Tiputini

What a weekend/week so far! I'll start with Thursday night, because that's where the weekend really began.  After a super long week of class, my fellow gringos and I treated ourselves to a night out in Quito in the Plaza Foch, or "Gringolandia" as the natives like to call it.  I actually ate in Cumbayá with my host sisters and their boyfriends/husbands. We ate at a sushi restaurant a few blocks down from the university. It was so yummy! Some of the best sushi I've ever had.  After dinner, I took a cab up to Quito and met up with my friends. We had a blast, but we didn't stay out super late, because we had to be at the university at the ungodly hour of 6:45 so we could begin our extensive voyage to the jungle.  We spent the weekend at Tiputini Biodiversity Station, a section of the Amazon that is owned by the University of San Francisco.  Its one of the few parts of the rain forest in Ecuador that is left almost completely virgin, so its very important for conservation and research.  To get there, we had to take a (very short) flight from Quito to a pueblito called Coca. Once in Coca, we got in these huge, motorized canoes and were on the water for two hours.  After that, we all crammed onto a chiva (a big open bus with benches) and rode for two more hours through land owned by an oil company.  That was the worst part, because we really didn't fit on the chiva, so we were crammed together on hard wooden seats for two hours.  Once we got through the oil company's property, we had to get back on another canoe and ride for another two hours on the Tiputini River until we finally arrived at the station.  We were literally in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles from any sort of civilization.  The sky fell out when we were about thirty minutes from the station.  The canoes were covered, but that didn't really do much good haha. Consequently, we had quite an appropriate arrival to the rain forest.

The first night we just settled into our cabins.  There isn't much to do at night, especially after 9:30.  They only turn on the electricity for a few hours a day, and the lights all go out at 9:30.  After that, its quite dark ha.  We were all really happy at the chance to catch up on a little sleep though.  Also, we had to get up early again, because breakfast was served at 6:30.  We began our activities at 7:30.  We were separated into four groups, and we all did the same things, just a different times throughout the weekend.  I have to say I think my group got the best guide.  His name was Santiago, and he was wonderful.  He spoke to us only in Spanish, which was awesome, but he was also easy to understand, because he is Quechua and Spanish is his second language too.  He spoke more slowly and had vocabulary and grammar skills a little closer to our level.  He taught us a lot.  The first thing we did was take a walk through the jungle to the tower that let us see over the tops of the trees.  Santiago brought a telescope so we got to see lots of monkeys, a toucan, and other birds up close.  That afternoon, we took another walk to a lagoon where we paddled around in a smaller canoe and saw some different animals.  Sunday morning, we joined one of the other groups for a float down the river.  We saw more birds and monkeys, but we also saw several caymans up close.  Needless to say, we were all pretty terrified when they told us it was time to get in the water.  I was scared the entire time we were in the water haha, but nothing happened.  I think the loud group of gringos scared of all the anacondas.  Definitely a memorable experience.  That afternoon, my group went to the canopy walk, a series of bridges and platforms hundreds of feet above the forest floor. We strapped into harnesses and spent and hour seeing the forest from up above.  On the way back to Quito on Monday, we had to spend a few hours in Coca before our flight.  We ate at and outdoor restaurant that was full of exotic animals.  They had several peacocks and toucans just wandering around, turtles, guinea pigs, and really friendly monkeys.  I was absolutely thrilled, because the monkeys would come and sit on your shoulder!  All in all, the weekend was incredible.  Tiputini itself would have been enough, but we had ample opportunity to hang out and get to know each other better.  So many good memories were made this past weekend.

This week has been nuts so far. We have so much work to get done before we leave for Riobamba (Friobamba) on Friday.  Tomorrow is our last day of class at USFQ!  Unfortunately, that means we also have a killer test. I've been studying for days, and I still don't feel prepared.  I'm going to miss our professors here.  They've been really great, and they've taught us so much. I am ready for class to be over tomorrow afternoon, though, because we have a fun day planned.  We're going up to Quito again.  First, we're doing the Teleferiqo, which is this ski-lift type thing that takes you up the mountain so you can see the entire city.  Then a few other Catholics and I are going to mass at La Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, which is the church covered in gold that we saw on the city tour.  For dinner, we're going to this seafood restaurant that is supposed to be amazing.  Its owned by the father of some of our friends' host brother.  They ate there last week, and they've been raving about it so much that we all want to go.  After dinner, we're going to go out again.  We don't have to leave for Riobamba quite as early as we did for Tiputini.  The ride to Riobamba is about six hours, I believe.  I'm not sure what all we're doing there. We're climbing Chimbarazo one day, and we have class for three days, but I think we might only be going for half a day at least one of those days.  We do have our final exams there next Thursday.  We come back on Friday, and we have Friday free, and then we leave Saturday.  My flight is super early in the morning, but I still don't get back to Mississippi until midnight.  Gonna be a long day of traveling. Its so weird to think my Latin American adventure is almost over! Its been quite the experience.  I'll save the reflecting for a post-trip blog, though.

I should get back to studying. I'll update from Riobamba!

Baños.

