$Unique_ID{COW00422} $Pretitle{266} $Title{Bolivia Chapter 7A. Living Conditions} $Subtitle{} $Author{Thomas E. Weil} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{housing percent rural urban traditional construction altiplano diet public available} $Date{1974} $Log{} Country: Bolivia Book: Bolivia, A Country Study Author: Thomas E. Weil Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1974 Chapter 7A. Living Conditions Bolivians live under physical conditions that range from those experienced in the world's highest mining camps to those in the jungles of the Amazon Basin. Culturally, their life-styles are reflected both by the patios of the aristocratic old city of Sucre and by the mud hutments of the Altiplano. By income, the population formerly included both the tin barons, who enjoyed the most conspicuous wealth in South America, and a rural majority that had the continent's lowest per capita income. The social and economic change precipitated by the Revolution of 1952 has been uneven in its impact, but it has tended to alter living conditions in the countryside and to accelerate migration to the cities, where the transplanted countrypeople live under profoundly different conditions. In the early 1970s the food and housing of the majority, urban as well as rural, had improved somewhat since 1952 but remained well below the average for Latin America. The campesinos (peasants) were beginning to adopt modern dress but continued to show a fondness for colorful traditional costumes. Where available, motion pictures were the most popular of the relatively few recreational outlets. In the countryside, however, the dullness of everyday life was still relieved principally by the feasting and dancing that accompanied the traditional village fiesta. In both country and town, most of the limited income was spent on food. Incomes were somewhat higher than before 1952, however, and the variety of things purchased has been increasing. Some of the country's worst endemic diseases had been brought under control, but poor nutrition and environmental sanitation as well as a lack of awareness of modern medical practices militated against further improvement in health conditions. A social security program provided extensive coverage, but the level of benefits paid was low, and the rural people had yet to be included in its benefits. Public social programs, such as those concerned with health, welfare, and housing, were carried on by a proliferation of small agencies serving such occupational groups of clients as miners, factory workers, and teachers. Similar services were brought to rural areas by the National Community Development Program. Diet and Nutrition Estimates of caloric intake per capita during the 1960s varied from less than 1,800 to slightly over 2,000 calories daily. According to one 1968 survey conducted by a government agency, the average was 1,890 calories for the country as a whole and showed slight regional variation. The national average included forty-nine grams of protein per day, of which only fifteen-less than an ounce-were of animal origin. Animal protein consumption in the Altiplano was slightly less than that in the other regions. The average diet appears to have improved somewhat in recent years. According to one source, between 1958 and 1964 caloric and protein consumption were each up by more than 10 percent. The average caloric intake during the late 1960s, however, appears to have been only about 80 percent of that recommended by the United National Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the protein intake was deficient by a narrower margin. In some of the communities in the Antiplano over half the intake by weight is in the form of potatoes, and most of the remainder is in the form of grains, such as barley and quinoa. Green vegetable consumption is minimal, and the scanty meat consumption consists largely of the flesh of superannuated llamas, domesticated guinea pigs, and fish from Lake Titicaca. In the Yungas and the Valles corn, wheat, and potatoes are the principal staples; and green vegetable, fruit, and meat consumption is somewhat heavier and more varied than in the highlands. In both the Altiplano and the intermediate regions a large proportion of the protein is derived from beans. In the Oriente, however, beef, pork, and some chicken make up an important part of the diet. Meat not infrequently appears at all of the day's meals. Lowland staples consist principally of cassava, rice, plantains, and bananas. Because of a lack of storage and shipment facilities, only small amounts of fresh fruits, dairy products, and meat reach small town markets. More variety is available in the cities where, in addition, fish from Lake Titicaca or the Pilcomayo River are available as important protein supplements. The average working-class family in La Paz, however, must devote half or more of its expendable income to food purchases (see Patterns of Living and Leisure, this ch.). In urging the public health authorities to expand their studies in nutrition, a La Paz