I´ve decided to wait to do the 6 month recap till the end of the month. Then I will have been here for 6 months. So here is just a little update for the beginning of month 6.
I´ve been a little behind on weekly blog postings simply because there is not that much that happens outside of ¨big¨ events (like Tunari). I´ve decided that my life just seems more intresting because I´m living it in Latin America. And so it makes my daily activities sound really exciting compared to those of you at home. Really truely, my everyday life is pretty typical!
I said goodbye to a good Bolivian friend this weekend. And that was hard for me, much harder then I thought it would be. I never expected to have to say goodbye to another friend so soon. But he is now off to go to seminary in Gautamaula (sp?). But coninciding with his leaving, it seems I have passed some kind of test in my youth group. Its like the group is finally realizing that I´m here and I´m not leaving. I dug my heels in, made friends, joined ministry, and found out that I am really really happy. I run into my friends on the streets all the time and thats a good feeling, I don´t know, I guess... just being known. And accepted. There are a few foriegners in the group, most have been here for years and speak nearly perfect spanish. Me, I still bumble through nearly everything I say, and they like me anyway! Go figure.
For all who are asking... I come home on furlough the first weekend in Oct until just after Thanksgiving. I will be in a wedding in Southern Il the second weekend of Oct. I have a lot of things to do when I get home but there will be time to see everyone. No te preocupes :) That means, don´t you worry.
More stuff coming soon... I promise.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Mt. Tunari
As the song says ¨Well, I climbed a mountian and I turned around¨ the song was remade by the Dixie Chicks, made originally by Fleetwood Mac (thanks Amy). Anyway, it was in my head as I climbed yesterday.
Yesterday I rode in a bus for 2 hours and reached Mt. Tunari with my some of my team and 18 of the 27 short terms we have with us at the moment. Mt. Tunari is the highest peak in Central Bolivia and is visible from Cochabamba. We took the bus as far as the road would let us, which was 14,500 ft above sea level. After that, those of us that wanted to, began the hike up to the summit. Keep in mind folks, at least you chicago folks. Ya´ll live at less then 1000 ft! Coch is at 8000 ft. The higher you go, the less air you have. So when we STARTED to hike from 14,500 breathing only got harder the higher we went. Here are some pictures of the bus trip up:
I was worried about the hike but wanted to give it a try anyway. My knee hasn´t been bothering me all that much lately so I said what the heck. Its now or never and up I went. This is the lake we started the hike from:
The first section wasn´t too bad, like walking sideways on the side of a mountian, not going uphill yet. The next part was the steepest incline I think I´ve ever tried to climb. Unfortunatly, I didn´t get a picture of it first. I was much to focused on breathing! Halfway up I was really struggling to breath and wondering if I´d even make it to the summit of this small hill. I did make it, thank God, but I knew I was done for this hike. By the time I got to the small platoe (sp?) I was wheezing and coughing a lot. I looked at the next incline and said ¨nope, not going to happen¨ so I parked myself on one of the many rocks and rested. We think I was probably at around 15,100 ft. This is the view from where I sat. This is the next incline I didn´t hike:
And these are the other directions:
I sat here for over an hour just being in awe of God´s creation around me. I spent a lot of time in prayer and just listening for God´s voice as I seek his direction in my life. I didn´t have any visions, or hear any voices (other then my friends when they screamed when they reached the summit), but I did enjoy the solitude and time of reflection (¨and I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills¨ another part of the aformentioned song). There wasn´t any snow but there was a good chill in the air and I was glad for my layers, hat, and scarf.
Finally I grew bored and started to hike back down the mountian by myself. Probably not the smartest thing in the world but hey, I´m super woman right? There were a few slips and slides but nothing broken or twisted and I didn´t get lost. I was happy to be back in the warmth of the bus and to talk with those who opted not to climb. Many of the short terms were struggling with severe reactions to the altitude (fevers, headaches, stomache aches, ect). I seemed to be ok, but then I´m used to the altitude of Coch.
Now for some funny stuff. This is not like a north american national park. If you had to pee, you went and found a rock and peed behind it. Now that was fun :)
To the local wildlife, it was US that didn´t belong, we were on their turf. This is the best picture of the trip for me. This is me and Al (Alpaca, like a llama but smaller and softer):
And these are the oh so famous Bolivian llamas:
Local houses, can you pick out the house from the landscape?
