Bolivia Today

Sad but true, this is what is going on in Bolivia nowadays

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:36:31 PDT

Drug dealing has always been a problem in Bolivia, but this below, is unheard of.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/19/bolivia-cocaine-bar-route-36

Wireless Carriers in Bolivia, some basic facts

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:43:50 PDT

There are three wireless carriers in Bolivia:

VIVA
http://www.viva-gsm.com/
This is a privately held company, which however has a stakeholder which is a local communications cooperative in Cochabamba (COMTECO). This carrier uses GSM and provides GPRS/EDGE access. In general this carriers works with the 1800/1900mhz.

TIGO
http://www.tigo.com.bo
This is a privately held company, which provides GSM with EDGE/3G services and also Blackberry services.
This carrier works with 850/900mhz

ENTEL
http://www.entel.bo/
This is the recently nationalized carrier in Bolivia, previously owned by TIM. It provides GSM with GPRS/EGE and also Blackberry services. It also still has a legacy TDMA network which is still supported. This carrier works with 900/1800/1900 mhz.

If you visit the websites of any of these carriers you will find an option which lets you send free SMS to any mobile phone in he country.

Bolivian Paintings: Jose Castro, Humberto Jaimes, Moises Chire, Antonio Mariaca

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:30:43 PDT

Bolivian Paintings: Luis Luksis, Julio Cesar Tellez, Armodio Tamayo

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:10:39 PDT

Small tremor in Cochabamba, no earthquake.

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:07:09 PDT

Yesterday in the afternoon at around quarter past there was a tremor of 4.4 in the richter scale. I say tremor because I was actually walking on the street at that time yet I didn't feel it.

The epicenter was in the province of Capinota, 5 km to the northeast of Santivañez, about 15 km to the southeast of the city of Cochabamba.

Boliva gets third place in Microsoft 2009 Imagine Cup IT Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:24:09 PDT

Not bad at all considering we only had one participant in the IT Challenge competition.

Worldwide Competitors were:

300,000 registered

59,000 students competed from 142 countries

148 finalist teams

Miklos Cari from Cochabamba, Bolivia got the third place in this Microsoft 2009 Imagine Cup IT Challenge. You can see him in a video receiving the award here:

IT Challenge

First place: Romania, Cosmin Ilie
Second place: China, Wu Chang

Third place: Bolivia, Miklos Cari Sivila

More information here:

http://imaginecup.com/Support/exploreimaginecup.aspx

Bolivian Sculptures - Nuñez del Prado, Zapana and Magallanes

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:41:27 PDT

Mobile Facebook in Bolivia promoted by wireless carriers as a plus for them

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:04:12 PDT

I saw a VIVA ad on the Los Tiempos newspaper on Sunday and and another one of TIGO at a nearby store today, it 's funny that they promote mobile web access to Facebook as if it was a plus of their service. This is probably due to the fact that many young people in Bolivia are Facebook addicts. No joke, I have Facebook contacts in their teens which have 500+ contact easily. For a country where about only 75% of the population has access to electricity and where from 10 million tops about 1 million people have access to internet, believe me 500+ is a lot.

In Bolivia Facebook use has grown very quickly, nobody uses MySpace or other social sites, basically everyone who has a social account is using Facebook. Twitter use is reduced, the other day I had a friend who was at what they called a "Twitter Party" in Cochabamba (he told me there are about 30 users of Twitter he knows in Cochabamba and close to 200 in Bolivia), with similar events going on in La Paz and Santa Cruz at the same time.

Bolivian Sculptures - Nuñez del Prado and Zapana

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:12:58 PDT

iPhone in Bolivia

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:37:45 PDT

If you have an iPhone and you live in Bolivia, this probably means that it is a jailbroken/unlocked one, since Apple has not made the iPhone available through any of the wireless carriers in Bolivia. Sad but true.

All our neighbors have the iPhone, we're the only ones that don't:

This doesn't mean that we don't see people with iPhone, actually I know about 10 people with iPhone, and some have payed hefty prices for their Apple precious.

People have had to go through different ticks and ask favors to relatives in the US or in Europe in order to get an iPhone, you can also buy them from people or small shops which bring them in small quantities and have them jailbroken/unlocked locally. But if you don't have a geek's heart it's really difficult to keep up with the upgrades. Although I know quite a few people who would be ready to buy one if it was offered by a local carrier.

Those in Bolivia who have the iPhone 3G (I've got a 2G myself, don't need an upgrade for now although the 3GS looks veeeery cool), don't use in general the 3G service since there is only one wireless carrier which provides this service, TIGO, and I've used a chip from them for a year and I was really upset with their service it was really bad. I returned to my VIVA (another local wireless carrier), although they only have GPRS.

Wifi hotspots are not easily found in Bolivia, as you can guess. But there are a few (many public places have them).

Below a shot of Apple's next countries to have the iphone, are we're still not there. C'mon carriers in Bolivia do you really believe there is NO market for the iphone in Bolivia? We need more technology than other countries in order to work ourselves out of this poverty hole.

