la calle Schell, Lima, Peru, South America

Thinking… So it’s been a rough few days, even since we’ve settled here outside of Lima.  We’re doing Close-of-Service medical tests, learning about our options (still don’t have a list of where we could go) and finding out that we have to make very fast decisions about certain things.  But here is a list of what I’m thinking.   If I transfer directly to another country in Latin America (my favorite option)… I likely won’t be coming to the United States before I transfer (so any shopping has to be done in Lima or the next country) I get to keep learning Spanish.  And impressing you all with that. There’s a good chance there will be tropical fruit involved. I get to know and love a whole new Latin American culture!  I’m a lucky girl, getting to integrate into not one, but 2 cultures. This option isn’t guaranteed because the host country has to accept me once I decide I want to go, but I’m pursuing it as my number one. Regardless of what happens in the new country (if I had to early terminate or medically separate…hopefully neither), I’ll always have Returned Peace Corps Bolivia status…so I don’t lose that on resumes, etc.   If I choose the “re-enroll” option: I close out my service now, get the Returned status, and actually return to the US. Have some sort of top-of-the-application-pile status for doing a full 27 months in another country. Won’t leave the US for a while…new programs aren’t really leaving again till January/February I’ll be pretty bored at home after the novelty wears off and I can’t get a job (like last year all over again) I could maybe look into doing a Master’s International (which combines grad school and then 2 years of Peace Corps to earn a master’s degree)   If I just decide to COS and move on: I may do Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) in central America I may choose grade school I may move to California and join a hippie commune…or just be friends with hippies I may move to California and get a paying job working in anything related to nutrition, food, agriculture, or farmers’ rights.  As long as I can speak Spanish. I’ll be proud of myself, but I don’t think I’m ready to be done with Peace Corps yet, despite the rough times.   Thanks for your support so far, I think the hardest blow is that I won’t be able to see my lovely supporters soon if I transfer, and that it’s going to be very hectic to tie up the loose ends in my site over the phone.

Hi All,

You may have been seeing the news about Bolivia (like, the 5 seconds CNN plays between Hurricane Ike and Wall Street)...but the situations between East and West and City and Campo and Evo and the US were all deteriorating really fast. So first we were consolidated into one city, then the decision was made to evacuate us to Lima, Peru, and recently they decided to temporarily suspend the program in Bolivia. So I´m safely in Peru, but emotionally a mess trying to figure out what I´m doing next. I´ll have several options: leaving Peace Corps and being considered a returned volunteer (which has several benefits in terms of jobs and health insurance), or transferring to another country to do more service. I´m hoping I can transfer to another spanish-speaking Latin American country (wonder how they´ll feel about my cruceño accent) and do another year and a half or so, but the accepting countries tend to dictate what they want in terms of skills and time commitment. I hope it can work out that way though, I don´t feel like I´ve accomplished my Peace Corps goals yet.

I´m so sad that this is happening to Bolivia. I feel guilty that I can leave but the Bolivians are still in the midst of serious turmoil. All my friends in site will probably be safe, but this could be the beginning of harder times. And like many of us have expressed, we felt that we were doing important and useful things in our communities, which were very hard to leave. Personally, I barely knew what was going on, other than gas wasn´t arriving to my site, and that things suddenly were doubling in price. So I really left loose ends because I thought I´d be going back in a week or so. We had many tearful goodbyes with our staff, who were so incredibly supportive to us even while their own home country was going through this and as they knew they were mostly about to be without work. I could never thank them enough. Our country director and the second-in-command (I hope you´re reading this!) were so honest and patient with us and our millions of freak-out questions, how could we ever thank them enough?

I´ll keep this updated as much as possible, please don´t worry about me...but keep Bolivia in your thoughts and prayers if that´s your thing. They need the good vibes more than I do.we evacuated in this military plane from the 1940's!

ok so I got this e-mail from my former boss at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.  The Garden Apprentice Program is all about teenagers doing apprenticeships around the BBG, including in the Children's Garden.  These teens are really great (taught me some sweet dance moves), so if you feel like giving your support, read below!

Tiers two and three of the Garden Apprentice Program have been working on various environmental action projects around BBG this summer with the intent to educate the public on the urgent issue of global climate change and our power to enact change.  

                The culminating group project is a sculpture they created from discarded goods we gathered from around BBG like plastic bags, newspapers and cardboard boxes. They have worked long and hard for several weeks organizing and crafting their vision. The final product will be on display in the rotunda following the end of this week—please stop by to admire their work. 

                We were also able to enter the project into a craft contest put on by 350.org, which is a website that advocates to reduce national carbon emissions to below 350 ppm. We would like to invite you to check out the 350.org website to view our project and to please vote for GAPsummer’s “Average U.S. Citizen.” The contest is judged based on viewer responses so the more votes the better.  You can follow the link below to the page:http://www.craftster.org/350/voting/index.php?start=20&column_name=&contest=craft;                We hope you enjoy our piece and will join us in taking action to curb your own carbon emissions and  raise awareness about our power to make a difference. Thank you so much and have a great evening. 

Bolunteers (that's a clever way to write bolivia volunteers, especially in a country where b and v are interchangable in most people's opinion) rock.  We recently had a consolidation of volunteers (where we're all in one secure place, just in case...) due to possible outbursts stemming from the August 10th recall election.  It was a precaution, no mas, and everything ended up tranquilo (enough) that we could all go back to our normal activities a few days later.  To make this consolidation productive, the powers that be re-arranged and logistified our schedules so that many meetings happened during this time.  In other words, it was a massive conference in which people could share ideas within and without their project groups, training groups and regions.  I got to meet SO many interesting people who were so passionate about their projects, both major and minor.  I am so inspired to go do EVERYTHING in my site.  I want to do more with literacy (we have a library, after all), I'm going to try really hard to realize my goals in the family gardens/seed production area, and I want to be one of those volunteers that is a go-to person for information about doing a specific thing.  There are people that just have so much to talk about when you ask them what they're doing in their sites, and that's what I want to be.  

OF COURSE I was thrilled to see my training class buddies (it's been since April for the 20 of them in regions other than Santa Cruz).  Here we're doing a typical non-smiling Bolivian photo.  Although Bolivians love to laugh and smile a lot, they don't like to smile in pictures.  So we tried that.

We had very official technical meetings, some interesting group discussions about why we're here and what it all means to us, and some very fun learning sessions to "aprovechar de" (take advantage of) our diverse talents.  In other words, I learned to belly dance, do a traditional dance called the chaquerera, and helped teach a hip-hop session with my friend Tammy (who I only really got to know during this conference...she lives only 3 hours away!).  Our excellent third-year volunteers (who do double or triple duty helping out in regional offices, while keeping working in cities) and leadership committees organized some activities that I really got into: scavenger hunt, egg toss, relay race (complete with potato-digging and throwing a rock at a picture of a dog to replicate our experience in site), and a dance where the theme was cross-dressing. Painting my friend Pat's nails for our scavenger hunt.  He kept the look for the cross-dressing ball the following night.  ((Yes, I cut bangs for myself.  Good music can inspire poor decisions in haircuts--makes you want to be a cool rock star/hipster.))

