Dia ch'aku Uma Rutuchi

Hailey turned two on October 6. My friend Cooper and I went to visit our friends in Bellavista, Cochabamba to celebrate their daughter's birthday and take part in the traditional "first hair cut." We arrived early, helped set up the party, saw the steaming Phampaku (chicken, plantains, and potatoes cooked underground with burning rocks) being unearthed and carried in its enormous metal pots. We had a beer, naively thinking that we would only be drinking a beer or two and returning back to the bustle of the city before dark.

Little did we know the party didn't even start until dusk, Hailey's friends trickling in and sitting down at the mini Coca-Cola tables donated by Wilhe's job at the local Coca-Cola factory in Quillacollo. The parents were offered chicha in hollowed-out pineapples, wine, and papaya liquor (all good separately, chaos-inducing when mixed!).
Hailey was then dressed in her beautifully intricate white dress, her hair separated into little sections to make the hair-cutting a bit more painless.

Cooper, Hailey's mom Teresa, and I sit down next to an offering of fruit and treats, preparing to attend to the growing line of guests waiting to make an offering of money to Hailey and then cut a piece of her hair... she immediately gets into the grapes averting her eyes from the dozens of stares in her direction. As her godparents, Cooper and I do the honors of cutting first. Traditionally if there is still hair to cut and all of the guests have offered, the godparents have to keep offering until she doesn't have any more strands to cut!!!

The night continues with chicha, dancing cuecas, more chicha, cerveza, and more dancing. Cooper and I were now comadres and compadres with Hailey's parents and in the six hours that ensued after the ritual, our glasses were never empty and we rarely had a break from dancing the traditional Bolivian cueca with our handkerchiefs in hand.

These are the kind of parties that you dread because you know you will be there so long dancing and drinking and "compartir"-ing until you want to fall down tutuma in hand...

These are the kind of parties that you cherish because you know you will be there so long dancing and drinking and "compartir"-ing until you wake up finding yourself remembering that you've promised to have another such party soon and experience it all over again ...

Feliz Cumpleaños Hailey, gracias por tu fiesta!

(Don Zenobio, Hailey's grandfather, cutting her hair)

(Nearing the end, but there's still hair to be cut!)

(A very tired Hailey after she finished eating mangos from the offering blanket!)

That just happened...

In the cockpit of our C-130

View of Lago Titicaca from the plane

Cathedral San Francisco, Lima

View of a barrio in Lima

The Pacific Ocean & Larcomar center in Lima

Just 12 days after being...
...asked to inventory my house and consolidate with the other 113 volunteers in a hotel not 5 minutes from my house, moved to another hotel not 3 minutes from my house, evacuated in a C-130 to Lima, brought to the PC-Peru training center in Chaclacayo, filled out 83 papers, poked and prodded by the medical staff, teased by the large mall in Lima complete with an Apple store and Starbucks, signed back as a "normal" US citizen no longer in care of Peace Corps, flown down to Juliaca, taxied to the border, taxied to La Paz, and bused to Cochabamba....I'm back in my casita.
Its odd. Being in Bolivia for the past 3 years makes me think inevitably of my ties to Peace Corps, to my fellow volunteers, and the amazing work that is done day in and day out by each us. And now its over. Not necessarily forever. Maybe the program will resume next year. Maybe. Until then many have come back to visit their communities, their friends, adoptive families, finish their projects and classes. Many have come back to a life they made for themselves here. And I am one of them. Sure its not forever. But to leave this majestic country behind without thought or care would be impossible.
I'll be here finishing my project with Habitat for Humanity, visiting Pucará, and enjoying Cochabamba and my friends for a while. Then its off to Brazil. To the beach, the rolling waves, and caipirinhas! Then... well, vamos a ver!

Incallajta

Life is a Highway...

Its been a while, I know, I know! More exciting stories you say, more pictures of Bolivian food, culture, llamas. Its coming, I promise.

Mi vida aqui has been like Tom Cochrane's Life is a Highway:
"...like a road that you travel on
When there's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind"

Peace Corps is undergoing a project shift, merging my project of micro enterprise development and community tourism into a more general business education and small business development program; with this change comes the restructuring of goals and site development. Next week I'll finally be on the road again visiting volunteers and returning to Pucará where I served as a volunteer.

My work with Habitat for Humanity continues to grow. We are almost done with our Community Leadership pilot program (for kids ages 8-12) in a community about 10km outside of Cochabamba where Habitat is also building houses. I hope to finish the project report so that they may replicate the project throughout Bolivia next year.

As the months come and go, so do good friends that have been working alongside me. This weekend will be full of despedidas (going away parties), picture-taking, and the requisite late-night outings to sing karaoke...

pictures soon to follow!

The Bolivian Experience

We leave around 8:30, hoping to get to Sanipaya by 10... the road is so bad, we stop to help a stranded truck, Doña Ana doesn't waste any time, and begins using her pushkin to spin wool.

