Photo: Nick Somers

Ode to Pico de Oro

Bolivia’s beer scene has never been quite so artsy nor quite so crafty. Microbreweries are springing up as often as posters calling for access to the sea, while the traditional behemoths Paceña and Huari show an evergreen quality that would put even Mick Jagger to shame. As such, Bolivian Express thought it was high time to provide you with a comprehensive and definite Top 10. Watch out, things could get fizzy.

10. JUDAS

BIO: It was an interesting marketing ploy by these alteño brewers to name their potent lager after the proverbial thorn in the side of Jesus, who is something of a cult hero for many of its customers – like Donald Trump releasing a soft drink called ‘Bad Hombre’, or Gotham a cheesecake entitled ‘Bane’. For accuracy, though, the name Judas does seem unerringly apt. This 7%-strong, explosive pseudo-lager will, without doubt, betray you at some point during the night.

Special Skill: Potency

Weakness: Loyalty

Did you know? After getting stabbed in the back – and liver – by this carbonated firewater, you will not rise again two days later. This is a joint marketing falsehood planted by both the brewery and the Bible.

9. BOCK

BIO: While fine wines intensify with age, Bock’s manufacturers have seemingly made a conscious decision to mellow the taste of this once-punchy lager. Its unique flavour and 7% alcohol content are created by a process called bottom fermentation, with extra months of cold storage required to iron out such a strong brew – so strong that you will be doing some bottom-fermenting of your own should you quaff this carbonated yeast feast.

Special Skill: Bottom-Fermentation

Weakness: Flatulent Customers

Did you know? Residents of La Paz will often use the popular phrase ‘Put a Bock in it!’ to friends they deem tiresomely sober.

8. STIER HONEY BIER

BIO: ABBA got it right when they wrote the politically groundbreaking lyrics ‘Honey, honey, how you thrill me, ah-hah, honey honey’. Stier Honey Bier is the proverbial ‘nectar’ of the gods. Brewed in cochabambino hives by an army of honeybees, this artisanal pollen-fest is both a love and a taste machine. Ooh, it makes me fizzy.

Special Skill: Slave Labour

Weakness: Cross-Pollination

Did you know? Stier was marred by a 2012 scandal after investigative journalists working for La Razón revealed that it had been employing bees without payment, against their will, and under threat of destitution.

6.5. PACEÑA PICO DE ORO

BIO: Advertising powerhouse Paceña sponsors everything from World Cups to cirrhosis of the liver. Brewed by CBN (Cervecería Boliviana Nacional), Pico de Oro’s gold logo is as synonymous with the tourist’s view of Bolivia as coca tea, alpaca-wool jumpers, and President Morales’ unquestionable footballing ability. Unquestionable for fear of indictment, that is.

Special Skill: Iconicism

Weakness: Rhetoric

Did you know? Although the name Pico de Oro translates as ‘Gift of the Gab’, there is no current evidence to suggest that beer can speak.

6.5. HUARI PILSENER

BIO: Brainchildren of the CBN family, Paceña and Huari are somewhat reminiscent of identical twins separated at birth. Were this a film, the two long-lost lagers would go on to lives of Sliding Doors divergence. In reality, though, they both share a very similar stomach-destined fate.

Special Skill: Emulation

Weakness: Originality

Did you know? The Andean Huari civilisation, preceding the Inca Empire, was named after their penchant for this lager. No smoke without fire.

5. SAYA DORADA

BIO: An ale touched by Midas and manufactured in Achocalla, this golden Kölsch beer is as smooth as Marvin Gaye in a seedy karaoke bar. Silence may be golden, but Saya Dorada is the definitive 24-karat real deal. So gold, in fact, is Dorada that rapper 50 Cent is alleged to have traded his entire jewellery collection for a half-pint of the golden nectar back in the early noughties.

Special Skill: Bling

Weakness: Value

Did you know? Saya Dorada, translating as ‘Golden Skirt’, was particularly popular among the Spice Girls during the mid-to-late nineties. Not Ginger though. From 1991 to 2004, she only drank Scrumpy Jack.