newspaper in 1971 attributed many of the country's social and economic problems to quantitative and qualitative food deficiency and estimated that two-thirds of the population suffered from some degree of malnutrition. The proportion seems excessive, but malnutrition is known to be widespread, particularly among children. A 1965-68 government survey found that 38 percent of the rural children under the age of fifteen suffered malnutrition of the first grade (10 to 25 percent under normal weight), 17 percent suffered second grade malnutrition (25 to 40 percent underweight), and 4 percent suffered malnutrition of the third grade (40 percent or more under normal weight). In many parts of the country the foods are badly lacking in some nutrients. Iron, thiamine, and ascorbic acid are present in adequate proportions, but a 1964 study showed the quantity of vitamin A to be about 40 percent under FAO standards, riboflavin to be less than half, and calcium to be not much more than one-fourth of the standards recommended by the FAO. In addition a 1962 survey by the Interdepartmental Nutrition Committee for National Development found that endemic goiter resulting from iodine deficiency was widespread, particularly in the Oriente. Countrywide, it was reported to affect 15.4 percent of the population under the age of fifteen and 10.5 percent in older age brackets. The scattered information available, however, indicated a gradual improvement in the diet during the 1950s and 1960s. The land reform program had given farmers the opportunity to produce more food both for their own consumption and for sales that made possible the purchase of previously unavailable diet supplements. The improvement was limited, but an increase in the height and weight of army conscripts since the early 1950s indicated either higher levels of caloric consumption, a general improvement in the quality of the diet, or both. The potatoes that make up most of the Altiplano diet are frequently preserved by conversion into chuno, a processed form of the vegetable that has been popular since Inca times and has acquired an almost religious significance. Produced by dehydration and a primitive kind of freeze-drying, chuno emerges as a hard lump about the size of a walnut. It keeps indefinitely, and some eaters find its distinctive flavor attractive. A similar product, tunta, is more costly because it requires a month of careful preparation. Both are popular in cities as well as in the countryside, but by 1970 the price of chuno in La Paz had risen to the equivalent of US $0.30 a pound; and the price of a pound of tunta, the equivalent of US $1.20, had removed it from the tables of most consumers. In the cattle country of the lowlands, beef is the major element in the diet to almost the same extent that potatoes are staples in the rural highlands. With the exception of a few regional variations such as these, the menu of rural people and of the lower income urban population is standard in composition. Breakfast consists of a lightly sweetened cup of strong black coffee or a cup of tea or a herb infusion. The midday meal is made up of a thick soup of tubers, greens, and an occasional piece of meat. There may also be a second dish based on beans, cereal, or potatoes. The evening meal may be leftovers from lunch or may be limited to coffee and bread. Cheese is a frequent diet supplement, but milk and eggs are seldom used. Traditional Bolivian dishes are relatively few in number. Ocapa is made from dried shrimp that has been soaked overnight and mixed with nuts, tomatoes, garlic, and yellow peppers. Oil is added to the mixture, which is served over potatoes and lettuce leaves. Ceviche, common everywhere in South America, is made of pieces of fish that are marinated in lemon or lime juice. The generally tasteless diet of the rural Altiplano is often enlivened with a fiery sauce of peppers, tomato, and the herb quilquina. Picana, a traditional Christmas Eve dish, is made from beef, turnips, carrots, and onions boiled in watered red wine and served with potatoes. Salsa jallpahuiaca-a specialty of the Oriente-is made from tomatoes, red or yellow peppers, onions, and herbs and salted to taste. The mild narcosis produced by chewing leaves of the coca plant is so much a part of the tradition of the Altiplano that Inca death masks frequently show a swelling in the cheek, representing the wad of coca being chewed. The tea-like plant that produces the leaves was once the economic mainstay of the Yungas and remains a major cash crop in that region. Chewing of the leaves-together with lime ash, which helps to release the active ingredient in the leaf-tends to reduce both sensitivity to cold and hunger pangs for brief periods and to increase ability to perform hard manual labor. The longtime effect of the chewing of coca-the raw material for the production of cocaine-may be habit forming and has an adverse effect on productivity. The government has discouraged its use, the Yungas terraces where it grows best have increasingly been put to tea and coffee