A story by BBC about child labor in Bermejo.

By Andres Schipani BBC News, Bermejo

Fiser's mother wants him to return to school some day

To see children's silhouettes at sunrise, bent as they chop canes with machetes, is to see the scale of poverty in Bolivia, where often every member of the family, no matter how young, has to work.

Fiser, 10, is one of Bolivia's many child labourers.

"I am not going to school any more. I left it this year when I started working here," he tells me.

His hands are covered in blisters and dark with a sticky dust after hours harvesting sugar cane.

Child labour is illegal in Bolivia, but it is estimated that almost a third of the country's children and adolescents (320,000) work in extreme conditions; in the mines, Brazil nut plantations and the sugar cane fields.

Boys like Fiser earn less than $5 a day during the six months or so that they work harvesting sugar cane, often from sunrise to sunset.

Such work is considered one of the worst forms of child labour by international bodies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN children's agency, Unicef.

Ciro, 13, is typical. "I'd like to study or maybe work in something better, something lighter. But I work most of all for my family, my family is really poor so they have nothing and I need to help my six little brothers," he says.

"I wake up at four in the morning and come out to work until six in the afternoon, sometimes until eleven at night. The work is really, really hard."

Temporary migrants

Until recently, many farmers were moving away from sugar cane because they could get better, government-guaranteed prices for other crops, such as soya, rice and the local crop, coca - the raw material for cocaine.

The work is hard, very hard... I don't want to do this any more, but I have no choice

Luis, 13

But now, the price of raw sugar is hitting highs not seen for nearly three decades and farmers are switching back to sugar cane. Whole families are moving across Bolivia to work in the fields.

Sugar cane has a particular economic advantage: the harvest provides an income for a relatively extended period - roughly between April and November.

It is a way of making a living in Bermejo, a poverty-stricken area of south-eastern Bolivia on the border with Argentina.

Most of the heavy harvesting work is still done manually. Children aged between seven and 17 set crops alight to remove all unwanted foliage and then chop down the canes. Later, the top is cut off and the rest of the cane is stacked and loaded for transportation.

Luis, 13, started working three years ago.

"The work is hard, very hard, exhausting," he says. "The canes are heavy, cutting, chopping all day, last year I had a terrible back pain from work. I don't want to do this any more, but I have no choice."

High prices mean sugar is once again a sought after commodity

About 60% of the sugar cane harvesters are temporary migrants from Bolivia's poorest areas. They live in shacks that are little more than mud huts, or under blue tarpaulins on the edge of the sugar cane plantations.

There is no hygiene; no privacy. As the local saying goes, they have "sweet canes but bitter lives".

"It is not a secret that children of all ages work in different conditions, in different sectors in this country," says Unicef's Bolivia representative Gordon Jonathan Lewis.

"As long as poverty exists, and the magnitude and the prevalence you have in a country like Bolivia, you will always have the need for children to contribute to households and local economies."

But in the sugar cane harvest, the exploitation of child workers can be extreme, Mr Lewis adds.

This view is echoed by Anastasio Rueda, a sugar cane trade union leader in Bermejo.

"Sometimes the boss takes advantage of them because they are young, and treats them badly. There are accidents. And of course there are children who do not want to come to work because the job is harsh, but some parents force them to," he says.

Forceful approach

Now, nearly 20 years after the Convention of the Rights of the Child was agreed, Unicef is trying a range of ways to tackle child labour.

One is a "Child Labour Free" stamp for certain Bolivian products, like sugar. Together with Unicef, Bolivia's government has drawn up a plan to reduce child labour by 2015.

Angelica does not want her son to have her "rotten" life

"The plans exists, the public policies are in place, the legal framework is there but right now we really do need a much more forceful approach," Mr Lewis says.

Some parents would prefer their children to be at school rather than in the fields. Unfortunately, money compels them to take their children into the fields with them.

That is the case for Fiser's mother, Angelica, who is working alongside him.

"He helps me a lot. He used to be at school but I need him to come to work with me, at least this year, then he can go back to school. Now we need the money so his little brothers can eat and go to school."

Angelica knows about the harsh reality of child labour herself as she has been toiling in the cane fields for a pittance since she was 10. She is now 44.

"Now he got used to work and he doesn't want to go back to school because he earns some petty cash and knows I need help," she says.

"But I tell him, even if it is a huge effort, he has to study so he doesn't end up like me, old and working in the sugar cane harvest. The children should have that opportunity. We are rotten already."

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

After the lovely Bariloche, Eme and I booked it further south to the Atlantic coastal town of Puerto Madryn. We found another traveling couple and rented a car to check out the sites.

First, we drove south to Punta Tombo, the worlds largest Magellanic penguin colony (outside of Antarctica). It was crazy! As soon as we stepped out of the car there were penguins milling about everywhere! You could walk right up to them and pet them, if you wanted to lose a finger that is. There were over 200,000 breeding pairs with their nests and eggs. The chicks had apparently just started to hatch. We were lucky enough to find one nest with a little grey chick. So cute! But I didn't get the greatest shot of the chick... so this penguin on it's egg will have to do.

You want a hug?

The next morning we headed north to Reserva Faunistica Peninsula Valdes where the highlight of the day was, by far and away, the boat ride out in the bay to see the southern right whales and their calves. I've attempted whale watching a few times before, but have never had any luck so I was really excited to finally see them and was pointing, ohh-ing and aww-ing like a little kid! I was absolutely awe struck watching these giants peacefully diving and interacting with their calves. One came within 10ft of the boat to check us out!

Montevideo, Uruguay

I ended the trip with a few days in Uruguay. The capital, Montevideo, was a lot like it's Big Sister Buenos Aires, but a lot smaller, tranquilo and on the coast. It seemed to have a cool vibe, but unfortunately I didn't get to spend too much time there.

One of the cities many plazas.

Garbage collector

Punta del Este, Uruguay

I was on a mission to hit the beach before heading home to Winter in the States. So I headed to the famous/infamous (?) Punta del Este, playground of the buena gente (folks with money). It was off season so it wasn't too crazy. Not too many boob jobs on the beach.

It looks sunny and beautiful in this picture, but it was also quite windy and hard to really be comfortable just hanging out in your suit on the beach (I'm a wimp). So unfortunately I didn't get too much beach time . I rented a bike instead and rode around town.

The local harbor where dingy old fishing boats are parked along side million dollar yachts.

Rurrenabaque, Bolivia

Tiwanaki Ruins, outside of La PAz

Valparaiso, Chile

Mendoza, Argentina

Barriloche, Argentina

Mancora, Peru So after all the stress of evacuation it was only fitting to start the trip with some r&r at the beach. A group of us headed north, way north, to Mancora, Peru. A cute little beach town practically on the border with Equador. We didn't do much but lay in the sand, play in the waves, take naps, eat ceviche, and drink cerveza for five days. In other words, it was perfect.

A little game of sunset soccer.

Huaraz, Peru

A few of us girls hesitantly left the beach and headed for Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca (Supposedly the most beautiful region of the Andes, but personally I think Bolivia has got more pristine, beautiful places. People just don't know about them.) Anywho, I acquired giardia from my last plate of ceviche on the beach and was incapacitated for the first couple of days in Huaraz and couldn't do any hiking with my friends. They had to leave for Lima, but I stayed for a few more days to explore the area solo.

A little town outside of Huaraz. There was a festival going on and everyone was dressed in their best bright and colorful clothes.

