Crossing the divide

I'm sitting here in Cochabamba, Bolivia's third city, famous for the 'water wars' 10 years ago, when an IMF-imposed privatisation handed the city's water network over to an international consortium. It wasn't just the municipal water network they gained rights over, but also rural irrigation systems that communities had often built themselves, and even rain falling on roofs. Immediately after the privatisation, prices doubled or tripled, and a big protest movement began. Incredibly, this led to the successful de-privatisation of the network, and prices returned to prior levels. Problems remain, as there are still barrios without running water, but this is a rare achievement.

I arrived here this morning on the bus from Santa Cruz. I went to sleep sweating as usual in my shorts and t-shirt, but awoke shocked by the cold temperatures as we neared our destination. I had expected it to be cold on the Altiplano, but Cochabamba is in a fertile valley at what for the Bolivian Andes is a relatively low altitude. I suppose I should have realised that 2600m is not low.

Bolivia seems to be becoming increasingly divided between the highlands (whose people are known as colla) and the lowlands (home of the camba). Until today I've been in the lowlands the whole time. Evo Morales, Bolivia's indigenous, socialist-leaning President, is a colla and he is definitely not popular in the lowlands. Virtually everyone I've spoken to so far has had a very low opinion of him, telling me stories of corruption, poor judgement, and prejudice against the mostly wealthier, non-indigenous camba. Perhaps here I'll get a different viewpoint.

Santa Cruz, the main city of the lowlands and with a booming economy based on oil, gas, cattle and soya, is the centre of a vociferous 'Autonomia' movement. I've heard that the government of Santa Cruz Department may have hired a small terrorist cell from the former Yugoslavia to fight their cause. When these terrorists were captured a video was uncovered, explaining how they took their orders from a contact in the local government, who took orders from the Governor of Santa Cruz Department, who took orders from the American Ambassador (who had been the American Ambassador to Yugoslavia immediately before the the wars there). In Santa Cruz the local media and government declared this was all fabricated by the national government, to undermine them. Both options are hard to credit, but it gives you a picture of the politics over here!

Back to my travels, I had a wonderful time in the savannas of Beni with Octavio, Kathrin and Paolo. We were helping Kathrin with her research on bats, but that's only possible in the evenings, so the rest of the time we were free to explore (or to sleep). There may be more wildlife in the rainforest but it's far easier to spot in the savannas!

It's a strange ecosystem, with vast swathes of marshy grassland interspersed with forest islands. Some of the forests follow rivers, where water is guaranteed throughout the dry season, but others are harder to explain. They may be related to former water courses, or they may have been affected by the civilisation thought to have thrived here in pre-Colombian times. Little is known about these people, but it's thought that they built a huge network of mounds and dykes, with year-round irrigation allowing agriculture to support a large population. They were never discovered by the Spaniards, probably because imported diseases killed 99% of the population before missionaries ever made it that far downriver.

We spent many hours in these savannas, searching for frogs and toads, and finding every type of bird from hummingbirds to vultures, from macaws to strange primitive ducks, pink spoonbills and very aggresive lapwings. Octavio caught a few snakes and spent days setting up photos of each one - I had to threaten this small green non-venomous tree snake so it would open it's mouth in a classic defensive posture, but unfortunately it soon grew tired of our games and refused to open it's mouth for the camera.

A highlight was when we found a porcupine climbing in the bamboo one night - I never realised they had such long fleshy tails! Although I must admit I got tired of standing there getting slaughtered by the mozzies after about 20 minutes of avid photographing by Octavio and Kathrin. Yes the mozzies were insane. For the bat work we couldn't use repellent. We wore head nets, gloves and 2 layers of clothes, but still they would manage to find a way in. Thank God they don't carry malaria.

But my happiest moment was when I fell off a horse. I admit, I must be a bit crazy. I think it was the adrenaline. We had three beautiful horses to ride, the only complication being that mine didn't like to stay on the track. Instead it would fearlessly plough through swamps and ponds, with me struggling to control it. We were galloping through the grass and as we turned the whole saddle came off, taking me with it. I fell into the mud and my t-shirt was white no longer.