If you spend time on Lake Titicaca, you have the opportunity to experience one of Bolivia’s most serene and beautiful sights. As fisherfolk pull their nets out from the depths of the water, totora boats with their majestic sails and bows adorned with proud animal faces skim across the surface, taking their passengers on adventures across the world’s highest navigable lake. Much activity happens on this water, but below is an ecology all its own, with species of fishes and aquatic animals only found there, swimming in and out of legends of lost cities and civilizations believed to be submersed below the waves.
Our writer Julia McGee-Russell travelled to Huatajata, on the road to Copacabana, to work alongside master builder Máximo Catari, to learn the craft of reed boat building. For centuries, residents here have used these techniques to build vessels of all sizes to traverse the lake, providing opportunities for trade and exploration. These living practices continue to be passed on today, and offer a way to dig deep into the culture and history of the area.
In this issue of Bolivian Express, we are exploring the theme of ‘Surfaces’. We are taking a wide look at initial appearances of this diverse country and examining the details that give it the colour and life it has when viewed from the outside. We are also digging deep to see what is below the surface, to understand the inner workings hidden from first glances – the history, the structures, and the motivations of the people that make everything here move and come to life.
We visit Oruro to experience the Diablada, one of the most popular dances of Carnaval, which gives the opportunity for the devil to come out from his subterranean domain to perform for the masses. We explore Bolivia’s historical heritage through unearthed and recovered artefacts and once-hidden cave paintings that provide a window to the ancient past. Bridging the past with the present, we visit Huanuni, a mining centre on the altiplano recently featured in the award-winning Bolivian film Viejo Calavera, to see for ourselves the place portrayed, and to understand the motivations of those involved in the film – the director as well as the stars and residents of the town itself.
There is much history in Bolivia below the surface, but exciting and deep changes are constantly making the country a new place year after year. We examine the new distances covered by new lines of the teleférico, the cable car system in La Paz and El Alto, that will allow residents of far reaches of the metropolis to reach the city centre in record time. And we look to the future through the vision of restaurateurs who are changing spaces, re-envisioning both physical surfaces and Bolivian cuisine to create new experiences for the gourmands in La Paz. We examine the very present struggle for wildlife conservation, particularly the protection of wild quirquinchos, or Andean hairy armadillos, whose hard shells are prized for their usefulness in making musical instruments and ornaments and for generally bringing good luck.
Initial impressions of Bolivia are astounding enough. Anywhere you go in this country you will see nothing but the amazing. From the jungles of the Beni to the high peaks of Illimani and Sajama, there is so much to explore here. And this includes the boats and their builders on the shores of Lake Titicaca. As you take in all Bolivia has to offer, don’t forget to dig, to look under the surface to see the true inner workings of this wonderful place. The stories you will find can only enlighten your senses and offer you the full Bolivian experience.
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Photo: Marianthi Baklava
A new investigation into Andean heritage
At the National Museum of Archaeology in La Paz, historian Alvaro R. Fernholz Jemio is opening cardboard boxes labelled with stickers from BoA, the Bolivian airline. He has put on rubber gloves and donned a navy lab coat. ‘There are 13 pieces in this particular box,’ he tells me. ‘Are you ready?’
The items include pots, plates, and fabrics that were confiscated at the Buenos Aires airport in December 2016 on the point of being sold on, presumably around Europe. The recovered loot consists 55 pieces in total. ‘Some of them are Peruvian and Argentinian, but the majority are Bolivian,’ says Sonia Aviles, Director of Patrimony at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in La Paz. ‘Their origin was determined by specialists at the Archaeological Institute of Buenos Aires.’
‘Recovering these items is important to the people of Bolivia,’ says Jose Luis Paz, the head of the Archaeology Unit at the ministry. He believes their rarity is what makes them important. ’There is little left and we need to protect it,’ he says. ‘Protecting it means protecting our identity and culture.’
The objects command a transfixing power over the viewer. Is this power truly Bolivian?
