I seem to be able to walk through the war zone that is Cochabamba during carnival month almost completely unscathed this time. Gangs of teenage guys roam around the Prado armed with bagfuls of water balloons but they don´t even give me second glances (that´s what my next website should be called: secondglance.frivolous.com); it´s only the little kids who I have to worry about, and it´s cute when they try to hit you. The young hoons on the Prado (oh those crazy “hoons”, they´re just everywhere, right Pete?) seem to only want to throw their arsenal at women. I thought it was an apt commentary about mysoginism here, but I was told on the weekend – at carnvial, in Oruro, by a girl from Santa Cruz; just thought I would throw in a bunch of references to make myself look like a big man – that they aim for girls because they are more defenceless, a girl is not likely to pop a fist in anyone´s mouth in retaliation and besides, girls mainly aim to peg with water balloons only guys, in the same way that guys throw the balloons at girls. I noticed walking down a street in Oruro that a girl threatened me with a balloon in her hand and a smile on her face, and ignored my three cruceña companions.
It must be, well, either like primary school romances – the more I tease you, the more I like you – or I don´t know how to say this, it´s easier to mesh between the genders since you´re more socially allowed to: sexual attraction goes without saying. I do love saying cute things to women. (Liz once said to me: “You´re have a lot of charm with Bolivian women… although not with me.” We´d sort of past the flirty stage, if one had ever existed.) But Salman Rushdie once wrote that it´s a sad age when the only thing men and women have in common is passion.
That´s why I don´t write essays on feminism, everything gets a bit mixed up. Besides, a dude outwardly striving for women´s lib is kind of gay, however much I think things should be more equal. Next up: Carnival antics in Oruro!
