So, I just discovered a website managed by my cell phone provider here in Bolivia that allows anyone to send me a text message from their webpage for free!

The address is:

http://websms.nuevatel.com/sms.php

The site is in Spanish, but it seems pretty self explanatory. All you have to do is type in your name (so I know who it’s from) and then the last 7 digits of my phone number (the first digit, always a 7, is already there for you). Then you type your message and click send. I tested it out here and I received it immediately. You can choose when to send it as well. I can respond back to the website, so you can log back in and check if I responded, although if you sent the message when I was out of cell range (when I am in my site, etc.) I likely won’t have received it. So, don’t feel bad, I just didn’t  get it! Weekends are generally a good time to try, as I am more likely to be in Sucre at some point during the weekend.

Hope you are all well! Would love to hear from you all. I’ll do my best to respond.

Tinkunakama.

“I work in the school.”

This phrase, painstakingly pronounced in the Quechua above, has opened a lot of doors for me recently.

It inevitably leads to a short (key word) conversation in “Quechuañol”, the Andean equivalent of Spanglish. A basic rule of thumb when learning or speaking Quechua is remember that if what you are speaking of was invented after 1492, then there is no Quechua word for it. They just use the Spanish with a Quechua accent (turn O’s to U’s and call it a day). My favorite exception to this rule is the Quechua invention for the word “radio”. They call it “Wayra simi”. Wayra means wind. Simi means mouth or voice. The voice of the wind. Now, if that doesn’t show you how exceedingly different the Quechua cosmo-vision is from our Western perspectives, I don’t know what will. This is a very different world.

During the winter break from school, I had the opportunity to travel to Presto, another municipality in the Chuquisaca department to study Quechua with another volunteer from my group and one of the fabulous Language Facilitators from Cochabamba. I learned a lot in a short, intense period, and have been trying out my new skills in La Palma. People seem to get a kick out of my attempts and I am getting more and more confident in my basic conversational skills.

Life continues on here in its unpredictable fashion. I am feeling more settled in La Palma, and have made some steps in the direction towards progress. Which, for any readers familiar with either Bolivia, or Peace Corps in general, is actually saying something.

If you were to ask me what I do on a day to day basis, I would be embarrassed (in the States) to actually tell you. It is not at all uncommon to spend 5 hours sitting by the river reading, or an entire morning cleaning my room. But it is the small successes, every now and again, that make me feel like my time here can and will be valuable. I am hoping to start a worm composting program with the local farmers and am coordinating with representatives from the Municipal Environment program to get some waste management programs going in the region. Right now, waste management consists of trash burning, and the classic, “just throw it in the river, it will wash away and be gone” strategy.

I am on my way to Cochabamba tonight for a bunch of meetings. Our in-service training for my training group has been pushed back a couple of weeks due to the ever-changing political situation here in Bolivia. Never a dull moment…

I am sorry I haven’t posted in so long. I will try (but not promise) to be better about keeping in touch in the future.

Tinkunakama.

Carla, Daniela and Claudia (all daughters of different profes at the school) pose in front if the T-rex outside of the Dinosaur Park just outside of Sucre. There are Dinosaur tracks scattered all over central Bolivia, the largest concentration here in Chuquisaca, and specifically at the Fancesa Cement factory just outside of town.

In early June, I traveled with the profes to Tarvita, a town about 9 hours Southeast of Sucre. We were invited to spend “Dia del Profesor” with the teachers there in Tarvita. Here are all the men before they played a friendly round of futbol. La Palma got creamed by all the young teachers of Tarvita, but we had a great time cheering them on anyway! La Palma in red, Tarvita in blue.

Tarvita teachers dance the Cueca with La Palma teachers. La Cueca is a very traditional Bolivian dance, present at any celebration, large or small.

In the plaza in Tarvita with Rocio and Judith, both new teachers in La Palma, and dear friends of mine.

The town of Presto from a distance. Chuquisaca is so beautiful. And it is now “home”.

View of La Palma from my bedroom window.

As a recently sworn in Peace Corps Volunteer, one has myriad opportunities to ponder time and its relativity.  Today is May 30, 2008.

 

One year ago today, I was greeting new staff members as they arrived at Adventure Links for the first time.

