travel in mathu

Where ever you go, there you are. Live out there, with full intensity. Know what 'alive' means, but especially feel what life tries to tell you. Be open, honest and positive, to all around you, but especially to yourself. Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Ten Days of Carnavales
I've got the carnaval blues.
How else could I after ten days party, noise, drink and dans.
It has been the best carnaval I've ever done, it will never be this big again, Bolivia is the number one for making it happen and I hope to maybe do it once again.
Oruro is the city with the biggest and finest carnaval in Bolivia, maybe in the world. For this week the town is dressed up in its most vibrant colors, it drags all Paceña beer out of every corner and draws spectators from all towns, cities and other countries.
Carnaval is a time that many people travel to their town of origin, in this week I've met many people that live in the big city but move to their town of birth to celebrate with family. It really fell to notice that many Bolivianos live in Buenos Aires, Argentinia.
Prices for acomodation are rediculous. Normally being 20 Bolivianos, now 150 to 200. They really take advantage of the need. So I looked around a little and found this room full with Argentinian and Chilien hippies where a spot on the grass-filled matresses was 25 Bolivianos.
Eventually I didn't sleep one night in this room. The first night I dragged my stuff to the roof to sleep three hours under the cold stars and after that I did not return to the place for two days. Partying, sleeping and doing what you have to do in other houses (altogether I did not sleep more then 10 hours in those three days).
Friday night it started with a brass band-blowoff.
I never made it there. I started the walk but in the first store where I informed if she had a pack of wine I met Victor, 50 or so. He was already half drunk (like many) and insisted that I would drink a bottle with better quality. A pack of sigarettes was added and for the next hours we walked the busy street together. Ah well, you just go through the motion sometimes.
A cd of a local band and a warm, VERY popular drink: Sucunbe, made with warm milk, grape liqour and coconut and cococa decorations, were added to the shared hospitality. Untill we reached the main plaza where his son was present with many friends. Being part of the group we host and hupst to the band that started playing. But it was all too busy and crowded for me. A good moment to leave and meet others.
I stayed in the streets untill 3am that night, pfff, if this is the beginning......
Saturday La Entrada starts around 8am ........ and ends around 4am the next morning.
No kidding, it really goes like that. The whole route staged with bleachers filled with people. Most of whom are just enjoying the parade. But in some parts there are more youngsters and so thats where the action was to be found.
In Latin America it's tradition to play with A LOT of water during carnaval and here it's in the form of little balloons: Globos. In those places with cheerfull teenagers there were true fights between one bleacher to the other. It was hilarous and of course I would participate with fever, buying many bags: five globos for 1 peso and being hit more then once. It was super fun.
Another super popular item to tease with was spraycan foam/fake snow. Especially right in your face, this one was less dramatic for the long term, but more fun to my opinion at the moment of action. And lets not forget the confetti.
So lets start the parade:
Morenada man.
Caporal ladies. Some being VERY sexy.
Many bands who really made the whole world stamp and sing to the traditional numbers with their type of group.
I'm not sure what those groups are called.
A Morenada clown.
One of the moments we were just hit by some flying foam.
The big end, el Socavon, where a massive crowd looked on to the best dances the groups could give. It was the place where cameras where installed to show the rest of Bolivia what they were missing. Here it all ends with a blessing in the famous church of El Socavon. But the atmosphere was tranquile and not very exciting, mainly families that were watching.
So I returned to the main plaza where it was much more energetic and that's where I stayed.
Here you see the Tinkus. Absolutely my favorite groups, their clothing, their dance, so much energy, so much force.
And then, when it ends at 4am, the band keeps playing a few hours more untill it's about 7am and the new day starts.
It all ended around 5am for me that session, but soon I was part of the crowds again.
A new day with precisely the same routine. Yes, again the parade starts at 8am and ends at 4am. Again many globos are thrown and many beers are drank. The only difference today being that the crowd AND the dancers and band members are a lot more merry with A LOT more alcohol. It was amazing how some orkest members could still hit the right rithm.
Lady filling globos for the whole day. Oruro is pretty cold at night and it was beautiful to notice that there was enough respect from all kids to not throw after dark.
So this second day we were more bold, we spend most time on the other side of the fence, feeding the parade-members beer, playing their instruments, dancing alongside of them (they all have their significant steps) and wearing their masks or hats.

tea states

Tika Basnet's hands move with speed and dexterity over the tender shoots of the tea bushes. She gathers clumps of leaves and casually flicks them into the doko on her back. Tika and her husband grow tea on their five hectares of land at Nepaltar in Ilam.
In the past ten years as Ilam's tea has won fame and recognition around the world, families like the Basnets have benefited as they switch from subsistence farming to tea as a cash crop.
Today, tea gardens surrounding Ilam bajar stretch downhill through the valley to the river, draping the hillsides with an emerald carpet. The tea industry now directly benefits 7,000 families and tens of thousands of people have benefited from investing in their own private tea estates. There are more than 100 private plantations at Nepaltar alone.
With Darjeeling across the border, Ilam has just the right soil and climate conditions for tea. But it hasn't always been rosy; Ilam still suffers from an identity crisis and it has been difficult to penetrate an increasingly fussy international market.
A few years ago, 30,000kg of tea was sent back from Mumbai because the chemical content was too high. "But that was a blessing in disguise because today, farmers and tea companies have switched to organic tea in a big way," says RC Nepal, manager of the Himalayan Shangri-La Tea.
Initially, local farmers didn't want to stop using chemicals but they've come around. "Although chemicals make the tea grow faster, I've realised it's healthier to use organic fertilisers," says Krishna Bahadur Basnet, a local tea farmer who grows tea on 6.5 hectares. "Since I stopped using chemicals, I've seen leeches, beetles and snakes in my garden again. Now I know that the chemicals were killing them."
Many farmers are now ardent supporters of the organic cause. "They said I should stop selling chemical fertilisers," says Gobinda Katuwal, proprietor of the only shop in Nepaltar that still sells chemical fertilisers.
Factories periodically send inspectors to check private gardens for traces of chemicals, and if they find any, stop buying from that garden. "Our target markets are in Europe, mostly Germany and France," says Nepal. "These buyers are really strict about chemical residues."