Bolivia is a country I had the pleasure of visiting seventeen years ago, as part of a flying three week backpacker visit to South America. I really enjoyed what I saw then and the experiences that I lived. While I am now a lot older, greyer, and have many more responsibilities, returning to this unique country and culture brought with it significant enthusiasm.
Bolivia is a landlocked, mountainous country located in the centre of the continent. If we replaced the word Bolivia with Switzerland, our imagination would bring us to a land of clocks, cheese, skiing, chocolates, gold and banks. Unfortunately for the locals, this is where any comparison abruptly ends. GDP per capita of $3,850 vs $99,800 and life expectancies of 64 vs 84 years of age, only begin to tell the story of daily life for the locals.
Bolivia has had a tumultuous history. Two significant events encapsulate this history and go a long way to explaining the countries current economic struggles:
1) The city of Potosi and it’s “Cerro Rico” or ‘Rich Mountain”, shot to fame in the 16th century when copious amounts of silver were found inside. At one stage, Potosi was declared the richest city in the world. Over the 200 years that followed this discovery, silver totaling the combined weight of The Empire State Building, The Brooklyn Bridge and The Eiffel Tower was extracted and sent to Europe. Not only was this wealth taken from the Bolivian people, an estimated 8 million people died in the mines in the process.
2) The War of the Pacific, fought from 1879-84, saw Bolivia cede c.400km of coastline to neighboring Chile (who already had over 6,000km of coastline). This monumental blow to a country barely 50 years old, immediately and forever thereafter, has significantly hampered the country’s ability to import and export the most basic human requirements.
Both events set the background for life today in the world’s 27th largest country. Life is hard, very hard. The streets are covered from sunrise to long past sunset, with people selling. Selling what? Selling everything. You name it, you can buy it on the streets of Bolivia. No matter if its the stifling humidity of the Amazon rainforest, or the bone-chilling cold of the Altiplano, day or night, people are selling. And the selling is not just limited to what we Westerners would consider an appropriate age to sell at. Children of 8 years old sell, pensioners of 88 years old sell, mothers with their new-born babies strapped to their backs also sell.
In Quechuan culture, which represents a large proportion of Bolivia’s population, “Ama Khella” is a key principle meaning “Do Not Be Lazy”. Never have I seen a principle followed more closely than during both my trips to Bolivia. Arguments could be made as to whether working smarter could trump working harder, but far be it from me to second guess the choices of a child, mother or grandparent, simply trying to earn enough for their families next meal.
Given all this, my lasting memory of Bolivia will not simply be the plethora of sellers everywhere. It will be the smiles and genuine welcomes that we received from them. However hard their daily lives, they always had time for us as we momentarily entered their lives, either strolling or driving past them in their beautiful country.
We often say that a persons or a places history is not written in stone. Be that stone the rocks of Cerro Rico, or the coastline of Antofagasta, here’s hoping that is true for Bolivia and it’s wonderful people.
Click here to read the “Time-Out & New Friends” blog post
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