We returned last Tuesday from an awesome trip to La Paz. The people in Santa Cruz seemed very concerned about us going to La Paz. We were repeatedly told how dangerous it was and to watch out for thiefs and fake police and taxi drivers. We were also warned that the people of La Paz don´t like gringos so to not be surprised if we were treated badly. Fortunately we encountered none of these problems, though we were in very touristy parts of La Paz the entire time. While I can´t say for sure (its really hard to gain insight into the political situation of another country), it seems like there are a lot of tensions in Bolivia right now between the indigenous people (predominately Evo supporters) and people who live in the ¨half moon¨ (eastern side of Bolivia, predominately anit-Evo). While I haven´t been able to get anyone to articulate clearly why they are for or against Evo, people on both sides are very passionate in their beliefs. It seemed that some of the warnings about La Paz were arising from tensions between these two groups.
Buttttt, back to the trip, it was awesome! We met up with my friend Howard (from Wake) who is currently traveling through South America until December. The first day we visited the various museums in La Paz, including a really interesting museum about the Coca leaf. We also took a half day trip to the Valley of the Moon and visited the witch market (got a lot of Christmas shopping out of the way).
Some of you hardcore blog followers (surely there are a few) may remember me mentioning that most dangerous road in the world is somewhere in Bolivia. Well we found it and we biked down it! This trip was by far the most exciting thing we did in La Paz. The trips starts out on a pavement, but after about 30 min of biking the road becomes completely gravel. The entire ride was about 60 km with drops off the side reaching 1000 meters at some points. Needless to say, we (and by we I mean Maya and myself) were riding very very slowly. The rest of our group was apparently professional mountain bikers who rode down at incredible speeds. I did feel better about my biking abilities when we passed three other groups on the way down, I think we just had a ridiculously fast group. The guides also took incredible pictures of the scenery (and us) which we´d love to upload but continue to have trouble with the computers/cameras/something. The trip ended at a hotel where we ate lunch and swam in the pool.
Our guide told us 17 people have been killed doing the road on bikes, but apparently most of those accidents occurred with cars before Bolivia built a new road about 3 years ago. Since the new road, he said only one person has been killed on a bike. The new road was the most expensive road in Bolivia to build, but since our guide said that tour buses and trucks would fall off the most dangerous road almost monthly, I´d say it was worth the cost. I tried to confirm these facts without much success, so take what you will from them. (I did find an article stating ¨at least 13 people¨ have been killed biking).
Monday, November 16, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Montero, Montero, Montero
Though its been a while since the last blog post, we are continuing to have an awesome time in Montero. As I mentioned in the last post we have settled nicely into the Bolivian way of life and have even made real Bolivian friends. This feat may seem trivial, but trust me its no small task. Between the language barriers, the cultural differences (not everyone here likes gringos), and the general difficulties that go along with meeting new people, I am very satisfied with the network of friends we´ve created. We´ve gone jet skiing (never expected to do that in Bolivia), out to eat, to school parties and taken drives around town with the people we´ve met. One of our friends also has a pool, which has proven crucial as temperatures have reached over 38 degrees (100F). Sadly though, our first friend Daniel left for the States last weekend. So if you see him, tell him we said Hi!
While it may seem like all play here (its just more fun to write about), we´ve also been working everyday, including Saturday (and people think Americans work too much). Its been fun though, and we have really gotten to know and enjoy the people we work with at the clinics. Most days we are either working with their filing system, visiting houses, doing construction or making cotton balls and gauze. The home visits are really interesting and apparently this method of community outreach (pioneered by CSRA) is now being imitated all over the country. The main goal of the visits is to check on the health of children and pregnant women. We also vaccinate dogs, cats, and monkeys (?!?) against rabies. Maya and I have also been helping with inventory, which includes painting a number on basically every single thing (chairs, bookshelves, computers, etc) in the three clinics. Sometimes the numbers are declared ¨feo¨ (ugly) and we have to write them again. Its been a pretty funny process.