 

Two years ago today, I was one of those new staff members arriving at Adventure Links for the first time, still tense from my first trip down that driveway, unknowing of all of the adventures that lay in store for me in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia…

 

(To any of you AL folk that may be reading this, I am thinking of you guys as you begin the madness we lovingly call “summer”. Keep those kayaks rolling, those noses unbroken, those caveralls filthy, those busses running, those hammocks swinging and those Yuenglings flowing. I love and miss you all. But also, thank you for your support and for letting me fly…)

 

Four years ago today, I was sitting in Skoglund, sweating in my cap and gown (and flip flops), graduating from St. Olaf into what we then imagined would be “real life”.

 

Four months ago today, I arrived in Bolivia, eye krusties still fresh and in place after an overnight journey from Washington, DC.

 

There are times when all of these moments seem like just yesterday, and all of the intervening days and moments have sped by in flurry of sunburns, visa applications, bus journeys, road trips, languages studied and occasional monotony.

 

And, of course, there are other times when it feels like a small lifetime has passed from one of these memories to the next.

 

But, no matter which camp my perspective falls in at any given moment, I can say this for certain: I am happy—grateful—to have lived each one of those moments.

 

I have already completed over one month of service as a PCV in La Palma. And, despite the E. Coli attack, the trucks and busses noisily whizzing past my window in the middle of the night en route to Cochabamba or Santa Cruz, the scheduled meetings that never existed and the multiple strikes which left the schoolyards silent, it’s gone by really fast, and has been, overall, great.

 

Recently, there hasn’t been much school, on account of aforementioned strikes (on municipal and departmental levels, not necessarily the actual La Palma teachers walking off the job…) and lots of Bolivian holidays.

 

Of note was the 25 de Mayo celebration, which is the anniversary of Sucre, and hence, the department of Chuquisaca.  In 2009, Sucre will celebrate its bicentennial, having been founded on May 25, 1809.  Falling on a Sunday this year, all of the teachers accommodatingly came back down to La Palma to help the kids and Palmeños celebrate. Here, we kicked off the holiday on its eve, with the students parading up and down the highway (no other streets or plazas here in La Palma) with candlelit torches made with reused plastic bottles (yay!) and adorned with either Bolivian national colors (stoplight red, yellow and green) or the Chuquisaqueño colors (red and white).  It was actually quite beautiful, and it was fun to cause a little traffic jam, as it was peak flota passing time (Busses leave Sucre around 7pm headed for Coch every night and pass through La Palma around 8pm).

 

On Sunday, community members, students and teachers alike all gathered in the schoolyard to salute the Bolivian flag and kick off yet another parade. Same route, just more noise this time, as we were led by a band of men from the community playing the drums and zampoñas (panpipes).  There

 

Although Bolivian independence wasn’t solidified until 1825 (freedom from Spain came in 1824, from Peru in 1825), 25 de Mayo, 1809 is often heralded as having produced “the first cries/shouts of independence” in Sucre.  In light of the recent Capitalia debates, Sucreños/Chuquisaqueños are especially proud of this historical fact, and regional pride abounds.  So much so, that there was a lot of controversy over the planned visit to Sucre by Evo to participate in the parade here last weekend. 

 

You see, Sucreños are still quite upset with Evo for having blatantly ignored their request to consider moving the capital (which, constitutionally is in Sucre, yet only the judicial branch remains here, the executive and legislative branches having long since moved to La Paz) back to Sucre.  Last November, students took to the streets in protest because, while Evo and his government were writing a draft of the new constitution (yet to be voted on), they did not allow for any discussion of the Capitalia matter.  Evo was once widely supported throughout Chuquisaca, but this was a blunder too great, and a political move that hit too close to home for the people of Sucre.  There were violent riots, students were killed, and the Police force of usually-tranquilo Sucre threw in the towel and left the city for Potosi (oh yea, and opened the gates to the local prison before they peaced out). 

 

The wound is still fresh here in Sucre, and not all of the angry anti-Evo graffiti has been power-washed off the UNESCO World Heritage whitewashed buildings in the center.  Needless to say, Sucreños were not wild about the fact that Evo would be present to help them celebrate their regional holiday.  There were rumors floating around that they were going to cancel the big parade in Sucre in protest and move the major celebrations to Monteagudo, a smaller city in Southeastern Chuquisaca—anything to keep him out of the city.  He didn’t end up showing up because of some violent confrontations that erupted between university students, police and campesinos.