Parque Nacional Huascaran. Named after the tallest peak in Peru. (note- that is not actually Huascaran in the background)Now this is actually Huascaran. In the foreground and behind the camera is the remains of Yungi, a town of 30,000 that was completely buried by an earthquake and the resulting landslide from glaciers on Huascaran, in the late sixties. Only a handful of people in the whole town survived by running to the tallest part of the cemetery which was built like a wedding cake. This cathedral was built on the site of the original. Now the site of the disaster is a park for tourists and New Yungi was rebuilt nearby.

A bus that was partially dug out of the rubble. There not sure if there were people in it or not when the landslide hit.Potosi, Bolivia

Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). Once one of the most productive mines in the world, fueling the once richest city in the world, Potosi. Production has since slowed down dramatically, but miners continue to work and die (40 per year) in incredibly harsh conditions.

One of the "nicer" sections of the mine. You could actually fully stand up. There are many long sections where you have to literally get on all fours a crawl through dark spaces (the only light is from your head lamp) and try not to choke on the dust. How the miners actually drag heavy bags of rocks through these spaces I have no idea. We spent just a few hours in the mine and we all came out with scratchy voices (from the dust I think) and completely exhausted from crawling up and down the mine shafts. My quads were hurting for days. And the miners do it 12 hrs everyday!

Fun with dynamite. A demonstration of how miners put together dynamite, light it, bury it, then run!!

Huayna Potosi, outside of La Paz A big group of B44ers reunited in La Paz to conquer Huayna Potosi. A mountain just under 20,000 ft. I personally didn't fell fit enough or have the ganas to climb the giant so I went as cheerleader for the team and just kind of hung out in the lodge while the real bad asses climbed. The girls. Erica in the middle was the only woman of the group to climb the mountain. Huayna Potosi in the distance.Team Coca Boca (Coca Mouth). Named after the guys' ability to chew ridiculous amounts of coca.I hiked up the mountain the first day with the team for their practice session in ice climbing techniques. This is as far as I made it up the mountain, but it's the first time I actually touched a glacier! While the team was climbing I made a flag for us to pin up on the walls of the lodge. I tried to incorporate the themes of America and Peace Corps. Pretty nice, huh?

Where to begin?? Well for starters we´ve all been evacuated, all 113 of us. Peace Corps Bolivia has been suspended. Meaning they have the intention of starting up the program again someday, but no one has any idea when. Rather than reenlisting I have chosen to COS or close my service.

Over the last year and a half of my service we´ve had countless EAPs (emergency action plans) and even one consolidation where all the volunteers were brought together in one place because of an upcoming referendum and the potential unrest that could ensue. But throughout all the EAPs, marches, protests, riots, and bloqueos I was never actually worried that anything was going to happen to us. It was just something that you delt with being a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia. There had been lots of evacuation talk over the years, but I never bought into it. ¨It´ll blow over just like all the times before.¨

Typical bloqueo outside of Tarija. Bolivia has a way of getting dangerously close to the edge of disaster then at the last moment, as if suddenly realizing just how bad things are, backing slowly away from the edge. I was never really worried until a little over two weeks ago. It was a gray day. So overcast the sun was totally blocked out of the sky. I was walking through the usually loud and bustling streets of Bermejo, but that day they were almost completely empty. Shops were shut up, mini bloqueos of rocks cutting off everyother street corner. There was a paro civico that day so almost everything was shut down and little traffic other than the occasional moto was on the street. I found the one internet place open in town and checked out the local news.

Just the night before I was watching on the news violent riot scenes in Tarija. They were actually throwing dynamite at one another and one man managed to blow his hand off. Ofcourse a camera was right there to flim the grizzly aftermath. This guy stumbling down the street, dilirious from blood loss, looking down and grabing what was left of his mangled hand with his one good remaining hand. The film crew following him along recording every second, but never actually offering to help. The next day the man was on the news again. This time weeping saying that he made his living laying bricks and looking back on it, the 300 bolivianos he was given to participate in the riot was not worth it. Yes, Bolivians from all political spectrums are regularly given money to participate, or fined for not participating, in political demonstrations. My friend´s family had to pay 300 bolivianos (a lot of Bs for the average family!) for not participating in their town´s bloqueo. And University students can actually have their grades lowered for not participating in marches, protests or other demonstrations. Yeah, to say it politely...it´s really screwed up.

Anyways... back to the point. Things were getting pretty hairy, even in Tarija. Usually, while the rest of the country is going up in flames, Tarija is pretty tranquilo. I saw the unrest as a bad sign of things to come. Over the next few days things only seemed to get worse. Protests and riots continued in many cities. A few people were killed in Sucre and the worst in Pando with over 30 dead. And among the riots the US ambassdor Philip Goldberg was declared a persona non grata and demanded to leave Bolivia. He was accused of citing the violence. A totally rediculous claim, but thats the way politics works down here. It was really just an opportune time to kick him out. So with no ambassador what was going to happen to us?

When I heard that all the Tarija volunteers were coming down to Bermejo I thought ¨This is it. I´m packing my bags.¨ The next few days were a frusterating mystery. Peace Corps seemed to tell us as little information as possible. We were all speculating what was going to happen to us. Were we going to wait in Bermejo while things cooled down? Be flown to Cochabamba where all the other volunteers had been consolidated? Or evacuate the country? I tried to explain to my host family and friends as best I could the situation. That I didn´t really know what was going on, but there was a chance I wouldn´t be back. My Dona insisted on everyone getting together for coffee and bread. She said a prayer for me and we all ended up crying. It was very touching. And before leaving, I was fortunate to run into a group of teachers I worked with that had heard about the situation and they thanked me for everything I had done for them. There´s a lot of times in Peace Corps when you wonder if what your doing really matters. But I knew talking to those teachers that day that they really did appreciate the work I did for them and that really feels good.

Anywho... we headed to the Bermejo airport, a small paved strip in a never ending field of cana. Told we were to board a plane, but didn´t know where. Then the big bellied C130 rolled in. It was a very surreal moment. A crazy mixture of emotions. ¨This is crazy! This is so cool! Oh no, we might not be coming back!¨ When everyone had boarded and the plane was in the air we were told we were leaving the country. But again the ambiguity! We weren´t told which country! It was becoming obvious that PC was telling us as little as possible so that people wouldn´t freak out and refuse to board at the last second, which some people may have done.

Touchdown at Bermejo International Airport

The dreaded evac! It was really happening! We didn´t learn our destination until someone asked one of the military guys on board (insterestingly enough the plane was US owned, but run by Bolivian military personel). First we were stoping in Cochabamba to pick up more volunteers than continuing on to Lima. We were greeted by Peruvian and American soldiers at a small military airport outside of Lima. As well as the US ambassador to Peru and a hand full of other embassy people. We were given a brief meeting and sent outside the city to a bizarre centro vacacional outside of the city. The running joke was that it was a rehab center for those that had previously had tragic experiences while on vacation. We spent the next week figuring out what to do next with our lives- COS, transfer, reinlist. I knew I was COSing so my decision was easy, but a lot of people had to decide it they wanted to transfer to another country and where in a matter of a few days! Talk about having your world turned upside down!

Trying our best to make light of the situation by making a Bolivian stlye bloqueo for the next arriving group of volunteers.

My plan is to travel South America for a few months before returning to the states. I´ll keep you updated!

