Me and Tim Henman

Okay, not Tim Henman, but I have been hanging out with his equivalent, Mauricio Estívariz, who is Bolivia's No.1 tennis player (ranked 1,071 in the world) and who also happens to be my girlfriend's brother-in-law. It´s not quite Wimbledon but this week the Cochabamba Tennis Club hosts the Campeonato Internacional de Tenis Profesional Future featuring some of the continent´s up and coming stars. Yesterday night I was biting my nails as Mauricio finally overcame the Argentinian Roberto Palacios 6-3, 7-6 and 7-6 in what the local paper Los Tiempos described as "a dramatic game which could have gone either way". Now I understand what it is like for Henman's family as they sit there frustrated and powerless as their offspring test their nerves to the limit. The relief was tangible in the stands as the local boy made good. Footnote: Mauricio lost in straight sets today.

Silpancho, Chirac & British cuisine

Cochabamba is Bolivia's most famous region for food and there seems to be a culinary festival of one kind or another every week around the country. While I can suggest dozens of reasons for visiting Bolivia, cuisine is in truth not one of the country´s major selling points.

The food is not bad, but for me it is very plain, consists in large portions of meat, the rather unusual combination of rice AND chips (carbohydrate crazy!) and there is a serious lack of vegetables. Some of the most famous dishes include silpancho (my girlfriend's favourite, opposite) which consists of fried, breaded meat with eggs, rice and fried bananas. The pique a lo macho is a delicious, huge dish of roast meet, sausage, chips, onion and pepper. I have also eaten such delicacies as aji de lengua (ox tongue) and roasted cow´s udders. The salteña is borrowed from Salta in Argentina and is the local equivalent of a meat or chicken pastry. In the Altiplano grains and potatoes dominate, while around Lake Titicaca and in the Chapare region, there are some wonderful fish which with the exception of trout I do not think exist at home. My dad would also be very happy, whatever the temperature, they love their soup out here - peanut soup being one of the more interesting varieties.

I am constantly asked about British cuisine. I reel off a few dishes like the sunday roast, shepherd´s pie, cumberland suasage, English breakfast, bread and butter pudding, scones and cream teas and then I tend to get a bit stuck, though I try to explain one of the best things about my country is the sheer variety of cuisine on offer - Thai, Italian, French, Turkish, Spanish tapas etc.

According to the BBC, I am a bit out of touch though. Food tourism is booming in the UK with a smorgasbord of food festivals and did you know that it is now officially "British Food Fortnight"? Jacques Chirac, who complained that only the Finns have worse cuisine, would choke on his tete de veau to learn that Britain produces 700 regional cheeses (more than France), has 600 varieties of apple and 125 species of fish and shellfish in its waters. Food tourism has become big business, worth nearly £4bn a year. In a recent survey of tourist perceptions of the UK food industry, two-thirds of Britons said that food and drink influenced their holiday choice. The West Country, Wales and Scotland occupied the top three destinations. New additions include a wine trail around the South-East and a Lake District afternoon tea trail.

Food also holds a key place in the "think globally, act locally" debate. An article in The Guardian about two years ago made me think how ridiculous it was that the produce in my trolley had travelled approximately 12,000 air miles. Buying British (where possible) supports local businesses and protects the environment by avoiding foods which have been transported long distances. In Bolivia, one sees the "Hecho en Bolivia" label everywhere so in many ways they are more advanced than us as well as being very proud of what their country offers (but please, chips or rice, not both together!).

Buen provecho.

Only three more months to elections!

I am living through interesting times as there are elections in December following the enforced resignation of Carlos Mesa in June 2005 and his replacement by an interim President. It must be said though that a six month election campaign is long by any standards and I am not sure too many people in the UK could cope with listening to Blair and Howard slug it out for that long - it would probably provoke mass emigration.

There are two clear front runners in the forthcoming presidential elections:

• Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, a former Texas-based IBM executive, who rose to prominence as the Vice President to the nation’s former dictator (later turned politician), Hugo Banzer. The fact that Quiroga willingly served as number two to the man who was Bolivia’s version of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s does not seem to be of much interest to most people.

• Evo Morales, who rose to prominence as leader of the coca growers and is the sworn enemy of the current US regime. Analysts on the left cast him as a charismatic leader who represents rising indigenous power and new wave Latin American socialism all in one. Critics on the right demonize him as a stooge of the leftist governments in Venezuala and Cuba who who is pushing Bolivian democracy to the brink.