plantings, and the scattered data available suggest that the traditional chewing of coca leaves may be on the decline (see Patterns of Living and Leisure, this ch.). Dress There are many differences in customs of dress characteristic of the Bolivian population. Cutting across these multiple differentiations, however, is a universal fondness for possession of some good raiment. This fondness can be seen in the startlingly colorful costumes that campesinos wear for important occasions. Increasingly, conventional Western garments are used for everyday wear, but vividly colored ponchos and many-colored petticoats are still to be seen. In the cities all but the very poor will take pains to dress well when they go out into the streets, where much of the social life takes place, and a late 1960s survey of consumption patterns in La Paz found that the families of the poorest wage earners devoted the same proportion of their limited income to clothing as did other families with five times as much money to spend. Concern over raiment reaches a peak in the countryside in the number and kinds of hats worn by women. Sometimes they are shapeless and greasy, but the number of hats in a wife's wardrobe has important bearing on her husband's status. Region and ethnic origin are factors in the determination of headgear. Around La Paz, the women wear bowlers; southeastward into Quechua country white tophats are encountered, their elegant contours made more distinctive by distinguishing loops of ribbon that show not only the community of origin but also the matrimonial status of the wearer. The traditional Indian costumes of both Quechua- and Aymara-speaking areas consist of a few basic garments (knee- or ankle-length trousers, long-sleeved shirts and, very often, ponchos for men and skirts, blouses, and shawls for women) made of homespun wool. Regional variations in color and cut of the native costumes are so rich and detailed that they often serve to identify the home village of the wearer. Topping the basic costume is the hat with its distinctive style. Cholo (acculturated Indian or lower class mestizo) people who live in the provincial towns have taken on the language and some of the cultural characteristics of the urban whites and of the mixed-blood mestizos (see ch. 4). In this ethnic in-between land, difference in dress patterns between males and females is most evident. The cholo men tend to adopt the Western patterns of dress of the urban whites, but women exercise more choice in finding for themselves a hybrid kind of dress. Traditional patterns of dress that to some extent continue to prevail in the Altiplano and the Valles tend to be forgotten in the lower Yungas and in the Oriente. The heavy wool uniforms of every day are discarded in favor of factory-made cottons that blur cultural distinctions in the lowland areas. For men, in particular, the transition in dress is conspicuous. In contrast to the Altiplano, where the somber everyday attire of men seems designed to hide them against the adobe-colored terrain, in the lowlands ponchos and scarves are frequently flamboyant in color. For transplanted urban people, boots and khaki garments are the rule. Among some tribal Indians, the conventional garb is a kind of T-shirt worn by both sexes. Housing In the late 1960s and early 1970s it was generally agreed that three-fourths or more of the population lacked adequate housing. In particular, a 1970 newspaper article attributed to a Bolivian public housing agency the statement that there was a housing deficit of more than 700,000 units, including substandard housing that should be replaced. Altogether, there were fewer than 1 million units in the country. According to a 1964 series of estimates, less than 12 percent of the country's houses were in good condition. Another 22 percent were in need of repair, and the remaining 66 percent should be replaced. A distinction was drawn between rural and urban areas. In the former, 80 percent were in need of replacement; in cities and towns, 60 percent of the housing was in poor condition but could be repaired. According to another series of estimates, in the late 1960s there was no absolute shortage of housing in the countryside, but 60,000 or more additional urban housing units were needed. The design of the traditional campesino house has remained essentially unmodified since colonial days. Typically, it is a rectangular adobe box no more than about ten by twelve feet in dimensions, with walls five to six feet high and a steeply gabled roof of thatch. Simple to an extreme, it is usually well constructed and makes effective use of the limited variety of raw materials available. There are some regional variations in layout and construction materials, but the pattern is a generally consistent one in which the dwelling is designed not only as a shelter for its occupants but also as a workshop and storage facility. The house-or group of houses-is constructed in a compound that may or may not be fenced or walled, depending on local custom and resources. In the compound