I've become recently aware that quite a few people actually read this thing. So I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone. It really is nice to know that people are genuinly interested in what I'm doing over here. So for you I will try to keep this thing more up to date. And don't be afraid to leave a comment. I really do love to read them. I've just updated my previous blog about the teacher's taller below. So check it out.

Your pal,

Al

This is my English conversation class on their last day of class. They were the most advanced students at the Language Institute I teach at. I was really impressed with a few of them. I think at least one of the students English could rival my Spanish! (which is not saying much for me!) All of them passed their final exams, although there were a few that really should´t have. There´s a lot of pressure to pass students (especially when they are paying for the classes!), but I was proud of them all the same. Though sometimes a bit of a pain in the ass, they really are a great group of kids. I miss them already!

This is Pepino (aka Pepi) and the new puppy Pirata (pirate). Turns out Pepi is a boy after all. I swear I have the worst record sexing kittens. I already have a boy named Ginger and a girl named Hobbes. It´s hard to tell sometimes! Luckily Pepina could be easily changed to Pepino. Pepino means cucumber in español by the way. When he´s not tearing apart my room, attacking my face in my sleep and pooping out worms, he can be a real delight.More to come...

Finally!! After months of postponements and frustrations I finally had my first environmental ed. teacher's taller! First it was delayed at the last minute (like the day before it was originally scheduled!) because the alcaldia wouldn't give me money to pay for it (after they said they would, of course) then the second time because of teacher's strikes.

The second time around I was able to get funds through the German organization GTZ which I've talked about previously on here (actually, a month later I still haven't been reimbursed, but that's another story I suppose). Anyways, they are the organization that originally donated the Maletines to me. The maletin (briefcase) is a boxed set of four really great educational text books all about environmental ed. in the Chaco. The main purpose of the taller was simply to get these materials to local teacher's so they can use them in their classrooms because as I've said before teacher's are given pathetically few teaching resources here. And the secondary objectives where to learn new dynamic methodologies to teach EE, create and present EE themed lessons, and discuss the environmental problems of the Chaco region.

In all there where 25 teachers who attended with many more wanting to, but unfortunately I only had a certain number of maletines to give away. I had previously worked with almost all of them before so I was a lot more comfortable presenting my portion of the workshop than I think I would have been otherwise. I purposely set up the workshop for the teachers of the two schools I work a lot with specifically for that reason. I figured they already knew my level of Spanish and what to expect of me, more or less, so I didn't get too nervous about it.

Of course there are always a few slackers in every group, but overall I was really pleased with every bodies participation. Five of the participants were actually my housemates and I was pleasantly surprised to see them working on their presentations for the last day of the workshop during lunch at the house! It was a touching moment for me. You could tell that some of the groups really had put a lot of thought into their presentations. It was really nice to hear how "bonito" the workshop was from many of the teachers and how they were surprised that almost everyone had stayed till the last minute, which usually doesn't happen at these kind of things here. So I guess you could say it was a success. Vale la pena! (worth the trouble)

Roxanna (in the dark brown jacket) is actually my host sister and Acelia (in the red) rents a room upstairs next to mine.

I think Norma (on the left above) is my favorite teacher here. She was one of the first I worked with and has always been really enthusiastic about having me in her classroom and incorporating more EE into her classes. She actually comes up with themes she wants me to come in and talk about (which no one else has done) and has always been especially kind to me.

This group was giving a presentation on Suelo (soil) and started it with a reenactment of a ch'alla or blessing performed on specific holidays on people's land for good luck. Pretty cool. The girl in the middle is another one of my housemates, Emma.

And I have to give major props to Elliot and Gina, other B44er's for helping me out. They provided a nice listening break from my broken Spanish for the audience. I could of done it without you, but it would have really sucked! You're the best!

And here we are at the end of the workshop. Everyone with their maletines. Now they better use them!

As you can guess the highlight of the trip was the little city on the mountain top, Machu Picchu. We really got lucky because we were traveling during the off season... right at the end of the rainy season, so there were significantly less tourists than normal (look at this picture! you can´t see anyone!) and the weather was absolutely perfect that day. We arrived in the afternoon when the majority of tourist groups were leaving so we had the freedom to leisurely wander the ruins with out feeling like herded cattle. It was nice just to sit down, enjoy the view and contemplate the history of this place. I wasn´t part of the hippie crowd doing tai chi and meditation with the llamas or anything, but I definitely got a very special vibe from this place. Just as we were leaving a rainbow formed... coming from the deep valley bottom and arching over the ruins. It was perfect. Now only if we had remembered to bring our guide book so we knew what we were looking at...

Our next stop was Arequipa. A really cool city in the south/central mountains. I actually liked Arequipa more than Cuzco. It was a lot less touristy and it probably didn´t hurt that it was warm and sunny the whole time. Unlike Cuzco where it was frigid and drizzling and you had to run the gauntlet of vendors every time you left your hostel. But let´s face it. Cusco is a pretty awesome city. So much history! But now back to Arequipa.

This is the main plaza . All the cathedrals and major buildings are made form this white volcanic rock called silar. Very pretty. Below is a view of the country side and the surrounding volcanoes. Absolutely gorgeous!

After a few days in Arequipa we headed to the Colca Canyon. One of the deepest canyons in the world. The scenery was very reminiscent of the Sacred Valley outside of Cuzco. With all the stone walls and terracing. We woke up very early one morning to go to canyon and El Cruz de los Condores. We got to the cross and waited till the sun warmed us and the condors up to get a glimpse of the Andean Condor. The condor is one of those iconic symbols of the Andes and it was incredible to finally see one in flight.

A beautiful church in one of the many little pueblos on our way to the Cross.

Finally! It´s a condor! (looked a lot more impressive in real life)

Our last stop on the trip was the southern coastal town of Pisco. I was really excited about the prospect of lounging on the beach and sippin´a Pisco Sour after more than a year of being landlocked in Bolivia. Unfortunately, Pisco is not really a place to go sunbathing and frolic in the waves. The beach and the water in the harbor were not what you would call very inviting. The beaches were pretty rocky and dirty and the water in the harbor just looked icky. I rolled up my pants and dipped a toe in, just to say I'd touched the ocean more than anything.

Actually, we stayed at a little place south of Pisco called Paracas, nearby Paracas National Park and Las Islas Balestas. A lot more charming than the devastated ruins of Pisco (Pisco was the epicenter of the earthquake last year and is still slowly recovering).

We took a group tour of Paracas Park. It's main attraction is a natural arch carved by the waves called El Catedral. Unfortunately, the arch actually collapsed during the earth quake and was more depressing than awe inspiring. The Candelabra, a mysterious etching in the sand dunes located in the park could only be viewed from boat. On our way to the Balestas Islands we stoped for a better view and pondered it's origins. Paracas Indians, pirates or Mason's? Who knows?

Shoot!! I erased the picture. Will add it again later.

The highlight of our time on the coast was the trip out to the Balestas Islands (otherwise known as the poor man´s Galapagos Islands). There's a group of small islands that are home to thousands, perhaps millions, of sea birds. Every inch of these islands were covered in birds and their guano... pelicans, cormorants, boobies, puffins and even a few penguins. Not to mention the thousands of birds constantly flying overhead. There was also a large sea lion colony with lots of cute pups. A really neat place.

