First Days of Paradise!

An old man whistling down the way, walking into the sunset from his long day in the fields… a dog hobbling along the cobblestone, rushing to find dinner at his owner’s door… children laughing, screeching while playing hide and seek in the plaza… roosters continually announcing the day and now dusk… these are the sights and sounds felt as I sit outside after my third day in Pucará. Today was the last day of school so the entire town went down to the school for the Pedagogic Fair. For days before students were painting pictures and murals, finalizing their science experiments, and perfecting their physical fitness performances. Most of the day was spent sitting on the grass, watching local dances, baton routines, and band performances. Already half of the kids know my name and think it synonymous with the ‘pelota’ (soccer ball). We have played every afternoon since my arrival, which children as little as 4 wanting to have a part in the action. Girls have played as well, though usually leave discouraged after not being passed the ball. “Where did you learn to play?” they ask. As if soccer was some long forsaken sport totally unknown to the female race. We play on the grass field at the school; the older boys play futbolina on the basketball court. I would love to get to know them and play at their intensity, but it is obvious that they rule the court and are not ready to have a girl invade their space; all they do is stare and whistle… and laugh at the little kids.

The big budget meeting is tomorrow morning- I suppose it will be my first “official” appearance in town, in front of the Alcalde (mayor) and other officials. Technically, I am trying to push for more funds to be allocated to the Culture and Tourism sector of the budget, though where exactly that money will go is yet to be determined. The previous volunteer, Michelle, started a library, complete with books, games, computers, and a television. It seems there is a great demand for computer classes, both from students and adults, and in order to continue using the library and dive right in to a project, I will be teaching computer basics. I will be going against my will and teaching Windows, and also Word and Excel. Apparently some Pucareños travel the 2 hours to Vallegrande every weekend to attend a computer class, and with travel and lodging it ends up being an expensive course. In order for this computer course to happen I had to write up an operating plan, asking for money from the state, the Participacion Popular, and the Alcaldia itself.

Yesterday I met Maria Yuma, a young woman who is on the library committee. She helped me write this plan for the classes and since then we have chatted a lot. She is the clinic administrator and knows a good deal about everything in Pucará; her energy and friendship has been welcomed with open arms. Between playing soccer, preparing for the budget meeting, and mingling with the school congregation, time has been moving along. Of course there are moments, such as these, at night when I try to escape to a book to find something familiar… or at least take on an activity that I would be doing whether in Paris, in Charlottesville, or in Pucará, Bolivia. I wouldn’t call it homesick; because that insinuates that home is where you would rather be- instead it’s just the need to get accustomed to a series of awkward, uncharted situations.

I have yet to move into my own house, and until then I think it will be hard to feel really at home here. I look forward to the day when I can shut my own door and open it again in the morning, feeling completely rejuvenated and ready to be Bolivian again. I tell my family I will be leaving next week to spend Thanksgiving in Santa Cruz with other Peace Corps volunteers. Its odd when holidays and customs just don’t translate; surely it is the same for us and customs here. I am anxious about leaving, if only for the time it will take to get accustomed once again to living in such a remote place. I am on my second candle, watching it burn as I write or read. I keep waiting for a phone to ring, a car to pass by, or a random horn to blow. But had you never heard these sounds in your life, a day here in Pucará would be perfectly normal… and loud.

Pucará for the first time...

