Scribbling in Starshine

"It was a pleasant cafe, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old water-proof on the coat rack to dry and put my warm and weathered felt heat on the rack above the bench and ordered a cafe au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write."

- Ernest Hemingway

From the Lost Generation`s famed haunts on the Parisian left bank to a quiet plazoleta in the cobbled alleyways of Seville; listening to jazz beneath a Serengeti sky, drinking a cafe au lait, and writing in a notebook. To my knowledge, in various countries, I have now enjoyed at least nine cafes freqented by Hemingway. While I hold no particular reverence for his literary skills or personality, the dude did know his java joints. For a variety of reasons, he would have warmed to La Paz. Prior to becoming the expatriate mentor of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, etc, Ezra Pound made the following observation in 1903 ...

"Is New York the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban nights are like the nights there. I have looked down across the city from high windows. It is then that the great buildings lose reality and take on magical powers. Squares and squares of flame, set and cut into the other. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will."

La Paz is poetic for a similar reason. Unable to pull down the stars to his will, Alonso de Mendoza, in 1548, instead founded the city in the stars. La Paz is the highest capital city in the world. Nearby Potosí, enjoys the ranking as the overall highest city in the world.

In 1545, tremendous deposits of silver ore were discovered in Potosí. Boasting the world`s largest such mine, the settlement grew into the continent`s largest and richest city -- mostly on the backs of forced labor. It`s estimated that the horrifying conditions led to the deaths of eight million (!) Indian and African slaves.

As of 1992, Bolivia had endured 188 changes of government in its 167 years as a republic.

Bolivia is 0 - 3 thus far in bruising border battles. Between 1879 and 1883, in the War of the Pacific, Chile annexed over 200 miles of coastline ... leaving Bolivia landlocked. In 1903 Brazil snatched most of the country`s northern section to capitalize on its rubber wealth and 30 years later Paraguay seized the Chaco region. Strikeout. Back to the dugout, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

Despite such territorial tragedy, Bolivia is the size of France and Spain combined.

According to the Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, the name poop deck comes from the latin word puppis, meaning stern (the rear of the ship). Okay, this has nothing to do with Bolivia. I just like to say poop deck.

Bolivia suffers from a Third World Trifecta: of South American countries it has the highest infant mortality rate (69 deaths per 1000 births); the most births per woman (4.4); and the lowest female literacy rate (76.8%).

The largest sector of the economy comes from coca exports, which exceed all legal agricultural exports combined. It is estimated that 30% of the workforce is involved in illicit coca production and drug trafficking.

One of the funkiest local traditions is the tinku, a ritual fistfight with lots of booze swilling and blood spilling which is practiced during festivals. The fights (some fatal) go on for two days or more, may feature rocks or other weapons, and don`t exempt women. Bloodsport Bolivia.

Though the Brazilian Amazon is known worldwide and is more easily accessible, much of it is degraded and heavily populated. By contrast, northern Bolivia remains relatively undeveloped. The Bolivian portion of the Amazon Basin encompasses half of the country`s total territory.

This is where I`ll be arriving tomorrow ... Rurrenbaque, a frontier settlement on the Río Beni and gateway to the jungle. The initial stages of the jaunt, the road from La Paz to Coroico, drops 10,000 feet in 50 miles and reputedly punctuated with waterfalls. It`s called The World`s Most Dangerous Road because it hosts the most fatalities annually. Last month an entire busload of tourists went flinging over the edge. This brings to mind some Edgar Rice Burroughs: "There in the jungle where life teems in greatest abundance so too shall death reap its greatest harvest." My famous last words: Pffffllllttt !!!

- from the Andes to the Amazon ... your jangling jungle jedi

P.S. Awaiting my bus, I am typing this at a place with the unusual name of Jesus Inside. Create your own jokes, jests, and jibes.