4. CORSA DUNKEL

BIO: Bringing Oktoberfest to Santa Cruz, this dark, malty, Munich-style lager out of Sabores Bolivianos Alemanes (SBA) brings a taste of Bavaria to the jungle. A particular favourite of both Simon and Garfunkel after the latter cleverly realised that his surname rhymed with ‘dunkel’, Corsa brings us the closest thing to Guinness outside Bolivia’s Irish Pub scene.

Special Skill: Repatriation

Weakness: Girls in lederhosen

Did you know? After a long and drawn-out legal battle with Vauxhall, SBA eventually secured joint custody of the name Corsa in 2013, settling out of court for a Mars Bar and a packet of Kettle Chips.

3. NIEBLA RED ALE

BIO: Aromatic, flavoursome, and fruity, Niebla puts the ‘art’ into artisan. The brewery’s title translates as ‘fog’ in English, and true to cliché, beyond the fog lies a sparkling clarity of taste that marks this Red Ale as one of the most distinctive brews in Bolivia. Every cloud has a silver, or in this case red, lining.

Special Skill: Taste
Weakness: Meteorologists

Did you know? Despite popular misconceptions amongst deuteranopes, Niebla Red Ale is not, in fact, red.

2. TED’S CHALA

BIO: Brewed in Sucre by Café Florin owner Ted Handele, Chala boasts a truly unique flavour. A wheat beer infused with spice, cilantro, and orange peel, Ted had mastered artisan before brunch had even been invented, let alone guacamole abbreviated to ‘guac’. Brewed using Dutch and Belgian methods, Ted has taken the philosophy of ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’. And thank Judas he has.

Special Skill: Artisanality

Weakness: Cuddly Toys

Did you know? Ironically, although this small brewery gained international notoriety after Seth MacFarlane’s comedy film Ted, Chala is actually poisonous to animated toy bears.

1. PROST PREMIUM LAGER

BIO: Another masterful product from SBA, this light wheat lager is premium in both name and quality. Prost’s flavour guru Guido Mühr is German, and the company prides itself on bringing traditional Bavarian quality to its beers. And it hits the spot with the precision of a German penalty taker.

Special Skill: German Efficiency

Weakness: Angry Motorists

Did you know? On account of his fierce rivalry with French F1 driver Alain Prost, Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna was often seen urinating into discarded Prost Lager bottles before throwing them onto petrol-fueled bonfires.

*** SPONSORED BY RESPONSIBLE DRINKING AND IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM ***

Photos: Nick Somers

Ángela Castro leads the race for Bolivian Olympic glory

The deep breath before walking to the starting line. The seconds before everything you’ve ever worked for is put to the test. The starter gun goes off. The crowd erupts. All these things are what many Olympians experience after years of toil. From all corners of the world, including Bolivia, athletes are only focused on one thing: the medal they could win if they push harder than ever before and put everything into this one moment. Even then, some don’t make the podium, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t achieved things many of us could only dream of.

The history of the Olympics is long, grand, and prestigious, and almost all the countries in the world have taken part in the games at least once. We are all aware of the prominent nations at the Summer Games – China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. However, it can sometimes be forgotten that other countries do their best to get on the medal table just as much as the big dogs. In Rio 2016, Bolivia went for it with more gusto than ever, with double the competitors than in London 2012. The likes of cyclists, walkers, and even a judoka comprised the team competing for Bolivia. President Evo Morales even offered cash incentives to athletes who won medals, with high hopes for many of the members of the Olympic team.

There were 12 members in the squad at last year’s games. Though none of them earned a medal, there were results that these athletes could definitely be proud of. José Quintanilla, a bright young star of Bolivian swimming, qualified for the men’s 50 metre freestyle, which is no mean feat. He became a global sensation after being spotted crying tears of joy at the Opening Ceremony in Brazil. Additionally, two of the walkers, Wendy Cornejo and Stefany Coronado, placed 31st and 43rd respectively in the 20 kilometre walk.