Pucará appeared to me as a speck clinging onto a hillside, hidden between the lush mountains of Santa Cruz and the fertile valley of the Rio Mizque. I arrived by bus with my counterpart, Iver, around 11 o’clock… I met his family and they hardly exchanged two words to each other. This is the second day I have known Iver and conversing with him is one of the most difficult tasks I have had here in Bolivia. He is an intelligent high school professor and president of the governmental group of Pucará- yet is incredibly short on conversation. Pucará is even smaller than I imagined; it consists mainly of a large plaza, a cute colonial church, and a series of adobe houses, creating a small grid around the plaza. I met the Alcalde (Mayor), the Official Mayor (Asst. Mayor), most of the professors, and most of the town in general. I helped Iver teach his English class that afternoon… we practiced telephone conversations and the students now want me to tutor each of them individually. The volunteer before me built a series of greenhouses, both for families and for the school. Iver showed me what seeds they had planted and how they were attempting to build another even after her absence.
Corn and potatoes are the main crops, and basically the only crops around Pucará… at every meal this week I’ve eaten molé, steamed kernels of corn, potatoes, and rice. In terms of food supply, Pucará is desperately lacking any type of fruit, legumes, and meat. My first day there I couldn’t help but mentally list the amenities that Pucará lacked: light, produce, accessibility, communication, and general town maintenance. My room for the week was the front room of Iver’s family’s house. I slept in a bed behind a curtain and realized much to my dismay that I shared this room with several rats… This was the beginning of a long, sleepless night spent wondering how I was to make my next two years productive, especially considering my job was to promote tourism in this remote community.
The next day brought more fog, chilly temperatures, and rising uncertainties. I went for a run and explored the countryside, which I immediately fell in love with. This is literally a melting pot of topographies, and the intersection of departments (Sucre, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba). I just walked around the town a bit, introducing myself to people, went to the first tienda and came across the town “Golden Girls”. Two cups of coffee and an hour later I had answered every question imaginable about myself and heard about the latest news to hit Pucará. This mainly consisted of the new evangelical gringos that moved in and who don’t try to speak Spanish and who was the best family to rent a room from. It’s amazing how universal a group of women chatting and a warm hospitality can do for the soul. I immediately changed my outlook on my future 24 months and took a deep breath. The people have proven to be nothing but hospitable and excited to have another volunteer. Later that afternoon I went with Iver and the Alcalde to La Higuera, which is the site where Che Guevara was captured and killed. We were to attend a meeting concerning a new road being built in La Higuera and all the townspeople are vehemently against it. The Alcalde, being up for reelection this December was undoubtedly trying to appease his audience; it was a long meeting, which ended in the decision to have another meeting next weekend. I was able to visit the museum and chat with one of the guides who has lived in La Higuera his entire life. He is probably 70 or so years old, and how excited I was to realize that I was speaking to a walking history book.
The rest of the visit was rather smooth. I found a room to rent though it will only be able to move in after December 8th. That is the day of the annual Pucará festival and apparently people from all around Vallegrande and Santa Cruz attend. I am interested to see the magnitude of such a party in this small village. My room is in a new house, and overlooks the church, plaza, the mountains, and the Rio Mizque. I will be living with an old abuelita (grandmother), and thus think that it will be a quiet, pleasant arrangement. Later on, I made my way back to Vallegrande (about 1.5 hours away) and was amazed as to the abundance of this city. I can find anything imaginable here, including brie and gouda that are made by a German family who lives here! I can also get my mail delivered here, which is much better than having to travel 8 hours to Santa Cruz to do so!
Upon my return to Santa Cruz and today to Cochabamba I have realized that perhaps the most difficult thing about these next two years will not be when I am in Pucará for days on end, but the duality I will experience when going in between there and the city. It was difficult to see all the lights and noise of a city. Its amazing how this little village seems almost stuck in an era devoid of modernity. On a lighter note, we all went out on the town last night in Santa Cruz. Having forgotten our “going out” attire back in the states, we were quickly denied entry at most of the clubs downtown. We tried to turn on the charm and sweet talk our way in wearing jeans and flip-flops while others flounced by in flowery skirts and stilettos! We finally found a “club” which, after entering, realized it was more of an under -18 dance hall, decorated with streamers, pumpkins, and Fanta punch. The 14 of us were just happy to get out and let loose, so we accepted the small loss of integrity and had a great time dancing!
Back now to Bella Vista, where I have only 10 days left to spend with my family and fellow trainees before swearing in! This week is not only Halloween, but also Todos Santos, a huge family celebration with an abundance of food and social engagements.

Happy Halloween!

