This somewhat cheesy slogan that adorns t-shirts sold to tourists sounds ridiculously obvious to me after almost a month and a half here in Bolivia. The coca leaf is not cocaine. Duh. It's easy to forget that most of the world isn't so clear on the fact. Just last week, the United Nations demonstrated their continuing ignorance by making the incredible request that Bolivia outlaw the practice of chewing the leaf. Never mind the cultural, religious, social, and health properties of the leaf and the fact that according to archeological evidence Andeans have been chewing coca for the past 4,000 years (they found chewed coca with mummies buried in Peru!). Even the U.S. embassy here knew that was a stupid idea. It's kind of like the U.N. telling the entire western world that they should ban coffee drinking. Except coffee has no nutritional value as far as I know of and makes me feel wacked out whenever I drink it.
Now coca on the other hand- I never would have survived the altitude of PotosÃ, La Paz, or Copacabana without it. Despite the green teeth and slightly strange taste, chewing it is a lovely sensation- your mouth goes slightly numb and you get a mellow energy boost (great for writing papers late at night!) and sunnier outlook on life (okay probably my own psychosomatic effects). On our trip to the Coca Museum in La Paz last week I learned that it also contains more protein, fiber and carbohydrates that the equivalent quantity of nuts and 2,000 times the Vitamin A as the same amount of green vegetables? It also has more calcium than spinach and Iron, Phosphate, Vitamin E and Vitamin B12 (all of this according to a Harvard study in 1976). Awesome, no?
Okay and forgive me for being a pre-med nerd, but according to other studies from the seventies the stuff also regulates glucose metabolism, improves oxigenation, reduces platelet clotting, and increases tolerance for hard work by increasing epinephrine and norepinephrine release in the brain. The Incas even used coca extracts for anesthesia to remove brain tumors!! It's easy to see why it's so essential to life in the Altiplano and such a revered part of Andean culture.
Sadly, our friends at Merck pharmaceuticals discovered that coca can also be used to make a potent drug. The Coca-Cola company liked the product too. And although Coke no longer contains the cocaine compound, they are still the only ones in the United States who are allowed to import the coca leaf (for the flavoring extracts that still go into the drink.) It's pretty ironic.
Bolivia has suffered a lot for the U.S. government's conviction that eradicating the leaf at the source is more effective than treating cocaine addiction in our own country. And after 20 years of militarization, ruined livelihoods, human rights abuses, campesinos killed by the DEA, and continuously trampling on the sovereignty of the Bolivian government, cocaine is just as easy to get in the U.S. But did you know that you can even use the coca leaf to treat cocaine addiction? If the leaf were legal in the U.S. maybe we wouldn't have to keep fighting the War on Drugs on Bolivian soil... But that would never do, now would it?
The Morales administration hasn't taken too radical a stance on the issue, considering Evo himself rose to political power as the dirigente of the powerful coca grower's union. Each family is now allowed to grow a "cato" (1/6th of a hectare) of coca for legal use but they've continued and even increased interdiction and eradication efforts in cooperation with the DEA. But you can make other cool stuff with coca like tea, toothpaste, shampoo, liquor, and nutritious flour. And Venezuela is helping fund efforts to industrialize production of these things. Unfortunately, the 1961 UN single convention still classifies the coca leaf as an illegal narcotic. But it seems to me like it could be a pretty ideal (and needed) area of comparative advantage for Bolivia, especially if the rest of the world discovered how healthy the stuff is.
(La Paz from the airplane- last picture before my camera died...)
So thanks for reading my little rant. The week in La Paz was really amazing- we visited ruins at Tiwanaku (even older and better architects than the Incas), the beautiful hippy-tourist town of Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and an incredible place called La Isla del Sol. It's supposed to be the location of the Incas' creation myth and it's understandable why; unlimited springs of water trickle down the terraced hillsides to the azure waters of the lake, while the Cordillera Real of the Andes gleams on the horizon. We explored the mossy crevices of an Incan labyrinth built on the edge of a cliff overlooking the lake. Despite being overcast our entire visit, it might be the most beautiful place I've ever seen. In La Paz, we visited the World Bank (subject for another blog)l, talked with a radical women's activist group called Mujeres Creando, met the famous Aymara artist Mamani Mamani and an expert on Andean cosmovision. I also had the exciting experience of interviewing the Viceminister of Traditional Medicine and Interculturality (part of the ministry of health) as the first step in my (fast approaching) final independent project. More on that later... For now I'm going home to make oatmeal cookies with my host sister and cousin. Nice to have a little something familiar every once in a while!
