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Bolivia Local Customs

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Bolivia Local Customs

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by utttz

Learn the local customs of Bolivia. Tips and photos posted by real travelers and Bolivia locals.

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Bolivia Local Customs

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	Uyuni : Mummified - Momifie Tip Rating:

By Maillekeul on March 22, 2004

Bolivia Page by Maillekeul

Smiling baby - Un bebe
souriant

by Maillekeul

Next to the salt hotel of Atulchi, you may visit a small cavern where some mummies were discovered. Among them, a bucket, in which the mummified skeleton of a baby is resting. Yeah, kids should always be shut in buckets !!!

Pres de l'hotel de sel d'Atulchi, on peut visiter une petite caverne ou des momies ont ete decouvertes. Parmi elles,un seau renferme le squelette d'un bebe momie. Ouais, j'ai tujours pense ausi que les gosses devraient etre enfermes dans des seaux !!!

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	Spanish Broom Tip Rating:

Updated By AlbuqRay on November 30, 2003

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Spanish Broom Plants

by AlbuqRay

A plant that you see in many places at high elevation is what I call Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum). I actually have one in my yard in New Mexico. In Bolivia it is used as a landscape plant, but it is an introduced plant that you also see growing wild. It is drought resistant and has bright yellow flowers. The Aymaras believe you can make a tea from the flowers and bathe in it to bring good fortune. However, if you are not of good heart, it can bring the opposite.

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	Offerings to the Pachamama Tip Rating:

Updated By AlbuqRay on February 5, 2005

Bolivia Page by AlbuqRay

Apachueta - La Cumbre Shrine
to Pachamama

by AlbuqRay

The Pachamama or Mother Earth is most important in Andean culture. There are shrines to Her in many of the high mountain passes. We stopped and showed our respect (in my case, with an offering of water) in the La Cumbre pass (~4800 m). When you see someone pour a small amount of their drink on the floor before starting to eat, it is their offering to the Pachamama. As you can see from the picture, ancient Mother Earth beliefs are combined with Christian beliefs in the Andes.

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	Desfilo Tip Rating:

By utttz on September 3, 2003

Bolivia Page by utttz

mini desfilo in potosi

by utttz

desfilo seems to be the main activity all around bolivia... at least at august.
To have a desfilo you need:
a group of desfiling companies made of
1) several dancers
2) a D&B band (I mean Drums and Brass but they're playing loops as well)
3) a walking coreography
4) fancy dresses
5) lot of reharsal.

actually reharsal are much more interesting to see than the real desfilo as you've much more time to understand the coreography and you can also have a lot of fun looking kids trying to imitate the grown up.

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	the most annoying part of the rubbish Tip Rating:

By utttz on September 1, 2003

Bolivia Page by utttz

rubbish

by utttz

plastic, the world is not a basurero!
in villa serrano before leaving the "restaurant" I went all down the street to "post" two empty bottles in the basurero.... and coming back I heard an old lady saying to someone near her "mira la disciplina...."... it's not disciplina it's just I do not like plastic .-)

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	annoying rubbish Tip Rating:

By utttz on September 1, 2003

Bolivia Page by utttz

recycling

by utttz

unfortunately plastic is quite a problem here. If the first part of the rubbish recycling is quite good, eliminating almost all the biodegradable stuff plastic remains free to move and accumulate somewhere.
even biodegradable is quite a matter in high bolivia as in a cold, no humidity ambient organic things tend to mummificate instead of decomposing.
pigs are quite a good answer for biodegradables :-)

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	My Pachamama Works! Tip Rating:

Updated By AlbuqRay on July 30, 2004

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My Pachamama

by AlbuqRay

I was in Cusco, Peru, when political demonstrations closed the airport in La Paz. I ended up flying to Lima and then Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to catch my flight back to the USA. I never made it back to La Paz; however, I had stored a suitcase there at the Hotel Rosario. It had many things in it, including the Pachamama that I got at the Witches' Market. My tour company said they would ship the suitcase back to me. It was the middle of October when I left Bolivia. My suitcase arrived safely in Albuquerque the day after Christmas. I bought the Pachamama for a safe journey. I would say it definitely worked for both me and my suitcase.

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	Ancient traditions Tip Rating:

Updated By andal13 on October 14, 2003

Bolivia Page by andal13

Kallawaya

by andal13

The cult to ancient gods, like Pachamama (mother Earth), still remains in Bolivia: the picture shows a kallawaya (priest) giving an offering to Pachamama at Isla del Sol (Sun Island). La Paz has a street called Calle de los Brujos (Conjurers' Street) where there are several stalls where people can buy things to make their own offerings, to ask for a job, health or love.

El culto a dioses antiguos, como la Pachamama (madre tierra), aún permanecen en Bolivia: la foto muestra a un kallawaya (sacerdote) haciendo una ofrenda a la Pachamama en la Isla del Sol. En La Paz hay una calle llamada Calle de los Brujos en donde se encuentran numerosos puestos en donde la gente puede comprar elementos para hacer sus propias ofrendas, para pedir un trabajo, salud o amor.

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	Digging the wells were hard work Tip Rating:

By asgottl on February 28, 2003

Bolivia Page by asgottl

Hard Work

by asgottl

Digging the wells were hard work, especially considering that they were all dug manually. One borehole would take a community approximately one week to construct. Since the water sanitary module were household-based, the entire community pitched in as each well was dug. Here I am in another community outside of Cochabamba digging a well...

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	The Guarayos are one of few... Tip Rating:

Updated By witou on September 8, 2002

Bolivia Page by witou

by witou

The Guarayos are one of few Guarani tribes that still live in Bolivia. They have preserved their traditions through the centuries. Visit Guarayo villages of Urubichá, Ascención and Yotaú, 4 hours drive north of Santa Cruz. Make sure to get some of their excellent Indian Barroque music, it is very good. Guarayos were coverted to catholicism by Franciscan missioners who told them how to manufacture violins, chelos, guitars, etc. Yotaú has an excellent orchestra!

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