 

Anyway, enough of all that. This post is getting excessively long. I guess that is what happens when two holidays (Monday was the day 25 de Mayo was recognized b/c it was on a Sunday, Tuesday was Bolivian Mother’s Day) and a civil strike (Thursday) interrupt the workweek and you have lots of free time on your hands. J

 

We celebrated Bolivian Mother’s Day on Tuesday night.  All of the male teachers cooked a delicious dinner for everyone (I was asked numerous times why I was not yet a mother at 25… but that is a whole other issue I won’t get into right now…) and then we danced the night away until the wee hours. It was a really great time to bond with the other teachers.  We haven’t had all that many social events as of yet, so Tuesday night was a nice breakthrough. Good times. Good people. Wednesday brought sore legs from dancing and a headache from singani (fermented wine…), chicha (fermented corn) and the infamous “bad wine with coke” abomination Bolivians love so dearly…

 

OK, I have definitely said too much. Enjoy the following pics.

 

 

 

La Palma, from a distance. (Where all the trees are, just behind them is La Palma) Rio Chico in the foreground.

Laundry day in the Rio Chico. On weekends and holidays, you see tons of women coming to the banks of the Rio Chico to do their wash. OK, maybe you can’t really see it in this picture, b/c it’s so small, but trust me, there are lots of clothes strewn out on the shore of the far bank…

Obispo is the name of the mountain that presides over the Southern border of Sucre. This is it.

JICA is the Japanese Peace Corps, and there are lots of JICA volunteers in the Sucre area. They made this map of Bolivia out of origami cranes.

Eve of 25 de Mayo procession by candelight. So beautiful.

Kindergarten students being oh so cute and oh so proud to be Chuquisaqueño.

Students lined up, ready to parade.

Fourth year student and I sporting our flags on 25 de Mayo.

Teachers and I parading on 25 de Mayo. I missed the “white shirt, black pants” memo… Woops…

Bolivian Flag in front of a beautiful Chuquisaqueño blue sky, complete with a mandarin tree in the foreground.

Kindergarten students dressed up as “payasitos” (little clowns).

Fourth year students dresses up for their altiplano dance.

Fifth year students share a traditional dance from Camargo, a town in Southern Chuiqisaca.

Possibly the cutest girl in the world.

A quick update to let you all know that I continue to be well here in Bolivia, and that life, on the ground (and particularly out of the department of Santa Cruz) is pleasantly slow-paced and tranquilo.  May 4th has come and gone. And to many of you, that may not mean much. Just another Sunday, perhaps.  But here in Bolivia, last Sunday was a long anticipated vote and its outcome has arguably polarized this country even further. I know the Democrats in the US right now feel like nothing could be more polarizing than the Obama-Clinton question, but being here, I beg to differ.

Bolivia has been in the international press recently as the Santa Cruz department voted on an autonomy referendum (not terribly dissimilar from the relative autonomy US states enjoy) that it hopes will grant it more power to allocate its own resources from the oil and agriculturally rich eastern region of the country.  It is no secret that, in recent years, Santa Cruz has emerged as the economic powerhouse of the nation. And it is also no secret that President Evo Morales and his MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo) government are at odds with the leaders and elite of Santa Cruz.

Bolivia has a long history of social unrest and civil protest.  It, thankfully, also has a long history of resisting violence and valuing relative peace.  These have been volatile years for Bolivia and, while roads may be regularly blocked, and while workers in many sectors may regularly walk off of the job in protest, it is very rarely that these demonstrations of democratic will result in widespread violence.  Bolivians have a tendency to vigorously shake up the soda can, but with out ever popping the top—knowing full well that what would result would be a nasty mess, difficult to clean up, and what would be left over would be a fraction of its former self. And for that, I am grateful.

Peace Corps has obviously been keeping a close watch on the situation, and has kept us well informed. Last Sunday (May 4th), The Cruceños (people from Santa Cruz) voted “Sí” or “No” on the question of Autonomy.  Official results say that an overwhelming 86% of the votes cast were in favor of, and that only 14% were against autonomy.  However, there was still much controversy surrounding the vote.  As many as 40% of eligible Santa Cruz voters did not participate, be it through apathy or protest.  The vote was “policed” by national police and civilians alike, and there were reports of Masistas burning ballot boxes in some MAS stronghold neighborhoods and towns throughout the department.  Regrettably, one death is attributed to the isolated, but violent skirmishes that broke out in various neighborhoods in Santa Cruz.  There were several injuries reported as well.  And, after all was said and done, the Morales government is opposing the legality of the vote.  The day went smoother than most expected, which is a good thing, but, still, a lot of questions remain unanswered.

