Hello All! I would be sleeping right now, but this awesome head cold I picked up from the orphange in Sucre has made breathing...and therefore sleeping, nearly impossible. Soooooo, why not fill you in on what I´ve been up to the last couple days?
Well, from Cochabamba, we took an overnight bus to Sucre. After my last overnight bus experience (the one where I thought I was going to die!), I decided to follow the crowd and take something to help me sleep. There are 2 doctors on this trip with plenty of drugs, so I hit them up for a simple antihistamine. I forgot how sensitive I am to Benadryl and the like...I was so drugged up the whole night, and pretty much the entire next day.
So Sucre was a blur of really pretty buildings (they call it the ¨White City¨), museums (I`m not even going to go into them...I think I`m finally museumed out), drinking and dancing at the Joyride Cafe, the chocolate factory tour (yum!), and finally a trip to a local orphange.
The trip to the orphange was really nice. There were about 15-20 kids, ages 4-14, most being very young. We chatted with them, played some games like musical chairs, danced to music, and just goofed around. They were all really sweet, and I think everyone had a good time. They were absolutely obsessed with our cameras, as most of them have never seen one (apart from tourist visits). They loved seeing themselves on the playback, and were so excited when one couple in our group brought a photo printer. They took pictures of all the kids and made a big poster for the room. It was a really nice thing to leave behind, in addition to the notebooks, pencils, paints, and other learning tools we donated to the school...and something the kids could appreciate. We usually think of orphanges as sad places, but I have to say that I saw a LOT of smiles that day. It was uplifting.
I wish I could say the same about the mining situation here in Potosi. Before taking the mining tour yesterday morning, we had the chance to see the video The Devil`s Miner. It is a documentary about 2 young brothers, ages 12 and 14, that are forced to work in the mines to support themselves and their single mother. Over the years, the mines here in Potosi have claimed the lives of about 8 million people. Now, less and less people die each year (maybe 30 or 40), but that`s because the mines have been severely depleted, making it very hard to make a decent living off the existing minerals.
The most interesting part of the video and tour for me was learning about their mining god, ¨Tio¨. Many of them believe in God and go to church, but in the mines they fear and respect Tio, and worship him to ensure they get good minerals and that accidents don`t take their lives (note: I don`t know the dudes in the picture above, but it gives you a good idea of what Tio looks like). What`s so interesting is the origin of Tio. When the Spanish came and forced the people to extract all the silver from the mines under horrible conditions, the people rebelled. In response, the Spanish invented a devil god and told the people that if they didn´t mine as the god wished, he would kill them. I´m paraphrasing this a bit, but I think you get the point :). They would have called him ¨Dio¨, which means ¨God¨ in spanish, but the Quecha language of the natives didn´t have a ¨D¨, so the changed it to ¨Tio¨, which means ¨uncle¨ in spanish.
The reason I thought this was all so interesting is because the people here in the mines know this story, and thus understand that the Spanish made up this God. And yet...they are so afraid of the death that surrounds them (whether it be accidents or the breathing problems that usually kill them before age 40), that they very religiously worship Tio, offering him coca leaves, alcohol, and cigarettes on a usual basis, and always on Fridays (during a ceremony where they drink 96% alcohol! Whew. I tried a mini-sip and it nearly knocked me over!).
Over my time here in South America, I´ve seen many many traditions and beliefs such as Tio. It`s not only fascinating to learn about, but makes you look at our own religions, traditions and beliefs in a whole new light...
And now I´m off to the Salt Flats in Uyuni! We´ll be out in the middle of a salt desert for 4 days, so try not to miss me too much, and I´ll catch you on the flip side! xoxo, Cara
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3 comments:
That is so cool that you got to go to Potosi. I spend about two class days discussing the Silver Trade and the impact of the Mountain of Silver from multiple points of view. I hope you took pictures so maybe I can use them in my class next year. Or maybe you can come be a guest speaker and tell all my students I use foul language again:)
LOL! OMG. Why do I say the things I do?
I'm not sure what I'm enjoying more Ca-ra - your writing or KT's comments :o) I was very happy to read that you had a good experience at the orphanage. I always feel like they are such sad places and it warms my heart to hear about the one you and your group visited.
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