Holy Week in Oruro, Bolivia

My tour of the salt flats ended at around 6 pm and I headed to the Uyuni bus station to go to Oruro. I had heard about this city from one of my colleagues, who had lived there for several years, who encouraged me to go there, specifically because of my interest in religious rituals and mining. Oruro is primarily known for its Carnaval and it was “kind of boring” according to fellow travelers.

Paintings above a Desk in the Cultural Extension Office of the Universidad Técnica de Oruro, and Simón Patiño House Museum

The appropriate activity for Holy Week (the week before Easter) in many countries I have visited in Latin America is to go to the beach, but Bolivia has no beach, so I stayed in the mountains. Incidentally, I was in Uyuni while Bolivia was celebrating the Bolivian day of the sea, which commemorates military losses and loss of ports to Chile.

Posters commemorating Bolivian Day of the Sea in Uyuni

I arrived quite late and checked in to my hotel, named after la Virgen del Socavón (Our Lady of the Mine Entrance), which I had picked specifically because of the name. While it would have been interesting to visit Oruro during the miner’s Carnaval and festival to la Virgen del Socavón that takes place two weeks prior to Carnaval, or Carnaval itself, I was in Brazil and don’t have regrets about that.

On my second day in Oruro, I took care of some life administration like acquiring another month of data from Entel – Bolivian telecommunications company who I bought my SIM card from, and attempted to figure out my immigration status. According to some websites I had read, Canadians did not require visas for 90 day stays in Bolivia but did need a stamp to renew their presence in the country every thirty days. While I, as a person, do not believe in borders and think that people should be allowed to live where they choose, I, as a person, am not interested in breaking immigration laws of countries I would like to visit more than once (or even countries I’d like to visit once, honestly). I had gone to the migration office in Uyuni and was told that I did not need a stamp in my passport, but the man also didn’t seem to be able to use a computer so I decided I should go somewhere else for a second opinion. The second opinion confirmed that I did not need a stamp in my passport, and the office seemed much better staffed, and all the staff seemed to be able to use computers, which reassured me. There was also no line for foreigners – only Bolivians – which was problematic and very much in keeping with other experiences I’ve had in Latin America. I left and decided that someone would figure out my immigration situation at the airport when I left the country.

I checked into my airbnb – although I only planned to stay in Oruro for six more days, one of those days was Good Friday and one of those days was Easter Sunday, and I wanted to be in a place where I would be able to cook food in case most restaurants were closed those days. I was right in the city centre, which was great, and the internet only kind of worked very near the router, which was less great. The Airbnb also had carpets, which meant that it was much warmer than the train car I stayed in in Uyuni and the airbnb I stayed in in Potosí.

I visited several interesting sites, one of which was mining magnate Simón Patiño‘s Oruro home. He was the subject of very heavy books I bought on the last day I was in Sucre, and as an incredibly wealthy man, he had more than one home, several of which are now museums.

Although the tour of the museum focused on the architecture and furniture, which were less interesting to me, there were some really cool parts as well.

I saw a statue of the boy who discovered the tin that Patiño’s company would eventually mine – and the remnants of offerings to this statue from the beginning of Lent. According to my guide’s use of a nickname that I’m not going to be repeating the boy was likely Black. This would make sense given that the Spanish empire enslaved Africans in their mines, regardless of what all my tours told me about Black people dying in Bolivian mines, and today, that all Afro-Bolivians live in Bolivia’s lowlands.

I also saw the Patiño family’s private chapel, which included memorials to the Patiño family and to employees of the Universidad Técnica de Oruro, which runs the museum.

Family chapel, Museo Simón Patiño, Oruro

I saw camping equipment that Patiño (or more likely his employees) used to travel from cities like Oruro to his mines, and realized that camping is dodgy not just for its connections to white supremacy and military technology but also because of its connection to primarily resource extraction.

Camping chairs

After my visit, I saw some books on display, and tried to buy them, only to be directed to the author of some other books, so I bought those instead. The person who held the key to the cabinet with the books I was very interested in was “going to come back soon” but I never made it back to the museum – there were too many other interesting things to do.

