Dating back to 1600, the exterior of this beautiful church is repainted annually. The walls, like all walls in Sucre, are whitewashed. The statuary over the entrance is also repainted. I visited this church just as a painter applies his touch to this iconic sculpture. I interpret the interaction of figure and painter as a relationship of care and respect. Both figures are protected from the sun – the statue by a flowing white hood, and the painter by a floppy hat. The painter applies the brush very gently, and the statue seems to reciprocate with a benevolent gesture and smile.

(What makes this image particularly Bolivian is the painter’s customary mouthful of coca leaves. Coca is the cash crop of Bolivia. Its extract has been used in Coca-Cola products since 1885. When chewed, coca acts as a mild stimulant and suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. Less than one per cent of a coca leaf contains the psychoactive alkaloid drug, cocaine. This drug was completely eliminated from Coca-Cola products in 1929. Since the 1980s, the South American countries that grow coca have come under political and economic pressure from the United States to restrict the cultivation and export of the crop in order to reduce the supply of cocaine in international markets. Bolivia’s current president, Evo Morales, was originally a coca farmer, and ran its union. His government objects to these American economic pressures, and has broken off Bolivia’s diplomatic relations with the United States because of them.)