are smaller service structures, such as storehouses and kitchens, although cooking is more frequently done inside the house. Dried manure for fuel is stacked in corners, and animals often use the area as a nighttime corral. Traditional housing in the tropical lowlands is different in detail from that of the highlands because of the variations in raw material available and because the owners are often seminomadic people who practice the slash-and-burn system of agriculture, in which the families move to other lands after the soils under exploitation have become exhausted. The mobility of the lowland farmers is often reflected in the relatively impermanent look of their dwellings. No statistics are available with regard to construction materials put to use, but by a wide margin common earth is the most usual building material. On the Altiplano, in particular, the brown mud adobe houses appear to the viewer to be in imminent danger of subsiding into the brown earth that produced them. Floors are of unprocessed or pounded earth. Walls are customarily of adobe brick made with straw temper. In some of the newer dwellings the bricks have given way to forty-pound adobe blocks with mud used as mortar. Sometimes, in highland dwellings, mud for the walls is poured into temporary wood frames and pounded into place with heavy wood mallets. In the lowlands a common form of construction that involves the use of earth is called bahareque, a kind of wattle and daub in which sticks, tied laterally to upright poles, are smeared thickly with straw-tempered mud. In the lower part of the Yungas and in the Oriente, walls are frequently constructed of open bamboo or bamboo framework. In all rural areas thatch of some kind predominates as roofing material. The roofs are steeply gabled because, even in the drier parts of the country, rain comes in deluges. Materials used for thatch include reeds from Lake Titicaca, scrub from the Altiplano, and palm fronds from the lowlands. Rural housing during the period that ended with the 1952 Revolution was substandard by any measure, particularly on the haciendas. Since 1952 so many of the manor houses have fallen into disrepair that they tend to give the countryside a dilapidated look, but the housing of campesinos has improved somewhat as labor and materials that once went to the hacienda have been diverted to campesino homes. Particularly in areas near cities, tile or metal sheets have sometimes replaced the thatch for roofing, and a few concrete floors have been installed. Exteriors of walls are sometimes plastered with mud and whitewashed or painted in pastel colors, and in villages a few two-story houses have appeared. Of particular significance is the fact that increasing numbers of dwellings have windows, some with panes. In the traditional home the only aperture was the door, kept low in order to conserve heat in the interior; in newer homes windows serve as a kind of badge of improved status. Traditionally, the kitchen was a small clay stove that burned llama dung or scrub. Cooking and eating utensils were of wood or clay. The bed was a raised area made of adobe upon which sheep and llama hides and excess clothing were placed. In the lowlands, hammocks slung from corner poles were common. Furniture of any kind was virtually nonexistent. The years since 1953 have seen little improvement in the furnishings of homes in remote localities, but in more accessible rural places the progress has been considerable. In a late 1960s survey of several rural communities near Lake Titicaca, it was found that half the families interviewed slept on metal or wooden beds. Although in the early 1970s not more than 5 percent of the rural population had access to electricity, the traditional mecheros (lamps made by inserting a wick into a can or bowl of kerosine) were beginning to give way to proper kerosine lamps. Increasing numbers of households had some purchased tableware and kitchen equipment. One 1967 survey found that only 7 percent of the families interviewed owned tumblers, but 83 percent had empty tin cans, which served the same purpose very adequately. Urban housing ranges from the adobe huts of recent migrants from the countryside to the elegant houses of the wealthy. Migrants have flocked principally to La Paz, where in the early 1970s they made up as much as half of the population. They lived for the most part in crowded neighborhoods, perched on cliffs that descend steeply from the El Alto airport to the canyon occupied by the city. Known locally as barrios altos (high neighborhoods) or barrios marginales (marginal neighborhoods), the houses are closely packed on terrain so steep that they are sometimes washed from their foundations by heavy rains. They differ from the adobe houses of the countryside principally in the frequency with which corrugated roofing is used. Farther down the canyon more prosperous residences are clustered in the Obrajes district, where older homes are found, and in the Calacoto district, where most of the foreign colony lives in California-style