The recovered artefacts have been lying around untouched in the museum’s storage space for two months. According to Paz, the objects will remain there after they are conserved by the museum's team over another two months. After we look at the sample, Alvaro Fernholz wraps up each piece and gently places it back into its box. His hands move with the utmost dexterity. He is held so firmly in the moment that he seems to have forgotten I am there, watching, unable to touch. The objects command a transfixing power over the viewer. Is this power truly Bolivian? All of a sudden the final box is shut and we are done exploring them. The figurines and plates are out of sight once more, patiently awaiting their uncertain future.
In the next four to five months, the National Museum of Archaeology hopes to open a room exclusively for these ancient pieces, which cannot be displayed before they are properly cleaned and conserved. This phase will be time consuming, but the items would perish at the hands of time without it. Although the museum only receives around 7000 tourists annually, it is clear that Bolivian authorities will do anything in their power to preserve the country’s heritage, and to ensure that what is rightfully Bolivian remains in Bolivia. Meanwhile, I am left wondering about the real origin of the objects, asking myself whether I will ever know the truth about their story.
Photo: Marianthi Baklava
Ancient rites imbedded onto a rock face
Cala Cala, a small, nondescript pueblo 21 kilometres south- east of the city of Oruro, boasts an extremely rich archaeological inheritance. Two kilometres outside of town is a geological site adorned with cave paintings. Also named Cala Cala - Aymara for ‘Rock Rock’ - the site, at an altitude of 4,050 metres, was declared a national monument by the Bolivian state in 1970.
The paintings at Cala Cala are depictions of llamas and human figures, and it’s generally accepted that sacrificial rites were performed at the site, which comprises a small cave and rock shelter. The style of painting that the ancient artists used to portray humans and llamas is systematic: the same shades of colour are used for each corresponding type of figure. All the colours are presumably created from minerals available in the surrounding area: the red shades are possibly derived from haematite or limonite, black from manganese and white from kaolin or ground calcite. Freddy Taboada Tellez of the Bolivian Rock Art Research Society, however, asserts that chemical analysis has not yet been performed to determine the exact composition of the paint.
As is usual in cave art, there are no ground lines representing the earth, nor a painted background. Their absence means that the viewer cannot ascertain if the figures are flying in midair or arranged in narrative sequence. Nevertheless, we can still read and understand the images. A white llama dominates one of the figure groups and has been identified by the Bradshaw Foundation, an online archaeological learning resource, as playing a sacrificial role in indigenous rites. Taboada also explains that the other, smaller llamas surround the white llama because it is a superior being, that the white llama holds a sacred power.
In 1976, the Bolivian National Archaeological Institute fenced in a small area of land in order to protect the cave and rockshelter. After the construction, the National Anthropological Museum in Oruro took on the maintenance of the archaeological park, with the duty later being passed on to the town hall of Surakachi.
Although both archaeologists and scientists alike cannot be certain who made the cave paintings, carbon-14 dating, along with studies performed by archaeologists Carlos Ponce Sanginés and Gonzalo Figueroa García Huidobro, has revealed that they were most likely made by the Wankarani. These people lived approximately from 1800 BC - 500 AD, with their culture ending when it was absorbed into the Tiwanaku empire.
Discovered by the archaeologist Luis Guerra Gutiérrez in 1967, the paintings adorning the Cala Cala site have not yet been confidently attributed to a specific culture. The white llama panel is suspected to be Inca, while the human figures on another section of the basin (often connected to animals by a line perhaps indicating a rope), may be a self-depiction of caravaneros, according to Taboada. This aligns with the Wankarani, whose economy was based on llama herding and whose civilization predates both the Inca and Tiwanaku.
‘This is the Uturunco, a great jaguar, and a type of god of the llamas.’
– Freddy Taboada Tellez
The caravaneros would have followed a route from the altiplano all the way to Cochabamba, making stops at sacred sites along the way to perform rituals. These rituals would have been a form of praying for good fortune along their travels (which often lasted up to three months), and exchanging maize, coca and other produce which could not grow on the altiplano itself.
In the paintings, a jaguar is depicted, not chasing after the llamas as it would in real life (if they would ever meet; their respective habitats are and were quite different); instead, they cohabit the pictorial space. Taboada explains, ‘This is the Uturunco, a great jaguar, and a type of god of the llamas. Besides this, the Uturunco is also the god of light, el rayo.’ He says these images are infused with magic, and that for the ancient people who created them, the god was present in the image itself.
