Bolivia: The Ultimate Answer To Friends' Disputes

The meme When your friends argue about the answer but Bolivia is a reference to a situation where your friends are arguing about a numerical answer to a question, but your answer is completely different and unrelated. Bolivia is used in this meme because it is unexpected and funny, and the country's name is easy to pronounce and spell. The joke is also a call-back to an inside joke on a podcast, where the hosts would joke about smuggling exotic birds out of Bolivia, pretending that there is an entire genre of street murals in Bolivia depicting David as El rey de los animales exoticos.

Bolivia's varied geography

Bolivia's geography is incredibly varied. The country is divided into three distinct physiographic regions: the Andean region, the Sub-Andean region, and the Llanos region.

The Andean region, located in the southwest, covers 28% of the country's territory. It is home to the Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Central mountain ranges, which include numerous active volcanoes and the Uyuni Salt Flat. The republic's highest peak, Mount Sajama, rises to 21,463 feet (6,542 meters) above sea level.

The Sub-Andean region, which makes up 13% of Bolivia's land, is an intermediate area between the Altiplano and the eastern lowlands. This region is known for its farming activities and temperate climate.

The Llanos region, covering 59% of the country, is located in the northeast and extends from the Andean foothills to the Paraguay River. It is characterized by flat land, small plateaus, and extensive rainforests, boasting enormous biodiversity.

Bolivia's geography is further shaped by its location within the Amazon Basin and its share of the Andes Mountains, which bisect the country roughly from north to south. To the east of the Andes lies the lowland plains of the Amazon Basin, while to the west is the Altiplano, a highland plateau home to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.

The country's varied geography also encompasses tropical rainforests, dry valleys, and the Chiquitania, a tropical savanna. The diverse climates range from humid tropical in the lowlands to polar climates in the western Andes.

Bolivia's unique culture

Pre-Columbian Period

Bolivia is home to several important pre-Columbian archaeological ruins, including Tiwanaku, Samaipata, Inkallaqta, and Iskanwaya. These sites feature gold and silver ornaments, stone monuments, ceramics, and weavings from ancient cultures. The Tiwanaku Empire, which dates back to 1500 BC, is particularly significant.

Colonial Period

During the colonial period, the Spanish brought their religious art traditions, which, combined with indigenous and mestizo influences, resulted in the distinctive "Mestizo Baroque" style. This period produced notable paintings by artists such as Perez de Holguin, Flores, and Bitti, as well as the work of skilled stonecutters, woodcarvers, goldsmiths, and silversmiths.

Republican Period

Today, Bolivia is a predominantly Catholic country, with strong religious ties within families and communities. The country's culture is influenced by 36 different indigenous cultures, each contributing to the country's rich folklore, music, dance, and cuisine.

Music and Dance

Bolivian music and dance vary across regions, blending native and European elements. Caporales, a popular dance that originated in the Highlands, has spread throughout the country and Bolivian communities abroad. Other traditional dances in the Highlands include Siklla (Wayra, Doctorcitos), while the Lowlands feature dances like the lively and rhythmic Saya.

Cuisine

Bolivian cuisine is a fusion of Spanish, indigenous, and immigrant influences from Germany, Italy, and other countries. The three traditional staples are maize, potatoes, and beans, combined with European ingredients like rice, wheat, beef, pork, and chicken. Typical dishes include papas rellenas (deep-fried stuffed potatoes), salteñas (baked dough filled with meat, vegetables, and a spicy sauce), and pique a lo macho (a mix of beef, sausage, onions, spicy peppers, boiled egg, and fries).

Social Customs and Etiquette

Bolivians are known for their friendliness and affection, often greeting each other with hugs, kisses on the cheek, or a handshake. They value direct eye contact as a sign of trustworthiness. Punctuality is not a priority, and it is common to arrive 15-30 minutes late for social gatherings.

Fashion and Dress

The clothing of Andean people of indigenous descent includes the pollera (pleated skirt), the European bowler hat, and a silky shawl called a manta. In contrast, the inhabitants of Santa Cruz de la Sierra dress similarly to Western countries, wearing jeans, shorts, t-shirts, and dresses.

Sports

Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Bolivia, with a passionate following. Other popular sports include basketball, gymnastics, and volleyball.

Bolivia's economic growth

Bolivia's economy grew rapidly between 1960 and 1977, but persistent deficits and a fixed exchange rate policy during the 1970s led to a debt crisis in 1977. The Bolivian economy began to grow again after 1986, but the country experienced a financial crisis between 1998 and 2002.

