{"language": "en", "segments": [{"text": " [...]", "start": 0.0, "stop": 2.76, "id": 0}, {"text": " The traveler who crosses Bolivia's high plateau toward its chief city, La Paz,", "start": 52.88, "stop": 57.98, "id": 1}, {"text": " comes upon it suddenly, picturesque, bright colored, a city in miniature.", "start": 58.54, "stop": 63.54, "id": 2}, {"text": " Here a quarter of a million people live in a modern community, two and a", "start": 67.2, "stop": 72.64, "id": 3}, {"text": " half miles above sea level.", "start": 72.64, "stop": 74.16, "id": 4}, {"text": " La Paz is the highest big city in the world, higher even than Lhasa in Tibet.", "start": 75.08, "stop": 80.18, "id": 5}, {"text": " In cold air, the people of La Paz are well adjusted, although living so high does", "start": 82.08, "stop": 87.26, "id": 6}, {"text": " make a difference, even in people who were born to it.", "start": 87.26, "stop": 90.68, "id": 7}, {"text": " The Pazenos, as residents of La Paz call themselves, are likely to alternate", "start": 91.46, "stop": 96.38, "id": 8}, {"text": " between periods of nervousness and apathy.", "start": 96.38, "stop": 99.2, "id": 9}, {"text": " And the foreigners who come from such sea level points as Lima or New York or", "start": 100.86, "stop": 105.4, "id": 10}, {"text": " Buenos Aires, find that the scarcity of oxygen converts climbing a flight of", "start": 105.4, "stop": 110.48, "id": 11}, {"text": " stairs into a major physical effort.", "start": 110.48, "stop": 112.88, "id": 12}, {"text": " And walking up one of the steep streets becomes a Herculean task.", "start": 113.1, "stop": 117.64, "id": 13}, {"text": " No matter where one wants to go in La Paz, it always seems to be uphill", "start": 119.0, "stop": 123.38, "id": 14}, {"text": " going, and uphill coming back.", "start": 123.38, "stop": 125.7, "id": 15}, {"text": " There are many strange phenomena in life at this altitude.", "start": 127.3, "stop": 130.38, "id": 16}, {"text": " There's so little oxygen that fires are difficult to start, so", "start": 131.14, "stop": 134.68, "id": 17}, {"text": " no one carries fire insurance.", "start": 134.68, "stop": 136.18, "id": 18}, {"text": " An automobile loses 40% of its power, and it takes six", "start": 136.86, "stop": 141.3, "id": 19}, {"text": " minutes to boil a three-minute egg.", "start": 141.3, "stop": 143.06, "id": 20}, {"text": " The heart of old La Paz is in the plaza Murillo, where it is said that the first", "start": 147.28, "stop": 154.0, "id": 21}, {"text": " cry of rebellion against Spanish rule arose in 1809.", "start": 154.0, "stop": 158.24, "id": 22}, {"text": " On the great square is the handsome cathedral, one of the largest in the world,", "start": 159.44, "stop": 163.56, "id": 23}, {"text": " where 12,000 people may worship together.", "start": 163.74, "stop": 166.48, "id": 24}, {"text": " Around this plaza are the principal government buildings, for in La Paz are the", "start": 168.16, "stop": 172.74, "id": 25}, {"text": " executive and legislative branches of the government.", "start": 172.74, "stop": 175.5, "id": 26}, {"text": " The Supreme Court, however, meets in Sucre.", "start": 176.28, "stop": 178.94, "id": 27}, {"text": " The Indians of this region, from the high plateau above the city and the", "start": 180.68, "stop": 187.02, "id": 28}, {"text": " luxuriant Yungas valleys beyond the mountains to the east, are", "start": 187.02, "stop": 190.98, "id": 29}, {"text": " notoriously bad city dwellers.", "start": 190.98, "stop": 192.96, "id": 30}, {"text": " They do, however, come into market on weekends.", "start": 194.14, "stop": 197.38, "id": 31}, {"text": " Then the city is alive with these strange and quiet people.", "start": 198.06, "stop": 201.82, "id": 32}, {"text": " They are, for the most part, the ancient Imara tribe.", "start": 203.1, "stop": 206.64, "id": 33}, {"text": " Long before the Incas, they were a powerful race.", "start": 207.7, "stop": 210.88, "id": 34}, {"text": " They make their headquarters in the old inns, whose courtyards become", "start": 212.86, "stop": 216.92, "id": 35}, {"text": " warehouses for their goods.", "start": 216.92, "stop": 