144 CultureShock! BoliviaTHE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOURISM AND TRAVEL is the difference
between seeing and being. If there is no real engagement
with local people and geography, the visitor will take home
only photographs and trinkets. But if communication with
people or communion with geography are achieved, the
image of place will remain vibrant within the traveller long
after the photos have faded.
What follows is a narrative menu of ways to engage with
Bolivian culture and commune with the unbelievable settings
that nurture this culture.FESTIVALS
It may be bad timing for a visitor to arrive on the eve of a
festival. There will have been no time for a way of life to sink
in, and the visitor may remain an outsider. However, visitors
who can follow rhythms may join in the dance and come out
with a visceral imprint.
Dominating Bolivia’s history
is a series of colonial and neo-
colonial relationships, beginning
with Inca invasions, followed
by 300 years of Spanish
colonialism and continuing
through today, with Bolivian
capitalists dependent on foreign
enterprises and banks. Of allThe names of festivals may
change from Mexico to Bolivia,
but the frenzy of drinking and
dancing is similar. Missing in
Bolivia are the gunshots you
hear at the more spirited Mexican
festivals. In both countries,
indigenous folk will spend their
year’s savings on one annual
event. When the delirium is over,
the new cycle begins.