Uyuni

After my day in Pulacayo and a day hanging out in my hotel room because everything was closed for the census, I was finally able to go on my tour! I switched from a three day to a two day tour because there were things I wanted to see in my next stop – and I wasn’t sure if they would be open every day during Holy Week/the week before Easter.

I think every tour company does more or less the same tour, with slight differences in food and hotel quality. I opted for a Spanish tour to save money and as I suspected ended up with Latin Americans and Europeans. The tour started in the train cemetery (it was a very train-y week).

Me on top of a train at the train cemetery

We were then dragged to the town of Colchani to buy handicrafts. I sat in the shade. Then finally we got to the Salt Flats! Although I didn’t see any mining, the flats are so large that there is significant lithium mining in this region.

The Bolivian Salt Flats are much more impressive than the Argentine ones I saw 15 years ago. Which were very impressive in their own right!

Our guide drove an SUV through standing water for what felt like hours. It was incredible. I remained skeptical that I would remain alive as the tour guide was filming and driving at the same time. At one point the man sitting in the front started steering.

Reflection, photo by guide Juan Carlos

I went during rainy season so there was a very cool reflection effect.

Holding the sun, photo by guide Juan Carlos

I stayed overnight in a salt hotel, and got a private room because my travel agency was too disorganized to set me up in a hotel with other people. No complaints. The second day of my tour I saw lagoons and hot springs. Unfortunately I did not see flamingos.

I did see some llamas

I drove along a Bolivian highway thanks to the encouragement of my fellow travelers, and got some really good Spotify playlists.

What an incredible gift.

When Life Hands you Lemons Make Lemon…Trains?

I left Potosí on a Thursday, after a week of research a touring, to go to Uyuni. I was supposed to stay in a private room in a hostel in the Uyuni train station and then go to the salt flats the next day. Unfortunately there was a census in Bolivia on the Saturday – and all Bolivians had to be at home, even going to their original hometowns, and so overnight trips were suspended until Sunday. So, in this environment of strong Biblical overtones, I had to recalibrate.

Train car hotel room

I upgraded my very basic room (small twin and no windows iirc) to a whole entire train car! Possibly the coolest place I’ve ever stayed. It also had a microwave and fridge and a kettle and medium functional wifi. The train car also heated up during the day so it got quite warm – handy because the nights are cold. 

Home sweet train station

The next day, I decided to go Pulacayo to see the remnants of the Mina Huanchaca, which had been the richest mine in Bolivia in the 19th century (supplanting the Cerro Rico).

There was a train museum which was hella cool and as I wandered I saw some buildings abandoned a long time ago

I continued to wandered around the town, attempted to enter a museum but it was closed, and saw many abandoned homes and two spots for possible statues of saints or the Virgin Mary without the sacred figure.

I kept hearing music but not seeing people, until I happened upon some younger employees of a company restarting mineral exploration in the region.

I believe this is a llama. I got very close to them and was definitely more scared than they were.

Imagine if the walls could talk.

Casa de la Moneda y Cementerio de Potosí

I did a few other things in Potosí besides go to the Cerro Rico. I gazed out the windows at the nearby mountains and the Cerro Rico itself.

Skyline view

I also visited the archives at the Casa de la Moneda, which complimented the research I had done in archives in Sucre about lay religious associations, and showed some striking parallels to research I conducted in archives in San Luis Potosí. My biggest disappointment was that I was not able to see the painting of the Virgen del Cerro – because the balcony was unstable or some other unspoken reason.

Casa de la Moneda Potosí

I ate some really good food. K’alapurka is soup that is kind of like pozole served with volcanic rocks. I had been advised that the best place was near the cemetery but it was never open when I was near there, so I tried it at a place that is so famous is even has a YouTube clip.

Kalapurka doña Mecha

My tour guides had several recommendations for me, like going to a special mass on Bolivian Father’s Day, which is the Feast day of St. Joseph. A mining cooperative, named after St. Joseph/San Jose, organized a mass and celebration each year to honor their cooperative and remember deceased miners.

