If one had to pick the most notable Bolivian characteristics it would be their resilience and determination. It is not uncommon to come across marches in La Paz; Bolivians chant and protest with an unbreakable zeal, and you can see that they are not about to give up. Bolivia will probably survive any of the incoming end of the world scenarios that are looming over us. There is a good reason for this.
As the immortal chuños on our cover illustrate, there are things in Bolivia that will survive us all. The chuño, a lyophilized potato, goes through successive freezing and sun-drying cycles in order to become the ultimate survival food. It is the epitome of Bolivian nature and exemplifies an intrinsic Bolivian trait. We never give up.
This month, we are celebrating our 75th issue of Bolivian Express. As we have explored in the previous 74, Bolivia has an undeniable rich history and culture. But it also has an heritage that it struggles to preserve. The crumbling architecture of Sorata can attest to that. And optimum preservation demands maximum toil.
Undoubtedly, Bolivia’s past is filled with lessons for the present, such as Sebastiana, who has come back in 2017. The eponymic heroine of the iconic 1953 film, Vuelve Sebastiana, is returning in graphic novel form, breathing new life to her story and to the Chipayas. Different lessons were learnt when we traveled to the disaffected ski resort of Chacaltaya, to watch olympic participant José Manuel ski down the slope in his Calgary 88 ski gear. Still dusting the snowflakes from our pens, we eased into conversation with La crítica y el poeta, whose critical analysis of distant Bolivian poets leaves further food for thought.
While the critics revive the classic, the green areas of La Paz and Bolivia are left to both Bohemia, an initiative that produces biodegradable paper with seeds inside, and Emaverde, who works hard to maintain and replant the trees of La Paz.
Behind these efforts at preservation and regeneration we found people whose work can seem in vain, but whose passion and hope inspired us to produce this issue. Individuals who, against all odds, and in an uncompromising and unfavourable world, fight for a cause: the skiers of Chacaltaya, a city official in Sorata, poets, a film director, a young entrepreneur, green space workers in La Paz and jugglers in Cochabamba.
We invite you in, to read about the past, to understand how it is shaping our present and future. But the future may not be as certain as we would like. Temperatures are rising. And like the glacier on Chacaltaya, the chuños of the Cumbre may become another casualty of global warming. With revival comes conservation - otherwise all these efforts will have been short-lived. We can learn from these lessons, to preserve our present and prepare for the future.
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Photo: Iván Rodriguez
The young face of a new Bolivian cuisine
From the most succulent pork terrine and delectably crispy lamb mains, to a starter of alligator escabeche or pudding of milk whey sorbet, the food at Gustu is a world away from the city’s traditional choripanes or salteñas. I am in the Zona Sur, at restaurant Gustu, to meet head chef Mauricio López. Notably youthful for a chef de cuisine, he seemed remarkably calm and composed for a chef - though a tattoo of two crossed knives on his forearm perhaps discloses a more ruthless streak that would prove handy in the kitchen.
Mauricio tells me he did not always want to be a chef, but that he knew he loved cooking from a young age. ‘I was always cooking in my parents’ kitchen and making a mess,’ he says. But it wasn’t until he was studying administration in La Paz, still cooking whenever he had the chance, that he decided to pursue a career in his favourite hobby.
He spent a year knocking on doors at restaurants across the city. Finally, he came across a cookery programme offered by the Melting Pot Foundation, a charity established by Dane Claus Meyer. Meyer co-founded the restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, which was voted four times World’s Best Restaurant. A lofty door to knock on indeed.‘I sent my CV, went to a couple of meetings, was given a visa and was told I would be in Copenhagen in 10 days,’ Mauricio remembers.
60% of Gustu’s customers are now locals, up from 20% at the time of opening.
Over the next three months, he interned in a number of European restaurants, including Noma, before returning to Bolivia and working for Gustu. He has been head chef since 2015, when he was only 25. He sees his position not just as a job, but as a true vocation. A real opportunity for him and his compatriots, using lessons in discipline, efficiency and artistry learned in Europe to reimagine Bolivian cuisine.
‘We don’t do traditional Bolivian food, that’s true, but we use the ingredients and we are all Bolivian, 99% of the kitchen is Bolivian.’ It is something of a unique ideology that Mauricio and his team follow. With stunning effect, they merge global styles and sensibilities with an incredible array of traditional Bolivian ingredients and techniques. ‘For example,’ he says, ‘right now we are working a lot with fermentation, we have made a miso soup with quinoa and it is amazing, super different to the traditional miso. Quinoa is a Bolivian ingredient, but you take it to another level.’
After more than four years of operation, the restaurant is an established player in La Paz’s culinary scene. Gustu’s craft is well renowned; it was listed No. 14 in Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2016. Yet its history has not always been a smooth one. Last year, the New Yorker reported that Gustu was not making a profit. When I ask Mauricio about the sustainability of the business, he admitted that, ‘it was hard at the beginning. We had to take care of our numbers and try to balance our social impact.’
The social impact Mauricio refers to is the Manq’a project, an initiative funded by The Melting Pot Foundation. So far, they’ve trained 3,000 students in cookery schools in El Alto and La Paz. ‘We are now in the fifth year, and we are sure the restaurant is sustainable,’ Mauricio beams. ‘To ensure that, we also have side businesses like our deli and our bakery, from which we sell bread to different restaurants, and catering services.’ Such services have included weddings, corporate events and Evo Morales’ 2014 presidential inauguration ceremony.
