Here’s what I find interesting about this video. First, it appears on the national news in Bolivia.( I speak Spanish, so what I’m writing here is my rough translation of the video highlights.) Translating what the news guy says, “We’re all skeptics. But I’ll leave it to your imagination whether or not you believe in these mysterious images.”
He goes on to explain that the video was taken by cell phone, on February 12, at about 3 PM, outside a maternity hospital in La Paz, on the side of the hospital that houses the emergency room. “It floats in the air,” he says, “then vanishes to the east. “
The video takes us through several views of the UFO. At first, it looks like a balloon, the kind that you buy at a carnival and escapes when your kid lets go of the string. But the way it takes off…I’ve never seen a balloon do that. The newscaster goes on to say that points of reference are important in instances like this and explains about the hospital, on which side of the building the OVNI appeared.
He also interviews the young men involved in taking the video. This is where authenticity comes in. Rodrigo Morales and his friend, Juan Carlos are Andean men. Juan Carlos works at a condo. He’s the one who actually filmed the UFO. He hands the newscaster the cell he used to take the video. Rodrigo says he has an interest in UFOs – does that make him suspect of fraud? Doubtful. It means he’s observant.
Juan Carlos said he saw something odd outside the hospital. At first, he thought it was a balloon or “something.” But Rodrigo said, “No, it’s an OVNI (UFO). So Juan raised his cell and started videotaping the object. Juan handed his cell to the newscaster, who explains the cell is a Motorala, with a 2 pixel capacity. Then he clicks on the cell to show the original video.
The news guy asks if he showed the video to anyone after he took it. Yes, Juan says, to his wife. “But she doesn’t believe much in that ( in UFOs).” He and Rodrigo have been friends since they were kids.
Years ago when we led travel tours for writers through the Peruvian Amazon, one of the things we learned is that South Americans are much more open-minded about UFOs than Americans. I remember sitting on the deck of the S.S. Amazonas, an old rubber-hauling boat that plied the Amazon between Manaus, Brazil, and Iquitos, Peru, and talking to Hugo, our local guide, about UFOs. He was the son of an Amazonian fisherman, a shaman initiate, and bilingual, so there wasn’t any room for misunderstanding. I mentioned skeptics and UFOs and and he started laughing.
“You gringos,” he said. “Why is it so difficult for you to accept your own perceptions and experiences as real?”















