At Altitude

My fashion journey took me from the heights of El Alto in La Paz to the lively and hot city of Santa Cruz. Bolivia has many resources in alpaca and leather that make designs of great quality and seduce an increasing crowd in the country and abroad. Alpaca, a Bolivian national treasure, is famous for being lightweight but warm. Alpaca clothes are available all over the world, and it all originates on the backs of the sturdy little animals here in the Andes. To Bolivia and neighbouring Andean nations, Alpaca is as precious as gold, in particular for one of the most famous Bolivian designers, Beatriz Canedo Patiño, who created her fashion house in 1987. Beatriz was born and raised in Bolivia and studied in America, later living in Paris for a while. Her designs for men and women are famous among Bolivian people: the last time I went to a friend’s party, almost two thirds of the guests had coats or accessories from her. Beatriz is a leader in the Bolivian fashion scene, and through prioritising a Bolivian natural resource in her use of alpaca, she creates clothes that are truly Bolivian.

Similarly, Liliana Castellanos has been a key figure in fomenting an interest in fashion in the country. From Tarija, Liliana studied Fashion Design and Haute Couture in Buenos Aires then worked for the French fashion house Nina Ricci. She makes luxury alpaca clothes and is recognized as one of the most established Bolivian designers.

On the other hand, many aspiring designers here believe in home-grown Bolivian fashion. Many of them are happy to talk about their career and share their views on the fashion industry. Mariana Carranza is a passionate 29-year-old designer who in October of last year, brought the brand Narcisa to life. The Narcisa style is essentially urban fashion but flavoured with a strong sense of personal identity.. Mariana has a shop in La Paz but is about to open her newest boutique in Santa Cruz in mid-August. The style is in the details: shoulder patches made with studs, stars appliqued on the collar, and often some hearts. Mariana’s primary inspiration is photography, for which the attention to detail is indeed crucial. The work she has done so far to make her business a success has been tiring but rewarding. Narcisa is a brand that links fashion, art, poetry and photography all together. The clients are all from completely different backgrounds: from 16-year-old teenagers to the 50-year-old women. Mariana explains that Narcisa touches diverse people that want to play with clothes and fashion.

When describing the reasons for her brand’s success, Mariana insists on the importance of the role of Facebook: the ‘likes’ and ‘tags’ of the fans helped Narcisa spread to more people. The brand is not impersonal, it relates to the clients and that is why they feel attached to it. Whereas Europeans have grown up with famous fashion designers whose name defines their brand (Think Alexander Mcqueen or Karl Lagerfeld), a clothes line with an identity spearheaded by a fashion personality is entirely new to Bolivia, and the way is being led by designers like Mariana and Liliana.

Indeed Mariana’s fashion inspiration is Alexa Chung, a British model and TV presenter who is famous for her unique sense of style and details. The role of Europe in changing fashion in Bolivia is very evident. The latest example was Bolivia Moda, a solo fashion week that took place in Santa Cruz. Organized by fashion photographer Pablo Manzoni, the last edition in May welcomed famous Bolivian designers, such as Liliana Castellanos, and growing independent designers, one of which was Mariana. The show was highly attended and is becoming an important social event in Bolivia.

It has been ten years now since Luis Arce began to design clothes. His brand, PVA, is part of the 826 CFshLP house, a multibrand shop at the heart of La Paz, just behind the San Francisco church. CFshLP means Casual Fashion La Paz and the idea is to promote small Bolivian designers to provide clients with a full range of clothes and accessories. It is like a concept store where you can find different brands. They tend to have a real identity and a story behind them. Luis first started by creating clothes for music bands and then expanded development to the public. Luis explained that a lot of enterprises here had to close because they expected too much of the market and thought an open market like in the US would bring more opportunities. The reality is very different. Working with Christian Lara, from LK- 100% Alpaca, Luis tries to offer the best of Bolivian textile resources but it is not so easy when manufacturing in China is cheaper and often faster. “We are both young, so we have a lot of ideas and we don’t want to make formal designs”, said Christian. However, they did not rely on any help from the government. Instead they are working with other designers because it is difficult to provide a full collection with different pieces and accessories when the market is so unstable. When one designer takes the risk to be competitive, they have to drop prices, which is not possible now if one or the other was working on his own. That is why 826 CFshLP is at the heart of the image behind the various designer clothing that is on the racks: multicultural and urban.

826 CFshLP is a nineteenth century house that has a particular spirit, just like the brands it hosts. “It has catacombs and a convent, this house has so much potential that I want to exploit”, Luis told me. In fact, the place is becoming increasingly well-known among tourists and both Christian and Luis want to make it a must-see among other tourist attractions. Their dream is to expand to other cities in neighbouring countries, such as Lima in Peru, because “the house has such a strong identity that we believe it touches the clients.”

Despite some drawbacks, many designers have found it possible to run a fashion business in Bolivia. And the future looks promising: the country is still in the process of improving its market, giving designers more opportunities to reach their clients and to provide an original and personal service. The proximity with a target audience makes fashion in Bolivia more compelling, and Bolivia is not left on the roadside in the race for creative originality. I was surprised and amazed by the motivation shown by designers, and by their belief in their country, a place with so much potential.