This past weekend was the only free weekend we're going to have in Ecuador. The rest are taken up with trips that are part of the program.  My class has been hammered with work so far, so we were extremely grateful for a chance to take a break and relax. We ended up with a group of twenty two total, so we all split a bus down to a small town called Baños, which means baths. Its named that because of the hot springs you can find at the base of the volcano, Tungurahua.  The volcano heats the water naturally.  A group of us went to some of the springs on Saturday afternoon. We've named it the "Gringos in the Pool" incident.  We thought it was going to be a super touristy spot, because Baños is crawling with tourists from all over.  However, we were the only gringos there. It was hysterical, actually.  We were literally in a group in the middle of one of the pools surrounded by Latinos.  I'm sure it would have made a fantastic ariel view.  After that adventure, we paid four bucks to go on a tour of the waterfalls that surround the city.  The tour was on a chiva, which is basically an open bus that drives you around and blasts music. When we got to the first waterfall, we paid another dollar fifty to go on this thing called a Tarabita.  Its basically a trolley on a zip line that takes you over the water right up to the waterfall. It was incredible. I have a video, but I can't get it to upload on here.  We also could have bungee jumped for ten dollars, but none of us were feeling that stupid.  After the tour, we went up to a restaurant called el café del cielo (cielo=sky). Its really high up on the side of the volcano in this incredible resort.  We literally got out of the cabs and walked through clouds to get inside.  After we ordered our food, we were directed to a terrace that had an absolutely gorgeous view of the city all lit up.  A few of the girls and I had been itching to get a massage all weekend, because Baños has several spas.  The resort has its own spa, so Rachel, Ryan, and I finished dinner quickly and went and got a thirty minute back massage. I had never had a massage before. I can't even describe how amazing it was. We all walked out and looked at each other and just started giggling haha.  Baños was so beautiful, even though it rained most of the time we were there.  Small towns like that are my favorite part of Latin America.  Even though there's a lot of tourism, there's still a wonderful sense of authenticity.  There's always something interesting to see and do, but there's still a small town sense of safety, and its super easy to get around. I love big cities too, but since we're not living in Quito proper but the suburbs, its not quite the same.  Cumbaya isn't very easy to negotiate unless you have a car, which most people do because they drive to Quito to work. But not many places are accessible on foot. I really enjoyed living in the center of La Paz where everything we needed was right in our neighborhood.  Also, I want to learn the bus system here. I have no need to take the bus, because I can walk to the university in ten minutes, but I feel like its something I should learn how to do.  I think my favorite part of the weekend was just getting to hang out with everyone and get to know people better.  There are so many people on this trip I don't know, and we haven't gotten an opportunity to get to know each other, because we're always in class. And then our class has four or five hours of homework every night. The segregation is getting to me. I love my friends in my Spanish class, but I feel like I could be in class in Oxford and be having almost the same experience.  We're hoping that these next few weeks will lighten up a little, because we're going to be doing some traveling during the week.  We will see.  I am learning a lot in class, I'm just itching to utilize it in real life. I'm trying really hard to do so whenever I have the slightest chance. I might start being obnoxious and refusing to speak to my friends in English. We started out speaking to each other in Spanish, but that fell apart quickly, as you can imagine ha.  This is my current favorite song: Danza Kuduro. It is literally everywhere in South America, I heard it in Bolivia, Peru, and now here. I can't get it out of my head haha. I'm trying to figure out the words without looking them up.  

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend. I was in awe during the waterfall tour thinking about how impressive the nature was, and how what we were seeing was only a tiny part of a tiny town in what is a relatively tiny country. There's so much of the world out there, and I'm luckier than most people in what I've had a chance to see, but there's still so much to take in.  Its moments like those that make me resent sitting in a classroom for five hours a day, no matter how beneficial it may be to my language skills.  Sometimes you just need to breathe the air, smell the smells, talk to the people, and kind of find you own way. 

Friday, we leave for Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Amazon. I'll update after with tons of cool animal pictures, hopefully.

Luck.

Goodness. So much has happened since I last posted. This is gonna be a long one.

Well, we left Cuzco, Peru at 6 PM on Wednesday. We were told that we would be in Lima at 2 PM the next day.  However, we did not arrive until  about 5 or 5 30. We were also not on and Ormeno bus, which is the company we bought our tickets from. It was so weird, because we were led to the bus by and Ormeno representative. Oh well, it still got us to Lima. The trip was not super comfortable though, because we had to go through mountains. The bus from Lima to Quito was actually an Ormeno bus, and it was a little better. The trip was longer, about a day and 14 hours.  We had a little delay in northern Peru. There was a protest blocking traffic in the middle of the road. We sat for about an hour until the police came and tear gased the protestors. We had the windows of the bus open, and just a tiny bit of tear gas got in, but it still hurt!  We got here Saturday around ten.  However, we were dropped off at the Ormeno office in the middle of the street, not at a bus station. We called the emergency contact at the university, and she told us that our city tour was starting in half an hour and we had to take taxis to Cumbaya, a suburb of the city where the university is located. At this point, we had not showered since Tuesday night, had not eaten or slept very well, and we had all of our luggage. So we pile into taxis, and go to the university, but no one was there, because the tour was today.  So we wait for about half an hour, stranded orphans on the steps of the university, and then our host families start arriving. Turns out my host familly lives about two blocks away, so I can walk to school! My host family is wonderful. I got so so lucky. Its just me living here. Some of the other students had to double up. That means I get lots of good Spanish practice! In the house its just me, my host Mom, Martha, and her youngest daughter, Monica who is 21. There are two other daughters, but they are married. I met one of them yesterday when we went to Cayambe, where their family has a rose plantation. Roses are the fourth most important export in Ecuador. They also have horses and other farm animals.  Thats where the dad, Felipe, lives. After exploring the plantation, we went to a bull fight haha. Its a part of the holiday that is going on right now, the Festival de San Pedro.

Today, we went on the tour around the city. We started with the equator, which was pretty cool. We saw water spin different ways on different sides of the line and an egg balancing on a nail.  After that, we toured around Quito itself. I wish we were living in the city, but Cumbaya is very nice as well. We had a tour of it today, and there are a lot of cool places to go and eat and eat and hang out. A bunch of us are going out tonight to celebrate the Fourth of July hahaha.

I like it here a lot, but I feel a bit stifled by the program. Not by my host family, they are cool with me coming and going as I please. But our orientation session today was very long and full of them telling us not to do a lot of things. All of it was good advice, but after living in our own house in La Paz and having our own agency and freedom, this is a little strange. I think it will relax a bit after we all get settled in though. We start class tomorrow. There are four classes, a beginner, and intermediate, and two classes of advanced. Thankfully, the placement test that I bombed when my Bolivian internet quit on me was not counted, so I will be continuing at the correct level.

This weekend is our only free weekend. My host family was very excited about taking me somewhere, so they are planning a trip to somewhere where we can see lots of hummingbirds and other animals and zip line in the forest. I think some of my friends are thinking about going as well. The next weekend we will be in the middle of the Amazon at Tiputini Biodiversity Station. The third weekend is in Riobamba, a small mountain town, and then we leave the last weekend. I have a feeling this trip will fly by.

I am going to wrap this up, because I still have some things to do before we go out tonight. I also feel weird taking over my host familys computer for extended periods of time. Sorry for the weird punctuation of this post, the keyboard is in Spanish, and I cant find some of the characters haha.

