This is the link where you can see all of our pictures!!! They are not all up right now but I am working on it
http://picasaweb.google.com/mansfield.fisher
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Back in Montero (and hard at work)
The trip to Argentina was awesome! I´ll trust my fellow bloggers to fill in the details, but we took great excursions, met incredibly interesting people, and drank awesome Argentinian wine.
Getting back into the country, however, was a nightmare. By the time we had photocopied every document, form, and credit card we had (several times), had a passport size photo made at the store next door (how convenient) and paid the visa entry fees, everyone else on the bus had successfully completed the immigration process and been waiting on the bus for about 2.5 hours. We had to collectively pool all of our money, including Daniel´s and Katie´s (the bus driver even offered to lend us money, but fortunately it didn´t come to that),in order to pay the visa fees and all the costs of photocopying and picture taking. There was no ATM on the Bolivian side of the boarder (how inconvenient). The guy even tried to extort a bribe from Maya because she didn´t have a credit card with her for them to copy. We were thinking, Dude, you´ve literally taken every penny we have by having us run all over this little town jumping through bureaucratic hoops, even if we wanted to pay your stupid bribe (which we don´t) we can´t. By this point we were ready to just stay in Argentina. Fortunately about that time (3 hours later), the bus driver came back into the office, and though I don´t claim to be a Spanish translator, I think he said something along the lines of ¨Stamp these freakin´ passports so we can go, you´ve been holding this bus here for over 3 hours!!¨ Whatever he said it worked, we got our passports, ran out the office and quickly boarded the bus. While we left feeling ticked off and frustrated, I would imagine we are not the first (nor the last) people to leave an immigration office with similar feelings, whether in Bolivia, the US, or just about any other country.
After we got back to Montero, we had lots to show Katie since up until then she had traveled all the way to Bolivia and only seen Argentina. We took her to the market, hit all of our favorite eating places, and made empenadas. We also celebrated her birthday and took her to a soccer game. I think soccer games are the only things that Bolivians are on time for, and for those they show up 2 hours early. Once again it was an energetic and exciting game.
After Katie left on Thursday it was time to start work. Up until now its been pretty much all play and no work. (Well, not counting 5 hours of language school a day, but talking one on one with a teacher learning a new way to communicate didn´t feel that much like work.) Now, however, we will begin working Monday-Saturday, including a lovely mid-day siesta. Hopefully we´ll get our official schedule posted on the blog, but for those who don´t read Spanish or just want a summarized version, we are going to be doing a mix of home visits with the nurses, working with the construction team, various jobs around the clinics, helping translate the web page into English (Maya), working with the accountant (me), and working at one of the local orphanages.
The home visits have been an interesting but also intense experience. Many of the people down here, especially as we go to homes farther from town, live in pretty horrible conditions. They live without running water, electricity, and in homes made of tarps or straw. Many have half finished brick houses on their property too, that they work on building when they have money available. The orphanage we are working with is an all girls orphanage run by the Catholic church. There are about 120 girls there, and the orphanage facilities are quite impressive. At the orphanage we will mostly just spend time playing with the girls or helping them with their homework. We had an awesome time on Saturday and will be going back all Saturday afternoons and spending the final week of October there.
Its going to be nice to stay in Montero for a while and get settled in to a routine. We´ve even been able to buy groceries at the market (amazingly cheap fresh fruits and vegetables) and start doing some cooking for ourselves. Another great thing about working is it allows me to practice my Spanish more; traveling through Argentina with 4 gringos and a Bolivian who speaks fluent English didn´t give me much cause to practice.
Getting back into the country, however, was a nightmare. By the time we had photocopied every document, form, and credit card we had (several times), had a passport size photo made at the store next door (how convenient) and paid the visa entry fees, everyone else on the bus had successfully completed the immigration process and been waiting on the bus for about 2.5 hours. We had to collectively pool all of our money, including Daniel´s and Katie´s (the bus driver even offered to lend us money, but fortunately it didn´t come to that),in order to pay the visa fees and all the costs of photocopying and picture taking. There was no ATM on the Bolivian side of the boarder (how inconvenient). The guy even tried to extort a bribe from Maya because she didn´t have a credit card with her for them to copy. We were thinking, Dude, you´ve literally taken every penny we have by having us run all over this little town jumping through bureaucratic hoops, even if we wanted to pay your stupid bribe (which we don´t) we can´t. By this point we were ready to just stay in Argentina. Fortunately about that time (3 hours later), the bus driver came back into the office, and though I don´t claim to be a Spanish translator, I think he said something along the lines of ¨Stamp these freakin´ passports so we can go, you´ve been holding this bus here for over 3 hours!!¨ Whatever he said it worked, we got our passports, ran out the office and quickly boarded the bus. While we left feeling ticked off and frustrated, I would imagine we are not the first (nor the last) people to leave an immigration office with similar feelings, whether in Bolivia, the US, or just about any other country.