I've just started teaching an English conversation class at a local English institute. There are ten students in the class, mainly 15 to 17 years old. There's one 36 year old who works at the local army post. My old site mate Julia used to teach the class so I'm sort of taking over for her and hopefully I can start it up again for the next year. So yeah... my site mate's gone and so are a few other Tarija volunteers and a new group is already here to replace them (called our shadow group because they are exactly a year behind us). It's sad but, thus is the vicious cycle of PC.

The new guy in Bermejo, Peter, seems pretty chill... just not Julia! No one to swap clothes, drink wine and watch American Idol with anymore! Well... Peter can put back the wine but, we just can't then gossip and watch girlie sitcoms together.

So anyway... I'm bummed that Julia is gone but, pretty happy about the English class. It's nice to have a little more structure to my life! (it's an everyday class) And the kids (so far) are pretty fun to work with. Lots of positive energy. And I'll get more experience with high school kids which is really what I need.

Oh yeah... almost forgot! It appears that I now have a cat. I ran across this filthy, wet, shivering and crying kitten that looked to have been lost or abandoned. She was the most miserable thing I had ever seen and after a few minutes of staring at her while I debated the pro's and con's of taking her in I finally decided that I couldn't just leave her there in the street. (it's that damn guilt again!) So I took her home, gave her a bath and now she's undergoing treatment with the vet, She's so skinny, but hardly eats so I took her to the vet to get her checked out. He's giving her antibiotics. She's not particularly cute, orange and white patches with one blue and one hazel eye, but she's a good cuddler.

Well well... it's been a little over one year in site (one year and three months total in Bolivia and eleven months left! Yes... I've officially begun the countdown and not because I can't wait to get out of here, but rather I can't wait to get back to the states! I´m beginning to really miss it.) and looking back on it well... I'm not really sure where to begin. Overall I feel pretty content about my service. Not amazing, and by no means horrible... ya know... pretty good. I suppose that the one thing keeping me from feeling great about it is the feeling that I should have accomplished incredible things by now (don't really know what those incredible things might have been exactly), but it's been a year and I feel like I should have something substantial to show for it. But here I am, still just chugging along, waiting for my big success. Don't get me wrong, I have had many little mini successes, but as far as one great (tangible) success story... I'm still working on it. Everyone says that things don´t really get cracking work wise till your second year anyways so I´ll try not to dwell on it.

I guess it doesn't help that I just got back in site from a pretty long absence (one week in Cochabamba for mandatory med appointments and meetings and two weeks in Peru vacationing with Mom...pics to be included in the next blog!) and after any long absence I feel like I'm starting from scratch all over again. Well... not from scratch exactly, but the energy to get it going again is substantial. A more accurate description would be that the energy to get ME going again is substantial. I guess that's just the nature of having a job with no real structure, one that starts and stops according to my whims.

And it also doesn't help that just before I left I had my first big project (the one I was so excited about, the one I thought would be the most significant and beneficial for my community, my success story!) basically blow up in my face. So to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to returning. Not because I'm sick of Bermejo or anything (actually it feels good to be back, it's got it's own quirky kind of charm)... it's just that I was kind of dreading starting it all back up again. The fear of failing again I suppose.

It was really great to see everyone in Cochabamba. Besides just getting to spend time with some of the most amazing people I've meet in my life (really we're pretty awesome in PC ; ) it was really reassuring to hear that basically everyone is having the same troubles and frustrations as you. The most universal complaints being: unreliable work partners, cheap and otherwise useless Alcaldias, constant guilt that your not doing enough, people expecting you to do EVERYTHING for them, and the list goes on... and I can definitely relate to all of them!

Actually, I was a little surprised about the guilt one. A little guilt is good, it keeps you from being a completely worthless bum. But I thought I was the only one putting copious amount of completely unnecessary guilt on myself. I've always been kind of rough on myself... definitely guilty of being my own worst critic. I have high expectations of myself and for my Peace Corps service, but there comes a point when you have to realize that there are other factors preventing your success than you (especially true in Bolivia!). And your expectations are not always realistic (doubly true in Bolivia!). So yeah... I'm trying to lighten up on myself! It's funny you run across people that well... your not really sure what they've been doing in their sites all this time, but they are so proud of their service! Then there are others who are like golden glimmering model volunteers. They've done so much cool stuff and still they feel like they should of done more! People are funny like that.

I've definitely learned one thing from this whole crazy experience and that is- Development work is not easy! Especially when you have no money to offer... such is the case with PC. Bolivia is such a poor country that the people are used to having NGO's come in and just handing them projects with little or no investment from the people who are supposed to be benefiting from them. And many times because of that...a year later the big expensive project is a complete failure. Because no one had any investment in it! They don't care if it fails... it wasn't their money.

I do like the Peace Corp's philosophy- small projects with community investment (the theory is they are more successful and sustainable that way), but damn it's really hard to do! You'll talk about these ideas for projects and everybodies like yeah, yeah, that sounds great! But when you actually need to collect the money or have people show up to work it's a totally different story (I'll be sure to include my project horror story in here later so you can see exactly what I'm talking about).

So a few people have been asking lately what I need. And the short answer is that I don't really need anything. I can find pretty much all of the essentials down here and the "I just can't do PC without" things like Carmex SPF chapstick, Assie spray in conditioner, and Oil of Olay anti-aging cream have pretty much been taken care of till I leave here thanks to some awesome friends and family. But there are a few things that, while not per say "necessary", would be pretty amazing to recieve...

red vines (twizzlers are not an acceptable substitute)

reeses pieces

chex mix

pesto sauce packets (and any other handy sauce mix like that)

chinese rice crackers

one of those Hickory Farms sausage logs (I eat a lot of crackers down here)

new music, movies or tv shows (i-tunes cards!!) I now have a computer!

interesting "light" reading material (Rolling Stone, Nat. Geo., Jane, ect...)

purfume samples (anything cirtrus, floral or sweet smelling) or a body spray!

Aftermath of a globo/espuma (water ballon/foam) war. During pauses in the parade we would either initiate globo wars with, or do the best to defend ourselves from, other spectors watching the parade. Actually the globo/espuma fighting can be really fun if you want to play. I never actually initiated any fights with anyone, but if somebody tried to get mess with me I had no qualms about going after them. I didn´t care if it was just a little kid! haha...I can´t tell you how good it felt to espuma some punk kid right in the face after all I went through last carnaval! And I should also mention that the spectaors are much more respectful of the dancers in Oruro. If you tried to throw a waterballon at one of the dancers you would be publicly humiliated.

Los Diablos (the devils) getting ready to dance.

Every group of dancers some a few hundred strong, has a band backing them up. A lot of the band members don´t look so good. A combination of exhaustion from walking the parade route with their heavy instuments and drunkenness (mostly drunkenness). But this band was pretty awesome. Sharply dressed and full of enegry.

These dancers are performing the Tinku. My favorite Bolivian dance. It´s basically a reanactment of a fighting ritual that the Tinku people still do to this day (to the death!). Both the music and the dance is really high energy and really excting to watch.

And last but not least... my favorite Carnaval character the Oso! It´s supposed to be a bear, not a deranged giant rat. More to come...

I didn´t get to do too much sightseeing since I was only in town for a few days, but we did manage to check out the Recoleta. A little city of mosoleums. Some sparkling new, obnoxiously huge and made of black polished granite (can not even begin to imagine how much something like that would cost) and others, like the the one above, hudreds of years old crumbling apart but full of character.

