Bolivian Blog 2: First Impressions

Arriving in a new country is often a total sensory overload: sights, sounds, smells. And then, as you quickly get used to it, things that had once, not long before, seemed so different and fascinating fast become so normal you barely even notice them. With this in mind, having just arrived in Bolivia this evening, I thought I’d try to capture some of my feelings and thoughts.

Bolivia is a country that has long fascinated me, and I’m excited to be here. There’s a sense in the air of something exciting coming together, people from so many diverse backgrounds and experiences meeting to discuss where next for the global climate justice movement in a way that brings the people who should be at the heart of the discussions back into the picture. If this happens as intended, it will be quite the opposite of my experience at the flawed UN climate talks in Copenhagen when, by the end of the two week negotiations, the majority of civil society delegations were literally locked out of the proceedings, and even most southern government country delegations weren’t able to enter the room where the Copenhagen Accord was being negotiations.

On my way to Cochabamba I bumped into Isabel who I met in Copenhagen. Isabel works in Jakarta with the global peasant’s movement, La Via Campesina. She told me that along with the 20 peasant leaders from around the world that she had know were coming, she’s just found out that there’ll be at least another 600 people from the Latin American organisations of the La Via Campesina movement alone arriving over the next few days. A feat of coordination that makes my own trip seem quite straightforward in comparison. It’s quite amazing to feel the sense of momentum building up around the people’s conference.

Bolivia is the poorest country in Latin America. But in many ways, looking around, that seems a strangely loaded statement. There is, after all, a lot more to a rich life than money. After checking into my hostel I went to get some water, dehydrated after travelling for nearly 24 hours. Wandering through the colourful streets, the people are friendly, smiling. Cochabamba’s Plaza 14 Septembre, the city’s central square, is full of lush trees and the heavy smell of freshly cooking meat wafts by from the street food stalls. Murals of western brands painted onto the walls are slowly peeling away. Walking up to the streets pirated DVDs are laid out on cloths, ladies in traditional Bolivian dress are selling fresh popcorn and people are gathered, standing and giggling, in the square surrounding a story teller who was pretending to be sick in his hat as I walked past.

Cochabamba is particularly a place of fascination for me, the location of the water wars back in 2000, an amazing struggle of David and Goliath type proportions, that has been an inspiration to people across the world. Here, the people of Cochabamba rose up against the World Bank inspired privatisation of the water industry, a move that meant price hikes of over 50 percent in a matter of weeks. Their actions forced the newly arrived water company, Bechtel, out of town. This was ten years ago now, and this weekend there will be celebrations taking place across the town to mark the occasion. It’s stories like this, along with the spirit of the Cochabambinos, that make this the kind of place where you can feel that change is not only possible, but that, just maybe, its already on its way.