You get a site! You get a site! You’re all getting sites in Bolivia!

So you’ve probably heard the rumors by now that to make our site announcement day special Peace Corps Bolivia decided to get OPRAH to fly in from the States to give us our sites. That’s right, they helicopter-ed her in just to announce our sites. She also gave us all cars.

Okay actually, we had to play a game where you blow a plastic cup along a string and when you reached the end you run over to a basket of chocolate eggs, unwrap it and inside is a little slip of paper with a person’s name and their site, whoever’s site is announced then has to blow the plastic cup and announce someone else’s site. Yeah, I think the Oprah thing sounds cooler too, let’s go with that.

Site announcements: There was so much speculation and discussion in the 4 days between our interviews during tech week and the actual site announcements that everyone thought they had an idea of where people were going. But when it came time for the announcements they definitely shook things up and we had quite a few surprises. I think most people were happy with their sites although a few definitely weren’t. Some got their first choice, while others were sent to a site that for them was a “if you send me there I will go home” site. As for me, I can’t complain because I got my first choice! I was so sure that another volunteer was getting that site (mainly because our program director had told her she was getting it) and I had pretty much come to terms with going to my second or even third choice. I was so excited that I could barely blow the cup!

So about my site, all I know right now was written on a piece of paper and I’ll know a whole lot more after I return from the site visit we have next week. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to disclose the actual name of the pueblo itself for security reasons, so for now I will refer to it as Papaya Land. Why did I want this site? Well mainly because it is a region that produces so many papayas that they don’t know what to do with them! Besides that, I’ll be working with a women’s group, the school, a group of beekeepers and the community in general. It is a very small town, like 500 people small and very campo, so I feel like I’m getting the real deal Bolivia. It is in the region of Tarija (consult your map of Bolivia to see how close I am to Argentina and keep that in mind when you come to visit me!) It is subtropical which means hot, humid and full of bugs, but it was my region of preference so I’m obviously okay with that. Hooray, I get to take anti-malaria medication for the next 2 years! Aside from that this site is going to be awesome, they have never had a volunteer before, which means it’s going to be an even bigger challenge but there are an infinite number of possibilities. I get to lay the foundation and start projects that will hopefully be sustained by the community. I will have primary projects including product transformation (imagine all the things you can do with papaya!), starting a school garden and expanding the technical training of the beekeepers. There are secondary projects that are possible, such as teaching nutrition, English and computer classes at the school.

There are 7 volunteers form my group, B-47, in the region and a few others for previous groups who are nearby. Tarija is 24 hours by bus from Cochabamba so we get to fly for our site visit. One of the volunteers who got a neighboring site in Tarija really didn’t want this region but I’m hoping that after the site visit he will change his mind. We haven’t had anyone ET (early termination) yet and that’s saying a lot for a group of 31 volunteers, but when ET’s do happen it’s usually after site announcement/visit. Our group is really tight and everyone has been working so hard that to see someone go now would be really tough. Plus, since the Tarija volunteers are so far away from other regions they tend to form a support group among themselves so we would really feel the loss of that volunteer. In other semi-sad news my hyper twin, my media naranja, my partner in dance parties and mayhem, Lebo also got her first choice, which is awesome except for the fact that it’s in Sucre and we are really far away from each other. It’s okay though we are going to have tech exchanges and simultaneous dance parties across regions. Plus, her site is comprised of all male Swiss NGO workers, one of whom she will fall in love with and marry. There are also a bunch of Canadian oregano farmers. But don’t cry for me Argentina, because I’m your neighbor and I’m sure to encounter my half-Bolivian, half-Argentinean soul mate as we shop for jeans in Bermejo. If none of that last part made any sense don’t worry about it, I’ve had a lot of sugar today and I’m giddy because I get to visit my site!