Tourist.

We have been so busy being as touristy as possible in Peru. Actually, the majority of our first day was spent catching up on sleep and then eating a really big dinner in Cusco's Plaza de Armas, which is enormous and beautiful. Yesterday, we got ourselves up and sorted out our transportation to Quito, which made us all feel a million times better. It'll take about two and a half days on bus, but we're game haha. The seats are called semi-camas, which means half beds. They don't recline all the way, but from the picture they look nice and comfy. Our bus from Cusco to Lima and our bus from Lima to Quito both leave at 6 pm, so maybe we'll sleep for the majority of the time. Hopefully. After we got that all straightened out, we took a mini-tour of Cusco. Our bus took us to six major sites in the city.  All of them were sites of old Inca ruins. I'm always a little unsure how to feel around ruins.  Sometimes its just so hard to imagine what it used to look like, especially at the sites we saw yesterday. They had been dismantled by the Spaniards during the Conquest for materials to build Catholic churches. The only parts remaining were the huge boulders the Spaniards couldn't transport.  After the tour, we did a little more city exploring on our own and ate yet another big dinner haha.

This morning we got up super early, checked our luggage into storage at the hostel in Cusco, and headed to the train station to catch our train to Machu Picchu! Of course, we read our tickets wrong, so we got to the station about an hour early haha. The train ride was quite comfortable, and the weather got really warm as we got closer, so I just napped in the sunlight. Like a cat haha. Our hostel is literally a five minute walk from the train station. And right in the center of town. It worked out really well. The only downside is that the internet signal doesn't reach to our room. I'm sitting on the stairs talking to my parents and uploading pictures haha. We took the bus ride up to the top of Machu Picchu. I can't even put into words how incredible it was, so I'm just going to direct everyone to my Facebook album ha. I feel very privileged to have gotten the opportunity to go. It was always something I dreamed about and said I was going to do one day. I can't believe it actually happened! Definitely one of the major highlights of the trip so far.

We're headed back to Cusco tomorrow morning on the train. We have a little time, because our bus to Lima doesn't leave until 6 pm. We'll arrive in Lima at 2 pm the next day, and then get on another bus to Quito at 6 pm again. We'll finally get to Quito at 8 am on Saturday, supposedly.

I think the people in the room I'm sitting outside of are getting down to bed, so I'll cut this short. My next post will be from Ecuador!!!

Adios.

Today is my last day in Bolivia. Its very strange to see that in print. I can't say that its flown by, but it definitely does not feel like its time to leave. I emailed my professors my final paper about twenty minutes ago. All 22 pages of it. I feel like not doing my thesis on this topic would be a significant waste of time after all this work haha. We'll see though.

I had to go to the doctor yesterday :/. I've had a sinus infection for awhile, and it seemed to be getting worse not better, so we all thought it would smart for me to get some meds and knock it out so it doesn't turn into something nasty in Peru.  The doctor was very nice, and he went to medical school at Emory, so communicating my symptoms to him was not a problem. I got some nice antibiotics to knock whatever it is out of my system.  Yesterday, I packed up some of the clothes I won't wear in Ecuador and sent them home. I definitely overpacked. I didn't think I had though, and I didn't realize it until I got here. I guess I was just really really really thorough about being prepared for any situation haha. Oh well. At least I know better now for my semester abroad.  I'm pretty much all packed for my flight to Cusco tomorrow. We're leaving the house bright and early at 6 am. Tonight, we have plans to have one last dinner with our Bolivian friends. I'm really going to miss them! Sarah and I made a pact that we're going to come back here and visit during our semester abroad, so hopefully this isn't the last of my Bolivian experience. If it is, I guess I'm okay with that. I've have a wonderful time here, and learned so much, in and out of the classroom.

Tarde.

I've gotten so behind in my blogging. We've been so busy!  Last week was the last week of class, and we learned how to do quantitative analysis, basically different ways to manipulate data.  I enjoyed making connections in an organized way, although a lot of the reasoning behind the methods was over my head haha. But that kept us really busy.  And then last weekend was Gran Poder, this huge festival kinda like Mardi Gras, except no floats.  Its a celebration of a saint that is highly venerated in El Alto.  There were 40,000 dancers this year.  They're all organized by syndicates, and they all have specific symbols and costumes that somehow represent their group.  Very much a manifestation of the collective sentiment that exists here. They start all the way up the mountain and dance all the way down for miles and miles, from 7 am until 2 am the next day, wearing heavy costumes and high heels and drinking lots and lots of alcohol.  Some people say they go into a trancelike state while dancing, probably due to a combination of the alcohol, exhaustion, and altitude.  Those can do funny things to your brain.  Anyway, we went down to the Prado and watched the dancing for awhile on Saturday.  We were sitting in the front row, so we got interviewed by news stations a couple times haha.  One of the dancers pulled Anastasia up and got her to dance with him haha. It was lots of fun.


Yesterday morning, we got up at 3:00 am and took a van to Tiwanaku, a town that is the site of pre-Inca ruins.  Yesterday was the celebration of Aymara New Year. It occurs on the solstice, because that is the only day of the year on which the sun will rise and hit La Puerta del Sol.  We greeted the sun as it rose up over the mountain, and saw Evo and company fly off in his private helicopter. Tiwanaku itself is beautiful, wide open but surrounded by mountains in the distance.  A large percentage of the ruins is still un-excavated. Who knows what's underneath the centuries of vegetation that has grown over the stone?  Even though we were there for a giant party, the town still gave off a sense of antiquity and cultural importance.  I guess thousands of people gathering in Times Square to watch the ball drop is along the same lines, but somehow it seemed different.  Maybe because the ceremony they were performing is centuries of years old.  Also, although everyone in attendance had been drinking for hours, everyone quieted as the sun began to rise over the mountains and held up their hands, palms facing the sun to welcome it.  The solstice celebration is not just a party, its an expression of an ancient culture whose practices are still significant today.

