Unexpected feedback from the Bolivia videos

0 CommentsSaturday • December 17, 2011 • by admin

After a few months, our Bolivia videos have tallied up a rather large view count. The Tiwanku video in-particular has over 2,000 views. What’s most surprising though is the feedback we’ve received. We produced the videos with a North American audience in mind. However, Bolivians are far more active in viewing them and adding their opinions. For instance, many strongly contested my comment about the positive impact of colonialism as evidenced by the beautiful colonial architecture in Sucre. Although I was not suggesting that colonialism was best for Bolivia, many Bolivians seemed to dislike the notion that anything positive came from the Spanish. This heated reaction reaffirms my observation that many Bolivians still resent Spanish and Western civilization in general for the egregious mistakes of the past. This is in many ways understandable, but unfortunate since it’s not constructive to improving current relationships and moving Bolivian society forward.

My comment about the lack of a Bolivian cuisine also raised some debate. A few emails even mentioned a number of Bolivian restaurants in New York City and Washington D.C. It’s worth reiterating that the low number of Bolivian restaurants in America vs. Indian, Thai, Chinese, and Italian restaurants still acts as an interesting point of comparison and illustrates a significant disparity. Nonetheless, Maria and I plan to try a Bolivian restaurant in Queens. We will probably order the famous national Pique Machu dish and are very curious to see how it compares to the Pique Machu dish we ate in Bolivia. Stay tuned for that video.