Before too much time passes I wanted to write about Easter here. In many ways it wasn’t much different than Easter in The States. Bolivia is a religious country, by some measures more religious than the US. You know there was a lot of Spanish influence here in the past. One of the clearest reminders of that is the prominence of Christianity all across Bolivia today. It’s the biggest organized religion in the country, 95% of Bolivians are listed as Roman Catholic by the CIA World Factbook. At least in this part of the country every small community has a church, which might only be used a couple times a year but generally sits at the community’s heart and is the most prominent building.

The interesting thing about religion here is how it has mixed and coexists with pre-Columbian beliefs.

The first few days I was here we celebrated the feast of the patron saint of Carmen Pampa, or the year’s biggest party. There was a mass and the celebration took place in the courtyard of the community’s church. At this festival I was taught to give the first sip of whatever you are drinking to Pachamama or mother Earth. The dirt in front of the church was soaked throughout the day and night by this custom, and by all accounts Pachamama should have at least been tipsy. Our patron saint Maria del Carmen stayed stone sober, as she wasn’t offered a drop.

It’s not just at festivals. Miners give alcohol, coca, and even blood to ensure safety and good luck. They might say Hail Maries on their way to work, but the respects they pay to Catholic figures are nowhere near as institutionalized or ingrained into their culture as the rituals they perform for more archaic deities.

Every year around the beginning of Lent the Bolivians do a Challa, which is the cleaning, decorating and blessing of homes businesses and public places. I helped my old boss Diego bless his computer lab. After the decorating we poured potable rubbing alcohol all over the floor and said prayers to God and Pachamama. When I come home for lunch the Sisters had done the same in their garden. I think I’ve heard them talk about Pachamama in positive ways. Certainly the idea doesn’t seem to bother them, I’ve never heard a negative word about it anyway.

I took the following picture at the church in Trinidad Pampa a man dressed in VERY traditional VERY pre-Christanity wearing a cross and looking quite reverant.

Anyway back to EASTER. The UAC masses are more traditional Catholicism, at least by Bolivian standards. It started with a bonfire lit in front of the church, then we all lit candles and marched into the dark building. It was really beautiful.

There weren’t too many students around, so most of the people who came were community members. The kids here are nuts and only sort of supervised. No extra fires started and only one kid did anything dangerous chasing his brother with a fiery stick. Easter miracle. Then we ate fried dough and drank Api, which is a thick purple drink made from corn and served hot, very good.

In Coroico they welcomed back hikers finishing the Choro, LIKE ME. There were dances and mass.

How's this last pic grab you for interesting cultural Conflicts. Bolivian Tourisim student rocking a Favre jersey looking at the same beautiful curch the above photo came from.

I hope all is well back home.

LOVE

andy

Imagine three days hiking in rain and drizzle following an ancient Inca trail from The Cumbre (16,000 ft) to Coroico (6,000 ft). When we started there was icy snow in the air, when we finished our feet burned at least as much as one would expect after the 35 miles they had carried us. The drastic changes in climate we witnessed on the trail and the extremeness of peoples lives were both characteristic of Bolivia. They say when you walk The Choro you pay for your sins with the hardships you encounter. I might be a cleansed man now but it didn’t come easily.

I'm writing this to invite you to be part of what I hope will become an annual fundraiser here at UAC-CP. Every Easter hundreds of Bolivians walk The Choro trial, as penance for their sins. I did it and now I’m asking retroactively* for your support. I used to do Walkathons in elementary school at Baker Park, It was six miles and we got hotdogs at the end. Some of you may have been hit up for money then. This walk was much more difficult so I’m hoping you see that difference on your bank statement.

HERE’S THE LINK to the fundraiser FOR ANYONE ALREADY INTERESTED

http://www.firstgiving.com/uac-cpandy

I’m hoping to raise $2,000 which is the cost of educating, housing, and feeding breakfast to one student for a year here at UAC-CP, one student who wouldn’t otherwise have a chance at higher education. One person who will go on to create growth in a country that continues to grapple with terrible poverty.

SO WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS, there must be something special I can thrown in since in fact I already did the walking… Aside from peace of mind, and knowing the money you give makes an incredible difference I’ll also throw in a blog entry dedicated to The Choro and the experiences I had there. I’ll make it worth your money,BUT PONY UP OR IT’S NOT COMING

HERE’S THE LINK AGAIN FOR THE REST OF YOU

http://www.firstgiving.com/uac-cpandy

Most of you know what I’m doing here in Bolivia and have some idea about the mission of the school, if you are looking for more information about either you can check the following links.

Carmen Pampa Fund Website - http://www.carmenpampafund.org/

Vice Director Hugh’s BLOG- http://carmenpampa.blogspot.com/

Volunteer Sarah’s BLOG- http://uchumachi.blogspot.com/

*The internet has been down a ton and really slow the rest of the time, I just couldn’t get the site put together sooner.

Thanks so much for the time

andy

This Coke truck got jammed up against the wall outside our neighbors (the sisters) house. They left it overnight in the road, a little off to the side and during the night it slid in the mud. They have spent a couple days trying to dig it out, at some point they will probably have to call someone to pull it out.