They also took me on an extra tour – the Monday I was in Potosí don Grover took me to the cemetery. We went on Monday because that is the day when most people go to the cemetery to look after their loved ones’ graves. Once we arrived, we drank some chicha (fermented corn drink) out of dried squash husks. Then we walked into the cemetery. I noticed right away that there were people praying the rosary – you can pay to have blind or visually impaired people to pray for your loved ones. I think this is so they can get to heaven because I think purgatory is still official Catholic doctrine. If it is not official Catholic doctrine, it is definitely part of Catholic practice.

Cementerio General, Potosí

Three things stuck out to me about this cemetery. First, was that the cemetery was divided into areas – unions, professional associations and large mining cooperatives all had their own blocks of the cemetery. Second, was that people could only be buried for a very short period of time, and while the cemetery and municipal authorities are supposed to let you know so that you can arrange to have your loved one cremated it is very easy to miss this communication. Third was that people whose loved ones had died more recently were gathered in groups around the grave, perhaps cleaning it or leaving an offering or flowers. I would be interested in returning to Potosí to read cemetery records – or perhaps these are held in one of the archives I already visited in Sucre.

I am not as prolific of a cemetery visitor (or photographer) as Erin Unger but I had some photographs of cemeteries where my great-grandmother and some great aunts and uncles are buried in Mexico so I could share that with my tour guide as he was sharing so much of his own experience with me. It might be for the best that I don’t have any pictures of loved ones in their coffins because that is a cultural practice that is somewhat difficult to explain – so difficult that I even wrote an academic article about it (which I can send in PDF if this link doesn’t work). Or, it could have been a really interesting cultural interaction. We’ll never know.

Cerro Rico, Potosí, Bolivia

Potosí is most famous for its Cerro Rico, which enriched the Spanish empire and purportedly made Potosí one of the largest cities in the Americas at the height of mining, between the 16th and the 18th centuries. I was especially interested in visiting Potosí because of this mine and the rituals that surround El Tio de la mina (and because while I was in Sucre, I had met Pascal Absi, who was the author of one of the best books on mining rituals in Potosí – in Spanish and open access).

I arrived in the late afternoon on a Thursday, and got set up in my airbnb, which was above a roast chicken restaurant. I think it had at one time been a clothing store, because an entire wall (facing the street) was windows, with curtains that blocked out a very small amount of light and cold.

The next day, I had booked a tour of the Cerro Rico – thanks to anthropologist Kirsten Francescone, who connected me with a tour company run by former miners, who were willing to do private tours, and have been part of at least one documentary.

The tour company told me to come on a Friday because then I could see the miners participate in weekly ceremonies. Unfortunately the miners had had a celebration on the Wednesday (because of an equipment repair) so I wandered in the depths of the mine while chewing coca leaves (to prevent altitude sickness) and turning down beer with my tour guide don Grover and the miners. In spite of this disappointment I saw two altars as well as remnants of several festivals.

The first altar portrays at crucified Christ, strewn with garlands, and with coca leaves as an offering.

Catholic shrine at the mine entrance

The second mine was to El Tio de la Mina. This is a hyper-masculine entity (see for example the large phallus) and he wears the same boots that miners do. Miners leave token offerings of coca, alcohol and beer (Argentine beer seems to be a favorite). They typically gather around this shrine, likely on the seating areas, when they start working in the very early morning hours, and celebrate there each Friday. Every time they take a load of minerals out of the mine, they stopped for a moment and bowed their heads.

There is a story that El Tio comes from the word “Dios” and is rooted in the colonial period and is an example of religious inculturation, or syncretism. Interestingly, my tour of the Potosi cathedral and my tour of the mine had nearly the exact same story (like, almost word for word) about El Tio, and for this reason, I would submit that the origins are part of a lengthier process of religious and cultural negotiation.