On Sunday, Emily, Anastasia and I fly to Cusco, Peru. We'll spend two days there, then take a train to Machu Picchu.  After a night there, we're going to return to Cusco, and then begin our travels to Quito, Ecuador.  That involves taking a bus from Cusco to Lima, because the only direct bus from Peru to Quito leaves from Lima.  However, we don't know if that bus runs every day. If not, we're going to have to take a bus to the border, and then transfer buses to get to Quito.  Either way, we'll be busing for about two and a half days total. Gonna be an experience!

Troubles.

This week has not been the easiest.  Firstly, I managed to lose my debit card. Like a dummy. I really can't figure out how it happened. I had it in my coin purse, because I needed to go get money out of an ATM in dollars to pay the travel agency for my flight to Cuzco. I used the ATM in the post office while I was mailing postcards, and that's the last time I saw it.  My best guess is that it fell out on a minibus while I was rooting around for change to pay the fare.  It's not a huge deal, my parents cancelled it almost immediately, its just inconvenient to not have any way to access money.  My new one is already in the mail.  I just hope it gets here before I leave for Peru next Sunday!

The other frustrating aspect of this week has been my research.  I finally got an interview scheduled with this woman I've been trying to track down since the second week...and she didn't show up! She did email me the day after to reschedule. It was supposed to be this morning, but she didn't get back to me with what time to come before I left for class, so I'm going to her office in a couple hours.  Its been so difficult to arrange, because even though I have her phone number, I'm out of minutes on my phone and don't have money to buy anymore haha. So we've had to do it over email. Fingers crossed it works out this time! It seems like everyone is having the same sort of issues with being stood up and gaining access.  We're all piecing information together bit by bit, though.  Everyone's projects will come together, I'm sure.  Its just all very stressful.  

Tomorrow is our last day of class.  Unbelievable. I have a little over a week left in Bolivia! I'm going to miss it here. This project has been very difficult, and I'll be glad to be done with it, but I really really like it here. I hope I can make it back someday without something like this paper hanging over my head haha.  I'm very excited for our trip through Peru and up to Ecuador.  My only worry is getting my new debit card in enough time to square some things away before I leave Bolivia.  I'm planning on shipping some of my really heavy and dressy clothes and some books back home, because I won't need them in Ecuador, and that will lighten my load considerably. If anyone know where I can procure a giant cardboard box in Bolivia, let me know.  

Another downside to this week has been the hot water, or the lack thereof.  When we got home from Coroico on Sunday, the living room carpet was soaked, because the hot water heater had exploded.  The owner of the house called someone right away, and they came the next day to rip the carpet up and put in a replacement water heater.  However, the immediate replacement is old and small, since it had to be delivered so quickly.  We get about 3-5 minutes of hot water every few hours haha.  Showers have been very interesting.  They're installing the new one right now though, so I think we're all going to race for the shower as soon as they get done. Hopefully I can get one before I go do this interview.

Tonight, the Bolivian students are taking us to this Tex-Mex restaurant called Highlanders that is supposed to be really good. I'm excited! Most of our "fun" excursions have been in other cities, because when we're in La Paz we're so busy with class and our projects.  Maybe we'll get a little better taste of the La Paz college scene tonight. I'm going to try to get a little bit more work done before I head out.  Gran Poder is this weekend, so I want to get a lot of work done before Saturday so I can enjoy it.  Gran Poder is one of the largest cultural festivals in La Paz.  People have been practicing for it for months.  We've been told that this weekend the city will basically shut down and everyone will gather outside on the main avenues and watch and different groups dance down the mountain from El Alto.  This will go on for basically 48 straight hours.  Gonna be crazy!  I'll post again after I experience it.

Coroico.

We took another trip this past weekend!  This one was a lot more relaxing and vacation-y than our first trip. Friday afternoon, we went and hired a minibus to take us to Coroico, a small town in the Yungas.  The trip was about three hours, but there was incredible scenery the entire way.  To get there, we had to first go up really high to about fourteen thousand feet above sea level and then drive straight down. I think Coroico is only at about five thousand feet.  We drove through the cloud forest, so we were literally driving through the mountains surrounded by clouds.  I took so many pictures, but they don't really look like much haha.  The mountain scenery was beautiful, though.  Our hotel was on the outskirts of town up on a hill, so we had an incredible view.

It was kind of chilly our first night there.  We met up with our friend Alvaro who is in our class.  He's familiar with Coroico, so he took us to places to get dinner and dessert.  Then we went to this really cool place called Carla's Garden Pub, which is exactly what it sounds like haha a bar out in a garden.  And then we went dancing.  The next morning, we got up earlyish, ate breakfast, and went to find instructions on how to walk down to the river at the bottom of the mountain.  The man working in the tourism office helped us arrange a taxi to pick us up at the bottom so we wouldn't have to walk the three hours back up the mountain. So we set off with a bag full of pringles, ritz crackers, and water haha.  It really did take about three hours to get down.  At first, we were walking on the main road, and it was easy enough.  Then we had to get on this tiny, narrow trail that was angled practically straight down.  That was not as easy. But we made it!  We spent a few hours cooling off in the very cold water and lounging around in the sun.  Our taxi driver got there around 4:30, but Alvaro and Anastasia decided to walk back up the mountain! Crazies. Emily, Sarah, and I took the taxi haha. We had already paid for it anyway.  And the taxi driver turned out to be awesome.  We ran upon a herd of sheep at one point, and he got out and chased down this baby lamb so Sarah could hold it!

After dinner that night we all just walked around a little bit and then hit the bed. We were super tired from walking.  When we got back to La Paz, we found out that our hot water heater had burst and flooded our living room! The workers came today and ripped up the carpet and replaced the hot water heater, but we're still waiting for it to heat up enough water for us to shower. Also, there was a transportation strike today. Kinda. No one really followed through with it haha there were taxis and minibuses on the roads this afternoon. We did have to have our morning class at the house though, because we couldn't get down to the university.

I think that's about all for now...I'm meeting with my embassy contact tomorrow afternoon.  Hopefully I'll get some good info, and I'll be able to knock out this project pretty soon!

Update.

I'm still in class all anxious for this afternoon, because we're taking another trip!  We're going to a small town called Coroico.  Its close the to Yungas, so it will be much much warmer.  And I've heard tell of waterfalls. And monkeys!  I can't wait for a little downtime.  All my friends are going on beach vacations, and I've been a little jealous haha.  We were going to Lake Titicaca, but the blockade is back on at the Peruvian border, so that's just too risky.