I'm so fortunate to have had this happen only 3 months into my service, I'll be able to use this experience and inspiration to the full advantage of my community.

So if you see, as you often do, a señora walking down the street with a delicious basket of baked goods, or soda, or any snack, how do you get her to stop and sell you something?  Don't bother shouting "señora" as it's not very effective.  Instead, shout "cuñape" or "cafe" to signify you want some of that, and she will stop and sell to you!

Well, this post isn't at all about Peace Corps Bolivia.  Though we are dealing with some things politically now, they haven't gotten prohibitive towards our work or proven too risky for our continued presence in the country...and I'm happy about that!  However, it's important that we as the volunteer community (and those generally concerned about awesome people like PCV's) stay informed about other members of this larger group.  We are having a conference right now, thus have more access to CNN, the internet, etc., so we have been informed of the breaking news about Georgia.  Check out the link below, if you haven't yet informed yourself.  It's a serious situation and I can't imagine what the Peace Corps Georgia volunteers are feeling right now.  I would be scared, confused, angry and full of questions about what this would mean for my service.  Probably what the Kenya volunteers felt last winter when the violence broke out there.  At that time, I recall, I had felt concern but didn't understand that feeling of attachment for a country and people, let alone projects and work!  Part of me is selfishly saying, "thank goodness that's not here, let that not happen here" and another part of me just feels the pain of seeing your host country turn to violence.  On top of that, it's the opening day of the Olympics, so this sort of violence seems even more inappropriate than normal.  Please keep the Georgian people and PCV's in Georgia in your thoughts.  Why not use this as an opportunity to learn about a very interesting and rich country history?

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/08/georgia.ossetia/index.html

For Peace

I've updated my "wishlist" over on that sidebar, but I'm putting out a special request for socks.  The dirt here is all reddish-brown, and anywhere I walk it gets in my shoes because it's the windy dusty season.  I can kind of scrub out the dirt, but it stains and the scrub brush I use to wash my stuff absolutely tears up the fibers in the cloth...thus I have some quickly deteriorating stained socks.  I'd love some new pairs!  Don't bother with those cute socks from Target or whatever that are fashionable and cute but not very functional.  They won't last a single washing...something sturdy and cushiony would be verrry appreciated :).

Burning Sugar Cane

Well, after a week being stuck in Santa Cruz for medical reasons (don't worry, the doctors couldn't actually find anything wrong with me, and I ended up feeling better by the end of it all anyways), I was all ready to go back to my site.  Then there was a landslide on the highway back to my (and other volunteers') site.  Huge boulders fell down a slope, cracking the road and actually killing two people.  Needless to say, taxis and buses weren't running for a few days.  I was really bummed to be out of my site for even MORE time (knowing that I'd be back here for meetings), but with Peace Corps' blessing, I went to visit two volunteers working about 2 hours north of the city, in a Japanese colony.  For more info on their site and work (they're totally awesome people), I've linked to their blog...Tom and Anna.  It was a very refreshing visit, and it was so fun to see that type of landscape--the hot, flat plains of Santa Cruz.  It's definitely the tropical climate I had hoped my site would have, complete with sugar cane and a laguna with alligators (or is it crocodiles in South America?).  I mostly enjoyed seeing how volunteers who had been here a year already spent their time--visiting, hanging out (it was the weekend, I know they do work during the week too).It was comforting to know that it's ok to spend time reading and cooking and going on runs, you have to make a "home life" to go along with difficult development work, and the pace of life here in Bolivia definitely allows for free time.  So I've stopped being stressed about not having lots to do every day.  We also ate sushi, tempura and delicious fried catfish-like fish (from the river nearby I think!).   Finally I did make it back to site, spent all of 6 days there in which I actually helped plan school lunch menus (I basically just said si, si, ok, si to most things the people wanted to do...they know better than me how to cook for 120 students).  Next step:  bumping up the vegetable production by the schools, so they don't have to buy vegetable to add to their dishes.

There is a well-written article about the political situation in Bolivia here:

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1388/1/

Actually, this whole website has great articles all about Latin America.  Enjoy!

woohoo finally got the slideshow embedded in the page.  I still will try to add relevant pictures to actual blog posts, but the application that blogger uses for some reason does not agree para nada with the internet connection I use...it takes foreverrrrrr.

(Disclaimer: yes, I have revealed the name of my site after seeing other PC friends who have done the same on their blogs/facebook. The reason I had not revealed my site name before is that by doing so, I risk creating in the minds of my readers unfair judgements against a specific place and community. Please continue to bear in mind that my observations are biased to my point of view and while I try to keep things in perspective, any negative thoughts, stereotypes or judgements should not automatically be applied to this community as a whole. Thanks).

It’s 8:55 p.m. on July 15th. Central plaza of Postrervalle. The Catholic church has been full of people paying their respect to the Virgin of Carmen, who is the patron of the town, thus, people say thanks to her. Now people are streaming out of the glowing church to join friends, family, and strangers from near and far who have already started the party. A band of drummers and trumpets play a song that sounds a lot like an upbeat version of the classic rock tune “The Sound of Silence,” though is apparently a traditional song from this area. It’s very catchy. Fireworks (yes, real fireworks) are lit from the bonfires in the middle of the street. The kids ooh and aah at the brilliant gold and green, pink blue and purple sparks. “Una VIVORA (snake)” cries Timi, the 6 year old I live with, at a succession of serpentine sparks. The adults can’t hide their amazement either, not that we’re really trying to. A few hard-partying men stumble over each other, everyone laughing and celebrating. There are tables set up all over the sidewalk, where people are selling a special drink of eggs, milk and a LOT of alcohol (hmm…sounds like eggnog to me). More fireworks, firecrackers, laughing, oohs and aahs, music, encounters with distant relations, happiness. This was the eve of the official Postrervalle founding holiday. We left that nights at about 10pm, but when I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and early morning, music was still playing and people were still up partying. At about 6:30 on the actual day, I heard firecrackers. This party is so legendary in the valles that a volunteer in a community several hours away got a phone call from someone originally from his community, working in London, to tell him to get to this party if there was any way he could. The bus to my town has been totally full every day for a few weeks. When I say full, I mean people rode standing in the aisles from Santa Cruz all the way here (that’s 7+ hours). Foosball tables and game booths arrived a few weeks ago, a special treat for fiesta time. Closer to the actual day, tables were set up in our usually empty market building, where women fried thin-crusted empanadas and special food for out-of-towners and locals alike. A car race came through town, though it wasn’t special for the party, just coincided very well as entertainment. Trucks came filled with tangerines, bananas and oranges. Booths were erected of blue tarp in an empty lot behind the market. Vendors unloaded their trucks. People could buy new pots and pans, ever-essential plastic buckets and bins of all sizes and colors, clothes, sneakers, electrical equipment, and more! Out-of-towners cat-called at the gringa (one of the big negatives of such a party…people don’t know me and thus I’m a lot less safe and get laughed at/called a lot more). And that was all BEFORE the actual day, July 16th.

