#lemkeabroad

Press freedoms at risk in Bolivia

Reporter: Alex Golden

Bolivians have a constitutional right to freedom of speech, but journalists say they feel pressure to censor what they present to the public.

Bolivian student Jose Gonzales, Santa Cruz resident Yessica Vidal, and University of Arkansas student Blythe Nelson contributed to this report.

Indigenous students find a new life in Santa Cruz colleges

Reporter: Alex Golden

Coming to college is not easily attainable for indigenous Bolivians, but some make it work.

Bolivian student Jose Gonzales and University of Arkansas students Blythe Nelson and Amanda Simmons contributed to this report.

           My last day in Santa Cruz, I was craving some veggies! I had had the milaneza, a cousin of the country-fried steak, and now I wanted a big Caesar salad with chicken, tomatoes and an abundance of romaine lettuce. My partner on the trip, Stephanie Carlson, felt the same way. Our translator Torrez Rojas Zulmarina or “Zulma,” for short, knew about a place within walking distance. She brought us to Café Alexander; a cute café fully stocked with the cliché coffee paintings hanging in the corners.

            We were looking over the menu a waiter had provided, I decided on a cappuccino and of course, a Caesar salad. Stephanie ordered a café con leche and a Caesar wrap, and Zulma got the Café Alexander sandwich.

            We were all so excited for our food, we didn’t realize how much time was passing. Throughout the week we had used a term called “Bolivian time.” It was our group’s inside joke about the fact that Bolivians don’t put that much importance on punctuality.

            My food came about 30 minutes after I ordered. However, it wasn’t what I wanted. It was a chef salad with feta cheese, eggs, onions, tomatoes and raisins. I’m a pretty laid-back person and I’ve been a waitress before, so I didn’t really mind that I didn’t have my Caesar aspects, at least I was getting a salad. I wanted to wait for Stephanie and Zulma to get their food, but after a while I was getting pretty hungry. The café wasn’t busy, it was 1 p.m. when we ordered and now it was nearing 2! I sheepishly dug in, aware of all the rumbling stomachs.

Zulma waiting patiently for her food to arrive, while mine came early! 

            Our waiter was new we realized, because Zulma had to flag him down. She asked about Stephanie’s food and he apologized explaining it would come soon. Well 20 minutes later he was finally coming back, but not with both plates. It was one item and it was a Caesar salad! That is what I wanted I thought, but he placed it in front of Stephanie. Before he could run off, Zulma explained that Stephanie had ordered a WRAP not a salad. They were incomprehensible to Stephanie and I, speaking in rapid Spanish, but eventually he took it back.

            This was unbelievable. We had been waiting for almost an hour and I was the only one who had gotten food, and it was wrong! Finally he brought back Stephanie’s food, but still Zulma was waiting. She reminded him again, and he was visibly embarrassed. About 10 minutes later her sandwich had come out, causing us to think they had completely forgotten about it.

After about an hour and a half, we had our food. I was already done, but Zulma was just digging in. Her smile was so big after that first bite!

Zulma's food finally arrived! 

It showed me that no matter where you are in the world, bad service could be a problem. I could’ve gone to any café in Bolivia, but this will be an experience to remember.

I ate this at a mall food court just a few days after we landed in Bolivia. When I looked around, I saw no paper plates, no to-go bags, no plastic forks. The concept of “to go” does not exist in Bolivia. Even in a mall food court, there are real plates, real silverware and no one is in a hurry.

This is grilled chicken with a mildly spicy sauce on top. It came with a potato dish, pasta, beets, yucca with sauce and something I can only compare to potato salad without potato. I gave the pink sauce a try because I was feeling adventurous and I was told it would be tasty with yucca, the bulky fried potatoes you see on top. As it turns out, it is impossible to go wrong with yucca. They serve it with everything and dip it in infinite sauces, and I was never disappointed. Bolivians are not reluctant to put two starches on one plate. This meal had both pasta and two forms of potato, and I discovered it was not uncommon to have rice and French fries in one sitting.

