So, if anyone ever doubted the power of writing a letter, here's proof that they shouldn't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203710.html

This story, which sent a reporter and photographer all the way to the campo of Bolivia, features quotes from the letter I wrote right after our evacuation and from 2 other B-45ers and a B-43er. It ran a week ago on the front page of the Washington Post.

Even though the press (again) mischaracterized my opinion by skipping the part of my letter that said

...I agree that being overly cautious is wise in Bolivia, since situations can change very rapidly. Safety concerns ... probably were the main motivator, though not the only one.

and jumping straight to the more dramatic

Peace Corps, unfortunately, has become another weapon in the US diplomatic arsenal. To withdrawal Peace Corps is one more chance for the US to maintain its tough image and hit back, harder.

I am still grateful that our story was told because it highlights all that is right with Peace Corps and much of what is right with America, as well as raises important questions. I can't tell you how proud I am of my fellow ex-Peace Corps volunteers who've decided to return and are still working in Bolivia today. The last remnants of a happier US-Bolivia relationship, these brave and dedicated folks are doing more to smooth things out than anyone else under the umbrella of the Bush Administration today. You can't tell me that the Bolivian who watches these wonderful people work on their own dime isn't given some pause. And in that pause there is peace.

As for the questions raised by the Post story, there were at the time of the evacuation and I assume still are former Peace Corps Bolivia volunteers who believe we were shut down entirely for political reasons. I am not one of them. However, if they were unwilling to speak up and a few of my quotes taken out of context were all reporters needed to get people thinking, so be it. It is more important to encourage accountability and redirect Peace Corps from whatever dark path it may be wandering toward than for me to come out looking good.

Peace Corps is a wonderful organization that hopefully will figure prominently in future efforts to rebuild and strengthen our international connections. But it needs to be protected from misuse and adequately funded. Peace Corps' purported independence is precisely what allows it into the countries where it needs to be. Where America needs to be. Can we really afford to throw away these opportunities on petty political payback?

I signed up for better. Bolivia agreed to accept me into her heart for better. We can do better.

If you'll bear with me, I feel compelled to bring up a few more points for your consideration before letting this whole thing go and moving on.

1) In the 2 other Peace Corps evacuations which occurred this year for "safety and security" reasons, the decision to suspend the program was made after a longer waiting period...despite more hazardous conditions.

In Kenya, volunteers were evacuated in 2 groups based on whether or not there was election-related violence in their immediate area. Those from violent areas waited a full week after evacuating before the decision was made that they could not safely return. Those from non-violent parts of Kenya waited an entire month before their program was suspended. In U.S.-friendly Georgia, volunteers hunkered down in Armenia for 2 weeks to see if conditions improved despite tanks and bombs devastating their adopted nation. In Bolivia, 1/2 of volunteers were told of the suspension less than 24 hrs after arriving in Peru. The other 1/2 were told right after boarding the plane for Peru....while still on the ground in Bolivia.

2) In the early days after the Bolivia program suspension was announced, Peace Corps spokesperson Amanda Beck was quoted in an AFP article saying

"It's definitely a factor that the Bolivian president declared the ambassador persona non grata" and "it just became an environment that was unproductive."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ghpggxKnFCbZDirQUsdRhVRWozPg

3) Also in the early days, U.S. State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said that with respect to the program suspension

"security played a big part in it" and "we’re going to reserve the right to take a look at our relationship with Bolivia and, where we feel appropriate, to take steps that reflect the current state of that relationship."

http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rls/dpb/2008/q3/109796.htm

4) This isn't really a point. I just wanted to draw your attention to an article in which our withdrawal was seen as a reaction to the declaration of Ambassador Goldberg as a persona non grata in Bolivia.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160038

I should note that Newsweek may be a little biased because they just lost a huge Peace Corps subscription, however. Budget shortfall. ;-)

So there you go. What's done is done, and the whole thing is history. Literally. I just looked it up on wikipedia and the whole thing has already been written up as "history." Wild.

On a side note, the AP article described in my previous post ended up in a lot of different places. I have no idea how many how many news outlets picked it up, but there were many. A few people have written me to say it showed up in their tiny hometown paper! Here a some more big names that took the story off the wire

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6010932

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27130904/

http://news.aol.com/article/ex-volunteers-angry-at-peace-corps/208121

http://www.newsweek.com/id/163436

http://www.iht.com/pages/arts/design/index.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-7854091,00.html

http://saptahik.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/391471/N/2/4/A

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/oct/11/ex-volunteers-angry-at-peace-corps-bolivia-pullout/

http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_10697528

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/11/international/i080314D44.DTL&hw=southeastern&sn=008&sc=655

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081011/ex-volunteers-angry-at-peace-corps-bolivia-pullout.htm

Sorry to keep jumping around in time like this, but I've got to get back to the present for a moment. I'll finish and post my older entries soon. Right now, there are 2 things I'd like to share with you:

1) I'm in the US! Northern Virginia, to be exact. I arrived Saturday night with my little dog in tow, and will never forget the incredible thrill that followed that first glimpse of my family happily waiting for me with flowers and a balloon.

2) I'm in the news. A letter I wrote to family and friends (which I also posted here on my blog under "Evacuation") was passed by a friend to his friend Kathryn Ledebur, who happens to be the director of the Andean Information Network (AIN). She asked me if she could publish the letter on their website and email it to their members and I agreed.

http://ain-bolivia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=137&Itemid=51

Not long after, I got a call from an AP reporter. He wrote a short story about our evacuation which has been picked up by over 30 different news outlets at the time of this post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/11/AR2008101100585.html

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/723650.html

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Oct11/0,4670,LTPeaceCorpsPullout,00.html

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2008/10/11/ex_volunteers_angry_at_peace_corps_bolivia_pullout/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/11/ap/world/main4515040.shtml

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081011/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_peace_corps_pullout

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2008/10/13/2003425802

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1495485

While I'm not particularly happy about the somewhat misleading and sensationalistic headlines that describe us as "angry" (the less common "upset" is more accurate), I am definitely glad that our story is being told.

I stand by what I said, and every time I think about the Bolivians we've left behind or the dashed hopes of good-hearted volunteers, I want people to know that there could have been a better outcome. "Tough talk" foreign policy has done us all a disservice. I'd like to reiterate that I believe the primary motivator for our evacuation was safety concerns. But there is no doubt in my mind that there were additional motivators, both political and financial.

Whatever the reasons, the effect is the same. I am very disappointed to leave the Bolivian people without examples of real Americans doing good work just when they're starting to hear more messages about bad we are. It would be so much easier to nip Anti-Americanism in the bud. But you know us....why practice prevention when we can let it fester.

The Houston Chronicle wins the editing prize for publishing a "different" version of the article.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/6053647.html

I've enjoyed reading what other blogs have to say on the issue, since they are much freer than traditional news sources to say exactly what they think:

http://incakolanews.blogspot.com/2008/10/us-peace-corps-munity.html

http://m-grace.blogspot.com/2008/10/peace-corps.html

http://carlosqc.blogspot.com/2008/09/letter-from-peace-corp-volunteer-in.html

Here's my friend Ellen (left) and I on the day we spent together in Lima. She is the other ex-Peace Corps Bolivia volunteer who was interviewed for the article.

When I got this email I guffawed loudly in the Internet café….which lead to the usual “there goes that gringa again” glances. I couldn’t keep from chuckling every time I thought about it for the next few days, so finally asked the sender, our brand-new Santa Cruz Volunteer leader Anna, if I could post it on my blog. Enjoy…

Good morning SC group,

I hope you all made it back to your sites safely and that you are all able to get back into your daily routines as quickly as possible.

Here in the office we are dealing with somewhat of a problem, and thus Jorge has asked me to write you.

When volunteers visit the office, they are taking (stealing) the whole roll of toilet paper from the bathrooms. We ask that you please do not do this, because as we all know, there is a budget shortage and no money to buy more than normal. We had been saving money from recycling paper to buy something for you volunteers, but now instead Jorge has to use the money to buy tp.

We understand you probably take it because you are traveling, etc., but simply buying a 1bs roll on the street would make this whole situation dissapear.

