Global Voices Online

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Millions of Bolivians have left their homeland in search for greener pastures for a variety of reasons. Nostalgia can sink in and can be expressed through writing. The subject was recently featured in Claudia Peña Claros’ blog Inútil Ardor (ES). In poetry form, she begins the work titled “Expatriates” with “We can no longer return to the homeland. The homeland is barely a mistaken memory. It’s in our necessity to dream. It’s in the scents of our closed suitcase.”

Some Bolivian bloggers have left Bolivia for other educational and work opportunities. However, some have gone farther than others to the atypical destinations where one would not normally find Bolivian communities. Fabricio Loayza Puch maintains his blog El Pit (ES) direct from Kyoto, Japan. His interaction with Japanese culture dominates the content of his blog, which is nearly a year old. Antonio Saravia formerly wrote at the Economist en su Laberinto (ES), but now keeps the blog Lecciones de Economía en Evoland, a bilingual blog written in the United Arab Emirates. As the title of the blog suggests, he writes extensively about economics during the new term of the Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Not all Bolivians leave for interesting countries to experience life in Japan or the UAE. Many Bolivians leave for uncertain conditions and live under the cloud of illegality. Jaime Rubin de Celis talks about the tragic deaths of undocumented Bolivian workers in illegal factories of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In his blog JCR’s Place, he found it telling that even though the tragedy ripped apart their lives, many were given the option to return to Bolivia. However, all of them preferred to stay, even in such unfavorable, slave-like conditions.

While many Bolivians leave the country for a variety of reasons, other members of the global community arrive in Bolivia for a unique and stimulating experience. For example, Wendell Krohn, who will soon wrap up his two year stay with his wife Carlye in the city of Cochabamba, recently wrote about his awkward experience on the G bus-line where he was publicly singled out by the stern bus driver.

Finally, El Benjo summarizes in his blog Final de Finales (ES) the Ayni Rock festival held in El Alto, the growing suburb of the capital of La Paz. He said that the two day festival held in early April was the best organized rock concert held in El Alto in the last ten years. Musical genres featured included hip hop, metal, and pop rock, which included two invited bands from Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.