The dreaded “M” word (and revolutions, gold and drugs)

Unlike all other members of my family (and in particular Dave), I enjoy museums. Nevertheless, Dave, as a good host, but still carrying the burden of his childhood memories of museum boredom torture on family trips, accompanied me to downtown La Paz to check out some museums.

There are several on this street – Calle Jain, more of an alley really not far from the city center, but colorful and very old colonial looking. We checked out three on this street:



Here's another picture from the other end of Calle Jean that I downloaded from flickr. While missing Dave, it better captures the colonial charm of the street.

House of Murillo

This museum is in the former house of Don Pedro Domino Murillo. Murillo was the leader of the conspiracy that set in motion Bolivia’s revolution for independence from Spain in 1809, but he was captured and executed by the Spaniards shortly after the declaration of independence. How Bolivia actually became independent sometime later is a more complicated story. This reminded me of Ignacio Allende, whose house is also a museum in San Miquel de Allende, Mexico. Like Murillo, Allende was an upper class revolutionary who met a similar fate at the hands of the Spanish, although in the end the Spanish lost in each case to the revolutions that they helped set in motion. It is always interesting to look at old colonial houses of the well-to-do and try to reconstruct what life was like.

The “Littoral” Museum

The “littoral” (coastal) museum of Bolivia’s maritime and naval history is particularly noteworthy since Bolivia is landlocked (has no coast) and has been for well over a century. Bolivia lost  its access to the Pacific in a war with Chile in 1884. The museum displays some military uniforms, artifacts and historical documents, but largely consists of a variety of ways to display the same 19th century map showing a piece of what is now Chile along the Pacific as belonging to Bolivia. I suppose there must be some local political benefit in trying to keep alive popular indignation at Chile for stealing away Bolivia’s access to the Pacific.

Museum of Precious Metals (aka the “Gold Museum”)

This is a heavily fortified (think of walking into a bank vault) museum displaying ancient gold and silver artifacts, including many from Tiwanka. It was impressive, especially since as a general rule the early Spaniards were inclined to melt everything down to gold ingots for shipment back to Spain. Interestingly, while the Incas and their predecessors did a lot with gold, they made little of silver in pre-Columbian times. It was after the Spanish arrived that the local Indians began making silver artifacts.

Museum San Francisco

This religious complex includes a large church (basilica), adjoining convent/living area (now a museum), cloisters (enclosed garden area), art work, crypts, cells for monks (for penance and self-flagellation), bell tower (with impressive view of roof and city), and explanations of the early Franciscans. It is a large facility, at one time home to 200 or so monks, reflecting I think the past prominence of La Paz and the Catholic church. It was here that Murillo and his co-conspirators, which included some priests, plotted their revolution. Admission included an English speaking tour guide (English speaking in the same way I was a Spanish speaking missionary on my first few months in the mission field – communication was fine as long as I stuck to my memorized script and there were no questions). In all the place was very interesting and well done, and I wish we could have spent more time there. (Inside pictures were not permitted.)

Coca Museum See Dave's blog



For any in the “lonely planet” and backpacker crowd interested in museums, this is probably the must see spot. The museum details the history and significance of the coca leaf and plant with an emphasis on its cultural importance to the indigenous people of the Andes and all the problems wrought by the US eradication and drug policies. The museum also has some information about cocaine and its tragic consequences, which are, and probably accurately, characterized as European and North American innovations and problems and not part of the Andean culture or history.

There is no question that the chewing of coca leafs has practical and ceremonial significance and remains a part of Andean culture, which is all portrayed and explained in this museum (but it also seemed that its principal purpose even anciently was to deaden pain so the peasants could work even longer for their Inca rules or in the Spanish mines).

Nonetheless, as Dave observed, you don’t really see masses of Bolivians walking around with huge wads of coca leaves in their mouths, and I doubt the legitimate use of coca is but a very, very small fraction of the total coca production in this country. What this museum unfortunately glosses over is that nearly all the coca production in Bolivia is for the purpose of supplying the key raw material for cocaine. I question many Bolivians are turning their fields from fruits and vegetables (which Bolivia now imports) to growing coca for "cultural" purposes. It’s a tragedy for all, and not likely to be resolved soon. The “cocajeros” - coca growers - are a potent political force and key source of political support for the current President Morales.