We celebrated New Years Eve with a rooftop BBQ. It was so hot and humid! We were whiping off sweat while watching the fireworks ring in the New Year. All the girls were looking cute in there dresses and heels while the boys were all shirtless a drinking beer...real classy guys. The girl in blue is my awesome sitemate Julia and the shirtless man is her boyfriend Dan, another Tarija volunteer. Check out my cast. All that for a little broken finger!

A huge crowd was gathered in front of the Casa Rosada, the Argentinean equivelent of the White House, holding up pictures of loved ones (the majority of them very young) and banners with sayings like ¨Never Again¨. A tragic nightclub fire the year before had killed over a hundred people. Basically the place was rediculously packed full of people and when a fire broke out they ran for the emergency exits only to find them chained shut, traping them inside. The trial for the club owners was taking place that week and the people wanted to make sure their friends and family members were not forgotten.

Sippin´ on a McDonald´s soda on the Subte (subway). I felt like I had been teleported 20 years into the future. Bought the very hippy t-shirt in one of the many cutsey cheap little boutiques in Palermo. Argentineans are very stylish people.

The following article was run by ABC news last week -

In an apparent violation of U.S. policy, Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright scholar were asked by a U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia "to basically spy" on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country, according to Peace Corps personnel and the Fulbright scholar involved.

"I was told to provide the names, addresses and activities of any Venezuelan or Cuban doctors or field workers I come across during my time here," Fulbright scholar John Alexander van Schaick told ABCNews.com in an interview in La Paz.

Van Schaick's account matches that of Peace Corps members and staff who claim that last July their entire group of new volunteers was instructed by the same U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia to report on Cuban and Venezuelan nationals.

The State Department says any such request was "in error" and a violation of long-standing U.S. policy which prohibits the use of Peace Corps personnel or Fulbright scholars for intelligence purposes. "We take this very seriously and want to stress this is not in any way our policy," a senior State Department official told ABCNews.com.

The Fulbright scholar van Schaick, a 2006 Rutgers University graduate, says the request came at a mandatory orientation and security briefing meeting with Assistant Regional Security Officer Vincent Cooper at the embassy on the morning of Nov. 5, 2007. According to van Schaick, the request for information gathering "surfaced casually" halfway through Cooper's 30-minute, one-on-one briefing, which initially dealt with helpful tips about life and security concerns in Bolivia.

"He said, 'We know the Venezuelans and Cubans are here, and we want to keep tabs on them,'" said van Schaick who recalls feeling "appalled" at the comment. "I was in shock," van Schaick said. "My immediate thought was 'oh my God! Somebody from the U.S. Embassy just asked me to basically spy for the U.S. Embassy.'"

A similar pattern emerges in the account of the three Peace Corps volunteers and their supervisor. On July 29, 2007, just before the new volunteers were sworn in, they say embassy security officer Vincent Cooper visited the 30-person group to give a talk on safety and made his request about the Cubans and Venezuelans. "He said it had to do with the fight against terrorism," said one, of the briefing from the embassy official. Others remember being told, "It's for your own safety."

Peace Corps Deputy Director Doreen Salazar remembers the incident vividly because she says it was the first time she had heard an embassy official make such a request to a Peace Corps group. Salazar says she and her fellow staff found the comment so out of line that they interrupted the briefing to clarify that volunteers did not have to follow the embassy's instructions, and she later complained directly to the embassy about the incident.

"Peace Corps is an a-political institution," Salazar says. "We made it clear to the embassy that this was an inappropriate request, and they agreed."

Indeed, the State Department admits having acknowledged the infraction and assuring Salazar that it would not happen again. Yet, it was just four months later that Fulbright scholar van Schaick says he was asked by the same embassy official, Cooper, to "spy" on the Cubans and Venezuelans. A U.S. Embassy official in La Paz, Bolivia said Cooper was referring all calls for comment to the State Department in Washington.

Van Schaick says he never considered complying with the request, fearful he would violate Bolivian espionage laws and that he would jeopardize the integrity of the Fulbright program, which yearly sends hundreds of American college graduates to countries around the world.

"I am supposed to be a cultural ambassador increasing mutual understanding between us and the Bolivian people," van Schaick explains. "This flies in face of everything Fulbright stands for."

The Fulbright program receives its funding from the U.S. State Department and the Peace Corps is a federal agency, but the State Department insists that neither group has the obligation to act in an intelligence capacity. In fact, both have strict regulations against members getting involved in politics in their host country.

The press director at the Peace Corps told ABC News in no uncertain terms that the corps is not involved in any intelligence gathering. "Since Peace Corps' inception in 1961, it has been the practice of the Peace Corps to keep volunteers separate from any official duties pertaining to U.S. foreign policy, including the reality or the appearance of involvement in intelligence-related activities," said Amanda Beck, press director of the Peace Corps. "Any connection between the Peace Corps and the intelligence community would seriously compromise the ability of the Peace Corps to develop and maintain the trust and confidence of the people in the host countries we serve." Read the Peace Corps' full statement.

Like many of the Peace Corps workers, van Schaick is carrying out his research in the Santa Cruz countryside, where a number of Cuban doctors are deployed providing free medical services as part of Cuba's solidarity with its socialist ally, Bolivia's President Evo Morales.

The accusations are likely to reverberate in Bolivia, especially given the already shaky relationship between the Bush administration and President Morales' two-year-old government.

"These are serious incidents that we will investigate thoroughly," says Bolivia's Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca in an interview. "Any U.S. government use of their students or volunteers to provide intelligence represents a grave threat to Bolivia's sovereignty." Bolivian law provides severe penalties in espionage cases. According to Article 111 of the country's penal code, "he who procures secretive documents, objects or information…concerning [Bolivia's] foreign relations in an espionage effort for other countries during times of peace, endangering the security of the State, will incur a penalty of 30 years in prison." In lay man's terms: if any U.S. citizen provides information of use in a spying effort, they would be subject to Bolivia's maximum prison sentence.

But the U.S. citizens who reported being approached in this way by the State Department official said no mention was made of any legal risks arising from complying with the request to keep tabs on foreign nationals in Bolivia. There is no indication that any of the volunteers made reports to the U.S. Embassy.

Van Schaick says he is keenly aware of the Pandora's box now knocked open. The Hoboken, N.J. native, however, was adamant that the incident be brought to light -- in the hopes for change. "I came forward because the Bolivian people have a right to know," former union activist van Schaick says. "Asking Fulbrighters to spy is just not OK."

Three of the other four Fulbright scholars currently in Bolivia say they were never asked about Cubans or Venezuelans in their briefings. A fourth Fulbright scholar declined repeated requests for an interview on the subject.

I can´t really say to much about such a politically controversial situation like this on my blog. But I´d like to personally thank Mr. Vincent Cooper for getting us into this mess. There about 130 PC volunteers here in Bolivia that are here for all the right reasons and you´re ¨slip up¨ puts all of our credibility into question. Thanks.

Some pictures that I really like for one reason or another...

This is just a pretty flower on a giant cactus on the Isla del Peces in the Salar.

"I'm too beautiful to be a volunteer"...haha! What is with that look?! This is my buddy Kilo at Rodeo right before the most amazing parrillada of my life. Relax folks... parrillada is a BBQ!