We finally headed for home, all 25 of us, exhausted, sore, and not feeling well. Even I had a headache. But we ran into a bit of a roadblock:
And that was my Tunari adventure. Maybe someday I´ll make it to the summit, Lord willing. For now, I am happy to have seen the beauty I have seen. And I am thankful for God´s hand of protection on me while I climbed back down that mountian.
Coming soon: my 6 month recap.
Yesterday I rode in a bus for 2 hours and reached Mt. Tunari with my some of my team and 18 of the 27 short terms we have with us at the moment. Mt. Tunari is the highest peak in Central Bolivia and is visible from Cochabamba. We took the bus as far as the road would let us, which was 14,500 ft above sea level. After that, those of us that wanted to, began the hike up to the summit. Keep in mind folks, at least you chicago folks. Ya´ll live at less then 1000 ft! Coch is at 8000 ft. The higher you go, the less air you have. So when we STARTED to hike from 14,500 breathing only got harder the higher we went. Here are some pictures of the bus trip up:
I was worried about the hike but wanted to give it a try anyway. My knee hasn´t been bothering me all that much lately so I said what the heck. Its now or never and up I went. This is the lake we started the hike from:
The first section wasn´t too bad, like walking sideways on the side of a mountian, not going uphill yet. The next part was the steepest incline I think I´ve ever tried to climb. Unfortunatly, I didn´t get a picture of it first. I was much to focused on breathing! Halfway up I was really struggling to breath and wondering if I´d even make it to the summit of this small hill. I did make it, thank God, but I knew I was done for this hike. By the time I got to the small platoe (sp?) I was wheezing and coughing a lot. I looked at the next incline and said ¨nope, not going to happen¨ so I parked myself on one of the many rocks and rested. We think I was probably at around 15,100 ft. This is the view from where I sat. This is the next incline I didn´t hike:
And these are the other directions:
I sat here for over an hour just being in awe of God´s creation around me. I spent a lot of time in prayer and just listening for God´s voice as I seek his direction in my life. I didn´t have any visions, or hear any voices (other then my friends when they screamed when they reached the summit), but I did enjoy the solitude and time of reflection (¨and I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills¨ another part of the aformentioned song). There wasn´t any snow but there was a good chill in the air and I was glad for my layers, hat, and scarf.
Finally I grew bored and started to hike back down the mountian by myself. Probably not the smartest thing in the world but hey, I´m super woman right? There were a few slips and slides but nothing broken or twisted and I didn´t get lost. I was happy to be back in the warmth of the bus and to talk with those who opted not to climb. Many of the short terms were struggling with severe reactions to the altitude (fevers, headaches, stomache aches, ect). I seemed to be ok, but then I´m used to the altitude of Coch.
Now for some funny stuff. This is not like a north american national park. If you had to pee, you went and found a rock and peed behind it. Now that was fun :)
To the local wildlife, it was US that didn´t belong, we were on their turf. This is the best picture of the trip for me. This is me and Al (Alpaca, like a llama but smaller and softer):
And these are the oh so famous Bolivian llamas:
Local houses, can you pick out the house from the landscape?
We finally headed for home, all 25 of us, exhausted, sore, and not feeling well. Even I had a headache. But we ran into a bit of a roadblock:
And that was my Tunari adventure. Maybe someday I´ll make it to the summit, Lord willing. For now, I am happy to have seen the beauty I have seen. And I am thankful for God´s hand of protection on me while I climbed back down that mountian.
Coming soon: my 6 month recap.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A much needed update
I just realized that I tell a lot of stories. Intresting enough as they are, I thought maybe some people might be intrested in knowing my progress in my adjustment.
And honestly, it depends on the day! Somedays I am confident and other days I want to hide out in my house all day. Spanish is still a daily struggle. Granted, I´m now in the second part of my text book, which means I actually know a heck of a whole lot but I still have sooo far to go. I struggle a lot with understanding what other people are saying. This is a common problem for everyone, even spanish speakers since everyone speaks in a slightly different way depending on where they come from. Other latin american countries speak very very fast, other parts of Bolivia pronounce words differently as well. It takes a lot of concentration and often I have to ask them to repeat or slow down what they said before I can understand what they are trying to say. When someone is talking directly to me its easier for me to understand then if they are talking to someone in a group. Or for example, I can´t understand my Pastor as he is 1) from Columbia (speaks very fast)and 2) he is not speaking directly to me. I try really hard to listen to my bolivian friends as they are talking to each other, trying to pick up on what they are saying. Sometimes I catch bits and pieces, other times I understand nothing at all. But the only way to learn is to just keep on listening to them speak and to use what I know as much as I can. I sound like a fool and make a lot of mistakes but its all part of the process. Someday, years from now, I will look back on this time and just laugh and laugh!