After we got back to Montero, we had lots to show Katie since up until then she had traveled all the way to Bolivia and only seen Argentina. We took her to the market, hit all of our favorite eating places, and made empenadas. We also celebrated her birthday and took her to a soccer game. I think soccer games are the only things that Bolivians are on time for, and for those they show up 2 hours early. Once again it was an energetic and exciting game.
After Katie left on Thursday it was time to start work. Up until now its been pretty much all play and no work. (Well, not counting 5 hours of language school a day, but talking one on one with a teacher learning a new way to communicate didn´t feel that much like work.) Now, however, we will begin working Monday-Saturday, including a lovely mid-day siesta. Hopefully we´ll get our official schedule posted on the blog, but for those who don´t read Spanish or just want a summarized version, we are going to be doing a mix of home visits with the nurses, working with the construction team, various jobs around the clinics, helping translate the web page into English (Maya), working with the accountant (me), and working at one of the local orphanages.
The home visits have been an interesting but also intense experience. Many of the people down here, especially as we go to homes farther from town, live in pretty horrible conditions. They live without running water, electricity, and in homes made of tarps or straw. Many have half finished brick houses on their property too, that they work on building when they have money available. The orphanage we are working with is an all girls orphanage run by the Catholic church. There are about 120 girls there, and the orphanage facilities are quite impressive. At the orphanage we will mostly just spend time playing with the girls or helping them with their homework. We had an awesome time on Saturday and will be going back all Saturday afternoons and spending the final week of October there.
Its going to be nice to stay in Montero for a while and get settled in to a routine. We´ve even been able to buy groceries at the market (amazingly cheap fresh fruits and vegetables) and start doing some cooking for ourselves. Another great thing about working is it allows me to practice my Spanish more; traveling through Argentina with 4 gringos and a Bolivian who speaks fluent English didn´t give me much cause to practice.
Featured Columnist - Katie Arancio
After 55 hours of travel I was pretty settled on the fact that Dee, Mansfield, Maya and I would never meet up. I had arrived at the airport nearly 36 hours earlier and, due to some flight confusion, was met by a very friendly and “comfortable” man named Daniel. He was to be my chaperone on the trip across Bolivia and halfway through Argentina to a small town called Cafayete. Throughout the 24 hour bus ride I had prepared myself for the two person vacation that seemed inevitable but, to my surprise, Daniel and I were greeted at the bus station with a hearty slap on the back by none other than Mansfield. We spent most of our Cafayete nights much like the first; acquainting ourselves with other hostel residents at local watering holes.
We were lucky enough to go on some crazy Cafayete excursions during our days there. The first day we took 4 wheelers out through “rivers, forests and sand dunes.” While the rivers were dried up streams and the forests consisted of dead leafless trees, the sand dunes were legit. Dee and I doubled up on the “cautious 4 wheeler” while poor Maya was thrown around endlessly thanks to Mansfield’s lack of driving inhibitions. Either way, the jumps still landed me on the handlebars and Dee on my back one too many times. All of us also drove down a ridiculously steep sand dune that was probably no less than 150 feet high. As Mansfield so perfectly proclaimed, “we rode.”
During the remainder of our stay we hiked some absurd rocks shaped like everything from trains to amphitheaters and went on a tour of their wine country. On the day we went to the vineyards we had rented bikes from our hostel and, unfortunately did not think to test drive the bikes before setting off on our 8 mile bike ride. Soon after we started we realized that Maya’s handlebars were wholly separate from her bike and Dee’s seat was nowhere near sit-able. The first vineyard was literally at the base of the Andes Mountains and the ability to do a wine tasting at a vineyard that gorgeous was well worth dealing with broken bikes.
After Cafayete we set off to Salta, Argentina, a larger city located on our way back to Bolivia. Here we met our friends Pheonix from Austin, TX and Camille from Switzlerland. The High Altitude Museum of Archeology, located in Salta, has three mummies found in March of 1999 (by Americans!) that were perfectly preserved because of the altitude and temperatures at which they died. The museum only displays one mummy at a time for a six month periods because of the deterioration that results from the lights. The one we saw, named “Lightning Girl”, was crazy. She literally looked like a 6 year old child with soot on her face (and a bit of a face indentation due to being struck by lightning). Personally, I’m thinking of coming back in 6 and 12 months to see the other two mummies because they really are unbelievable.
Finally, we set back for Montero. Tuesday was my birthday and, as such, we spent the day learning how to make homemade empanadas and peel yuka (a vegetable comparable to potatoes) with Daniel’s parents. We also made an enormous cake that slowly oozed out of their oven onto the kitchen floor, coated it with dulce de leche, and have been eating it for two days straight. For my last night here we went to a futbol game in Santa Cruz between two rival teams. It was insane; stands were on fire, police had swat shields and Rotties foaming at the mouth, and full bottles of Fanta were thrown when the underdog won. Afterwards we relaxed at a local karaoke/piano bar with some good tunes, company and booty dancing.