This is my buddy Loro. I made the mistake of being nice to him and ever since he's managed to crawl up my huge flight of stairs (well... huge for a little loro) every morning and squak and shrek to wake me up at six in the morning. That was until his mysterious disapearence... I swaer I had nothing to do with it! I actually kind of miss that little guy.

These are kids from the first class I ever worked with. After about five minutes of watching me and wondering what I was doing... I managed to convince them that picking up trash was way cool! These kids were sooo adorable. When I waved goodbye to them a group of girls all looked at each other and said something between themselves. Then the next second they all come running to me and each give me a goodbye kiss. I was too sweet! (It looks like the boy on the right is trying to make the moves on the cutie in pink)

One of the things I really like about Bolivia is the frequency of band music and parades. This was a parade in Tarija after Dia de Santos. Can't wait to see the "mack daddy" of all parades in Oruro for carnaval this Feb!!!

These are Julia's Kids. A group of kids from the local orphanage in Bermejo. We took the kids out of the city and to the campo for an afternoon of soccer and raiding oranges form a nearby orchard. I know it's wrong to have favorites.... but these two are mine! The kid in pink is probably 8 years old and not even four feet tall, but he is the most bas ass futbolero you've ever seen! He's like wasit tall but dribbles straight for you like he's going to run right over you. It's hilarious! Me and Dan tried not to laugh everytime this kid got the ball. The other one is just soo cute. He's always holding your hand and asking about some plant, your earings, why your in a cast. It's probably a good thing foriegners can't adopt Bolivian children cause otherwise this one might end up coming home with me.

Todos Santos (All Saints) is a Bolivian holiday celebrated around the same time as Halloween in the States. It´s my favorite Bolivian holiday (so far) and was the best bonding experience I´ve had with my host family thus far. There´s a few elements that I would like to take with me and incorporate into Halloween when I´m back in the States. Mainly, it´s just taking time to remeber and (most importantly) celebrate the lives of the dead. I think it´s really nice to just set one day aside and remember people... because otherwise they can be too easily forgotten.

It reminds me a lot of Dia de los Muertos in Mexico. Basically, people take a day, or two, to remember and celebrate the dead. In my host family the day before Todos Santos we cooked a big meal making specific dishes that recently departed ones had liked and set a special place for them at the table. Then on the day of Todos Santos we had a delicios parillada (bbq) and headed over to the local cemetary to hang out and pay our respects.

This is the Cruz de los Viejos (Cross of the Old Ones) that greets you at the entrance of the cemetery and symbolizes all the ancestors that became before us. There must have been about a thousand candels lit underneath this brightly decorated cross.

This is my host mom Doña Ana and my niece Adriana, a real cuttie. They are holding up pictures of Doña Ana´s son Rafa (passed away about two years ago) and her husband (five years). They were apparently both really into horses. Rafa was quite a popular, accomplished rider in Bermejo. He actually died in a tragic horse riding acciddent that I´ve talked about on here before.

This is Rafa´s and Doña Ana´s husband´s grave site. One of the prettier graves in the cemetary. I asked to go with them to the cemetary to see the graves. I was a little worried that Doña Ana might get emotional becuase I heard that she gets pretty emotional whenever talking about Rafa and I´m really not good in dealing with situations like that. But we just sat there in contemplative silence while other people would come up and pay their respects and Doña Ana would show them her pictures. The overall feeling at the cemetary was humm... how can I describe it? It was neither somber or overly festive. But it felt positve. Like people were genuinely remembering their loved ones, but happy to be there all the same.

I stoped to take a picture of the relatively more simple grave sites and this woman saw me and invited me to a drink which I was instructed to first pour some onto the grave as an offering to the decest. She told me about how the elderly woman in the grave didn´t have family when she became ill and that she took care of her during her last year and now she was the only one to visit her. I was touched by how this woman so openly shared her story with me. Definitely one of the most significant and personal cross cultural experineces I´ve had thus far.

Ok... wanted to elaborate on the vacation more, but I think I may have broken my finger playing football after turkey dinner (yes I am an idiot). So typing isn´t working out too well right now. This will have to do for now.

Just got back from my first real vacation! (I do not count a weekend in Salta as a real vacation) A whirl wind tour through western Bolivia. My friends from Brown, Dawn and David, came down and meet me in Tarija. From there we made a brief visit to Bermejo and then it was off to Tupiza, via el norte de Argentina and the absolutely gorgeous Quebrada Hamahuaca. For anyone headed to Tupiza I highly recomend traveling this route rather than through southern Bolivia. Not only are Argentinean buses clean and comfortable and the roads paved, but the scenery is sooo pretty.

Just outside of Tarija.

From Tupiza we set off on a four day/ three night jeep tour through the desolate south western corner of Bolivia and the Salar de Uyuni (the world´s biggest salt flat). It was basically four days of straight driving through some of the most remote, but beutiful territory in Bolivia. We passed by extinct volcanoes, colored lagoons, deserts... all around 4000m or more. We saw a lot of wildlife.... about a million llamas (although they´re not so wild anymore), vicuñas (like llamas but smaller), vischacas (like a chinchilla), lots of flamingos and a fox. No condors though... that was a bummer.

This is the Isla de Pesca (Fish Island) in the middle of the Salar. A cactus covered island in a sea of salt.

We came across some pretty impresive ruins. An abandoned village said to be about 1500 years old (not sure if I quite believe it), still in great condition. The first ruins I have visited thus far in Bolivia. The town was huge relative to all the other more ¨modern¨, still occupied, towns around it. The people apparently made a living mining silver, but like so many others were robed by the spanish then victim to a subsequent plauge.

Some minor technical difficulties. The break was stuck on the rear tire. Solution... take it off. You don´t really need all of your breaks anyway, right? The kid... opps I mean full grown man in the red jacket was our guide and driver. We didn´t realize how tiny he was until he got out of the jeep. We shared the jeep with a really cool Irish couple (there the one´s in black. Some of the most well traveled people I´ve ever meet. So now I´ve got a place to crash in Ireland ;)

The beautiful Laguna Verde. Green because of arsenic and other nasty chemicals. We took a cue from the flamingos and stayed away from this lagoon.

So cheesey.... but we couldn´t help ourselves. This is one in about a million dorky photos we took on the Salar.

Infamous Potosi. Once the richest city in the World. The mountain is still mined to this day under very harsh, some may say cruel and inhumane, conditions.

El Cemetario. One of the most tranquil places in the other wise chaotic city of La Paz. This huge cemetary is a nice retreat from the smog filled noisy streets of La Paz. I almost had a heart attack climbing up the almost vertical streets to get there. But it was well worth it. La Paz is just nuts. It´s a huge city in the middle of a relatively small valley surrounded by dramatic snow capped mountains. You can see in the picture how the builings crawl up every inch of the valley seemingly defying gravity. It´s the wierdest contrast between ugly urban sprawl and natural beauty. At night on the Prado, in the middle of the valley, you´re surrounded by lights on the valley walls all around you. A very bizzare feeling.

These fine items are for sale in the witch´s market (more like a few random stands than an actual market). Well... I´m not exactly sure what the armadillo is for, but the dried llama fetuses (yes that´s what they are) are buried under new houses and other buildings to please Pachamama (Earth Mother) and bring good fortune. No... the fetuses were not killed for this particular purpose. They were found in previously slaughtered llamas used for food purposes.

El Centro. I think this picture gives a pretty good idea of the chaos of La Paz.

