Bringing Back the Magic

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After a very fun night in Bolivia, I have awoken to what I would define as the opposite of a hang over. (Here in Cochabamba, they use the Quechua word for hangover - chuchaqui). I am completely enchanted with this county, its people (especially the morning broom sweepers), its music, its crazy discotecas. And - not for the first time - I do not quite feel ready to leave.

Last night, there was a

Noche de Bohemia,

basically a coffee house. Some students played songs. Another student and I picked a song on the spot and decided to perform. We were struggling to find a song that I knew the words to and he knew the guitar cords to. To both of our surprise, the first song we mutually knew was The Decemberists, Eli the Barrel Boy. Who would have guessed? So I sang.

The better performances came at the end when the Bolivians took the stage. First, four professors performed a traditional Bolivian dance, in pairs. They had the costumes and everything. It was wonderful. When I return to Bolivia in the future, I am going to learn some of the dances. Then one of those same people played the guitar and sang with two other guys - there was a violin, too. I went in the front with another student and we pretended to know the appropriate Bolivian dance; two professors who actually knew it came up and helped us.

After the party at the institute ended, the party moved elsewhere (via a bunch of people in the back of a truck) - to a disoteca (night club). And three hours later, I was laughing with those of us who lasted all night, sitting on some random steps on a street in Cochabamba with listening to a beautiful man play the guitar and sing a song in Spanish that I barely understood. Enchanting. I would venture to say music is more interesting that way, when you can pick out certain words and imagine the rest. Especially when there´s something in particular you want to hear…

It will be a challenge for me to bring back the magic to my friends in Rochester. On second thought, I suppose that if I could bring the magic back, it would not be magic....

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