I am feeling very confident about knowing my way around the city. Or at least the parts I travel most frequently. With my move to a new house last week I´ve had to familiarize myself with new bus routes, ect. I am still working on being able to know my way around La Concha. Even Bolivians don´t know their way around La Concha! So I´ve not got my hopes up too high but I would like to have just a basic outline in my head of which sections are which direction. Some say that La Concha in Coch is the largest open air market in latin america. I can´t say for sure thats true but La Concha is HUGE and complicated and smelly and crowded. But its the cheapest place to buy anything in this city!
Praise the Lord, stomach sickness as been far from me! I have an occasional stomach ache from eating too much sweets :) but nothing more then that. I have gained probably 10 pounds since I arrived here. Some of it thankfully is leg muscle as I basically walk everywhere. I can blame the rest on eating bread and tea for 2 meals a day and eating a huge lunch of soup, meat, potatoes and/or rice and then of course taking a siesta after that. Overall, this is a good thing for me!
I´ve been able to read some books that have ben written by people who came to live in Bolivia for a time. Both of them I highly recommend. One is called ¨When invisible children sing¨ and its about street children in La Paz, Bolivia. And the other I´m currently reading and its called ¨¡Gracias!¨ and has a load of wisdom in it, I am browing it but hope to own it myself very soon.
I continue to have very limited involvement with my team as Spanish is still my priority. I still take Viviana for therapy 3 days a week and pitch in to help my team as often as I can. My friends from training arrived last week and will also be staying here long term.
And for those who may be wondering, I do not have a Bolivian boyfriend! I do however have some really good friends that I enjoy spending time with. Many of whom speak English which is hurting my spanish but helping me to build relationships better. As my learning allows, I hope to speak with my new friends more and more in Spanish.
And that should do it folks!
And honestly, it depends on the day! Somedays I am confident and other days I want to hide out in my house all day. Spanish is still a daily struggle. Granted, I´m now in the second part of my text book, which means I actually know a heck of a whole lot but I still have sooo far to go. I struggle a lot with understanding what other people are saying. This is a common problem for everyone, even spanish speakers since everyone speaks in a slightly different way depending on where they come from. Other latin american countries speak very very fast, other parts of Bolivia pronounce words differently as well. It takes a lot of concentration and often I have to ask them to repeat or slow down what they said before I can understand what they are trying to say. When someone is talking directly to me its easier for me to understand then if they are talking to someone in a group. Or for example, I can´t understand my Pastor as he is 1) from Columbia (speaks very fast)and 2) he is not speaking directly to me. I try really hard to listen to my bolivian friends as they are talking to each other, trying to pick up on what they are saying. Sometimes I catch bits and pieces, other times I understand nothing at all. But the only way to learn is to just keep on listening to them speak and to use what I know as much as I can. I sound like a fool and make a lot of mistakes but its all part of the process. Someday, years from now, I will look back on this time and just laugh and laugh!
I am feeling very confident about knowing my way around the city. Or at least the parts I travel most frequently. With my move to a new house last week I´ve had to familiarize myself with new bus routes, ect. I am still working on being able to know my way around La Concha. Even Bolivians don´t know their way around La Concha! So I´ve not got my hopes up too high but I would like to have just a basic outline in my head of which sections are which direction. Some say that La Concha in Coch is the largest open air market in latin america. I can´t say for sure thats true but La Concha is HUGE and complicated and smelly and crowded. But its the cheapest place to buy anything in this city!
Praise the Lord, stomach sickness as been far from me! I have an occasional stomach ache from eating too much sweets :) but nothing more then that. I have gained probably 10 pounds since I arrived here. Some of it thankfully is leg muscle as I basically walk everywhere. I can blame the rest on eating bread and tea for 2 meals a day and eating a huge lunch of soup, meat, potatoes and/or rice and then of course taking a siesta after that. Overall, this is a good thing for me!
