Photos

Bolivia arguably has the worst and most dangerous roads of any country in the western hemisphere. Bus and 18-wheeler drivers need all the help they can get, so once or twice a year they bring their vehicles to a local priest (in this case, one in Copacabana) for a blessing. They prepare model trucks and decorate them, drap flowers on the real ones, and bring lots of beer for the blessing celebration. The priest sprinkles "holy water" (drawn from the town well) from a plastic bucket onto the vehicles, both large and small, and then the drivers do likewise with bottled beer, making sure, of course, that there's plenty left to swill. It's a happy occasion, and so long as the drivers confine their beer swilling to off hours, no doubt causes no increase in the number of highway disasters. Whether it decreases the number or not is another question entirely!