Pucará, Santa Cruz

I woke up this morning to a despedida, or goodbye to the daughter of my Doña who was here with her family from Buenos Aires. They left at 4 in the morning and after saying goodbye to them I went back to bed for a bit. Now I am drinking Toddy (the Brazilian equivalent to Ovaltine…) and sitting in my room, anxious to start my day.
I found out I am going to Pucara starting mid-November. The site looks amazing. Small town of 1,500 people upon a hilltop… Apparently there is an ample water supply as it lies beside a network of rivers… but does not have electricity. I have warmed up (clearly won’t be doing that literally) to the idea as I have known for a week that I might be put there. It is a welcome challenge, and like my Program Director said, “Claire, its perfect, you can have a nice romantic setup with candles everywhere!” The mayor’s office has solar panels and therefore will be able to charge my computer or use vital things while at the office, and the town of Vallegrande is about 45 minutes north in taxi. My language partner and closest volunteer here in training, Jonathan, has been placed in Vallegrande, so I am thrilled to have a close friend within an hours drive. Vallegrande is a town of about 8,000 people and has all the amenities I may need and apparently is a hot spot for great food and shopping. I am about 7 hours away from Santa Cruz city in coach bus… a perfect distance from civilization I think. We leave this Sunday for a week to meet our counterparts, visit our regional city of Santa Cruz, and meet our host families. I am beyond excited to finally know where I will be going and to be able to see myself somewhere 4 weeks from now! In the group 14 are going to Santa Cruz, 2 in Cochabamba, and 3 in Sucre. Everyone was content with his or her decisions and I think that we are all relieved to be towards the end of training.
If you ever make it to your local bookstore, Vallegrande is on page 287 of the Rough Guide: Bolivia. My town is of course not on the map, but it is between this big town of Vallegrande and La Higuera, which is the place that Che Guevara was killed. I will be able to write more about my projects after next week and for the next two years, but my goal is to make this town a tourist attraction while people are on their way south to visit La Higuera. Pucara lacks even the most basic of amenities (besides electricity!) such as restaurants, hotels, and tiendas, so my goal at the beginning will just be analyzing existing conditions and a plan to make it more attractive.
In other news, my family in Bella Vista is still recovering from their feria (festival), which I missed due to Tech Week. There are still chicha buckets in the lawn and the town looks a bit disheveled. We are going to make crêpes on Friday together, for the length of time that I talk to them about food and things I eat in the States and France, it is time I let them experience it! Spanish class awaits me and I still have “homework” to finish… Hope you are all well, thank you for the emails, letters, and packages, they make each little complication of life here in Bolivia fade into the background! chao~

Tech Week

A Thursday in Independencia at noon, overlooking a soccer field and primary school.
We have been here since Sunday for our tech week….which included but not limited to: teaching a class on natural resources, painting a mural in the town square and another for arbor day, giving a workshop to restaurant/tienda/hotel owners, trailblazing through Pajchanti, a 4,000m cloud forest, and planting 50 trees with 6th graders.All is going well and we are finally winding down… we are all exhausted, but it has been a great warm-up for what is to come. Aside from a clumsy Claire fall in the river and cut across my hand (and bruise to my ego!) we are all healthy and happy. The hike on Tuesday was to Phiña Laguna and the Bosque Pajchanti. It was an amazing 8-hour hike with an altitude (4,000 ft.), views of La Paz, and climbing through native grasses thigh deep! Some of the time we were able to use the animal trails or fallow, terraced fields, but out goal is to create a trail and map for tourists where there presently is none. Now we have to organize all our pictures, design a map, and make a trailhead sign to place outside of the town of Independencia.
Our last day in Independencia was spent painting our trailhead, making a brochure for an ecological farm right outside of town, and cementing our signs into the ground. I woke up and ran around the soccer field, kicked the ball around with some boys and helped them move their goals. Girls never play on the field, they are limited to playing on the basketball court next to the big field… not sure if that is just the way it is, whether they could play on the field if they tried… but I plan on changing that when I get to my site. I realized this week while living next to a soccer field that getting out there playing and coaching excites me. Working with girls in general to develop their social skills and confidence outside the home is clearly a necessity- and what a better way to do it than through the outdoors and sports. So Bolivian National Women’s Soccer team, here we come! With Shannon, Sarah, Greby, and the two volunteers Liz and Emily, we placed our signs and had a celebratory dinner. We then went to Liz’s house and had a bonfire, complete with wine and s’mores… later we went and performed a C’haia… a Quechua offering on the bridge where we placed our sign. We offered beer, alcohol, coca leaves, and cigarettes to the Pachamama (Mother Earth) to watch over our sign and ensure that it lasts. In reality we just hope it doesn’t get cut for firewood as most signs do in the campo! We walked home down the hill on an overcast night with the moon peering through the clouds. The mountains were so dark it looked like black and white cutouts against the clouds… and despite the frustrations of the week and the exhaustion that will ensure tomorrow, I still wonder why I was the lucky one to be experiencing this. This week we are in Cochabamba: Monday we find out our sites, Thursday-Friday Sarah, Shannon and I have to work the artesania fair downtown, and Sunday we leave to visit our sites and meet out counterparts and host families.