We haven't had typical class the past two mornings.  Our afternoon field trips got moved to the mornings to accommodate the schedules of the locations, both of which were in El Alto.  On Wednesday, we went to Lafar pharmaceutical company and toured the entire production plant.  They produce both traditional and Western forms of medicine.  We had to dress in full space suit gear haha, body suit, hair net, shoe covers, face mask, the works.  I thought it was kinda hysterical.  We couldn't take pictures, but our tour guide took pictures of us on his cell phone and is going to email them to us.  I'll be sure to share them haha.  Yesterday, we went back up to El Alto and visited Radio Pachamama, a Bolivian radio station that broadcasts in Aymara in addition to Spanish.  When we got there, an Aymara broadcast was finishing up. I couldn't understand a word of it, but it was still very interesting.  We learned how to say, "How are you?" and "I'm good" in Aymara. I'm not going to attempt to spell it out on here haha I know I'll murder it.  For the first hour or so, we just had a discussion (off the air) with three Bolivians who blog in Aymara.  They are associated with the Global Voices program, which is an initiative to unite bloggers from all over the world who blog in their native tongue.  They told us about their experiences and their current projects that are geared towards providing more Aymara content on the internet.

Other updates: We found an Arabic restaurant yesterday!!! I was ecstatic. I gorged myself on hummus and fried kibbee.  I got an informal interview at the Ministry of Justice on Thursday.  I talked to the coordinator of the human trafficking office.  He recommended other people for me to talk to, so I'm going to an organization called Para Los Niños (For the Children) on Monday.  They provide safe houses throughout La Paz for abandoned children.  Their website calls for volunteers, so I'm going to ask if I can help out for my last couple weeks here.  Also, I got an email back this morning from my contact at the US Embassy.  I'm going to meet with her Tuesday morning for an interview and then she might take me to one of the NGOs that works with human trafficking victims in La Paz. Maybe I'll get this project done after all.  We're getting our trip to Ecuador all straightened out.  The plan right now is to fly from La Paz to Cuzco, Peru on Sunday the 26th.  We're going to stay in Cuzco Sunday and Monday nights then take the train to Maccu Picchu, bus up to the top of the ruins and stay a night in a hostel or hotel up there.  Then we're coming back to Cuzco and taking a bus to Lima where we can catch a straight trip to Quito, Ecuador.  From Cuzco to Quito, it'll take two and a half days total. Gonna be a long week haha but really fun!

I'll post again after this weekend!

Outings.

Its been a bit since I've posted, but I just didn't have anything interesting to report.  We started diving into our research projects last week, so I've been consumed with trying to organize myself for that.  Also, two of the girls have been sick, so we've all just been kind of hanging around the house.  However, they both got antibiotics and are already feeling much better, so we've ventured out the past couple days.  

Last night, one of our Bolivian friends from class, Nicole, invited us to go to a concert with her.  It was a really famous (and really talented) Bolivian classical guitarist named Pirai Vaca.  One of the classes at Governor's School is a classical guitar class, and the man who teaches it, John DiChiaro (spelling?) is amazingly talented.  I've seen him play several times.  But this guy....I've never seen anyone play any instrument with that kind of passion before.  The passion of the music really showed on his face.  It was moving.  Passion is something I've picked up on a lot during my time here.  There are certain things people are very passionate about, and Bolivian pride is definitely high on the list.  This guy seemed to cater to wealthier classes, but I was once again struck my the sense of unity in the building, just like at the museum when everyone in the crowd was dancing and singing together. No one danced or sang last night, but they all knew his music and called for the same songs during his two encores.  I'm writing about community in my research project, so its something I've been searching out the past few days.  Honestly, its not all that hard to find.  Things are very community-based here, and people can usually claim membership or citizenship in several different groups.  For example, every profession has a union or sindicato, even the illegitimate ones.  Indigenous people commonly claim membership in their ayllu, or kinship network, which is broader than just blood family.  Students have membership in their specific carrera in their university, which is like majors in the States, except Bolivian students have to declare what they want to study before they enter and then take only classes related to that subject.  But those relationships go way beyond school or work and carry with them a sense of responsibility and reciprocity.  Its very interesting.  We went to the cemetery today to do participant observation, and I observed a sense of community there.  Bolivians as a whole care for their deceased very well.  One's membership in a family or group doesn't end with death.  People here believe very strongly in the presence of spirits and ancestors after death.  Once you have a place in a community, its hard to lose your "membership" and all the benefits that come with that.  Consequently, if you aren't a member of any community, its very hard to have any agency in Bolivian society, on any level.  I'm working on describing this phenomenon for young women who are victims of human trafficking and who don't have a home to return to once they're rescued.

See, people are even buried in their worker groups.

I got some souvenirs today! I got some awesome pants that I've been wanting since I got here, and then I found presents for my dad, my brother, and Adam.  After the shopping, Sarah and I went back down to UNICEF to get some more information for our projects.  The lady who works in their library is really nice and helpful.  Now we're just back at the house after dinner and some grocery/movie shopping.  Sarah and I are watching Criminal Minds in bed haha. We love it.

Downtime.

After two weeks in Bolivia, the roommate and I have decided on a few things Bolivia could use:

1. vending machines (but only if we can use our flex dollars)
2. turkey-apparently they don't thrive in the altiplano?
3. more crosswalks, or more people dressed like zebras to help people get across the street (this is not a joke)
4. golf carts-to help us get up the hill (aka MOUNTAIN) to the university every morning
5. warning signs over the gaping holes in the sidewalks
6. Dr. Pepper (really thats just cause I'm an addict, and I actually saw some in the markets in El Zono Sur)
7. better. internet.

Some things that Bolivia has that the US could use:
1. 75 cent bootleg DVDs
2. amazing beds (the beds in Sucre were especially lovely)
3. a gray market (we got our cell phones there)
4. super fresh fruit (nom nom nom)
5. saya
6. awesome weather
7. graffiti (not really, but its cool to look at)

pics.

                                just stopped traffic for two hours no big deal haha

                                                      view of Sucre

                                           mountains from the plane

Adventures.

