It is a cold and wet day in Cochabamba. How rare! Those cloudy skies, visible rumors of rainfall, stopped hinting this morning and let out a real rain. With the shower, the temperature dropped several degrees. Profesor Osvaldo called it. He knew the rain was coming because it had snowed in La Paz and Oruro. Now, many things in my room feel cool and almost damp to the touch, at an hour when everything is usually warm and dry.
This change in weather is welcomed by the thirsty earth. But rain usually depresses me, and I do not need much help feeling depressed and tired. If it had not been for these weeks of glorious sunshine and blue skies, my melancholy mood would have been severe. The gift of rain is an inestimable blessing, yes, but it affects me in a saddening way, all the more for being a rare occurrence here.
Still I am in search of motivation or stimulation. That is more a figure of speech than a literal thing, so coca is not the answer. Thomas Sonntag, a friend of Maryknoll and a very good speaker of Spanish for beginning learners, gave his presentation on coca in Bolivia. His presentation was clear and easy to understand, but in spite of that I found myself bored and distracted. I have avoided all coca consumption, be it the leaf chewing or the drinking of mate de coca. I am overcoming insomnia, so the last thing I need is an ingestion of stimulants. Fortunately, almost never have I been offered coca leaves or a coca drink, so I have not had to refuse the quintessential form of Bolivian hospitality.
Now, if you are looking for the top secrets about this storied plant, I regret to say that I have few to share. And honestly, I don’t understand all the hype or the taboos. Here is what I do know about coca. I do know that it grows easily (with four harvests a year in some areas) and in many places in South America, including Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Peru, with Colombia standing out for often notorious reasons. Its use is considered sacred by the indigenous peoples of the Andes; it is used in some religious rituals. The leaf does in fact contain certain vitamins, minerals, and proteins and can be ground into a flour. As a stimulant, it gives you a boost and beds your appetite. Its flavor is an acquired taste. There is a world of difference between coca itself, consumed by the leaf or in a mate infusion, and cocaine, the controlled substance derived in part from the chemical in the plant. While a coca product like mate is legal in Bolivia, it may not be imported or sold in the United States or the European Union. Coca-Cola, which used to use fresh coca leaves in its product, thus contained traces of cocaine, but today uses only cocaine-free coca leaf extract as a flavoring agent. The Bolivian government has attempted to control strictly the production and distribution of coca leaves in order to maintain only those traditional and legal uses. It has gone so far as to destroy coca crops known to be used for the manufacture of cocaine. Its success has been somewhat limited. The industrialization of coca production has been lucrative for those in the economic elite, but it does not pay much for the campesinos who raise their small coca plots. Overall, on the global level, Bolivia aspires to and has to an extent a leading voice in the politics of coca and cocaine.
Well, there you have it! All that I know about coca according to those on the ground in Bolivia, who ought to know. And there you don’t have it, that is, that post on Santa Cruz. It’s somewhere between the Saturdays. Looks like you will hear about the Carmelite convent, Santa Teresa, first.
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