This weekend the rest of the SALTers in Bolivia that didn´t need language studies came to Cochabamba along with some other MCC staff. On Saturday we visited MaryKnoll which is more or less the Catholic equivalent of MCC. There we had two lectures. The first was on Andean cosmovision, essentially how people from the Andes Mountains region view the world, time, space, and spirituality. It was interesting to learn about. Andean people have a lot of symbolism that is represented in many different things. They view the world as containing three parts, the depths, the earth, and the heights. Many Christians would see this as hell, earth, and heaven, but we were told that in the Andea cosmovision the depths do not have a negative conotation, nor do the heights have an inherently positive connotation. They are just different realms that are inhabited by different creatures. For example, fish live in the depths, birds and deities in the heights, and most mammals in the earth, but some animals like frogs bridge the realms of the depths and the earth. Humans are supposed balance living in all three realms. I found this talk interesting, but did not find much meaning in it for myself. I do think that it is good for me to understand how people here think so that I can appropriately relate to them. We then shared a traditional Andean picnic which was followed by a discussion about coca.
Coca leaves are most notoriously known in the United States as the precursor to cocaine, a highly addictive and harmful drug. However, what most Americans don't realize is that the coca leaf is a very nutritional vitamin supplement. It just so happens that with extensive processing you can extract a miniscule amount of a very potent chemical, the cocaine alkaloid. By chewing coca leaves or drinking tea made from them a person receives essential vitamins, A, D, and calcium. The miniscule amount of the cocaine alkaloid is easily digested by the body's digestive system without getting high or receiving any toxic effects. The coca leaf is revered in Andean tradition with traditions surrounding how it is shared and chewed. The U.S. sponsored war on drugs in Bolivia has caused massive tension and extensive violence without significantly reducing the amount of cocaine that makes its way to the U.S. The war on drugs in Bolivia is not working, maybe it's time a different approach was taken like trying to reduce the consumption of cocaine in the U.S. or making products such as coca tea and coca candies legal in the U.S. so that coca farmers have a legitimate market for their coca.
Sunday was pedestrian day in Cochabamba. That means no cars, buses, or motorcycles from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm. It was an awesome sight to see the busy streets of Cochabamba void of all motorized vehicles. The streets were taken over by bicycles. Downtown a mechanical bull was set up in the middle of the street, and of course I just had to ride it. I managed to stay on a full 22 seconds just shy of the 26 seconds that Andy stayed on. It was fun. We witnessed a kid's bike race with a small girl pedaling a tricycle coming first in her division. We walked all the way to the edge of town where a the world's largest statue of Christ sits atop a hill overlooking Cochabamba. We rode the gondola up the hill to see it. I thought that this was a very cool symbol. I wish more cities had statues of Christ as opposed to ubiquitous statues of military generals that dot parks and intersections.
Monday and Tuesday I had more Spanish classes and in the afternoons with the other MCCers we had lectures on Bolivian culture and history. Tuesday we were introduced to the concept of "vivir bien" meaning to live well. It is an Andean concept of living well by sharing with and receiving from others. It is different from the western concept of living better, (which happens to be part of WalMart's slogan, "Save money, live better"). Vivir bien means to live well without striving to receive more and more, and if you have more and more you should share more and more while still being open to receive from others. This is a really neat concept to me that I'd like to learn more about, it really seems to fit into the lifestyle that Jesus led.
This Friday night I will take a bus back to Santa Cruz where I will spend a week and then I will head out to Moro Moro. May peace be with you all!
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