All in all I have to say this was probably my most enjoyable vacation. I definitely experienced things I wouldn’t have otherwise between the culture, the sights and the company we kept - well worth the uncertain travel that started it all.
Written by Katie Arancio (see if you come visit us, we'll let you write on our blog!)
We were lucky enough to go on some crazy Cafayete excursions during our days there. The first day we took 4 wheelers out through “rivers, forests and sand dunes.” While the rivers were dried up streams and the forests consisted of dead leafless trees, the sand dunes were legit. Dee and I doubled up on the “cautious 4 wheeler” while poor Maya was thrown around endlessly thanks to Mansfield’s lack of driving inhibitions. Either way, the jumps still landed me on the handlebars and Dee on my back one too many times. All of us also drove down a ridiculously steep sand dune that was probably no less than 150 feet high. As Mansfield so perfectly proclaimed, “we rode.”
During the remainder of our stay we hiked some absurd rocks shaped like everything from trains to amphitheaters and went on a tour of their wine country. On the day we went to the vineyards we had rented bikes from our hostel and, unfortunately did not think to test drive the bikes before setting off on our 8 mile bike ride. Soon after we started we realized that Maya’s handlebars were wholly separate from her bike and Dee’s seat was nowhere near sit-able. The first vineyard was literally at the base of the Andes Mountains and the ability to do a wine tasting at a vineyard that gorgeous was well worth dealing with broken bikes.
After Cafayete we set off to Salta, Argentina, a larger city located on our way back to Bolivia. Here we met our friends Pheonix from Austin, TX and Camille from Switzlerland. The High Altitude Museum of Archeology, located in Salta, has three mummies found in March of 1999 (by Americans!) that were perfectly preserved because of the altitude and temperatures at which they died. The museum only displays one mummy at a time for a six month periods because of the deterioration that results from the lights. The one we saw, named “Lightning Girl”, was crazy. She literally looked like a 6 year old child with soot on her face (and a bit of a face indentation due to being struck by lightning). Personally, I’m thinking of coming back in 6 and 12 months to see the other two mummies because they really are unbelievable.
Finally, we set back for Montero. Tuesday was my birthday and, as such, we spent the day learning how to make homemade empanadas and peel yuka (a vegetable comparable to potatoes) with Daniel’s parents. We also made an enormous cake that slowly oozed out of their oven onto the kitchen floor, coated it with dulce de leche, and have been eating it for two days straight. For my last night here we went to a futbol game in Santa Cruz between two rival teams. It was insane; stands were on fire, police had swat shields and Rotties foaming at the mouth, and full bottles of Fanta were thrown when the underdog won. Afterwards we relaxed at a local karaoke/piano bar with some good tunes, company and booty dancing.
All in all I have to say this was probably my most enjoyable vacation. I definitely experienced things I wouldn’t have otherwise between the culture, the sights and the company we kept - well worth the uncertain travel that started it all.
Written by Katie Arancio (see if you come visit us, we'll let you write on our blog!)
Where to begin...
I guess I will start with the few days before we left. After we got back from the language school we were only in Montero for a few days. We worked for one day in which we went to the Montero jail (which hosts men and women). We saw many patients that had various illnesses. The nurses explain to us that many inmates were sick because of the very tight living quarters. This was very interesting and very different from a jail in the States. For one it seemed that the inmates were free to roam about the "yard" and do basically what ever they pleased. They had little old ladies come in and sell candy and empanadas which brings me to another question. Where did the inmates get money from? This was a very good experience in which we learned about many differences between our country and Bolivia.
We departed from Montero at 7:45 Sunday night and eventually arrived in Cafayate at 11:30 pm Monday night. We were on a bus for over twenty hours but were actually not as bad as it sounds. We were starving when we got off the bus but that was no problem because Argentineans don’t usually start dinner until 10:30 or 11 anyways. We finished dinner up about two AM. We went to out hostel and met some of the other people that were staying there most of whom were from Buenos Aires.
The next day we went hiked to a waterfall (cascada) with some of the people from our hostel. We were led by two Argentineans Jose and Andres who claimed they knew where it was and we did not need a guide (we regretted this decision). We creek hopped up about a mile until one of our "guides" (José) disappeared, his friend was not at all worried and we continued on without him. At one point a group (that had a guide) was clearly on a trail about 50 feet up as we creek hopped. The guide from the other group stopped his group and then proceeded to comment and laugh at our expense. We did make it and it was quite incredible.
