A couple days ago I went to the “nearby” city of Arapata. It is about 1 hr and 45 min of drive time away. But this does not account for the wait time and unpredictability of transit here. I had to travel first to Coroico and then change “buses”. It went pretty smoothly but travel is always contingent on the desire of both a mobilidad driver and other passengers to go to the same destination. Distances in this country are not terribly far but travel times are incredible. Arapata can’t be more than 20 or 30 miles away and it takes a minimum of 2 hours to get there using the same transit as area residents.

I went to Arapata to see a festival that featured traditional dances from some of the surrounding communities. For the most part these dances are unique to the communities. Each group provided its own music with drums and various flutes. My favorite dance is called the Saya it is performed by the residents of Tocaña which is a town inhabited by afro-bolivianos. They drum as well as stereotype says they should. They were proceeded by a group in “blackface” (incredibly) performing a racially sensitive dance representative of the slavery that existed until relatively recently here. Bolivians don’t have the same concept of political correctness as we do.

I went with Sam and three students from our Rural Tourism program. It is always refreshing to have social contact with Bolivians when I spend so much time living and working with Americans. Below we are pictured with Fatima who is fast becoming one of our best friends here. The bags we are drinking out of are filled with a drink made from cooking what I think is sugarcane (the language barrier DOES still exist and the information I got from the students is subject to inaccuracy). It tasted sweet but only sort of pleasant. I got a real kick out of the bags though. They aren’t very uncommon. Often when you ask for a beverage to-go they will pour it into a bag so they can return the bottle for a deposit.

Yesterday I went with Sam and Fatima to her home in Trindad Pampa. It was interesting in every way. We walked and it took about an hour and a half. Trinidad Pampa is in a neighboring valley, coca is the most common crop, below it is pictured with Mango trees.

The next picture was taken about halfway down into the valley. In the foreground are new coca fields and in the background basically everything that isn’t an obvious tree is coca in some stage of development. Brown for new fields, lighter green for new plants or recently trimmed plants, and darker green for more mature or ready to harvest plants. The very darkest green is usually coffee which is grown in the presence of shade trees. In 2000 this valley produced very little coca. After drops in both the global price of coffee and fruit, coca became the best way to earn a living.

Coca production has negative impacts on the ecosystem. It needs to be fertilized using chemicals; other plants here usually use only chicken excrement. After the ground has been terraced it can't be used for other plants; it needs to lie fallow for five years. The creation of terraces can cause severe erosion. Each terrace guides rainwater off the field into a central runoff area (think of street gutters). This area receives so much additional water, that it is washed to the valley floor. Also growing stimulants in the place of food exports demand. So a place like Trinidad Pampa , that 10 years ago was feeding itself, now buys food shipped from La Paz.

In Trinidad Pampa we saw a soccer game. Every Saturday they have games, and most of the town attends. I felt like a bandit in a wild west movie when we arrived. Walking up the dusty main street of a town with closed up doors, shuttered windows, and no one in sight. But when we did meet people they were uncomfortably welcoming.

The following picture shows the game, which was nothing special, a little bit of the town, and some of the less disturbed forests. The tallest peak in the distance is called Uchimacchi, it is the biggest mountain in the area and most of the towns I spend time in are built around it. Carmen Pampa would be on the left.

Thanks for reading, take care

LOVE

Andy

I went to La Paz again this weekend, for a soccer game between two of the city’s three teams, Bolivar and The Strongest. It was nice weather and there were a lot of goals, I think final score was Bolivar 4 The Strongest 2. That’s pretty high for a soccer game, but it was close until the last 15 min or so. I wanted Bolivar to win, they have better advertisements. The fans were pretty enthusiastic. The building was mostly full, especially where I sat. I was told it’s common to oversell the cheap seats - we were packed in. I had a seat in the stairs, nobody worried about blocked fire escapes despite the pile of styrofoam seats that The Strongest fans were burning on the other side of the stadium.

Before the game we met up with some friends from the university who live in El Alto. I have written in this blog about El Alto, and I think I misrepresented it a little. I always had the impression of it as a massive slum above La Paz, where laws are subjective and muggers lock themselves in at night. It’s a big enough place that parts of it may indeed be as I thought, but not where I visited. It was one of the more peaceful parts of the city that I have seen. There were wide streets lined with trees, and the houses were a lot more welcoming that in other parts of the city where walls are topped with broken glass and barbed wire. Also the view was exceptional.

We went to a huge market in El Alto where they sold EVERYTHING. Plenty of the vendors were selling about what one would find in the junk drawer in my parents kitchen. Others had good stuff. I was finally able to get some shoes that fit, pants are still on the do to list. The below picture stretches out for a dozen blocks in every direction.

