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.