The elections are further spiced up by (the inevitable) US intervention. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on a recent tour of Paraguay joined in the Bush administration’s recent pattern of blaming Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez for Bolivia's political turmoil: "There is certainly evidence both Cuba and Venezuela have been involved in the situation in Bolivia in unhelpful ways." The BBC report went on to note that Rumsfeld offered up no actual evidence to support his claim.

Information on the internet which has recently been substantiated in the Bolivian press also reports that the U.S. is constructing a 16,000 troop military base in Paraguay, 200 kilometers from the Bolivian border, with an airforce capacity greater than Buenos Aires airport. Bearing in mind that Paraguay’s airforce in this region only numbers about a dozen planes (well, something like that), what does this say about US intentions and what does this mean for Bolivia?

Bolivia’s political instability is, in good part, a product of foreign influence, but it has little to do with Venezuala and Cuba, and much more to do with other outside influence: namely the Bechtel Corporation, World Bank, IMF, the US Government´s war on drugs (that´s me pictured right with the infamous coca plant in Chapare) and foreign energy companies like our very own British Gas and British Petroleum.

Links with more in-depth information courtesy of the excellent Democracy Centre, based here in Cochabamba.

Latin democracy in statistics

A recent BBC World poll highlighted a problem which is prevalent in all parts of the world, but even more so here in Latin America: only 4% of the electorate trust their leaders (compared with the hardly inspiring average of 13% in other parts of the world) and only a third of voters think that elections in their country are free and fair.

More worringly, 9% of Latinos show more faith in military or police run states, which helps to explain the continent's colourful (sic) history. In Bolivia, Panama and the Dominican Republic, the majority trust religious leaders though interestingly this statistic is even higher in the States, which goes a long way to explaining Bush II's strangehold on power.

Mexico and my adopted country also exhibit the strongest nationalism (though most Bolivians openly admit that their football team is rubbish), which is probably not that surprising as they are also the two countries that have been subjected most to foreign domination on the continent.

Cochabamba Day and the Mambos

Yet another Bank Holiday! This time it is Cochabamba Day and we are celebrating the founding of the city. School children, government workers and the military were all out parading for approximately five hours, there was a mamouth concert in the stadium (still going on at 3 a.m. as I was going to bed) and my friends´ group (called “The Mambos”, some of whom are in the photo) are inaugurating new members.

In fact, it should be my turn, it is an honour to be invited to join the group, but I have switched my mobile phone off as I do not want to be located: as I am unable to participate in the large scale consumption of alcohol normally involved in the inauguration ceremony due to the strict ban imposed by my doctor as part of my various treatments, they were planning to cut my hair instead (and I suspect none of them are professional hairdressers). I have got quite attached to my long(ish) locks and I am not ready for the sacrifice.

Mi trabajo

It has been suggested that I am either not doing any work, or that I fail to mention it on my blog. The former is definitely not the case, though there are rather a lot of Bank Holidays out here, and combined with the odd medical problem, it is true that I have rarely put in a full week.

Tecnologias en Desarrollo´s main work focuses on the installation of biogas systems and bathrooms in rural communities in the Cochabamba region (more information in previous postings for April and August). We are also experimenting with other technology such as wind power, simple reed technology to reduce water contamination and linking bicycles up to car batteries to generate enough electricity to power lights, a radio or black and white television.

While conditions and quality of life in the city is relatively good (i.e. there is access to basic services and if you have money, life is not so different from what we know), the contrast with the countryside is more than substantial (as they say here “no tiene nada que ver”): families´ income rarely exceeds £30 a month, only 15% have electricity, there is no access to mains gas, toilets are holes in the ground and the impact of human and animal waste on the environment is very evident. Almost without exception, the families are indigeneous Quechua speakers (Spanish being their second language, though not everyone speaks it) and it is a bit of a challenge for me to get to know people, they consider my boss an outsider, no matter a strange foreign chap with a big sombrero, water bottle and Factor 50 sun block.

The projects are very good and really address a need. I have no doubt that the work of the charity, while small-scale, has a significant impact on a social, economic and environmental level, the work we do, while small scale can have a substantial impact. I am therefore sufficiently impressed and happy to commit myself to staying here at least until February as I believe in the work, it is a productive use of my time and good learning experience.