This weekend was our first road trip.  We flew out of La Paz Friday morning on a short flight to Sucre, the other capital of Bolivia.  We only stayed in Sucre for about an hour, had a short lunch and then took two taxis up the windy mountain road to Potosí.  We stayed in Potosí for about a day.  The town has a ton of interesting history, being that it was once the richest city in the world and the center of the Spanish empire, due to the giant mountain full of silver.  We went to a couple of museums and churches that were all very impressive.  However, I was bothered the whole time we were there, especially when we took a trip up to the miners market.  Men and young boys, some as young as ten, work in exceedingly dangerous conditions in the mines every day for 12 to 24 hour shifts.  There is no communication or organization between the mining cooperatives, so at any time two groups of miners could be tunneling towards the same point, blowing up dynamite without the other group's knowledge.  Besides the incredible danger, the miners can almost certainly count on early death from Black Lung.  The horrible thing is that this is the only way these people can make even enough money to barely survive.  They don't have a choice.  We decided not to do a mine tour, not just because of the danger, but because it seemed to all of us very intrusive to these people who are just trying to make a living.  I felt that way even walking through the miners market.  For anyone who is interested, there's a very good documentary on the mines in Potosí called The Devil's Miner.  It follows two young boys and their lives as miners.  Although there's a lot of tourism, its just so jarring to see the tremendous poverty of the city and realize how much has been taken from it and its citizens.  One of the places we toured was one of the oldest convents in Latin America.  Spanish elites used to send their daughters their with enormous dowries to be cloistered for the rest of their lives.  It was a way of establishing ties between the New World and the Old World.  Also very sad, but the convent itself is beautiful.  The church has an enormous altar made of gold, or at least gold leaf.  We could've spent all day in there; it was huge and there were so many things to look at.  We all agreed that Potosí was definitely haunted though.  Especially the old mint that we toured.  It was also enormous, but so many people were forced into working there too.  At one place, you can see footprints of people who were chained to a column for so long that their feet rubbed imprints into the wood.  Totally some bad spirits.

We had an adventure on the way back from Potosí. About 20 kilometers from Sucre, we ran into a roadblock.  The highway had been blocked off due to a road race haha. So everyone who was traveling on either side just had to park their cars and wait until it was over.  There wasn't any notice or anything.  Just some racers who dragged a limb and some rocks onto the highway and stopped traffic for awhile.  There's another huge race today in Sucre, so the entire town has been gathered around the plaza.  Most places are closed, and lots of the roads are blocked off here too.  We were literally standing on the side walk with race cars speeding past right in front of us. Ridiculous.  We went up to a church at the top of the town today.  You could see the entire city from there.  It was beautiful.  They also had a nice little cafe where you could sit and have lunch and look over the city.

We headed back to La Paz this morning and all frantically tried to finish up our research designs that were due at six tonight.  I think we're all really nervous about this project.  We're getting ready to start on another busy week of class!

PS: I really wanted to add pictures to this post, because I took a lot, but the internet is being super slow, so I'll just have to try again tomorrow

Coincidence.

So, here I am, just trying to do my homework like a good little student.  However, I was just assaulted by a massive coincidence while reading one of our chapters for tomorrow, so I think that's sign that I should write this post.

If you've been following my blog since the beginning, you know the origins of my title, "Initial Impressions." For those of you who haven't been and are too lazy to scroll down, I'll give a little recap.  There's a quote from this novel called The Locket that has always stuck with me: "...the initial impressions we accept of others are usually as flawed as the one we seek to project."

Well, this week we're learning about the basics of researching and actually putting ourselves into the field to study and start developing researching questions based on our observations.  We've all started field notebooks.  This article I'm reading now gives very detailed instruction on how to take notes and what your notes should reflect and right there on page 26 it says, "First, ethonographers should take note of their initial impressions." I didn't add the italics.  Kinda blew my mind for a minute.  I'm really overwhelmed with the prospect of this project. I have a ton of ideas, but I'm not sure if any of them are good and doable or logical even.  But it makes me feel a little better that I'm at least doing the first step haha.

We had our first day of class today! It went really well.  Total, it was somewhere between five to six hours.  We go to the university for three hours in the morning, and have class with the Bolivian students, who were all incredibly nice. They all speak English really well, but they're really willing to speak Spanish with us all the time and help us out. I noticed today that my thoughts are coming out a lot easier. We just spoke with our housekeeper, Fortunada, for about ten minutes.  She brought in an adorable dog and we played with him for awhile.  She's great to talk to, really interesting, very amicable, and relatively easy to understand. Even if I don't get every word, I can always get the gist of what she's saying.  During the break in the morning, we all had our first taste of salteñas.  They are very tasty but very difficult to eat haha. They're crimped like empanadas, but on the top instead of the side. And they have a lot of juice, so you have to bite the top off and then attempt to suck out all the juice without it dripping all over you.  Needless to say, I was unsuccessful at this task haha.

We ate at this pizza place for lunch.  That's one thing I've noticed that I don't understand. There are several Italian food places, well pizza and pasta places, but there aren't any Italians. Lots of immigrants from other parts of Europe, but Bolivia has never had a history of significant immigration from Italy. So I dunno whaddupwitdat (@Colby Woods).  After the pizza, we went to this place across the street that has ice cream, because Sarita wanted some.  The girl working the counter starting telling us she was taking English classes and speaking to us in English. She said she wanted to go to America, and then she asked us what our culture was like.  Emily, Sarah, and I just kinda looked at each other.  We were stumped, and then we tried to explain that cultures differ greatly in different regions of the states.  That was quite clearly a foreign concept.  We could see that the other night at one of the museums too. There was a band playing in the courtyard.  They were a popular band, but they started by playing songs that everyone knew and everyone knew the dances to.  It was incredible to see all these people, all different ages, some in indigenous dress, some dressed modernly, all singing and dancing to the same songs.  I can't think of anything like that in America, except maybe the national anthem.  And that doesn't have a dance. That I know of.

