I've met my Bolivian grandma

by Bethan Prescott (France)

Making a local connection Bolivia

Her eyes were so familiar to me, and her smile, she had the same smile. I was in Tupiza, Bolivia, my first stop in the country. The name made me pretty hungry from the beginning, that and thinking of opening an Italian restaurant in the town, solely for the pun. I was with a friend and after a long night-bus ride, we needed breakfast. A nice 'sopaipilla', fried batter and a cup of instant coffee to wake us up. We then headed towards the market, our main reason for going there. The market was huge, the best kind: colourful, plentiful, noisy, aromatic... I was amazed by the piles of potatoes, the tropical fruit, the weird and wonderful produce. We wandered around for a couple of hours soaking up the Bolivian market vibe, which we enjoyed many times afterwards. When it got to lunchtime, we made our way to the food hall in the middle of all the stalls. A bustling covered area where we found about 25 different kitchen spaces with huge 50 L saucepans full of steaming hot soups, rice, meat dishes, vegetables and 10 L jugs of colourful juices. It was also where the butcher stalls were positioned, which slightly increased my already-budding vegetarianism thoughts. We eventually sat down with an 'api', a corn-based drink made with cinnamon, sugar and water and shared a huge plate of food including spicy minced meat, a mountain of rice, two ladles of vegetables and salad. Then an elderly lady sat down in front of me and greeted us with a huge smile, we shared 'holas' and she ordered herself some food. We started talking with her and then a younger lady, obviously curious and chatty, alongside us joined in the conversation too. However, I was drawn to the lady in front of me, she seemed so familiar to me, I knew those eyes, and the sparkle in them when she smiled. I then realised she looked just like my paternal grandma, who had passed away the previous year. I couldn't stop looking at her and felt overwhelmed by a variety of feelings. I just wanted her to smile at me, just like grandma used to. The chatty lady was leading the conversation and was asking us about our travels, where we were from etc. The lady in front of me was nodding and taking it all in, occasionally commenting on a few things we were saying. Her food then arrived and it was the same size we had had to share. I sat there amazed at her appetite as she enjoyed her meal. My own grandma used to be a publican for many years and enjoyed her food. Though, she had unfortunately lost her appetite as she had gotten older and more frail. By the time this lady had had enough, she starting packing away the little that was left on her plate. She said it was for her husband with a cheeky grin on her face, that cheekiness was also very familiar. She then asked me whether I had a boyfriend, I laughed and shook my head. She said I should find a Bolivian boy while I was there. I asked her if they were nice, to which she replied 'Claro que si' , of course and chuckled. Again, my own grandma often asked me about boys, which I usually replied with a disgusted 'No, never!'. After a while, we finished up our drinks and excused ourselves from the table. I didn't really want to leave but we wanted to explore the rest of the town as it was only a day stop. We shared polite farewells and turned to leave. The town was a reasonable size and had a nice main plaza, plus several colonial looking buildings. Later on, we came across another smaller covered market at the other end of the town. On our way out, we saw the elderly lady again. She greeted us with another big smile and what I saw as a wink, like grandma used to. As we walked away, I reminded myself that grandma will always be here and that made me feel comforted in some way.