The other “Media Luna” (“Half Moon”, referring to the four Eastern lowlands departments of Pando, Beni, Santa Cruz and Tarija that, together, vaguely appear to be a crescent moon shape) departments are scheduled to vote on Autonomy next month.  The MAS government has yet to set a date on which the nation will vote to approve or reject the new constitution (which, ironically or not, includes concessions for departmental autonomies).  It is, unsurprisingly, very controversial and divisive.

Two things are clear to me, as a Peace Corps Volunteer: One, that Bolivia remains vehemently divided on a national level.  Two, on a local level (the one that matters most in my life), Bolivians are peace loving and tranquil.  I have never felt unsafe or uncomfortable as a result of national politics. I trust in Peace Corps to make appropriate and timely decisions regarding our safety as Americans in Bolivia.  So, please remember that after reading about us in the international press.  I am much more focused on the hard work of integrating into my community, and relatively disconnected from the mudslinging, be it from Autonomistas, Masistas, Clinton, McCain or Obama…

I am in Sucre right now, fighting my own good fight against some nasty bacteria (again…grrr…), but I am feeling much better today after the antibiotics have kicked in, and am catching up on the times, and getting rest.

Hopefully I’ll be back in La Palma soon.  I am hoping to go out to the sectional schools (smaller, campo schools under the jurisdiction of the Director of the Nucleo of La Palma) next week to meet the professors, students, communities and continue to develop my “community diagnostic”, which I am to present to Peace Corps in July in Cochabamba.

I hope that life is treating you all well, wherever you may be. Love from “La Ciudad Blanca”…

            It is wonderfully appropriate that today, my first day being in La Palma as an official Environmental Ed volunteer, is Earth Day.  Granted, I only spent about 20 minutes in La Palma today, and won’t return for real until tomorrow, but I was there, nonetheless. 

 

            Flash back to the last time I posted: I had just returned from site visit and still had 2 weeks of training left to go.  Busy doesn’t even begin to describe the last three weeks. Tomorrow, my life slows down. And I cannot wait.

 

            The last two weeks in Coch were filled to the max and sleep was often written off as an unnecessary commodity.  I was able to focus solely on Quehcua during language classes, we said thank you and farewell to our host families at a Saturday luncheon, complete with us attempting to dance the Bolivian “Cueca”.  Much time was spent contemplating how we managed to acquire so much stuff in three months. I arrived here with two backpacks and a suitcase. I left Coch with two extra boxes bursting at the seams with materials Peace Corps has given us throughout training. Luckily, PC shipped everything to our regional cities for us.

 

            Swear in was last Friday afternoon, and was short and sweet.  My group elected me to give the Swear In speech on behalf of B47, and I am please to report that I did not wipe out on my way to or from the podium!  It was videotaped, so perhaps one day in the future I will mail a copy home on CD and Victor can upload it to my blog with all his wireless internet glory.  The speech is in Spanish, however, so please feel free to not bother!

 

            Friday night was hilarious as we were all dressed up (“Funky Fabulous”) to the nines, ready to paint the town. PC paid for a nice dinner and then we bar hopped around Coch.  It was great to spend time together as a group one last time.  We won’t be all together again until our In-Service Training (IST) in July.  Standing in front of my fellow B47s during the ceremony, I was overcome by how much I truly felt for my compañeros.  At one point in the speech I was reflecting on how, when we first met during staging in DC, it was hard to imagine really knowing all these people; whereas now, I look out and see my 30 best friends in Bolivia.  It’s amazing what an intense experience Peace Corps training is.  You just don’t really feel it until you’ve experienced it in all of it’s frustrating, complicated, inspiring, hilarious glory.

 

            The goodbyes began Saturday evening and were not easy, but at the same time, everyone is so excited to begin the next phase, that it made it OK to part.  It’s so much easier to do this, knowing that there are 30 others in the exact same spot, all over the country, and would be willing to lend an ear at the drop of a hat if need be.  I am extremely lucky to have the support I have here.  To those of you reading this who have been there for me throughout this crazy Oblivian journey so far, you know who you are: Thank you.

