Day 35: Paz in La Paz
Despite civil unrest that only ended about 10 days ago, unrest which threatened to send the entire country into an armed conflict, La Paz today seems just like any other major metropolis. Walking about the La Paz now you would never know that tear gas and rubber bullets and dynamite were dominating the cityscape a mere two weeks ago. I arrived last night, and found musicians performing in the main plaza, people bustling all over the place, streets full of businessmen and young kids and food vendors. Since 2000, Bolivia has experienced civil unrest (in the form of strikes, blockades, marches, protests etc) so often that they seem to be experts at returning life back to normal. Unfazed they go back to business, although from the Bolivians I have talked to so far they seem to remain forever uneasy about the future. They would rather concentrate on the now - talking about what may happen transforms them to a weary face and tired eyes.
La Paz itself is an extremely interesting place for its contrasts. The first thing you notice are the juxapositions of the colonial houses nextdoor to modern glass cubes. Then you notice the contrast between all the businessmen walking around in their suits and ties with the indigenous women selling their wares on the streets. La Paz must be an alien place for the majority of Bolivians, given the money that exists here and the poverty that exists most elsewhere. From my perspective, I rather enjoy the irregularity of the city. The hills and windy streets and mismatched architecture make La Paz a very unique city, aside from the obvious points such as its elevation (the highest capital city in the world, at 11,000 feet, and the highest airport in the world at 13,000 feet), and all add up into a package that makes me fond of the place. Not to mention the sheer beauty of the surroundings, with the city sitting in a huge bowl and neighborhoods sprawling high up on the canyon walls (meaning at night, wherever you look you find lights rising hundreds of feet above you), with 21,000 foot Mount Illimani rising in the background
In today's newspaper three statistics caught my eye. First, the government just finished a study on child miners, and calculated there are 15,000 working in Bolivia's mines. Second, last night alone 5 people died in El Alto, the sprawling and poor city above La Paz. They froze to death on the streets, on a night that was not abnormally cold. Meaning this must be a regular occurrence, given the sheer number of people there who sleep on the streets or in ramshackle buildings. Third, from May 2004 to May 2005 there were over 3900 incidents of civil conflicts in Bolivia.
It's one thing to read about these things from the comfort of your home, and it's quite another to witness firsthand the poverty of El Alto as your bus goes through it, or to read accounts in the local paper of the poverty and difficulty so entrenched within the nation. The natural beauty and the sucking poverty (only Haiti is poorer in the Americas) make Bolivia an continually affecting experience.
