The truth is I have not gone to the Festival of the Virgin of Integration for the last few years but this year I wanted to go for many reasons.
The main one is because of the current situation in Bolivia where there is so much division between regions which I have not seen in all the time I have lived here.
I decided I didn’t just want to be a spectator and watch events on TV so I went to the festival.
Maybe the Virgin will listen to the plea of everyone who wants unity and integration.
I started getting ready early in the morning. I put on my most comfortable and worn out trainers. I met up with a few friends who I had called a few days earlier to arrange to go with and we set off.
When we got to Quillocollo the city was full of young people getting ready to dance with lots of music bands in the procession for the Virgin.
There were also a few drunks who had started drinking very early and said “Here’s to Our Lady of Urkupiña”. This was the scene we found at the start of such a promising day.
The Virgin was surrounded by flowers and presents that people had brought her.
In the pandemonium of people I saw a group of young people dressed in the traditional costume of Santa Cruz, other from Cochabamba and others from Oruro all with their arms around each other saying “Our Fathers” and “Hail Maries”.
These regions are currently at loggerheads over a new constitution and the right to autonomy, so I instantly thought “it was worth coming!”
Just seeing those young people was a lesson for all of us, unity begins with small gestures but these can increase to cover all of Bolivia.
So I started to dance with any group that came along in the spirit of not just being a spectator.
Posted by DanielR
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