Day 24: Civil war travel planning
Ahhh the joys of an impending civil war to offset one's travel plans. Bolivia, if you have not kept up with the news lately, is basically one inch from having a military crackdown on the protesting indigenous population. The Quechua and Aymara people in Bolivia have kept La Paz, and most of the country, on lockdown for the last month via road blockades and demonstrations. Essentially all road transportation in Bolivia has been halted, getting into the country from Peru is impossible.
Part of me wishes I could be in La Paz to witness the goings on, as a student of international politics. The demonstrators are fueled by a deep anti-globalization sentiment, and the situation in Bolivia is something I have studied thoroughly. So what is going on right now is of great interest to me. Tear gas and rubber bullets, however, are not, and there are plenty of pictures and reports of much of downtown La Paz being covered in both. I have read stories of travellers stuck in La Paz for two weeks now, daily dealing with tear gas leaking into their hostels. Not to mention a near complete lack of food since grocerers have no way to restock their shelves. Not really a pleasant situation, but an extremely interesting one from my political perspective.
One thing is a shame though. Many travellers are blaming the "damn Indians" for affecting their travel plans and keeping them out of Bolivia. That's horseshit ignorance at its finest. The "damn Indians" are protesting for very valid reasons: namely two decades of being continually screwed over by their government and Western corporations. It's sad to see ignorant Westerners comment on how big of an inconvenience the situation is causing them, not realizing their position of priviledge compared to that of the protestors, who are among the poorest and most taken advantage of people on earth.
So what this means for me is a bit of a reversal in travel planning. Instead of going to Bolivia from Cusco, I am now in Arequipa and am on my way to Chile and then Argentina. Hopefully in three weeks or so the Bolivia situation will have settled down enough for me to get into the country. It's an incredible place and missing out on seeing it would be disappointing.
For a geographic reference, here you can find the map with my original itinerary on it.
I was wondering if you were going to reroute or not. As Lesley mentioned, it does sound like it has settled down for a while since the President stepped down. Hopefully, the interim president will call an election.
The next few stops should be very easy after what you have experienced. Arica is very easy to see. It also has a large ex-pat community so you'll run into a lot of NorthAmerican/Europeans. I definitely recommend going to the Anthropological Museum of San Miguel de Azapa. It has one or two ancient Chinchorro mummies. It is a little small but well done. It give a great perspective on the Indian culture. It is located outside of town. You can take a taxi there. We drove since we had a pickup at the time. We didn't go up to the Morro but did go out along the beaches which are nice. Although there is this big industrial plant near by. The other unusual thing about Arica is they grow olives. You'll see the groves and farms along the way to the museum.
We flew through Iquique. It will probably be very modern. It is a no-tax port and has huge amount of stores for shopping. It is a shopping trip destination for a lot of Chileans. You'll probably be in for culture shock.
I'm enjoying your posts. Enjoy Chile!
marta
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