 

            I now find myself in Sucre, after having spent all day yesterday shopping for beds, stoves, gas tanks, blankets and other miscellaneous items you would normally load onto a moving truck.  I was lucky to have the help and guidance of my amigo, Mateo, an RPCV who has been in Bolivia for 3 years already to help me navigate the Mercado Campesino and drive a hard bargain.

 

            I hired a taxi to drive me down to La Palma this afternoon with all of my big stuff.  There are no long distance buses (think: big) that go to La Palma because it is so close.  The only public transportation option are Trufis (minivans, basically) and there is no way a double bed, a bookshelf, a stove, one big suitcase and two backpacks would fit on the roofrack of those suckers along with all the giant bangs of food and goods purchased in Sucre, being transported by all of the other passengers.  So, private taxi was my best option.  We made great time down to the valley and were able to drop off all my stuff in my new room within 20 minutes.  I decided, in the interest of the cab driver, not to make my presence in town known.  I feared that the kids would swarm and the folks I’ve met so far would invite us all in for tecito before we could make an exit. 

 

            I will return for real tomorrow afternoon, and I am truly looking forward to getting settled in La Palma.  I was not in that state of mind last weekend in Coch.  Was so wrapped up in our B47 community.  But, being here in Sucre, and especially in La Palma this afternoon, I am ready. Scared, nervous, and curious, of course. But ready, nonetheless.

 

Coch at night.

Prom shot. Diana and me after Swear In.

D and me loving life…like we do… 

B47 EE with our Tech Trainers.

B47 VOLUNTEERS!!! All 31 of us that stepped off the plane three months ago made it. Congratulations, kiddos. Love you all.

Whitney, Me, Megan an Diana ready to go out on Swear In night in Coch.

80´s music has found it’s final resting place: Bolivian bars.

3am and still going strong…although I lost the blue hair a few hours prior…

           I returned last weekend from my week-long site visit in La Palma, Chuquisaca. (Choo-kee-sock-ah).  Life has been moving at a pace that approaches the speed of light recently, so I haven’t been able to post until now. Apologies.  Site visit was everything it should be: awkward, fun, confusing, fulfilling, frustrating, boring, exciting, tiring, restful, scary, inspiring…

 

            I traveled overnight from Coch to Sucre and was able to spend a tranquilo Sunday wandering the colonial streets and getting to know a few of the haunts frequented by PCVs.  Downtown Sucre is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and like Granada, Nicaragua, Luang Prabang, Laos and all other World Heritage Sites, the word is out, and the backpackers have shown up in droves. With the backpackers, however, comes a decent selection of bars and restaurants, one of which even brews its own microbrew in the Belgian Wheat tradition. J I know this may seem like old news to most of you dear readers, but to a PCV in a nation drenched by crappy Pilsners, it is a most welcome addition.

 

            Sucre may only have one branch of the federal government still operating from its soil (judicial), but they have most certainly achieved capital status in two other important areas: Chocolate and Chorizo.  Both are plentiful, and delicious in Sucre. That makes for a very happy Helen.

 

            Needless to say, I am very excited to have Sucre as my regional city.  The PCV community there is solid and people are doing great work all over Chuquisaca.  I look forward to learning from and working with them. 

 

            On Monday, we met our counterparts and had an orientation in Sucre.  There was fear of a paro (transportation strike) on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we all scurried out of town Monday afternoon so we wouldn’t get stuck in town and miss our site visits. 

 

            My official counterpart is the Director of the nucleo of schools I’ll be working with, but Don Natalio, who is the president of the Parents’ Association was also present on Monday and was able to accompany me to La Palma while the Director stayed in Sucre to attend to some more business on Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

            I arrived Monday evening in La Palma and was hosted this week by Don Natalio and his family, because there is no furniture in my soon-to-be-home.  They were wonderful hosts and I felt very welcome in their family, despite the fact that they speak mostly Quechua! I spent the first night sorting through voting registration books (they are the equivalent of the town notary public, so people are constantly coming and going to get paperwork filed and what not) by candlelight (the lights went out all over town) searching for Quechua names I could never remember.  I was grateful for the little Quechua I do know because I was at least able to tell when they were talking about me, but I haven’t progressed far enough to date to really know what they are talking about.  Poco a poco, little by little…

 

            On Tuesday morning, I went to the school to introduce myself to the teachers and students, and spent most of the day traveling from class to class explaining who I am and why I am here and what I will be doing.  The students are wonderful, enthusiastic about lots of things, and range in age from 5 to 17, so I will have lots of different groups to work with, which will be wonderful.

