Heat, humidity and oxygen

I made it, without the slightest hint of the protests or military I was warned of when I left Potosí for Santa Cruz. Also, the ¨rumours¨ that Santa Cruz is a horribly dangerous place have escaped me so far. Hopefully that doesn´t change as night falls, but so far, I haven´t had any problems cruising around on public transit by myself.

I´ve spent the day wandering around Santa Cruz, taking in the city (or, I mean the ice cream) and visiting the local zoo. The zoo was interesting, although very sad and maybe a perfect example of why zoos are closing down. As an example, they had 2 bears in a cage around 6´ x 12´ with nothing but a small log in the middle. And, despite all the signs around that told people not to bother the animals or to feed them, everyone from kids to adults were throwing cheezies and the like over the fence while someone else was banging on the fence / cage trying to get whatever animal that was inside´s attention.

Getting out here was fun. As soon as I was in the car on my first segment to get from Potosí to Sucre, my heart was pumping with excitment! I love the thrill of heading off to places I haven´t been before and ¨discovering¨!

From Sucre to Santa Cruz, we made pretty good time at 15 hours on the bus. Because it´s Christmas time, the buses were packed. I ended up getting the last seat (literally and figuratively) on a ¨normal¨ bus (which means the seats don´t recline all that much). And, when you´re in the last row on a bus that is traveling all night on a gravel road, it makes for a bit of an interesting sleep.

When I finally woke up (by literally being levetated out of my seat after the bus driver took a run at a big rock), I seriously thought I was back in South East Asia from my trip with Nic 5 years ago! The smell in the air of ¨fresh earth¨, the humidity, the heat, being crammed in next to someone on a bus, etc. When I woke up, hitting someone in the process, I was back of that time and ended up saying ¨sorry¨ to him. It wasn´t until the guy looked at me funny that I realized I´d just spoken English to him.

Another noticable and fun thing about the trip was our ¨dinner¨ stop at a small ¨middle of no where¨ town at 9pm. I was the only white person and that, as usual, made me stick out a bit. But, the town was pretty fun. It felt like I was in a 100 year ¨mexican¨ type town. I went about a block up the road until I found an old man with a sign that said ¨baños¨. Not knowing what to expect, I paid my 5 cents and went through this door to find a room with metal pots hanging off pegs from a brick wall. Behind that was a row of mud walls with cardboard ¨doors¨ propped up to divide each ¨stall¨. Classy.

Eitherway, I then went back and found a group of women around my age frying up stuff at the side of the road. For 30 cents, I got a plate of fried potatoes, random meat and fried salad. As is custom, I then squatted at the side of the road by candle light with a few other women eating the same thing with a toothpick, while listening to Christmas carols resung in Spanish.

The independance of being out and figuring it out on my own, as I went along, was JUST what I needed to get the blood flowing and excited about the up coming couple weeks with Nic visiting! A perfect start!

Now, I just need to wait until Nic´s plane arrives tomorrow!

Never a dull moment...

It seems like everything is coming to a head here in Potosí.

WATER (of lack there of)...

I am now used to the fact that the water in the “lagunas” (that supply half of Potosí with water, including my apartment and my office) run dry most afternoons. My office has large buckets that they fill up in the morning for this event. None the less, it is still rather unpleasant to be the first one into the washroom the next morning, since “business” continues as normal in the afternoon, water or no water.

However, this morning was the first morning that the water hadn’t replenished – even for a couple hours. So, my plans for laundry before work didn’t happen. My shower was non-existent. There was no water for “mate” (tea). And, the disgusting toilet from last night still hasn’t been flushed. But still, life goes on here without much of a blink of an eye. Because they know here that access to water isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.

I LIVE, THEREFORE I PROTEST (speaking of privilege)...

** Potosí:

There has been an ongoing strike at the university. I am lucky to have access to both sides of the issue. The wives of both my boss as well as my Spanish teacher are professors at the university, where as the local friends that I’ve made here are either students of the university or know someone who is a student. Hearing both sides and being neutral in the middle is fascinating.

The protests were first started by the professors (about their salaries) and lasted around a month, culminating a couple weeks after I got here. But, upon an agreement, the students then took to the streets to protest the resolution. The protests, ranging from rallies and marches to road blockades turned a bit “aggressive” last night with dynamite being set off in the main plaza. Neither side of the issue sees much of an end in sight, despite the overall impression that I get that everyone just wants it to be over.

** Santa Cruz:

I’m going to Santa Cruz this weekend to meet up with Nic, who is coming to visit for the holidays. To get there, I have to take a 3 hour bus to Sucre and then a 12 – 20 hour bus (I love the time variation!) to Santa Cruz.

But of course, just to make life interesting, I received an email yesterday from the Canadian Embassy warning all those living in Bolivia to avoid Santa Cruz this weekend, because of a large protest expected there, where they will be deploying the military. Additionally, it is expected that there will be a blockade around the city, preventing travel. I’m not entirely sure I understand the issues with this protest, but I’m sure I’ll be finding out soon enough!

