When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

San Juan – Bolivia’s celebration of the winter solstice.

Someone smarter than me can explain why this night takes place on the 23rd of June, as opposed to the actual solstice two days earlier – also the Andean New Year. That celebration is marked by crowds of the faithful waiting at selected mountain points across the highlands to await the first appearance of the sun after winter’s longest night.

What is not in doubt is that the central feature of San Juan in much of Bolivia is about burning things and blowing things up. As I write, bonfires small and mammoth dot the Cochabamba valley, and my neighborhood. The cheap Chinese-made fireworks left over from last Christmas Eve and New Years Eve (big firework nights both) are hauled out by sellers on the usual street corners.

To be sure, all this leaves one hell of a carbon footprint. The morning after San Juan, Cochabamba always looks like the entire city got turned over night into an open air bar where half a million people are chain smokers. This year government officials and environmental groups have gone all out to try to convince people not to burn or explode things. Public service announcements in La Paz featured rap singers beckoning people, “don’t burn, don’t burn.” Here in Cochabamba a small group of people dressed up as fires and walked around aiming to spread the “don’t burn” message. Fire costumes – almost as cool as a nun’s habit (almost).

Well, it is 10pm here and judging from the crackle of explosions and mass of smoke wafting in the air, I’d have to say that the public service campaign has not been a rousing success. I am not excusing all the burning (Oh God, imagine the field day our readers would have with that). I am merely observing that getting Cochabambinos to drop the bonfire and firework habit is as tough a task as prying Californians out of the SUVs they use to shop at Safeway. Some habits are hard to break.

Okay, full disclosure. Here is the final firework tally at out house:

Sparklers: 4 packages

Firework roosters that fart colored jet streams: 2

Skyrockets: 2

Firework fountain: 1

Bonfire: None

Mata Suegra mega-explosive used to demolish an overripe papaya: pending