 

            This is the only public school in Latin America I have ever seen wherein the students attend classes all day long.  Normally, they go either in the morning or the afternoon, never both. But here, the kids enter at 8:30am and leave at 5:00pm.  Granted, there is still ample time for recreos, lunch and descansos. But, it is still cool to see the kids occupied by something relatively productive for so much of the day.

 

            I spent a lot of time wandering around town, chatting with the ladies at the tiendas, relaxing by the river, and wandering to the nearby community of Teja Huasi, which is where one of the satellite schools I will be working with is located.  There was not a lot of structure to my week, but I certainly feel like I accomplished a lot. I met a lot of people, and began developing relationships, which will be key once I get back to site.

 

            There certainly were lonely moments, challenging moments, boring moments. But they were always counterbalanced by something wonderful: be it guava marmalade for breakfast each morning, chatting with teachers over ice cream or tea, learning Quechua vocabulary from the kids at the internado (weekday boarding school for kids who live really far out in the campo), watching a soccer game at the local cancha, or losing myself in the sea of stars at night.

 

            The challenge ahead is certainly great. But it is also just that: great. I am inspired by the possibilities that lie ahead and an eager to begin discovering and unveiling the potential in La Palma.

 

            We swear in as official PCVs a week from today, and I can say with a high degree of certainty that all of us are ready. We have worked hard, we have lost sleep, we have gotten sick, we have experienced different ways of life in various regions of Bolivia, we have been challenged, we have laughed, we have cried, we have sweat and we have become a family. We are ready for the next step.

Sucre is a beautiful town, complete with cobbled streets and whitewashed buildings.

I am happy to be here.

Sunsets over Sucre.

My school in La Palma. Mountains come free of charge.

A street in La Palma.

Mojotoro is the adjacent community, and it is what actually shows up on maps.

Teja Huasi is a small community about a half an hour walk from La Palma. It’s beautiful, and one of my community schools is located there.

The EE crew painted this mural as a thankyou to the Colegio Gran Mariscal Sucre in barrio Kami, where we have worked periodically throughout training. It reads: “Our diversity is our strength.”

I’ll make this short and sweet:

We got our site announcements today, and I am headed to a small town in the Chuquisaca department called La Palma. It’s about an hour north of Sucre, and they are rumored to cultivate some mean avocados and speak a lot of Quechua. I will be working with a nucleo of 7 schools, and soaking up the valley culture as much as possible. This was my first choice site for many reasons, so, needless to say, I am very excited.

There are 9 of us B47s headed to the Sucre region, and we will all leave this weekend for a week long site visit, where we will meet our counterparts and travel out to our sites to get the real low down.

It’s a beautiful day.

 

        Two vehicle breakdowns, two roadblocks, over 1600kms driven, mercury rising to nearly 40 degrees Celsius, one St. Patrick’s Day birthday celebrated, hundreds of children played with, four puppet shows presented, dozens of plastic bottles recycled and reused for various teaching purposes, thousands of dead batteries collected, little sleep gotten, 39 mariwii bites tolerated, one radio broadcast performed and seven Environmental Education trainees exhausted.  Tech week was, in a nutshell, great.

            We arrived home to Cochabamba last night, and yes, it felt like coming home in a way.  We have been in Bolivia for 2 months now, and after traveling for the last ten days straight, sleeping in a different bed almost every night, it felt great to catch our first glimpse of Coch—the closest thing to a Bolivian home any of us can claim at this stage in our Peace Corps experience—as we came over the last mountain pass on the highway from Santa Cruz yesterday afternoon.

            Our journey to the Chaco brought us down the “new road” to Santa Cruz, through the Chapare region of the Cochabamba department. We drove through the clouds and through lush tropical forest, rife with waterfalls, and rushing rivers.  After a rapid descent from 9,000 feet to nearly sea level in about 2 hours, we arrived in the Santa Cruz department. 