My time is meant to be split evenly between our office and working in the countryside. My recent medical problems have meant that I have been doing much more of the former, which is good for research and preparing fundraising applications, though it is less interesting than the hands on work in the countryside. I love the physical work and am learning a whole new vocabularly (wire, pliers, nuts and bolts, saw etc.), it is quite a change for an office boy, and I might even get a few more muscles!

The work is not without its challenges. The hardest thing is that we are so small in terms of personal (four including me and Pedro in photo), and really everything revolves around one person, Oliver, the director. He is not surprisingly cautious about telling me everything which does not surprise me - different culture, ways of working, local issues not encountered back home – and combined with Oliver´s reluctance to commit anything to paper, it makes fundrasing much harder as I am not yet in a position to answer all the questions of a potential funder. I am optimistic with time that we will resolve these teething problems and for once (!) I am being extremely patient.

Married with 2.4 kids

....and a golden retriever! Well, this is at least what my girlfriend Marioly suspects due to my reticence in not mentioning anything about her on my blog. I have tried to explain that I considered the world wide web a bit too public a space for me to publish such information but now it is in print for friends, family, net surfers, the wife and 2.4 kids alike to read. Literacy and web surfing are not the golden retriever´s strong point.

Nochevieja en Chile

I am proud to announce that the ex-Grenoble students`tradition of celebrating New Year together will continue in some form as Elna, and her equally lovely friend Katiuscia, are due to arrive in Santiago on 29th December.

I know it is a very long way and a bit (!) pricey to get to this part of the world (though relatively very cheap once here), but I promise that Valparaiso, the seafood, lakes, mountains, vineyards, whitewater rafting and of course the company make it worth it!

Bikefest Bolivia Style

Sunday was officially "The Day of the Pedestrian", though it should be more accurately called cyclists`s day. Cochabamba was closed off to all fuel powered vehicles and the normally sleepy Sunday atmosphere was banished as the city came alive with hundreds of people out on their bikes (and the occasional horse). There were also lots of stalls and a stage with music, it is Cochabamba`s equivalent of a Green Fair. In general I do not recommend cycling as a mode of transport here. I do not have the courage to venture out on a bike in the city, it is not so much that drivers do not obey traffic rules, more that there aren`t any rules. I have already witnessed the aftermath of three accidents in 6 weeks. Maybe we can copy Bolivia`s example and close off the streets of central London for a day, though I can`t see it happening. Bolivia is more advanced in some things.

Medical bulletin: 2 for the price of 1

About ten days ago I was not feeling well and having already been laid low for several days in my second week, I sought advice. Various tests revealed that I have typhoid and amoebic parasites, two for the price of one. I was not sure whether to panic, it did not sound very good, but I was not feeling that bad. My friends` reaction reassured me, most of them found it really funny and said everyone gets typhoid, in fact someone proudly told me their friend has had it 8 times! And yes, I was innoculated.

Luckily I am in expert medical hands. My boss has not one but two doctors in the family and I am taking antibiotics (first to treat tyhphoid, and when the course is completed we can treat the parasites). Hopefully I will not need to call on their respective specialisms, anaestha and neurology. Apart from not having much of an appetite, there is nothing much wrong with me. The worst is that I am banned from drinking alcohol for 25 days, my organism is suffering wihtout its regular dose of vino tinto.

Wilstermann Destroy Opposition

My first experience of Bolivian football left me feeling a bit deflated. A boring 0-0 draw against The "allegedly" Strongest from La Paz. It was not quite like watching Brazil (or Arsenal). Luckily my second visit a week later was much more enjoyable. My boss`s and hence my team Wilstermann beat the Destroyers (not) from Santa Cruz 5-2. A certain M.Henry would even have been proud of the 5th goal. I am not going to compare the atmosphere to Highbury, the stadium was only about a quarter full and when Wilstermann scored the first, I was the only one to jump to my feet with joy. I quickly learnt to restrain myself for the next four goals. And the English are meant to be reserved! The ticket pricing was more to my liking, it costs approximately 50 times LESS than a matchday ticket for the Gunners.

My company for the match included the brother of an ex-colleague from Groundwork. Nick lives in La Paz and volunteers for the Fundacion Solon. He is a Wolves fan, and while I count the number of Arsenal shirts I see in Cochabamba, he just wants to find someone who has heard of his team. His excellent blog is linked to this site.