I should probably go do my other reading now. And write in my field notebook. And my journal.  Its getting kind of difficult to separate all of my writing haha.  Also, I'm supposed to somehow link this to the group's Tumblr account, but I'm Tumblr illiterate. I spent like half an hour trying to figure it out earlier, and all I did was successfully create a individual (blank) page.  The last thing I need is another place to write my thoughts haha.

Thoughts.

So much to write...I don't know where to start ha. There are constantly so many thoughts swirling around in my head. Even more than usual. Which I guess is good, since I'm supposed to be developing a research question from things I observe.  I need to get a notebook soon. I have a couple, but they're more like journals.  I don't really want my field notes mixed in there ha.


I feel a little more acclimated after today.  We went to another neighborhood that's the touristy and bohemian area of town. We ate lunch there, then walked around the markets, and walked back to the house from there.  The walk was helpful, because I got a kind of mental map of the area. The little market was quite interesting though ha they were selling "witchcraft" stuff. such as llama fetuses and potions haha.  A few of the girls and I walked around our neighborhood after we got back and kinda saw where everything was.


I'm looking forward to starting class, because I always do better when I have a schedule and tasks, but I'm also really nervous. I've never done any researching like this before.  But the Centellai are good professors, and they've already taught us a lot just walking around with us. So I trust them. But I'm still nervous. Or maybe anxious would be a better term.  I not sure what's going to come out of this adventure. And, as I've said before, the unknown seriously stresses me out. Guess I'm gonna have to get over that.


I've already realized one thing about myself, and it has nothing to do with academics or anything really that I've been striving for my entire life. So I'm not really sure where that puts me ha but a realization is a realization.  I guess this is something I've realized in Oxford as well, but it really hit me here.  I wrote earlier about how I was scared about being lonely.  Well, its not really loneliness as much as feeling lost, because I don't have people immediately around me to love. I'm a lover. Haha that sounds weird but its true! At home, even though the people I'm closest to are in different places, its fairly easy to reach them whenever I want.  Here its not quite so easy, and that makes me feel lost. I guess its kind of like a reciprocal support system? wow, that seems really obvious now that I've written it out haha.


Anyway, tomorrow we're going to see the university in the morning.  Then tomorrow night there's a free cultural festival. Several museums are going to be open and there will be traditional music. Should be really interesting. More to come!

Altitude.

Thankfully, I haven't had much trouble with altitude sickness.  The only problem I've had is a headache, and, come on, that's nothing new.  One of the girls with me is having a lot of trouble though.  We're hoping she gets better tomorrow.  We all slept a ridiculous amount today.  I slept almost the entire plane ride. Then I slept for a good five hours when we got to the house. After that, we all went out for a little tour of the neighborhood and some lunch. Came back, slept another five hours. Haha and I think I'm going to go right back to sleep tonight! 


I guess I'm getting ahead of myself.  I should probably explain a little bit about my surroundings. Well, my first thought when I walked out of the airport was that it was not nearly as cold as I thought it was going to be.  Apparently, the really frigid temperatures are in the middle of the night.  It was going on six thirty by the time we left the airport, so it was warming up some.  Its almost seven thirty at night now, and its chilly, but not freezing.  The taxi driver said it gets colder as you get into June and July, though.  I hope so, or I brought some really heavy clothes for nothing haha.  So, the airport is at the top of the mountain, so we drove down it as the sun was coming up.  I can't do the view justice, but I'll try to explain.  La Paz is situated in a canyon, and the town stretches up the sides of the mountains.  People's homes are literally cut into the side of a mountain.  As we got further down, you could really see the mixture of old and new.  Our house is fairly close to the only flat part in town.  We can walk down a few blocks and get to the plaza.  Behind it is an archway that leads to a different neighborhood on the other side of the canyon.  We walked up the hill today to get lunch.  There's several small cafes and bakeries that have wifi and yummy food.  One place I want to explore further is this giant park.  It looks like a good place to go read or something in the day, and I think it attracts a lot of students.  On that note, there will be six Bolivian students in our class!  Yay! New friends.


I feel really safe so far.  I'm itching to go explore the neighborhood some more, but I really have no clue where I am.  And I also have no bolivianos or a cell phone at the moment.  Those are our tasks for tomorrow, along with a little grocery shopping.  Also, I've been known to accredit more safety than is due at sometimes haha.  I think Emily wants to explore too, though, so maybe we'll go tomorrow afternoon. The house is very quaint.  We have three rooms, two are in the main area with the kitchen and the little sitting room and the other has its own entrance.  My room has a connected bathroom, but it doesn't have a closet.  They told us we could ask for another set of drawers though.  I just don't know where to put my shoes. The only other weird thing is that all the water faucets are backwards.  Hot is cold and cold is hot. Its been very comfortable so far.  We have a maid.  She comes in and brings us food every morning.  Apparently we can even make requests.  She also does dishes and laundry. Pretty sweet.  The Centellases, or as I like to call them, the Centellai, told us today that they already purchased our plane tickets for Sucre! We're going to leave on a Friday and come back the next Monday.  Its a forty minute flight (can't wait to see that plane) and then from Sucre its about a two and a half hour bus ride to Lake Titicaca. 


Oh funny story.  Universal adapters suck. Anastasia and I both brought one with us, and they are easy enough to change to fit the plugs here, but impossible to plug anything into.  And the directions give no instruction on how to do this.  So on the way to lunch today, Dr. Mr. Centellas bought three adapters from a little kiosk on the street for like five bolivianos apiece. That's less than a dollar. FAIL. Also, my alarm clock broke in transit. I was trying to be all prepared...oh well. There will be an alarm on my phone when I get one.  


Everything is set so far.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get some touristy pictures I can share.  I think I'm about to go drink another cup of coca tea. Talk to you all soon.

Countdown.

My journey begins at 12:35 tomorrow.  I fly from Jackson, MS to Dallas, TX to Miami, FL and finally to La Paz, Bolivia.  My plane arrives in La Paz at 5:10 on Wednesday morning. yay.........

