Truffi Wars

I was frustrated when I left home and could not find my usual truffi-taxi. I walked over a couple of blocks to a road that Sarah had recommended. Not a truffi in sight. "Good one Sarah, thanks for the advice," I thought. As I hiked across town I noticed that there were no buses or truffi's anywhere. Then I recalled that my new boss at Performing Life had said that there were truffi drivers smashing out windows on El Prado yesterday. My sharp intellect then put it together that there must be a strike on.

I eventually made it up to El Prado (part of the route I was taking) and I saw the inevitable gaggle of men blocking the road. As they walked along I started to hear wolf-whistling and thought to myself "what kind of protest march is this." Subsequently, I ran up the road a bit to get a better view of proceedings. At this point the march seemed even stranger. What were these bits of wood they were carrying, what could they possibly symbolize; perhaps something Andean?

Well, I say to you, in the moment these are the things you think.

A minute later a mini-van with its truffi line number on its roof then appeared on El Prado. The men swarmed the vehicle and battered it with the sticks, some of which were five feet long. An argument then ensued and then the mob smashed out all the windows of the mini-van.The man circled in red below punctured a hole through the back window with a long staff. He seemed to be the ring leader.

As you can see the photo I took is very undramatic. A minute after it was taken a Police car arrived on the street but did not seem to stop to manage the situation. I got on my way and then realized I was in a mild shock. What the heck was I doing chasing after a group of angry unionists with bludgeoning instruments? What was I doing taking photos of them? This can only be described as bad decision making. What an idiot.

Since witnessing this protest I have checked the back story. Basically what has happened that the truffi line-110 is being challenged by other truffi drivers. Agreements on legal and illegal lines have come to an impasse in Cochabamba and as such cars (almost 100 of them) were attacked yesterday by anti line-110 group. In response to those attacks the pro line-110 people have responded with their own attacks.

Even though nothing happened to me today I have to say that this incident really brought home how quickly curiosity can bring you needlessly into harms way.