Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and there are many who would never dare to touch an ancient grave or treasure, even if they
knew that they would encounter great wealth.
The Roman Catholic church predominates throughout Bolivia, and although most Indian
tribes have their patron saints I am afraid they know next to nothing about the religion itself.
Theyareveryfondofbuildinglittlechapelsontheverytopsofhillsormountainsthathappen
tooverlooktheirvillagesandsettlements,andthetrailsthatleaduptotheseshrinesareinvari-
ably absolutely straight and very steep, so steep in fact that a white man would find it difficult
to reach the top.
Bolivian Indians are very superstitious and mystical, and they can often be seen on their
way to a fiesta in some distant village, carrying a hideously painted wooden saint with them,
the whole tribe marching to the music of flutes and whistles and to the beating of huge drums.
Every now and again they stop to take a rest and to drink to the health of their idol, alcoholic
drinks being carried in earthenware pots, in calabashes, or in bottles.
In one little village I saw a particularly lively Indian
fiesta
for which people from far and
near had assembled, some having come long distances over the mountains and through desol-
ate valleys. Standing or kneeling before the image of some saint there was a large number of
girls who were going through all manner of movements, all the time wailing and murmuring
intheirlanguage,whichIcouldnotunderstand.Luckilythelocalgovernmentofficialwhoac-
companied me spoke both Quichua and Spanish and interpreted some of the things they were
telling to their saint. All these girls were imploring the wooden figure to assist them in find-
ing husbands, and whilst they were doing this the men were looking on without showing the
slightest trace of emotion, which is a characteristic among most Indians, who show neither
pleasure nor sorrow by facial expression.
A short distance from the place where these girls were begging the saint to have compas-
sion on them, there was another saint in front of which a group of rather older women were
lamenting and whining and waving their arms like Dutch windmills. These women were ask-
ing their particular saint to punish their bad husbands or to strike them with sudden death for
all the ill-treatment they were receiving at their hands.
In spite of all these side-shows, the main attraction of any Indian feast is the alcohol that
is consumed in unbelievable quantities and only those who have balance enough dance to the
music of all manner of strangely shaped reed instruments.
Wherever I looked I saw proof of the extraordinary superstitions these people believed in. At
the top of the mountains, near the highest point of a trail, there is always one, or several heaps
of stones, and I noticed the same near every village alongside the trail that leads into it. All