Haha but seriously, I am very excited.  Its an odd sensation; I think my mind is refusing to accept that this is reality until it is forced to.  I've been talking about this trip and explaining what I'll be doing to people for the past three days straight, but its like I'm not really talking about myself.  I don't think it will really hit me until I walk out of the airport in La Paz and realize where I am.  I'm not nervous right now, but I do have some fears.  I feel like this trip is coming at an appropriate time in my life.  A lot of things seem to be changing in my life right now, and I'm not sure exactly what to expect.  Its like the typical college freshman sentiment, just two years late.  I'm excited about it though.  I've been wanting a challenge to be put in front of me for a long time.  The concept of putting myself in a completely unknown situation and seeing what happens is both terrifying and exciting.  I'm interested to see who I am at the end of this trip.  Mostly I'm scared of being lonely.  I know three other girls on the trip pretty well, we've been in class together since the first semester of college.  Still, most of my closest friends have always been in different places.  Its always been easy to contact them whenever I wanted or needed to, I'd just pick up the phone and send a text or make a call.  It won't be quite so easy this summer.  Bolivia scares me more than Ecuador, because such a limited number of us are going.  And its all girls.  I've always been so much better at being friends with guys.  Also, I don't think any Bolivians will be in class with us, so I'm worried about not meeting any new people.  I'm not sure how we'll get an opportunity to do that if we're always with each other.  It'll definitely be a challenge!  I'll keep y'all posted on how that plays out.  

Being at home, I'm focusing on the things I'm going to be missing this summer: my family, friends, working at the gym and at MGS.  Its disappointing to be missing out on so much, but I'm trying to remember I have a lot of exciting, new things ahead of me.  I have to WORST sensation that I'm forgetting something haha. I really hope I'm not.  I'm about to rearrange one of my suitcases a little bit and try to fit in a few more comfy clothes.  I don't dress myself.  I'm having a really hard time leaving all my t-shirts and sweatpants behind.  Its stressing me out. I NEED THEM. hahaha I'm such a bad grown up. Oh, by the way, just got my grades for the semester: all As!!! whoop! totally shocked me.


Alright, I'm going to go obsess over my lists and suitcases some more. I think I'm going to post again from one of the airports tomorrow. Night!

Anxiety.

Today was incredibly busy.  I had my initial information sessions for both the Bolivia and Ecuador trips.  It wasn't really very much new information, but being bombarded with it all at once was fairly overwhelming.  I think I'm really going to be put out of my comfort zone, especially in Bolivia.  Our research projects involved conducting interviews. With native speakers. That means I have to ask a native Spanish speaker questions about a specific topic AND understand their answers well enough to continue the interview. Terrifying. The trip sounds amazing though. Every morning, we travel down the mountain to the university and have class for three hours.  Then we have a three hour break for lunch, a nap, studying, etc.  Then an excursion somewhere in the city, like the National Archives.  There are also some really cool weekends trips planned.  The first weekend we're going to Potosí.  It isn't quite as impressive these days, but in colonial times it was (briefly) the biggest city in the world.  Its basically just a mountain of silver, so when the Spanish came over, they started using indigenous and slave labor to mine as much of it as possible.  That developed into a booming economy, but it was extremely dangerous and still is.  We just watched a movie in my INST 314 class called The Devil's Miner about a 13 year old boy who works in the mines to provide for his family.  We're also going to Lake Titicaca, which is SO COOL.  You should check out the link to the Wikipedia page if you don't know about it already.  Also, there's La Fiesta de Gran Poder, the most important festival of Bolivian culture and the Aymara New Year celebration.  After four weeks of class, we get about two weeks to work individually on our research projects.  Then its off the Ecuador!


This is the part that scares me a little, because I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get to Ecuador yet, and it looks like I won't know until I get to Bolivia.  Originally, we were told that our professors in Bolivia would escort us to Cuzco, Peru where we would meet our Spanish professor in charge of the Ecuador trip.  However, our Spanish professor is not planning on staying in South America.  He told me today that we would be making the trip ourselves.  That's okay with me, as long as the other two girls are with me.  What I'm afraid of is that they'll want to fly.  If that's the case, I'll have to go with them, because taking a bus from Bolivia to Ecuador by myself is muy estupido. But I think it would be a great adventure to take a little scenic trip through Peru up to Ecuador, as planned.  And cheaper.  (Parents, sorry if you read about this before I get a chance to talk to you about it. Don't freak out.)

The real reason I wanted to post tonight was to attach this video.  My sorority is having one of our annual philanthropy events this week.  Usually its called Anchor Splash and it involves a swim competition between fraternities.  We had scheduling conflicts this year, so its Anchor Games instead.  One of the competitions is a dance.  I'm a coach for Delta Psi, and we held dance practice tonight.  Their theme is "Princesses," hence the costumes you are about to see.  These guys are wonderful, they have been such good sports and had us rolling in laughter all night.  And they're actually pretty good! The one on the far right is my best friend, Colby.  Watch him. Pure talent. I have to wait to put in on Facebook, because the competition isn't until tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to share it in some way.  It is too funny.
Enjoy!
PS: this is where I'm staying in Bolivia Casa Hermanos Manchego

Wit.

I cannot be witty  on command.  When I decided I wanted to start a blog, I was determined that it would have a clever name and that every post would be dripping with witty anecdotes.  Not so much.  When it came down to it, I spent about a minute and a half staring at the computer screen before I caved and went with an old standby.  I read a novel called The Locket when I was about 13.  I don't even remember the plot very well, but a line from the book has always stuck with me.  It goes"...the initial impression we accept of others is usually as flawed as the one we seek to project."  To me, its a very profound and true statement.  I used it as my senior quote haha.  So that's what this blog is about, my initial impressions of everything I witness and experience during my summer in South America. 

At the moment, I'm working on finalizing my flights and figuring out what to pack for ten weeks in two separate countries.  Hopefully I'll get a little better idea for Bolivia during the information session next week.  Dr. Centellas did tell us in class yesterday that the most important fiesta of Bolivian culture will occur while we are there.  Excitttiiinnnggg.  In the meantime, I'm stalking as many travel blogs as I can find and making sticky notes on my computer whenever I find something important.  Right now, my La Paz sticky note reads: 
diamox (alitude sickness!!!)
warm clothes
sun. screen. 
Maybe I should try a different brand of sunscreen, seeing as my SPF 50 totally failed this past weekend and left me branded with a Sigma Chi on my left arm.  Sigma Chi til I die, yawl.  


I think that's about all for now. Adiossss.