Please take this into account the next time you're in the office, and hopefull that'll be all we have to say on this issue. Take care, Anna (still without cool signature)

In anticipation of the national recall election, Peace Corps Administration activated our Emergency Action Plan and moved us into the last phase of the plan before evacuation, which is consolidation. Apparently, in PC Admin’s eyes, we were 1 step away from Paraguay or even home. While this sounds serious, it was actually pretty fun because every single volunteer was herded into a resort outside of Santa Cruz city. In fact, the only bummer to the whole vacation was that we were under lockdown and forbidden to leave. And there were no ponies as promised. haha Other than that, we passed a week under swaying palms hitting the swim-up bar, tossing Frisbees and running paddle boats aground.

Being Peace Corps and really really good at organizing something out of nothing, we had many fun activities. We had a field day/Olympics (where I got my largest bruise ever in a 3-legged race), a scavenger hunt, a rocking talent show, and the All Vol Ball (cross-dressing only), belly dance workshops, etc. My favorite activity was a hysterical relay race in which competitors had to dig potatoes out of sand, throw rocks at a paper dog, make change using coins and candy and face other very Bolivian challenges.

We had legitimate activities too, especially within the Basic Sanitation project. As Basic San, we were pretty much the work horses and met all day every week day (not our idea). While members of other projects frolicked in the pool or walked by with drinks and cigars, we remained just out of reach, talking about trash and poop.

One day three other Basic Sanitation women who are focusing on trash and I gave a workshop with over 20 attendees from various projects on how to tackle trash in your site. It went great and we got a number of complements afterwards. It was really nice to be able to pass our experience and knowledge on… I hadn’t realized how much I missed our canceled shadow group till that day!

From our tropical resort we watched a little Olympics and monitored the situation in Georgia. The Russian attack happened the day after our new director Kathleen arrived at our consolidation. She seemed justifiably upset... she had come straight from being the Country Director of Georgia to Country Director of Bolivia. The unfortunate new director of PC Georgia had only been there 2 weeks when they were attacked. We learned later that all Georgian Peace Corps Volunteers were evacuated into nearby Armenia to see if things calmed down. After 2 weeks of waiting, the decision was made to suspend their program. Some volunteers went home and others were assigned to new countries.

We recently got word that Peace Corps Bolivia will soon be welcoming 5 of these ex-Georgia volunteers on Septmeber 15th. They will be the first new people to arrive since January. With Conor leaving, I’d love to get another volunteer here in Muyupampa and sent an email to Kathleen saying as much....I’ve got my fingers crossed!

Imagine you’re a teenage girl in Bolivia. And not just any girl, you are a poor girl. You work in a big house cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and helping look after kids 7 days a week. You are lucky to be allowed to go to school at night, though finding time for homework is a challenge. With the exception of class hours, you are never off duty.

Every now and then you are begrudgingly given permission to leave the house. The rarity of these moments makes it difficult to go on traditional dates to the plaza or maintain a boyfriend. Yet somehow you manage, and your current boyfriend is actually getting pretty serious. You worry that he’s got other girlfriends, since sometimes he’s sometimes gone for several days at a time, but there’s no way to confirm this. As a cholero (player) he would get a pat on the back, so he’d got nothing to loose.

Having had absolutely no sexual education and being surrounded by “helpful” advice, you’re confused about how everything works. You tried to ask your older sister about sex the last time you saw her (you left your home to work at 14) but she got very angry and demanded to know why you were asking. She then told your mother, who threatened to hit you. Your knowledgeable older friend brings up sexual health one day and you pepper her with questions. She answers what she can but you still have questions so you make plans to go together to the local sexual health NGO.

You know you’re supposed to ask permission, but you’re too embarrassed and can’t think of a good excuse. You could never just say you needed to get some information about sexual health because you would automatically be considered a “bad” girl. Everyone would talk badly of you and the mean grandmother next door would come in when no one was around and taunt you.

So you try to sneak out. The darling children of the household, who love to pass time yelling commands at you, run to get the grandmother next door. The grandmother rushes over and demands to know where you are going and you start to cry. The father of the house gets involved but by this time you’re too upset to even talk. Your friend, who has watched the whole thing quite horrified, mumbles something about this being a “woman thing” and promises you’ll return very quickly.

You slip out the door. You try to hide it but you cry all the way through town. After 4 humiliating blocks, you discover that the NGO is closed. It was all for nothing. You turn around only to see the father of the house, who had followed you and is now trying to hide. You cry on the way back and take your 5 min of freedom to attempt to live a normal teen girl life. You admire used clothes that you can't afford for sale on the street.

Several events occur around when a Peace Corps volunteer has completed 1 year of service. Worldwide, these include medical check-ups and a reunion with your training group to evaluate the direction of your service and make plans for your 2nd year. In PC Bolivia, often there are also project-wide meetings (ex. all basic sanitation volunteers). Our 1-year mark showed up at the end of July, but most events were postponed to take advantage of our upcoming consolidation in a rural resort.

What couldn’t be done in the middle of nowhere was special “female” check-ups, so all the ladies of B-45 had to go to Cochabamba at the end of July anyways. My time in Cochabamba was decent. Most of us were pretty booked with appointments all over the city, so we didn’t end up doing too much together. We did manage to get in a potluck dinner which was nice, except that I had the bright idea to make a fancy salad. I invested in walnuts, cheese, granny smith apples, the works. I rinsed the salad like always do, figuring that we’d be in country for 15 months now and everybody was hardcore like me. Not true. The next day, 2 people got very sick and had to be put on Cipro. Even though the volume of water would have been tiny, I was the only one who made anything raw so that pretty much had to be it. Luckily everyone else and I were totally fine. I felt pretty guilty though.

Speaking of hardcore, following my med exam results I’ve got something interesting to add to the “what I got in Bolivia” list!

1) Shigella

2) Mystery rash

3) Kidney infection

4) Numerous food poisonings

5) Laceration (firework)

6) Broken tooth (tough meat)

7) A pulled back muscle

8) Two intestinal parasites (new!)

Say hello to my little friends, not 1 but 2 intestinal parasites! The doctor told me their names but I immediately forgot. One is always harmless to humans and the other is harmless in 90% of cases…like mine (In the doctor’s words, it appears that we are “compatible.”) In the other 10% of cases the person gets seriously ill. Since the treatment is intense and requires a hospital stay, we decided to just let them be. I’ll never be alone again! I’m thinking about having a contest to name them. But I wasn’t the only one with surprise diseases. Lots of people found out they had amoebas, giardia, lice….it was like this disgusting but entertaining lottery.

While I was in Cochabamba I decided to go visit my host family from training. It was Friendship Day (a fairly big deal here) so I brought them a cake. I called about an hour before I got there, thinking that was pretty good warning for Bolivia, but it turned out not too be enough for Friendship Day because all 3 kids were already out (Ruben did stop by for just a minute though, which was nice). For the first couple hours I hung out with my host mom, really enjoying the 1-on-1 time since we were always close. At the beginning she was going nuts trying to make us rollos (little pizzaish dough rollups) but after we got them in the oven we could really talk.

My host dad came home and was entertained by tales of Muyupampa. Of course, the topic of another training group being cancelled came up. Since I was the first trainee they had ever hosted, I happy to learn that they had planned to get another one. They told me that someone from Peace Corps came around to deliver the bad news and had said that the group who would’ve gone to Bolivia went somewhere in Africa instead. An oversimplification, but it works.

It was very nice to see my host family making progress on their new kitchen and doing so well. I didn’t really appreciate until I’d been in Muyupampa for so long just how modern my host family was…I mean, the kids were on Facebook before I was, they have a microwave, they take vacations. I’m so glad I went to visit them. They are wonderful people.

About a week after I got back to Muyupampa, I had to report to Cochabamba. Since town festival time was winding up, partiers were straggling out and bus tickets were hard to come by. I told my friend Lulee that I was going to have to buy a ticket for 2 days from now. She said some relatives would be driving their own cars to Santa Cruz the next day, and that I should come back and introduce myself to them that night. The realitves turned out to be 50 something year-old identical twins, Flaco y Gordo. They were friendly and we made plans to leave the next day sometime from 12 to 1pm.