Finally after dinner about 11:00 Kt and Daniel arrived!!! We were all very excited to see them. The next day we took our ATVs around the town we went through some forests and roads but the coolest were the sand dunes. We started off the trip a little iffy about how safe it was since the guide asked us if we wanted helmets or would prefer to go without them. Obviously we took them, however; we never ended up needing them. We had a very fun and safe day.
The next day we saw lots of cool rock formations and spent the day walking around. We left the next day for Salta in which we would meet a friend from the language school (Camille). We arrived at the hostel about midnight but once again food was not a problem. I have decided hostels are the way to travel they are so much fun, cheap, and you always get to meet lots of interesting people. They are great as long as you don’t mind sharing a room with seven or eight other people. We went to a very cool museum with a preserved body of a child who had been sacrificed by the Incas. The body was preserved so well because of the extremely cool climate where they left these sacrifices (kids) to die. It was on a peak of over 6000 meters.
We have been back in Montero for a week and have been working very hard. We have been doing home visits with the nurses. We have been giving shots to kids and dogs. An odd combination but nonetheless very important. I got to give a shot to a puppy and instead of pinching his skin and pushing the needle through I managed to push it all the way through and have the needle come out the other side. The nurses and owners of the dog thought this was hilarious I was quite embarrassed however. It goes without saying that they did not let me do anymore shots that day.
Yesterday we went to the all girls orphanage which was awesome and a whole lot of fun. Some of the workers at the clinics were nice enough to let me join their soccer team and today was our first game. We lost 4-2 unfortunately but it was also a lot of fun. Monday through Wednesday we are going to be doing construction on one of the clinics. I am going to link a site where you can view all of our pictures so hopefully they will finish uploading today and I can get that worked out.
We departed from Montero at 7:45 Sunday night and eventually arrived in Cafayate at 11:30 pm Monday night. We were on a bus for over twenty hours but were actually not as bad as it sounds. We were starving when we got off the bus but that was no problem because Argentineans don’t usually start dinner until 10:30 or 11 anyways. We finished dinner up about two AM. We went to out hostel and met some of the other people that were staying there most of whom were from Buenos Aires.
The next day we went hiked to a waterfall (cascada) with some of the people from our hostel. We were led by two Argentineans Jose and Andres who claimed they knew where it was and we did not need a guide (we regretted this decision). We creek hopped up about a mile until one of our "guides" (José) disappeared, his friend was not at all worried and we continued on without him. At one point a group (that had a guide) was clearly on a trail about 50 feet up as we creek hopped. The guide from the other group stopped his group and then proceeded to comment and laugh at our expense. We did make it and it was quite incredible.
Finally after dinner about 11:00 Kt and Daniel arrived!!! We were all very excited to see them. The next day we took our ATVs around the town we went through some forests and roads but the coolest were the sand dunes. We started off the trip a little iffy about how safe it was since the guide asked us if we wanted helmets or would prefer to go without them. Obviously we took them, however; we never ended up needing them. We had a very fun and safe day.
The next day we saw lots of cool rock formations and spent the day walking around. We left the next day for Salta in which we would meet a friend from the language school (Camille). We arrived at the hostel about midnight but once again food was not a problem. I have decided hostels are the way to travel they are so much fun, cheap, and you always get to meet lots of interesting people. They are great as long as you don’t mind sharing a room with seven or eight other people. We went to a very cool museum with a preserved body of a child who had been sacrificed by the Incas. The body was preserved so well because of the extremely cool climate where they left these sacrifices (kids) to die. It was on a peak of over 6000 meters.
We have been back in Montero for a week and have been working very hard. We have been doing home visits with the nurses. We have been giving shots to kids and dogs. An odd combination but nonetheless very important. I got to give a shot to a puppy and instead of pinching his skin and pushing the needle through I managed to push it all the way through and have the needle come out the other side. The nurses and owners of the dog thought this was hilarious I was quite embarrassed however. It goes without saying that they did not let me do anymore shots that day.
Yesterday we went to the all girls orphanage which was awesome and a whole lot of fun. Some of the workers at the clinics were nice enough to let me join their soccer team and today was our first game. We lost 4-2 unfortunately but it was also a lot of fun. Monday through Wednesday we are going to be doing construction on one of the clinics. I am going to link a site where you can view all of our pictures so hopefully they will finish uploading today and I can get that worked out.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Montero and Beyond
Well we've been back in Montero for about 5 days now, and tonight we leave for Argentina. Our visas expire tomorrow so apparently we have two choices: leave the country which resets the visa or apply for temporary residency. A guy we met in Cochabamba from the US was going through the process of applying for temporary residency, and he told us that along with a fair amount of money and lots of paper work, you are also required to have a blood test done; needless to say we decided to take a vacation. I think this must be Bolivia´s way of helping the economies of their neighbors, though I don´t know if neighboring countries are returning the favor. Argentina at least is not, as we don´t need any type of visa to go there (one of the reasons we choose it).