We went to a cool museum in downtown La Paz. It is built around an open-air central plaza. This is a common feature in La Paz construction. I’d like to see snow come through sometime. I saw a concert here a couple weeks ago, it was a good place to see a show.

It’s interesting to me how some of the hardships here are easy to deal with, and how some others are really hard. For example we get all our water from collectors high up on the mountain. If there is a shortage of rain we can run out, or if there is too much rain the system can get clogged up. We never really know if we will have water or not on a day to day basis, usually we do but there have been plenty of days that we didn’t since I have been here. Yesterday I came home from La Paz to a dry house. This means no shower, no water for cleaning dishes, limited water for drinking, and no flushing toilets. After three days of eating from street vendors the latter was be troublesome. But really it hasn’t been that hard to get used to, maybe because I know it will be back in a day or because I know we have the financial resources to ensure at least drinking water no matter what. Regardless it still makes me realize what a luxury reliable water is. The thing that gets me is the lack of the junk foods I always took comfort in back in the US. I miss a good bowl of cereal the most, but also decent chocolate and peanut butter (we can get an approximation to organic PB here but its not the same). At night when I have a nagging sweet tooth I pace the kitchen endlessly and remember of the days when three bowls of Cap’n Crunch before bed was a human right.

* the answer to last week’s “Baby-not-a-baby” game is…. NOT A BABY! (it was potatoes, no joke)

LOVE

andy

Things have calmed down here and I’m settled in. My big activity today was to take the 40 min trip into Coroico to do some serious grocery shopping. Up until a few days ago we had between 14 and 16 people in our house for meals, it was hard to keep food around. The trip into town is a different experience every time. The public transport here consists of privately run minibuses that don’t operate on a fixed schedule. Sometime I can walk out my front door and catch one within a few minuets. This morning it took close to two hours. Not only are the hours unpredictable but also the level of comfort during the ride varies considerably. The buses have enough seats for around 14 people, sometimes several extra people ride along. One trip I took the bus had about 24 people including a few babies and people riding on the roof. Today Sam and I had the memorable experience of riding a little closer to heaven on the luggage rack. It was really exciting, a little dangerous, and very beautiful.

We had a BBQ with a couple of the other volunteers a few Bolivians. We ate in the yard of the house my friend Fico is building. It was interesting to see the work in progress. He makes the bricks out of mud from his yard and dries them in the sun for a week or two before he can stack them into walls. He will someday have a corrugated steel roof.

We made a fire out of a long strip of tree bark, literally in the shadow of the tree it had been cut from days earlier. We laid the ~6-foot strip on the ground and lit a small section under the cooking grate. The bark burned slowly and we just kept pushing it forward a few feet at a time until most of it had burned into a smoldering pile. We cooked kabobs with beef (a rarity here) squash, peppers, and potatoes.

We also had a watermelon, which was awesome. Naturally there was a seed-spitting contest.

One of the Bolivian women, Christina, brought her baby. It just kind of hung out for a few hours, other than a couple VERY loud burps it didn’t make any noise at all. I’m always sort of awed by how relaxed the kids are here. I really haven’t heard more than one or two crying ever.

We invented a new game, today. It’s called “Baby, Not a Baby”. Many of the women walk around with these brightly colored cloths (aguayus) wrapped around their shoulders. About 1/3 or the time there is a kid inside, all covered up and kind of shaped like a small log. The rest of the time there could be anything inside from bananas to small logs. Based on the way the women treat the cloths and their contents we try to decide if there is a baby inside or not. The baby doesn't give itself away by making noise or moving. How about you try your luck!

Earlier this week there was a futsal tournament. I was asked to play on a team for a kid who had to be gone for part of a game. It was cool cause they that their futsal pretty seriously, I’m not sure what made them think I would be a good choice but I played anyway. I didn’t do so bad, but I didn’t do that well either. Next time I’ll try and talk them into basketball.

Anyway, all is well and I wish all of you the best.

andy

Early this morning I got my fortune read in Coca leaves by a very old Cholita who lives in the nearby village of San Pedro. Meeting her and her son, and hanging out in their home was a lot more interesting then the fortune itself. They live in a one-room building about the size of a dining room, elevated off the ground about five feet or so. The son was sleeping on the floor when we arrived, he didn’t have a mattress but was wrapped in some blankets. The home didn’t have any functioning lights or running water that I saw. We sat in what was mostly dark with light coming in through the open door. Most striking was a massive crack in the wall that I could see a lot of sun through.

My fortune teller spoke mostly Ayamara so we had to have her son translate for us (not a young man himself). His mouth was black and toothless from Coca and a lack of any real dental hygiene.* He mumbled like his gums were made of well cooked carrots and I need another translator to get my fortune. They told me I will be really lucky in the next five years, not bad.