Shrine to El Tio de la Mina a bit further along

I walked around the mine tunnels, which to me felt like the depths of the earth, which my tour guide assured me were not, and looked for different miners to talk to. My tour guide had been the president of this mining cooperative and so knew many of the miners and chatted with them in Quechua, and then I chatted and asked questions in Spanish. I had purchased beer and coca leaves as part of my tour, but could not drink the beer. I think this was culturally insensitive but coca leaves were my limit with substances at high altitude in a claustrophobia inducing environment.

Needless to say, I learned a lot. It is one thing to read about El Tio de la mina, and the ways that various rituals and celebrations are important to a given community and another to see them up close.

I even noticed some parallels with research I conducted on Mennonites in Mexico. In both cases, the people I was most interested in speak a language I don’t speak – but in both Quechua and Low German there are enough influences from Spanish that I had some idea of what was going on. They are also experts in areas where I am really not – in this case, mining, and in the case of the Mennonites, agriculture and related businesses. I also observed that chewing coca leaves is like eating sunflower seeds – you spit out either the sunflower seed shell or the coca leaf stem. I cannot do either.

Animals I have Spotted

None were as cool as the accidental archive cat in Sucre, of course.

Cat at the Cristo Redentor Statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Feeding pigeons, Plaza Murillo La Paz, Bolivia

Me and some llamas (I think) in Pulacayo, Bolivia

Dog sleeping, Uyuni

Salt Hotel Cat, Colchani, Bolivia

Cat, Uyuni, Bolivia

Cat, Catedral de Potosí, Bolivia

Research in Sucre

I began my Bolivian adventures in Sucre, as you saw from my most recent post. I had been advised by several colleagues that Sucre was a great place for research and that it was at lower elevation than many of the other places I wanted to visit so I should start there – I was at a conference in November and a colleague from Mexico City who studies Bolivia told me I should give myself extra time with the altitude, so I finally got the memo. It took me about five or six days and over the counter altitude pills to be able to walk around Sucre without wanting to die inside. The altitude meant that I found it a bit hard to do any kind of work. It also took me another five or six to figure out the microbuses (think large vans for group tours, where Bolivians can stand and Rebecca can crouch down significantly in order to pay the driver) and taxis (both microbuses and taxis proved to work in much the same way in other Bolivian cities, so this was very useful to learn).

Sucre was also where I conducted some of the most significant research for my project so far. I went to the national archives, the archives for the Archdiocese of Sucre, and the archives for the main public university in Sucre (formerly a Jesuit institution, founded in the colonial period).

The national archives were partially helpful for my project – I registered there in advance so it was easy to see what I wanted to see – and the archivists actually told me to go to the university’s archives because they thought it would help me advance my project. It remains to be seen whether this will advance the project or not as I have not, in fact, written anything for this project, but I really appreciated the assistance. No pictures of that space, unfortunately.

I also went to the archive at the Archdiocese of Sucre, which was by far the most useful for my project, and inside of the cathedral complex, which was really cool. The archivist also invited me to listen to his choir perform baroque music composed in Bolivia, sung inside the cathedral, which had great acoustics, allowed me to see the Virgen de Guadalupe de Sucre again, and to notice that there was a globe in part of the altar which had some interesting overtones that perhaps everyone should be Catholic, but even though I am definitely not, I was still able to enjoy the space. I took no photos of this archive either, only the cat that a security guard chased into the archive instead of outside of the building. One of the more unexpected events of my research career.

Reading inventories of churches, shrines and chapels was super interesting, and I could have done a lot more – but I think what I did manage to do was quite helpful to my project and helped me imagine what people might have been doing at these shrines near mines. The ecclesiastical vocabulary was not the kind of Spanish I am familiar with – but was similar enough to what I had been reading in Brazil that I felt confident about the comparative aspect of my work. If I have to return to Bolivia to do more research I would not mind. I took a lot of photos of documents and hopefully counted them correctly to pay for them.

Thanks to the kind advice of an art historian I bought the heaviest books I have ever owned … and got to see an art restoration project in progress and speak with the art restorer about her work. Very cool.

