Prelude to Carnaval…

I thought I’d write a short piece on Carnaval since it’s starting this Friday and it is very important here in Bolivia.

The country wide celebrations last for 10 days each year before Lent in the Andes mountains of western Bolivia. If you are in Bolivia, the place to be for Carnaval is the city of Oruro as it has the most renowned and largest celebration–which is where we are headed the coming Saturday. The unfashionable mining city is transformed in a world of tradition, dancing, and hard partying. We are heading down on Saturday at 3am so that we can see the kick-off of the main dancing event, the Entrada, that starts at 7 or 8am that morning and has done so for a very long time.

Carnaval celebrations feature music, dance and crafts, are highlighted by a ceremonial parade lasting 20 hours, covering 4 kilometres and involving 20,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians. A Bolivian friend made a very interested point recently in saying that despite the social and economic divisions within Bolivian society, Carnaval unites the country in dance and for a few days, erases differences.

The Legends…A Bit Confusing Beginners

The tradition of Carnaval dates back to pre-colonial times, but seems, like many other indigenous celebrations, such as Alasitas, to have been infused with Catholicism to a certain degree post-conquest.

The two main themes, or “dramas” both include themes of triumph. The first involves the triumph by the Inca princess or goddess Nusta over Huari an evil demi-god who had sent a serious of monsters in the form of frogs, lizards and snakes to destroy the beliefs of the town in Inti, the god of the sun. At the end of the story, Nusta is said to have finally scared away the relentless Huari by planting a cross shaped sword in Oruro (enter Christianity). The second “triumph” depicts the conquest of the Spaniards over the indigenous and their subjugation in the labor force of the mines and the vineyards.

Why is Carnaval so big in Oruro?

For the people of Oruro in particular, the festival also commemorates a story from 1789 of a thief named Chiru chiru who normally robbed rich people, but one night attempted to rob a poor worker and his family of their only possession. For this, the Virgin of Candelaria was obliged to withdraw her usual protection for the thief. The worker wounded the thief and when the Virgin found him she helped him to his home near the mine at the base of Cerro Pie del Gallo where she cared for him until he died. As a result of the Virgin’s kindness, the thief repented and thanked her for her blessings. When the man’s body was found a beautiful image of the Virgin with her child was noticeable on the wall about the head of the body. The Virgin was named “Virgin of Socavon,” protector of the working population and made the patron saint of the town. The mine is today known as “Grotto of the Virgin” and there is a church built over it for her. The miners decided to have a fiesta every year for the Virgin that would coincide with the Saturday before Ash Wednesday of Carnaval and they dance in her honour at that time. The miners dress in devil costumes in order to disguise themselves from Supay, the Andean god of evil that inhabits the hills and the mines.

Some say that the Virgin is another incarnation of Nusta, the original heroine. The devil costumes also involve adorning the masks with depictions of the original snakes, lizards and frogs that were sent by Huari to represent that part of the original story.

Disclaimer: Please forgive any mistakes I have made in recounting these stories. I can only say that it was difficult to piece to together all of the fascinating legends and traditions. Hopefully seeing the real thing will clarify it all next Saturday. I will say that I am most looking forward to the Entrada on Saturday and La Diablada, or the Dance of the Devils. The costumes are said to be extremely extravagant and very expensive.

More on Carnaval later. After Saturday, we will likely head out of Bolivia to Chile, where we will take in some rays on the Pacific Ocean. That will also be a treat, to see the Ocean again. The city or Arica, on the coast of Chile is said offer a great great get away for those hungry to get out of the rainy season in Bolivia and into some sun. Should be a great four day weekend!

To Be Continued…

Dia de Alasitas

Every new year in Bolivia brings a new “Dia de Alasitas,” when “Ekeko” the God of Abundance will grant you all that you wish and hope for.

Yesterday morning at 11:30am I was in the midst of my work day when I had a visit. It was an important message for me. I had 30 mins to out into the streets of La Paz and buy miniature versions of my hopes and dreams. More was explained …Every year on this day, it is traditional for small or miniature versions of things…houses, money, certificates, babies, travel documents etc. to be sold by small vendors in the streets of Bolivia. The idea is that you go to these vendors and buy the mini versions of the things you hope you will receive in the coming year. At this point in the explanation, I was in disbelief and didn’t really think I’d be going anywhere. Had I stayed in the office, I would have been the only one because everybody was leaving at 11:50am. So I went, and I experienced something completely unique to me. A few photos are most definitely called for at this point to assist in the conjuring up of image of this day because it was like nothing else I’d ever seen or done before.

Something I alluded to already, but didn’t clarify, is that it is traditional to make your purchases before or at noon. None of these purchases, however, can on their own bring your wishes–there is a process to follow. After buying the statuettes or money, or what every it is you hope for, you must go and have your purchases blessed by the Pachamama, directly translated as “Mother Earth” or “Mother Universe”.