The slight complication to this awesome plan is that Katie Arancio (a friend of mine from Wake) arrives today (we thought) for a visit, but this was easily solved by purchasing a ticket for her and having her accompany us to Argentina. After busing an hour to the airport and waiting several hours for her this morning, however, Daniel and I finally realized her flight doesn´t get in until tomorrow morning. (Tricky itineraries, leaving on the 20th, getting in on the 21st, muy confusing). Since Maya, Mansfield and I need to be out of the country tomorrow (and Argentina isn´t that close) we´ll be leaving on tonight's bus, and Daniel and Arancio will follow tomorrow. Despite the complications, everything now appears to be figured out and we are looking forward to visiting some vineyards in Argentina and lots of outdoor activities (hiking, swimming, horseback riding, etc). We are not, however, looking forward to our 20 hour bus ride tonight.
We´ve hardly spent anytime in Montero, but one of these days we are going to start doing some work. We actually did get a chance to work on Friday; Friday morning we went with a nurse and a doctor to the local jail where they were doing examinations, and Friday afternoon we helped a nurse vaccinate animals (dogs, cats, and monkeys, yep monkeys) for rabies. The jail seemed pretty laid back with most of the prisoners hanging out in the courtyard with the guards. As we were leaving visiting time had begun, and there were women selling food and a man selling bracelets just like we see on the street everyday.
On Saturday we had a meeting at the clinic and set up our schedule for October after we get back from Argentina. Saturday afternoon we went into Santa Cruz, attended another soccer game and went to the large fair that Santa Cruz is currently hosting. The soccer game was fun, but not as intense as the first one as both teams were from a lower division. Our home team of Montero was playing though, so it was fun to get to cheer them on and watch them win! The fair was great; it had booths from over 18 countries set up, and everyone was really dressed up (including girls in prom dresses that were the models for the booths).
Until next time, Chau!
The slight complication to this awesome plan is that Katie Arancio (a friend of mine from Wake) arrives today (we thought) for a visit, but this was easily solved by purchasing a ticket for her and having her accompany us to Argentina. After busing an hour to the airport and waiting several hours for her this morning, however, Daniel and I finally realized her flight doesn´t get in until tomorrow morning. (Tricky itineraries, leaving on the 20th, getting in on the 21st, muy confusing). Since Maya, Mansfield and I need to be out of the country tomorrow (and Argentina isn´t that close) we´ll be leaving on tonight's bus, and Daniel and Arancio will follow tomorrow. Despite the complications, everything now appears to be figured out and we are looking forward to visiting some vineyards in Argentina and lots of outdoor activities (hiking, swimming, horseback riding, etc). We are not, however, looking forward to our 20 hour bus ride tonight.
We´ve hardly spent anytime in Montero, but one of these days we are going to start doing some work. We actually did get a chance to work on Friday; Friday morning we went with a nurse and a doctor to the local jail where they were doing examinations, and Friday afternoon we helped a nurse vaccinate animals (dogs, cats, and monkeys, yep monkeys) for rabies. The jail seemed pretty laid back with most of the prisoners hanging out in the courtyard with the guards. As we were leaving visiting time had begun, and there were women selling food and a man selling bracelets just like we see on the street everyday.
On Saturday we had a meeting at the clinic and set up our schedule for October after we get back from Argentina. Saturday afternoon we went into Santa Cruz, attended another soccer game and went to the large fair that Santa Cruz is currently hosting. The soccer game was fun, but not as intense as the first one as both teams were from a lower division. Our home team of Montero was playing though, so it was fun to get to cheer them on and watch them win! The fair was great; it had booths from over 18 countries set up, and everyone was really dressed up (including girls in prom dresses that were the models for the booths).
Until next time, Chau!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
los ultimos dias en cochabamba
Last monday:
We´ve met another gringa here from the states named Jessica. She works at a pre-school in the city and is taking quechua classes at our school as well. Her pre-school held a party, but they ended up buying too much food and beer so she invited us to come on monday night and hang out and buy said party favors at a discounted price so the school didn´t lose all their money. When we got there, we were a little unsure of what to expect. It was our group of young people from the states and europe, and then the director and some of the teachers from the school. They spoke spanish, we mostly speak english or german; there were a few moments of confusion, but in the end we had a great time. We set up a circle of chairs and got some music going and the party started. They played traditional Bolivian music for us and attempted to teach us the dances to go with the songs. Some were relatively easy, some were really difficult, but they all involved some hopping and spinning so I had a great time just trying. All the teachers were really nice and lots of fun. We also salsa-ed: Mans and I showing off our ¨skills¨ from the one class we took, while Uls and Camilla (who have been dancing salsa forever) actually had skills. We also found some old dicso music and all danced to this. The director was an older lady, but she was absolutely exploding with energy. She invited us all to come back and work for her if we didn´t want to leave. I may take her up on this.
