It’s difficult to begin counting the ways that Bolivia has the power to overtake the senses. But I’ll take on that fool’s errand and start a list:
A walk through La Cancha, Cochabamba’s famous daily open-air market – the country’s largest – will inundate your eyes with the crowded sights of vendors selling everything under the sun, from vegetables and livestock to clothes and car parts. The world-famous Carnaval celebrations in Oruro flood your ears with the wild musical history of Bolivian folklore. Neo-Andean cuisine pouring from the newest kitchens in La Paz and Santa Cruz offers the jet set traditional, local ingredients presented with modern flair, creating new flavours for diners to savour. A pre-dawn arrival to the ceramic and glass bus terminal in Potosí can deliver a soul-searing cold your body has never felt before. The smell of burning palo santo enticing your nose at a cha’lla at the top of La Cumbre, the desolate, rocky mountain pass you reach on your way down to the greenery of Los Yungas and the Amazon, is one you will never forget.
I could go on and on.
In this issue of Bolivian Express, we used our senses as our guides to share some of the most memorable stories from Bolivia. We are celebrating the incredible diversity of this country, and telling stories of what we find to be essential Bolivian experiences.
We learn about a history of the recorded music of yesteryear, and two fanatics’ efforts to preserve precious pieces of musical history. We visit a theatre where children without hearing are learning to perform their experiences and allow audiences to understand what it might be like to live with disabilities. We take a charango lesson from a master, one who cannot see and uses his ears, hands and heart to feel his music. In La Paz’s Zona Sur, we get a close shave with a barber offering old-time quality to the city’s up-and-coming. And we visit an Italian restaurant that combines tastes of the Mediterranean with warm Bolivian hospitality.
While thinking of the sensory experiences Bolivia has to offer, it is important not to leave out its more mystical side: yatiris telling fortunes; human skulls protecting their caretakers; the Andean cosmovision providing new ways to see the physical and metaphysical world. With otherworldly activities carrying on amongst modern life here, one can become tuned in to one’s sixth sense, looking inside oneself to make one’s own reality of this place.
As you sit back and read this issue, hopefully we will awake all of your senses, and you will be prepared to take in from all sides everything Bolivia has to offer. There are many places to go, and even more stories to create. Give it your all, and with your five physical senses, and your sixth one for good measure, you can experience Bolivia for all that it is.
Then you can start making your own little list.
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Photo: Sophie Hogan
Electro Preste in La Paz
In the ever more international and multicultural Bolivia, one of the best portraits of the country, at least from a cultural point of view, might be the Electro Preste. A predominantly electronic music festival, the Electro Preste also showcases Andean music, cumbia, and hip-hop. Fans from all over Latin America, the United States, and even Europe attend the festival in the Bolivian autumn, according to José Antonio Bedregal, one of the event’s organisers.
On Friday 31 March, this year’s festival took place in the salon Mega Zafiro, in La Paz’s Garita de Lima neighbourhood, accessible by the red teleférico station near the Cementerio General.
Electro Preste is a mixture of traditional and folkloric Bolivian culture and modernity. As proof of this, just look at the name: it’s a fusion of electro, the popular musical genre, and preste, once a tradition in which a saint provided protection to a person, now a type of sponsored party. Metaphorically, this is what happens during the party, as DJs take turns at the console to entertain people and make them dance.
Before the party, near the teleférico stop, it was impossible to miss the cholitas luchadoras, wrestling their way to greet attendees as they arrived. These female Bolivian wrestlers, aged 15 to 55, competed with each other in – and out of – a ring in which anything goes. In Bolivia, this kind of lucha libre was born around the 1950s and soon became popular thanks to El Santo, a Mexican fighter who travelled around South America teaching the art (or artifice) of grappling. At first, only men fought, but now women have also begun to participate in the sport – and they’re taking up much of the spotlight.
After enjoying the wrestling, a long procession of attendees wound from the ring to the Electro Preste’s location, a massive cholet, a building constructed in the contemporary Andean style. This architectural movement was dreamt up by Freddy Mamani Silvestre, a Bolivian architect who combines imagery from the Andes – particularly the ancient ruins of Tiwanaku – with new design and architectural techniques. So far, there are more than 160 such buildings in Bolivia – astonishing when you consider that this movement is only 10 years old. It’s already a symbol of Bolivian identity, particularly among the Aymara nouveau riche populating parts of El Alto.
