Meeting Folks from Home

Good Morning:
Happy Friday the 13 th! Afterwe recovered from the bus ride on Wednesday we spent the day renewing our familiarity with central La Paz. We ate at the same places as last February and went to the information kiosk to get a map. Nothing too adventurous. The police presence was noticeably increased with small groups of bored riot police on many street corners, complete with shields, body armour, and tear-gas projectors. Not certain whether it was because of the questioning on charges of corruption of the president of the government oil company or just the small indigenous demonstrations that no one seems to understand. The police presence slacked off to normal by yesterday. We are located very close to the centre of political action so the near-by square always has something going on.
I have another "Joy-ism" to share. I should start a collection of these. I must first confess that I made just as many mistakes as Joy does, but she forgets mine and hers are cute. This time I was ordering lunch in my finest Spanish (thanks Marco) and was expected (by agreement) to order a large cervasa for both of us. I started by ordering a sandwich and Joy jumped in to ensure that there were "dos copas" (2 glasses) included. The waiter really did a double-take wondering why the nice lady wanted to get 2 glasses with my ham and cheese sandwich! Things went downhill for a while, as I tried to explain that either she wanted them with the cervasa that I hadn´t ordered yet or that she was under doctor´s care back home.
Yesterday we were picked up by Ivor Mendez and Yvonne and off we went to "El Alto". I would like to tell everyone more about Dr. Mendez, but I will limit it to the fact that he is a neurosurgeon from Halifax, of Bolivian origin and has been terrifically active in various projects in Bolivia, including the arts. He is a wonderful sculptor and photographer on the side. A little about "El Alto". It is an area above La Paz which has been a collecting point for indigenous people coming into the city from the country. It has grown in size so that it now is larger in population than La Paz itself, although still considered a satellite city. The airport for La Paz is located in "El Alto". Yvonne took us to the Museo de Arte Antonio Paredes Candia, which is virtually unknown and is located in an old water storage tower which has been re-built into a beautiful facility. But it is what is inside that is so special. It certainly houses the finest collection of Bolivian paintings that I have seen, and the same can be said of the sculptures. Absolutely spectacular! This was the first time Ivor had seen this museo and it houses the best collection of "Mollo" culture ceramics he had seen, which come from the area in which he has one of his projects. It is a very special place and should be on the "must see" list for anyone visiting La Paz. As an additional treat the sculptor Victor Sapana was working on a sculpture in front of the museo and we were invited to take up the chisel and hammer for the honour of taking off some rock. What a great opportunity!
In the afternoon, we went to get our 30 day visas extended and found it a very simple process. Once we obtained the requisite photocopies, we were quickly (and the process was free!) given 90 days. We thought that the original 30 day visas might make it a bit rushed trying to get out of Bolivia, depending on what we decided to do from here. We also went up and down hills in the market area hunting for bloomers. Don´t ask! I am finding that the hills and altitude combination is a little more difficult this trip. I guess because I am not in as good shape as I was last year.
We were picked up again and after juice and some Bolivian munchies with Ivor and Yvonne, we met the man who is probably the most successful artist in Bolivia, Roberto Mamani Mamani. We went, in a terrific rainstorm (picture boulders being washed down the streets), to Zona Sur which is the other direction of expansion of population around La Paz. This is further down the valley below La Paz centre and is affluent and up-scale. Roberto, being a good businessman as well as a great painter, located his gallery there. Roberto is a charming individual with a quick smile and a resemblnce to his friend, Evo Morales, the president. He is very proud of his Aymara heritage and it shows in the beautiful colourful paintings which have been shown all over the world. It was a delightful visit and it was fun to watch he and Joy comparing notes through their volunteer interpreter, Ivor Mendez. They talked business, prints and serigraphs, and the amount of agreement and commonality across cultures and thousands of Kms was very impressive. It would be nice to have a Mamani Mamani show in Halifax.
Thanks Ivor, Yvonne, Victor, Roberto, and many others for a marvelous experience and the honour of seeing and learning about this intriguing and beautiful country. More adventures today.
Jim