Tourist offices in Oruro offer buses and guides to visit the cave paintings at Cala Cala. The site is open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM, with the exception of Mondays and Thursdays, when it opens from 10 AM to noon. Entry is 10Bs.
Photo: Marianthi Baklava
Coffee with identity below the surface
The exterior of the boutique hotel, Altu Qala, embodies a 1930s Chicago revival, with two added floors looking ahead over the other buildings on the Plaza Tomás Frías. Crisp and white, the architecture itself envisions a path of modernity for the rest of the neighbourhood. On the ground floor of the soon-to-open hotel is the HB Bronze coffee shop, the latest endeavour of the Hierro Brothers company.
The first time I entered HB Bronze, I felt as if I were expected. With newly polished posts gleaming in my peripheral vision, I was enveloped by soft cocoa tones as a barista opened the heavy door for me.
‘If you feel as if something is missing, make it happen yourself,’ says Boris Alarcón, who owns the coffee shop. Boris opened his first café, The Writer’s Coffee, in early 2015, addressing the gap in the gourmet coffee market in the old district of La Paz. Both shops belong to the Hierro Brothers’ enterprise, whose business plan is to create a series of hangouts with unique personalities in the city rather than a chain of identical stores. The Writer’s Coffee is located in one of La Paz’s legendary bookstores, Libreria Gisbert, and HB Bronze is in a boutique hotel.
Boris Alarcón has designed the furniture and décor of the café in a style he has dubbed ‘urban archaeology’.
To create HB Bronze’s unique identity, Boris has individually selected and designed the furniture and décor of the interior, in a style he has dubbed ‘arqueología urbana’ or ‘urban archaeology’. Each table stand is made from the legs of old sewing machines while the shelving is built out of deconstructed antique bronze beds. The use of bed posts is fundamental to the identity of the café. According to Boris, who considers himself a designer, these antiques have acquired an entirely new purpose while maintaining their practicality and aesthetic.
The adornments come from various locations, notably the famed Mercado 16 de Julio in El Alto. Boris chose to implement bronze in this manner after reading Raza de Bronce, a novel by Bolivian historian Alcides Arguedas that, he says ‘presented indigenous society in a very sad light. By using the bronze material, I wanted to bring modernity to the already present indigenous culture without attempting to eradicate it.’
The chairs in the café were selected and imported from Europe. They are made of steel and were designed by the French Tolix company in the 1930s, keeping up with the architectural dating of the hotel's façade. The table tops are made of wood recovered from the doors of old houses in La Paz.
The café serves paninis with a local parmesan cheese instead of the Italian variety and a gourmet sandwich with jamón de llama.
Although HB Bronze has a Bolivian identity, Boris’ passion for travelling is evident in the food that is served at the café. The dishes are designed to please the palate of the hotel’s visitors, while featuring unexpected Bolivian twists. In the kitchen, head chef Lucía Trujillo and her sous chef work together to check the quality of each plate before it is served. Since the ingredients are sourced daily from local markets, the plates are often slightly altered depending on the fresh produce that is available. Notably, the café serves paninis with a local parmesan cheese instead of the Italian variety, and a gourmet sandwich with jamón de llama.
To ensure coffee quality, the baristas at HB Bronze employ a range of international coffee preparation techniques, including AeroPress, Chemex, and Fretta. As an added touch, each cappuccino comes with a small chocolate biscuit, which feels personal and comforting, and is also the way coffee is served in The Writer’s Coffee. They use a different brand of Bolivian coffee bean each season, through a process that Hierro Brothers has named ‘Altitude Selection’. Service is also fundamental to maintaining the high end image of the venue, which turns into a trendy bar in the evenings. The company only hires young people who are trained meticulously to meet a certain standard of quality.
Boris has big dreams for the future. He hopes to expand his business throughout La Paz, opening in locations such as Sopocachi and Zona Sur. To competitors’ dismay, he also has his eyes on the Calle Sagarnaga.
Boris laughs when asked about the opening date for the Altu Qala hotel this year and says, ‘That’s my next surprise.’