The most successful team member in Rio was Ángela Castro, a 24-year-old walker from La Paz. Her bronze medal at the South American Championships in Lima, Peru, led to her being the flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. Placing 18th in the 20 kilometre walk, in front of her teammates, put her in Bolivia’s record books as the most successful Bolivian Olympian in history.

‘I started in 2009, with my brother coaching me a little,’ she says. ‘One day he actually forgot take me home from training, so I decided it was time. I went off alone to start competing in bigger things. I fell in love with the sport, and kept with it,’ she adds, looking out at the battered track of the Estadio Hernando Siles.  

Ángela was still struggling to hit the mark in 2015, which was also the same year her father passed away. Times were hard, but she knew she had to keep going. ‘2016 was a much better year. There was less weight on my shoulders than in 2015, with my father being sick,’ she says. ‘I went to Mexico in March and I made the qualifying time for Rio. I trained there for a month and focused on constantly improving.’ To Ángela, arriving in Rio was something like a dream. She says it was most certainly the best thing that had ever happened to her. ‘When I got to the Olympic Village, it was like being thrust into a dreamworld,’ she smiles. ‘I just want to do it all over again. I made it into the top 20 in Rio, and now I’m aiming for the top ten, but it’s going to be a lot of work.'

The walking team went to Santa Cruz some months before Rio to prepare for the drastic weather change, since the altitude is lower, the sun is hotter, and the air is more humid there. ‘I remember I competed at two in the afternoon when the sun was extremely strong, but we were prepared for all of it, physically, psychologically, and emotionally,’ she explains. ‘I was so nervous, but I was going to give it everything I had.’ Her resilience shows through her training. I watched one of her daily training sessions, which consist of two and a half hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon. Her self-assurance and strength are evident. After the Olympics, she should be more confident than ever.

Ángela’s pride at leading the Bolivian team in Rio is visible in her face when she is asked how it felt to compete for her country. ‘I would never want to compete for anyone else,’ she says. ‘I am always proud to be Bolivian.’ Ángela says this despite the small amount of support and the large helping of negativity that the team has received from the Bolivian public. ‘Only having 12 athletes meant it was more difficult for people to take the team seriously,’ she recalls. ‘That doesn’t matter to me too much, though. I always seek to improve myself and I always want more. That’s what the name of Bolivia gives me: I want to be in the top ten, go to another country and hear my country’s name.’ Ángela is unafraid to admit her desire to win a medal for Bolivia, and she won’t rest until she achieves that goal.

‘I will give everything in any competition, not just the Olympics, to win for Bolivia. Here, many see it as impossible; after Rio, for me, things are no longer impossible,’ she says. With Tokyo just three years away, the pressure is slowly mounting on the athletes to continue getting stronger. Only one Bolivian competed at Tokyo in 1964. We don’t yet know whether more will compete in 2020 than in 2016, but we have high hopes for this little team from Bolivia.  

Photo: Nick Somers

The mythical origins of the Golden Crop

Corn is not something that I had particularly considered before coming to South America. It is just another component of the international diet modern society enjoys these days. Then I had my first plato paceño. Suddenly, I was confronted with corn in proportions I had never seen before: big, white door-stops of chewy starch. ‘Where the hell did this come from?’ I thought, delving into my third kernel. Soon I was seeing corn everywhere: in soups, toasted, boiled, in drinks, popped, in desserts.

Scientific research has only been able to make estimates about the original domestication of corn, and hard facts about where it originally came from are elusive. In lieu of data, I turn to two myths: Heart of Gold from the Inca tradition and the Guaraní Myth of the Twins.

‘It is the most important crop in all of South America because it is a fundamental product,’ says Milton Eyzaguirre of the Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore in La Paz. ‘It is as important as the potato.’ True, corn is crucial to the functionality of rural life. According to the FAO, in 2014 family farming produced 70% of Bolivia’s total corn yield. The importance of the crop, however, extends far beyond its use in subsistence agriculture.