On the actual day, things were actually a little more serious. In the morning, there was another church service, followed by a procession with the Virgin of Carmen statue around the plaza. Then there was the acto civico. Contrary to the actos civicos for Dia de la Madre Boliviana, this was more speeches by important people, with only two dance performances. The mayor of my town (and actually the whole municipality) talked about the works going on around the municipality: road improvements, building of the basketball stadium, etc. The prefectura spoke as well: he’s a Santa Cruz-level government official. He congratulated us on 94% vote for autonomy back in May, and made us THE capital of autonomy, which was commemorated by a big wooden post. The department also gave us a new truck. Seriously. They were stoked that we had such a high autonomy percentage and were making good on a promise of granting wishes to departments that had high voting rates. After a very hot (ok, a little boring too) morning watching that, there was a fair/exposition showing the different traditional foods of Postrervalle. Many of the cheese-carb concoctions could be had, as well as the cookies that are kind of like madelines in texture, sweet potatoes, a pancake like thing (which I almost ate until I was turned off by someone greasing the pan with a piece of pig), and a drink made of one of the wild fruits that grows around here: guayavilla. I had done a mini-lesson on calculating costs of production with my friend Nelcy. We made a few loaves of pumpkin, carrot and banana bread, and she sold them whole and in pieces at a fair price. That’s probably the only way this is related to work, but that part was pretty successful. She made enough money to buy one of the kids a new jacket (which she needed badly…dern kids just keep growing out of stuff!). She wanted to keep doing this, I hope we can bring some other women in on the baking and selling thing—though the town is so small that if a few more people pick it up, unfortunately they’re going to be direct competition for each other. Later in the afternoon I did what volunteers really shouldn’t do: I gave money to people. Well, I gave each of the kids I live with 2 Bolivianos (note $1 = 7.1 Bolivianos at this point in time) to play at the foosball tables, and bought them each a candy apple. I tried to make it clear that this was a special occasion, and I think they understood not to expect money from me. Anyways, they had a LOT of fun at the tables/being a part of the fun, so I think I got way more than the value of the money I spent. The rest of the action of the market was the stuff to buy and tarp booths to eat and get drunk in. I didn’t partake in that, though I did buy a fried cheese empanada, hot off the oil. The following day, although there were fewer people around town, music was still playing and people were still eating and drinking in the various booths. Needless to say, this is a big deal party, it lasts a long time, and brings a lot of outsiders and disruption to Postrervalle. To be truthful, it was fun to celebrate tradition, but after a point, I wanted to get back to the tranquilo life I was more used to here.

to my Postrervallefrom far i have cometo eat baked goodsof crushed corn

I’m happy to report that I now know Quechua words that have mostly lost their original meaning, and picked up a new meaning in the valles cruceños. It probably even varies from pueblo to pueblo…but here’s a sampling of some words I’ve been attempting to pronounce. I mostly love these words because many don’t have a direct equivalent in Castellano (Spanish, as the Bolivians call it, though it’s nothing like Castillian Spanish) or English.Kjala (kj is a breathy k sound…aspirated k, kind of like kHH) – naked!Patakjala – barefoot (pata=animal feet, but sort of also means human feet, and in this context definitely does)Ch’uto (that’s a ch with a glottal stop…I can’t do it but I try and it makes the kids laugh, maybe so much that it hurts my feelings) – animal without a tail, or someone with their pants down!Tjanta (aspirated t) – holey or ripped/torn/tattered; in Quechua this actually means breadKjaspau – burnt on the outside and still raw on the inside…you don’t want kjaspau breadKjarka – stuck to the potC’uchi (glottal stop c…watch out, sounds like a dirty word in modern American vernacular) – pig; also called cerdo, chancho and other names in Spanish and VallunoKjasa – missing teeth, missing a piecePuchiu – food that has saliva on it, someone else has eaten it or somethingCh’anko – brokenChiche – dirty (like your feet when you’re running around the garden all patakhala)Pucha (pronounced POOOOcha) -- for a long time I thought this was a bad word, but it’s just kind of an interjection, like che and pues (that’s prounounced pueh here, thankyouverymuch). For example, your food is kjaspau, you might say PUUUUCHA CHE! Yo voy quemando mi comida pueh. Which translates to…ooooh man I’m burning my food, then. Yeah…this use of the verb “to go” plus the gerund will not get you an “A” in 7th grade Spanish, but it helps your cultural integration.….and MANY more words, especially for animals and bugs that I’ve never heard of or seen before (i.e. tatu = an animal with a cape that digs really fast)As someone with great interest in linguistics, I’m having lots of fun with this. However, I mostly just like understanding when people say these words…the glottal stops and super-aspirated consonants are tough. I also have the advantage of living with kids who were born and raised for some of their lives outside of this town, so they bring new accents and have a different range of words they use. The oldest one is from way up in the Yungas mountains, and he says EVERYTHING with glottal stops and aspirations and uses a lot more valluno words than the others. I’ve started a dictionary, which is really fun for me and the kids, even though they laugh AT me a little too much sometimes. Sometimes I think they’re making stuff up or telling me bad words, just to see if I’ll say them, so I’m careful to double check with the grown-ups.

Well after just 13 days in site, I'm back in the city buying seeds and supplies to help get some family gardens started.  The lack of seeds seems to be the major limiting factor for vegetable production (and hence, consumption) in my ...so it seems I've found my primary project:  seed saving!  I still have a lot of learning about the subject to do, but it's nice to feel like I have some sort of guiding force to my work.  For now, I'm stuck buying seeds that will give plants (important, yes) but won't help the community be self-sufficient in terms of seed supply, but I've come across some organizations that will maybe donate organic seeds that can be open-pollinated.  This sort of food/farm justice is my passion...so you can imagine how exciting it is for me to maybe be working directly on a project to fight the big seed/ag conglomerates in favor of grassroots-level organization.

The past almost two weeks held two main activities.  The first was the planting of vegetables in the community (but run by the school) farm.  It was not my project, but that of some ingenieros...who I have to admit have their hearts in the right place, and were not as bad as some that I've described in the past.  They did a great job teaching about double-digging, and set the stage for me to do compost piles in the schools, for sure, since they stressed the importance of adding organic matter to the soil.  It was great fun making these raised beds and planting with the kids...unfortunately since that time, the gallinas (hens) basically ate all the plants.  They did leave us with seeds and the plants in the greenhouse are safe, so we will have transplants soon.  Now if we could just kick the parents into gear (caring for the farm is their responsibility) to get them to really make a good fence.

The second thing was the campeonato.  Since schools have been on vacation nation-wide ("winter" vacation), I guess this is when they have the traveling sports competitions.  Three neighboring municipalities (kind of like big counties or districts I guess) travelled to my lovely town to compete in soccer, running, volleyball and basketball.  There was also a beauty pageant at the closing ceremonies (duh, this is Bolivia after all...we love beauty pageants!)  The town was full of strangers, which made being a gringa difficult once again...everyone in my town, save a few, know that I belong there and don't need to be cat-called, but unfortunately the visitors did not know.  In any case, I had fun loitering in the crowds, cheering on my teams, etc.  The municipalities rotate years hosting, so I was lucky to be here in a year when we were hosting.  People really went all-out making food to sell, they know an economic opportunity when they see one (triple the people?  all hungry? yes!). In a few weeks I'll be seeing my training buddies for almost 3 weeks, in Cochabamba (how I missed that city!), when we have our reunion, project meetings, diagnostic presentations, and language training (I need someone to correct all the lazy habits I've acquired deep in the valles cruceños).  Until then, enjoy summer in the U.S., or wherever you are...this girl misses raspberries and corn on the cob like none other! Post below this is my attempt at making a slideshow of images of my town (as requested)...I wanted to have it as its own object, but I will have to save that for another trip I suppose.