Pachamama is a fertility goddess from Inca mythology who presides over planting and harvesting. Post-conquest the Spanish replaced her image with that of the Virgin Mary’s, however, she is still much revered and respected by the Andean indigenous people. The blessing is done by an older Imaran or Quechuan woman from Apolobamba who is able to facilitate a blessing from Pachamama. The process is quite moving and involves a great deal of incense and some incantations.

All of your “hopes” go into a bag and you hold them over the incense. While you put one hand over the bag so does the woman blessing them and together you rotate your hands while saying your name once. The blessing involves your hopes being doused with flower petals and wine.

For better or for worse, we were able to record the blessing of the little house, the money and the other little things we bought, on our video camera. Click here to view the video…“Live from La Paz”

This all may sound a little, well, different to some readers, as it was for me. What was also interesting though was that it was a community event. This event, like dancing at Carnaval here in Bolivia (which is coming up next weekend), seemed to bring people from all walks of life, and all faiths together to respect an honoured tradition. Although the streets were packed, you could sense the hopes and anticipation of the hundreds of people who lined up to make a purchase and obtain a blessing. What was most poignant about the day was I found out later than many people actually buy items to give to others. When one returns to the office in the afternoon, or to where ever they are going, they share with and give little items to friends and family.

In the end, this day is about sharing your hopes and your dreams for the new year with others as well as passing on your wishes for friends and family. It is quite a lovely thing when you receive little gifts from a friend who who is hoping for the very best for you. Quite lovely indeed.

In Search of Capital Riesgo

When we think of venture capital most of us think of the highly risky angel investors or private investment firms in North America that invest capital into businesses that have some wily new idea that just might make it really big and make everyone who invested in it really, really rich. In Bolivia, there is also a different kind of risk capital that is making a difference for small rural producers that need capital.

Wait a sec…this sounds familiar doesn’t it? Of course, Dr. Muhammad Yunus helped micro finance hit the big times in 2006 when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with group lending in India. Micro finance often involves small loans to individuals with micro or small commercial enterprises, in Spanish, Pymes (pequeñas y medianas empresas). Micro lending is arguably a mature industry and really, the reason for mentioning it is to distinguish it from capital riesgo (risk capital) or micro venture capital that assists a different type of client.

Pro-Rural is the Bolivian organization that I currently have the privilege to work with. Based out of La Paz, Pro-Rural works with small and medium-sized rural producers that require more capital than the average micro bank is willing to lend. The other major difference between the risk capital that Pro-Rural provides and micro lending is that Pro-Rural looks to invest in businesses that are somehow part of a larger supply chain. Micro finance often lends to individual commercial vendors that sell an end product within the market that exists in their immediate area/region.

Both approaches are extremely important and thus it must be said that one is not superior to the other. The simple fact is that they attempt to achieve different ends. Micro loans will likely have a positive marginal income effect for the household of the woman (or man, although women entrepreneurs are often the targeted) that borrows the money. In the case of risk capital, Pro-Rural attempts to have a larger aggregate economic effect. In other words, lending to a small business, say for example a cattle producer, that is attempting to scale up her/his capacity so that they can sell to a medium-sized business that will process and sell onwards to a larger buyer may create additional employment opportunities as well as potentially improve the incomes of the employees in that firm.  In summary, the effect theoretically could reach more people.

According to Aavishkaar India, an organization that provides “microventure capital” to Indian firms, there is a “missing middle” in the market for the type of lending that they provide. Micro lending captures lending at “the bottom of the pyramid” and banks and venture capitals etc., capture firms that are able to obtain conventional loans.

My personal editorial on this is that there is of course some overlap. It is important not to pick hard and fast categories for the businesses each type of organization will lend to. In particular, it seems important, when making an assessment on which firm to lend to, to ask oneself, even if this business is not currently part of a supply chain, what is their potential. Let’s take La Paz as an example, I think that when we pass vendors selling small commercial goods and food on the streets, it is likely that this is the largest the firm will be. However, what about other vendors? A person who has a small business making and selling organic granola and other packaged baked goods may not have any international connections at the moment, but with a little capital…the possibilities could be big. A person with goods just like that came into my office a few weeks ago. I bought delicious chocolate oatmeal cookies that I bet would be a hit in North American health food markets. Let’s not forget to imagine possibilities…isn’t that the spirit of entrepreneurship at its best? Isn’t that the spirit of hope when we talk about providing opportunities and access to more and better choices in life?

A New Year in Bolivia…

I know there has been a lot in the news about Bolivia, but rest assured that it isn´t as dangerous as it sounds. I don´t think there will be a civil war here. It´s really political and there isn´t any resulting street violence in La Paz. There was a bit of difficulty in an area called Sucre which is eight hours away by bus, but that was only in the lead up to the referendum on the new constitution. I´m happy to report that Stewart and I have both safely arrived in La Paz this new year. We arrived on the 2nd of Jan.–last Wed. and all has been well since then.

