Jodi in China

Two little peas in a pod. Bugs in a bed. Piggies in a blanket. Someone please send them to me in Bolivia!

The contestants in the peanut shelling contest shell their pile as fast as they can while everybody cheers them on at the Tariquia peanut festival.

My friend Laura helps me with fieldwork sometimes. She is not as mean as she looks - Bolivians refuse to smile for a camera. Bolivian custom demands one to look very serious in photographs.

Another San Roque tradition is couples in traditional Tarijan clothing dancing around a pole to traditional Tarijan music.

Closeups of masked chunchos (and a lady who walked in front of the camera).

The final ceremony of the festival of San Roque is the parade of the chunchos (costumed dancers), musicians, and the Saint Roque, from the San Roque church to all of the other major churches in the city, lasting from 9 am to 9 pm. One of the first stops is the Cathedral (across from my house), where I took this picture, The Saint (an elaborate wooden idol carried by about 6 men) enters into the Cathedral first, and then everyone else tries to crowd in. There are over 1500 costumed chunchos that march, as well as musicians and uncostumed paraders, stretching for several city blocks.

A big and a little chuncho (that is what they call the costumed dancers) wait for their turn to join the other dancers in the San Roque parade.

This picture taken by Hugo when we were hiking in the early morning to leave the Peanut Festival in Tariquia.

in Tariquia.....

Last week George W. Bush and his sidekicks visited here in Bolivia to assess the situation. He said Bolivia´s having hard times now, but that in the end America will be a lot stronger for it. Then they all pooped in the stream.

This is the Guadalquivir River, the principal river in my study area. I have sampled it and many of its tributaries these past 3 months. Here it is running through the Central Tarija Valley, right before it leaves the valley through a narrow gorge (see previous blog).

The Guadalquivir River leaves the Central Tarija Valley through this canyon.

This picture shows the view from my porch at sunset. Directly across from my house is the city´s main catholic church, the Cathedral. Every morning a bellringer (obviously untrained in the art of bell-ringing, but he deserves an A++ for the pure energy he puts into his job) rings the cathedral bells for mass at 6:30 am, and makes sure I don´t sleep in. Behind that is the Sama Cordillera of the Eastern range of the Andes. The sun drops down behind these mountains every evening at about 6 pm, and there are some very pretty sunsets. Unfortunately this photo does not include smells, because a woman sets up her hamburger stand on the street directly below at this time every night. The smell of cooking hamburgers from this woman´s stand are the most delicious in the whole city. People crowd around her stand all evening, smelling and eating. The smells float up to my porch and are sometimes irresistible. Just ask Jane and Clayton.