The roads aren’t great here, the one pictured here is worse than most. I was told once that only 5% of the roads were paved in Bolivia, I don’t know if it’s true or not but around here the only paved road I know is the one that goes from La Paz to Caranavi, it passes close to Coroico but you have to take cobblestone and dirt roads to get into town. By the way when I say close to Coroico I mean you can see the road from town and make our cars or even people easily, but the drive is about 20 min from when you exit the “freeway” to when you arrive “downtown”. Coming from Coroico to Carmen Pampa or any of the surrounding communities is all dirt or in this season really deep mud.

On a positive note USAID put in a great sidewalk between Coroico and Carmen Pampa, now it’s really a pleasure to walk into town.

LOVE

andy

I saw a drag show two days ago. It was part of the “anniversary” of the nursing department. They also had a dance, played soccer and musical chairs, and hazed new students by making them crawl through mud in an orange plastic tube with a sign that said something like intestinal parasites. Just one more reason Bolivia kicks USA's ass. The annual celebration in the POLS department at UWRF was a wiener roast followed by a lackluster volleyball game.

I mentioned something about cross-dressing before in this blog. I hate to come back to it but it’s an interesting part of the culture. First of all I should say it’s really popular, street performers do it, it’s on TV, and the students have featured it a few times before. Mostly it’s done for comic value, after all can you think of anything funnier than a spiky haired guy in clip-on earrings and a skirt, who looks all too comfortable in heels and makes most of the girls jealous of his legs as he’s being chased around by either a big breasted cowboy or a “man” with a permanent marker beard wearing a suit that only half hides shapely hips as he grabs his crotch and walks so shoulder heavy you’d think his spine was fused.

I don’t know much about psychology but I’m pretty sure there is interesting research about sexual outlets for men in super macho countries, which would probably have something intelligent to say about why being left by your girlfriend can be seen as just lacking control over her but wearing fake boobs and lipstick is cool.

Anyway, Sister Jean doesn’t like it and won’t go, she says it’s sexist and disrespectful to women. Maybe shes right, but the girls cross dressed too and did their best to make macho guys look like tools, for whatever reason this never gets as much of a reaction and it is definitely viewed as just a supplement to the real action.

Yesterday Sam and I became the first semi-pro English speaking radio advertising icons in the Coroico area, or so we were told. One of our old students has a restaurant and thought there was an untapped English speaking market that he could corner by putting out an ad in their native language. I don’t know if it’s true or not but we’ll see. There are certainly plenty of English speaking tourists that come through here. We were paid with a few glasses of cold beer, made more RICO because we drank them at about 10:00 am.

We showed up with no script, no reservations, and no idea what was going on. In about 15 min we had written and recorded in two takes what will be the vocal track for a heavily produced typical Latin ad - Lots of sound effects, fast crazy music in the background, and at least one incredibly obnoxious voice (MINE!).

Okay, that’s all

LOVE

andy

Some volunteers and I with a few of the girls from the PRE. Note the girl who brought a stuffed animal for the pic.

One of the classes I teach is with the schools pre-university students. They are a swollen group of over 80 kids completing a curriculum that stands somewhere between minimum high school standards and college generals. For English they are divided into four groups but generally they have all their classes at the same time in the same low ceilinged closed up classroom that unmercifully overlooks the fútsal court.


Before the semester started, around 200 kids came and took an entrance exam, none passed but the 85 highest scores were accepted to the “PRE”. After the successful completion of the pre-curriculum they will all move into one of the other 5 “carreras” Veterinary, Agronomy, Nursing, Teaching, or Eco-Tourism.


I like the PRE, they remind me of kids at a summer camp experiencing a lot of new exciting stuff for the first time, sometimes full of excitement and wonder and other times just frustrated and homesick. Most of all they just seem young. They illustrate the conflict that exists in all the UAC students, a dichotomy between being emotionally young in many fundamental ways while having lived through incomprehensibly (for us anyway) difficult things. These are kids that don’t like to walk at in the dark because they believe there are ghosts and ghouls out at night. Kids who giggle in class and draw dirty pictures in their notebooks (carry around stuffed animals {told you so}). Many of them however have worked in subsistence agriculture as long as they have been physically able. They have seen preventable illness take friends or family members. They have cared for younger siblings, cooked, cleaned, and otherwise supported their families more like Cinderella than anyone else I can think of, minus the part about not being loved which depends on the family.


I don’t want to get carried away now… but really they are sort of the antithesis to my brother Nathan.


Anyway just like Nate they are very loveable.

Don't get jealous but this is their bathroom.

I said the group was a little too big, last semester there were only like 60 of them. Needless to say just finding enough beds has been a challenge. Below you can see a typical dorm room the girls have two of these. The classroom that felt crowded with 60 has the qualities of a beehive with 80+.