stucco homes with tiled roofs. With the precipitous growth of the city since the 1950s numerous modern apartment buildings have appeared. The capital cities of the departments house most of the remainder of the urban population (see ch. 3). Sucre, in particular, is a city virtually without growth. A place of the traditional past, its white-walled street exterior is pierced only by grilled doorways that give onto galleries and flagstoned patios. Potosi is a traditional city with up-and-down streets and old plaster and stone construction. In contrast, Cochabamba is a fast-growing urban center of middle-class prosperity, in which concrete houses of one or two stories are geometrically arranged and neat front gardens replace the traditional interior patios. The country's principal public housing entity is the National Housing Council (Consejo Nacional de Viviendo-CONAVI), founded in 1964 to meet the serious and increasing housing deficit. An autonomous agency under the general supervision of the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Housing, it has delegated a large part of its actual building responsibilities to committees formed for the benefit of families of workers in particular sectors of employment. Initially the bulk of the work was performed by committees representing workers in the mining and petroleum industries; they were established soon after the creation of CONAVI. In addition, early in 1973 the government announced formation of units for the teaching profession and for workers in the factory, construction, and printing-industry sectors. There is also a program for construction of housing for families of armed forces personnel. The CONAVI and delegated projects are operative principally in the large urban centers where the greatest actual shortage occurs, although in 1969 the government established the legal basis for creation of a commission to study the problems of rural housing. Plans under study at the time involved encouraging development of voluntary brigades of campesinos to participate on a part-time basis in housing and sanitation projects. In 1973 the establishment of campesino housing cooperatives remained under consideration, but the greater urgency of the urban housing shortage relegated rural plans to a lower priority. CONAVI is supported financially by the National Housing Fund, an entity created to finance low-income housing, defined legally as being of interes social (social interest). The fund is supported by employer contributions based on the wage bill of workers covered in the social security program and by a sales tax on the revfnue derived from factory manufacture, construction, and the printing industry. During the 1960s it also benefited from US $9.5 million in two credits extended by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The funds were used largely in government-sponsored self-help programs in which most of the work was provided by the beneficiaries. In late 1972 a third IDB credit was reported under negotiation. The National Savings and Loan Housing Fund is a public institution founded in 1963 to encourage development of savings and loan institutions. By 1971 some eight of these units with 8,000 members had come into being. Most of the building in this sector was designed for middle and higher income groups. During the early 1970s there was a mounting volume of criticism over both the lack of coordination between the public and private building sectors and the lack of a comprehensive, central funding organization. In this connection, early in 1973 the government announced plans for a national housing bank that would be financed through measures such as savings withheld from worker wages and that would serve as a central point for the procurement of credits from abroad. Overall data on housing construction during recent years on the basis of figures such as the number of housing starts are not available. Scattered data, however, indicate that the accomplishments of the public and private sectors have been moderate. Between 1962 and 1969 it was reported that 9,500 housing units had been constructed-including 6,400 in the public sector-or an average of 1,350 per year. The total included urban construction only and was confined to commercially constructed units. In his Independence Day speech in 1972 President Hugo Banzer Suarez reported that, before the end of the year, 1,562 homes with interes social would be constructed by the public sector, the highest yearly amount ever accomplished. He added that with the expected third IDB loan some 7,000 homes would be constructed between 1973 and 1975 and that the government was lending assistance to a private savings and loan project involving construction of 3,700 homes for middle-class families. The rate of construction did appear to be somewhat on the increase, but in 1970 the Ministry of Planning and Coordination had speculated that, with a continuation of the then-current rate of public and private home building, the urban housing shortage would increase by almost 60 percent by 1980.