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~
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