Baby´s First Blockade

As some of you may or may not know Bolivia is a very politically active country. I just found out that voting is obligatory here, if you don´t vote, you lose your civil rights for up to 3 months. You can not be apathetic about politics here, although as a PCV I personally have no opinion about politics whatsoever. With that said, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before there would be a protest or the famous Bolivian street blockades that I had read so much about. So on Thursday, when I was walking to Andrew´s house for Spanish class I noticed a ton of cars all blocking the main intersection of our town. My first blockade! The taxi drivers were protesting a gas shortage which had been going on in Coch for about a week. It just so happens that this very same day we were going to be taking a road trip to Totora for our technical class. But no worries, our awesome bus driver Don Rocky was able to pick up the Cuatro Esquinas crew at my house and then double back around to where there weren´t any road blocks. By the time we got back from our trip (Friday night) the drivers were in talks with the government to resolve things.

More about the Totora road trip. Each group had their own field trip (environmental ed, natural resources and agriculture.) AG being the biggest group with 15 volunteers we got to travel in the bus with Don Rocky, which of course meant getting the dance party started. We were able to hook up I-pods and as we were getting a little antsy we busted out my I-pod and pumped one of my sweet dance mixes. I hope dancing on the bus is not against PC policy, because it´s really fun and a good workout. The views from the bus were also amazing, we just kept snapping pics of the view but it doesn´t quite capture how beautiful this country is. Driving through the narrow, twisting roads between the mountains I finally realized, wow, I´m here and I´m doing this and it feels great. The trip to Totora was to visit the site of 2 other volunteers, a retired married couple. The wife works in a business that was set up by a previous volunteer making tomato sauce, and let me tell you it is some tasty sauce. It´s spicy and delicious and I bought a big jar of the mushroom flavored sauce to share with my host family, yum. Her husband is still working on starting up his project and is working on gardens and with bees. We stayed at a cheap hostel and explored the town that night (after we had a tech meeting.) There was a traveling theater group of Germans and Bolivians who are also volunteers. We got invited to dance by the stage for the finale and it was so much fun, dancing with all these Bolivian kids and Germans in crazy costumes. AND we started a conga line! So all in all, the dance party was successfully brought to Bolivia.

The next day it was time to work on the respective projects of Millie and Ben. We split up into 2 groups so in the morning I was cooking the pasta sauce and in the afternoon I was working with bees. We chopped lots of fresh veggies for the picante variety which we ate for lunch, (the place where the kitchen is also serves as a cafe during festivals and special occassions) and we learned more about her project, which has a lot of potential since they already have a pretty strong client base. Now it´s all about making it sustainable and capable of being run without a volunteer in the community. After cooking we went over to where Ben works with some bee colonies. I have to admit that I´ve always had an irrational fear of bees so I was a bit worried about this aspect of my service. We suited up inwith masks, jackets and gloves and the smokers that were already lit from the previous group. I got into my calm zone and took a lot of deep breaths as I approached the bees. Oh, by the way, all the bees for honey here are the Africanized kind, aka ¨killer bees.¨ Nabor, master of all thing bee keeping and our teacher showed us how to smoke the bees to calm them down and then how to open the boxes and how to lift out the individual cells. I have to admit, bees are really interesting. I was so fascinated by the process that I didn´t freak out at all! I was lifting out the cells, identifying the cells, and there were bees everywhere! I was so proud of myself! I seriously feel like after doing that I can doing anything!

Well that´s all I have time for right now. It was really nice to go to another part of Bolivia and see what an actual site can be. I definitely would like to go back to Totora and explore a bit more of that area. In just a few weeks I´ll find out where I´m going! Until then, tengo mucho trabaja y mucho para aprender.

paz

La gringita (do there waterballoons?)

So I realize that it would be more effecient to write these entries ahead of time instead of when sitting in an internet cafe because the clock is running and my thoughts get all discombobulated and I forget things. I just have so much I want to tell you all and it´s so hard to be forced to use this very impersonal outlet. But rest assured if you send me an email or leave me a comment I will respond (eventually.) I want to know what´s going on in your lives too!