When I got to Lulee’s house around 1:20 (early) no one was home. I went to Lulee’s mom’s house, who told me they had all gone to see the motorcycle races. I walked the ½ hr along the edge to the river to where the races were being held and found no motorcycles but plenty of confused would-be spectators…apparently no one had ever finalized the race time. I walked back to town, left a note on Lulee’s door and came home to wait. That evening someone came by to tell me that we’d for sure leave first thing the next morning. Conor said he couldn’t get a bus ticket either, so I told him to come by tomorrow morning and we’d see if he could ride with us.

The next morning Conor and I waited at Lulee’s for about 1/2hr then went off searching for the twins. We inquired at Lulee’s mother’s house and found the twins and about 10 other people enjoying a big breakfast. They invited us to sit and we drank tea and ate various forms of bread for another ½hr. Then they announced it was time to go and we loaded our things in the car.

A friend of mine named Don Domingo came by selling aji (ground dried chile pepper). Flaco tried to buy some, explaining that someone in Santa Cruz had put him in charge of bringing it back, but Domingo was apparently out of product. So Flaco followed him down the hill to get more and we waited a good hour for him to come back. Gordo informed us that Flaco was the worst for dar vueltas (lit. turning circles, fig. chit-chating, wasting time).

But he finally came back and we were off…Conor with Flaco and some relatives and I with Gordo and some realtives. It turned out that the brothers liked to race each other, which was fun until Gordo informed me that Flaco can’t see well. We pulled beside him, both cars still flying down the dirt road at full speed and passed him a pair of old glasses through the open windows. The vision problem solved, we rocked out to disco clasicos and Gordo recounted his Saturday Night Fever glory days.

After stopping for the obligatory hour lunch, we hit the road again and I fell asleep. I woke up about 2 hours later and was surprised to see us still on the road. Gordo informed me that he had made a wrong turn. An hour after that, we arrived in Santa Cruz to find that a big parade had blocked off some roads. We didn’t make it to our destination until 5:30pm. That’s 1 ½ days actively trying to get Santa Cruz!

Right before we hit the road that morning Lulee had informed me that the brothers were a little stingy and to be sure and give them gas money. “Definitely no more than 50Bs.” she said. A bus ticket costs 45Bs. Since everyone was family I knew better than to go cheap and gave Gordo 50Bs. to thank him for the ride. In retrospect, if I had just bought my original bus ticket 2 days ahead I would’ve arrived that same night and saved 5Bs, 1 ½ days of trouble and a few gray hairs. But then I wouldn’t have this fun story. ;-)

No, Peace Corps Bolivia hasn’t been reinstated.

The following entries were roughly sketched out awhile back but I never got around to finishing and posting them. …you know, the whole evacuation thing. So now that I’m an unemployed vagrant in South America, I thought I’d at least complete my blog. ;-)

Greetings from Peru. As you may have already heard, there were recent bursts of violence in Bolivia and US-Bolivian relations are deteriorating. The US ambassador to Bolivia was told to leave the country and the US responded in kind, magnifying the blow by withdrawing Peace Corps and adding Bolivia to a list of countries who’ve “"failed demonstrably” to meet their anti-narcotics obligations.

Looking at articles about our evacuation, you may be inclined to think that Peace Corps Bolivia was suspended because violence presented a security risk to volunteers. CNN, for example, placed a photo of Bolivian police in La Paz wearing riot gear in their story “Peace Corps temporarily out of Bolivia.” They do not mention that volunteers do not live in nor passed anywhere near La Paz and in fact are prohibited from going near any protests.

Many Peace Corps Bolivia volunteers were very surprised to learn of our evacuation because they had felt no effects of instability in their sites. Even the volunteer from the supposedly disastrous city of Villamontes was shocked, having just written her family saying “Please don't worry about me. Despite the fact that things recently have been a little tense, rest assured I am completely safe. This is my home now. The town knows me and my host family makes sure I stay out of trouble.” All the same, I agree that being overly cautious is wise in Bolivia, since situations can change very rapidly. Safety concerns were cited by Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter as the reason for our departure. And they probably were the main motivator, though not the only one.

Peace Corps, unfortunately, has become another weapon in the US diplomatic arsenal. To withdrawal Peace Corps is one more chance for the US to maintain its tough image and hit back, harder. I have profound respect for Ambassador Philip Goldberg, but he was sent to Bolivia to be the stern face of the Bush administration to a wayward nation. The ambassador he did his job, rising to every single bait thrown out by Bolivian government and appearing in Bolivian news almost daily. President Evo Morales was able to build a case for his supporters against the US, and the rest is history. As US-Bolivia relations chill, it’s prudent to evaluate the path we have chosen. The “tough talk” approach has left us with little chance to appeal to the general Bolivian public, worse off than when we began.

The third motivator for our departure was economic. Like any good organization, Peace Corps must carefully consider it finances. Costs spent activating emergency plans, last minute flight expenses, and numerous hotel bills were no doubt taken into account. Had the Peace Corps program actually been doubled, as promised in President George W. Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, this would not be much of an issue. However, due to the budget cuts and the seemingly endless tumbling of the dollar, Peace Corps is like the proverbial hippie friend, a little strapped for cash and willing to cut corners.

All former Peace Corps Bolivia volunteers are currently in Peru navigating close-of-service paperwork and medical exams. There is no overall group mood, and reactions vary widely depending on with whom you are talking. I am heavy-hearted. At the beginning I was sad to leave my Bolivian “mom,” my dog, and my lifestyle. Now, I am more upset to leave what I would consider to be the most important work I have ever done or will ever do.

More than ever, Bolivia needs living examples of real Americans. They need someone to dispel the myths, to let them decide for themselves about “the empire” based on first-hand experience rather than on what they were told. They need someone to help, not for financial gains, but because the task exists and because it’s the right thing to do.

When I first got to Muyupampa, Bolivia over a year ago, I was walking along the street when a 3rd grade girl yelled “Gringa!” at me. I stopped and turned around, giving her a better look. Filled with curiosity, she stared. “Sarah” I said, smiled, and walked away. As the days went on she never stopped greeting me, but over time the greetings went from “Sarah” to “Sarita” and finally “Sarita!” accompanied by a big grin. The day before I was evacuated, she ran up for her hug and then we walked a block holding hands, talking about school.

Everyone has a different plan for their life after Peace Corps Bolivia. Some of the 113 will sign up for training and another 2 full years in another country. Others will try to serve for a full year or the remainder of the Peace Corps time in new nation. Others will go home. Many have expressed a desire to go right back to Bolivia after we wrap up our paper work....to say proper goodbyes, finish or assure the completion of projects in progress, get pets, etc. I plan to be among them. Would we, as rational people, plan to return to a perilous war zone? No. Would we go back to a partially destabilized nation to finish the most important job we could ever do for both our countries? In a heartbeat.

Well, my beloved adopted country isn't looking so good these days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7607158.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/world/americas/11bolivia.html?ref=americas

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/10/bolivia.us/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/13/2363686.htm

And much of blame is being directed at my beloved country of birth.

Where does that leave Peace Corps Bolivia? No one knows. But we're under the last step of the Emergency Action Plan before "evacuation" and we're on our way to mandatory all volunteers meeting across the country.

Since I'm a few entries behind, this entry will appear a little out of order when you read the those that follow. But I wanted you to know. You'll hear more from Bolivia and I soon!

Newsflash. There’s political instability in Bolivia.

OK, that’s actually not new at all, but this time Bolivian political wrangling was covered by the international news. So you might already know a bit about it.

To the best of my understanding, here’s what’s going on….Back in December there was a lot of anti- Evo rhetoric floating around the country. Violent protests in Sucre had left several dead (remember the stories told by B-45 Sucre volunteers at our 3-month reconnect?) and the new constitution looked quagmired beyond hope. In an attempt to quell the naysayers, Pres. Morales authored a bill putting himself, the vice president and the 9 department governors up for recall election. “Let the people judge us” he said. Anti-MAS leaders balked and the bill died in the opposition-controlled senate.