When I suggest that some critics argue that Gustu is too elitist to have any relevance to none but the wealthiest of La Paz’s Zona Sur, he defends the restaurant: ‘I am pretty sure that if someone actually ate at the restaurant they would change their opinion. We have the same prices as other restaurants in La Paz. The idea is to not be exclusive. We hate that word. We want to show what we are doing to most Bolivians.’ This does not quite ring true, as prices remain far beyond the reach of ordinary people, although Mauricio claims that 60% of Gustu’s customers are now locals, up from 20% at the time of opening. After looking around at other tables on a busy Thursday evening, I think he might be right.
Certainly, Mauricio’s belief in the value of what he does is captivating. I ask what he hopes for the future, and he does not answer for himself, but for the restaurant and Bolivian cuisine generally. ‘I want to see Bolivians go out to eat more. I want there to be a scene. It is happening in Santa Cruz, and growing slowly, but I want there to be a big market. Once the market is there, big changes will come, and Bolivian cuisine will really take off,’ he hopes. When I push him to say what he really wants for himself, he is similarly open-minded and generous to his colleagues. ‘As we become more of a machine that works by itself, and more chefs de partie and sous-chefs come through, I will need to look beyond Gustu and start my own venture.’ Genuinely passionate, trained across the world but proudly Bolivian, I cannot wait to see what he does next.
Photo: Iván Rodriguez
The changing face of tourism in La Paz
In 2014, after a successful Internet campaign, La Paz was included on the New7Wonders Cities list. As a result of this, the municipal agency La Paz Maravillosa was founded, and was tasked with developing tourism in La Paz. They are now launching a new initiative: Super Host. The Super Host programme aims to tackle the issue of providing a safer, more authentic and more accessible experience of La Paz and Bolivia to tourists.
Raúl Pérez, the adviser for La Paz Maravillosa, says that Bolivia has quite a contradictory relationship with tourists. Even as its popularity increases with tourists, there is still a perception of the foreigner as the enemy, the coloniser. ‘In 2014, New7Wonders declared us a “wonder city”. But, paradoxically, in 2015 the World Tourism Organisation carried out a survey, and the least hospitable country to foreigners was Bolivia. So it’s like two sides of the same coin,’ Pérez says. He continues, ‘Why? Because in terms of touristic competitiveness we are always behind. One of the most obvious reasons for this is the problem of hospitality. So we developed the concept of Super Host.’
Patricia Grossman, Director of La Paz Maravillosa explains: ‘We are not from the Caribbean, or Central America – we are Andeans, and Andean people are like this: they are serious, dry, they don’t try to make you smile. And I respect the culture, I don’t want to change it. I want paceños to realise the touristic potential of La Paz. It’s about recognising the city’s potential.’ According to Grossman, the Super Host programme is about intercultural exchange, sharing knowledge and potentially creating business opportunities. To achieve this, the initiative focuses on three axes: safety, access to information and promoting a change.
Improving the image of the city and the country is a daunting challenge, but the benefits of succeeding in this area are worth the effort. Luis Revilla, the mayor of La Paz, highlights the various long-term benefits of such a programme, saying, ‘We are fully aware that the execution of our touristic promotion means an important economic opportunity for the city, but also for the visibility of the city in the world. Of course, it means a lot of challenges, but we think they are achievable in the long term.’ Both Mayor Revilla and Grossman see opportunities for La Paz and Bolivia for positive change and want paceños to see the potential that the city and the country has to offer as a tourist destination.
‘Super Host is an instrument, a mechanism to be able to offer personalised information to whoever visits the city, and offer them a quantity of services which might not even be found on the Web.’
—Mayor Luis Revilla
The Super Host programme aims to train people both from within and outside of the tourism industry. Additionally, the programme will provide a network of information accessible by anyone, combined with a contact centre reachable over the popular WhatsApp smartphone application so that any tourist can request and receive information.
As Mayor Revilla explains: ‘Super Host is an instrument, a mechanism able to offer personalised information to whoever visits the city, and which can offer them services that might not even be found on the Web, allowing specific needs of people to be addressed and provide not just general information that exists in any institution, in any city.’
The contact centre will be available at the end of August, with services provided 24/7 in Spanish, English and French. Users will be able to ask questions and receive personalised information almost immediately. Additionally, a dedicated Super Host office will open, and 31 associated WiFi points will be installed throughout the city later on.
Pérez continues, ‘What can La Paz offer beyond what’s always normally offered? It’s not just the Valle de la Luna, the teleférico, the city centre and so on. We have a gastronomy programme, a programme with [the mass-transit system] PumaKatari, which opens new spaces for you. There’s the discovery of new places like [the popular trekking location] Siete Lagunas.’ There is a clear focus on developing tourism as a means to show a more genuine side to Bolivia and effectively rebrand the country.
As Grossman puts it, to be able to sustain La Paz Maravillosa, the city needs ‘gente maravillosa’ to support the transformation of La Paz into a world tourist destination instead of just a gateway into Bolivia. ‘I want to reach all services in the city and not just the touristic ones. This programme involves us all as hosts,’ Grossman says. ‘We need people to change their logic, to work on the notion that foreigners are not the enemy, the colonisers, and for paceños to recognise their potential.’
Mayor Revilla notes how developing infrastructure and tourism benefit each other in the long term. ‘We’re going to have the best health system in the country, the best transport system – through our municipal buses and the teleférico – the best waste collection system,’ he says. ‘We’re going to have better connections for vehicles, viaducts and bridges that are needed in a city with such a difficult topography, all this converges in the benefits that the implementation of our municipal programmes have for the whole city which also supports touristic development.’ This is no small task, to be sure, but Mayor Revilla realises it, summing up, ‘There’s a lot to be done in La Paz.’ However, with a new hospital recently finished, several additional teleférico lines being built and two more bridges being added, the city is well on its way to achieving its goals.
The Super Host initiative will be launched soon.