Bolivian Litographies - Clovis Dias de Oropeza

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:22:26 PDT

Bolivian Sculpturers - Alejandro Ortega, Agustin Calisaya, Victor Zapana, Marina Nuñez del Prado

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:21:52 PDT

Bolivian Paintings: Juan Ortega Leyton, Cecilio Guzman de Rojas, Teofilo Loayza, Arturo Reque, Walter Solon, Arturo Borda

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:26:59 PDT

Bolivian Sculptures - Nuñez del Prado, Zapana and Callisaya

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:41:22 PDT

Gate of the Sun (puerta del sol) in Tiwanaku

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:53:59 PDT

The gate of the sun is undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces of art in all the Andean world. It has about 4 meters of width by 2.75 meters of height, and a weight of about 10 tons. The gate has been kept exactly where it was found, and a large crack that goes across it vertically has also been kept untouched.

Three horizontal segments are on the sides of a central figure, with 48 engravings of human-animal form, other than human traits they also have bird and feline traits. All the figures stare at the central figure, which has an identity still unclear. It is a human form which has 24 rays coming out of it and some ending in puma heads. From the eyes fall large tears and its hands hold two cranes which end in a condor head, symbol of power. In its elbows it has some type of heads and on it's breast it has some type of altar.Some historians consider this is the Sun God or one of the high deities of the Tiwanaku Culture.

Last painting I have from the September group with special participation of Ricardo Perez Alcala

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:59:45 PDT

More bolivian paintings by the September group

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:20:41 PDT

The Chullpas or Andine mummies

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:24:55 PDT

The term "Chullpa" is used to refer both to the tomb and to the mummy itself for several of the pre-Inca and Inca civilizations. The tombs usually rise about 12 meters above the ground made of stone and are funeral monuments to nobles, leaders or other prominent characters in the Andine civilizations. You can see several of these made of mud bricks on the road between Oruro and La Paz. You can find several at Calamarca, between Sicasica and Ayo Ayo, but unfortunelly most have been looted and are partially destroyed. In the province of Caranagas (Oruro) there is a large amount of these which have not been studied.

Bolivian Sculpture

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:42:54 PDT

I am trying to find a good summary of the most famous Bolivian sculptures, which has turned out to be a bit more difficult than I though. Meanwhile I will post some images of the sculptures and at least names of some Bolivia sculptors.

Introducing PAL designs

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:05:14 PDT

A close friend has decided to start a new entrepreneurship to overcome her limits, to grow in the creativity, imagination and art of creating new designs for everyday use.

In order to help her out with this new challenge I have created an album of her works and placed it in the blog. She is a Bolivian designers which creates designs in Bolivia, for the world.

PALdesigns

More Bolivian Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:29:36 PDT

Marcelo Merida - Transformacion

Freddy Murillo - Vision Andina

Juan Terrazas - Interior de Cocina

Rodolfo Saavedra - Mujeres

Marcelo Merida - Bajo las alas del poder

Raul Lara - Nupcias

The Akapana Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:19:38 PDT

Akapana is a pyramid with 800mts of perimeter, 7 levels and of about 18m of height. On the summit, according to existing chronicles, there was one beautiful buildings. The walls around the first level were covered by a soft rock and later by a lithic rock, making archeologists suppose that this pyramid was built in phases through a long timespan. Inside the pyramid there is a complex channel system which were used as rain drainage, although the presence of a large number of green rocks has made many archeologists think that this place could have also been used to wash minerals, for example tin.

Continuing with Bolivian artists

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:03:17 PDT

The following paintings also belong to painters that participate of the September group:

David Dario Antezana - "The Kitchen"

Eleonore Greca - Tenderness

Ponciano Cardenas - "Fish"

Street map of downtown Cochabamba

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:18:42 PDT

The following map provides with basic street and sightseeing information for downtown Cochabamba. A lot of the streets have their names and some of the main places or building are labeled. Useful for any first timer or anyone planning to visit Cochabamba after a long time.

The Temple of Kalasasaya

noreply@blogger.com (Bolivia Hoy) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:02:10 PDT

Kalasasaya (kala=rock, saya or sayasta=standing up), in other words the name can be roughly translated to temple of the standing rocks. 5 meter tall rocks make up most of this temple. This ceremonial center is 126 meters long by 117 meters wide. It has an internal yard of rectangular form which is below the levelof the ground, which can be reached through a 6 step stair made from a single carved stone. This temple was used to identify the change of seasons and the solar year of 365 days. In both equinox (fall: 21st of March, spring: 21st of September) the Sun went through the center of main entrance gate, which can be accessed using a large stairway.

On each side of the yard there are 7 half underground rooms.

This wall is know as the Chunchukala, or balcony wall. On this wall you can fin a hole which is similar to a human ear, which permits you to hear sounds which are made far away. This type of "sound amplifier" gives us an idea that acoustics principles where known and applied in the Tiwanaku culture.