Morales gives Rice coca leaf-inlay guitar

[quaoar]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-03-11T195034Z_01_N11348375_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOLIVIA-USA-CHARANGO.xml

VALPARAISO, Chile (Reuters) - Condoleezza Rice knew coca would top the agenda in her meeting with Bolivia's new president, but she likely wasn't expecting to get the real thing.

At the end of their 25-minute meeting, President Evo Morales presented the U.S. secretary of state with an Andean guitar that bore a coca-leaf inlay.

"The gift was well received. We will just have to check with our customs to see what rules apply. We certainly hope we can bring it back (to Washington)," said a senior State Department official who attended the meeting.

Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, came to prominence as a leader of coca farmers who want more freedom to grow coca, which is the main ingredient in cocaine but is also used legally for traditional medicines and in teas.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Will customs bust her if she tries to bring it home?

Just wondering.

[Warpy]

2. Nah, even the DEA can't touch this bunch

They're WAY above all laws and treaties, dontcha know.

[Benhurst]

3. She can smuggle it in,

hidden in the gap between her teeth.

[babylonsister]

7. LOL!

:spank: :spank:

I also have a gap, but that image just tickled me!

[eleny]

4. Breaking News!!!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!!

Bush administration spokesperson says they care about laws!

Falling down backwards - PLOP!

[truthisfreedom]

5. the entire bushco family deserves to receive these kinds of embarrassing

gifts. cigars from cuba, elephant tusk ivory from Africa... sex slaves from the far east... and get it into the news, too! 8^)

[CrazyOrangeCat]

8. yep.

Morales really hit it on the head.

Really a great idea!

[EndElectoral]

6. Just don't let GW get his nose near it.

[quaoar]

12. Maybe Bush

can strum it next time a Category 5 hurricane is wiping out a major American city.

[Xipe Totec]

9. It's a good test for the zero tolerance policy

If any poor sap can get convicted for trace amounts of a drug, then the same rules should apply here.

[Redstone]

10. That's NOT A GUITAR, it's a charango. Way to check facts, Reuters.

Redstone

[sam sarrha]

11. Headline:... Rice "Strung out on Cocaine".. it was coke in the key of 'C'

[pfitz59]

13. Sticking it to Rice!

And loving it! Look at that grin!

[IndianaGreen]

14. Looks like a ukelele to me!

Morales is too much of a gentleman to do to Condi what she really needs, a kick in her ass.

[BrotherBuzz]

18. A Uke has four strings - that's a Charango

The charango has five pairs of strings

The charango is a small ten string lute that originated in South America. The back of the instrument is traditionally fashioned from an armadillo. When the Spaniards came to South America, they brought the vihuela (an ancestor of the guitar) with them. The native people liked the vihuela, but lacked the technology to shape the wood in that manner. However, there was a convenient resource available to them: armadillo shells. Thus the charango was born. It was a happy day for music, but a sad day for armadillos. But it is a rare creature that makes music after death. Legend has it that the armadillo has to go to a conservatory for five years to study to become a charango.

[eppur_se_muova]

15. She's picturing a game of "keepaway" with her "husband"...

you can see it in her face.

[agincourt]

26. You got it!

I bet the "husband" gets dibs on it though.

[Igel]

16. Is that a charango? n/t

[heliarc]

21. Uh, yes

I play charango and have have a custom made one here at home. Had it made especially by Yelcon Montero. The instrument Condi is holding is a Charango. The origin described by an earlier poster is correct, only the armadillo back makes for a much less durable instrument than the ones fashioned from Jacaranda wood. The practice of fashioning these from wood is a more contemporary means to create professional instruments. Guitar it most certainly is NOT. The 10 strings are tuned in pairs. Five pairs in total. The tuning does not resemble a guitar, 6 or 12 strings.

[TroubleMan]

17. Fuck customs....let's just see if she can keep george from licking it.

nt.

[Fridays Child]

19. I love it because Morales knows full well he's taking a jab...

...at U.S. foreign policy with a gift like that.

[drdtroit]

25. But the irony is truly lost on this dumb POS! n/t

[susu369]

20. Perhaps Columba bu$h can give Condi some pointers on

what custom rules apply.....and how to get around them if necessary.

[katamaran]

22. She and Chimpy can start a band.

Let's start brainstorming ideas now...

[MisterP]

23. well, that's not gonna last long

[BiggJawn]

24. She's holding it. Isn't that Possession?

And thus a crime?

Naw, probably comes under the same rule as those cast acrylic toilet seats with the pot leaves embedded in them...