In addition to working with the clinics, we´ve also continued to visit the two orphanages in town regularly. At the all girls orphanage, we´ve been helping with homework (mostly math) and playing with the girls. We even swam with them one day in their ¨pool¨ (more like a giant bathtub). The other orphanage is an all boys orphanage funded by a Rotary club in Highland, North Carolina. Only fourteen boys live there so we´ve really been able to get to know most of them during our visits. With the guys we´ve mostly been playing futbol, I think I´ve even started to get my touch back.
Tonight we are taking a break from work and going to La Paz for a couple of days. We´ll take a bus ride overnight for 13 hours, but after Argentina that seems like a walk in the park. La Paz is the capital of Bolivia and is supposed to be beautiful. Its higher than Cochabamba, but hopefully we won´t have issues with the altitude. We´re packing our coca leaves just in case.
We have a lot of pictures to post, but due to slow internet and risk of electrocution when connecting the camera, we´ve been falling behind. Hopefully it will happen soon. Nothing else for now, eat a bagel for me!
While it may seem like all play here (its just more fun to write about), we´ve also been working everyday, including Saturday (and people think Americans work too much). Its been fun though, and we have really gotten to know and enjoy the people we work with at the clinics. Most days we are either working with their filing system, visiting houses, doing construction or making cotton balls and gauze. The home visits are really interesting and apparently this method of community outreach (pioneered by CSRA) is now being imitated all over the country. The main goal of the visits is to check on the health of children and pregnant women. We also vaccinate dogs, cats, and monkeys (?!?) against rabies. Maya and I have also been helping with inventory, which includes painting a number on basically every single thing (chairs, bookshelves, computers, etc) in the three clinics. Sometimes the numbers are declared ¨feo¨ (ugly) and we have to write them again. Its been a pretty funny process.
In addition to working with the clinics, we´ve also continued to visit the two orphanages in town regularly. At the all girls orphanage, we´ve been helping with homework (mostly math) and playing with the girls. We even swam with them one day in their ¨pool¨ (more like a giant bathtub). The other orphanage is an all boys orphanage funded by a Rotary club in Highland, North Carolina. Only fourteen boys live there so we´ve really been able to get to know most of them during our visits. With the guys we´ve mostly been playing futbol, I think I´ve even started to get my touch back.
Tonight we are taking a break from work and going to La Paz for a couple of days. We´ll take a bus ride overnight for 13 hours, but after Argentina that seems like a walk in the park. La Paz is the capital of Bolivia and is supposed to be beautiful. Its higher than Cochabamba, but hopefully we won´t have issues with the altitude. We´re packing our coca leaves just in case.
We have a lot of pictures to post, but due to slow internet and risk of electrocution when connecting the camera, we´ve been falling behind. Hopefully it will happen soon. Nothing else for now, eat a bagel for me!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Living the Bolivian Life
We´ve been settling nicely into the Bolivian way of life....
We work: We´ve almost had two full weeks of work now and its been going great. We´ve actually been doing more construction then was initially scheduled. The first couple of days we moved (with buckets on a pulley system) a huggggggge pile of sand from the first floor of the clinic to the second floor. The next couple of days we did the same thing with bricks. My entire body hurt for like a week, but lately we´ve just been painting which is much easier. There are only two guys working construction right now due to lack of funds (the recession is every where it appears), but I think the five of us make a pretty good team. Another guy from the US and his son have worked a day or two also. We have also been doing home visits and working with the nurses preparing supplies; they make their own cotton balls here and we´ve made a ton.
We eat: We´ve been managing to cook a fair amount. Mostly veggies and we buy meat to go along with them from this family that runs a restaurant (out of their living room) and grills awesome meat every night. Lunches we haven´t been cooking that much, but its hard to do better than $1.15 lunches that include salad, rice, and some type of meat dish. Though one women did tell me we were floja (lazy) for not cooking lunch, but I´m pretty sure a maid prepares lunch for her family so I didn´t take it too personally.