218.46, "id": 36}, {"text": " In the market, they eat the white hut and high-smelling picante.", "start": 225.94, "stop": 230.18, "id": 37}, {"text": " This may be a stew with meat, potatoes, and corn, or roast meat served alone,", "start": 231.04, "stop": 236.62, "id": 38}, {"text": " flavored with pepper and garlic.", "start": 237.22, "stop": 238.92, "id": 39}, {"text": " Here they bargain for little piles of pale green leaves called coca, from which", "start": 242.88, "stop": 249.04, "id": 40}, {"text": " the drug cocaine is derived.", "start": 249.04, "stop": 251.12, "id": 41}, {"text": " To these people who chew it like tobacco, it is an opiate to help them to endure", "start": 251.54, "stop": 256.62, "id": 42}, {"text": " the bitter cold and the hard labor.", "start": 256.62, "stop": 258.86, "id": 43}, {"text": " But the habitual use of coca does the intellect so that enlightened Bolivians are", "start": 260.72, "stop": 266.18, "id": 44}, {"text": " now trying to stamp out the practice.", "start": 266.18, "stop": 268.26, "id": 45}, {"text": " But even more characteristic of the laparzine than the Indians are the cholos,", "start": 272.04, "stop": 277.04, "id": 46}, {"text": " people of mixed Spanish and Indian blood.", "start": 277.58, "stop": 279.86, "id": 47}, {"text": " They comprise about 25 percent of Bolivia's population.", "start": 280.14, "stop": 284.48, "id": 48}, {"text": " Adaptable, colorful, and intelligent, they grow daily more important", "start": 285.7, "stop": 289.96, "id": 49}, {"text": " in Bolivian national life.", "start": 289.96, "stop": 291.86, "id": 50}, {"text": " Sometimes parading on a saint's day in a cloud of confetti and incense, more", "start": 294.18, "stop": 300.36, "id": 51}, {"text": " often gliding along under loads that would stagger a husky North American at this", "start": 300.36, "stop": 305.24, "id": 52}, {"text": " altitude, they are as omnipresent as the cobblestones of the street.", "start": 305.24, "stop": 310.12, "id": 53}, {"text": " Their great festival of the year is Alicitis, modernized remnant of", "start": 311.64, "stop": 315.86, "id": 54}, {"text": " an ancient Indian custom.", "start": 315.86, "stop": 317.36, "id": 55}, {"text": " Here the cholos and Indians come from many parts of Bolivia, bringing", "start": 318.5, "stop": 322.52, "id": 56}, {"text": " their own handicrafts to sell.", "start": 322.52, "stop": 324.3, "id": 57}, {"text": " But the real star of the festival is the Acheco, a tiny plaster mannequin, a good", "start": 326.16, "stop": 332.38, "id": 58}, {"text": " fairy of prosperity and ancient legend.", "start": 332.38, "stop": 334.78, "id": 59}, {"text": " For the people believe that if they purchase at the fair, miniature reproductions", "start": 335.6, "stop": 340.1, "id": 60}, {"text": " of things they want during the year, and if they hang them around the Acheco,", "start": 340.1, "stop": 344.42, "id": 61}, {"text": " their wishes will be granted.", "start": 345.04, "stop": 346.56, "id": 62}, {"text": " Tiny bags of rice and coca, new shoes, wedding rings, toy horses, trucks, and", "start": 352.88, "stop": 359.62, "id": 63}, {"text": " gaudy new apartment houses, all surround the Acheco.", "start": 359.62, "stop": 363.44, "id": 64}, {"text": " Then the jolly little god and all his fine wares will stand guard in the", "start": 365.12, "stop": 370.34, "id": 65}, {"text": " household of his purchaser until he makes all the dreams come true, or at least", "start": 370.34, "stop": 375.52, "id": 66}, {"text": " until the fair of Alicitis returns next year.", "start": 375.52, "stop": 379.4, "id": 67}, {"text": " Alicitis brings out the chola of La Paz in her full glory.", "start": 384.92, "stop": 388.62, "id": 68}, {"text": " Vain of her costume in person, she may spend a month's income on a pair of", "start": 389.58, "stop": 393.38, "id": 69}, {"text": " earrings, she is still a practical businesswoman, a hard-headed shopkeeper.", "start": 393.38, "stop": 398.36, "id": 70}, {"text": " She is an extravagantly loving mother.", "start": 399.42, "stop": 401.32, "id": 71}, {"text": " A chola without a baby on her back is hardly a