Chapter 4
having bolivian blood
TENER SANGRE BOLIVIANA
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and they say ‘is that the abuela, the grandma?’
put two white fabrics under the skirts?
They ask and their mom, my daughter, tells them
because there will always be someone in their history
That was the tradition I tell them.
‘yes that’s your grandma and she wore skirts.
who had skirts like mine.
That’s the way that they recover a little of their ancestry.
And when I dress in my skirts, I go to her to do my makeup
the youth that was born here
It’s a way of passing on what I know.
My grandkids always look at the photo of my mom.
It’s possible that in the long run,
and the kids watch and they ask why do you
will want to forget but that will be impossible
Ella también solía quemar algunas velas
Pero más tarde me di cuenta, me di cuenta
nunca volvería a renunciar a nada de aquello porque aprendí a respetarlo.
y que mis amigos no sabían cómo comer.
Y simplemente recuerdo, recuerdo desear que no este allí.
Recuerdo intentar que vinieran amigos a casa
de cuál era el significado de todo aquello.
Llegó un punto en el que yo no me sentía orgullosa.
Así que yo me sentía como: “por favor, no. Así no”.
Yo solo quería ser normal, como mis amigos que no tenían todo eso.
y mi madre solía preparar toda esta comida que olía de maravilla
y tenía todas sus cosas del Bombori.
Ya nunca volvería a renunciar a la comida boliviana,
I doubt it, I totally doubt that
How are you going to like a place where you haven’t…
Because she’s grown up here. Here she grew up, here…
Or in other words it would be a lot of change for her
yeah I am afraid that…since he thinks that
it’s like me when I came here.
And we have opportunities for anything that she wants.
we are going to leave here in the future,
she could adjust to live in a different place.
First, I became terribly lonely.
Yeah, but…
if she would like to come someday.
that she won’t want to come because she doesn’t like Bolivia.
Yeah but that’s obviously always going to be like that…
I got depressed and so I only wanted to go back
...in this country more than in Bolivia.
Practically, she wouldn’t be able to adjust to live in Bolivia.
Obviously they haven’t grown up there.
because how is she going to live in a different place? I think…
to the place where I’d grown up; to the store, to the corner, to the parish, the video store, to my mom.
Hay cosas que no me gustan de ser boliviana.
de la comunidad hispana y boliviana...
Aprecio mi cultura.
Me gusta mostrarlo. Me gusta bailar y que
Mi relación con ser boliviana viene y va.
Porque a mí, la mayoría del tiempo, me gusta ser boliviana.
Hay algunas cosas de las que no sentirse orgulloso
Voices in order of Appearance | Voces en orden de aparición 
Julia García Aldana Ferrufino Álvaro and Erika Yave Aldana Ferrufino Sandra Patiño
I wouldn’t really say that it is mission accomplished,
if he establishes himself in this country
ok I don’t want this, I want this other thing
I would think that my mission will be accomplished.
He didn’t live there.
and if he likes being here,
rather I would say, ‘was all of that sacrifice worth it?’
and I want a better life for myself.
One because my primary reason for immigrating
Despite that we go every year,
I would feel like my mission is accomplished and
was to give him a better life,
I want him to know how it is there,
say ‘ok, this is what we came for.’
a better future, better opportunities.
that he learns from the positive things
And I would leave fulfilled,
And if he were to stay,
Because he’s expressed a lot of times that he would like to live in Bolivia.
that we have there and that, more than anything,
I would leave in peace because I would say my goals are accomplished.
Not specifically in Tarata because he doesn’t like Tarata
he values it.
If he decides to go to Bolivia
And that it gives him energy to develop himself here.
But, that will be his decision.
because ‘there’s only dirt, everything is old, and people are poor.’
after all of the sacrifice that we’ve made,
And give him that energy to say
If my son decides to stay in the United States,
He sees it like that because those aren’t his roots.
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