Pictures of the first couple weeks

Día Mundial de Turismo

World Tourism Day announced itself a sunny, clear Tuesday in Cochabamba. We set up our booth with posters about natural resources and listed the “Leave no Trace” slogan translated into Spanish. We were one of the only educational booths, not offering package deals to the Chapare region or Amazonia, but instead offering games and conversation about responsible travel and saving what little natural resources we have left. The theme was Travel and Transportation, celebrating the centennial of Jules Verne’s death in 1905. This was a quote that struck me: “En 1950 eran veinte millones, el año pasado 760, y para 2020 se calcula que el número de los viajeros
internacionales superará los 1.600 millones anuales. “ Basically saying that the amount of travelers worldwide in 1950 was 20 million and by the year 2020 that number will be up to 1.6 billion. Our booth was one of the most popular, kids enjoyed the games and adults were fascinated with what the gringos had to say; I also think that the engaging manner of standing in front of our table, willingly entering conversations (and apologetically declining offers for dinner and tours around the town) was an approach unlike any Bolivians are used to.
What amazed me was the success of our presentation with the bare minimum supplies (markers, chart paper, poster board, and candy). PowerPoint, color copies, laminations, brochures, and advanced technology were not an option, and in hindsight would have been extremely unnecessary. The best part, however, was looking at my watch and realizing that Shannon, Sarah, and I had conversed with hundreds of people in Spanish for a 5 straight hours! I remember staring up through the jacaranda trees in the main plaza and thinking how lucky I was to be able to do this only a month after arriving in-country!
The days are getting warmer and my village of Bella Vista is getting ready for its annual festival. Each night in the church square, people are dancing the tinku, diablada, caporale, and cueca- all practicing for the big weekend. Unfortunately the same weekend we leave on our “tech week,” traveling to different sites and visiting current volunteers and observing their work. Tomorrow I am giving a presentation to 8th graders at the middle school about renewable natural resources and the physical characteristics of Bolivia; I hope to learn as much from them as I am teaching them- especially considering most of my information is out of a textbook and not through experience like them.
In other news, I have undergone a new Bolivian haircut, learned new card games, wandered aimlessly in Cochabamba, and fall more and more in love with Bolivia each day I wake up. I hear of my site announcement in about 2 weeks and am anxious to find out my new home!

Top 10...

Top 10 things I have learned this week in Bolivia:

10.When life breaks your camera, you start noticing things and paying more attention to the scenery that passes you by…
9. I am not as immune to amoebas and parasites as I thought I was…
8. Some of the best ice cream I have ever had hails from Cochabamba…
7. Trying to open a wine bottle with a utility knife is NEVER a good idea…
6. My favorite meal is Milanesa- a filet of beef breaded and fried with egg batter- and Relleno de yuca with queso…
5. Hand-washing my laundry, while much more time-intensive, is also much more effective…
4. Running every morning on a grassy path alongside the mountains while women pick their gladiolas to sell at the market sure beats running on a treadmill…
3. It costs $2,000 for a family in the campo to have a landline telephone…
2. There is a good chance I will be working at a site where I would be promoting a tourist destination along a CHE (Guevara) tour…
1. “Capacitar” does not translate into English (like I thought it would) as “ to brief someone on a specific topic”, but instead “to prepare a female, usually a cow, for fertilization”…

As you can tell, things have been going well for me… there is still nowhere else I would rather be despite the mishaps and cultural faux pas that I have encountered. Today we went to the famous Virgen de Urkupiña, where there were apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Every year on the feast of the Assumption there is a large festival and pilgrimage to this church. Farther to the south of Quillacollo, there are ancient ruins of silos where grains, maize, and even personal belongings were stored. They were placed very symmetrically according to the wind direction, and are located high atop a plateau- a view which yields an awesome sighting of Cochabamba and the large Christo statue.
Sunday, I went to mass at the Cathedral in Cochabamba. Built in the late-16th century, most of what remains today is restored and not original, but beautiful nonetheless! The plaza adjacent to it, Plaza de 14 de Septiembre is quite the gathering place on Sundays-for the young and old, rich and poor; jewelry vendors, ice cream carts, and shoe shiners all cluster in the park underneath the beautiful jacaranda trees; at times its nice to just roam and feel like a tourist and not like a resident!