The totally chill (definitely more my pace) Copacabana. It´s really wierd feeling like you´re at a beach town while looking at snow caped mountains in the background. The countryside surrounding Lago Titicaca is soo pretty. This is the largest body of water I have seen in 10 months! There´s some thing very calming about water.

The even more tranquilo Isla del Sol (Sun Island). The birth place of the sun in Incan legend. Turns out the birth place of the sun wasn´t so sunny. We actually got a hail storm while on the island. We had to hike up ¨an easy 2km of stairs¨ (hostel description) at over 4,000 m with our packs to get to our hostel at the top of the hill. I felt like I might die as local kids carrying other poeples packs (almost as big as themselves) were waltzing up the hill. But it was all worth it. Once my vision came back into focus... I could appreciate the absolutely amazing view of Isla de la Luna (Moon Island), the lake and the snow capped mountains behind it. As you can see from the photo every inch of this island is terreced. It´s pretty impressive what people will do to make a living.

Glad I wasn´t on that bus (we decided to take the lower route). This is the reason why the lengh of bus rides are given in time ranges and not precise hours. Ya never know what you´re going to run into. Who knows how long these poor people were stuck in the middle of nowhere while the drivers shoveled dirt futily under the tires.

Looks like this blog thing is pretty popular. It turns out a lot of others from our group have their own blogs. Really well done too. I going to have to start picking up the slack over here. So check them out to get a better perspective because while there are similarities between our stories no one Peace Corps experience is like another.

The Gran Chaco

So the whole reason I was on that horrific road was to get to Camiri to attend a taller (workshop) on environmental ed. and how to use this ¨maletín didactico¨(didactic briefcase). The maletín is a box of five educational text books all about Environmental Ed. related to the Chaco. They´re really well done and I think would make a great resource for the teachers over here in Bermejo. From the books I found out that Bermejo is actually part of the Chaco (just barely, but we definitely are). I knew that the vegetation and climate was similar, but didn´t know exactly where the boundry lie. So that was pretty exciting to find out. Not only are the materials directly relevant to Bermejo, but now when all the Chaco volunteers brag about how badass they are I can join in ;) I think I will be a really valuable asset to the Chaco team. For instance, when challenging the Altiplano gang to drinking competitions...ha! The Chaco is the second largest forested area in South America (the first being of course the Amazon). There is a distinct rainy and dry season. Whereas in the Amazon it´s wet all the time. It extends through parts of Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

The idea was to attend the taller to see how it was run, get the materials and then organize general environmental ed. tallers for the teachers here in Bermejo and hopefully give away copies of the same materials. The taller was less than amazing (deffinately an eye opening experince into the way things are run in Bolivia vs. the states), but it was good to see what elements I liked from it and can incorporate into my own taller and what I did not and can cut out. Part of it was training on how to give tallers in general so since I completed the training GTZ (a German organization, based in the Chaco) will now give me the maletins´ for my own tallers in Bermejo! So now I don´t have to make copies of anything and all the teachers will have their own maletín which is great. A couple of volunteers that attended the taller as well are going to help me give the tallers here in Bermejo in Jan/Feb. Where going to plan the best taller B-jo has ever seen! So I´m pretty excited to have this project in the works. Many of the teachers I´ve worked with have told me they want envir. ed. materials (any materials really) and now I have found really good ones. So I feel like this will be a really worthwhile project. Something that will definitley benefit the shools down here.

This is actually a picture of The World´s Most Dangerous Road (also found in Bolivia) but you pretty much get the idea..

The road from Tarija toVilla Montes is by far the most terrifying road I have ever been on. I´ve heard it was a horrible road, but I didn´t realize quite how bad. I think the majority of people try to sleep through it so they don´t really know how bad it is or maybe they´re just a lot more badass than me and don´t whine about it so much. But I had the pleasure of being awake most of the time and a window seat with a nice view of the potential for disaster. The nine hour trip snakes through a huge sub- Andean mountain range. The road is unpaved and the majority of it is one way. Barely big enough for a car let alone a monsterous flota (bus). And did I mention this was a night trip? Which I think may actually be an advantage because you can see the headlights of oncoming vechicles from far away. I have never been so freaked by a road in my life! The first three or so hours was scarey, but the road seemed to be wide enough with at least a few feet between the flota tires and the edge of the cliff with sporactic turnouts to let oncoming trucks squeeze by. I got car sick with all the turns and whatnot and I´m pretty sure I heard someone puke somewhere in the bus through my earphones. But that´s about as bad as it got. My friend actually got puked on by some kid on this same road, but that´s another story... Sometime after Entre Rios (which they are sending a new volunteer... poor thing. I don´t think I´d ever leave my site for fear of the road if I was her!) I open my eyes and catch the image of a camion(truck) a couple hundred of feet in front of us going around a bend. The lights from the truck illuminate the profile of the mountain. And then I realize just how bad this road is. We´re not talking about a gentle 45 degree slope, it´s more like 80. With a drop of who know´s how many hundreds of feet. All I know is it´s so far down you can not see the bottom. It looks like a cliff with a tiny road cut into it and a miniature truck driving by. It loks fake. It´s so steep there aren´t even trees growing on it. It´s just rock. That´s when I start to freak out. Are we really doing this!?! Then I look out the window to see how close to the edge we are and, no joke, I can´t even see the ground underneath us. Just a black abyss... That´s how close to the edge we are. Then I look to the other side of the bus. We are right up against the rocks on the other side of the road. Nope...no room there. And then every nightmare scenario passes through my head. What if another truck comes up the road!?! There´s no way a truck could pass us. If we try to back up... we´ll back up right over the cliff! And then I notice all the crosses along the road which up until that point I had been trying to ignore... two here, three there... a disturbingly common sight. At one point on the road there are so many I think it´s a cemetary for a second. Then I realize we´re still in the middle of nowhere and again they´re by the side of the cliff... oh that must have been a flota... great. This guy in front of me turned around and he must have seen in my face how freaked out I was becuase he tried to reassure me that there wasn´t much left to go. It was one of those rare times when you think to yourself wow... Í really could die...There´s proably a significant probability of death driving this road. The only reassurances were that the driver did not appear to be drunk (which believe it or not is a really big problem here, they recently started random breathalizer tests for flota drivers) and he probably drives this road every night... so at least he knows it well. Well... all in all I lived to tell the tale and I will never take that road again!! They should really make it easier for people to travel through northern Argentina to the other side of the Tarija department. There is a new Trans- Chaco road in the process of construction that should make travel a lot safer, but who knows when that will be completed. Bolivia is kind of notorious for it´s roads. It actually has the distinction of having The World´s Most Dangerous Road. Sorry... this entry is kind of morbid I know. But hey thats´s part of living in Bolivia - the trecherous roads! I´ll do my best to avoid them from here on out.

So it´s been six months in site (a fourth of my two years in site already over) and nine months total (a third of my total service)! It is absolutely crazy how the time has flown by these last three months. Having actual work and a schedule really helps the time go by. I am thankful to be in a site where there is plenty of work. I know it´s been tougher for other people. Although, I could easily be doing twice as much work as I am... I feel that I´ve gotten off to a pretty good start. It´s a good mix of working in the schools, but still having plenty of time to prepare charlas and crack open the ol´spanish book.