Apparently in a fit of post-autonomia referendum hubris, the opposition revived the recall bill and passed it on May 8. It seemed like a good idea…ride the wave of success and harness the momentum to vote out a MAS president. It appears that no anti-MAS leader paused to read the fine print. In a nationally televised address, Pres. Morales accepted the challenge immediately.

The rules turned out to bizarre and biased. You’re going to want to stop here and a cup of coffee…Each incumbent can only win if the number of “No” votes they receive in the recall election do not surpass the number of “Yes” votes by which they won in the last election. This holds for both the absolute number of votes and voter percentages. For example, Pres. Morales won 1.5 million “Yes” votes (54%) in the last election. That means he can only loose the referendum election if over 1.5 million or more than 54% of voters cast “No” for him this time.

Obviously, this makes is pretty hard for Evo to loose. He won’t be going back to coca farming any time soon (as he announced he’d do in the event of a loss). For several of the governors, however, it’s looking like a good time to spruce up the old resume.

Percentages of “Yes” Votes Won by Department Governors in Their Last Election

La Paz 38%Pando 48%Beni 45%Santa Cruz 48%Oruro 41%Potosí 41%Tarija 46%Cochabamba 48%

Recall election rules also state that Pres. Morales would have 3-6 months to call a new election in the event of a loss. If the departmental governors loose, they must vacate office immediately and the president appoints their replacement “until new elections can be held” (time period undefined). Nothing bars the president, vice president, or governors from running for office again.

Both autonomia referenda and recall referenda are unconstitutional. They are not addressed in either Bolivian constitution...the current one and the one awaiting its own illegal referendum. The referenduma’s unconstitutionality doesn’t stop Bolivian leaders from investing large amounts of resources into holding them, however. It also doesn’t stop people from participating in them and demanding acknowledgment of their results.

Bolivia is in the process of learning how to be a democracy. Leaders are in love with civil disobedience, but they often abuse it. People do the same types of demonstrations and they do them constantly, for causes that aren’t always obvious. The Big 4 are one-day work strikes, road blocks, street protests and hunger strikes. None of these are as serious as they initially sound to first-world ears. Civil strikes in here in Muyupampa are pretty much just a day off. People will sometimes mistakenly even call the day a holiday. Road blocks still permit some traffic. Many Bolivians will tell you that street protesters are paid or face sanctions for not attending. Hunger strikes are flexible. At the only hunger strike I ever saw in action, university students were eating candy and watching American Pie. I still don’t know what they were protesting. Another volunteer told me hunger strikers are permitted to eat all manner of small things, including salteñas (small pot pies).

On a local level, every Bolivian I talked to either hadn’t heard of the recall elections yet or said it was nothing. It’s fairly ironic that international news only seems to report that which is uninteresting to Bolivians themselves. The lack of interest may just be a regional thing, however. Muyupampa just came out of our party season and Chuquisaca is the only department exempt from all the governor fuss because we just had an election in June.

All of the instability led Peace Corps Administration to cancel another training group. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s no B-48 or B-49. From roughly 150 volunteers in Bolivia when I arrived, we are now averaging around 100. Basic Sanitation took the worst hit, now being down to 14. The budget is very tight since funding is tied to the number of volunteers in country and our 5 remaining language teachers were just let go.

So,yeah. After all the wonderful times at home I had a rough re-entry into Bolivia and was completely unrelated to the flight. I came back to all of the following:

· Digestive illness

· Loud music 24/7

· Drunk men and trash everywhere

· Closed stores

· Random men sleeping in my house

· A thin and flea-ridden Chispa (who apparently had spent some time on the street)

· A murder in town

· A lynch mob going after the murderers

· News that Mr. Bolivia abruptly got married

Originally, I thought that returning to town in the middle of Muyupampa’s biggest holiday of the year (town anniversary) would help my transition. Everyone would be drunk, I rationalized, and no one would be working, so I could just hang out and adjust. Ha. Had I thought about it more, I would’ve realized that our cultural differences are never more apparent than during the out-of-control Bolivian fiestas. The 10ish day Muyupampa anniversary blow-out culminates on July 16th and includes cockfighting, a “traditional” game where ducks are buried up to their necks and then treated like bowling pins, bull riding, horse racing, and motor cycle racing all without helmets or emergency medical services. All this adds up to (culture shock)^10. And that’s an order of magnitude greater than I was prepared to handle. I spent a lot of time in my house listening to music.

The random men sleeping in the house were migrant workers for the giant gas exploration companies Geokinetics and Total E & P. Right now, there an estimated 700 people working on pinpointing Muyupampa’s petroleum using 70 vehicles, 5 helipads, and 1 helicopter. With the large number of workers and small size of the town there was nowhere left to sleep so the mayor offered to let the guys throw 6 mattresses all over the 2nd floor for an undisclosed fee. They rotate shifts sleeping in our house so there are different guys every night.

I left Chispa in the care of Conor who was out in the campo for the first 5 days of my vacation. Twice I confirmed with Rosemary and the mayor’s husband that they’d care for her (pretty much just shut the gate so she doesn’t run into the street) until Conor came to pick her up. Lesson learned. According to Conor, Chispa had been taken in by my neighbor across the street who took pity on her for being left alone outside. Apparently, Rosemary had left for a few days and the mayor’s husband decided it was time to visit Santa Cruz.

The whole murder thing was, no surprise in the land of machismo, over a girl. Around 3am one fiesta night a bunch of young people was hanging around the fairgrounds when 1 guy decided it was time to leave. He tried to collect his female cousin who had been talking to a pair of brothers. The brothers flipped out that the girl was being taken away and stabbed the guy. Onlookers who stayed to help had to search for awhile for a car to take him to the Muyupampa “hospital.” He made it to the hospital around 4am but the doctor was drunk (fiesta time) so he had to go on to Monteagudo. For some reason he didn’t get there or wasn’t seen until 8am and it was too late. The worst part is although he was just 21 he already had a wife and 2 daughters…with possibly a 3rd child on the way. The gas company helicopter could have saved his life with a ½ hr ride to Santa Cruz had anybody acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and made a plan.

Police caught the brothers who committed the fatal stabbing and locked them up. Our jail is tiny and right on the plaza so it wasn’t long before everyone knew they were there. A lynch mob formed and marched to the jail, demanding that the brothers be handed over. The police managed to disperse the crowd, but everyone in town seems obsessed with “justice” and making sure the brothers are killed. I hope they get moved to Sucre soon.

Finally, as for Duston, I’m not sure what happened! Last time I talked to him (which was awhile ago) he made no mention of his wedding approaching or even a date being set. Local gossip says the ceremony and reception was very simple, which is odd for a 2 major stars. Honestly…the marriage of Mr. Bolivia 2004/rich movie star and Miss Bolivia Tierra 2005/TV show hostess should be the event of the year and splashed all over the sociales pages. We may never find out what the deal is, however, because word has it Duston won’t come to his resort outside Muyupampa anymore now that he’s married.

At last, the entry I waited a year and 2 months to write.

I went home!

And what a wonderful 3 weeks it was….here are the highlights.

Biggest Regret: Not having enough time to visit my awesome NYPD friend Gene in New York

Worst First World Freak out: Forgetting my wallet, how to pay with a credit card, and my PIN in Wegman’s. I had to be rung up 4 separate times.

First Thing I Ate: Dunkin’ Donuts, baby! And I got hooked up with a free donut.

I Knew I Was Back When: I realized I could stop breaking 20’s and hording change in the Miami Airport

Biggest Trip: Seeing my best friend from high school’s baby who’s walking now. Going to her baby shower was one of the last things I did before I left.

.Biggest Challenge: Remembering to flush toilet paper.Best Night Out: Happy hour in Dupont Circle with friends I haven’t seen in forever

Celebrity Moment: Hanging out with former Pres. Clinton secretary Betty Curie and former first cat Socks! He liked my mom better.

Biggest Laugh: Playing Triple Yatzee with my mom and sister Charlotte and taking our “scraportunities”

Biggest Tear Jerker: When my dad prayed for me at dinner the night before I left

Best View: The view from my sister Liz’s wedding reception (270° of water on a small island near where we grew up)

Best Meal: Tie! Crab dip, crab cakes, and scallops at my sister’s wedding reception. Mussels and sushi-grade tuna at waterfront restaurant.

