Natural

There was an interesting conversation in the bakery at lunchtime today. One woman, Ana, was talking about her mother. She is a 75 year old woman that lives alone and Ana is the only one of her siblings that looks in on the mother, helping her out etc. I guess that the “social security” in Bolivia is delivered in a lump sum at a certain age because the women were talking about what Ana’s mom is doing with that money. The conversation took somewhat of a morbid turn when they started talking about who would get that money when the mother passed away. In my seasoned third year in Bolivia I was not surprised when they said “well your brothers, being men, would be the first in line.” There was lots of back and forth about the money but then Ana said, “I am the only one that took my mother’s name.”
She went on to talk about how her mother was, “una chica natural” and “habia nacido natural.” I had no idea what a natural birth had to do with a last name so I asked. Ana explained that “natural” means that the father is unknown. I was surprised to learn that “natural” is the Bolivian version of “bastard.” I’m not sure what that means in a culture where men often have two or three different families that they shuttle between. It is sad to think that not knowing your father would be natural but the terminology is much less abrasive.
In the end it makes me wonder, with ten weeks left, how much I still have to learn about Bolivia. After two years and nine months I am still bowled over by new things.