Yes... spanish still torments me. It has definately been the hardest thing for me over here. The only thing that´s made me cry :( It just gets really frustrating sometimes. I´ll have a good conversation with someone feeling like I understood everything and could get all my points across and then the next minute not understanding a word someone else says and then they say ¨Oh you don´t speak spanish very well?¨ And you feel like a complete idiot saying that you´ve been here for 9 months and actually work here, but you still can not understand them. Ofcourse I could always learn more, but more than anything, I´ve come to the conclusion that it all depends on who you talk to. Some poeple just don´t understand the whole talking clearly and simply thing. What can you do? But I have been told by several people recently that my Spanish has gotten a lot better... so that´s nice to hear.

I just sent in my QPR (Quarterly Progress Report) that we´re required to send in to Washington to prove that were actually doing work and that the Peace Corps is a worthwhile endevor. And I figured out that I´ve worked with about 575 people these past few months. The vast majority being kids from first to seventh grade and their teachers. Although I feel guilty everyday I don´t work and that number could be larger if only I had planned more charlas. I also feel like it´s important not to jump into too much too fast and get burned out. Working just four hours with little kids can be pretty exhausting. So all in all I feel pretty good about that number. It´s a nice start. The number is actuall people I´ve ¨trainined¨ in Environmental Ed concepts. While it´s good to have a significant number... a number doesn´t include all the other experiences that in my mind are equally important. Like going back to the same class and doing an art project with the recycled paper you made the time before, showing the kids pictures of California during recess and trying to explain life in the states (thanks for sending me that book Mom, the kids all want to come to California now), or participating in the madness of class parties. Which are actually the best moments for me.

There is a really friendly, motivated teacher in one of the schools that I work at in the nearby campo. She actually came up with her own topic that she wanted me to present to the class! Which is a rarity. After I ended the charla she insisted that I stay the rest of the day with the class because ¨no one interesting ever comes to the school¨. So I ended up doing anyhting that randomly pops into my head... talking to the kids about the geography of the United States, playing hangman, teaching numbers in English and somehow I got talked into singing the national anthem. This has actually happened on at least three seperate occassions. I try to explain that I sing horribly, but their so insistant and they look as if they would be crushed if you didn´t do it... so you can´t say no. And it´s so funny... they absolutely love it! They all clap and tell you how pretty it was. Even though you know you´ve totally butchered it... you didn´t even sing the lyrics correctly. So all in all I ended up spending the entire day with the class. The teacher ends up copying all of my notes and having us both formally sign it with stamps an everything (Bolivians are a big fan of formality). Which I thought was kind of odd at the time, but she will probably teach the lesson again which is great. This Wednesday I go back to her class and follow up on the original charla and talk about Endangered Species of Bolivia (which I am supposed to be researching now). So I´ve got to run but other random anecdotes to follow...

This is definitley a country of extremes. Last rainy season (while we were in Cochabamba training) I was watching horrible scenes of flooding throughout the Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando regions...people being rescued from flooded villages, thousands of floating cow carcasses. Now there are a ton of wildfires burning in the same areas. Though the worst seem to be in the nearby Chaco. There is a volunteer in Villamontes right now helping in the fire fighting effort in over 100 degree heat! (Cha Chi your my hero!) Most of the fires have been started by people burning land to clear for their crops. A practice that is still very alive and well in Bolivia. The sky has been really hazy for the past couple of weeks sending many people to the hospitals with respiratory infections and forcing the closuer of many airports. I even heard the airport in La Paz was shut down for a couple of days. They are predicting that the fires will continue for the next month and a half!! I certainly hope they can get the situation under control a little sooner. I was talking to my friend about the fires saying ¨I can´t imagine how Bolivian firefighters could get control of a situation this bad¨. And she jokingly said ¨Yeah don´t you need hoses to put out f¡res?¨ While her comment was kind of funny...she´s also has a point. And becuase of this fire fighters from Paraguay, Peru and Argentina have already been sent in to help.

Here´s an article I found to give you a better idea-

Some 12,000 forest fires are raging in Bolivia, forcing the closure of all but the biggest airports and threatening the country's natural gas fields and fuel pipelines, authorities said Wednesday. The head of Bolivia's armed forces, Gen. Wilfredo Vargas, said that the army "is on emergency (alert)" to help extinguish the fires. The burning of forest is an ancient - though now illegal - practice at this time of year to clear more land on which to plant crops.

The director of Civil Aviation, Javier Garcia, confirmed Wednesday at a press conference that 30 of the country's 37 airports are closed due to the density of smoke from the fires. The press reported the danger posed by the fires in areas traversed by gas and fuel pipelines, like the Bolivian Chaco region, where more than 7,000 hectares (17,500 acres) have already been burned. The mayor of the southern town of Villamontes, Ruban Vaca, said that state energy company YPFB should be concerned because the fire is about to arrive at several gas wells. The director of land management, Cliver Rocha, said that the courts should "send to jail" anyone who burns their land to expand their cultivation area because they are putting at risk the health of the public as well as the environment. Meanwhile, President Evo Morales met with his Cabinet to analyze the situation and the emergency measures being taken to deal with the fires.

Even though I managed to miss every single actual rodeo event at this years rodeo... I still had an amazing time! The first day I didn't realize that the events were going on so early and missed them all and the second day I tried to get a seat in the stands, but it was soo hot and packed full of people it was impossible to see any of the action. Even though I was glad to miss such events as "pato entero" a kind of blind-folded knock the head off the half buried duck game, and the branding of the cattle... it would have been nice to see some bull riding or horse races. But it was just really great to see all those long lost friends again. The group in the Chaco is a lot of fun!

Ohh... look how cute we are. Me and Matteo, one of the sharpest dressed men in the Chaco.

Rodeo is not something I would normally get too excited about in the states, but in the Chaco where all the men claim to be macho vaqueros and cattle raising is such a huge part of the culture you just can't help but to get excited!

My new friends/dance partners. The regional dance of Tarija and the Chaco is the chaquerera. A dance where the men do lots of fancy foot work and kick up dust with their boots (kind of like tap dancing but much more powerful and exagerated) and the women twirl around in their skirts. And there was plenty of dancing that weekend! I'm pretty sure we were the source of much amusment for all the Bolivians in the crowd with our rediculous gringo moves.

We got to meet Bolivian ex-president Jamie Paz Zamora! How cool is that? We spotted him at a local bar in Tarija and I decided that we just couldn't let the oportunity pass by without introducing ourselves and taking a picture... so I "invitar-ed" the man to my cerveza and we introduced ourselves (I was later accused of flirting with the ex-president which I strongly deny!). He was very friendly to us all, welcoming us to Bolivia and inviting us to his place to see his horses... even though I doubt that is ever going to happen it was a nice gesture. My friend, the other blond, Erin asked the beautiful woman sitting next to him if she was his daughter and she replied that she was his wife. Erin was totally embarrassed... but we all got a good laugh out of that! Of course my eyes are closed for the only picture we got with him!

I´ve been told that I am sounding angry recently in my blog. And I just wanted to make clear that I am not angry... at all. Yes, there are times when I get annoyed and frustrated and I´ve written about those. This is a pretty crazy experience and there bound to be plenty of those moments. But all in all, I have to say that I´m pretty content. Any angry feeling that may come out of my writing is probably just misconstrued sarcasm. I feel that most people who really know me would get that... that it´s pretty rare for me to be really angry, but you never know. That´s the danger with text. It´s up to the reader to put any spin on it they want. I feel, regrettably, that this blog is already super censored... for fear of offending anyone about anything!