Bienvenido a Tunari el Charango!

One thing that was particularly difficult for me these past >2 months in Bolivia was the absence of my ukulele. I can't count the amount of times I've sat in my room wishing it were there with me just so I could sing a few tunes and strum some chords. From time to time, a friend of mine would lend me his ukulele, which was great respite from this absence but not quite the same. However, the reason I decided to leave my precious Praliné in the USA was that I wanted to get myself a charango. 

What is a charango? It's a traditional Andean stringed instrument very similar to the ukulele. I've been aware of their existence for a while but then before leaving for Bolivia this time, decided that I really wanted one. Thus with that in mind, I left Praliné with my family and set out on a quest to find me a charango.

I initially wanted one right away, but the weekend I went to check some stores out with some of my friends, there weren't any available. Then one night, I went to Parlana with Ignacio (wrote about it here) and there was live traditional/fusion music being performed at the bar. One was a guy playing charango who was mad talented. Ignacio said we should go talk to him, so we did and told him how much we enjoyed his playing. He then told us that the man who made his charango was actually there that night, so we were introduced to him too. We met him and he told us that he could even custom make charangos, so I got his contact information and paid him a visit some time later. It wasn't until August 10th that I could pick up the actual instrument though, due to schedule conflicts and travels and Ignacio being too lazy to drive out to the workshop again (to be fair, it's far). However, I was able to arrange to pick it up in the very photogenic main square of Cochabamba, and Ignacio was also able to accompany me. We found Alberto the charango maker sitting on a bench with a very colorful case that had embroidered llamas on it, and i addressed him. He took out the instrument to show it to me and I fell in love. Then we took some pictures.

Alberto and me by the bench where he was waiting patiently for us

With my ever dashing companion

I was giddy with delight as we left the main square. From there, Ignacio and I met up with his cousin Leo and ended up driving up some mountains just for fun and to marvel at the view of the city below us. Of course, I took out the new arrival and took some more pictures up there as well.

Couldn't resist taking such an adorable candid pic of Hippie Igna

What a view! Beautiful Cochabamba

Here are some more detailed pictures of my charango! 

As for its name, I was wondering for the longest time what it should be. My ukulele's name is Praliné, because it's my favorite flavor of dessert-y things in France and for its color too, so I thought perhaps the charango should have a food related name too. However, I didn't find a word I liked enough, and instead settled on the name Tunari, the name of the mountain range that surrounds Cochabamba that can be seen very well facing north in the city. It goes pretty well with the name Praliné, I like to think.

I'm excited to get to know how to play the charango (my friend Josh who actually plays gave me sheet music to practice) and to tell people its story, giving me yet another excuse to talk about Bolivia, this country that I love so much.