The Scent of First Friday

One of the moments in Bolivian life when it is most obvious walking down the street that you are nowhere else is on the first Friday evening of the month, as the air fills with the scent of an ancient ritual, the “k’oa” (pronounced co-wah).

As the sun sets, in store after store in the city center here in Cochabamba, and in many homes as well, the fragrant smoke rises from small fires set up on small metal plates on the ground. As the fire gets hot enough people bring out a collection of offerings purchased at the cancha (the market place), trinkets made of hard sugar in the shapes of things wished for in the new month – hearts for love, and the like. These, along with coca leaves and the pungent k’oa plant are placed on the fire.

We did a k’oa last night at our office, which we share with other groups here. One by one people spoke their wishes for the month and poured alcohol on the four corners, marking the four directions.

The fact that this happens in Bolivia every month is a remainder of many things. For many in this, the most indigenous nation in the Americas, life is still tied to the earth and to the rituals and practices of ancestors. This too is a backdrop to the coming elections and the coming discourse between the two Bolivia’s.

There is Bolivia that thinks in terms of four-wheel drives and airplane tickets and another in terms of sandals and old buses on half-paved roads. There is a Bolivia that thinks in terms of capital flows and interest ratios and another that thinks in terms of La Pachamama (Mother Earth). These are two different cultures living side by side and to understand anything that is happening in the corner of the Andes in 2005 one must first understand that.