*(This is a real problem in the region, there are plenty of students on campus missing many teeth. I was told that having a full set here is so rare that most people think us volunteers just have really good dentures. A lot of people have false teeth lined with gold, they remind me of GRILLZ as made famous by rappers a couple years ago. If unfamiliar with this fad please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grill_(jewelry) ).

We visited their neighbors who are good friends with another volunteer (Hugh the associate director of the college). They live much better but still very simply in comparison to me in the volunteer house. They had a refrigerator which may or may not have worked, multiple rooms, and even a pig (temporary pet).

Afterwards we hiked up a nearby mountain. We got to see a lot of the plant life a little closer than we usually do. All the following pictures depict the kinds of things I see and traverse regularly. The trail was really steep, and even though it has only rained a few times since I have been here it was very wet. I live in what is called a “cloud forest” which is a relatively unique ecosystem that receives most of its moisture from the direct contact is receives from clouds daily. It isn’t uncommon to see clouds sitting on a hillside like cotton balls rubbed into thick carpet.

The tallest tree in this picture is really interesting. The inside is typically filled with ants that protect it from other insects and harmful plants. If it gets cut down the ants have been known to attack people.

I thought this leaf was wild. I think I overheard someone say the bumps were seed spores, don’t hold me to that. Either way they are neat.

I like this picture because it sort of shows just how thick and lush this area can be. I don’t carry a machete but if I spent more time in the woods I probably would. We saw three monkeys this morning in a similar area. They were silhouetted and reminded me a lot of squirrels. I’m told they are very rare; two weeks ago I saw a bigger one.

Thanks everyone,

SALUDOS
-andy

about as well as expected

Hey everyone,

School here is in full swing and my career as a teacher has officially begun. Due to last second course modifications I am now teaching one class solo and co-teaching two other classes (this is subject to sudden changes as are all things here). My first class went about as well as expected, I only had 7 students, but his number should rise. Sam and I are still managing two computer labs and tutoring as well. We are busy but maybe not as busy as the above makes us sound. We still find time to rock the basketball court a few times a week, and I will be starting to learn the Quena (wooden flutelike thing) from a friend of mine.

I went on a pretty cool hike recently, some other volunteers and I walked a 10 mile loop through a neighboring village.



We got a lot of great views, but I think the most interesting thing we saw were some of the agricultural practices here. Below is a photo of us walking along a ridge on the right is an area that was recently burned clear to encourage the growth of new grass. Unbelievably cows are pastured on this slope, less surprising is that they produce bad milk and worse meat.

Also on the walk we passed many fields of Coca. The plant itself it pretty plain looking but the fields themselves are really interesting. Around here Coca is the only plant that is grown in terraced fields. In school we were always taught that the Incas invented terracing to grow plants on steep slopes. I’m not sure if they used this technique for other crops or if the history books simply censored out the part about Coca. I guess I would believe either. The terraces are made by piling dirt and then hammering it with a shovel until it becomes like concrete, they last about 30 years in this part of the country. The Bolivian Government (under US pressure) monitors the amount of Coca grown in the country by using aerial photography to look for terraced fields.

Coca is a very popular crop here. One of the US govts prerogatives in the region is to replace Coca production with other crops on a voluntary basis. One of the emerging crops in the region is Coffee. USAID helped my school build a large Coffee processing plant, which can handle all the Coffee grown in the region. Ultimately the product was intended for export to the US but due to shortages in quality produce the Coffee is all consumed regionally. To reach export levels we would need to fill a “container” on a cargo ship, currently we are not approaching this goal. Below is a picture of a recently trimmed coffee grove on campus.

August 2nd was “the day of the campesino” which commemorates land reforms in the early 1950’s that broke up plantations and brought the indigenous population here out of what was essentially slavery. There was a big celebration in town with a folk dancing competition between all the grades at the local high school. I was in the right place at the right time and they asked me to be a judge, I told them I was very unqualified but they pressed me anyway. Some of the older grades put on very elaborate very beautiful performances. Here is a picture my friend took of the Caporales, I think these were 11th graders. There was a pretty good crowd there and at TWO different points I was dragged on the dance floor along with other judges. That was sort of a humbling experience.

After the dancing there was a big potluck all the townspeople brought something, there were a lot of starches. Starches in general are pretty common crops here. At dinner we usually have several. Sam and I have started a game called “potato, not a potato” basically all you do is close your eyes and eat one of the dinner vegetables, based on taste and texture (color is a give away) you need to decide if your eating a potato or just one of its near cousins. Anyway here is a picture of the people digging in, the picture doesn’t capture the franticness of the meal. But I could barely push my way to the front to get a picture of the food.

Thanks again to everyone reading these and sending me messages of support.

LOVE andy