Sucre, Bolivia

I arrived in Bolivia at the end of February. My first stop was Santa Cruz, and a night in a hotel to get situated, find an ATM, and get a SIM card, or, wait in some sort of limbo because of flight delays or other issues.

In the airport I learned I definitely did not need a yellow fever vaccine – apparently only travelers from Africa do, which seems racist at best, because this isn’t the only continent with yellow fever. I guess that will be my souvenir from Brazil. I also learned that yes, I can get permission to stay in the country for 30 days without needing to pay but that I will need to renew permissions. Even though my visa was to expire in the middle of Holy Week. Hopefully that will not be a problem.

I also got a real live SIM card. Over the course of my travels I’ve been using an eSIM card, which had worked well, but in Brazil it gave me a Chilean phone number, and I couldn’t check my usage, so I started doing some light research on other options. I changed my US SIM to an eSIM and decided to buy a chip upon arrival. I am sure the airport is an expensive place to get one but it was still cheaper than the eSIM options – and it was a network that had more availability.

The next day I took a flight to Sucre. I decided that it would be more pleasant (and barely more expensive) than the bus. Boliviana de aviación left about 10 mins late and didn’t lose my luggage – but someone was watching something on their phone until we got high enough to have no internet – so – likely not worse than a bus.

I had booked an airbnb in Sucre in someone’s apartment, because of my experiences in Brazil and because it had wifi and laundry. This airbnb host, however, lived somewhere else and so her daughter came by periodically to check on plants and do other tasks for her mom. Not what I expected!

View of Sucre from airbnb

The airbnb had some of the most incredible views of the city of Sucre. Over two weeks I visited several archives (more in a future post) and saw most of the tourist sites. I figured out which two ATMs accepted my debit card and which one charged slightly less. (I blame myself for this – I bank with a credit union, which is great ideologically, and less great when traveling. I have to call every time I leave the country and talk to someone in a call center so I was slightly apprehensive that I would even be able to use an ATM).

Other view of Sucre from airbnb

My absolute favourite museum was probably the Cathedral museum. Thanks to the kindness of an archivist, I got to hear the baroque choir practice there one evening and spend more time soaking up the art in the space.

Virgen de Guadalupe, Catedral de Sucre, Bolivia. I thought there was only one other, from Extremadura. I was wrong.

The Museo de Charcas, a museum of colonial art, was also cool.

Museo de Charcas, Sucre

The most unusual museum was the Castillo de la Glorieta. I took a bus there, which, as you may recall from a previous post, is always a bit of a toss-up when traveling. The buses in Sucre are about the size of travel vans for group tours, which means they are appropriate for Bolivian people to stand up in. Less appropriate for me. Fortunately the buses I took were not on a busy day. I could sit down in a single seat (where I didn’t have to share), which meant I could stretch out my legs. Also fortunately the blogs I read were mostly correct (the Spanish language ones had more updated bus stop information) and so I knew that I would take the bus to its last stop. I also followed along on google maps so that if it went somewhere strange I could at least ask the driver or get off and walk.

A 19th century mine owner became very rich and the Vatican made him a prince. I did not even know the Vatican could do that. Not quite the Museu Inhotim. More a monument to 19th century opulence and subsequent decay. I know a lot about architecture of Mormon buildings but much less about 19th century Bolivian ones – and I refused to go on a tour because I had gone on a tour in the morning where the guide implied colonialism was good, actually, so I could not risk that a second time. As you can see in this life sized replica, there are influences of the Alhambra, a lighthouse, and Catholic Church buildings of an unknown century.

Rio de Janeiro

My research plans in Rio de Janeiro did not work out – all the materials were online. Tragic, I know. Once I realized this and noticed that my initial airbnb did not have air conditioning I switched to an airbnb in someone’s apartment just off the beach in Copacabana.