We finally arrive to the small Andean community, completely enamored by the scenery but frustrated as we seem to be the only ones who got the memo of the "wool dyeing workshop" a volunteer was to present that day. Another setback... we wait... we take pictures... we start boiling the water for the cochinilla, which is a base of dried and crushed red parasites that live on cactus plants.

In the end, a couple of women showed up, strolling up to the house we were holding the workshop as if they were casually stopping by. This community has approximately 90 weavers in their Club de Madres so you can see why we were a bit disappointed when a mere 9 women showed up! In the end, the 3-day workshop in various communities was successful for the women who attended.
More than anything it was amazing to see the beautifully rich colors that could be acquired for the most part from plants and flowers that grow in abundance in these regions. Most of the women in Bolivia knit and weave, and seeing them make something so complex and rich out of a pile of wispy sheep's wool and eucalyptus leaves, suico, and macha macha had me dumbfounded the entire trip. As volunteers working in most parts of Bolivia, we see that it is not the resources that are lacking, but the often times poor organization and valuation of their labors.
In the end, as human resources we can do little more than plant the seeds of opportunity.
An opportunity in this case for these Cochabamba communities to form a recognized association with statutes, goals, and a united voice to ask for resources from their local governments;
An opportunity for women who often times see little of their families income, and hold even less of it;
An opportunity for these women to continue relying on their natural surroundings and relive the historical importance of their weavings, despite the modern conveniences that make imported fabrics much more available.
The four days we were at these workshops, the sun didn't shine once. It rained, and rained, even snowed! However, the perseverance of the women that did attend, and of those men and women who helped facilitate the workshop was impressive. And in a world of continual instant gratification, the intangible results we as Peace Corps volunteers usually achieve can often times be demoralizing. But we know the sun will shine again, and we must find comfort in knowing that we often times reach men, women, and children in ways we are unable to see in the moment... sometimes you just need to look for it in their faces, their kind words, and your own heart knowing you gave it your best.

Site Development in Sajama

This past weekend I went to Sajama to meet with the local tourism organization and get to know the attractions of the Parque Nacional Sajama. It is the highest peak in Bolivia (6, 542 meters). This inactive volcano has snow year-round and is known as a destination for mountain climbers around the world for its relatively moderate climbing difficulty. It is located right on the border of Chile in the Department of Oruro. Along with 3 other Peace Corps volunteers we explored the hot springs, natural geysers, and various species of llama, alpaca, and vicuña. Below are a couple pictures...Enjoy!

View from the road approaching Sajama

A very wooly llama!

An alpaca pelt being dried in the sun

Soaking in the hot springs

The twin Payachata mountains, view from Sajama village

The llamas and alpacas watching us leave Sajama

Carnaval en Oruro 2008

Arriving from Cochabamba to Carnaval in Oruro was like inhaling a rush of music, bold colors, and adrenaline in one breath. Women selling pastries, plastic adornments, water balloons, spray foam, fried chicken, cold cerveza, water guns, ponchos, and hotdogs with french fries lined each street corner, hoping tourists and residents alike would stop to indulge. After a while you feel yourself blending in as just another pair of eyes spectating the dances. You see the expressions on people's faces, their thoughts as they spray foam in your hair, peg you with water balloons filled with paint, and as the television crews catch you on candid camera.
The color and intensity of this festival is like no other in Bolivia, and I was thrilled to have been a part of it. Below are just a few highlights of the festivities... que disfruten!

Little girls dancing the Pujllay (hoping onlookers will give a coin or two)

Vendors outside our hostel selling adornments, hats, and water guns

One of the several big bands parading in the Plaza

Orureñas dancing

The Tobas dancing with parihuana or ostrich feathers

Cholitas de La Paz passing through the Plaza at night

January

I just came back from doing a radio show for a local Cochabamba station. Kancha Parlaspa, meaning "speaking in the cancha(or market)" in Quechua, is relayed all day in the large market here, sounding music and interviews. They also allow local artisans to promote their products and advertise for local fairs that take place in and around Cocha. Another volunteer and I spoke of the mission of Peace Corps, how we work with artisans and micro-enterprises and also of our experiences living throughout the country.

Yesterday I assisted a group of 12 Canadians and Americans in building a house outside of Cochabamba.; they are one of Habitat for Humanity International's Global Village groups. Most of them had traveled to South America before and had great stories about integrating and working together... it is really amazing to see the energy around a build. As they say in Argentina, they had "muy buena onda" (good vibes) around them. They were busy building the foundation, digging dirt, mixing concrete, and bending rebar- and they were kind enough to let me help!

It has been raining a lot in the past couple weeks, flooding several areas of the Chapare as well as Santa Cruz. The precipitation, on top of the annual Carnaval preparations, make for very wet days. Teenagers like to hang out on the main drags of Cochabamba with water balloons pegging every man, woman, and child (and dog!) they see...it can be fun if you are equally armed with your own bucket of balloons!

I'll be traveling next week to visit some volunteers in the Chiquitania region of Santa Cruz. I promise to post some pictures of the trip!