With that said let me talk about some of the stuff I didn´t get to the last time around the old blogosphere. Carnival continued in full force. We had a water war at Lebo´s house up the road which was actually fun because we could defend ourselves a bit with waterballoons (globos) and water guns. It´s fine when it´s just water, but there was a roving ¨gang¨of kids who had water with red tint- not cool! Anyway, I was walking home afterwards and was almost even dry when one of the boys from the corner started spraying me with his water gun. This really pissed me off because we had been going back and forth with these kids all day, they had buckets and water guns while we mostly had globos, and walking home I had nothing. I was completely unarmed and I feel like the rules of war dictate that you can´t attack me when I´ve conceded the victory and have stopped fighting. Then there were these other kids close to my house and the mom says to her kids ¨la gringita¨so they all start shooting their water guns at me, like only 2 feet from my own house. So what could I do except use this 3 year old boy as a human shield. That was hilarious and maybe bad form on my part, but obviously during Carnival in Bolivia no rules really apply and they were laughing too so I think it was all right. Being an outsider for this holiday just made it so much less enjoyable for us, because as a gringa no matter how wet you are EVERYONE wantes to get you wet or spray you with foam so it´s a never ending onslaught and when you just want to walk somewhere or watch a parade, you can´t.

We went to Cochabamba on Saturday to see the corso de corsos which is like this giant parade with all these dancers from all over Bolivia in awesome costumes. The military guys all dress as women (the closest thing to a drag show that I´ll get in Bolivia.) When we got to El Prado we were just bombarded with globos, waterguns, foam (it´s kind of like shaving cream that they spray on you.) It didn´t matter if we were near restaurants or vendors, they launched everything they could at us. They nailed this mom who was eating ice cream at a restaurant right in the head, but they were aiming for us. A few of us bought bags of globos, it´s always more fun when you can get in on the action and defend yourself a little. Amy was a baseball player and her aim was dead on. But it was way too much for us, we finally took shelter at a restaurant called señor plato and had some beers, talked loudly, used the nastiest bathrooms ever and paid the 12 year old looking waiter/host/pro-beer opener. We headed to the PC office where a bus was picking us up. We went down a side street where we finally got to see the parade. There were still globos but it was a bit calmer. The dancers all wear these amazing outfits, more suited for NY´s best drag queens. I´m talkig knee high platform boots with bling, sparkle and flash. I´m talking purple, lime green, hot pink, gold and silver poofed out mini skirts and corsets, crowns and septers. The guys wear these really heavy outfits that are ridiculously boxy. The guys from Coch. wore tight black pants with gold trim and they all carried whips. I must find out where in Coch. these guys hang out. So yeah, that was Carnival. A crazy water war and a parade. It was fun at times but I´m glad it´s over and I´m glad they don´t celebrate all their holidays with waterballoons.

Going way back now, I forgot to talk about the big American Superbowl party we had at Pat´s house. His mom hosted nearly all the volunteers and her daughter cooked. It was great, not so much for the football but because it had been a whole day since we had all been together and everyone wanteed to know all about the families, what we were eating, what huge cultural mis-steps we had made. We´re all living with Bolivian families and it´s very different so getting together with other volunteers to talk is so important because you realize that our experiences are actually normal. Every little misunderstanding, horrible stomach problem, or culture shock moment suddenly becomes hilarious when you share it with your fellow gringos. I´ll admit I was worried about connecting with my fellow volunteers at first, I feel like in DC there was this uptight feel to staging and nobody could just be themselves. Now we´re down here in these communities and having each other is really improtant, laughing at ourselves is really important. With Carnival finished we are getting down to business. Four hours of Spanish class in the morning, four hours of technical class in the afternoon. We´re starting our projects, preparing to give a presentation and write a paper by the end of this training session (11 weeks.) We´re getting more books, manuals and papers to read everyday. It´s all really exciting and overwhelming at the same time. The great thing about not having TV and internet all the time is that you discover there are so many more hours in the day. I´m working hard to talk with my family, spend time with the kids who are awesome, and integrate a bit into the community, but when all is said and done I don´t mind being la gringita, at times it´s a term of endearment. Oh, and in case you are wondering I am not an international spy.

paz

Showers don´t just grow on trees, you know

It´s really hard to believe that it´s been little more than a week since I left, it feels like everything I´ve ever known is so far away and I´ve been gone for a long, long time. We came to Bolivia at a very interesting time, because it´s Carnival and what Bolivians love to do more than anything is throw water balloons and shoot their super soakers, especially at us gringos. It´s quite the bienvenido a Bolivia. The first time we walked outside the hotel in Cochabamba we realized that we were prime targets for the festivities. It´s awesome when like 5 little kids all run after you with water balloons or super soakers, it´s like all right man, free shower!