complete chola.", "start": 401.9, "stop": 405.42, "id": 72}, {"text": " Humorous, quixotic, sharp tongue, the chola is unique and knows", "start": 412.0, "stop": 417.66, "id": 73}, {"text": " it.", "start": 417.66, "stop": 423.76, "id": 74}, {"text": " During the three days of Alicitis, troops of dancers and musicians danced down", "start": 433.42, "stop": 439.26, "id": 75}, {"text": " the narrow cobbled waves into the patios to play their strange tunes and to", "start": 439.26, "stop": 444.7, "id": 76}, {"text": " perform their gay dances.", "start": 444.7, "stop": 446.24, "id": 77}, {"text": " Quirling in her bright shawl and dozen petticoats, the inevitable derby set at a", "start": 447.14, "stop": 452.22, "id": 78}, {"text": " jaunty angle, the chola is a gay and provocory figure unlike", "start": 452.22, "stop": 456.48, "id": 79}, {"text": " any other in the world.", "start": 456.48, "stop": 458.08, "id": 80}, {"text": " But all of La Paz is not markets and fairs and dancing, for the city of peace is", "start": 535.98, "stop": 541.8, "id": 81}, {"text": " full of colonial tradition.", "start": 541.8, "stop": 543.52, "id": 82}, {"text": " Founded in 1548 by a lieutenant of Pedro de la Gasca, it is laden with all the", "start": 544.6, "stop": 550.14, "id": 83}, {"text": " architectural glories which grace the early capital.", "start": 550.14, "stop": 553.2, "id": 84}, {"text": " Spanish stonework by Indian artisans tends to perpetuate Indian forms, and the", "start": 555.2, "stop": 560.56, "id": 85}, {"text": " heads of ancient gods loom strangely on these Christian columns.", "start": 560.56, "stop": 565.1, "id": 86}, {"text": " Even here the chola reappears, this time in another guise, as a nurse", "start": 578.0, "stop": 582.9, "id": 87}, {"text": " to a newly christened child.", "start": 582.9, "stop": 584.7, "id": 88}, {"text": " The chola nurses to many La Paz families, but the negro mammy was in the southern", "start": 584.98, "stop": 590.34, "id": 89}, {"text": " homes of the United States, and many a child of Spanish speaking parents grows up", "start": 590.34, "stop": 596.28, "id": 90}, {"text": " speaking fluent ayamara.", "start": 596.28, "stop": 597.8, "id": 91}, {"text": " Also belonging to antiquity is the strangely beautiful cemetery, where the dead", "start": 601.58, "stop": 607.38, "id": 92}, {"text": " are placed in tombs high above the ground.", "start": 607.38, "stop": 609.96, "id": 93}, {"text": " In a new part of the city is the national stadium, seating 60,000 people.", "start": 618.7, "stop": 623.52, "id": 94}, {"text": " Bolivians in common with virtually all other South Americans are lovers of", "start": 640.94, "stop": 645.22, "id": 95}, {"text": " soccer, which they play far harder and better than would seem", "start": 645.22, "stop": 649.04, "id": 96}, {"text": " possible at this altitude.", "start": 649.04, "stop": 650.54, "id": 97}, {"text": " Imagine yourself doing this, for example, on top of Pike's Peak.", "start": 660.4, "stop": 664.4, "id": 98}, {"text": " Smart La Paz loves the movies.", "start": 699.76, "stop": 701.64, "id": 99}, {"text": " This is one city in which Argentine and Mexican made films are almost as frequent", "start": 702.5, "stop": 707.1, "id": 100}, {"text": " as those from North America.", "start": 707.1, "stop": 708.76, "id": 101}, {"text": " Most fashionable is the Vermouth, or six o'clock show on Sunday evening.", "start": 710.42, "stop": 713.94, "id": 102}, {"text": " This is one hour in the week when you can be fairly sure of seeing La Paz", "start": 714.9, "stop": 718.82, "id": 103}, {"text": " out in its best bib and tucker.", "start": 718.82, "stop": 720.54, "id": 104}, {"text": " But there is still another La Paz, not picturesque, but", "start": 722.82, "stop": 726.96, "id": 105}, {"text": " important for the city's future.", "start": 726.96, "stop": 728.72, "id": 106}, {"text": " Bolivians have great ambition for the industrialization of their country, and", "start": 729.66, "stop": 734.3, "id": 107}, {"text": " factories like this are becoming focal points in economic expansion.", "start": 734.3, "stop": 739.04, "id": 108}, {"text": " They