours per day. Fairs begin at daybreak and are in operation on an annual basis, except for the Fair 16 de Julio, which takes place two days a week on Thursdays and S undays.

There are also fairs in different zones, which take place on a weekly basis such as the SenKata, Ventilla and Pacajes Fairs.

In these fairs, we can find everythng from a simple needle to cattle. Among the most important annual fairs is the Alasitas Fair, where we remember the God of Abundance. This fair takes place every 24 of Enero and the tradition is that people purchase miniatures at 12 noon, so that they receive everything they want. They can buy houses, cars, stores, food, tools, pastries, dolls, clothing, land, and even miniature currency bills. Another larger fair is the Ramos Fair, which take place in April. The photos are from last year´s fair.

Original: ALGO SOBRE LAS COSTUMBRES Y TRADICIONES
In Aymara: Coming Soon

El Alto is a city filled with traditions. On the 24th of this month, Alasitas is celebrated with a lot of faith and hope for the new year. Alasitas is a fair with vendors who sell miniature articles. The story is that if you purchase on January 24th at 12:00, then all of the things you wanted to acquire during the year that the god Ekeko will provide it to you in abundance.

The Ekeko is a small chubby character with a mustache. He is holding anything that you can imagine and for that reason he is the god of abundance. Countless number of legends surround the Ekeko.

My grandfather told me one of these stories, and it goes like this: On the eve of January 24, a couple along with their son and his wife were hurried. For one, they were manufacturers of miniature objects to see at Alasitas. In addition, the son had suffered an accident and his wife was due to give birth precisely on those days. For those reason, they could not finish the order of the miniatures. One night an older, chubby man named Pancho knocked on their door. He asked if he could stay the night at the family’s home. The family had always been very generous with others and let the man stay the night. During conversation, the they talked about their work and the problem that they were facing. The guest offered to help. While the daughter-in-law gave birth, Pancho had finished all of the orders for Alasitas. When the family arrived home, they were surprised of what had happened and reaffirmed their belief in Alasitas. Ekeko really existed and was the visitor.