The coca leaf, discovered 3000 years ago by the Incas, is still cause for both pride and controversy.

Eduardo Lopez Zavala, the director of the movie Inal Mama (see BX Issue 6) understands it as a symbol of Bolivia. But coca is also part of a world market that has transformed the traditional use of the coca leaf into a sparkling drug experience that attracts ever-growing numbers, especially of young people. However, there is more than cocaine to the coca leaf: the consumption of coca tea is an ancient and harmless practice, and while nowadays it is drugs that make the press, in fact the market for the coca leaf in Bolivia is expanding to alternative uses, principally in pharmacology and cosmetics.

In the early 1900s, the United States, first users in the world, decided to eradicate coca production. This was followed by a series of international conferences aimed at prohibiting the coca culture. In 1951, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified coca amongst the most highly addictive products, and ten years later, an international convention definitely prohibited its production. Though Bolivia and Peru benefited from a 25-yearold respite, coca production has tripled since. The heritage left by this situation is a prolific narco-trafficking trade that crosses over the Bolivian frontiers to please an ever growing European and American clientele, while cutting its prices.

Evo Morales announced in 2006 that he would seek scientific proof of the necessity of legal coca plants for the economical wellbeing of the country, and since then some steps have been taken to control the illegal trade. Back in 2009, the federal police of Bolivia (led by Bolivia’s National Planning Director General Wilge Obleas Espinoza) and Brazil decided to work together against crime involving drug trafficking. This action was followed the same year by a meeting between Evo Morales and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris where they discussed the sale of civilian and military helicopters, respectively named Super Puma and Cougar, to help the fight against drug smugglers. The meeting spoke volumes among the international community and a few months later, Bolivian counter-narcotics forces, known as the FELCN, made their biggest drug bust in ten years. The anti-drug police dismantled a cocaine processing property in Santa Cruz province: a house that was being used as a drug factory.

Psychiatrist Mabel Romero Maury, who has worked with doctors treating drug addicts, informed me that the government was indeed focused on fighting narcotrafficking but that not enough effort was made to educate people in Bolivia to prevent addiction. Nevertheless, the work of Dr Jorge Hurtado, a coca specialist and founder of the coca museum in La Paz, to create a coca paste, has helped some patients to recover from extreme addictive behavior. When the government asked for the help of several doctors and coca specialists to discuss the future of the coca leaf, it appeared, said Dra Mabel Romero Maury, that they had a lot of information available. Unfortunately there was less flexibility to apply these ideas in the country.

Although Bolivia took effective action against the illicit cocaine trade and did adhere to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the government is engaged in talks with the US on Law 1008 (the ban of coca production), and is not quite ready yet to kill the “goose that lays the golden eggs”, to quote a famous Aesop’s fable.

Meanwhile coca’s essential and diverse potential is beginning to become evident through its uses in the alternative market. Many Bolivians are reviving coca’s original uses: for cooking, folk medicine (the unadulterated coca is well-known to be a mild stimulant which counteracts the effects of altitude sickness) and Andean religious rites.

The coca leaf is a major part of several aspects of Bolivian society: social, political, chemical, legal and criminal among others. Dr Jorge Hurtado explained that coca has properties similar to anesthetics and is often criticized for wrong reasons. According to him, while the coca leaf has been classified as dangerous and unhealthy, there are no doctors or medical studies that have proved this assertion. One of the most striking examples he gave during our meeting was that forty years ago, when the government tried to stop coca consumption, it appeared that work in mines was decreasing. The explanation is that miners need coca to work, as it helps the body and the mind to stay alert. To refuse them their usual coca chewing meant they had no energy for this hard work. Consequently mines’ production dropped. The reintroduction of the coca leaf into the miners’ daily work maintained the production at a high level without making the miners coca leaf addicts.

In fact “the coca leaf has more vitamins than quinoa, for example, and around 25% more calcium than milk”, added Hurtado. The leaf is a common food supplement as are vitamins pills in Europe. – there is no proof that chewing coca leaf and Bolivia has more alcoholics than cocaine addicts - a relative comparison between leaf and drug might be the relationship of grapes to wine. The coca leaf may contain the essential ingredient for cocaine production, but it does not become harmful until it is transformed by man.

In 1949 procaine was discovered, a similar substance to cocaine, this chemical was found to have an effect akin to the “Fountain of Youth”. After administering procaine to patients, especially older ones, researchers noted amelioration in muscles and motion. Ana Aslan played a role in the initial discovery of the anti-aging property of procaine. Coca was then used in various ways to enhance people’s physical capabilities. Unlike morphine it does not cause any kind of addiction.

Of course, the coca leaf also relieves stomach pain. In Europe I have been used to drinking coffee after eating, which is in fact the worst thing we could do to our digestion. Coffee opens a so-called “sphincter” in the stomach, which regulates the passages between the top and the bottom of the digestive system. Coca, on the other hand, is beneficial to the digestion process. “I could give you more and more uses for coca leaf but this is endless and still very controversial even if studies proved us right”, finished Dr Hurtado.