When I come to the city, it’s wonderful and horrible.  Wonderful is talking to my parents and my brother and Zoe, seeing other volunteers, using wireless internet, eating stuff I can’t get in site (U.S.-style ice cream!), watching cable TV, taking showers that aren’t inclined to get freezing all of a sudden, the lack of kids kicking the ball (inside) into my door.  Horrible can be doing errands.  Santa Cruz has several large-ish markets, you can find any necessity if you look hard enough.  The problem is really how crowded they are.  The people with pirated DVD/music video stands set up in the most inconvenient places, so all the magnetically drawn-in shoppers create bottlenecks.  It’s not just the DVD stands though, there are no stores that you really go in, so if something interests you, you just stop.  For some reason I feel that I’m particularly bad at anticipating when someone will stop walking, I feel so clumsy having to dodge or ram (haha…like the truck) someone every 2 seconds!  Lots of times people either don’t look or don’t care where they’re going (usually have giant blanket-wrapped parcel on back or over shoulder).  I make sure to look, but there’s only so much I can do.  Someone crushed my toenail today with her sandaled foot, because she wasn’t looking and I couldn’t move.  And what an evil look I got from her then…but I’m the one with half a toenail that I have to be sure to disinfect!  Shopping is made more complicated when you have no idea about the layout of the market.  You either can wind yourself through and throughout the markets’ crowded and crooked alleys until you find desired section with what you need, ask directions which usually are wrong or just tell you to keep walking “al fondo” –deeper—till you get there, or you can give up.  Giving up is kind of silly, because you’re already likely to be deep and lost anyways. Well, you could say you're never really lost because you're sort of always on your way to finding something (philosophical, yeah, blah blah).  Also imagine carrying awkward bundles like a 30-m roll of hexagonal wire fencing through the unseeing, uncaring masses.  So until I figure out these markets’ layout, or until I stop needing to buy things for my site, these visits will continue long and tiring despite my efforts to be efficient.  But shopping like this is as thrilling as it is frustrating and exhausting, with all the colorful clothes, spices, vegetables and plastic bins of every size, with the brilliantly shiny pots, pans and kettles, with the loud music and dvds attracting customers at every turn, and vendors asking you what you want to buy.  It’s one-stop-shopping, but not for the weak of heart, short of time or poor of directional sense!

I’m beginning to make a daily routine for myself, which is comforting.  My cat Dracula usually wakes me up (by biting my shirt or my hair) at about 6 or 6:30, which is before the family I live with.  I boil some water and coffee grounds and filter them through a tiny sieve, and drink my cowboy coffee to the sound of roosters, cows, barking dogs, wind (oh boy is it windy right now) and rustling corn.  Then I usually eat breakfast and read a bit while Dracula goes crazy around my room, biting and scratching things I’d rather he left alone.  By about 8:30 I go to the market to check if there’s vegetables or bananas (most likely not), and to see if I need to empty the compost (usually I do…too bad there’s no worms in the supposed worm bin).  The rest of my morning consists of activities in the schools (most days for about an hour right before lunch, lucky me!), preparing lunch, baking bread, visiting people, and occasionally checking in with my counterparts (they’re not usually there, but I think we are beginning to understand the others’ expectations a little more, so that’s nice).  After lunch is nap/relaxing time, Dracula can never keep his eyes open, it’s hilarious to watch him try to attack things but sort of fall asleep in the process.  Then I exercise (this I have found is my thinking/ideas time—so I guess we could call it “work”), maybe read more or write a letter, and/or play with the kids, or watch them play.  Lately I’ve also been preparing soil for my garden, but I try to leave that hard labor (it’s me and a pick-hoe type tool, ripping out grass and de-clumping the soil) until the sun is a bit lower.  By 5:30 or so I’m usually hanging out with the host family/kids in the kitchen or in our front yard.  I eat my dinner while the family has their milk and carb-cheese snack (I haven’t adapted this eating pattern, I doubt I will…I like real dinner).  Sometimes we read after dinner, but the kids go to bed by 8, and I’m not usually up much later than that because it gets cold and my bed is really the best place to be when that happens. So to analyze this, I do still think I need to be working more, but as I’m learning more about the community, this is scaling up.  I’ll be getting much busier as time goes on, so I better not get too used to the chill-out routine.  It’s not horrible, but I know very well about myself that I like to have plenty of work to do, and thus have free time feel more merited. My project director and the Ag project’s 3rd-year volunteer (she helps us out with our projects) came to see me the other day, which really made me happy.  Not only did they bring me mail from home (it’s really hard to not open those packages until my birthday!) and mail from Peace Corps (2 whole Newsweeks to read…they were from April, but still!), but they reassured me about how I’m doing here.  The 3rd year said that the first three months definitely feel lazy for many people, I shouldn’t feel guilty about it.  My director went around with me to see my counterpart and some of the people I’ve been working with.  Of course he spit out like a zillion ideas in front of them, and now I’m pretty sure they expect me to do all that stuff.  However, having him around for just the day really helped me be seen as someone who wants to do work, and who is accountable to someone to do work.  Both my visitors helped me out with how I can really get going on assessing the community, which I’ve been trying to do, without much luck.  It seems so obvious now, but the 3rd year told me I should just start out really small, with even a group of 4 or 5, so now the task seems a lot more manageable, that I’m not thinking in terms of getting information on such a broad scale.  I did just have my first meeting with my "club de madres"--who were mostly teachers.  I would have liked more of the "campo" or less educated people to come, but I think the teachers know me and sort of trust me, so they were more enthusiastic.  We decided I could help a lot with starting a family gardens program.  SCORE!  Exactly what I want to do, so it was great to hear it from them.  Of course, I want to carefully plan (and I'm supposed to carefully plan and get suggestions from Peace Corps), and they are like, so when do we start???  Ah...love it! Thanks for the letters, emails and packages…keep ‘em coming, I promise to respond to each of my many fans (joking…about the fans thing, not about responding).

