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