Most of these students are the first generation in their family to go to college which probably isn’t a surprise. But what is a surprise is that most students in the PRE are girls. I think there are only about 25 boys, or less than one third. The school as a whole has more female students but not by this margin. This kind of gender imbalance exists in the US at many institutions but it’s really interesting to see it here. Remember that college education being available to the general population is sort of a novel idea here. I wouldn’t dare speculate what it means, but many development experts including Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea) who has been building schools in Central Asia for a decade and a half, say that educating girls is one of the biggest steps a country can take to reducing poverty and creating real social change.


SO maybe I would speculate that is a pretty darn good thing (and by the way we do accept donations).


In this time of economic crisis be thankful your diet includes meat!

Thanks for the time,

LOVE

andy

Carnaval was this last weekend. It’s sort of like mardi gras. The festival has roots in indigenous cultural and religious traditions, during colonial rule the festival was combined with Christian beliefs which have powerful influence today. The festival took place in Oruro, which is up on the altiplano at around 13k ft. The main attraction is the dancing, thousands of costumed dances parade the streets for two full days and nights. Wikipedia claims 28k people dance with over 1k providing live music. Dozens of traditional dances are featured all complete with their own elaborate costumes. I’ve never been to mardi gras but seriously how can it even compete.

This guy was dancing a rip off of the afrobolivian Saya. Yes he is in blackface, and no it's not really that racist.

Like I said some people have super elaborate costumes. I have written about the ways people spend money here. Most people are poor right, but when festival time comes around all the stops get pulled out. Spending hundreds of B's to rent the kind of crazy stuff everyone was dancing in is just expected. I frankly don't understand how the industry sustains itself for these outfits. Most are works of art, many are unique at least in minor aspects. There are a lot of festivals and dances like this are normal but seeing the sheer quantitiy of these things that exist (28k dancers each in their own) and knowing that there are still more being used in other cities and sitting in wharehouses I just can't understand how the people who make them or rent them or do whatever make any money.

In this machista country carnival is one of the times a tough mustachioed gnagsta like this can cut back and let his inner artist out. He is dancing a Llamerada and no matter how hard anyone tries it will never be a masculine dance. But anti masculine backlashes are common in Bolivian culture, especially in the perfoming arts. It is VERY common to see dudes in drag; dancing and acting in street performances.

On the other hand the super masculine Caporales left all the girls swooning, calling out for kisses blown from the fine gents pictured above. Don't let the bells fool you this dance features grunting, cowboy hats, slicked back hair, and shoulder pads that make professional football players looke like an exercise in finding ones inner woman.

Don't worry, I got in on the action too. Here I am weak in the knees myself .

And below making the bass drum cool again.

Carnaval was a riot. Bolivians are still friendly and fun. I met some cool people, drank some suprisingly affordable beer, and made some good memories.

In a couple days I'll try to muster up something a little more intelligent.

I hear MN has a lot of snow. WELL the bridge I cross going to work has been washed away by heavy rain. Every morning I'm crossing a fallen log like somekind of flippin' boyscout.

LOVE

andy

So death isn’t anything I would pretend to know about. I’ve felt losses in my life but never like that. They say it’s hard. I have been terrified of it as long as I have grasped the concept. I’m spiritual enough to believe in eternity, and that’s what gets me. You die and that’s it, I’ve always been taught that whatever comes next is forever. I’m pretty sure I believe that, and I can’t take the idea. Fortunately this isn’t about me.

Last week one of my college professors died. She was my advisor actually and on our best days I would call her a friend. She had emergency brain surgery for a surprise brain tumor. They are always surprises I suppose, but this was an extreme case.

One day she passes out on a couch at work and the next she is under the knife. That was a year and a half ago. I think she might have expected to make it, the odds couldn’t have been good but she tried to return to normalcy like nothing had happened. She was teaching classes the following semester, only a handful of weeks later.

I think I expected her to make it. I always take people for granted. Death was for my parents friends, people in newspapers, and the worlds intangible poor too far away too matter.
I’m fine though, maybe I’m too far away for it to matter.

There’s something interesting, she had Facebook and in the days since her death her “wall” has been flooded with support from friends and loved ones. (For those who don’t know Facebook is a social networking site, and a “wall” is a publically viewable message board). I haven’t written anything. It seems like such an information age way to pay ones respects. But it’s not fundamentally different from going to a grave and talking or leaving flowers.

Anyway it’s not like her husband can just shut the thing off. Nor can he change the settings or leave a message saying she has passed one. She might as well still be there reading the messages and writing back (wouldn’t it be a great science fiction story if she did). That’s how I found out about her, I went to her Facebook profile and saw all these goodbye messages. Surreal. There is still a pic of her at an aquarium. It’s a good way to remember her.
So the profile will stay, who knows for how long. Maybe forever - there’s that word again. Maybe she is looking down reading it. Like a “Family Circle” cartoon, face down on a cloud, arms crossed in front of here, laptop open, and a smile on her face. If I were her husband I’d show it at the wake.

I hope it stays up, that’s the kind of eternity I can wrap my head around. Somehow it’s just not so scary. Technology right, I’m just a product of my generation after all. If it does stay I’ll write, there’s even a way to send digital gifts. Flowers that don’t rot, that’s paying respect.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=799879548&ref=ts

LOVE

andy