In cosmetics, various brands have introduced coca to shampoos, body lotions or hair conditioners. Tourists will probably still be checked at the airport if they try to bring one home. This happened to Bryce, 22, a NGO worker in La Paz: “My friend forgot she had coca shampoo in her bag and as she went through security the dogs began to look nervous. Fortunately we didn’t get into trouble but I wouldn’t recommend the experience.” Coca also appears in some toothpaste, as it prevents some gum diseases.

As my research through the history of coca comes to an end, I feel I have discovered that the coca leaf is far more than just a tradition here in Bolivia. It is a growing market linked to different aspects of the Bolivian economy: the people, the laboratories, the cosmetics, the medicine and more. Despite crackdowns on illegal parts of this sector in the past, the coca industry in Bolivia is still very much alive and given a few years, ready to expand.

The people’s beer

Paceña is the top brand in Bolivia. The red, white and gold logo can be seen nearly everywhere you look. In addition to the everyday press, an enthusiastic marketing team oversees that Paceña’s image is kept fresh with participation in music festivals, sporting events and trendy night culture. With the supremacy that this beer holds over the market in Bolivia, it is no wonder that it is one of the biggest employers and exporters in the country.

The people responsible for this great success are Cervecería Boliviana Nacional (or CBN). And Paceña is not the only string to their bow. They are the producers of Huari, Bock, Taquiña, Ducal, Astra, Maltín, Margarett and Imperial Beer. With such a vast collection it is no wonder they hold ninety percent of the market on home ground. The brewery lies to the north west of the city, near the old train station. It would have been a welcome sight to the foreigners and locals alike as they entered the city back when the brewery was opened in 1886. Nowadays the station might be abandoned but the brewery has expanded extensively. CBN has plants all over the country, and the central brewery itself has undergone a great deal of modernization and now the cutting edge facility towers over the highway heading up to El Alto.

The place is a hive of activity, not only with the trucks bringing in cereals and hops from the various harvests all over the country, but with builders buzzing away with construction and refurbishment. The modernization is ongoing, and the constant changes showed this is a company that takes growth and improvement very seriously.

The name ‘Paceña’ comes from the adjective to describe a resident of La Paz . From its beginnings the Paceña brand had close ties with the city, leading consumers of the beer to be called Paceños, and from this the name ‘Paceña’ was born.

Paceña’s method of brewery is of course a closely guarded secret, but it follows the same basic routine of every lager. Cereals and hops are mixed with water and boiled to produce a malty flavour. After being centrifuged to separate the solids yeast is added to begin the fermentation process, and lastly a stringent filtering process begins to ensure the beer has its crystal clarity, gentle carbonation and perfect flavour.

This year CBN celebrates its 125th anniversary. Things were very different back in the fledgling years; Paceña would have been bottled by hand and distributed by mule-driven carts about the city. Supposedly these mules were specially trained to stop at each shop allowing the beer to be unloaded quickly and efficiently. Things have certainly moved on since. The packaging facility is state of the art and bottles the product at a staggering pace. Recycled bottles are brought in and removed – with one slick maneuver the machine manages to empty and discard plastic creates in two seconds. Next the bottles are cleaned with what looks like one of the most complicated dishwasher- slash -conveyor belts ever designed. If any problem with the bottle is discovered by the high speed scanner it is immediately discarded. With each bottle checked it can then be filled. This is possibly the most impressive part of the process, as 40,000 litres of fresh beer is sealed into the bottles every minute!

Paceña’s pedigree is not without recognition. Over the years they have secured many awards for their efforts. To date they have over 50, nationally and internationally. The one they are most proud of is the World Selection Maya Award for best Bolivian product, won with Paceña, and later again by one of their other beers, Margarett.

The laboratories of the facility check that the quality of everything always hits perfection. The attention to detail is impressive. Every ingredient of the beer must be tested individually. Some of the tests seem almost eccentrically precise, including one test that measured the frothiness of the head! The reason is for all this is consistency. CBN refuse to let a single beer out of the facility that could be under par in any way. Incredibly, one bottle sat on the shelf having been recalled because the label had peeled off by about 2 or 3 millimeters in one corner. Attention to detail is a theme that repeats itself throughout the facility.

The resulting quality and recognition of awards have lead to CBN becoming a truly international exporter. Such destinations of their products include Switzerland, Italy, China, Australia, Spain, England, United States, Peru, Chile and Argentina. Nationally and internationally the marketing for each product is carefully considered so each beer reaches a range of different buyers and consumers.

The last part of the production line comes just before the beer is shipped off; the tasting. Usually this is done by various members of the company on a sort of rotation process, but today the honour was given to your correspondent. Maybe it was the icy cold freshness of the newly tapped nectar, or perhaps it was the attention to detail that had some psychosomatic impact, either way, with that first taste all the precision, the vast market share and the numerous awards made perfect sense.