The Chapare...

Woke up to the sound of my alarm clock at 6, praying that it was just a truck passing by my window selling bread and spreading political opinion throughout the campo. I rolled out of bed and went for a quick shower before our field trip to the Chapare region. Only once I was unclothed and freezing in my concrete bathroom did I realize that no water was coming out of the showerhead. My family was not up yet, and so I dressed, took a vitamin C and started walking the half hour to my fellow Tourism volunteer’s house. From there we started on our 2-hour ride to El Paraiso, a.k.a. Paradise, where we visited a trout farm and tourist destination. A PCV almost finished with her service came along and after exploring the cloud forest where this “paradise” was located, she gave us answers to questions that only those who have been here two years hold. A lot of it was about technical aspects, working with the local mayor’s (alcaldia’s) office, not playing a political role in your community, and what to do when nothing you expected to get done gets done. In the past three days, I have gone from feeling really frustrated with being able to make a difference, to feeling extremely eager to finally be applying some architectural/ planning elements to my community, to feeling utterly self-righteous in this new place. Thursday we went to a school where we spoke of education and natural resources. We tried to ask this 8th grade class what they thought were advantages and disadvantages of their school system, and using that same model, what were strengths and weaknesses that their community possessed in terms of natural resources. The best response we got to the latter question was a blank stare. I suppose that for me realizing that the level of education of one’s own surroundings and the opportunities and threats that exist not even a kilometer from one’s house is practically non-existent. On Friday, we visited the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny; here we met with the director who gave us a tour and demonstrated to us that he was a great asset to us once we are in our sites. He is an archaeologist who is an expert on local artifacts, and there is a great possibility that our location will be one where these artifacts are the goal of our tourist attraction. In this session we also were briefed on how to build a community museum with artifacts, epoch-clothing/ attire, and pictorial histories. I regained the glimmer in my eye when I thought of having to design the infrastructure, layout, and presentation of this community museum; I only hope that this is an activity that takes hold in my community! Today at the trout farm the other two tourism volunteers and myself led a workshop with the owner of the farm and two prospective trout farmers. We had about a minute to prepare what we were going to say, and then brainstormed activities that could be ameliorated in this specific case as well as prioritizing steps for the potential farmers to take in order to be successful. Perhaps this is the element of my job here, which is the most taxing on me, at least for the moment. The idea of myself conducting this workshop in my still sub-par Spanish and suggesting to this Don the best way to create a fish farm and draw Bolivian/International tourists is near impossible to grasp. I neither feel qualified academically nor feel it appropriate for me to be in this position! In perspective, now that the day is over, it was a great learning experience, if only for the practice in running a workshop and introducing ideas of tourism and visiting a site due to its natural attributes which are still very foreign to the typical Bolivian.
I guess the moral of this story is that in the end all things even out. The rollercoaster days are always balanced out by a good meal (trout and local white wine!), fellow volunteers experiencing the same frustrations, and having a family to come home to. The week has flown by… tomorrow I get to experience my first Bolivian wedding, I promise pictures when (IF!) I dance! Chao~

