On August 6^th, we joined our Bolivian team members in celebrating Bolivia’s Independence Day!

It was a great opportunity to discover new things about this beautiful country and learn more about our colleagues’ culture.

Did you know that?

• The day to celebrate Bolivia’s independence was chosen while drafting the independence declaration in August 1825 in honor of the “Battle of Junin” (August 6^th, 1824), one of the last and most significant encounters in the war against the Spanish army.
• Although the 6^th of August is a national holiday in Bolivia, most Bolivians feel more patriotic about their department (there are nine departments in Bolivia with strong separate cultures) and prefer to celebrate the foundation date of their department.
• The red in the Bolivian flag represents the blood spilled for the independence, since the years leading to this accomplishment were filled with wars. The yellow stands for the mineral riches, as the country has many different resources. The city of Sucre is actually known for the huge amount of silver that was commercialized there, and for a while it was even considered one of the wealthiest cities worldwide. The green color in the flag represents the natural riches, Bolivia being home to a very diverse flora, especially on the eastern part, with the Amazonian region.
• The western side of Bolivia is colder and filled with mountains and amazing touristic attractions such as Potosi Mines, Yungas Road and the Uyuni Salar.
• Potosi Mines can be a little bit claustrophobic, but the experience is worth the while, especially when you get to find all the altars and offerings that the miners prepared for their deities in order for them to keep the mine safe.
• On Yungas Road, you can rent a bike and ride on one of the most dangerous roads in the world! It’s also known as “Road of Death” and it is a 60 km long route with 3500 meters of descent, most of it by a cliff.
• The Uyuni Salar is the largest salt desert in the world. Perspective pictures are very popular there and you can even stay at hotels made entirely of salt!
• Actually, some scenes in the “Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi” movie were filmed at the Uyuni Salar salt desert, specifically the part where the planet is supposed to be made of salt.
• The eastern part of Bolivia is the hotter side, with a lot of night clubs, forest travels, beautiful small towns and Chiquitania, a region of tropical savannas in the Santa Cruz Department.
• You can visit many old churches and old constructions in Chiquitania, as well as the thermal and clear waters “Pozas”, which are natural pools in rocks.
• There are many towns with different vegetation attractions, like Samaipata with multiple eco-resorts, or Concepcion with a fort. Most of them have small fairs on weekends, mainly for traditional foods.
• In 1981, three tourists got lost for almost a month in the Bolivian rainforest. One of the survivors, Yossi Ghinsberg, wrote a book about the experience (“Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Adventure, Danger and Survival”) which was made into a movie called “Jungle”, starring Daniel Radcliffe.
• The center part of Bolivia has the nicest weather and offers many food oriented experiences to gourmand tourists.
• The city of Cochabamba is considered to provide one of the most diverse and delicious experiences in food. The best known part is called the “agachados”, which means “ducking”. It is said that most people eat there with the face down, so nobody can recognize them, since the food is really tasty, but also really low class / cheap.
• The wineries in Tarija are considered to have some of the best wines in the world, due to the weather and altitude which are just right for wine production. Most wineries have an interesting story of their grape planting, so it’s interesting to take some of the tours which combine stories with wine tasting. For example, the grapes in the “snow wine” were planted shortly before the first recorded snow in the area, or so the story goes.
• Bernardo Guarachi is a Bolivian mountain climber, famously known for saying that all he needed to climb a mountain was his “mentisan” and a bible. He actually climbed the Everest. Mentisan is a local ointment that basically “cures everything” (it’s prescribed for cold and flu symptoms, and also rheumatic pains, but it’s usually applied to children on whatever they say it hurts).
• Another great accomplishment of Bolivians is the local development of a commercial electric car by Quantum Motors in Bolivia.
• An infamous fun fact related to Bolivia is that on December 30^th 1956 Bolivian Ugo Ungaza Villegas threw a rock at the Mona Lisa painting while it was on display at the Louvre. He did so with such force that it shattered the glass case and dislodged a speck of pigment near the left elbow. 

Special thanks to our amazing Nobel Country Ambassador from Bolivia – Melky Dominguez, who provided valuable insights about his home country, as well as sharing some of his thoughts:

“[I am proud to be Bolivian] because I think we’re the perfect example of diversity.

It’s undeniable that confronting perspectives can difficult progress, but at the same time, it provides a wider range for consideration, and thus when it works, it results in a better job done.

In my experience in college work groups and jobs, if we manage to find the better of each other, diversity really helps us do way better than holding on to the same perspectives we’re used to.”