On wednesday there were several futbol games we wanted to watch on television so we ventured into the center of the city, to an area called El Prado and found a restuarant full of fans. First we watched Bolivia play Ecuador, and while I was the only one cheering for Ecuador, the right team won. I didn´t cheer too loudly though because, being surrounded by bolivians, I decided this was the smarted choice. We also watched some of the Colombia game, Paraguay, Uruguay, you name it. For dinner, we spent an hour or so looking for a restaurant one of our teachers had recommended. It shares the same name as the mountain we climbed-Tunari-and one man we asked pointed to the mountain instead of a restuarant. We generally have better luck asking directions than this. Our expedition was unsuccessful, but we found somewhere else to eat, and they even changed the tv station for us so we could watch more futbol.
Friday was the last day of classes for 4 of the students at our school from Switzerland, so that evening we had a party to say goodbye. Once again there was a mix of contemporary music and dancing, as well as traditional. The directors and teachers even came to hang out and most were excellent dances. We learned one dance called the slave dance because it was traditionally done by the slaves brought to work the sugar cane fields, and you sort of have to move like your feet are chained together. Also one that my teacher Paola called the flirting dance, where the men and women face each other and wave handkercheifs in the air. If you wave it high, its like a ÿes i´m interested, and if you wave it towards the ground then its a no. After dancing at the school, we all piled in a teacher´s van (and I do mean all 12 of us) and headed to kareoke bar. We sang one song, it was bad, people laughed, and we all had a great time.
Saturday morning a group of us met bright and early at the school for a trip to the largest area of Incan ruins in Bolivia. The bus ride wasn´t the best after the long night of good-bye partying, but when we got to the site it was definitely worth it. We learned that, when at all possible, the Incans build their settlements between three rivers for protection. There were remains of the outer walls, the kitchen, what is believed to be some sort of barracks, as well as the largest single room from any Incan ruin discovered so far. There was a beautiful waterfall, and we learned about medicinal plants. There were circles of stones that marked where they buried their extra foodstuffs to keep the cold, dry, and safe from invading groups coming from the east. Evidently you can still find these circles throughout the mountains in the area. We were accompanied by a local woman who only spoke quechua, which was interesting when she tried to talk to me because I could not understand anything that she said. Vice versa, she didn´t speak spanish because in that region it is mostly the men who learn spanish because they take the goods to the city. The children also have to walk two to three hours to the local school.
On Sunday morning Dee, Mans, Camilla, and I decided to visit el Cristo de la Concordia. This is the largest statue of Jesus in the world, barely beating the one in Rio De Janeiro by a matter of centimeters. It is situated on a huge cerro in the south of the city. It is possible to walk up the hill, but because muggings happen here a lot we decided it was best to take a taxi to the top. From there we could see the entire city of Cochabamba. It was so clear we could even see to the ridge of Tunari. When we arrived at the top we also discovered that we could walk up into the body of the statue itself. This trip consisted of 154 steps up winding, metal staircases, with landings in between where there were small holes to look out over the city. The views really were amazing. We couldn´t climb completely to the top because it was closed, but our highest point was right around his armpits-still a great height. We ate ice cream and took pictures and then went home for lunch with our family. We debated walking down the hill with a large family of Bolivians, but somehow managed to hop on the teleferico, which wasn´t ´working,´ but all of a sudden was. We think we rode down with the men that were fixing it, and everyone at the bottom was surprised to see the 4 gringos pile out of a car, but it certaintly beat walking down in the heat. After showers and a nap, we met a group of friends and one of our teachers to go to a local futbol game. I expected it to be a little crazy, but really I was not prepared. The fans were extremely energetic to say the least. There were two sections with bands and huge flags. In one of these sections (I´m guessing it was full of young people) intermittently throughout the game they would set fires to piles of paper IN THE STANDS, as well as set off fireworks, throw bottles at the police, and even throw the fireworks towards the field. The police were armed with riot gear, and while they did nothing to put out the fires, at one point they set off tear gas. What instigated this we never found out, but the gas spread through the stadium, and they had to stop play for a bit so it could clear out. We weren´t even sure what was happening until we saw other fans spreading out and fanning themselves, and then the players on the field hit their knees and covered their faces. Luckily we were a good distance away, but it still reached us and my nose was burning. This was as bad as it got, although there was a family in front of us with a baby, and they were trying to keep her covered. This we decided, it probably why they did not sell any alcohol in the stadium at all: the fans are crazy enough as it is.