Biggest Mistake: Deep lunges in Jessica’s “Mommy Boot Camp” class

Wedding Contribution: Bachelorette party margarita mixer, menu maker, and florist extraordinaire

Best lunch dates: Tie! Favorite professor ever from UMD and my high school history teacher and his wife, the high school Spanish teacher and my World Wise Schools partner

Biggest Accomplishment: Figuring out the sushi-go-round with my friend Jen

Biggest Surprise: How quickly fell back into the fast-walking/jay-walking elbow-throwing Metro rider role

What I Miss Most Now: My family and large bodies of water.

All kinds of folks recently rolled through Muyupampa to visit Conor and I. First up was my boss Tim, who tries to visit each of his Basic Sanitation volunteers twice a year. When he asked what I wanted to accomplish I, of course, charged him with twisting arms and taking names at the mayor’s office. He ended up giving them more of a hot stone massage, which was really the smarter move, but didn’t quite satisfy my bruised ego. Tim couldn’t stay long, and I didn’t even get any photos of him but he did give me a cool chaco-style wallet with my name on 1 side and “Muyupampa” on the other for my birthday.

The next visitor was fabulously awesome 3rd year volunteer superstar Kates. Yes, with an “s.” Kates is the kind of volunteer leader that actually takes her role as primary volunteer support seriously. A tenant in a sweet apartment in Santa Cruz city, she regularly invites amenities-starved volunteers over for dinner and even lets them crash there. She also lets people call her all the time. These are things that she cannot put on her work report, of course, but she does them anyways because she actually (whoa) cares.

So Kates rolled in to Muyupampa and immediately cooked us up a rocking Italian dinner. She, my Cuban friend Niorka and I then took off for the local karaoke. It’s safe to say that things got a little out of hand. My only excuse is that so much pressure builds up on females that are used to more gender freedom that once they get a chance for a girls’ night out it’s pretty much all over. We drank and smoked and swore like sailors. We broke a wine bottle and a glass during a particularly emotional rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Everybody stared and the only 2 other women in the bar finally took off horrified. The guys they were with escorted them home and then came right back….nobody wants to miss extranjera (foreign girl) night. In short, it was a great time! All too soon Kates had to head back to the city, but not before making not 1, not 2, but 3 more excellent meals from memory. Impressive.

The 3rd and final special visitor to Muyupampa was the brand new director of Peace Corps Bolivia, Kathleen Sifer. It turns out that even though she’s a CD (country director) she likes to visit volunteers in their site when they’ve got an event or workshop going on. How cool! Luckily, Conor found out about this and invited her to the grand opening of his new library in Muyupampa. I’m pretty sure that made us the first volunteers Kathleen has visited in site! Other than hanging balloons, my main job was taking photos of kids for their library ID. They took it so seriously...it was a great idea of Conor´s that made them feel so special and really helped promote the library.

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Kathleen spent her last couple years as the CD in Georgia (country not state, people). She’s friendly and down-to-earth and rolled up her sleeves to help us put up balloons without a moment’s hesitation. I’m sure she would have even helped blow up the balloons had not a group of little girls stopped by earlier like a miracle and done them all.

Branching to a different topic, my area of Bolivia has been clearing out of volunteers lately. Four of the other Chaco humido volunteers just finished their service. There had been 10 years worth of Basic San volunteers in Monteagudo…it’s the end of an era! Also, the German couple who live in Muyupampa just left. Conor’s out in October. It will be a very strange to be the only gringo around…

When the country director came to visit she was accompanied by the boss of the Natural Resources/Environmental Education, Ramishio, and by the new 3rd year volunteer leader in Santa Cruz, Anna. I asked Ramishio to look into the possibility of putting a NR/EE volunteer here after Conor leaves since there’s so much to do and I think we’re off to a great start. They could be followed by a BS volunteer so there’d be a pair. He seemed interested so we’ll see. That group arrives in January. Anna told me that according to PC rules, they have to put someone in Muyupampa or nearby after Conor leaves. No volunteer is permitted to live more than 2 hrs away from the next volunteer. I’m getting somebody! It’s just a question of who and when.

Remember Rachel, the soon-to-be volunteer who received her Bolivian site assignment and asked me what to pack?

Well, she´s here and I finally met her!

She set up an awesome blog already. You´ll find the link to it on the right under "Blogs by other friends in the Peace Corps." Enjoy!

.......My 27th birthday turned out to be a heck of a good time and very, very Bolivian. I stayed in Muyupampa and had the classic Bolivian party… …everybody sitting in a circle eating a traditional Bolivian meal, then dancing to Bolivian favorites and drinking wine mixed with soda. Luckily, my friend Lulee offered to host and cook side dishes and my friend Andrés (Eco Committee member) offered to do the BBQ!

We had 6 gringos, 24 Bolivians and 2 Cubans, which I’d say ain’t too bad. I was particularly proud of the Cuban attendance, since the 2 female doctors and I really started off on the wrong foot but turned it around enough to go to each other’s birthday parties. It was silly really…when we first met we were all bent on “towing the party line.” I openly laughed at all the control their government exercised over them and my now-friend Niorka made snide comments about McDonalds. After a few teas together at Lulee’s we realized how much we had in common (missing our home countries for one...feeling restricted as females in Bolivia for another) and now you’d never even know there was an embargo. Or remember the boatlift. Here’s Niorka busting loose with Lulee’s #1 cook’s helper Ramiro.

...........Two of the gringos were friends of Conor’s here on vacation…I tried to prepare them ahead of time but I’m still not sure what they thought of the party. They were both vegetarians and the girl didn’t speak Spanish. They didn’t eat a thing! It took me until the next day to figure out why the girl looked so horrified when I was making my rounds with the wine-soda pitcher. At the time I just knew it seemed like a big reaction to the unusual drink mix. In Bolivian parties, it is custom for females to circulate with 1 pitcher and 1 glass. The woman gives a half-full glass to someone, but before that person drinks they toast person 2. Person 1 then finishes the drink and hands the glass back to the woman. The woman then pours a drink for person 2 who toasts person 3 before drinking the whole thing and handing the cup back to the woman…and so it goes. I had long forgotten about how I too was initially disturbed by everyone drinking from the same cup! Duh. Of course she was weirded out.

........... Here’s Lulee and Conor breaking it down.

...........You wouldn’t believe the birthday gifts I got…they’d definitely be gag gifts in the States: A fake flower fiber-optic lamp, a cheesy Chinese heart-shaped mirror, a resin angel statue with real feather wings, a candy rose, a cheap red bra and underwear set, a rose-shaped candle-holder, some funny hats, etc. I’m so glad that it isn’t customary for a birthday person to open gifts at the party here. That would’ve been a tough one!

...........I think I’m going to like being 27…it has a nice ring to it. It kind of says “I’m getting up there but still know how to have fun.” It’s a number that seems to have some force behind it. It seems weird that I spent my entire 27th year in Bolivia.

Peace Corps has a program called World Wise Schools in which a volunteer is matched with a teacher (elementary – high school) in the States. The volunteer, teacher, and students then exchange cultural information in a way they choose.

I had the good fortune to match myself up with a Spanish teacher from St. Mary’s County Maryland (where I grew up) before leaving for Bolivia. Beccy Russell and I hit it off and sent emails back and forth. She had her students study Bolivia and read this blog. I sent them some everyday things like newspapers and sugar bags. In our largest project, some 158 of Beccy’s Spanish students wrote snail mail letters to my English students. What blossomed was an interesting and highly entertaining exchange.

The most defining characteristic my student’s letters to the Americans was the liberal use of pick-up lines. About 20% of guys who received letters from girls (and a couple of girls with guy letters too!) felt the need to “get their game on” as best they could even if it was in another language. To them, that’s just natural. The good news was that the teacher Sonia and I finally had everyone’s full attention. The senior guys, who are usually rather bored and don’t participate, just couldn’t get over all those cute girls’ pictures and were suddenly super-attentive students. One even told the others to quiet down because he couldn’t hear.