Escuelas y Fiestas

After a full week of language and community tourism classes, I am exhausted! Today we visited a secondary school about 20 minutes away to sit in a class and see the differences in educational settings between the States and Bolivia. A big part of our primary and secondary projects will be working directly/indirectly with young adults, and this was a great way to see how we could best suit the learning needs in a classroom setting. The school was centered around a rather large courtyard, and despite having large student-to-teacher ratios (about 30-1) the classes seemed well organized. There was a very different method in teaching, which for the most part is jjust lecture, with little room in the school day for analytical thinking and hands on activities. In the campo (suburban countryside) there are little resources and these students didn’t have any books. I attended an English class where they were learning names and colors of clothing. My friend Ashley and I were an interesting commodity in the classroom- after being asked every question from whether we liked Bolivian men to why we were in the Cochabamba region of all places in Bolivia, they wanted our autographs, phone numbers, and email addresses. Our session was meant as a brainstorming activity to which we later applied a hypothetical lesson plan based on our Tourism or Microenterprise sector.
I made the 30-minute walk home as dusk was falling, content to go home and ready for the weekend! Tonight we played cards with Romina, Theresa, and Wilhe. I taught them the delightful game of Gin, and they taught me a couple of Bolivian games. The wind at night gets pretty fierce and it cools off quite a bit; my family seems to take advantage of this and is always early to bed, early to rise. I almost feel as if I have been a part of this family for more than a week. They are in my thoughts when I am away from them, and today for the first time, they have conceded in letting me help in the kitchen! Tomorrow a fellow PCT's host family is throwing him a birthday party- this requires dressing up and going into town beforehand and buying a cake. It will undoubtedly be a rite of passage in my Bolivian culture, drinking chicha, eating more delicacies, and dancing to a new kind of rhythm.
Here are some pictures, there are few for now, but promise to put more up soon!

Trufis, Bolivianos, and Bella Vista

Today was our first day going to the training center in Hullyani alone. I woke up before anyone in my family at 6:00 to a knock at the front gate. Unsure of what to do, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I thought perhaps it was one of the other PCT’s so I opened the door. I was still half asleep and when they were asking for Don Zenobio, I didn’t know what to tell the couple at the door. I ended up having to wake Don Zenobio and Doña Victoria up… that was only the beginning to a long day! I picked up my friend Jonathan at the end of my street and we began walking where we would meet Shannon and take the trufi to Quiacollo, and then on to Hullyani. My other closest neighbor has been in the hospital for 3 days with salmonella poisoning and chest congestion, so I was rather disconcerted when Shannon told us that she too had been ill all night! I have thus far felt fine, if not perfect, so I hope my luck continues!
Once at the Peace Corps training center, I had Spanish class followed by culture, safety, medical, and community development classes. Each Wednesday I will be going to training, and it is a great place to catch up with everyone that I never see on a daily basis! After class we all went to visit David at the hospital to cheer him up. Hopefully he will be home and in good health tomorrow! Most everyone has a cell phone here, so I made the plunge back to modernity this evening after putting all of my energy into a conversation in Spanish about phones, prices, guarantees, credits, etc.! I was with 3 others at this point, and despite today being a fellow volunteer’s birthday, we headed home. The hour long trufi ride was rather cramped, uncomfortable, and host of other things, but seeing Coch fade into the distance- seeing the true lives of Bolivians as they make their way home each night- made it all worth while; I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. After the other 3 got off the trufi in their campo, Marquina, I continued along for about 15 minutes. When my stop came, I can’t say that I wasn’t scared, because these steps were really the first ones that I had made really on my own… I have not felt unsafe in my community yet, and while I wasn’t going to let my guard down, I also was not going to be mistrusting of my neighbors. This being said, I was thrilled crossing the threshold of mi casa and seeing my little Anabel run towards me, yelling “Hola, Clarita!!!” This made an exhausted gringita feel like she was really home.

