Racism in Bolivia

There is hate everywhere. It became more obvious today in my second class. Our grammer teacher is behind and our practice teachers can't move forward until the grammer catches up so the classes today were completely conversational based on the topic of our choice. Tatiana, not a typical Bolivian name but her mom likes the Russian ballet, is a nice lady with a good sense of humor but after a couple weeks with her as a teacher I think she is more interested in talking than teaching. At least 15 of the 45 minutes of class is her telling an elaborately long story about her life. We get enough practice with active listening in our houses. Now with the background covered...

Today we were talking about La Cancha, a huge open market of everything from fresh produce to computers, and how the merchants will charge gringos twice as much for something. I explained that while it wasn't fair, in the end I have the extra money to pay and will always have more money than the lady selling tomatoes on the street in Bolivia. In response to this Tatiana started making wild claims that that lady has more money than me, more money than my parents. With destain she talked/lectured at length about the people living in the campo (the country/savannah) that carry around thousands of dollars in their bags and live in huge houses but don't wear shoes or un-tattered clothes. I haven't been in the country very long and haven't ventured into the campo very often but I think she's full of it. There might be one or two people that fit her description but if the entire country was full of people with more money than my parents then it wouldn't be the second poorest country in the western hemisphere.