Here are some excerpts (some I translated from Spanish and others are as the kids wrote it in English):

THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE PROJECT

“Thanks and many thanks for your message with arrived all the way to my hands in my high school. It’s nice; it’s a joy to be able to know you through the letter. Many thanks dear friend.” – Zenón

“It’s making me think how it would be to live in other places and I hope that some day you’ll come visit us because you would be very welcome.” –Lineth

“You know what? I liked your letter.” –Eliceo

TROUBLE WITH ENGLISH

“I like to listen music especially regaeton and villeras in the afternoons before a ciesta, and in my family we are four my potato, my mother, my brother y I. My favorite food is the spicy of “chicken I raised.” –Jorge

WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON

“I want to tell you that I also like to get to know different places like you. I’m very fun and I like almost the same sports as you. I’m 14, the same age as you.” – Jairolid

“Amanda” I love to write your name, because that’s her name from a girl I want, but this is beyond me. Hug! Luck! –Arly

“When I get out of high school I want to the a flight attendant and my biggest dream is to see the seven wonders of the world.” – Karen

“I’m friendly and cute. I like to put gel in my hair so that I look cuter.” – Fernando

“In my free time I work with the objective of having a good physique.” - Alejandro

“My hobby is to dance and to be with my boyfriend in free time. He name is Piter. His is very funny with my. My parents no accept our to love. We love each other very much. (I love he much.) …My parents are shopkeeper. My family are very good, with simplicity...I shall want estudiar medicina to be the pride of my family. I would like to know you more. Your boyfriend is handsome, I think. Your parents accept with you have boyfriend? What you like of he?” –Dorita

“My artist favorit is Johnny Depp-Anne Ataway-Evanecense-Linkin Park and much most. My sleep (dream) is sing in a sash of rock, and travel how nomad.” -Yhoselin

WHAT’S DIFFERENT

“I’m 15. I’m Bolivia it’s the best to be 15 because it’s the most beautiful age of our life. I know how to drive a motorcycle, I started driving when I was 11 years old.” – Yessica

As for Bolivia it’s very beautiful although with some political problems.” - Gonzalo

“Bolivia by workers here and we are united and we are not responsible like lies the failure good that I do not like me mostly. Bolivia is multicultural, and each department has its own source of all life but working for a common goal to life our beloved Bolivia adelante.” –Karen

“I tell you that I’m sad for the problems that are in Bolivia but by good luck these problems don’t go as far as my village…” –Ronald

“The life in Bolivia is corruption but have sufficient culture pretty. Have pron first president indigenous. His name is JUAN EVO MORALES AYMA.” –Adela

ON OUR COUNTRIES

“The United States should be really pretty, I see on the television Vegas, Las Angeles, California, Washinton.” –Fernando

“I didn’t ask to be born in Bolivia, I just had good luck.” - Nátaly

“I’m happy birthday July -04. I’m learning to speak English because I want to go E.E.U.U. I tell you that this year I’ll do my military service, in my country it is obligatory.” –Arly

THE LOVE CONNECTION

“Listen, me and my girl friends send you a kiss with a lot of affection.” –Lineth

“My name is Xavier, to be 11 grade. I send mani kisses to the school Leornadtonn especially to you Alexandrana to send your letter to Bolivia….I am also making my military services. I says goodbye with a strong hug and a great kiss in the mouth. See you later you take care.” - Xavier

“Hello Samantha…You have a pretty name I imagine that you should be very precious.” – Jordi

“I like to read, especially poems and literary works. I like to paint landscapes and listen to music…According to your letter I see that you are a great girl.” –Sergio

“Dear Jessica, you are so far but always in my heart. It opened a special little friend place for you…My favorite soccer team is DC UNITED…I like to paint landscapes on canvas with oil and I like to draw…I’m a Leo and I’m 16….You know what? I’d like to get to know you and see your angel face and your green eyes. Here there aren’t those pretty eyes…I also like to see American movies in English (Titanic). Here’s my cell phone number….” -Enrrique

“When I’m older I’d like to be a police officer so that I can take care of you.” –Felix

“Half a lot of pleasure to read your letter and without he knows you I already sit down I love you.” – Josúe

“…Write back me. [switching languages] Note: You know what? The truth is that I would like to get to know you. I’m in 11th grade and I want you to send me your email so that I can contact you. I’ll let you go with a kiss.” – Renilda

“Jessica are my pretty what a pity what not to be here.” –Dimar

“I like me your very nice letter also me great taste your photo you are very nice my….your smile your eyes and your lips briefly you are really the most beautiful my shown restraint. …Well, I do not want to tire you and say goodbye with a strong embrace and kisses in your wonderful lips expect to receive soon your response and order me more photos. He(she) forgives for mistakes that almost the Englishman is very complicated for us as for you the Spanish. Good bye bye kisses” –Dilmar

“I think that you are a very beautiful, gorgeous, attractive and fun girl and of course I would like to get to know your via Internet. Don’t you think that it would be very nice? I’m sending you a lot of XOXO.” -Maicol

IN CLOSING

"I hope that you all are doing good over there in your city, all my friends and I are in good health and I hope that you all are good like we are here….We want to know all of you so that you will be our friends." –Luis

“I would also like to know Unides Stades a special good Mariland with that I say good bay to you good-bye and God willing we know each other for internet.” -Anibal

"I say goodbye with a strong hug and I hope that you keep moving forward and keep being that energetic guy. Never stay behind always move forward. These are the hopes of another friend from here in Bolivia." –Alberto

We made it. My fellow B-45 group members and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Bolivia on May 9. Taking stock, we note that we lost 2 members before we arrived in Miami (1 got engaged the other we think got a DUI), 1 in training (we still miss you Meera!), and 3 more recently (2 for illness reasons and 1 who’s now engaged). We marked the occasion in pretty much the only way we can, with a flurry of group emails. Here are some excerpts from my favorites:

Brandon wrote:

“It has already been agreed, I think the second or third day that we hung out with each other in country, that B45 is the sweetest, most powerfully elegant, tastiest group of Peace Corps volunteers to ever be coagulated into one such running, festering wound as Bolivia. We are a massive clump of T-Cells aimed at virus' everywhere. We solve problems and shoot straight. Sometimes we puke right into our own lap, like Tom, but that's ok. We still love him and he still participated in that one taller and it was awesome. Having said all that, I feel kinda bad, but whatever, you guys get my sense of humor and that's what makes me love you so much. And because I love you so much, I think about you a lot and because I think about you a lot I think of our next chance to be reunited into Voltron like spledor, which leads me to think far ahead into the future (yes George, I'm pointing in a random direction) and what OUR despidida will be like. I have visions of cherry plums and sugar canes and chocolate filled rivers... and a place as far away from mediocre, always used, done and done again so it's like throwing a hot dog down a hallway Las Lagunas. It looks nice, but I got over the wave pool at Oceans of Fun in KC when I was like 13. Swim up bars are ok, and low altitude is nice, but that's just not how we roll. We are the trend. We are the only group capable of carrying on unabated when there is not another group coming to train and take our minds of problems that we're having and remind us of the good ole days of our training. WE ARE THE ELITE. And for that reason, friends, may I be so humble as to suggest a place where I have been, where I believe that we may achieve the greatness that is intended to be had during a send off party of arguably the single greatest collection of American flesh and blood assembled on the planet Earth since the 1985 World Champion Kansas City Royals.

Isla del Sol, friends. It rests calmly and sleepily in the middle of Lake Titicaca. It is the birthplace of the Aymara people and supposedly where they made a deal with the sun to keep coming back to keep them warm. You can see the rock where it was once tethered. There are fantastic hostiles there. Amazing food. And Lake Titicaca at night and at sunrise is one of the most breathtaking sites I've ever beheld outside of Jamel dressed like Foxy Brown. I knew when I saw it that that should be "our place" and I told Ryan Plank just that and he agreed. So that means, "it's on." Thank you, small Mexican baby, I know, it's on.

Other suggestions welcome, but if you can think of a better place to have B45's despidida than the birthplace of one of the most powerful cultures on Earth, that still survives with language intact today... I will humbly step down with my bid.

Until then friends,

Keep on rockin' in the free world.

