La Virgen de Urkupiña

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Over the weekend I was in Coillicollo, I small town 12 km from Cochabamba, where ages ago a miracle happened in the form of the virgin of urkupiña ascended to heaven in front of the whole town. Today, Bolivians come from all over the country and even the US to pay hommage to the virgin with 2 full days of dancing (and nights full of partying), and a final day of walking the 12km from Cochabamba to Coillocollo to pay hommage to the virgin during a sunrise mass. Later, people walk a few miles to the temple built on the site where the virgin ascended to heaven, and on the top of the hill families have sites where they feast and drink and set up scenaries of what they´re asking from - cars, houses, land, money, etc. - the virgin this year. Once they´re ready, they go to the other side of the hill where they hack at the rock with hammers and picks, traying to break of pieces of the rock. The bigger the piece, the more luck they´ll have in achieving what they want in the next year, but the deal is they have to bring the rock to their house, and then back to the hill the following year. By the looks of the hill, seems like people don´t usually follow through on the second part....

I stayed in Cochabamba with the Espinozas, a bolivian family that lives near DC I´ve known since I was little. They´re extended family is still in Cochabamba, and I got to stay with them for almost a week, 3 generations all in one household. Definitely a rare thing in the US, but pretty common here in Bolivia. I think there´s a beauty to keeping that family connection we´ve lost in the US. After a week of living in a real home and being a guest of family, it´s back to hostels for a bit.

My thesis has begun in earnest, this week and next I´m full up on interviews, handing out surveys and studying up on recent events here in Bolivia. Should be pretty exciting to figure out what´s going on in the country, I´m ready to get my nerd on.

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