Primer Día

My four first days with my family have been nothing short of amazing! My parents, Don Zenobio and Doña Victoria are about 50 years old and very cute. They have 3 daughters, but only Theresa lives at home; Along with her husband, Wilhe, she has an adorable four-year-old hijita named Anabel. Another one of the daughters travels a lot thus her 2 daughters Romina and Liz also live here. Anabel took to calling me Clarita, and now everyone calls me that. Even walking down the main road the other day Anabel saw me from afar and was yelling Clarita… she was waiting for the trufi (fixed route taxi) to take her home from school… my first proud moment as feeling a part of the community. In general, my family is very calm. The first day with them, they asked me questions and I gladly answered. Theresa, who is 26, showed me their property, their hens, guinea pigs, and two adorable puppies! Don Zenobio is a farmer and grows potatoes, onions, alfalfa, and gladiolas. Sunday we spent most of the day outside planting onions- I really wanted to get my hands dirty, but as a guest, they only let me sit in the shade and play with the kids. I have felt nothing but welcome in this home, however they don’t even let me lift a finger. La comida has been wonderful; hot chocolate/coffee and bread and butter for breakfast, soup with pasta and meat for lunch, and meat with rice, vegetables, platanos and bread for dinner. I have been eating bananas in mass quantities, for those of you who know me it is a good thing that I like them again. Among the delicacies eaten thus far have been guinea pig (which for the most part tastes exactly like chicken), cinnamon water, and about 5 different kinds of potatoes!
My room is very cute and it is nice to finally have a place settle into! My window gives right onto the front of the house alongside a little brook; Bella Vista, the name of my little campo is in the nook of the Cordillera Real Mountains. Thermal baths and a natural spring are but 30 minutes away, so water is in abundance! I also have electricity, a flush toilet, and a warm shower, so my conditions are ideal. The casa gives onto a little courtyard, and the backyard gives into the fields of gladiolas and potatoes. Perhaps the most frustrating thing for now, but undoubtedly a blessing in disguise is the fact that I am the farthest trainee out from the city. My neighbor Jonathan is about 3 minutes away, but then the next closest PCT is a good 20-minute walk. Thus far it has forced me really to converse with my family and not take the easy way out! Walking to language classes at Jonathan’s house, I pass a beautiful Catholic Church, a “Los Angeles” clinic, about 3 telephone booths, and 2 tiendas. For the most part, it seems that my family is rather quiet- while they did drink a LOT of chicha (maize beer) while planting the potatoes, I think that it is an activity reserved for weekends and larger gatherings.
Today we went to the cancha, which is the huge open-air market in Coch. This is unlike any market I have ever seen; it is well divided into sections and the small alleys make it a prime area to a.) get lost, b.) get pick pocketed, and c.) experience your eyes glazing over from the multitude of items; this includes, but is not limited to: Pantene Pro-V (which costs about 5 times that of a Bolivian brand), llama fetuses (considered a good luck charm if hung outside the home), beautiful artisan-made ponchos/bags, and any kind of chocolate (except for dark)! Along with my closest neighbors, we made it back to Bella Vista by 3 trufis, and after the first day of riding in public transportation I think that I have it mastered. Once home, I watched part of a novella with the whole family while eating pound cake and drinking café con leche…. Mmm!

En Cochabamba

Greetings from Cochabamba (or Coch as the locals call it)… I arrived safely on Wednesday morning. First sights at the airport included 13,000+ mountain peaks, several indigenous women selling candies and baked goods, and a beautiful landscape view with predominately low adobe buildings. Beautiful, colorful steeples protruded from the skyline, and despite the long flight and anxiety of arriving, I was truly thrilled to finally have set foot in Bolivia!
Later this afternoon we arrive at our host family’s homes in the village of Marquina, about 45 minutes outside Cochabamba. All 20 Peace Corps Trainees will be here, dispersed over about 30 km for the next 11 weeks. Monday we begin language, technical, and cultural training- most of it taking place in Marquina. So far, most of our time has been spent with the other volunteers and staff. The majority of them are from Texas and California, with only a couple representatives from the east coast! In between safety, culture, and medical check-ups, we have gotten to know each other quite well. There are about 130 volunteers already in Bolivia, and those who were around this week didn’t waste a minute to take us out and show us a good time. Among the highlights were dancing at a bar to 80’s classic music videos, and attending the local hot spot, El Pimiente Verde.
The weather here has been amazing; winter is winding down, and everyone we meet keeps saying that the conditions in this city are ideal. This morning I went for a run with three others; it was a good way to see Coch before it comes alive. Many merchants were opening up their tiendas- hanging signs with ice cream, Coke, and other commercial goods. It has been too easy to look weeks and months ahead and wonder how it was possible to immerse yourself into such a place- where no matter what you do, you will always be that gringita- but when it comes down to it, I have realized that making through the day by accomplishing at least one thing in a new environment is all that I can ask for.
So I am taking it a day at a time and relishing in the fact that this afternoon I will see a completely new side of family life- perhaps if I am lucky, my host mother will even teach me how to cook!