Yours always in the bond,

B

I said:

Maybe I’m waxing sentimental in my old age (not quite as old as B, but close) or maybe it’s the cipro talking, but I’ve been thinking about our group a lot lately.

A year ago tomorrow we all got on a plane and, apart from Alana, had no idea what we’d really find when it landed. Sure, Lonely Planet said this or that, but come on, their prices are in dollars. How knowledgeable can they be? So we held our breath and took a flight of faith, dreaming of the place ahead and what we’d do when we got there. We knew that statistically some of us wouldn’t be in Bolivia by the same time next year, but we took a chance and rolled the dice. What an American thing to do. And what a beautiful gamble.

A year later, what do we find? We’re here. We’re working. We’re doing some serious good. And we’re learning more than we ever thought possible. This is the experience of a lifetime, folks, and we’re right up in it. Just take a zen moment and think about that.

As for me, despite the grave frustrations and occasional freak-outs, at the end of the day I find myself at peace, and have never been happier with any life decision I’ve made. It brings to mind something Amanda said as we were land rovering through a mountain sunset during tech week. “How could people not do this?”

B’s right. Our group is extraordinary….not just because we made international news with the spy scandal, or because we’re trudging on shadow-group-be-damned, or because half of us swore in on PIPs, but because we’re 45, dammit. We’re smart, super-fuerte, fun and we know it. And we can be assembled into Voltron.

So I say, Isla del Sol, let’s do this thing. Ryan Plank’s approval is good enough for me. Just loan me some gloves. Those turned into dog toys a long time ago.

I’ll let you go with a quote from the book I’m currently reading, Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.:

It was one of those rare moments when the humblest person knows suddenly what it means to feel as the center of the universe, and is made beautiful by the knowledge, and the world- in the eyes of witnesses- looks like a better place for having such a center.

Congrats on 1 year en país, paisanos. Here’s to the next.

Sarita

Finally, Anna S. wrote:

To B-45

Hey fivers,

How bout it, we're still in Bolivia! Aw man, can you believe it was a year ago today that we all met in Miami. Tom and I were in a van going from the airport to the Double Tree, and there was this hot blond with three enormous suitcases in front of us. She asked if, by any chance, we were going to Bolivia to do the Peace Corps. Finding out we were on the same train to glory, she said (you guessed it) "Hells yeah!" ...

So one big lesson learned per event would be quite enough for me, but the Earth Day Fair served up a double helping of “character builders.” If my first lesson was in prize culture my second lesson was in politics.

I already wrote about all the problems we had getting funding for the fair, which grew exponentially worse because of the time pressure. The time pressure, of course, stemmed from being led to believe that money from the mayor was forthcoming and then being dropped like a rock and sent scrambling.

No major surprise, the paper/crayons and fabric bags that were eventually promised to us by the mayor’s office never materialized. Though it will never be confirmed, I believe this had a double impact on our fair. One of our potential donors required a “counterpart donation” from the municipality of 60% for their 40%. The mayor’s office didn’t want to put up the 60% and…mysteriously...we never heard back from the possible donor.

Not only did we have money problems with the mayor’s office, we also had invitation problems. Our 24 invitations were ready to roll with 3 of the 4 necessary signatures but the mayor refused to sign, saying she wanted to rewrite the whole thing. She didn’t get around to the rewrite until almost a week later, only 5 days before the fair. The invitations had been changed to look like the mayor’s office was behind everything and were printed on municipal letterhead. Laughably, on the day of the fair the mayor chided us for “sending the invitations so late!”

You might say that making empty promises (especially relating to funding) and taking credit is politics as usual. And you’d be right. But here’s something that’s not.

Two days after the fair I was called into the mayor’s office, not for thanks or congratulations, but for a scolding. Apparently, a member of the Eco Committee had been going around saying that the mayor’s office hadn’t put any money towards the fair. The mayor threatened to “give all the money back” to the donors if I didn’t tell him to be quiet “before he went to the radio or something.” If the money was returned to the donors that would mean that I would be out of luck, of course, since I had fronted everything.

I was told that the money donated to us from other organizations “was from the mayor’s office” since it had passed through there. I should have written up every receipt to say the money came from the municipality, they said. This could even count as the municipal counterpart donation, for those organizations that require a counterpart, they said. “The idea is to get more money, not less” said the mayor’s resident yes-woman.

This was all sounding pretty fishy, but I knew for a fact I was being taken for a ride when I asked how the Eco Committee could enter the municipality’s budget, to secure funds that were actually from them. “When is the budget reformulation?” I asked, knowing full well that it was in the June-August range. “November or December” answered the mayor, and the room went silent. Just straight up not true. I realized in that moment that there’s no way we’re ever going to get any funding from the mayor’s office, even though they’re my sponsoring organization.

The mayor ended by telling me I had 5 days to present a report on the fair including copies of all receipts and signatures of all 14 Eco Committee officers. Then she’d see about reimbursing me, she said. Eventually I got all my money back from them…now it’s just the German NGO that owes me 1,000bs.

In summary, although technically a huge success, the fair left me pretty bitter. I think that will fade with time. Every time a kid in the street calls my name, we get compliments from a Muyumpampeñan, or somebody in the Eco Committee expresses pride in what we’ve accomplished, I feel a little better. I’m looking forward to that rose-colored glass stage.

The night before the fair an Eco Committee member said we needed to give out a “best stand prize.” This was the first time it came up and was not in our budget. We were already giving kids prizes for the 3 best drawings, poems, and compositions. Additionally, all fair participants were getting soda, mini pizzas, and a participation certificate. Still, several committee members insisted on the prize.

The ensuing debate broke the committee into 2 camps- those who wanted to promote volunteerism (a very foreign concept here) and those who thought an effort had to be rewarded with a prize. The first vote I took was 7-7, so we debated some more and then voted again. That time the vote was 10-4 for no prize. We moved on, and I thought the issue was happily resolved in a democratic manner.

On my way home after the meeting around 9:15pm and was approached by committee member Kety in the street. “First of all, both schools, the high school, and the temporary orphanage have to have their own tent or their parents will kill me. (I had mentioned that with the high participant turn out organizations would have to share the 7 tents). Secondly, it’s not right to work and not get prizes. If you won’t buy at least the participating kids prizes, I will, but they’re never going to participate again.” I tried to explain we had democratically decided that we wanted to teach the kids and everyone else to work for the greater good, not just for handouts. She didn’t get it and walked away in a huff.

Her reaction left me confused but made a lot more sense the next day at the fair. It turned out that the high school kids had gone way overboard. All 16 other organizations interpreted the invitation the way it was intended and put together something reasonably simple and fun. Not these kids. They were apparently working late into the night producing: a giant paper mache globe, a mud model with real-ice (not easy to come by) icebergs, a huge piece of fabric painted with 9 scenes of nature and contamination, nametags with cute slogans…the works. All for a non-existent “major award.” And it’s not like they have a supplies budget or anything. Someone bought that stuff. Que macana (What a mess). All the compliments in the world couldn’t justify all that.

The “prize controversy” took on other forms….it turns out not only do many Bolivians expect prizes, but they’re not used to not everyone winning. The first hint of this came from a gym teacher at one of the elementary schools as we taught his class during the educational campaign. “How many prizes are there for the kid’s drawings?” he asked surlily. When I told him there were 3, he raised his eyebrows.

It got worse the day of the fair. One girl came up and alerted me that her poem wasn’t posted. “It’s not on the benches as a possible winner and it’s not up at the schools stand?” I asked. She nodded. “I read it.” I said. “It was beautiful, but there’s just not space for every poem.” She didn’t understand and looked upset. “There are 550 students and you can see how big the stand is” I tried again. Blank look. I gave up. I think she’s still mad. Barely says hi to me in the street.

While rushing about fighting fires during the fair, I was happy to occasionally hear little kids getting up to sing songs. They didn’t sound too perfect, but I was glad they participated. I commented on this to the DJ after the fair. “They thought they were going to get a prize” he responded.

Days after the fair, even my English teacher friend Sonia brought up the prize question. “So that’s it?” she asked chipperly “You don’t have anything for the high school kids?” I felt the knot in my stomach grow a little tighter. All around town people were probably talking about the hard working students and how we’d done them wrong. I lamely explained that the Eco Committee hand taken a vote on it and that had to be respected.

