Such a Long Time to be Gone, and a Short Time to be there
A view from an airplane down onto a densely clouded day in La Paz makes the cloud coverage look like an ocean that was petrified mid-storm complete with hundreds feet tall swells. (I hope to god I don´t see real swells of this size come one month from now in the Chilean Pacific). These swells are actually the primordial Andean mountain caps. One mountain peek, Huani Potosi, is 2/3 that of Everest. Like Everest the challenge isn´t so much how technical the climb is but the altititude. I attempted to scale it last time I was here and only 1 of 4 of my comrades peaked. I turned back at mid-camp.
Once the ariplane in which one rides surfaces below the thick oceanic cloud cover, one lands in El Alto, a dense urban mecca birthed during 20th century urban migration amongst the native Aymaran population in search of more and better paying jobs (and continually sprawling). El Alto remains predominantly Aymaran. In La Paz and the general region that surrounds it, the higher up one goes often is directlyequivelent to the more Aymaran faces and the more poverty one sees. No surprise that "Zona Sur" (the southern zone) harbors the highestpercentage of retail stores, fast food chains from the U.S., and SUV's in the region. On a more awesome note, if I could find a way to construct a long and durable enough zip line from El Alto to Zona Aur, it would be one SWEET, steep 1000 meter or so drop.
Back to landing in El Alto. . . From above in El Alto, La Paz looks like the centerpiece of an incomplete snowglobe. One almost expects the steep, curved walls that constitute the bowl in which La Paz sits to indeed keeping growing and curving upward and inward until La Paz is entirely encompassed in its own geological sphere. Once one has made it into the city itself (assuming one survived the treacherous descent), it seems plausible the skyscrapers in the downtown core were created by a long-term landslide of the precariously constructed adobe homes down into the bottom of the bowl, the downtown core. For a visual, watch melted butter slide down a the sides of a baking bowl and pool altogether in the middle. It is as if this long-term landslide caused the disrepaired houses to overtime amalgamate into a massive pile of assorted building resources with which to mold a sky scraper out of. The many missing pieces of sidewalk and adobe bricks one finds higher up on the bowl walls of La Paz seems strong evidence for this otherwise silly theory. Skeptics, please proceed to concede.
Being in La Paz for the last week has reminded me of one of the reasons waking up in La Paz is the beginning to a good day. . . . going for a jog or walk on the sidewalk or a ride in a minibus feels like a Nintendo game. Perhaps I think of those activities as similar to a Nintendo game as a way to mask the possibly all-consuming anxieties that would arise should one acknowledge how truly frightening the street dynamics are here. Making transportation into a game of jump over the open man-hole, get past the dreadlocked dock, dodge the incoming water balloon (thrownin preparation for Carnaval) and weave between the kiosks, carts, and meat-laden barbeques all makes it seem more a fantastical adventure than a potential awaiting hazard. No need to worry though, no obstacles seem to go above level three in Mario Bros. I have yet to encounter any Bowser affiliates. I guess playing video games as a child isn´t necessarily a brain-rotter. In La Paz this tactic helps one move fluidly through the city, it a a strategy that truly provides to a gringo secret of invisibility in a Latin American city which is critical during Carnaval time if one wants to avoid water balloons to the head and skin rashes from canned spray foam. I´ll show those streets what I´ve got.
One of the more challenging parts of living in La Paz I had forgotten is the prevalence of hardcore poverty. Even more upsetting is the association of hardcore poverty and the Aymaran population. It is if not impossible, than extraordinarily rare to ever see an adolescent fair-skinned Pacenan with matted hair and no pants on sitting in the middle of a large pile of trash eating from it andsleeping in it. As a tangent that will soon relate to the theme of poverty, Eli noted the other day how he saw a woman working at akiosk pick her nose and it helped him recognize that the people of LaPaz are as basically and naturally human as the people at home in theU.S.. This insight of Eli's combined with the many disturbing situations of human rights violations one sees walking down a streetin La Paz also helped me remember just how grave these violationsare. I instantly became aware that the poverty I saw cannot be eradicated through an attitude of feeling sorry for those suffering. The eradication of such poverty requires an acknowledgment on thepart of one's self that the person they see suffering is someone weare directly connected to as a human being. Our actions, our attitude, our lifestyle, will either assist in helping this person achieve the freedom to a happy and good life they deserve as much as ourselves, or hinder that freedom, keeping that person trapped in suffering and misery which certainly must also keep ourselves in suffering and misery, whether we admit it or not. We are not to develop a philanthropic/salvationist complex if we are really to make change but instead to develop no complex at all, just realize how contemporary western consumer culture often keeps us blind from the fact our daily choices directly affects the lives others (even thousands of miles away) get to live. A dollar bill is a stronger, more influential vote than a ballot. Extending love and compassion and abandoning self-centeredness, stinginess, anger, and blame becomes the only thing to logically do. La Paz is a very humbling place to live that truly forces one to assess themselves and contemporary cultures with thorough, honest scrutiny.
All in all, it has been an invigorating and rewarding return to La Paz. This stay in La Paz has helped me to transcend my current emotional and mental boundaries, which is all I really sought in this return. It is a joy to share this experience with Eli as well. My affection for Eli continues to grow as I observe in action what a courageous, adaptable, non-judgmental, open, and loving person he is. His Spanish is truly improving much. His observations really enrich myunderstanding of the dynamics of La Paz as well. His perspective on architecture has provided a whole new view of the city.
party for your right to fight.
from across the border where the phone lines aren´t tapped,
HoHo
PS openings and closings of this blog respectively include a grateful dead and a public enemy quote/line
A view from an airplane down onto a densely clouded day in La Paz makes the cloud coverage look like an ocean that was petrified mid-storm complete with hundreds feet tall swells. (I hope to god I don´t see real swells of this size come one month from now in the Chilean Pacific). These swells are actually the primordial Andean mountain caps. One mountain peek, Huani Potosi, is 2/3 that of Everest. Like Everest the challenge isn´t so much how technical the climb is but the altititude. I attempted to scale it last time I was here and only 1 of 4 of my comrades peaked. I turned back at mid-camp.
