viiToday, thanks to immense but largely non-violent uprisings
in defence of considerable gas, water and petrol resources
against detrimental foreign exploitation, Bolivia is fi nally
eligible for a place on the geopolitical map, beyond the classic
war on drugs. In a 1995 threat to ‘send US aircraft carriers to
the coast of Bolivia’ in order to destroy coca leaf production,
Indiana Congressman Dan Burton showed just how
oblivious people are to Bolivia. As a foreign relations expert,
Burton, of all people, should have known that Bolivia has
no coast!
Even when a people’s rebellion forced the powerful Bechtel
corporation to be expelled from the country and even when
subsequent indigenous uprisings toppled two presidents
because they were not seen as committed to protecting natural
gas reserves from multinational plundering, North American
and European media attention span was short. The fact that
this country has remained so remote from world consciousness
may be to her advantage. Without renouncing contemporary
innovations such as Internet, third generation mobile phones
and designer blood pressure pills, Bolivia remains aloof from
modern trends of monotony, like twenty-minute brown-bag
lunch periods and single-use zoning. Dense mountain valleys
remain so isolated that university expeditions fi nd animal
and plant species that are new to science and endemic to
the region.
Why go to this remote spot on the globe? Here are ten reasons
for visiting or living in this absurdly magnifi cent country.
Native South American cultures
As Bolivia proceeds to undo its racist past, through new
institutions, campaigns of awareness and indigenous
movements, peoples of European descent interact with
two major native American cultures and a number of other
smaller communities native to South America. In December
of 2005, Bolivia elected its fi rst indigenous president, Evo
Morales, the result of fi ve years of social protest movements
led by the country’s indigenous majority.
Biodiversity
Bolivia is at the core of the most biodiverse region on
earth, the Tropical Andes. Most of the world’s climates andBOLIVIA.indb vii 7/13/10 2:47:16 PM