Under the presidency of Evo Morales from 2006 to 2019, Bolivia's GDP per capita doubled, and the extreme poverty rate declined from 38% to 18%. The poverty rate declined from 22.23% in 2000 to 12.38% in 2010. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, improved from 0.60 to 0.446 during this period.

To promote economic growth, the Bolivian government has implemented a program of macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform, including the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Foreign investors are accorded national treatment, and foreign ownership of companies faces virtually no restrictions.

The services industry in Bolivia remains undeveloped due to weak purchasing power, and the retail sector suffers from weak demand and competition from a large black market.

Bolivia's political history

Pre-Columbian and Colonial Eras

Bolivia's history stretches back thousands of years, with indigenous cultures such as the Tiwanaku people developing advanced civilisations before the arrival of the Inca Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Incas themselves were soon conquered by Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro in the early 16th century, marking the beginning of Spanish colonial rule.

Independence and Early Republic

The region now known as Bolivia, then called Upper Peru, played a significant role in the Spanish American wars of independence during the early 19th century. After 16 years of struggle, the Bolivian Republic was established in 1825, named after the Venezuelan leader Simón Bolívar. The early years of the republic were marked by frequent wars with neighbouring countries, culminating in the devastating loss of the War of the Pacific, which resulted in Bolivia losing its access to the sea.

19th Century Turmoil

Bolivia faced further challenges in the 19th century, including the Chaco War against Paraguay in the 1830s. The country experienced a series of coups and political instability, with power often held by military strongmen known as caudillos. During this period, Bolivia also struggled to bring its far-flung regions under centralised control and faced economic decline due to a decrease in mining activity.

20th Century Developments

The 20th century witnessed significant political and social transformations in Bolivia. The Bolivian National Revolution of the 1950s, led by the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), introduced universal adult suffrage, nationalised the country's largest tin mines, and implemented land reforms. However, the country continued to experience political turmoil, with a series of coups and countercoups throughout the century.

21st Century and Recent Developments

Bolivia's political landscape in the 21st century has been dominated by Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous president, who served from 2006 to 2019. Morales implemented leftist policies, including the nationalisation of certain economic sectors and the decentralisation of power. However, his government was also accused of democratic backsliding and was described as a competitive authoritarian regime. In 2019, Morales resigned amid allegations of electoral fraud, triggering a political crisis and a period of interim rule. In 2020, Luis Arce, endorsed by Evo Morales, was elected president, marking a new chapter in Bolivia's political history.

Bolivia's Spanish dialect

Bolivia is a landlocked country in central South America with a population of around 12 million. It is a multiethnic country with a diverse range of languages. Spanish is the official and predominant language, with 36 indigenous languages also holding official status.

The variety of Spanish spoken in Bolivia is known as Bolivian Spanish or Castilian. It is the mother tongue or second language of the majority of the population. There are several regional varieties of Bolivian Spanish, with dialectal features shared with neighbouring countries in border areas.

Bolivian Spanish is characterised by the preservation of the phonemic contrast between /ʝ/ and the lateral /ʎ/ (known as the absence of yeísmo). Aspiration of syllable-final /s/ is common in the lowlands, while in the highlands, the sibilant /s/ is usually preserved. In highland dialects, the "trill" phoneme is often assibilated, resulting in a voiced apicoalveolar fricative or alveolar approximant, similar to the English pronunciation of ⟨r⟩.

Bolivian Spanish also exhibits "intense reduction" of unstressed vowels in contact with /s/, leading to syllables with /s/ as the nucleus. For example, the word "pues" ("well...") may be pronounced as [ps]. This dialect is predominantly spoken in the Chaco-Beni plain and the Santa Cruz valleys, encompassing the departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando.

Another notable feature of Bolivian Spanish is the use of "voseo", where "vos" is employed as the second-person singular pronoun and verb form. Additionally, the diminutive -ingo and the augmentative -ango are unique to this dialect, for example, "chiquitingo" ("very small") and "grandango" ("very large").

The influence of indigenous languages, such as Chiquitano, Chané, and Guarani, as well as Old World languages like Portuguese and Arabic, has left an imprint on Bolivian Spanish. While the dialect remains fairly uniform across regions and social classes, subtle geographical differences can be observed.

In addition to Spanish, several indigenous languages are widely spoken in Bolivia. These include Aymara, Quechua, Chiquitano, and Guarani. According to a census survey, 69% of the population speaks Spanish, while 17% speak Quechua and 11% speak Aymara.

Frequently asked questions