Once the ariplane in which one rides surfaces below the thick oceanic cloud cover, one lands in El Alto, a dense urban mecca birthed during 20th century urban migration amongst the native Aymaran population in search of more and better paying jobs (and continually sprawling). El Alto remains predominantly Aymaran. In La Paz and the general region that surrounds it, the higher up one goes often is directlyequivelent to the more Aymaran faces and the more poverty one sees. No surprise that "Zona Sur" (the southern zone) harbors the highestpercentage of retail stores, fast food chains from the U.S., and SUV's in the region. On a more awesome note, if I could find a way to construct a long and durable enough zip line from El Alto to Zona Aur, it would be one SWEET, steep 1000 meter or so drop.
Back to landing in El Alto. . . From above in El Alto, La Paz looks like the centerpiece of an incomplete snowglobe. One almost expects the steep, curved walls that constitute the bowl in which La Paz sits to indeed keeping growing and curving upward and inward until La Paz is entirely encompassed in its own geological sphere. Once one has made it into the city itself (assuming one survived the treacherous descent), it seems plausible the skyscrapers in the downtown core were created by a long-term landslide of the precariously constructed adobe homes down into the bottom of the bowl, the downtown core. For a visual, watch melted butter slide down a the sides of a baking bowl and pool altogether in the middle. It is as if this long-term landslide caused the disrepaired houses to overtime amalgamate into a massive pile of assorted building resources with which to mold a sky scraper out of. The many missing pieces of sidewalk and adobe bricks one finds higher up on the bowl walls of La Paz seems strong evidence for this otherwise silly theory. Skeptics, please proceed to concede.
Being in La Paz for the last week has reminded me of one of the reasons waking up in La Paz is the beginning to a good day. . . . going for a jog or walk on the sidewalk or a ride in a minibus feels like a Nintendo game. Perhaps I think of those activities as similar to a Nintendo game as a way to mask the possibly all-consuming anxieties that would arise should one acknowledge how truly frightening the street dynamics are here. Making transportation into a game of jump over the open man-hole, get past the dreadlocked dock, dodge the incoming water balloon (thrownin preparation for Carnaval) and weave between the kiosks, carts, and meat-laden barbeques all makes it seem more a fantastical adventure than a potential awaiting hazard. No need to worry though, no obstacles seem to go above level three in Mario Bros. I have yet to encounter any Bowser affiliates. I guess playing video games as a child isn´t necessarily a brain-rotter. In La Paz this tactic helps one move fluidly through the city, it a a strategy that truly provides to a gringo secret of invisibility in a Latin American city which is critical during Carnaval time if one wants to avoid water balloons to the head and skin rashes from canned spray foam. I´ll show those streets what I´ve got.
One of the more challenging parts of living in La Paz I had forgotten is the prevalence of hardcore poverty. Even more upsetting is the association of hardcore poverty and the Aymaran population. It is if not impossible, than extraordinarily rare to ever see an adolescent fair-skinned Pacenan with matted hair and no pants on sitting in the middle of a large pile of trash eating from it andsleeping in it. As a tangent that will soon relate to the theme of poverty, Eli noted the other day how he saw a woman working at akiosk pick her nose and it helped him recognize that the people of LaPaz are as basically and naturally human as the people at home in theU.S.. This insight of Eli's combined with the many disturbing situations of human rights violations one sees walking down a streetin La Paz also helped me remember just how grave these violationsare. I instantly became aware that the poverty I saw cannot be eradicated through an attitude of feeling sorry for those suffering. The eradication of such poverty requires an acknowledgment on thepart of one's self that the person they see suffering is someone weare directly connected to as a human being. Our actions, our attitude, our lifestyle, will either assist in helping this person achieve the freedom to a happy and good life they deserve as much as ourselves, or hinder that freedom, keeping that person trapped in suffering and misery which certainly must also keep ourselves in suffering and misery, whether we admit it or not. We are not to develop a philanthropic/salvationist complex if we are really to make change but instead to develop no complex at all, just realize how contemporary western consumer culture often keeps us blind from the fact our daily choices directly affects the lives others (even thousands of miles away) get to live. A dollar bill is a stronger, more influential vote than a ballot. Extending love and compassion and abandoning self-centeredness, stinginess, anger, and blame becomes the only thing to logically do. La Paz is a very humbling place to live that truly forces one to assess themselves and contemporary cultures with thorough, honest scrutiny.
All in all, it has been an invigorating and rewarding return to La Paz. This stay in La Paz has helped me to transcend my current emotional and mental boundaries, which is all I really sought in this return. It is a joy to share this experience with Eli as well. My affection for Eli continues to grow as I observe in action what a courageous, adaptable, non-judgmental, open, and loving person he is. His Spanish is truly improving much. His observations really enrich myunderstanding of the dynamics of La Paz as well. His perspective on architecture has provided a whole new view of the city.
party for your right to fight.
from across the border where the phone lines aren´t tapped,
HoHo
PS openings and closings of this blog respectively include a grateful dead and a public enemy quote/line
posted by Jojo at 1:18 PM
1 Comments:
dear jojo,
i'm psyched to keep reading about your (and eli's!) adventures down south. your communications from your travels are eloquent and inspiring.
much love to you both,
amy
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