Yesterday was the feria de Cochabamba, which is a day to celebrate the founding of the city. After classes, we went into the city to buy a few things and stumbled across the city parade. This consisted of everyone from war veterans and widows, to firefighters, to police, to special ops, to high school bands, to miners´ unions, to the city council as well as the city tax department. There was more, but after a few hours in the sun we decided we had seen all that we could handle. Yesterday evening, as I was attempting to write this very e-mail in an internet cafe, all the power in our neighborhood suddenly went out. This was accompanied by a lot of children screaming, and I almost got stampeded by them running out the dorr, but I managed to stumble across Dee, Mans, Daniel, and Phillip in the street. We headed to a restuarant where shortly after we arrived the power came back on and ordered chicha because Daniel talked us into it. Chicha is the traditional drink of Cochabamba, and, as we learned at the Panchmama celebration, really isn´t that good. While we were lamenting our purchase, a few locals came over to make friends. Thus we ended up passing the chicha in circles while toasting Cochabamba and Bolivia and our new friends. Luckily for us they enjoyed chicha, and so we were able to finish the bucket. They were drunk, and so there were entertaining mistranslations, but it was really funny. One gentleman bought another bucket, but we excused ourselves seeing as how we had class in the morning (and we really, really didn´t want to drink more chicha.) On the way out another table offered us a taste of their local drink-can´t remember the name-and we figured that we might as well give it a try. Their´s was much better and now I know to order the pitcher of yellow drink versus the plastic bucket of chicha. Everyone was really friendly and wanted to talk to us. I gave translating my best and think it went pretty well. Dee and Mans held their own as well, although Mans was sitting beside the drunkest guy, so understandably had problems communicating with him.
Today was the last day of classes, and while I have learned a lot its a good time to leave because I was learning the different types of sunjunctive. Really confusing, really hard, and really frustrating. My brain needs a break and then maybe I can come back to it. Tonight we´re having a good-bye dinner with our friends. Cochabamba has been really great, and we´re definitely going to miss it, but now we´re on to new adventures in Montero.
Adios for now, my love to all. Please send me updates and news about your lives.
mgb
We´ve met another gringa here from the states named Jessica. She works at a pre-school in the city and is taking quechua classes at our school as well. Her pre-school held a party, but they ended up buying too much food and beer so she invited us to come on monday night and hang out and buy said party favors at a discounted price so the school didn´t lose all their money. When we got there, we were a little unsure of what to expect. It was our group of young people from the states and europe, and then the director and some of the teachers from the school. They spoke spanish, we mostly speak english or german; there were a few moments of confusion, but in the end we had a great time. We set up a circle of chairs and got some music going and the party started. They played traditional Bolivian music for us and attempted to teach us the dances to go with the songs. Some were relatively easy, some were really difficult, but they all involved some hopping and spinning so I had a great time just trying. All the teachers were really nice and lots of fun. We also salsa-ed: Mans and I showing off our ¨skills¨ from the one class we took, while Uls and Camilla (who have been dancing salsa forever) actually had skills. We also found some old dicso music and all danced to this. The director was an older lady, but she was absolutely exploding with energy. She invited us all to come back and work for her if we didn´t want to leave. I may take her up on this.
On wednesday there were several futbol games we wanted to watch on television so we ventured into the center of the city, to an area called El Prado and found a restuarant full of fans. First we watched Bolivia play Ecuador, and while I was the only one cheering for Ecuador, the right team won. I didn´t cheer too loudly though because, being surrounded by bolivians, I decided this was the smarted choice. We also watched some of the Colombia game, Paraguay, Uruguay, you name it. For dinner, we spent an hour or so looking for a restaurant one of our teachers had recommended. It shares the same name as the mountain we climbed-Tunari-and one man we asked pointed to the mountain instead of a restuarant. We generally have better luck asking directions than this. Our expedition was unsuccessful, but we found somewhere else to eat, and they even changed the tv station for us so we could watch more futbol.
Friday was the last day of classes for 4 of the students at our school from Switzerland, so that evening we had a party to say goodbye. Once again there was a mix of contemporary music and dancing, as well as traditional. The directors and teachers even came to hang out and most were excellent dances. We learned one dance called the slave dance because it was traditionally done by the slaves brought to work the sugar cane fields, and you sort of have to move like your feet are chained together. Also one that my teacher Paola called the flirting dance, where the men and women face each other and wave handkercheifs in the air. If you wave it high, its like a ÿes i´m interested, and if you wave it towards the ground then its a no. After dancing at the school, we all piled in a teacher´s van (and I do mean all 12 of us) and headed to kareoke bar. We sang one song, it was bad, people laughed, and we all had a great time.
