“Too many bottles of this wine we can't pronounce
Too many bowls of that green, no lucky charms
The maids come around too much
Parents ain't around enough
Too many joy rides in daddy's jaguar
Too many white lies and white lines
Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends
Super rich kids with nothing but fake friends""
Frank Ocean Feat. Earl Sweatshirt

Description: Cristiano Ronaldo´s latest hair do, V-neck T shirt showing off my pecs, meaningless tattoo, VIP wristband for Forum, the latest iphone: BFF, Selfies, #hashtag, skinny jeans, it's a manbag not a handbag, ipad/notebook/ultrabook/tablet, hipster frames 20/20 vision, hats: at a rave, playful side, turning heads on the dancefloor 

Illustration: Oscar Zalles

I want to talk, without pretending that this an exhaustive study of the issue, about a slang word that many people use to describe a young and wealthy social group, mostly concentrated in the Zona Sur of La Paz, that is considered “elite”: los Jailones.

Jailón comes from the English phrases “High life” (Jaila) or “High Society.” Amongst young people in La Paz the term can be derogatory because jailones are often seen as having done nothing to earn the items they flaunt, be they cars, clothes, or mobile phones, which are gifts from their well-to-do families.

On the other hand, there are a lot of youths who want to be considered jailones because of the privilege of wealth, power and socioeconomic influence the word and lifestyle implies.

Of course you won’t only find jailones, or people who aspire to be jailones, in La Paz. The word is used in countries such as Colombia, Chile and other parts of Bolivia, and the concept certainly has its equal in many places around the world.

In La Paz, a stereotypical jailon is always in fashion, trendy or chic; this means dressing in clothes by designers like Ricky Sarkany, Kosiuko, and Zara or following hipster trends with a casual three-day-old beard for guys and messed up hair for girls. It means having the newest gadgets on the technology market; like the latest iPhone, or the ability to dine at expensive restaurants like la Suisse or Jardín de Asia for even small occasions, like a one-month anniversary with your girlfriend. The lifestyle is geared around a feeling of exclusivity, which includes getting into the VIP area of nightclubs such as Forum, and is part of a search for acceptance that is as desperate as it is genuine.

My real interest in this topic lies in the fact that the most important part of jailón culture involves a certain adoption of the values and even the traditions of countries such as the United States and Europe in general (which for the record, is something even I find hard to escape). For example, jailones may celebrate Halloween more than they follow the Bolivian tradition of Todos Santos, and celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day more than the festivity of Aymara New Year.

Another example is how, over the past few weeks, I´ve seen my Facebook become jampacked with friends doing #theicebucketchallenge without understanding the cause behind it - they are simply drawn to a fad from abroad.

I am not saying that being influenced by other cultures is bad, or that people should be criticised simply for being born into a privileged family. But some aspects of jailón culture make me question how having access to everything that globalisation entails is influencing Bolivian culture in a much broader way.

All this external information, and the need to obtain it in order to be part of a society that is obsessed with accumulating as many goods and services as possible (and where having money is of utmost importance), means young people find themselves inevitably alienated from their original cultural identity. It´s happening more so in this generation than ever before, and it leads me to think that this phenomenon is not exclusive to Bolivia, but forms part of worldwide trend ... don´t you think?

Things you notice when you first arrive in La Paz: the mountains, the cholitas, the traffic… and then the resounding choruses of ‘Yaaaa’ exclaimed by the younger generation, a linguistic idiom that has infiltrated every corner of the city, from the slopes of El Alto down to the depths of the Zona Sur.

This modismo has been invading eardrums throughout La Paz for a while now, and its popularity shows no signs of abating. It’s often used to express delight and/or agreement after the punchline of a good joke. Claudia Chambi, a teacher from the Instituto Exclusivo Spanish school in La Paz, believes that the notorious sound has been in use for well over a decade. What started off as an idiom amongst chicas has become a universally accepted part of paceño speech, and not just for the young generation. You can hear the expression used by ciudadanos of all ages in all parts of the city.

In fact, many slang words here in La Paz have become so ingrained that they are no longer considered slang. Besides the aforementioned yaaaa, consider the terms caserita, ahorita and digamos. According to Georgina Herrera Moreno, a linguist at Bridge English Language Center in Denver, in order for such expressions to survive, they must be widely adopted by the group who uses it. And this is exactly what has happened: these words are now accepted markers of typical paceño speech.

Each generation brings new words to the language, allowing its members to express themselves, a communication system that acts as a powerful tool in shaping social identities.

Whilst defenders of ‘standard language’ regard slang as degrading, Tom Dalzell, editor of The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, argues that slang gives each generation the ‘chance to shape and propagate its own lexicon…to exercise originality and imagination.’

If slang is an indicator of social identity, it is no surprise that as new words and phrases enter the lexicon, regional variations exist even within the city of La Paz, both in dialect and accent.

Down in the Zona Sur, young speakers demonstrated the adoption of American English in their speech, which could be seen by the use of taguear, facebookear, whatsappear... Well, you get the picture. Due to the affluent nature of this neighbourhood, the young people here are growing up with more access to computers and the Internet compared to other areas of the city such as El Alto, an economic divide that accounts for more exposure to English in this region.

David Crystal, a linguistic expert and author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, states that ‘language itself changes slowly, but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly.’ And with the rate at which technology evolves, it’s unsurprising that the next generation are adopting words into their lexicon to express concepts with no equivalent in Spanish. The addition of the suffix ‘-ear’ quickly facilitates the borrowed foreign words into the lexicon.