The only thing I didn’t care for here were the beets, but then again, I’m not sure I would care for beets anywhere, so I won’t hold it against Bolivia. Overall, everything was delicious, which can be said for almost everything I tried while abroad.

By Alex Golden

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia ­– A Bolivian university student plays his cello for all his neighbors to hear on the balcony outside the studio apartment that he shares with another student.

This is not the same world Eddy Vailava’s parents grew up in or the one where he started.

Vailava is indigenous to South America, and he is the first in his family to go to college or to move from his hometown of Concepcion to Santa Cruz, a bustling city of more a million people.

Eddy Vailava plays his cello outside his Santa Cruz apartment. He lives in a studio apartment with a roommate and teaches music lessons to children to pay his expenses. He has to take a six-hour bus ride if he wants to see his family.

Although indigenous people make up more than half the population in Bolivia, Evo Morales became the nation’s first indigenous president in 2006. They live in some of the poorest conditions, and many reject modernized living. It’s not uncommon for indigenous people to practice traditions and languages specific to their heritage.

Consequently, coming to college in a big city like Santa Cruz is not easily attainable or a smooth transition for young natives.

Vailava began learning to play the cello in his church in his hometown of Concepcion, where indigenous people were once held as slaves, including his great-grandfather.

“If I hadn’t learned to play my music, I wouldn’t be here in the city,” he said.

Paying to live in the city and attending classes at Universidad Autonoma Gabriel Rene Moreno has proven difficult, but Vailava makes it possible by earning money teaching children how to play the cello and guitar. He is a second-year systems engineering major and wants to use what he learns in his career as a musician, he said.

He can’t afford the six-hour bus ride to Concepcion, so he rarely sees his family.

Third-year English and French student Jose Luis is in a similar situation. Almost no one in his hometown owned a car, and, as a child, he would leave school in the early afternoon to walk to work with his father to chop wood.

He chose to major in two languages because he thinks it’s necessary to be able to communicate with people from other places.

“I’ve never been in another country,” Luis said. “I would like to travel.”

This is not an opportunity people in his family have had.

His father passed away, and Luis often travels about two hours away to his hometown on the weekends to help his mother earn money by taking care of and selling bulls.

Jose Luis tells about what his home life was like before coming to college in Santa Cruz. He lives alone in an apartment, instead of with family in his hometown two hours away. 

At the same time, Luis struggles to pay for his apartment, transportation around the city and other living expenses, but he is able to go to school for free thanks to a program the university implemented 10 years ago.

The university recognizes that indigenous students typically come from poor backgrounds, and most are first-generation college students, said Julio Waldo Lopez Aparicio, director of research at UAGRM. It’s a common struggle to sustain the transportation and housing.

This has led the university to make efforts to make it easier for indigenous students to go to school. UAGRM allows 500 indigenous students per year free tuition and meals on campus, but most of them still must work to pay for their housing and other living expenses. There is no entrance exam; students only have to prove that they are native, Lopez said. UAGRM is at its 500-student limit for this year.

UAGRM is one of Bolivia’s largest universities. A program there allows up to 500 indigenous students to study at the university for free. The program also works with professors to make sure they are aware of indigenous students’ experiences and culture.  

The university has also made it a priority in recent years to help students who come from indigenous families by keeping professors informed of their students’ cultural backgrounds and encouraging students to share their native languages.

The university is working on a plan to make inexpensive student housing available for indigenous students so that more are able to enroll in school, which will hopefully take effect within the next three years, Lopez said.

  Bolivian student Jose Gonzales and University of Arkansas student Blythe Nelson contributed to this report.

Press freedoms at risk in Bolivia

Reporter: Alex Golden

Bolivians have a constitutional right to freedom of speech, but journalists say they feel pressure to censor what they present to the public.

Bolivian student Jose Gonzales, Santa Cruz resident Yessica Vidal, and University of Arkansas student Blythe Nelson contributed to this report.