have an almost childlike love of intricate machinery, and they also have", "start": 748.84, "stop": 754.7, "id": 109}, {"text": " sufficient good and inexpensive manpower to run it.", "start": 754.7, "stop": 758.56, "id": 110}, {"text": " But there are obstacles to industrial expansion here.", "start": 761.32, "stop": 765.32, "id": 111}, {"text": " There's little fuel for plant operation.", "start": 765.74, "stop": 768.32, "id": 112}, {"text": " Most serious of all, every piece of machinery in this wool factory had to make", "start": 769.22, "stop": 774.14, "id": 113}, {"text": " the long sea trip from Europe or North America, and the expensive rail", "start": 774.14, "stop": 778.46, "id": 114}, {"text": " trip up from the Pacific Coast.", "start": 778.46, "stop": 780.22, "id": 115}, {"text": " In spite of these obstacles, industrialization and construction are going ahead", "start": 811.46, "stop": 816.62, "id": 116}, {"text": " in this new realistic La Paz.", "start": 816.62, "stop": 818.68, "id": 117}, {"text": " This fantasy tinge project of tearing down a hill has the purely practical end in", "start": 819.1, "stop": 825.16, "id": 118}, {"text": " view of constructing a highway to link La Paz with its eastern", "start": 825.16, "stop": 829.38, "id": 119}, {"text": " suburb of Miraflores.", "start": 829.38, "stop": 831.0, "id": 120}, {"text": " In these projects, cholos are the chief workmen.", "start": 832.5, "stop": 836.42, "id": 121}, {"text": " Indians will occasionally join them for a few days, but they are farmers at heart", "start": 837.38, "stop": 842.48, "id": 122}, {"text": " and prefer to work the soil.", "start": 842.48, "stop": 844.38, "id": 123}, {"text": " In Miraflores, construction is in progress on a new workers' housing project to", "start": 881.02, "stop": 886.24, "id": 124}, {"text": " replace the ancient adobe huts, which it is the wish of every citizen", "start": 886.24, "stop": 890.06, "id": 125}, {"text": " of La Paz to destroy.", "start": 890.06, "stop": 891.64, "id": 126}, {"text": " And all over the city, the adobes are coming down,", "start": 897.2, "stop": 903.62, "id": 127}, {"text": " and new starkly modern buildings of going up.", "start": 904.14, "stop": 909.64, "id": 128}, {"text": " The silhouette of La Paz is changing more rapidly than that of any other", "start": 911.3, "stop": 914.78, "id": 129}, {"text": " American capital today.", "start": 914.78, "stop": 916.5, "id": 130}, {"text": " This reconstruction is a hard job.", "start": 919.98, "stop": 925.1, "id": 131}, {"text": " There is no easy access to building material.", "start": 925.86, "stop": 928.44, "id": 132}, {"text": " There is little wood, and all iron and steel must be imported.", "start": 929.12, "stop": 932.72, "id": 133}, {"text": " This adds to the cost and increases the difficulties of all", "start": 933.42, "stop": 937.0, "id": 134}, {"text": " construction, but still they build.", "start": 937.0, "stop": 939.92, "id": 135}, {"text": " Olivia looks to a time when a greater part of her national territory will become", "start": 944.18, "stop": 948.58, "id": 136}, {"text": " economically effective, producing not only tin and other ore, for which she is", "start": 948.58, "stop": 953.76, "id": 137}, {"text": " already famous, but food, clothing, and building materials", "start": 953.76, "stop": 957.42, "id": 138}, {"text": " sufficient for her own needs.", "start": 957.42, "stop": 959.4, "id": 139}, {"text": " La Paz, the center of modern Bolivia, is already the", "start": 964.16, "stop": 967.58, "id": 140}, {"text": " highest big city in the world.", "start": 967.58, "stop": 969.16, "id": 141}, {"text": " It is growing in the face of tremendous odds, as though there was some special", "start": 969.94, "stop": 974.34, "id": 142}, {"text": " virtue in this height, as though it literally increased the stature of the city.", "start": 974.34, "stop": 978.96, "id": 143}, {"text": " La Paz has set its heart on the idea, and it's back to the job, of living at", "start": 979.74, "stop": 985.04, "id": 144}, {"text": " least half a dozen stories higher.", "start": 985.04, "stop": 987.06, "id": 145}]}