Praia de Copacabana, view from Café 18

Not going to libraries or archives allowed me to look at my archive notes and get caught up on some writing projects and grant proposals. I also went to an Apple Store where my ipad miraculously started charging again – so I bought a new apple charger – and then of course stopped working a few days later. (I can still charge it using the keyboard, and I have apple care, so I plan to deal with this once I return to the US and am at an address long enough to have one shipped to me).

My airbnb host was somewhat different than my host in Belo Horizonte. She was in her late 20s and a personal trainer. She and her partner had protein powder, and other things I’d seen in health food stores in the kitchen, and I got some real insight into Brazilian aesthetics. Even though she was quite different than my host earlier, got to learn about Brazilian culture and speak more Portuguese because I was sharing someone’s space. There were a couple of other rooms and mostly Brazilian guests from other parts of the country so I got to learn a bit about parts of Brazil I had not traveled to, which I really enjoyed.

I have to say I also liked being so close to the beach I could walk there, take a dip, and walk back. As a very pale person I cannot really stay on the beach that long – even though I was wearing long sleeves and shorts and thought about renting an umbrella. The sun was just too much. I could also walk along the mosaic “boardwalk” for several kilometers so I could appreciate the beach even while not swimming.

Ipanema. It’s a real place, not just a song!

I went to the two most famous attractions according to the internet, Cristo Redentor, where I could see Jesus’ feet, basically, and Pão de Açúcar, another lookout that was less crowded and had better views.

Christ the Redeemer statue. Incredibly crowded in spite of the lack of visibility

View from Pão de Açúcar

I am happy I didn’t over-exert myself by trying to do too many things – especially because this leaves more for future visits.

This Movie Lied to Me, or, Research in Minas Gerais

My biggest disappointment on this trip so far has been visiting a mine in Mariana, Minas Gerais, in Brazil. According to Brazil with Michael Palin, there’s a shrine to St Barbara in a mine in Minas Gerais. This mine, however, was not mentioned in any of the literature on miners’ religious practices. After going to several mines I realized where the documentary was filmed. I had already planned to visit the Mina de Passagem, and so one morning I took the bus for a visit.

Now, as an aside: when I travel I prefer to keep all my transportation options to subways/light rail because there are only so many places a train can go. If they are diverted, they still end up somewhere recognizable. Nowhere I visited in Minas Gerais (outside of the capitol, Belo Horizonte), has rail. So I took local and intercity buses. This is always a nerve-wracking experience – even though many bus routes are on the Moovit app – I never knew how much to pay, where the bus stops were, or if you could hail a bus when the bus stop is not clear. The inter-city buses, which I took to the mine and to the archive I mention in this article had a separate person to collect money and give change so at least my confusion with Brazilian transportation and currency was not slowing down other people too much.

I took a tour and when we arrived at the shrine, the guide said it was put there for tourists. I speak very rudimentary Portuguese but the guide elaborated, and said a lot of movies and telenovelas have been filmed there so I knew it was the right place. The documentary lied to me! That being said this mine had a shrine in it, which was interesting, and something does not have to be historically accurate to be worth investigating. If it did, I would have written far fewer articles and books and so would many other people.

Mine entrance, Mina de Passagem

Shrine to St. Barbara, Mina de Passagem

I also went to the archive at the Archdiocesan archive in Mariana, and looked at some documents, and the Casa dos Contos museum in Ouro Preto, to look at some more. The latter was more fruitful because I could take pictures and use my computer to take notes. My handwriting skills have really deteriorated so I can’t do it for that long.

View from the Igreja São Pedro, Mariana, where the Archdiocesan Archive is located

By far my favourite place to do research so far has been in the Archdiocesan archive in Diamantina, where I went after I left Ouro Preto. The archivist was actually a lawyer so I was skeptical but she explained that she had taken some additional workshops or courses and over the past couple of years had inventoried the majority of the collection, so when I explained my project she was really helpful! I also sadly could not take pictures of documents there but the other person in the archive was using his computer so I asked if I could use mine too, and thankfully I could. That is a place I would like to go back to to learn more about life in a mining region.

Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Patron Saint of Brazil, in the Archdiocesan Archive in Diamantina