And, since being resourceful is always a necessity in Bolivia, Nic and I now have backup plan A and plan B, incase I can’t get into Santa Cruz when she arrives. Either way, it should be an adventure!

Yes, I AM working here...

I realize that I haven’t written much about my work so far in Bolivia. I think one of the reasons for it, is that these first weeks (actually, it’s already been 6 weeks! Crazy!) has been a lot about trying to understand the organization I’m working with and the people they are trying to help, assessing their needs, and where I can help make the most impact based on what they’re asking from me. It’s hard to write about anything truly conclusive that I feel I’m accomplishing at this stage.

The regional office I’m working in, in the city of Potosí, has a few very specific focuses. They lend money to self-governed groups of people in communities, remote villages, etc. around Potosí. These groups, called “Cajas Communales”… communal banks, serve many purposes. The primary purpose is to provide a means for people without collateral, a source of income, etc. to borrow money to self-initiate their way out of poverty (further examples of this can be found here).

Additionally, the interest rates that are charged are used to sustain the NGO that I’m working with, but also to give back to the community. Each “caja” keeps a portion of the interest, which is then used within the community however they best feel fit. In this sense, it truly is the community helping itself out of poverty, as they get to decide where this money goes: to a community school, health center, activity center, etc.

My overall “project” down here is still roughly the same. I’m going to be modifying a database that the local office is currently using to include social indicators as a compliment the to financial data. The current system tracks the financial successes and challenges. However, the organization isn’t learning best where to focus their efforts based on social improvements (example: does everyone in a family now have a bed to sleep on?, have levels of nutrition gone up?, have the number of kids that are able to go to school increased?, etc.).

I am working with another volunteer from Canada who is developing the social side of the project, i.e. determining what are the best social indicators to be tracked. I am working with her to develop a system to record, store, track, and then use the information effectively in the future.

As expected, there are a lot of challenges along the way. The first big hurdle is access to the current database!!! Unfortunately, it’s in a program that I’m not familiar with. This has resulted in learning “technical” Spanish as well as the “day-to-day” language itself, while I try to learn the program. Additionally, there are a few more roadblocks including access issues, etc., but I’m gradually learning ways to overcome them.

An additional challenge is the amount of work to be done! Despite the fact that I’m at the office every day from 8:30am – 7pm, there are too many “new” projects popping up every week for me to stay on top of. Additional projects that I’m currently working on are:
- Connecting the current computers in the office into a network that can all access one dial-up internet connection (although some of the equipment is new, the computer operating systems range from WinXP to Win98… all in Spanish!… and so develops my “technical” Spanish skills).
- Designing and delivering (in Spanish, ) a workshop to the staff in the organization on what the internet is, how to use it, and how it can be beneficial in their jobs.
- Completing a website for the organization that was started by another volunteer from Canada a few years back.

Now, keeping in mind that although I’m used to working with computers with my job back home, I am by NO means at “techy”. But, I have enough base knowledge of computers to know what information I need to research to learn how to get the above accomplished (or at least I’m trying!).

Either way, I definitely have my hands full. And despite all the work that is looming ahead, I’m finding myself really looking forward to the upcoming Christmas break I will be taking since Nic (friend from home) is coming to visit (yay!), while all the workers in the office here will only pause to celebrate Christmas day, before getting right back to work. It is hard not to feel guilty with having the option to take some time off.

I´m in my apartment! Yippeee!

I know – I’ve been bad with updating my blog in the last little while! There have been so many things going on! Here is a brief list of the last few weeks:

- Nick (volunteer from Calgary) and I moved into an apartment!!
- I had a trip out to the field to see what the “ground level” of the organization really looks like
- Had a weekend away in Sucre
- Spent a week trying to get my body to understand I didn’t want to have a cold or a fever and wanted to be able to digest food normally
- Nic (from home) booked a ticket to come visit during Christmas!

Topic 1: A VISITOR!

Yipppeeee! Nic is coming to visit for 2 weeks over Christmas. I can’t believe that she’ll be coming in less than 2 weeks! We haven’t completely decided what to do while she’s here. However, I have a feeling I’ll be spending quite a lot of time on Bolivian buses getting out to the city she’s flying into and back & forth seeing the Eastern side of Bolivia.

With Christmas right in the middle of the 2 weeks, we’re hoping to make it back to Potosí for that time. Christmas appears to be celebrated mainly on the evening of the 24th, culminating in a big dinner at midnight on the 25th. I’m hoping that we’ll be invited into the home of someone that I’ve met here for the festivities, to see what it’s really like.

Topic 2: NO MORE GUESTHOUSE!!!

After waiting for over a month for our apartment to be ready, we moved in last Wednesday. Over that time, we had about 6 different dates to move in. However, once the beds were in, we put our foot down and said we were moving in, regardless of the fact that there were a bunch of stuff left to get done (like get a door on the bathroom, kitchen stuff, etc.). A week later, and we ALMOST have everything in place.

How fun is this? This is my front door key:

All the complaining aside, the apartment overall is a little embarrasing. It’s huge! Way bigger than what we need. I had really hoped that I was going to be living with a family when I was here. And then, at the very least, similar to the locals. Oh well, I know it is comparable to maybe what a family here might have, where the parents are both working.

