Saturday in Santa Cruz

It´s a straight shot south from Boston to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and the mostly empty plane arrived on time the evening of May 1. The visa process for US citizens , put in place last fall when US-Bolivia relationships were continuing to sour, is a nuisance for both travelers and local officials: travelers must fill out a long application and bring photo, hotel reservation or letter of invitation, evidence of financial independence, return reservation, and $135 cash. Last night 8 or so of us waited while everyone else was checked, then passed our papers in for review. In fact, the official gave mine only a cursory look, asked for the cash, and I was on my way. A part of me had wished he would push me harder on some point of the form so I could prove that in fact I had covered every point.

The taxi ride brought to mind several other Latin American cities that seem much like Santa Cruz late at night: dusty and not well lit; road edges crowded with walkers, carts, and stands; high speed driving by all the drivers. The prevailing attitude toward traffic lights is to treat them as a yield sign when red. The other driver has the right of way, but if there´s no one there, why not save gas and time and just go? There´s some environmental sense to it, but only at low speeds in the city. As a pedestrian, you learn to watch for a car going in your direction and cross with it, quickly. Micro buses are very common: hot, crowded, and cheap. Most carry a name, like the El Miserable that I saw today.

Santa Cruz is in the tropics, and although this is the dry season, it´s still very hot. At mid-day, the swarms of shoppers clear the city square for 2 hours for good reason , and a hotel room with AC is a blessing. The real attractions are in the surrounding hills, where I hope to go next Sunday, after the work on the evaluation and before leaving for Ecuador.

I´m struck by the large number of internet places, all crowded with Crucenos of all ages: playing games, calling, sending email. I imagine at least some of them are staying in touch with family members who have emigrated in search of a living. Another common streetside shop is Western Union or banks where you can receive money from abroad. International chains are less common in the city center where I am, but ubiquitous in the outer residential and commercial rings where the new wealth from gas and cocaine is centered. This side of Bolivia is far richer than the highlands of La Paz, and there has been discord between the two as Evo Morales tries to distribute mining and gas wealth more evenly. To counter this plan, Santa Cruz has been the center of a movement for more regional independence. Grafitti on a wall here reads: Evo chola de Chavez (loosely, Evo is an Indian (terrible slur) in service of Hugo Chavez).

On Sunday, I meet up with the group from Water for People and head northeast to San Pedro for 5 days of interviews with local families now using composting latrines. Questions such as ¨why are they better?¨ ¨does everyone in the family use them?¨ Stuff like that - perhaps more than lots of people would want to know.

Claire