Bolivia Beckons

We've finished our Spanish course and also our month long stay in Sucre. Our Spanish has improved out of sight and the course was well worth it. Well at least in Simon's case he hasn't got any worse and the mysteries of the Spanish irregular verb still continue to elude him.

We left with mixed emotions. On one hand we're eager to hit the road again and see more of this wonderful country in a process of fundamental political change. But Sucre had also grown on us after 4 weeks and we'll also miss the fun and interesting fellow students we were fortunate enough to study with.

Above is a picture from an event we attended in Sucre on October 7 to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the murder of Che Guevara at the hands of the CIA and the Bolivian armed forces. The night included a number of political speeches and revolutionary music to a crowd of around 150 people. It was sponsored by a range of local political organisations including the Bolivia-Cuba Friendship Society (or equivalent) and the Youth Wing of MAS. The speeches tested our Spanish to the limit but happily we understood more than we had expected. In many ways the night reminded us of similar Cuba solidarity events we've attended or helped organised back home with the DSP and Socialist Alliance. The main political thrust of the night was not simply that Guevara was an inspiring fighter against injustice but that there are millions of 'Che Guevaras' throughout Latin America today campaigning to effect genuine progressive change in the face of poverty and imperialism.

Honorary Cubans for a Night

We attended the event with a few other students from the Spanish school. We numbered a German, a Swiss, two Brits, two Australians, a Canadian, an American, two Bolivians and a Nigerian. So imagine our surprise when we realised that one of the speakers had just pointed up to us in the back row and thanked the comrades from Cuba for attending!!

At first we though it we must have misinterpreted but after two and then three more speakers made the same welcoming remarks to 'the Cuban comrades' we realised that our motely gringo crew has been mistaken for a Cuban delegation! Soon one of the organsers was approaching us to speak. We finally managed to clear up the confusion - although we both admitted later we were tempted to go with it and try making a brief speech in Spanish on behalf of Cuba :) So thats how we became honorary Cubans for an evening. Some of these imposters are pictured below.