Liberal interpretation of Spanish words so that in one sense, I really don’t need much vocab after all.Mix of regional vocab and Quechua words so I do actually need a lot of vocab help.  Today I learned that there is a separate word for a bull calf that’s really too old for milk, but continues to drink its mother’s milk, thus leaving the cow dry for the farmer (you have to keep them separately in the afternoon and overnight to avoid this in the mornings).Lunchtime/naptime is totally respected (don’t try to do anything between 12-2, or 3)If it’s raining, you can take it easy; if it’s hot, you can also blame being tired on that.Like I mentioned in the Dia de la Madre entry, the amount of variations on cheese and carbs that are eaten as very distinct foods here.  You have ground corn and cheese dough that can be shaped into circles (“empanadas”), doughnuts (“roscas”); flour dough with cheese inside (“empanadas” again), if fried, this is a “pastel”, if it’s a doughnut shape and fried it’s a “rosquilla”; yucca flour-and-cheese baked heaven a.k.a. cuñape…and I’m sure there’s more.  But nobody seems to eat grilled cheese or cheese sandwiches (except me).The accent (who really needs the letter “s” or the ends of words anyways), which I’m apparently picking up, according to my friend a few hours away.People don’t get too mad when you don’t do something until the next day.  “Later” can mean a few days later.You write formal letters to people you know really well to tell them anything.  Like, when I leave site, I’m supposed to write a letter to my counterparts (though I’m not great at that, I’d rather just tell them).  The other day I got a letter to thank me for my letter of introduction.  Seriously, it contained no more information than, thanks, we appreciate your support and we’ll be sure to ask you for help.Beautiful mountains.Pigs and cows are hilarious animals-always make me laugh.People tend to have their sweater, jacket or hat or outfit that they always wear, which makes it easier for me to identify them from a distance.  I definitely don’t feel weird wearing my purple Disney Tinkerbell sweatshirt (Bs. 25 = $3 in Santa Cruz, and it totally rocks) half the days of the week.Dracula.  I actually think he’s a boy (he’s growing up a bit more so that’s becoming more obvious…but who knows).  I don’t know if this really fits into the list, but he is a Bolivian citizen, and is something I love, so it counts I guess.  (it’s my kitten, if you haven’t been reading along, not a boyfriend).  He’s super annoying (why must he bite everything, including his new favorites: books and the corner of my laptop) but super cute all in one!The dairy products: even though I don’t eat much dairy here, I’m always impressed with the non-wasting.  The major dairy/beverage company is Pil.  They make powdered milk (for times like right now when most of the cows are far away eating grass in the Yungas mountains, and thus are not here for fresh milk), bagged dairy milk, bagged soymilk (which they render totally unhealthy by adding sugar and coloring and overdoing the flavoring-it ends up with very little protein and lots of carbs and fat), bagged chocolate dairy-soy drink (called Chicolac..yummm), cheeses, margarine (which is made extra special when they add milk to it…defeating the purpose of a dairy-free spread), yogurt (also made unhealthy with all those additives).  When I say non-wasting, I guess I refer to the fact that they use the whey from the cheese-making process to make another drink, called Pil-Frut (that’s pronounced “peel-froo” where I live).  It’s also very sweet, but actually has nutritional value from the whey and fruit juice—and kids (and adults) totally love it, but they don’t know it’s made from the very unappealing whey.  During training we would have debates (not very interesting ones) about whether Piña, Manzana (apple), or Durazno (peach) was the best flavor.  I drink/use the Pil fat-free powdered milk…Pil “Sbelt.”  When you consider that b=v here, they really mean to be calling it Svelte, and I just love that I drink Svelte milk.  I also now make my own yogurt…I got sick of the sugary stuff that was more like a drink than a solid food, oh the skills I’m learning!

First off, I just love that there is the specification that this is BOLIVIAN mothers’ day, it could either mean that it’s here as opposed to Peru, or that we are celebrating Bolivian mothers’ bolivian-ness.  Either way, it’s a big deal here, and I had a lot of fun even though I’m neither a mother nor a child of a Bolivian mother (mandatory shout out to my U.S. mom, who continues to amaze me with all she does and how much she supports her daughter doing who-knows-what out here, same to dad).  So there were three “acto civicos” put on for the mothers.  The first two were by the schools, the last was at night, and more for an adult audience, but I didn’t go to see it because I was tired and I figured I’d gotten the gist of an acto civico for Dia de la Madre Boliviana.  An acto civico is basically a public performance.  The performers put on dances, recite poetry, sing, and do skits.  The elementary kids’ was in the morning, and with 6 kids performing, I was busy taking pictures.  I was really amazed at how much effort was put into this, down to the costumes.  Even though I wouldn’t say the kids really knew how to dance, they were totally into it, and they were genuinely into doing something great for their moms.  The kids prepare for about a solid week for this, taking up their precious half-days of school with learning poems and dances.  The middle/high school performance went all afternoon, and I think that I enjoyed the calibre of dance and drama a bit more, even if they weren’t as cute.  The skits were really interesting, clearly influenced by the telenovela style of story and acting.  However, I was impressed by the maturity of the actors and the audience, and by the fact that the students made up some intense skits about how poorly mothers are often treated here (from cheating husbands to kids who just don’t respect their mama).  I was quite convinced that people think mothers are of the most importance here; “si no hay madre, no hay familia”  (if there is no mother, there is no family) was a common refrain.  Of course EVERYONE comes out to watch, not just the mothers.  So on one side you have the group of grungy guys who kind of smell like alcohol and tend to be smoking and whistling at the gringa, but they do no real harm, and hey, they probably have kids too.  At the end of the acto civico, food is always served to the mothers, courtesy of the school.  Some sort of sweet drink and a bag with cake, bread, any type of cheese-carb combo snack (you wouldn’t believe how many variations you can make on that), or a sandwich was standard fare. I got to see my community as a whole that day, and be a part of it at the same time, just hanging out with whatever group of kids was watching, eating jello or some other random snack, and really having fun.  This is Bolivia, and I’m falling in love, despite the aforementioned and sure-to-come frustrations.

I got back from Santa Cruz on a Tuesday. I set up my new plastic shelves, arranged my stuff, and felt like my situation and outlook were a lot better. The next day, Wednesday, I got my kitten (more about that later). Wednesday night I was informed, not by my host family, but by a niece, that I had to move out the next day. I had no choice. She said she had just spoken to her aunt (my host mother) who is in the city, and apparently the son is coming from Spain to stay (not today, but sometime in the future, we’ll see just how urgent this was), so they needed my room. A week later, I haven’t seen any evidence that the son has arrived, I really can’t be sure what the real motivation for me getting kicked out was, it’s not always the case that people are straightforward and honest here, it’s just a cultural thing. Perhaps that excuse was a neutral way of having me leave, when the reason was something that would have upset me. It frustrated me a lot to have no choice and to feel like I wasn’t getting the straight story. However, I saw the niece the other day, and she seemed like she had perhaps orchestrated a lot of it for my benefit (she said my rent had been too high, and asked if I was happier). And I am happier, now living in the big house with my friend and the 6 kids. I feel more comfortable because the house itself is more comfortable, with a big kitchen in which I have been experimenting and baking bread, etc. The whole place is indoors, so it just feels more like a home. Plus mealtimes, although I do get frustrated/annoyed with the constant fascination and questions from the kids (kids will be kids though, it’s my problem, not theirs), are more fun, since there is a lot more talking, and the chance to “culturally exchange” and because I feel like I’m doing more than trying to finish my food as quickly as possible so I can go back to my room.

