102 CultureShock! Bolivia
resilient people. If they were to become co-opted by Bolivia’s
history of dependency, the road blocks and hunger strikes
would be back.
The above context will serve as a background for illustrating
specifi c Bolivian social situations in which the visitor must
learn to manoeuvre.Bolivian Time Frames
Beginning with an exception, I refer to my Bolivian brother-
in-law, Alfonso, who always arrives on time. No German
or Englishman is any more punctual than Alfonso. But the
general rule in Bolivia is to arrive at least a half hour after
the hour listed on the invitation.
As a journalist, I was invited to La Paz’s Plaza Hotel for
a working dinner on election coverage. The invitation said
7:00 pm. I got to the hotel at 7:00 pm. A sign posted for the
journalists said 7:30 pm. The actual meeting didn’t begin
until 8:15 pm. Each time you arrive on time, behaviour
modification takes place. For the second invitation,