Saturday morning a group of us met bright and early at the school for a trip to the largest area of Incan ruins in Bolivia. The bus ride wasn´t the best after the long night of good-bye partying, but when we got to the site it was definitely worth it. We learned that, when at all possible, the Incans build their settlements between three rivers for protection. There were remains of the outer walls, the kitchen, what is believed to be some sort of barracks, as well as the largest single room from any Incan ruin discovered so far. There was a beautiful waterfall, and we learned about medicinal plants. There were circles of stones that marked where they buried their extra foodstuffs to keep the cold, dry, and safe from invading groups coming from the east. Evidently you can still find these circles throughout the mountains in the area. We were accompanied by a local woman who only spoke quechua, which was interesting when she tried to talk to me because I could not understand anything that she said. Vice versa, she didn´t speak spanish because in that region it is mostly the men who learn spanish because they take the goods to the city. The children also have to walk two to three hours to the local school.
On Sunday morning Dee, Mans, Camilla, and I decided to visit el Cristo de la Concordia. This is the largest statue of Jesus in the world, barely beating the one in Rio De Janeiro by a matter of centimeters. It is situated on a huge cerro in the south of the city. It is possible to walk up the hill, but because muggings happen here a lot we decided it was best to take a taxi to the top. From there we could see the entire city of Cochabamba. It was so clear we could even see to the ridge of Tunari. When we arrived at the top we also discovered that we could walk up into the body of the statue itself. This trip consisted of 154 steps up winding, metal staircases, with landings in between where there were small holes to look out over the city. The views really were amazing. We couldn´t climb completely to the top because it was closed, but our highest point was right around his armpits-still a great height. We ate ice cream and took pictures and then went home for lunch with our family. We debated walking down the hill with a large family of Bolivians, but somehow managed to hop on the teleferico, which wasn´t ´working,´ but all of a sudden was. We think we rode down with the men that were fixing it, and everyone at the bottom was surprised to see the 4 gringos pile out of a car, but it certaintly beat walking down in the heat. After showers and a nap, we met a group of friends and one of our teachers to go to a local futbol game. I expected it to be a little crazy, but really I was not prepared. The fans were extremely energetic to say the least. There were two sections with bands and huge flags. In one of these sections (I´m guessing it was full of young people) intermittently throughout the game they would set fires to piles of paper IN THE STANDS, as well as set off fireworks, throw bottles at the police, and even throw the fireworks towards the field. The police were armed with riot gear, and while they did nothing to put out the fires, at one point they set off tear gas. What instigated this we never found out, but the gas spread through the stadium, and they had to stop play for a bit so it could clear out. We weren´t even sure what was happening until we saw other fans spreading out and fanning themselves, and then the players on the field hit their knees and covered their faces. Luckily we were a good distance away, but it still reached us and my nose was burning. This was as bad as it got, although there was a family in front of us with a baby, and they were trying to keep her covered. This we decided, it probably why they did not sell any alcohol in the stadium at all: the fans are crazy enough as it is.
Yesterday was the feria de Cochabamba, which is a day to celebrate the founding of the city. After classes, we went into the city to buy a few things and stumbled across the city parade. This consisted of everyone from war veterans and widows, to firefighters, to police, to special ops, to high school bands, to miners´ unions, to the city council as well as the city tax department. There was more, but after a few hours in the sun we decided we had seen all that we could handle. Yesterday evening, as I was attempting to write this very e-mail in an internet cafe, all the power in our neighborhood suddenly went out. This was accompanied by a lot of children screaming, and I almost got stampeded by them running out the dorr, but I managed to stumble across Dee, Mans, Daniel, and Phillip in the street. We headed to a restuarant where shortly after we arrived the power came back on and ordered chicha because Daniel talked us into it. Chicha is the traditional drink of Cochabamba, and, as we learned at the Panchmama celebration, really isn´t that good. While we were lamenting our purchase, a few locals came over to make friends. Thus we ended up passing the chicha in circles while toasting Cochabamba and Bolivia and our new friends. Luckily for us they enjoyed chicha, and so we were able to finish the bucket. They were drunk, and so there were entertaining mistranslations, but it was really funny. One gentleman bought another bucket, but we excused ourselves seeing as how we had class in the morning (and we really, really didn´t want to drink more chicha.) On the way out another table offered us a taste of their local drink-can´t remember the name-and we figured that we might as well give it a try. Their´s was much better and now I know to order the pitcher of yellow drink versus the plastic bucket of chicha. Everyone was really friendly and wanted to talk to us. I gave translating my best and think it went pretty well. Dee and Mans held their own as well, although Mans was sitting beside the drunkest guy, so understandably had problems communicating with him.
Today was the last day of classes, and while I have learned a lot its a good time to leave because I was learning the different types of sunjunctive. Really confusing, really hard, and really frustrating. My brain needs a break and then maybe I can come back to it. Tonight we´re having a good-bye dinner with our friends. Cochabamba has been really great, and we´re definitely going to miss it, but now we´re on to new adventures in Montero.
Adios for now, my love to all. Please send me updates and news about your lives.
mgb
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