An on-a-whim recipe with vegetables seemed so good to all the kids (who constantly ask me if my food tastes good, which seems obvious to me since I made it and I wouldn’t make something that I didn’t like), that the next day they ate that for lunch. It had enough Bolivian-ness (the vegetables were cooked inside something, there was a bread component and a fried component) and a healthy aspect (it’s full of vegetables) that it was a huge success for all involved. The “recipe” if you could call it that, follows at the end of this blog entry.

I also feel like I have been “working” more, though I still have a lot to learn before I could possibly write my diagnostic assessment or plan a project. I learned of a meeting of agriculturalists, so I went. Man, that was a long confusing meeting, but I had sort of expected it to be that way (though had hoped for the opposite). Although they were the potato growers, I was glad to be introduced to a group, and I got to explain that I wanted to learn about all the agricultural activities in the community. The response was positive, they agreed to invite me to all their meetings, though I do want to have my own meeting (because adding an hour of activities to an already 3-hour long meeting does not appeal to me). I tried to use some of our “participatory community assessment tools” (like drawing community maps and using the omissions and inclusions to draw conclusions about the particular group) with the third, fourth, and fifth graders, with limited success—but I had figured they were a little young to really do that activity. In short, behavior was a big issue, though I was reassured that the kids aren’t always much better for their normal teachers. Like, some just refused to do the activity (I tried to explain that it wasn’t optional, that didn’t mean much to them though), others were wrestling, some were sneaking out of class, etc. I’ve strangely lost my ability to really raise my voice (at least in Spanish)…which didn’t make things easier. I counted a small success with the 3rd graders however. I asked them to draw all the things they thought they should eat in a day, and how many times. Turned out that was a good way to see that they don’t really have an understanding of what they do eat every day (since some put down you should eat this thing 10 times a day, this thing 5 times, etc.). We definitely will be doing some food groups/basic nutrition work in that and other grades. Then I decided the time had come to talk to the directors of the intermediate and high schools. That went very well, since they actually teach agriculture starting from 7th grade. The director of the middle school is totally on board (the high school director was out of town), she wants to expand the amount of vegetables they grow, as does the agriculture teacher. They want to do a small terraced area, so hopefully I can invite one of my natural resources buddies to do a tech exchange, since they learned all about terracing. I’ll be observing a class/activity about germination tomorrow. I made it clear that I want to help, but not distract the class (good luck!) or substitute teach. We are also hoping to start a compost pile. I’m thinking of making it into a competition. As much as I hate having a prize be the motivation for the sort of thing which I think should be done for its intrinsic goodness, I’m making concessions since this is Bolivia, and you have to work differently to get stuff done.

So I guess one of my bigger work frustrations recently is that I’m learning that university students and government organizations come out here for like, a half a day, order people around to get them to do something without telling them WHY, and at the same time do things FOR people (i.e. plant some trees or build a compost pile) without giving them knowledge or understanding of how or why the community should continue it. For example, they planted banana palms, but we’re coming up on a season where we get frosts, which is why we don’t have tropical fruit trees here. Another example: someone came to look at the worm compost well, gave the market a compost trashcan for food peels, and then I was ordered to empty the bin into the well every three days. I’m pretty sure that worm well has no worms in it any more. I want to ask them, “oh, so you’ve learned sufficiently about this community and their needs and wants, and that’s why you’re doing this? Oh, no? You’re just doing it to say you did it? Ah I see.” So this sort of work is really getting in the way of me doing anything, since it’s like, oh the ingeniero (engineer) from the university is coming next week to do that thing that you would like to do for your 2-year project. But they’re coming for a day to do it poorly and without context, to tell YOU what to do, and then you’ll have to deal with the fact that they don’t have any idea about the community and all the community leaders will listen to them and not you, and think you agree with this plan and that you’ll carry it out fully. In short, I’m having trouble fitting a much slower, thorough approach to development in with a system that appreciates rapid, visible and not necessarily correct or sustainable changes to a community.

Ok, what you all really want to know about is my kitten. Her name is Dracula. I originally thought it was a boy, but in a week she’s grown sufficiently that I actually think I can tell she’s a girl, and the name fits perfectly regardless. She has huge ears, and likes to creep around at night with her eyes all dialated, giving her a very vampiric/batlike appearance. Plus, how awesome is that name?!? She’s often very cute, very affectionate, but I realized I have no idea how to deal with a kitten of 2 months (all my cats were received upwards of 6 months of age). She meows a lot, it’s as if she wants to tell me about things. She eats a lot, and I feed her as much as she wants, since she came to me dirty and underfed (not the owners’ fault, they just really couldn’t take care of kittens…one day spaying/neutering will be seen as a good thing here). She sleeps curled up next to me, which is great but since I move a lot in my sleep, I am worried I’ll crush her. And then we have what I call “crazy hour”…which can be entertaining or REALLY annoying, depending on what I’m trying to do. I guess at this age, kittens think everything is something to be pounced on. She runs around the room, pouncing on air, my shoes, my sheets, pillows, whatever is in my hands, and me (especially my hair…ouch). She also chews and scratches any cardboard, wood, or cloth surface. She cannot be stopped. So at 2am, when she wakes up and wants to protect me from the evils of my own feet, I just have to wait until she gets so tired that she wants to sleep again. This can be like, an hour long thing…if anyone has tips about crazy kitten syndrome, I’d be glad to hear them because I’m losing a lot of sleep. DO NOT SEND CATNIP, she does not need it. Good news is that she took to her sand-bin litter box very quickly, only had 2 or 3 incidents of her forgetting where it was. The other issue is the fleas. I’m sure she’s too young to use flea products on, so I have just been trying to comb out the fleas as I see them. I have bites EVERYWHERE, it’s gross and very itchy. However, with the frustrations of the past week (university “engineers,” moving, 6 very curious kids), I’ve been glad to have her unconditional love, and of course the protection from all the evils that my room possesses.

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Here’s the recipe for Panqueques de Verduras:

Grate or chop finely a selection of the following vegetables:

Eggplant, spinach, swiss chard, carrots, green peppers, garlic, onion (I also see this working well with zucchini and anything else that cooks fairly rapidly, experiment away!)

Eyeball the amount of flour you will need for a pancake-like batter to cover these vegetables thinly. Mix this flour, in a separate bowl, with a proportionate amount of baking powder, salt, egg(s), and milk. Add in spices and/or ground pepper. It should be like pancake batter—but the science isn’t exact. Look in any cookbook for a real pancake batter, and just omit the sweet ingredients, if you don’t do well with approximations.

Mix the pancake batter into the veggies.

Heat a small amount (or a lot, if you want to do more Bolivian style) of cooking oil in a skillet. Have a plate with paper towels ready, for putting the finished pancakes on.

Drop large tablespoons of the veggie batter in the oil, spreading out the veggies to an even (but still fairly thick) layer. Cook as you would cook pancakes, flipping when the batter appears dry around the edge of the pancake. You choose how browned to make them—crispy and soft are both delicious, though this is also a function of how much oil you are using. Note that these will take longer to cook than regular pancakes, and you should test your timing to make sure the veggies are softened/cooked through).