            We broke up the 700km journey to the Chaco by staying the first night in Buenavista, a few hours west of Santa Cruz, just outside the northern entrance to Amboro National Park.  Because it’s the rainy season, we weren’t able to get into the park (most of the roads are washed out), but it was a very pleasant little town nonetheless.

            The next morning we made our way down to Camiri, which is the hub of the Chaco region.  We spent the next week traveling all over the region, giving charlas (presentations, workshops, etc.) on various themes to whomever would listen.  Our plans changed daily as bloqueos, bad road conditions and holidays popped up unexpectedly. All the volunteers we met down in the Chaco were fabulous and I was totally stunned by the beauty of the region.  I had imagined the Chaco as flat and dusty, but at the end of the rainy season, it is anything but.  The far eastern reaches of the Andes gently roll through the Chaco, and the region is awash with green right now.

            Perhaps my favorite day of the whole trip was spent outside of the town of Boyuibe.  We drove a few hours out of town into the campo del campo to collect batteries and distribute sweets to kids.  Megan, the B41 Env. Ed. volunteer that is finishing up her service in Boyuibe had organized this battery drive, and will build an underground cement depository to safely dispose of all of the batteries.  We had the honor of presenting some activities and planting trees at one of the farthest out community schools.  The students were all Guarani speakers and were timid with their Spanish, but they were so beautiful, and warm.  I am so looking forward to working in the campo schools near my site.  It is a totally different experience from the city kids.

            Tech week certainly wasn’t all work. We definitely had our fair share of good times.  We are lucky to have such a great group dynamic, and found ourselves chatting, and sharing meals and beers and games together every evening. I will definitely miss my EE group once we all disperse throughout the country.

            Tomorrow is our official site announcement, so we don’t technically know where we are going yet. But, after tech week, it’s falling into place pretty nicely.  There are seven of us in the group, and we have seven different first choices.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put it all together, but for fear of jinxing a perfectly good situation, I will refrain from sharing any more information than that until it’s real.

            We have a week here in Coch, and then we head to our sites for a week to check it out, meet our work partners and look for housing.  Should be exciting! It appears that the rainy season has passed here in Coch, so I’m off to enjoy a beautiful sunny day (and a tolerable climate!).

            March 18^th was my dad’s birthday, and (as far as I know) he rang in 61 on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain.  I spent the day in the campo del campo outside of Boyuibe, but I was thinking about you all day, pop! I hope your March 18^th was as magical as mine was.  Also, it just so happens that March 18^th is  El Día del Padre here in Bolivia.  So, to my own father: ¡Felíz Cumpleaños y Felíz Día del Padre!  And Happy Bolivian Fathers’ Day to any other Dads that may be reading this!

            Love from Bolivia…

Bloqueo in Cuevo. Three dudes and a truck can sure screw up our plans!

With the eco club of one of the Camiri volunteers. We spent the morning planting trees and filming a short video about reforestation and erosion control.

Clockwise from top: Me, Yoli, Erika and Diana. The B47 Env. Ed. ladies. 

Camiri. The Chaco is actually green this time of year. And very beautiful.

EE gets ready for dinner out in Camiri!

             The life of a Peace Corps/Bolivia trainee is at once complex and simple; exhausting and fulfilling…             

             The complexity, naturally, stems from many sources: mastering a language or two, deciphering local customs and norms, finding our way in an unfamiliar place, bouncing like a ping pong ball between two cultures, figuring out “the system” (both of Peace Corps and of Bolivia itself), managing our time, and the precious few free hours we stumble upon throughout the week…            

              The simplicity is harder to describe. Perhaps it’s found in the sense of peace I feel as I walk home in the late afternoons while kids play fútbol in the streets and the sun gently sets below the ridgeline of the mountains. Perhaps it’s found in the fact that, as trainees, our schedules are predetermined and the hard work of carving out a life and a job for ourselves has yet to begin…             

            Exhaustion is inevitable.  Be it caused by trying to hike or play soccer above 8,000 feet, by an acute lack of sleep, by cerebral overload of unpronounceable words that all seem to be spelled with K’s, Q’s, Ch’s, W’s and J’s, the exhaustion (this week in particular) is tangible, and universal.            

            But, at the end of the day, when the complexity, simplicity and exhaustion are all accounted for, I fall asleep looking forward to the next morning.  This is the kind of fulfillment I strive to achieve.  When, day after day, I can lay my head down each night and truly look forward to the sun rising the next morning—that is how I know I am where I am supposed to be.            