The funny thing was that we had made such a big deal out of the drawing, poem, and essay contest for grade school kids…telling each class about it in person, posting the rules around school, etc. Why on earth would they think that we had these other contests that we just decided not to promote at all? Further, why didn’t Kety and the other science teacher listen when I told them to just have the kids “do what they could” given the short timeframe? Sigh. Lesson learned.

After the fair we cleaned up and everyone took off. That left me exhausted but content at 7:30pm with nothing to do and no one to celebrate with. I was sitting in the kitchen with my dog sipping white wine and reading, when I heard my landlord animatedly calling my name. This was not his usual “Conor’s here” or “have you seen my flip-flops” voice.

I hurried down the steps and was shocked to see a ridicuoulsy attractive 6’3” gringo cowboy smiling up at me. Duston Larsen. National male beauty pagent winner 2004. Owner of gigantic tracts of land, herds of livestock numbering in 4 and 5 digits, multiple mansions, and a lovely resort. Actor in most popular Bolivan film of moment, ¿Quien mató la llamita blanca? Legend of Muyupampa and at 29 most eligible bachelor in Chuquisaca and possibly Bolivia. Currently highly controversial figure. Did I mention native English speaker?

Needless to say, I almost wet myself. Bladder somewhat under control, I think I said something like “Whaaaa….?” I have no idea what conversation followed as my mind was clicking through bits of information trying to make them make sense. Duston’s resort is about 30km outside of Muyupampa and he comes into town occasionally for supplies. We had met in the street about 2 months ago while I was walking Chispa and he gave me his cell number. I had left 2 phone messages inviting him to participate in the Earth Day fair and promote Eco-tourism but never heard anything back. This was just as well because the land-reform controversy blew up and my boss asked me to withdrawal his invitation.

At some point Duston and I were seated and he was showing me pictures of his resort. He told me there were 2 Americans staying there at the moment…and invited me to come hang out! Knowing I’d have to spend the night , I hesitated. He offered to introduce me to the Americans, who were waiting in his van downstairs. Everyone was very friendly and it felt great just to chat in English. Duston said again “You should come with us” and this time I didn’t blink. “Just give me 5 min” I said and ran off to pack a bag.

We all talked the whole way to Caraparicitos (the resort) and it was funny how much I enjoyed it. As we passed one of Duston’s corn fields, I mentioned that there were no humintas to be found in Muyupampa anymore because the right kind of corn was out of season. This was a shame because I loved steamed (vs. made in the oven) humintas with cheese or hot peppers. Duston said they were still producing that kind of corn on his land.

We pulled up to the resort around 9pm and I walked into a dream. I was shown to a gorgeous suite with the nicest bed I think I’ve ever slept in. I washed up for dinner and glided to my place at a beautiful candlelit table with red wine and lasagna! We talked and ate and topped it all off with flan. Back at the suite, Duston made a fire in the fireplace and we all warmed up. It turned out that everyone was exhausted, so we all turned in and I slept like a baby. The next morning I woke up completely content, showered, and was called in for breakfast. There were like 10 things on the table, omelets, pancakes, bacon, fruit, juice, milk, and…steamed humintas with cheese! He remembered!!

It turned out that the Americans were actually a kind of famous journalist-photographer pair, and had some interviews and picture-taking to do. I said I’d hang around the resort and kicked back in a hammock while everybody took off on horseback. When they returned the Americans went to pack up and Duston took me on a tour of the resort. This is the gravestone of the original owner of Cariparicitos, who had declared it his favorite of his 23 properties and was buried here. This is a cheese press. Over there. The thing beside the hot guy.

Some of Duston’s neighbors came over and talked about politics till lunchtime. Being a Peace Corps volunteer, I can’t express any opinion one way or the other. I’m sure Duston understood, since a Peace Corps volunteer friend of his parents convinced them move to Bolivia from the Midwest U.S. in the 60’s. But I did a lot of listening.

Duston and his father Ron were (and still are to some extent) the focus of an effort by the national government to confiscate and redistribute large land holdings. Truthfully, they do own swaths of Bolivia likely to be visible from outer space (see photo). But the flip-side is that they seem to be doing good things with it. At Caraparicitos they aim attract foreign tourists with big money to spend. They’ve built a chapel and a school, hiring full-time teachers, created and improved roads, invested in resort infrastructure and created many jobs.

The job creation point is sticky. The government claims that Caraparicitos is an indigenous slave plantation. The Larsens say the government is looking for excuses to boot them off the land and everyone that does work is fairly paid. As is common in Bolivia, the 20 families who lived on the land when the Larsens bought it in 1969 continue to do so. The kids go to the school, many of the fathers work full-time on the resort, and the mothers occasionally do cooking work. From my point of view, the people looked happy. Adolescent boys were swimming in the stocked pond and jumping in and out of a canoe. Mothers holding babies waved. This was just my impression from a glance, of course.

If it wasn’t for the Larsens, the Guarani children would either have no school or a traveling teacher would visit for 2-4 weeks twice a year. That’s what happens in most remote indigenous communities. The Larsens help find medical care if someone gets sick. I have not confirmed that the Larsens specifically do this, but some patrones loan small amounts of money interest-free. In a country with little emphasis on education, general lack of public works, no real emergency services medical or otherwise and ridiculous lending practices, patrones often fill in the gaps. It’s sad, but wealthy landowners do what the government should.

Slavery does exist in Bolivia. I’d say Rosemary, the 17 year-old in my house, is a slave. She is not allowed to leave the house without permission, which is rarely given. She has no days off. She works constantly. Children are permitted to yell at her. She makes 250 Bs ($35) a month plus room and food. In contrast, the employees on Duston’s land can come and go whenever. They can work or chose to quit. I should say I’m not sure how much they make though.

Anyways, back to my dream-like getaway, after lunch I took a short siesta on that wonderful bed with those fluffy pillows. After I got up Duston and I went for a horseback ride around the property. Then he had to go to an emergency land owners meeting so I went back to Muyupampa, pinching myself on the way.

Our Earth Day fair turned out to be way bigger than we were originally expecting… 800-900 people and 17 groups/organizations manning stands or other displays. These included:

· The Eco Committee

· The Mayor’s Office In General

· The Tourism Department

· The Hospital

· Both Elementary Schools

· The High School

· The Temporary Orphanage

· 2 Tree Nurseries

· National Park Rangers

· AMPROM – Conor’s women’s group

· The Local Water Co-op

· Geokinetics – a petroleum company contractor

· Total E&P Bolivie- the French petroleum company

· DELA- a German NGO

· NOR SUD- a German NGO

Part of the reason the fair grew so big is because we pulled out all the stops on publicity. Every school-attending child in town was told about the fair during our educational campaign. We put a big banner up on the mayor’s office a day ahead of time. We ran an ad on local radio with event details for 5 days before the fair (see link). The morning of Earth Day I was interviewed on both local radio stations. At lunchtime we sent a car equipped with a loudspeaker all over town inviting people to attend (this is a common form of advertisement here). That afternoon one of the stations broadcast the mayor’s and my welcome speech.

My favorite display at the fair was, of course, by the Eco Committee (no bias there). It was not the prettiest, just poster boards and marker, but it meant a great deal to me because it showed what they had learned. They decided to decorate the trash truck we had parked out front. “I collect your trash” the poster said in big letters and then in smaller letters described trash-reduction ideas like not using plastic bags when you go shopping and recycling plastic bottles. It also listed both batteries and used toilet paper as dangerous.

The most shocking display award goes to the high school, whose students put the finishing touch on their mud model with an actual snake. It certainly looked like a coral snake but I was assured that it wasn’t poisonous. Let’s see… Red touches yellow, you’re a dead fellow? Red touches black, you’re OK Jack?

I definitely learned a lot running this project….namely, “Don’t leave anything to be done the day-of a big event. Always do everything possible beforehand, even if it’s less efficient!" My fair memories consist of running around like a maniac for 4 hours fighting fires and making certificates. Fortunately I was able to take some photos and several people shared theirs to fill in the gaps…enjoy!