I served with soy sauce, but I imagine sour cream or yogurt would be excellent choices as well.

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Hey all, strangers friends and family!  Thanks for reading thus far.  To those who are of the package-sending persuasion and remember that it's my birthday on June 14th, I'd let you know that you could probably send something larger than a padded envelope, but still not very heavy (4 lbs or less) and with a low or zero value.  That's just to ya know, give you more flexibility if you are so inclined to send something.  As always, I appreciate emails, blog comments, and letters very much, but I know some people LIKE to send packages (hi mom!).  Check the the left side column for all sending info (and be warned, it is expensive to send stuff to here, another reason why I don't expect anything!).

Last Tuesday I found myself in a nearby community, knowing nobody except 3 people I had met about 2 hours prior while doing a little “work”, and having wait 4 hours (more likely more) til the bus back to my town rolled back through.  Well, this community was only 12km from my town, with a clear dirt “highway” back.  So, I thought, why not walk back?  It’s not raining, and it is virtually impossible to get lost.  The people I was with were not to happy about the idea of my walking that far alone, but eventually told me that there was an alternate route that was not as long.  I just had to…find it.  There was a good chance I could end up in a completely different town, if I took the wrong road off the highway.  I had a very sketchy map drawn (by somebody who didn’t know that the US was North of Bolivia…not that I blame him or judge him for that, but maybe wasn’t the best person to get to draw a map).  I went on my way after basically being forced to lunch (I’ve gotten good at explaining that I don’t eat meat).  I hadn’t understood 2 of the 3 words for the important landmarks to look for, but weirdly, I wasn’t worried.  Me, not worried.  HOW MUCH HAVE I CHANGED???  A lot!  I had figured the shortcut was like, half a km up the road, but I didn’t see what I thought I was looking for (literally, a fork in the road where I would have to take the path less taken).  After about 4km (they have km markers!) I was hoping it had been more like, 8.  Then I saw I had only gone 5.  My legs were killing me, the sun was beating down, I had some water and fruit, but I did not want to keep going.  Then I rounded a switchback, and I found exactly the divergent paths I was looking for.  I had been looking for something that barely looked like a path, according to my map-drawer.  With much hesitation to leave the obvious highway, I descended into this amazing trail through lush mountain vegetation.  For a long time, I couldn’t be sure whether this path was really going to my town, but then I came upon a beautiful clearing, and I saw my town waaaay in the distance.  I made it home, on nothing more than my faith in a sunny afternoon and my once-strong lungs and legs!  So, what did I not know before?  That I can do something like find my way around on vague Spanish instructions and a little ambition.  I told this personal victory story first to set the stage that, although the next part of this entry is going to sound like I’m not having optimal experience, I am so happy to be here and learning about my own abilities, even if it’s not always obvious what I’m doing here on the side of a mountain in Bolivia. So as you can read about my first day here, I got here.  My bed did get set up ok, but oh no, that mattress.  I wish I had made that a splurge purchase…because mine is hard as a rock, after 2.5 weeks of sleeping now has a huge depression in the middle where I sleep.  Oh and although it was wrapped in plastic when I bought it, I’m pretty sure it had fleas.  Entire sections of my body are covered in little red dots.  Who could have guessed that fleas itch so much, now I feel really bad for all the animals of the world without flea medication.  I put the mattress in the sun for a day, seemed to have taken care of that problem, but it’s still realllly uncomfortable. I haven’t really gotten down a set routine with work or anything.  This is what is making my life frustrating.  You all know how I can’t stand feeling lazy…But I’m having trouble making much headway with my counterparts at the mayor’s office.  I was hoping I’d be able to sit down with them and ask questions and get answers, but it’s not the case.  My main work partner is rarely at the office, often away in Santa Cruz.  And the others are really busy, and they do try to be helpful but without knowing what I need help with.  I don’t hang around the office too much, it feels pretty awkward, and it seems that I just need to stop in every now and then.  For a while they were focused on when I was going to meet the leaders of the fruit growers, so we didn’t get into much else.  Then they sent me, essentially by myself, to that other community last Tuesday to meet the president and vice president of the fruit growers.  However, neither was in town, but I did meet with a member of the association anyways.  I have had success sharing ideas with the director of the elementary school, however.  I’m going to be doing some “diagnostic assessment work” next week with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.  Honestly, I don’t know how much information about the agriculture or way of life of the town I’m going to get from the children, but some busy work is definitely better than nothing for me.  Plus, the director really supports me, it’s good to have that ally and prove that I want to and can work.  They have a small greenhouse and some land, and it’s kind of nice that I am not supposed to intervene too much in the first 3 months, because I can just observe what current practices are.  I also plan to work with the older grades of school, as many of them work after school (school is only in the mornings) and probably have some relevant information.  My goal for the next couple of weeks is to track down some information about community groups or community meetings, so I can schedule meetings to get some basic information.  It’s definitely not a BAD situation, but I just like to have more direction or focus.  I’ve only been around my site for 2.5 weeks though, I am trying to keep that in mind. The vegetable situation improved after about a week, now there is a greater variety in the market than carrots, onions and tomatoes.  I’ve figured out how to cook this wonderful pumpkin-like squash called zapallo.  Yum!  I am also now an expert in cooking dry beans…the secret is to soak them overnight.  However, now that I’m in the city buying more supplies, I plan on getting a pressure cooker to save time (not that I don’t have an abundance of it for cooking). I have a good friend in a 30-year old woman who takes care of 5 orphans and her son (kind of a long story, but there was a missionary family who started an orphanage project, now they’re back in the U.S. for a while).  I love going over to their house, built by the missionary family, with a big U.S. type kitchen (we made brownies one day, and NOT in an adobe oven!), an English-speaking dog, plus all the kids and my friend.  The children are so sweet and fun, even when they get annoyed that I can’t always understand their Spanish.  We play volleyball and just hang out.  The best part about the volleyball is that I don’t have to be any good to play, we’re all just learning!My town has: a few stores to buy cookies and dry goods, lots of meat, occasionally vegetables available (I’ve made a point of knowing the name of the woman who sells them), pretty creeks, lots of dogs, chickens, cows, mud, 2 phones in the plaza that don’t work too well for most phone numbers that I need to call (i.e. the Peace Corps toll-free numbers that we are required to call at times), diverse weather (sometimes cold and rainy, sometimes sunny and warm), and many opportunities. I want to spend less time reading books and watching The Office/DVDs on my computer (however, feel free to send along DVDs and books in English or Spanish…I’m just saying I want to not spend all day reading a book).  My difficulty is in understanding the different social activities.  Like basically just sitting, or watching TV or a baby or some kids do something.  But, I never imagined I could be satisfied with the pace of life I have right now, so I’m sure in time I will also learn to enjoy these simpler activities. I want to reassure you all that I’m doing well, learning a lot, and starting do development work-related activities.  So, all in all, despite the hardships (or maybe because of them and what they’re teaching me?) my life rocks for me right now! Congratulations Nik, Nick (and other former residents of the Tube), Chenilicious, and the rest of my buddies in Cornell Class of ’08!  Enjoy senior week, graduation, and the shock about the reality of your life that follows! Congratulations to the rest of you for reading the whole discombobulated (yes that’s the proper spelling) blog entry again.  I’m not even going to promise anything better next time, since my visits to the internet will be basically once or twice a month, I’m guessing.