Cochabamba is a really nice city actually with pretty decent restaurants. We got a great welcome from some of the PCVs in Bolivia and they took us out the first couple of nights for dinner. Even though Coch is at a lower altitude (like around 8,000 ft or something) and we are all in our 20s the volunteers would get winded going up 2 flights of stairs, it was pretty amusing actually. Everyone is pretty paranoid about getting sick, but it´s going to happen so there´s really no use getting worked up about it. One of our PCMedicalOfficer, aka Dr. Death loves to talk about all the exotic diseases we could acquire, ¨brain worm¨is definitely one of his favorites, not to mention chagas (beware the vinchuca!) Stay away from the chicha (homebrew alcohol made from corn,) but the chicarón (slow cooked pork dish) is fine. We have a huge medical manual (along with a ton of other handbooks that they´ve given us, I personally plan on making furniture with mine) and that is great bed time reading. I have a cough and a cold and I was pretty sure it was malaria or something horrible, but no it´s just a cough and a cold. Our med kit is stocked with everything we could ever want. I can´t wait to injure myself so I could use some of it. Although there is no vicks vap-o-rub and the other night I was lying in my mosquito net encased bed and acting like such a baby with this cough, like I just want my mom to rub so vicks on my chest and tuck me in. But I´m over it. My host mother Doña Juana is awesome and she is keeping me well fed at all hours of the day, if I leave she wants to know where I´m going and when I´ll be back, she´s like my very own Bolivian grandma. There are tons of people coming and going in the house, I´m still not sure who exactly lives there and who doesn´t because she has 7 kids and 9 grandkids. The 8 year old Adriana is adorable but man does she wear me out. We went to the market where her mom sells flowers and I picked up some pink (why is it pink?) toilet paper and soap. Toilet paper is definitely one of those luxury items here, much like flush toilets and showers. At my house we have a flush toilet (remember it´s Latin America so the TP goes in the trash not the toilet!) and an electric shower but in my site it will probably be a little different. I finally took a shower today and it actually got hot and it made me feel so much better. A little trick with the electric shower, if you turn off the light in the bathroom the water gets even hotter, nice. The thing is we have to give our family 2bs for every shower we take and when you make what we make that´s actually pretty steep. ($1=7.5bs)

The houses where we live now are all really different. Some are huge with modern bathrooms, some just have latrines and 3 rooms for the whole family. All the houses I´ve seen (mine and other PCVs) have this element of being inside and outside at the same time, it´s really interesting. There are animals everywhere. Dogs are a huge problem in Bolivia, I won´t get into it right now but I´m sure it will come up again. It´s the rainy season here and so the streets are really muddy and hard to walk on, but we manage. The other night it was raining all night long and the sound of that on the roof was really comforting and I also woke up to this symphony of cats, dogs, cows and birds. It was so amusing, like they were all trying to talk to each other in concert.

Okay, so food. First of all the potato is huge here. They have potatoes with every meal pretty much. One of the funniest things so far was lunch the other day at the training center (there is always soup with lunch) so we open up the lid to the pot and there are french fries floating in the soup! It was like mushroom soup with french fries, one of the tastier soups I´ve had here, definitely bringing that recipe back home. They also love their carbs. It´s typical to have rice, potatoes and pasta all in the same meal. For the AG volunteers a big part of our project is incorporating vegetables into the Bolivian diet. Our host families know to give us vegetables and so far I haven´t had to actually masticate any meat and I think that´s what being vegetarian in Bolivian will entail. Okay, I have a lot more to say about the training center and our projects and all that but my fellow volunteers are heading back and we travel in packs so I must go. I hope this was 3bs well spent. Talk to you soon!