Interestingly, this process of adopting foreign words into the lexicon is highly reminiscent of how Quechua changed when first borrowing words from Spanish. Consider the words cuadernota, mesata, and vasota, all Spanish in origin but with the added suffix ‘-ta’ to mark them as Quechua.

The youngsters we spoke to also highlighted the difference in pronunciation of R throughout the city. As a foreigner learning Spanish in the city, it is certainly hard to grasp. They told us about its strong pronunciation down in the Zona Sur, compared to the more slurred pronunciation used in the centre and up in El Alto, where it is realised more like the pronunciation of Z. The often-quoted perro in Spanish has become almost a cliché for its variation in pronunciation and, if you’re lucky, in La Paz you might even hear it said like pezjho.

So at what point does slang become accepted as official? The youngsters that spoke with us about their language use unanimously mentioned the Yaaaa, which highlights what a conscious and prevalent part of paceño speech it has become. And each year thousands of slang expressions are accepted into the official dictionaries of languages around the world.

And on those grounds, Yaaaa has a great shot at making it official. We can only hope to see it in the dictionary one day.

MOTELS IN LA PAZ OFFER UP A SPACE OF SEXUAL FREEDOM AND SECRECY FOR YOUNG PACEÑOS

Photo: Valeria Wilde

The door opens up into a hidden cave of treasures. I walk through a rounded tunnel; the ceiling, walls, floor--all a darkened gold of rocky texture--opening up into three small chambers. A shining sultry hot tub, with a sculpture of a buxom pirate suggestively leaning around it; a bed with the sides of a ship; a pirate’s flag and a chest of false jewels and gold coins that glisten in the dim lighting. The only odd element in the picture is a well-stocked mini-bar full of alcohol, sweets and condoms. This is one of the many fantasy rooms at Stop Time, a popular motel in La Paz, available to rent by the hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In the English-speaking world, the word “motel” may conjure up seedy images of dirty rooms and somewhat illegal activities. In La Paz, however, these spaces range from luxurious fantasy rooms to small uninspiring car garages. If the latter option takes your fancy, you can drive up to Motel Garage in Sopocachi and enjoy a moment of privacy inside your own vehicle; shrouded, that is, by beige moth-eaten curtains and the faded colours of the motel’s pitiful bunting. However sordid this may seem to the foreign eye, these are spaces of freedom for paceños, young and old.

Beyond indulging far-fetched sexual fantasies, motels have become a necessary part of maintaining an active sex life in La Paz as a young adult. 'I would prefer to take a lover back to my family home, but my family is very machista,’ says a paceña in her twenties, who preferred to remain anonymous. ‘Some people’, she adds, ‘have extremely liberal parents and are able to do so,’ but this is certainly not the norm. Some parents are even afraid that their child’s one-night-stand might end up robbing the family home...

I set out to visit three different motels in La Paz to explore the draw of these varied establishments. All of them can be found in the vibrant and cultural district of Sopocachi, alongside a long list of other sleeping alternatives.

The motel Stop Time is perhaps one of the most famous in La Paz. Having opened over 15 years ago, it treats its clients to a choice of standard rooms for 78bs per hour, and other more elaborate rooms that enter the realm of fantasy. A pole (for dancing?), a sauna, jacuzzis and (of course) a fully-stocked minibar: yours for 158bs per hour.

Stop Time’s range of differently priced rooms caters to clients of all ages and backgrounds. According to my guide, younger clients tend to frequent the more economical rooms, although gossip tells of high class young paceños, or members of rich mining families, who hire out two fantasy rooms for the night and bring along several partners.

But that’s not to say that only young people visit these establishments. On leaving Stop Time, I caught a glimpse of a senior man drive up in his Mercedes and park his car in one of the spaces conveniently situated directly next to the rooms. He pulled the curtain half way across and let a younger woman climb out of his boot. It seems motel secrets exist for all generations.

The fantasy rooms at Stop Time are alternately bewildering, marvellous and shocking. They range from the sultry golden pirate cave to a disco-style Aladdin room. Past the mini moat, you enter the luxurious castle-themed King’s room. Three doors down is the “Hitler room”, featuring a portrait of Hitler covered in lipstick marks. ('This is the most feared room. Lots of people feel as if Hitler is watching them', commented our guide.) The workers at the motel do everything to ensure their clients’ enjoyment, offering discounts on staying longer than 3 hours and serving food to the rooms of those who stay the day after.

Stop Time’s biggest competitor is Motel Inn, a place that looks like a holiday resort or a European Center Parcs, with three types of rooms on offer: an economical room for 64bs an hour, a normal room for 74bs, and a Suite for 120bs. Anyone curious about the quality of the rooms will have to pay the motel a casual visit. The staff refused to give me a tour of the place and wouldn’t even answer my questions.

Motels in La Paz often prefer to stay out of the limelight. None of them advertise. The hushed-up part of the motel culture is part of what draws its clients. People seem to be aware that couples frequent these places, but not everyone is willing to talk freely about it.

Beyond the taboo, motels are also a place of young love and sexual exploration. Their social invisibility cloak seems to cover the diverse needs of La Paz’s population. Outside of the walls, life goes on in proper public fashion. Inside of the walls, is a private world with rules left open to interpretation.