           Of course there are difficult days, and I know the hardest ones are yet to come.  But Bolivia has so far lent me the inspiration, sense of humor, humility and honesty necessary to make it through those tough days. I can only hope it will continue to do so as I transition from training into my real life as a volunteer.            

            It’s hard for me to believe that we are nearly halfway through training already.  We are leaving next week for our “tech week”, which will be a 10-day journey to the Chaco region of the Santa Cruz department.  We will be visiting a few volunteers who are serving in the Chaco and working along the way.  When we get back, we get our site assignments and then we are off soon after that for another week to visit our new homes.  The second half of training will likely fly by even faster than the first half already has.            

           In hopes of getting an assignment in a Quechua-speaking region, I am diving headfirst into my Quechua studies, and there are some days when I actually feel like I can get a handle on this language.  There are others, still, when I feel like it would be easier to train a three-legged grizzly bear to juggle… Luckily, today was one of the former days.            

           I’ve been really busy the last couple of weeks, so I apologize for not posting for a while, and for generally being out of touch.  If you are so inclined to buy a phone card, or to set up a skype account, I would love to hear from you in person.  I’m generally reachable on my cell phone in the evenings and on weekends.  I’m not sure what my coverage will be like on tech week, but give ‘er a go, if you would like.  Check the “contact” section for calling info. And remember that I am an hour ahead of East Coast time (until Daylight Savings time at least)…            

              Love to you all from the Qhochapampa – that’s Quechua for Cochabamba, and it means “Plain of lagoons”, roughly…            

              Wajkutikama. Until next time…

Kids make me laugh (and smile and cry and frustrated and fufilled and happy and challenged…)

 Only in Bolivia…

This has been quite a busy week. Time is flying. I have worked in three different schools this week, traveled outside of the Cochabamba municipality for the first time and experienced my first Bolivian road blocks (bloqueos)—two in one day!

As part of my Spanish class, I am doing an independent study project, working in schools in the area to gain an understanding of the perceptions students have of the environment. I have a few age-specific activities (drawings, questionnaires and informal discussions) that I am implementing in classrooms and so far it’s been really challenging and really fun. I did my first lesson last week with 2^nd graders at a primary school in my neighborhood. I’m hoping to go back to the school later on and work with some older students.

Through my technical training sessions (in the afternoons), I have had the opportunity to visit two schools so far. We are designing charlas (informal presentations about a specific theme) to give to a target group at our school in barrio Kami, which is near where we are living. On Thursday and Friday of this week, we had a tech field trip to the towns of Cliza and Toco, which are about an hour outside of Coch. We worked in a vivero (tree nursery), taught workshops on composting and recycling to 11^th and 12^th graders at a local colegio (high school), visited the municipal landfill/dump and a slaughterhouse that provides over 30% of the pork for all of the city of Cochabamba. It was a very full and challenging, yet rewarding 36 hours. And it was a nice warm up trip, as we prepare for our tech week (which is actually 10 days) in Mid-March, where we will trek all the way to the Chaco, in the southern part of the Santa Cruz department.

The Quechua learning has been slowed recently by lots of schedule conflicts and what not, but I’m hoping to be able to focus more on it in the coming weeks. The students we worked with in Toco yesterday were fabulous, and got really involved in the composting activity, and as we worked, they sang the Bolivian National Anthem for me, and tried to teach me some more Quechua. Poco a poco…Little by little…

I think I’ll leave you all with that for now. And enjoy the following pictures! I think I’ve finally figured out the system.

Bolivia continues to challenge and inspire. There are lots of great things to come in the following weeks. Thanks for being with me on my journey so far! Love from Coch…

The students of “segundo A” smile for a picture while they work on their environment drawings.

Barrio Quijarro. It´s rainy season here. The clouds like to hang out in the mountains…

Fellow Env. Ed. PCT, Yolanda, teaches some 11th graders how to crochet baskets from recycled plastic bags.

I get excited about compost. It happens.

Giving the talk about compost. Dirt and decay aren´t always bad.

Students building our “monton de compost” in their schoolyard. Hopefully they will be able to use the final product in a few months when they do their tree planting project!

The dome of the church in Toco. Bolivia is beautiful.

B47 Environmental Ed. group with our technical trainers in Toco.