Sowing friendships
In this column I reflect on cultivating friendships throughout life. I prefer to visit friends rather than do conventional tourism, practicing hospitality and maintaining ties with people from different stages and countries. I highlight a talk about my late tutor, Bruno Touschek, in a school titled to his memory, rekindling meaningful memories and connections.
Lourdes
Lourdes is much more than the 72 miracles certified in 167 years since the apparitions of the Virgin to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
Lourdes, an important Christian destination, is characterized by its purifying water, its spiritual climate of peace and ceremonies such as the torchlight procession.
In addition to physical healings, the author experienced personal “other miracles”: a reunion with a Bolivian friend in Paris, an unexpected seat at a packed Mass with cancer survivors like himself, and the miraculous recovery of a lost hearing aid. A prayer for the healing of Bolivia from populism could not be missing, trusting in a change with the new government.
Bicentennial Fitness: few pounds in the pocket and less pounds in the body
The article satirically defends Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora’s government, portraying crises like fuel shortages, long gas lines, and dollar scarcity as clever strategies to promote physical fitness, meditation, and financial discipline. It mocks inflation, food scarcity, and foreign policy moves as part of a survival-driven, witty approach to governance, celebrating Bolivia’s resilience amid hardships.
The “resurrection” of the dire wolf
This column is about the “de-extincion” of dire wolf specie and the implications of this scientific goal.
Electric cars in Bolivia: an obstacle course
The fuel crisis in Bolivia has two structural solutions, in the sense that both aim to reduce the demand for liquid fuels. The first is to convert cars with petrol engines to CNG (Car Natural Gas). The irrefutable convenience of this conversion for the user and for the State has already been demonstrated and I […]
You will call him Jesus
A pregnancy involves many tasks: it changes the routine and diet of the future mother, forces her to go on a pilgrimage to the gynecologist, periodic ultrasound scans must be carried out and the logistics of receiving the future baby are planned, among other things. Even before we know the sex of the baby, we […]
The national sport
Every country has a national sport: cricket in India, rugby in New Zealand, the gangs of El Salvador (it had it and got through it), football in Brazil and the blockade of Bolivia. The sport of blockades is all about preventing vehicles of all sizes from crossing a road, allowing only pedestrians with their belongings […]
The obligation to align
At no time in history have plurality and tolerance of ideas and life choices been so appreciated and defended as in ours, yet no other era has been so polarized as to force everyone to align themselves with extreme positions. For the progressive and socialist left, liberals are all genocides, Zionists, exploiters and imperialists. In […]
Holiday curiosities
I read that the winter holidays have been extended by another week, as usual. Good news for teachers and students, but not so good news for working parents who will have to invent activities to prevent their children from getting bored or addicted to video games. In my childhood, summer holidays were lived as a […]
Birthdays
Not all birthdays are the same. The form of the celebration varies according to the age and culture in which one is educated. For example, in all my childhood and youth I did not celebrate my birthday, the date of which, actually, almost no one knew or remembered. It is said that the best way […]