el 6 de agosto

Today Bolivia celebrates Independence Day! And Chris and I complete six months of being here!!! There is a parade going on outside of our house as I write. Here are some sweet photos. In the past two weeks, we've heard a lot of drums, seen baton twirlers in their lawns and talked with mothers frantically sewing costumes all for this big day. There seem to be no lack of holidays here as tomorrow is Flag Day and Armed Forces Day (it isn't uncommon here for one day to have multiple meanings. September 21 for example (which happens to be my birthday) is the first day of spring, student day and friendship day all in one) and Thursday was Indigenous Day.
These three holidays have created a lot of political chatter here in windy Santa Cruz. To explain, I suppose we should give a little background. There are often conflicts between the local (city and departmental (like state or provincial)) government and the national government. Basically, the local government wants more power to make its own decisions about its economy, natural resources, and political process. The word “autonomia” (autonomy) is written in some way on just about every street corner of the city. Because the Andean Mountains cut right through Bolivia, the reigons are divided physically which has caused a history of a lack of travel/communication (the capital city, La Paz is situated right in the middle of this mountain range). Because of this, both the highlands and the lowlands have very distinct food, dress, language etc. In the last ten to fifteen years, however, there has been a huge migration of highlanders to the lowlands. Santa Cruz, being the richest department, has received hundreds of thousands of newcomers during this time. So, to say the least, Santa Cruz is a very interesting place to be, especially during national holidays. Well, I guess that was a very simple start to a very complicated dynamic here, more to follow later. Enjoy the pictures! Happy 6 de agosto!