For ancient cultures, it was a life-giving gift from Pachamama that warranted respect and veneration. Naturally, humans sought to explain its existence. ‘In myths, what is created is history that was never written in official documents,’ Eyzaguirre says, ‘but that allowed people to understand social, economic, and political structures in the Andean world.’

What is consistent in these myths is the idea that corn came out of sacrifice for the sake of the community, which in turn sacrificed its time and effort to cultivate it. The idea of sharing is still central in corn culture. The corn-based drink, chicha, remains a sacred and integral part of the Andean way of life, still served at traditional celebrations. Long before the first mines, a very different type of gold was coming out of the ground in Bolivia. Later, in 16th-century China and across the world, the introduction of New World corn helped overcome famine. Like its metallic counterpart, this gold has the power to shape and rebuild nations.

Heart of Gold

Huayru and Sara, a young couple, were members of different communities. Sara’s ayllu, the Charcas, used lances in battle, whilst Huayru’s ayllu, the Chayantas, preferred slings and stones.  

One day, the two communities were besieged by a common enemy. In accordance with the duty of Andean women at the time, Sara’s unwavering support extended to the battlefield, where her job was to provide stones for her beloved’s sling.

Long had fate’s eyes smiled on this daring duo, but that day she changed her mind. Sara was made for higher things than mortal life. Her heart was pierced in battle by a lance of her own people, the cruel consequence of a whim of the wind.

On beholding the object of his veneration, Huayru fell to his knees and wept in the final throes of Sara’s death. He cried through the night, past the end of the battle, and beyond the following day. He was so consumed by his grief that his cries echoed through the mountains as torrents of water exuded from his eyes. His tears cleansed the wound of his beloved and paved her way to the spirit world.

In his defensive mourning, nobody dared to approach Huayru for many days and many nights. Eventually, Mama Killa (the Moon) and Father Inti (the Sun) took pity on the young warrior. Huayru stared in bewilderment as, from Sara’s heart, there grew a plant like none he had ever seen before. From its long stalk sprouted forms that reminded him of soldiers. Wrapped in their green armour, there lay strings of golden teeth like the smile of a woman. The taste of the matured fruit was sweet like the kisses of his love, yet bitter as the death that had parted them.

Huayru realised that he had been given the children that Sara’s untimely demise had robbed him of. With great care, he took the new plant in his hands and gave it the name of his mother: Choclo. Knowing that this was a gift from the gods, he took Choclo to the temple of Punchao, the god of heat and the breath of life, offering it as a sacrifice before returning it to Pachamama.

In the Earth, choclo, or corn, grew and multiplied. Like the plant that grew from Sara’s heart, the Incas grew from the heart of the earth.

Myth of The Twins

One day, a mother was walking with her twins, Guaray and Yasi. Full of mischief, the twins eluded their mother’s watchful eye in order to play on the mountain. On their way home they passed over a plain, where they were sighted by the god Nandu Tumpa, who presented himself in the form of a bird. He thought they looked like the very companions he had been searching for to quell his loneliness. He swooped down upon the children and was just on the point of taking off when his progress was checked by a suddenly much greater weight. Looking down, he realised that the twins’ mother had grabbed ahold of her little ones’ toes and began pulling them down to earth with all her might. The god had only to stretch out his wings a little more for extra speed, dragging the mother hopelessly along the ground before she was forced to admit defeat.

When she looked down into her hand, she saw that she still held the tips of her children’s toes. She squinted her eyes to see the last of her little ones before sorrowfully turning for home. Time wore on for the grieving mother until one day she was visited by Nayderu Tumpa in a dream. The god ordered her to plant her children’s toes in the Chaco, a large, dry region extending over areas of Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay. The next day, the mother dutifully obeyed. After a period, the rain and sun created several tall, thin plants at the site where the toes had been planted. Eventually the crop spread through all the land, as the community came together to ensure its survival. Thus maize was created.