On August 6^th we celebrate the Independence Day of Bolivia! We wish a very happy celebration to all our amazing Nobel team members from Bolivia! We appreciate you dearly and are grateful to have you in our multicultural Nobel team.

Last year, on the occasion of Bolivia’s National Day, we learned about this beautiful country’s history, geography and so much more, but this year we want to actually experience what it’s like to be living in Bolivia nowadays.

Our lovely Nobel Country Ambassador from Bolivia – Melky Dominguez kindly accepted to share with us some fascinating details about his home country. Join us below in discovering interesting aspects of the Bolivian culture, food, daily life, travel attractions and more:

• One of the Bolivian legends speaks of “El Duende” (a creature similar to a leprechaun or a goblin) which is supposed to be a small human-like being that has the feet backwards, and a huge hat. It is a tale to scare children from accepting candies from strangers, since this being would lure children and kidnap them. It is also said to make braids in horses for some reason.
• The miners in Potosi believe in a deity called “El Tío”. It is supposed to take care of miners in the depths. The deity is kind of a mix between local indigenous beliefs and catholic beliefs. Since the locals were taught that the “Devil” rules hell, which is below ground, they decided that they should ask him for protection on his “realm” in the mines.
• Most Bolivians consume Aji, a spicy sauce.
• Bolivians also like fried chicken with rice. It simply must have rice! When KFC opened in Bolivia a couple of years ago, almost every single customer was asking for rice after receiving their order. They eventually added rice to their fried chicken combos.
• In terms of sports, most people in Bolivia are very into soccer, but the general agreement among Bolivians is that the local teams are not really good, so it is common to support teams from other countries.
• A cab in Bolivia usually charges 3-5 USD to get anywhere within the current city. But for around 0.30 USD you can ride a bus, and usually you can reach any part of the city with 2 or 3 bus rides.
• Rent for one person starts at around 150 USD, up to around 1000 USD for a high quality big place in a good location.
• Hotels in the city are around 30 USD per night for something comfortable and safe, but you could find some cheaper places aimed to tourists for around 15 USD, with shared bedrooms. On small towns, they are a bit cheaper, around 15-20 USD the night, private rooms but sometimes with shared bathroom.
• If you’re wondering about the living situation in Bolivia, people usually live with their parents until moving out with their partners. It is kind of unusual for someone to move out of their home to live by themselves. And even then, usually the parents end up moving to the homes of their children eventually. The exceptions would be people that move out for work or college, but unless they can afford to study abroad or the job is really good, people don’t tend to consider this option.
• The usual educational trajectory of the average person in Bolivia looks something like this:
  • Kindergarten is considered kind of optional, but in some cases, people sign their children into a specific kindergarten that’s supposed to raise their acceptance chance for a specific school.
  • Currently, school is divided in 2: 6 years of primary and 6 years of high school. It used to be 5 years of primary school, 3 years middle school and 4 years high school.
  • It is common for private schools to have the 12 years in the same place, and public schools to be different institutions for primary and high school.
  • The state college is considered really good, but it is generally difficult to be accepted. There are many filter tests that even reach into the cultural side, not only on the main subjects of the picked career. Other than that, private colleges are considered good as well, but the price is around 1k-2k USD per semester, compared to basically free on the public college.
  • Master’s degrees are mostly offered by private institutions, and the public college charges in a similar way for this. Since most teachers are similarly prepared in both kinds of institutions, it’s mostly a matter of schedule to decide where to do a master’s degree.
• When it comes to everyday streetwear in Bolivia, the most common clothes are jeans or shorts with a t-shirt or shirt.

• If you’re planning a visit to Bolivia, Melky suggests first picking a few of the states based on the main attractions, then choosing a starting point with an airport, and schedule a trip moving through the picked states, spending a few days on each. Lastly, you can finish the trip in a different state with an airport.
• The airports are on La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, which are also big cities with a lot of night life.
• The states are:

• La Paz: attractions related to mountains, and biking. Cold weather.
  • Potosi: mines and cave related attractions. Cold weather.
  • Oruro: salt desert, cultural displays of dances, especially in carnival.
  • Cochabamba: food variety, many different flavors to try.
  • Chuquisaca: cultural value, many museums and historical places.
  • Tarija: wines and chill environment.
  • Beni is known for its jungle like attractions. Warm weather.
  • Santa Cruz: small towns and rivers. Warm weather.
  • Pando: it has a pretty capital town, but not much more worthwhile for tourism.
• One of the hidden gem restaurants in Bolivia is Dossier, where the chef has a Michelin star, and the dishes there involve many local ingredients that are used in different advanced cooking techniques, which is not common to see in local cuisine.
• Melky invites us to immerse ourselves in a virtual experience of visiting Bolivia by going on Google Maps to the main square of the city where he lives: https://goo.gl/maps/5D4Z1Npzsz6yTcxR8  (coordinates: -17.7829776,-63.1813199)
• There are plenty of handcrafted items in stores in the main plazas of each town, and near touristic attractions as well. And the risk of getting a low quality item in these cases is really low.
• One of the funnies words in Bolivian Spanish is “Bicu Bicu”, which is the name of a small toy that jumps when the sticks are pressed.
• An interesting expression used in Bolivia is “Elay Puej. It kind of means “now look what happened”, very slightly derogatory but not offensive. “Elay” is kind of saying “and so it is”, while “Puej” comes from “Pues” pronounced like a local from Santa Cruz, which means “well/then”.