We workout: After about a month of meat and potatoes, I think we´ve all decided its time to start working out. Maybe the Bolivians can eat like this all the time, but I definitely can not. Mansfield has started playing on the clinic soccer team. They did lose their first two games, but they seem to be having a good time; Maya and I have been having a great time watching them. I´ve also worked out a running/stairs workout around the courtyard of our building that I´ve been doing pretty regularly. While running around in circles may not sound that appealing, its well worth the repetitiveness to avoid getting constantly hollered on the street (though the male dog next door does his best not to let his fellow chicos down).
We do things like Bolivians: Maya and I have officially mastered the art of riding the moto´s (dirt bike taxis) sidesaddle like the Bolivian women do. At first I was very sceptical, but now I think I actually like it better that way. It feels like it would be easier to make a quick exit from the bike if necessary; not that I have ever needed too, but ya just never know. We have also taken to (like all good Bolivians) hanging out on the street at night. Everyone brings chairs and sits on the sidewalk in the doorway to escape the heat. We were told that the fact that we had music and speakers made it less authentic, but some things are just necessary.
All and all we have settled in to a nice routine in Montero. This weekend we are going to a water park on Saturday to kick off the birthday celebrations. On Sunday we are attending the championship soccer game between Santa Cruz and La Paz (viva Santa Cruz!). Hope all is well at home!
We work: We´ve almost had two full weeks of work now and its been going great. We´ve actually been doing more construction then was initially scheduled. The first couple of days we moved (with buckets on a pulley system) a huggggggge pile of sand from the first floor of the clinic to the second floor. The next couple of days we did the same thing with bricks. My entire body hurt for like a week, but lately we´ve just been painting which is much easier. There are only two guys working construction right now due to lack of funds (the recession is every where it appears), but I think the five of us make a pretty good team. Another guy from the US and his son have worked a day or two also. We have also been doing home visits and working with the nurses preparing supplies; they make their own cotton balls here and we´ve made a ton.
We eat: We´ve been managing to cook a fair amount. Mostly veggies and we buy meat to go along with them from this family that runs a restaurant (out of their living room) and grills awesome meat every night. Lunches we haven´t been cooking that much, but its hard to do better than $1.15 lunches that include salad, rice, and some type of meat dish. Though one women did tell me we were floja (lazy) for not cooking lunch, but I´m pretty sure a maid prepares lunch for her family so I didn´t take it too personally.
We workout: After about a month of meat and potatoes, I think we´ve all decided its time to start working out. Maybe the Bolivians can eat like this all the time, but I definitely can not. Mansfield has started playing on the clinic soccer team. They did lose their first two games, but they seem to be having a good time; Maya and I have been having a great time watching them. I´ve also worked out a running/stairs workout around the courtyard of our building that I´ve been doing pretty regularly. While running around in circles may not sound that appealing, its well worth the repetitiveness to avoid getting constantly hollered on the street (though the male dog next door does his best not to let his fellow chicos down).
We do things like Bolivians: Maya and I have officially mastered the art of riding the moto´s (dirt bike taxis) sidesaddle like the Bolivian women do. At first I was very sceptical, but now I think I actually like it better that way. It feels like it would be easier to make a quick exit from the bike if necessary; not that I have ever needed too, but ya just never know. We have also taken to (like all good Bolivians) hanging out on the street at night. Everyone brings chairs and sits on the sidewalk in the doorway to escape the heat. We were told that the fact that we had music and speakers made it less authentic, but some things are just necessary.
All and all we have settled in to a nice routine in Montero. This weekend we are going to a water park on Saturday to kick off the birthday celebrations. On Sunday we are attending the championship soccer game between Santa Cruz and La Paz (viva Santa Cruz!). Hope all is well at home!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Pictures
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!)
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