In June 8 of 2007 a metaphysical and abstract gate was opened by a few individuals in the neighborhood of San Pedro - La Paz, Bolivia. Namas Té, vegetarian snack-alternative space-pseudo art gallery-teashop had given birth. The parents? at the moment the main people involved were Elvia Jove, Sylvia Tejada, and Paul Jove. As with many small businesses, a small budget was set aside by Elvia with limited spendings keeping in mind quality, simplicity & uniqueness; it was mine and Sylvia's job to execute in due fashion. We had a lot of help from Sylvia's dad, Roger Tejada who is a construction engineer and probably one of the most level-headed people i've met not mention a fantastic father-in-law potential. Anywho, opening night ceremony was a gathering of friends, some family and a couple of local business neighbors. There was a short opening speech made by myself and Sylvia about what our projections and objectives were at that time... some of which we hold dear today. Elvia was... let's say the 'CEO' following play by play from (at that time) Tampa, FL. It was great and there was so much excitement in the air/in our heads. Our first attempts at a menu at the time were so very humble and without the business expertise because u had quesadillas priced at 8bs (a little more than a US dollar) which if kept at that speed there would not have been a story to tell. Our vision was a humble one to keep moderate prices in a beautiful setting with the most positive vibes... a place to recharge... a place to get away from the city... a gateway. There was no intention of every doing the set lunch or local 'almuerzo'. We focused on teas, small snacks, etc... but seeing that it was a bit slow and the idea of a teashop (even to this day) was very foreign and not appreciated we had to think of something else. It was at this time that someone came up with the idea of serving a vegetarian set lunch daily. BAM! what a way to attract the peeps because that's what it did... people started to come and enjoy the food. Let's note for the record that at this time our main cook was my cousin Marina Cusicanqui whom we have to credit for the idea of the famous 'tucumana' or deep fried patty. She had lived in Argentina for quite some time and was a pro at making meat tucumanas which are famous in a town down there which the name i forget now. She showed us to make the dough and deep fryness...then I adjusted some fillings and seasonings and gave birth to the only vegan tucumanas in town. So with the lunch and tucumanas going for us, there was no stopping. It was during these first few months that my romantic relationship with Sylvia had ended... leaving an empty, if you will, in the birth of Namas Té. So, u keep going and we did pursuing the vision of a place where it's for you......always keeping the client in mind - something that is also very foreign in my beautiful country.

The plant kept growing and with it new members.... we had our 1st anniversary and in the midst of all this another very important ingredient that was missing came in the pix. Yes.. u ready for it? Gonzalo Jove or the way he likes to be known, Gonz. Yes... the man who had the most business/survival expertise in the family had made his permanent move to Bolivia and his contribution was to keep feeding this fire/light we had created. Let us make another side-note here about coming back to La Paz, Bolivia. In 2004 the Jove siblings had a meeting in Chicago, IL (where Gonz lived at the time) and came to a conclusion that we were to return to Bolivia to live our remaining years. Personally i had made this decision prior to this date because I had that famous cliché 'calling' one feels when a place is calling. It was forecasted that some change was to happen in Bolivia / no one knew what? but that it was important to be here for this change.... change is always good, it stirs the pot. So back to the story, Gonz was in the pix and with it a more broad-wider grander vision of the whole deal... and in some respect a bit too grand. Namas Té first began with a small storefront space with 5, 4-top tables. We had a space in the back of the house that used to be a bar back in 1995 at which time Gonz and Angelo ran the joint and had been made over from the original house architect plans. Now it was time to update this space making it more acute for the type of business we had encountered which was food and arts. So some construction went on for some months, lots of investment and hard work all went in and finally we had opened the back part of the house as a continuation of Namas Té. Now, mind u parallel to this I was also pursuing my music as an electronic musician/dj and since 2005 been feeding the local scene with whatever i had to offer. I had made a few 'underground' parties in this back space before Gonz came back and some of the highlights were that these parties were non-tobacco smoking and quality non-comercial electronic dance music. Now that we had made it up so very nice Gonz and I decided to continue making these parties and for a while there we would let people smoke because Gonz and others would convince me that no peeps would come because u can't let them smoke.... we found out that this wasn't so. So we stopped letting people smoke and told them to smoke outside. Namas Té 2 year celebration came around and it was great... lots of people, lots of enthusiasm, a sense of family still was uphold by the local electronic scene and the almuerzos kept getting popular. By this time we had a food and drink menu with pretty set-on items ... the prices we were still slacking giving our shit away. This is where Gonz and I still have some issues because since he has worked in a business environment for pretty much all his life, he knows the bottom line......one of the many reasons we make a great team. After this 2 year span Elvia, my sister, comes to Bolivia for good after finishing up her divorce and closing up loose ends back at our other home, USA. She decides to give my brother Angelo a hand in Cochabamba a hand and spend some time over there and talk of opening up a Namas Té in Cochabamba came about.... there was no mutual agreements in this and so this did not take off. After some months in Cocha, Elvia moved back to La Paz and decided to stay here and get situated. She got hooked up with another animal rights activist, Anita Revollo, and opened up their Foundation APLAB (Amor Por Los Animales Bolivia). During all of this, Namas Té is still strong and had one more transformation to go through. A garden was added to the back of Namas Té space. I mean how could u not have a garden with all the intentions and visions we had for this place? this was like the icing on the cake -- once again more hard work, construction and monetary investment. After a few months, Namas Té gardens was in place with a lot of our houseplants which were planted in order of symbolism for the mother earth. Three years and another celebration, this time we had another full house of people and supporters from all around letting us know how much they love the existence of this place.

I will stop here because that's a lot of info and will continue furthermore on another occasion. Yes there are a few details that i did not cover, but the main parts are outlined. We are so happy that we can have this space and offer the things we do. Also so thankful to everyone who has come to play an important part of keeping this alternative available to everyone. We are still always looking for ways to outdo ourselves and keep it fresh!