Weird.  Absolutely weird.  I arrived in site a bit nervous, but not really thinking about what was about to be.  And that is, that I was about to LIVE here, ALONE, without another volunteer or anything that reminds me of myself (in a certain way anyways).  I’m writing this more for posterity of my feelings, because by the time it gets published, things will have undoubtedly changed from now.  I got to my site with a combined 11 boxes and bags, a bed frame, and a mattress that had been strapped to the top of my bus.  I had hoped, but certainly not expected, that there would be someone waiting for me at the bus station.  However, they didn’t know what day I was arriving (my host family was quick to tell me that they had expected me yesterday…which doesn’t make sense since that is not any more logical than today to arrive).  I did know kind of where I was living, so I asked around to be sure where I was going, and luckily the family was there.  The dad helped me wheelbarrow my stuff down the street.  THAT wasn’t like the town’s evening entertainment…I guess everyone knows I’m here now.  The first thing we tried to do was set up my bed.  How frustrating!  It comes in pieces: headboard, footboard, sides and a wooden slatted support for the mattress.  Well, silly north American that I am, I didn’t have the people at the store put it together for me to show me that it all fit together right.  We could fit the pieces in just ok, pretty crudely, but there was no way we were able to screw them together (or…hammer in screws that don’t even have a place for a screwdriver to fit) in the pre-drilled holes that didn’t line up.  Off to find the carpenter my host man (I hesitate to say father, I don’t feel that close to him and not sure if I will eventually) went.  Not in the pueblo tonight, so I’m going to sleep on a different bed not in my room, with the damn travel mosquito tent (“oh we don’t have mosquitos here”…false) and the sleeping bag.  The house here is more humble, though there is running water, light, electricity, hot shower…and a bidet?  I think that’s what it is, I’m not that eager to try it though.  Odd thing to find in rural Bolivia though.  The house is laid out more traditionally, with indoor rooms opening onto an outdoor central space.  It feels a little less private.  My host family is quite different from my Cochabamba family, more reserved and quiet, and smaller.  Still nice though, though there’s clearly more of a male-dominated feel to it.  There is one daughter who is here sometimes, other times in Santa Cruz.  The other daughter is in Santa Cruz more often, and the oldest, a son, works in a hotel in Spain.  I think the dad is a teacher in the school.  The mom and daughter run the small sundries store out of the front of the house.  They want to start a garden, after they clear all the junk out of what would otherwise be a backyard.  I reacted enthusiastically to that, after hearing that it’s pretty hard to obtain vegetables anywhere but the CITY of Santa Cruz…7 hours away.  So I’m feeling right now: unsure about my next step, but definitely relieved to be here and starting the next part.

Sooo I’m one day away from moving to my site. I’m officially a volunteer, as of last Friday! But to backtrack a bit…

After I got back from site visit, training was (not is…) tough. It was several afternoons of fairly vague and frustrating exams, but we all got through them ok. I think they were just more to review what we’ve done than to test anything (I mean, those who didn’t pass still got to swear in). I also was stressed out and sick with a mean cold the week I got back. My host mom really helped me out, giving me chamomile vapors for the congestion…definitely a remedy I recommend. It’s just boiled water with chamomile flowers (I think pure chamomile tea would work, as would most “soothing herbs” like peppermint or lavender), that you breathe in under a towel. So I got better from that sickness and just a few short days later I got something realllllly bad. I won’t describe it in detail, but we found out it was a one-two combo of amoebas and intestinal bacteria , which totally put a damper on my final week with my friends, and made it difficult to sit through all my final interviews and hours of information sessions. Well, I got on meds, which give you the same symptoms for a while and don’t allow you to toast your new volunteer status, but they do work. I think I’m all better in time to go to my site (but I’m going to try hard to not get those bugs again, especially when it would require a 7 hour bus ride to get diagnosed and medicated).

So, how does one move in Bolivia? It’s kind of interesting actually, when you’re moving places without the convenience of mail-ordering, UPS, and your own car to drive to the nearby IKEA. But there is this cool thing. You “encargar” (=encharge?) your giant boxes, cardboard-wrapped bedframes, mattresses, water filters, etc. (because claro, no se puede comprarlo en su sitio = obviously, you can’t buy that in your site—unless you’re a lucky city volunteer). What is to encargar? You bring the stuff to the other side of the bus terminal from where you’d buy your normal ticket. This is the “encomienda” (no translation) side. You find a company that goes where you want your stuff to go (our first leg was Cochabamba to Santa Cruz), give them your stuff, pay a fee, label your stuff, and cross your fingers. They load it onto their bus and when the bus gets to the destination, they’ll hold it in their oficina de encomiendas at that terminal, until you come to collect it. Basically like a shipping service, but through the bus system…I think it’s a pretty good idea if you take care to protect your stuff and not send expensive stuff. When I move my stuff to my site tomorrow, I’ll be piling it onto the top of a much smaller bus, but the great thing is it’s TOTALLY normal, and nobody minds the hassle.

The good news is that I have a house (someone from the Santa Cruz office actually made the trip to my site to set up my living arrangement, score!). The bad news is I have very limited information about it, so it’s hard to know what to buy exactly. I can get many things I would need about 3 hours away, so if I’m suddenly in need of some furniture, then I can go to that town, I guess. I’m just going to buy the very basics, and a lot of groceries because those will be a lot harder to obtain.

So how am I feeling about everything? Nervous, definitely, but at the same time pretty tranquilo. We have the first three months where we have to do a community diagnostic, but it’s also expected that you just spend a lot of time hanging out and getting to know the people. The point is that you shouldn’t start making any big plans based on what you think your community should have, but rather based on a thorough study and working knowledge of the place. I really believe that this is what sets the Peace Corps apart from other development agencies, even if the projects at times seem less fancy and grandiose. If you work this system well, you can create sustainable changes in peoples’ lives, I believe. I’m really excited to just be able to set my own schedule to a degree, cook for myself, read some books, make some Bolivian friends (though I’m so sad to leave all my training buddies…it’s cruel and unusual punishment to essentially haze us with such intense shared experiences, and then separate us. In fraternities and ritual cultures in the world, you haze a group so as to make sure they’ll stay together!) and get going on the volunteering thing.

I’ve changed my mailing address on the side there, though anything that had been sent to Cochabamba will reach me as well. If you’re so inclined, I actually would LOVE birthday cards/letters/presents this year (the big day is June 14th)…but my standard “donate it to a good cause” still holds, I realize how expensive it is to send anything to here, and I suppose I don’t need anything that I can’t get. But oh a new American Apparel tri-blend thick-strapped oversized tank top sounds like a dream right now. Just if you do choose to send something, please follow the guidelines, to be sure I can receive and appreciate what you’ve sent.

I’m safe, I’m happy (with the usual qualifiers), and hope you all are too.

Jumping pic for your pleasure...that´s all for now :). Swearing in on FRIDAY!!!!