The Beginning

so here it goes...the beginning of my adventures in Bolivia! Hopefully you will all be able to read about my travels and experiences as a community tourism/ micro-enterprise volunteer with the Peace Corps.

I will be in training in the city of Cochabamba for 11 weeks beginning August 24, 2005. Cochabamba is at an altitude of approx. 7,500 feet and has approx. 500,000 inhabitants. Here is a link with some wonderful pictures of the city: http://tunari.tripod.com/id18.html

Please feel free to share this site with family and friends as you see appropriate. I would love feedback and comments either on the site or to my email address: cgbosch@gmail.com

That being said, i am still unsure about how often i will have access to email, but no matter how infrequent, hearing from you would undoubtedly make my day!

à bientôt!

Roosters and Computers

Today i woke up to a rooster in my courtyard… announcing the day. Were this to be only a morning occurrence I would welcome it and consider its announcement… but this rooster crows every 20 minutes of every day. I therefore contemplated turning over and sleeping the morning away…until I realized that I had a computer class to teach at 8 a.m. I savored my cup of coffee and banana, stood to watch the activity below me at the hospital and soccer field, and made my way to the library. It’s the last day for the morning class, finishing up 4 weeks of class learning the basics of Microsoft Windows, Word, and Excel. They are finishing their end of term “projects” and I run into Richard and Emanuel on the way, asking them whether they have their poem or story written out to type. They anxiously pull it out of their pockets, proud of what they had authored. During class a couple of younger kids come in, wanting to play with the puzzles and trucks in the library… over the past month these classes are a gathering place for those enrolled and otherwise, playing, laughing, and making a mess of the books I try to neatly order every night. There are always a couple of kids who want to check books out, so they sign the log and as usual, bring them back two days later.
The computer classes are comprised of 24 students, children and adults alike, some professors and some kids vacationing here from Santa Cruz city. This week many of them are in the campo (countryside) planting potatoes and cultivating onions, so they’ll have to come after the course is over… of course now that I have started teaching, there are 24 more that would like to enroll. I never thought of teaching computer classes, and I have had my share of frustrating days when I cannot seem to articulate well or when the students don’t remember to they have to double click, sitting there waiting for something to miraculously open. But those moments fade away during days like today where they came in, sat down, and barely asked me one question as they typed their final projects. They inserted images of hearts, stars, flashy borders, and pictures of Pucará. And now, sitting at the computer and printing out their projects I see the effort put into these classes. The poems are about their pueblo, the surrounding sites and the views overlooking the valley; there are stories about love, about the rich and the poor.
I found this first teaching task rather daunting, never remembering myself how I was taught to use a computer. But slowly I stepped away and let them figure it out- if I figured it out some years ago, surely they don’t need me to hang over their shoulders. Parents come in during class and observe, making sure their child came to class and surely a little curious themselves as to what this art of computing is all about.
The other day Delfa came to me wanting me to type something for her. She is enrolled in the class, but since this was an important document she wanted to make sure it was done correctly… even though her Spanish is incomparable to mine. I agreed to do it and we met at the library. She wanted to pay me for the 15 minutes it took to type a paragraph, but I would have none of it- instead accepting payment in the form of some succulent plums she has growing in her backyard.
Rain is looming over the mountains and the breeze is picking up. I am just waiting for it to start pouring down, secretly praying it will hold out until the next class is over, as my laundry is still out on the line. The rain here is enchanting and miserable at the same time. After a couple dry days I look at thunder clouds and think to myself that I wouldn’t mind spending the afternoon curled up with a cup of tea and Cannery Row. But after 2 days of deluge- which turn the streets of Pucará (and then your house) into a mud pit- I begin to grow crazy with each continuing hour. Of course it does, and as long as you keep those sunny, hot days in mind (and a pile of literature handy), it passes. Like everything, it passes. And so, the computer classes come to an end. We learned how to use lists, bullets, and numeration the other day, and as the night class let out, I trudged up the street saying goodbye to Marbin and Hayler… Marbin turns around and says, “Nos vemos viñeta (bullet), chao numeración”, and then doubles over laughing. Secretly I hope that they remember where they first learned to use a computer, even if I am only used in reference as a bullet point on their long list of achievements.