Culture Shock! Bolivia - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

76 CultureShock! Bolivia

Both Aymara and Quechua communities and villages have

a socio-political structure called the Ayllu, which functions

within a system of reciprocity called the Ayni in which

collective welfare is supported by a culture of mutual help.

For both Aymara and Quechua, the coca leaf has been used

in ceremonial contexts for centuries. Both cultures created

sophisticated irrigation and food preservation systems.

Thanks to Aymara and Quechua art and music, international

awareness of Bolivia is not limited to stereotypes about

cocaine. In Europe, roving Altiplano minstrels from Bolivia,

Perú and Ecuador play the haunting Andean harmonies,

especially the Asian-sounding Huayño that combines major

and minor tones.

Typical handmade instruments such as the banjo-like

charango, the fl ute-like quena and the wind instrument called

the zampoña (the last two made from reeds of Lake Titicaca),

may be purchased in most Bolivian cities.

Continuing Traditions

Today, ayllu community structures survive. They were re-

enfranchised through the Sánchez de Lozada government’s

‘Popular Participation’ programme, and later, in a more

Aymaras are proud of their own fl ag, the Wiphala, which has become a

symbol of the new Bolivia.