1. SANTA CRUZLA PAZ POTOSI BENI ORURO SUCRE PANDO COCHABAMBA TARIJA Wendy Esther Gonzales Aspiazu IMBA Program, NTHU Jan, 2005

2. GEOGRAPHY Location: Central South America, southwest of Brazil Area:total: 1,098,580 sq km land: 1,084,390 sq km water: 14,190 sq km Land boundaries: total: 6,743 km border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,400 km, Chile 861 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 900 km Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) Maritime claims: none (landlocked) Climate: varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid Terrain: rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin

3. GEOGRAPHY (cont.) Elevation extremes: lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m Natural resources: tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection

4. GEOGRAPHY (cont.) Geography - note: landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru

5. ECONOMY GDP: purchasing power parity - $21.01 billion (2004 est.) GDP - real growth rate: 2.5% (2004 est.) Budget: revenues: $2.346 billion expenditures: $2.957 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2004 est.) Agriculture - products: soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber Industries: mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing Oil - production: 44,340 bbl/day (2004 est.) Exports - commodities: soybeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, wood (2000) Exports - partners: Brazil 37%, Venezuela 12.9%, Colombia 11.9%, US 11.5%, Peru 5.1% (2003) Imports: $1.505 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) Imports - commodities: capital goods, raw materials and semi- manufactures, chemicals, petroleum, food Imports - partners: Brazil 25.2%, Argentina 22.3%, US 12%, Chile 9.3%, Peru 5.8% (2003) Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: $1.096 billion (2004 est.) Currency: boliviano (BOB) Currency code: BOB

6. PEOPLE Population: 8,724,156 (July 2004 est.) Age structure: 0-14 years: 36.4% (male 1,619,950; female 1,557,883) 15-64 years: 59.1% (male 2,522,086; female 2,631,944) 65 years and over: 4.5% (male 175,193; female 217,100) (2004 est.) Median age: total: 21.1 years male: 20.4 years female: 21.8 years (2004 est.) Nationality: noun: Bolivian(s) adjective: Bolivian Ethnic groups: Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15% Religions: Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) Languages: Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 87.2% male: 93.1% female: 81.6% (2003 est.)

7. Government Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Bolivia conventional short form: Bolivia local long form: Republica de Bolivia local short form: Bolivia Government type: Republic Capital: La Paz (seat of government); Sucre (legal capital and seat of judiciary) Administrative divisions: 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija Independence: 6 August 1825 (from Spain) National holiday: Independence Day, 6 August (1825)

8. CULTURE Musical traditions within Bolivia are distinctly regional: strains of Andean music from the desolate Altiplano are suitably haunting and mournful, while those of warmer Tarija, with its compliment of bizarre musical instruments, take on more ebullient tones. Dances such as the cueca, auqui-auqui and tinku hold a reverent place in popular culture. Other forms of folk expression include spinning and weaving, which display regional differences but have changed little over the last 3000 years.

9. CULTURE (cont.) Dances such as Diablada Caporales

10. CULTURE (cont.) Morenada Tobas

11. CULTURE (cont.) Suris-sicuris Auqui-auqui

12. CULTURE (cont.) Cueca Tarijena These are the customs for some typical dances in Bolivia, mostly we enjoy those dances during Carnival, a lot of people go to Bolivia to watch the Carnival in Oruro

13. Places to visit After all that brief introduction from Bolivia, now let me show you some pictures from my country

14. LA PAZ La Paz and the beautiful Illimani mountain

15. Plaza San Francisco at night

16. The bright Congress building in La Paz is a colorful sight on Plaza Murillo.

17. Tiwanacu Ruins from a civilization from 600 BC to 1200 AD

18. COCHABAMBA Plaza 14 de Septiembre

19. The Crist

20. El Prado

21. SANTA CRUZ Mision Jesuitica in San Miguel de Velasco

22. Santa Cruz Catedral de la Plaza 24 de Septiembre

23. ORURO Oruro Plaza 10 de Febrero

24. BENI Beni river

25. Rurrenabaque

26. TARIJA Metropolitan Cathedral

27. Pilcomayo river

28. CHUQUISACA OR SUCRE Recoleta

29. Glorieta’s Castle

30. Dinosaurs Tracks

31. POTOSI Casa de la Moneda

32. Salar de Uyuni, a salt dessert 12 000 square kilometers large. Somewhere in the middle of the Salt Dessert there was a hotel completely made of salt

33. These are only some beautiful places that you could visit in Bolivia, I wish I could show more pictures but this is only a brief presentation. I would like to Thank the Ministry of Education for give me the change to come to Taiwan, I’m very happy here, I also want to learn about the culture, food, language; day by day I meet new people and as far as I see Taiwanese people are very kind, friendly always ready to help and makes me feel at home. Being part of National Tsing Hua University it is such an honor. I also would like to thank all the people who help me day by day in the University, talking about my advisor Prof. Hsiao, the Administrator Office of Overseas Mrs. Tseng Mei-Hui, and the Division of International & Continuing Education Miss Paula Ti-Chun Lai. I know this activities would help us to learn more about different cultures, it is important for our better understanding. Best Regards Wendy Esther Gonzales Aspiazu