YA LEUM. 64 — Sucre, staying with a Cholita’s family…
Just like we promised Hipólito, we visited him in Sucre.
We arranged to meet up in the Recoleta, near the street stalls with handicraft products.
Once we got there, we met his wife, Fabiana, who welcomed us nice and smiley. I offered to help in the stall while Hipólito was introducing us to all the cholitas, who found us quite funny.
Specially Mathieu, who is blond, tall, has blue eyes, and stands out in the middle of all those short and dark-haired women, with their long braids and rounded skirts. Speaking in a funny Spanish, the French man spread a lively smiles to all those strong women who had timid smiles and curious eyes.
Promptly, Hipólito and his wife offered their house for us to spend the night. Although they only had an empty room in their house, they insisted on offering what they had.
We were quite excited! Finally, we were going to experience something like we always hoped to.
They took us to their place, outside of the center of Sucre, and introduced us to their family: their children, the brother-in-law, the sister, the father, and someone else whose relationship we did not understand.
Hipólito told us to use the empty room, where his brother normally stayed, since he was out, working. The room had just a lamp on the floor and a blanket. The space was huge but impersonal. Yet, we always bring our home with us, thus, we used our mattresses, sleeping bags, and everything we had on our backpack to make ourselves comfortable.
I could not believe we were there! The opportunity to closely share time and meet this family, whose ancestors had participated in a fight for the recognition of the identity of the indigenous women and men, who were once seen as inferior by their colonizers.
To thank them, we offered to help with whatever they needed… So, Hipólito told us he would work in the field during the entire week because it was time to harvest potatoes. He said the work was just for men and, naturally, Mathieu accepted the challenge.
That is how, on the next day, Mathieu woke up quite early to meet Hipólito and his friends. Early in the morning, they drank something similar to spirits… yet, Mathieu had even barely eaten. For an hour, they drove towards the countryside with a great mood. Mathieu told me once they arrived at the field, he was surprised because the majority of the people who lived there could not speak Spanish and only spoke Quechua. Although it was quite close to the main city, this area was still barely developed.
According to Mathieu, it was a very tough day! He spent the day under the sun, harvesting potatoes, and barely taking any breaks. The others were already used to it… but for Mathieu, it was his first time.
I was back in the city.
By that time, I wanted to experience working at a cafe. Sucre was the right opportunity, I thought! Since we were spending a few days in the city, I took the chance to look for a friendly café. That was when I found a café with a library! I was delighted! During my university time, I developed an entrepreneurship project that was about opening a café for people to chat and read. I ended up finding the same concept on the other side of the world! I even asked the manager for an opportunity to work there but he had no open positions… I did not care! I took the opportunity to open my computer and write about my experience so far…
The following days were different… Since we spent quite some time at Hipólito’s place, we ended up interacting with his family. Although they lived in the city, they mainly spoke Quechua. The communication was quite difficult, but they were kind and always lively!
We laughed a lot when one of Hipólito’s relatives tried to offer us wine right in the morning! I was lucky that these things always happen to Matheu… I managed to hide and laugh!
Our last day was also Hipólito’s last day too, as he was going to spend a few days in Salar do Uyuni, selling handicraft products.
Hipólito was one of those Bolivians who had small stalls to sell souvenirs to tourists in Salar do Uyuni, where we had been three weeks before.
We said goodbye at the bus station and when I saw the bus plate had “Salar do Uyuni” written, I noticed how cycles always close.
A few weeks before, I had looked into those men, thinking how they were all selling the same things, stall after stall, with those so known tourist prices, thinking they wanted to cheat me and take advantage of the tourists… but at this precise moment, I saw the other side of the coin.
I realized once again; each one’s smile has a story to tell. A story nobody cannot really imagine. And everyone is really trying their best…
I was happy about how I was traveling and thankful for meeting the truth of others, and to learn their reality from their perspective.
March 2018,
Patricia Assis