Nick Warren, the famous English DJ and electro-house music legend, enjoyed his first time in Bolivia.
At this Electro Preste, the crowd was treated to a performance by Nick Warren, the famous English DJ and electro-house music legend, who was enjoying his first time in Bolivia. Last year’s event was held in a similar space in El Alto, with more than 1,500 people attending. This year, it was moved to La Paz to accommodate a larger crowd and to draw more people from the city’s southern region.
José Bedregal and his crew, including Marco Cuba and Anibal Aguilar, have created an international event that remains faithful to its Bolivian essence, something thoroughly enjoyed and not forgotten by its attendees, many of whom partied until dawn. If you like electronic music and local traditions, be sure not to miss the next Electro Preste in 2018.
Photo: Federico de Blasi
An Italian corner in the centre of La Paz
Hidden away in the confusing and chaotic streets between Calle Sagarnaga and Calle Santa Cruz, there is a chance to take a peaceful break from the touristic noise of the city centre and the exhausting tradings in nearby markets. In a large and bright colonial patio behind San Francisco Church, lies Berlusca, a restaurant opened by the Swiss-born, half-Italian, half-Bolivian chef, Emiliano Rojas. The roots of its creator are reflected in the restaurant’s kitchen: Swiss precision, Italian quality, and Bolivian warmth.
Chef Emiliano was initiated into the culinary arts almost by accident. In 2014, his parents were renting a venue to a local restaurant in La Paz’s Zona Sur. When their tenants were unable to pay rent, Emiliano, fresh from studying political science in Switzerland, had an idea. At the age of 27, he bought a pasta machine and decided to open his own restaurant. His vision was to offer Italian cuisine combined with typical Latin American traditions. Thus, Fenomeno was born, Emiliano’s first restaurant, where you can taste lasagnas alongside local asado.
Berlusca is Emiliano’s latest endeavour. Opened in November of last year, it boasts a perfectly harmonious rural setting, with wooden tables surrounded by plants, and an open view kitchen. The restaurant’s namesake is the nickname of the former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. But, for Emiliano, it means something more personal: Berlusca was the name of his small skewed-eyed dog, whose passing away inspired him to name the restaurant. ‘According to my mother,’ he says, ‘Berlusca means skewed-eyed, and it’s a kind of joke because Berlusconi was in power and things weren’t going the right way in Italy.’
There seem to be few choices in Berlusca’s concise and delicious menu, but there are three kinds of homemade pasta: tagliatelle, fusilli, and rigatoni, all of them available with carbonara, bolognese, pesto, or mushroom sauce (which is Emiliano’s favourite). When ordering, follow Emiliano’s lead, as he perfectly knows which kind of pasta pairs well with each ingredient. Vladi, who is one of Emiliano’s collaborators, makes fresh pasta daily, using the original pasta machine with which the chef began his career. He begins at 11:30 am, producing an average of four kilograms of pasta per day. Other than wine and beer to accompany your meal, you can also choose from a menu of fruit juices made from seasonal fruits that have an impeccable taste.
Before pastas, don’t forget to eat the sopa del día (the soup of the day), a light vegetable soup, a vegan dish naturally, that sweetly caresses your taste buds before the main course. In fact, regarding the vegan world, Emiliano intends to create a new, completely vegan menu, including ‘spaghetti di zucchini al pomodoro’. After the main course, you can order a simple dessert. A fried plátano accompanied by ice cream or crema de maracuyá makes for a great finish to a perfect lunch.
Berlusca was the name of his small skewed-eyed dog, whose passing away inspired Emiliano to name the restaurant.
Emiliano would define his kitchen as ‘honest’ – honesty based on uniquely fresh flavours and a decent quantity served. ‘When I go to other restaurants,’ he says, ‘I cannot stand to see the unsatisfied look on a customer’s face because of the amount.’ Well, I cannot disagree. If you are in the centre of La Paz and have had your fill of Bolivian street food, in Berlusca you can find a peaceful and also cheap place to chill out and taste excellent (and abundant) artisanal pasta.
Text: Sophie Hogan
Of all the things we feel in our lives, no pillow is as soft, no sun as warm on the skin as the touch of the person we love and who loves us back. It satisfies a hunger that no other sensation can.
These touches still feel as good years later, just as they did on the first day. This collection of photos is an ode to love, each couple with their own unique story in light kisses and fair touches.
