Today I had the chance to visit the Museum of Indigenous Art here in Sucre and it was truly fascinating. I saw both contemporary and ancient examples of musical instruments. The first night I arrived and watched the group perform, I thought a couple of them were playing guitars and a kind of ukulele. Actually, both instruments are a chorango and each has 10 strings, 2 for each note. The sound is somewhat similar to a mandolin. What looks like a recorder is a toqoro. They had video tapes and audiotapes of performances and the music is captivating. I was surprised to find that there are probably several dozen groups of people, each with their own distinct version of the instruments and distinct sound.

The same is true of their costume. The designs or patterns in the women´s dresses are extremely elaborate. In addition to displaying many types of dresses, there was a girl about 20 weaving on a hand drawn loom. It must take a couple of months to make one large bolt of cloth.

The public interest in these works of art is noticeable, both by the number of museum attendees and the high acclaim in which they´re held by both Bolivians and tourists. I couldn´t help but compare this museum visit with my attempted museum visit in Argentina. Almost all the museums of Argentina and Uruguay seem to take the position that history for them begins with the conquistadors. I can remember Elsbeth and I walking through a museum of endless portraits of Spanish noblemen who lived in Argentina.

There is a museum in Cordoba, the Museum of Anthropology, dedicated to pre-Columbian history and art. I had a heck of a time finding it. It´s not well marked from the street. I doubt taxi drivers even know where it is. When I finally did find it, the sign outside the locked door indicated it was closed for several weeks, then open on inconsistednt days and times.

In all fairness, smallpox and tuberculosis traveled through Argentina and Uruguay faster than the conquistadors did. What natives were remaining were dispatched in a manner similar to the Yankees treatment of native Americans. As a result, unlike Bolivia, there are no indigenous folks left who might take pride in their ancestral heritage.

Sucre is named after Bolivia´s general, Antonio Jose de Sucre, who teamed up with Simon Bolivar in the 1820´s to help secure independence from Spain. Both Bolivar and Sucre were from Venezuela. There must be something in the water of Venezuela which causes the leaders from there to want to revolt against control by foreign powers.

Bolivar wanted to see a strong large South American country made up of Venezuela, Columbia, Ecudador, Peru, and Bolivia, if not more. Sucre wanted a more independent bolivia. The result, as we know, is that South America seems to be made up of very individual countries that have difficulty coming to an agreement with their neighbors on anything. They have the potential for forming something like a European Union and achieving the economic benefits therefrom. But they, almost universally, lack the political will. The one exception might be Venezuela, where Sr. Chavez envisions himself as the leader of all South America.

Sucre is similar to Merida, Venezuela, in that in the center of the central plaza, there is a large statue. In the case of Merida, it´s a statue of Simon Bolivar. In the case of Sucre, it´s General Sucre. The guide book to Venezuela warns tourists to show proper respect when walking around Bolivar´s statue for fear of local reaction to perceived disrespect. A teacher at my language school in Merida indicated that anyone attaching political signs, etc., to the base of the state would be arrested for showing disrespect.

Today, while walking through the plaza of Sucre, I noticed that children were thoroughly enjoying themselves climbing all over the well-worn lion sculptures at the base of the General´s statue. The nearby park bench sitters, old men reading the newspaper, gossiping mothers, and necking teenagers, were all completely indifferent to any possible disrespect.