Show your face!

There have been a few requests for Laurence to show his face. Teri was also very glad to hear he hasn´t changed. I am going to ask him for his comments in a moment (he says that he hates being in pictures like that!). The boys have now started school where they learn all sorts of useful things (apart from Spanish of course!) including German and knitting. Laurence´s first comments: "there are some annoying boys in my class and two bad teachers!" Bonno: "Knitting could be useful because we have no television!" We also didn´t manage to bring toys because of luggage restrictions, but this so far has not been a problem. The boys make all sorts of things with cardboard boxes and plastic bottles, miniature doggy play areas and all sorts of waterworks involving mud. Mignon´s game boys are top of the pops of course, also with the local children.
Sorry I haven´t got the blog thing sorted completely yet, not sure how to turn pictures. I´ll try adding a second one.

Henry´s Research - "Digital Indigeneity"

Henry´s research focuses on the Sucre-based musician and indigenous activist, Gregorio Mamani. He was brought up in Tomaykuri, near Macha in Northern Potosi, a rural community neighbouring Cayanguera (Kalankira) which formed the focus of Henry´s previous book. Unlike the llama herders and potato cultivators of Kalankira, Gregorio works as a professional musician and has been famous in the region since the mid 1980s for his many cassette recordings and more recently VCDs (DVDs). Some of the latter, in support of Bolivia´s "indigenous president", Evo Morales, were clearly highly influential in the 2005 elections. In his house in Villa Armonia on the outskirts of Sucre, Gregorio has created his own recording studio and has several computers for editing and duplicating his productions. He´s an outspoken voice for indigenous rights and against music piracy. This publicity photo was taken by Henry and may appear on the cover of one of his next productions.

The story of Tanga Tanga

Sucre is flanked by two mountains; Sica-Sica and Churuqella. They are quite a climb (about an hour) but we managed to conquer both. At the top there is no cafe or souvenir shop, but a chapel as summits are considered very special places. On the way we met several people who were about to make offerings. One of them gave us some coca leaves which people chew to defeat hunger, thirst, altitude sickness and fatigue. Coca leaves are also sacred to the earth mother, Pachamama. On this picture the boys are having a first chew.

Associated with the mountains is a special story, but I will hand over to Bonno for that:

"When the Spanish had almost completely conquered the Inca empire there were only general Tanga Tanga and his men left. The Spanish made a threat that if Tanga Tanga would not pass over a large quantity of gold, silver and precious gems then Atahuellpa, the great Inca leader, would be killed. After a period of time Tanga Tanga heard the news that Atahuellpa was already killed, so Tanga Tanga ordered his men to bury themselves, the treasure and him self at the foot of Sica-Sica and I am now searching for it"

Museo Charcas

This painting of a camel (that is what they call it, but it is more likely meant to be a llama!) was found in a cave in the surroundings of Sucre and is probably 1500 years old. It is one of rock paintings on display in the Charcas Museum along with mummies and artefacts of the Prehispanic periods. My first job for the museum is to write English texts with the displays, which hopefully will attract more visitors. It also gives me the chance to become acquainted with the local cultures before we start undertaking fieldwork. I work with Edmundo and Maximo (Mimo) who have learned the tricks of the trade in the field from foreign archaeologists (from Argentinia for example) as courses in archaeology are rare. The first University Department in Archaeology was only established in 1982 in La Paz. Archaeology is still very much a luxury and people tend to go for subjects such as law and medicine to secure their future (probably the way things will go in the UK with the current loan system).

La Entrada

Our second weekend here was a very important occasion in Sucre: La Entrada del Virgen de Guadaloupe. Thousands of people practice for months (unfortunately we experienced some of the practising first hand as live very centrally) for a parade that goes on for the best part of the day; amazing costumes, dancing, fireworks and lots and lots of noise!It has inspired Bonno; he now wants to learn to play all Andean instruments and of course wear one of those fantastic costumes. Much more interesting than a solitary piano lesson!

Sucre is beautiful

Sucre is said to be the most beautiful town in Bolivia and I can believe it. It has many streets with white colonial buildings around the central Plaza and Cathedral. From our house it is a ten minutes walk to the central Plaza with many cafes and restaurants. The Charcas Museum where I´ve started working is only around the corner. Sucre is surrounded by hills and seems to have a very pleasant climate. It has been warm in the days (20-25 Celsius) and often cooler in the morning. It is now spring, but summer is on the way which is also the rainy season. Today we´ve had the first real rain in a month.

Daily life

Daily routines took over with a vengeance! As we have no hot water in the taps all the washing up and cleaning (and there was quite a bit of that with 200 years of dust!) was done by boiling a kettle. Any water that we drink needs to be boiled for at least 5 minutes. Any raw fruit or vegetable we eat needs to be soaked in iodine for 10 minutes. Paying a bill cannot be done by direct debit but involves queueing for an hour. Having the rubbish collected means listening out for the rubbish collector and his little cart to come around. The house has no gas connection and we bought a cooker with a gas tank. It was clear that if we were going to do any work we needed help and we found Dona Martha. (We tried taking a nice picture of the whole household, but Laurence did not think this was such a good idea)

Arrival in Sucre

Having arrived in Sucre on Saturday morning very early we found the house we were looking for the following Sunday. It is a colonial house probably from the late 18th century in the centre of Sucre. It has a central patio and lots of large rooms. In a way it is the opposite from our house in Ascot; lots of space and very little in it. The house was completely empty when we arrived and we spent the first week shopping. This is shopping Sucre style at the Campesino market, where anything from car-tyre sandals to wardrobes is being sold. Henry caused quite a stir by negotiating in the local language Quetcha, especially amongst the cholitas (the ladies). We now own some very solid furniture made from real wood (I know because one of the chairs fell against my thumb, leaving a blood blister) and some amazing bedding (we have panthers, acrylic stars and Maisy Mouse; any sheets we could lay our hands on).

Early Days

On the 16th of September after 24 hours of travelling we arrived in La Paz, the highest capital in the world (4000m high) with the highest airport in the world. Fortunately none of us suffered too badly from altitude sickness, we were just all wiped out. We stayed with our friend Susanna for a week, who lives in an apartment on the 17th floor with breathtaking views, even more breathtaking as the windows open fully (a bit of a worry with two cats and two boys!).With the help of the staff of the museum MUSEF and especially Varinia, we obtained courtesy visas within a week and left for Sucre on Friday night by Buscama (bedbus).