Me at Tiwanaku- Ruins of a Pre-Incan Civilization near Lake Titicaca
The most famous view of Tiwanaku.
My friend Julia and I watching the most beautiful sunset above the town of Copacabana.
Linda Copacabana.
Copacabana Sunset over Lake Titicaca.
Incredible Incan labyrinth on the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca.
Me hiding in the ruins...
Cool Sign at a clinic in Tarata.
Now coca on the other hand- I never would have survived the altitude of PotosÃ, La Paz, or Copacabana without it. Despite the green teeth and slightly strange taste, chewing it is a lovely sensation- your mouth goes slightly numb and you get a mellow energy boost (great for writing papers late at night!) and sunnier outlook on life (okay probably my own psychosomatic effects). On our trip to the Coca Museum in La Paz last week I learned that it also contains more protein, fiber and carbohydrates that the equivalent quantity of nuts and 2,000 times the Vitamin A as the same amount of green vegetables? It also has more calcium than spinach and Iron, Phosphate, Vitamin E and Vitamin B12 (all of this according to a Harvard study in 1976). Awesome, no?
Okay and forgive me for being a pre-med nerd, but according to other studies from the seventies the stuff also regulates glucose metabolism, improves oxigenation, reduces platelet clotting, and increases tolerance for hard work by increasing epinephrine and norepinephrine release in the brain. The Incas even used coca extracts for anesthesia to remove brain tumors!! It's easy to see why it's so essential to life in the Altiplano and such a revered part of Andean culture.
Sadly, our friends at Merck pharmaceuticals discovered that coca can also be used to make a potent drug. The Coca-Cola company liked the product too. And although Coke no longer contains the cocaine compound, they are still the only ones in the United States who are allowed to import the coca leaf (for the flavoring extracts that still go into the drink.) It's pretty ironic.
Bolivia has suffered a lot for the U.S. government's conviction that eradicating the leaf at the source is more effective than treating cocaine addiction in our own country. And after 20 years of militarization, ruined livelihoods, human rights abuses, campesinos killed by the DEA, and continuously trampling on the sovereignty of the Bolivian government, cocaine is just as easy to get in the U.S. But did you know that you can even use the coca leaf to treat cocaine addiction? If the leaf were legal in the U.S. maybe we wouldn't have to keep fighting the War on Drugs on Bolivian soil... But that would never do, now would it?
The Morales administration hasn't taken too radical a stance on the issue, considering Evo himself rose to political power as the dirigente of the powerful coca grower's union. Each family is now allowed to grow a "cato" (1/6th of a hectare) of coca for legal use but they've continued and even increased interdiction and eradication efforts in cooperation with the DEA. But you can make other cool stuff with coca like tea, toothpaste, shampoo, liquor, and nutritious flour. And Venezuela is helping fund efforts to industrialize production of these things. Unfortunately, the 1961 UN single convention still classifies the coca leaf as an illegal narcotic. But it seems to me like it could be a pretty ideal (and needed) area of comparative advantage for Bolivia, especially if the rest of the world discovered how healthy the stuff is.
(La Paz from the airplane- last picture before my camera died...)So thanks for reading my little rant. The week in La Paz was really amazing- we visited ruins at Tiwanaku (even older and better architects than the Incas), the beautiful hippy-tourist town of Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and an incredible place called La Isla del Sol. It's supposed to be the location of the Incas' creation myth and it's understandable why; unlimited springs of water trickle down the terraced hillsides to the azure waters of the lake, while the Cordillera Real of the Andes gleams on the horizon. We explored the mossy crevices of an Incan labyrinth built on the edge of a cliff overlooking the lake. Despite being overcast our entire visit, it might be the most beautiful place I've ever seen. In La Paz, we visited the World Bank (subject for another blog)l, talked with a radical women's activist group called Mujeres Creando, met the famous Aymara artist Mamani Mamani and an expert on Andean cosmovision. I also had the exciting experience of interviewing the Viceminister of Traditional Medicine and Interculturality (part of the ministry of health) as the first step in my (fast approaching) final independent project. More on that later... For now I'm going home to make oatmeal cookies with my host sister and cousin. Nice to have a little something familiar every once in a while!
Chau, thanks for your comments, and lot's of love!
Kirsten
Kirsten
Me at Tiwanaku- Ruins of a Pre-Incan Civilization near Lake TiticacaThe most famous view of Tiwanaku.My friend Julia and I watching the most beautiful sunset above the town of Copacabana.Linda Copacabana.Copacabana Sunset over Lake Titicaca.Incredible Incan labyrinth on the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca.Me hiding in the ruins...Cool Sign at a clinic in Tarata.