View of the ¨courtyard¨ from my bedroom:

The dining room:

The kitchen (I think I just about have the knack of cooking on what´s just a little bigger than a coleman´s campstove. I only burn off the handle of one pot....):

The living room:

The bathroom (I´ve figured out how to lower the water pressure just enough so that I get the warmest shower possible from the overhead heater, without tripping the fuse!):

My bedroom. Not sure if you can see it in this phone, but I´ve posted up a bunch of pictures from home on the wall to make it a little homier.

Topic 3: FOOD!

My stomach didn’t quite know what hit it when I first starting eating in Bolivia. There are a few “staple foods” here, like chunios (freeze dried potatoes) and maize (cousin of corn) that are common in most meals. But, the one thing that is never absent is meat. For those of you who know my eating habits at home, although I’m not vegetarian, I rarely eat meat. Here, it’s been impossible to avoid it! Even when you get “vegetable soup”, it has at last a couple chunks of meat in it and is based in a meat broth. My stomach took about a month to really figure out how to digest the stuff.

However, since moving out of the guesthouse, I’ve been having fun going to the market to buy my food and cooking on my own. Everytime I go, I always quiz the señora on how I can cook various things. My repuatoir of Bolivian cuisine is slowly increasing! The lastest one that I can’t wait to try out is cooked candies plumes. I bought a bag of plumes off a lady on my way back from Sucre this past weekend and promptly headed to the market once I got home to buy some cinnamon sticks and cloves. Hum hum.

Below is a picture of our first grocery “haul” from the stalls in the market. I was able to get everything here for $13, including a liter of oil, dish soap, wash cloths, pound of beans, pound of lentils, pound of quinoa (like wheat sort of), sugar, salt, spices, jar of jam, pasta, big bag of onions, big bag of carrots, coffee, big block of mozzarella cheese, bread, fruit for the week (bananas, mangos, mandarins), bunch more veggies (tomatoes, peppers, etc.), yogurt for the week, carton of juice, etc. etc.

Topic 4: STAYING HEALTHY!

Despite issues with meat digestion, I’ve done reasonably well on the health department. Of the 5 volunteers I know of in La Paz, (about 13 hours away), 3 have been sick since being here, with various stomach bugs ranging from salmonella to being hospitalized with typhoid.

I have had a few food-related problems. When I was out in the field for a few days, all of the villages were overly generous offering food. But, that also meant that all the effort I had put into to watch what I ate in the city went out the window with every meal. I drank random juice drinks, potentially made with ground water. I ate communal meals (i.e. rice, fried eggs, boiled maize and a slab of meat all piled into one “tub” ready for 4 or more people to share… possibly all using the same utensil – if there was a utensil). “Richer” villages had salad with the meals offered. Drinks were poured for 15 or more people – and all used the same glass. So, it was no surprise that when I got home (thank goodness I didn’t have problems before then!), I was in bed for a day while my system purged what I had eaten.

Unfortunately, that translated directly into a cold. With the low temperature, damp to dry to damp climate, and lack of heating in any building, it proved difficult to beat the bug. But, I’m now back on my feet, despite a little sniffle!

Topic 5: WEEKEND IN SUCRE!

Nick and I headed for a weekend away from Potosí; the first since being here. Sucre is a couple hours away, and although it’s still up at 2900m elevation, I felt like I was drunk on oxygen while there! It was crazy! I guess it really shows that I have acclimatized to living at 4100m, when I go down to 2900m and want to skip and run through the streets with the increased levels of energy!

So, we decided to celebrate the extra oxygen (and belatedly for moving into our apartment) with a bottle of local wine, which was perhaps akin to homebrew back home.

In conjunction with the lower altitude, it was also a much milder climate. I only slept under 3 wool blankets instead of 7! I walked around without a jacket on during the day. My face didn’t burn because the sun wasn’t as intense! Overall, it was great to get away.

We just spend the weekend wandering the streets, hiking up a local hill to see the view of the city, visiting one of the many museums and shopping (I bought little speakers for my mp3 player, slippers, little Christmas lights for our “Christmas cactus”, a few Bolivian movies and local CHOCOLATES!).

Inside the museum, at one of the typical fountains around Sucre and Potosí (and this one even works!):
This is the view of Sucre:

Sucre itself is really important in Bolivian history. Because of it’s proximity to Potosí and the nicer climate, the Spaniards, during the height of Potosí 400 years ago, spent most of their time here. As such, there are some impressive buildings and churchs. And, although most of the political power seems to rest in La Paz, the locals still claim it as the “official” capital.

The terrain between Potosí and Sucre was interesting. The road windded up and down through valleys and hills of the Andes nearer to Sucre, while it continued along the altiplano with various mountainous rocks, etc. in the distance nearer to Potosí.

This is one of the checkpoint stops along the road you have to got through. At every stop, there is always an assortment of women ready to run up to you and try to sell you stuff through the window (which is how I got my bag of plums!):

View of the Andes along the road:

Topic 6: THE FIELD

Well… I think this one will have to wait for another blog entry.