I took a day and a half off to re-adjust to the altitude. Following the work week, we spent the weekend touring around and acquainting ourselves with the surroundings. I actually hadn´t done a lot of wandering about in 2007. We did a walking tour of one of the market areas on Saturday and a hike on Sunday to three look-out points. That was a trek, all on foot! So far and so high.

The pictures on this post are of our big Sunday hike and our walkabout on Saturday which helped teach us more about day-to-day life in La Paz.

Quoting Stewart, ¨The streets in these areas are crammed with market stalls, people, taxis, and minibuses. You can buy almost anything — from fresh fruit, to VERY competitively priced dvds (less than a dollar for a ‘new’ dvd), to watches, to
blankets and scarves, to pottery, to toilets, to llama fetuses (yes,
llama fetuses). All in all slightly scary, but very interesting.¨

Things here are great and we are planning a trip to Coroico (known for having the world´s most dangerous road up until recently when the IDB built a new one) as soon as the rain lets up a bit. I just checked the forecast and they are calling for rain, rain and more rain, and even thunder and lightening in that area for this weekend. That may foil our plans to go tomorrow tonight. All will be well though, we are invited out with some Bolivian friends to spend a day at the sauna and to relax in an area called San Miguel. It is a richer suburb area where there are tonnes of restaurants and nice shops to peruse. Will prob. grab some food there too. The area is lower down in altitude, so the oxygen is richer and it´s warmer too.

Hope everyone enjoyed a lovely New Year´s and all the best for 2008! We were told that this was the BEST view of La Paz…I think that is a true statement.

Do you believe in Paralell Universes? Developing in Bolivia

Last Saturday I went to a nearby suburb of La Paz called Zona Sur. It’s a family place, and the main square was packed with parents and little ones hanging out, enjoying a leisurely Sat. I was quite enjoying myself too. My boss had taken me out that day and we had driven to Zona Sur. It was the first time I’d “gone for a drive” here in Bolivia. It was a great way to see more of the city and Zona Sur is quite a bit lower in altitude than La Paz, and therefore is warmer. I was alone in the square full of children and parents though because my boss had dropped me off for an hour while she ran some errands. This gave me my first real personal time since I’d arrived. It was great. I explored the streets, the shops (which I must say were quite nice) and I got some ideas for Christmas presents. I even stopped and bought a box of chocolates. I think that was quite appropriate, because, when you are traveling around in South America, you never know what surprises and interesting things could come your way. Just like Forrest says, life that day really was like a box of chocolates for me. My senses were peaked, I was absorbing everything. It was amazing. I didn’t even know that that was the day when I’d really understand how powerful the feeling of parallel universes could be.

My boss had asked me to meet her back at the square beside the woman who was selling balloons. Oh ya, this part is really important. In addition to families everywhere, there also many different people selling many different kinds of wares. From donkey rides for the children, to shoe shines. The square was packed with vendors that day. So I sat down to eat the very large ham and cheese stuffed croissant that I’d bought up the street…and that’s when I really began to absorb everything.

I looked around me and I saw a new world. It was the world I had come to see, the world I had left Canada to become acquainted with. Zona Sur is a relatively wealthy suburb…there was a lot of bustle as well. Little girls and boys running around in party shoes and pretty clothes, other little girls and little boys running around selling shoe shines and candies. The differences were striking. The Mom’s holding their little girls as they walked along side them on perched up on their donkey rides, the little girls with their Mom selling candies and the little boys selling shoe shines. They were the same age, the same height, the same …. in so many ways, but their lives were completely different. There is no judgment to be passed. For me the only thing to do is to understand the way of this world. As a Canadian, it is near impossible not to emote when you see children work, but I simultaneously reminded myself that I understand how the economy works here and there are different realities. My role is to work with the organization that I’ve come to Bolivia to work with if I want to be part of extending more opportunities to less fortunate families.

For that Saturday, the most amazing thing happened to me, I was immersed in the universe of Bolivia. I didn’t let myself pass judgment, I simply appreciated that this world existed long before I arrived and will exist long after I leave. However, I experienced the sensation of realizing that my world in Canada, and this world here, co-exist at all times, at any given moment. Since I had only just left Canada, I could really feel the sensation of having one foot in each world, with all of their different features, values, ideas, assumptions, and ideologies. That sensation was amazing and illustrated the amazing fact that parallel universes do exist as a new Bolivian friend of mine suggested, they always have and always will…and there are many more than the two that I experienced that day sitting in Zona Sur. I feel so lucky and appreciative to have the opportunity to experience this, to know our world a little better. I’m the one developing down here.