At 8am on Sunday, we left Tocoli. Eliana and I were not excited to hike either up or down the mountain with our luggage (to either get on the bus at the bottom of the mountain or take the path to meet it by the road). So we hiked perpendicularly (off the beaten path), and figured we’d run into the road eventually. And we did! Some people from Tocoli were hitching a ride on the (coach) bus with us, so we tripled up and it was just a bit cozy. We stopped in the little town of Ancoraimes for la Fiesta de la Cruz (Festival of the Cross). It started as a Christian festival, but has sort of morphed into just a party with food and marching around. We stood in the church and listened to the priest talk in Aymara, and then everyone left the church and marched in a circle around the town square. There was music and some singing, but it was in Aymara so I couldn’t sing along. Next we met up with the villagers of Tocoli, who prepared an Apthapi with potatoes, corn, bread, and bananas. Yum!
We drove to the airport in El Alto, and I ate a quesadilla and a cinnamon roll—DELICIOUS. We also saw the Bolivian soccer team! I felt mildly disgusting, after not having showered/brushed my teeth/changed my clothes/put on deodorant for the past 4 days. I actually couldn’t take off my hat because my hair was so greasy. Just getting the full rural experience! It’s wicked cold there, so why would they shower and change clothes every day? I think I’ll have a hard time adjusting to the fashion pressures in the US—I only have maybe 10 outfits here in Bolivia (but only 2 pairs of pants and 2 skirts) so everyone here has seen me wear the same clothes loads of times. But I feel like in the US, people expect me to have an unlimited closet of clothes…let’s reject all that consumerism, yeah?
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| View of Ancoraimes before the festival had begun |
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| Leaving the church |
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| The Apthapi |
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