I´ve been able to read some books that have ben written by people who came to live in Bolivia for a time. Both of them I highly recommend. One is called ¨When invisible children sing¨ and its about street children in La Paz, Bolivia. And the other I´m currently reading and its called ¨¡Gracias!¨ and has a load of wisdom in it, I am browing it but hope to own it myself very soon.
I continue to have very limited involvement with my team as Spanish is still my priority. I still take Viviana for therapy 3 days a week and pitch in to help my team as often as I can. My friends from training arrived last week and will also be staying here long term.
And for those who may be wondering, I do not have a Bolivian boyfriend! I do however have some really good friends that I enjoy spending time with. Many of whom speak English which is hurting my spanish but helping me to build relationships better. As my learning allows, I hope to speak with my new friends more and more in Spanish.
And that should do it folks!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Sacaba
Cochabamba is a great big city. Because its so big there are named sections of the city. For instance, I live in an area called Cala-Cala. The Cristo is situatated on a small mountian on the far east side of the city. However, there is still more of Cochabamba even behind the Cristo, this area is known as Sacaba. And it is also known to be amoung the poorest areas of the city.
2 weeks ago a Bolivian friend had invited me to what is called Hora Feliz or in english, Happy Hour. Its a ministry that several of my friends from my church have every Sunday. I was unable to go the first week but decided this last Sunday would be a good time to check out this happy hour thing. All I was really told was that it was a childrens ministry and it would be a good opportunity for me to practice my spanish. I show up at the meeting place and start asking questions like ¨where are we going¨ ¨what are we going to do¨ ect. And the answer was Sacaba and we sing songs, teach Bible stories, and give out milk and bread.
I was not prepared for what I saw and experienced that day. I live in the north part of town, which is really not the poverty part of town. What I saw in Sacaba was children covered in dirt and wearing ill fitting clothes. Houses that can´t even be called houses. More like shacks with bricks holding the tin roof down. Our meeting place was a covered patio without walls or chairs. In the beginning, all of the children were together and we sang some songs that I didn´t know. But these children knew these songs well and I was impressed that so many of them actually sang. Then they were split up by age groups for the Bible lesson. I stayed with my friends that had the 2-5 year olds. Always a challenge since they have about a 2 min attention span. I spent some time chasing after run away kids and trying to get them to listen to the teacher. While the other groups were still going we played some games with the little ones to keep them from interfering with the other groups. After a little while, it was finally time to give out the food and head home. I was relieved only because it was freezing cold (probably 40-50 degrees with no wind protection and only a light jacket). We had to hunt down some christians they knew in the area and gave them the left over food and we left for home.
There were two little girls, not more then 3 or 4 years, with shawls on their backs carrying baby dolls in immitation of how the grown women carry their children and things. They were too cute for words. I also left there with a terrible terrible headcold which I still have 3 days later!
As I was talking to my friend about the experience later I was reminded that however little impact we think we are having, we may be the only Jesus these kids ever meet. We will never know the lasting impact we are having on these little lives. Its something we would all do well to remember. I would like to be a part of this ministry on Sundays (outside of my orphanage work and spanish studies) but I will be more of an observer and helper until my language improves to the point of being able to teach. In the next few weeks, if I am able to go out with them, I would like to see the older childrens classes and I think there is also a class for teenagers/women as well. If I can I will take some pictures for this blog but if its a sensative thing there then you will just have to make do with my descriptions.
Prayer request. Ever since last week when I carried Viviana uphill I have been having some problems with my right knee. Its kind of been an on going problem but this last week I´ve had more pain then usual. Its not so bad that I need to see a doctor or need medication but please pray for healing and that it might not get worse. Roads around here are rocky and uneven at best and I believe my knee is on the verge of dislocating or something similar to that. Thank you!
2 weeks ago a Bolivian friend had invited me to what is called Hora Feliz or in english, Happy Hour. Its a ministry that several of my friends from my church have every Sunday. I was unable to go the first week but decided this last Sunday would be a good time to check out this happy hour thing. All I was really told was that it was a childrens ministry and it would be a good opportunity for me to practice my spanish. I show up at the meeting place and start asking questions like ¨where are we going¨ ¨what are we going to do¨ ect. And the answer was Sacaba and we sing songs, teach Bible stories, and give out milk and bread.
I was not prepared for what I saw and experienced that day. I live in the north part of town, which is really not the poverty part of town. What I saw in Sacaba was children covered in dirt and wearing ill fitting clothes. Houses that can´t even be called houses. More like shacks with bricks holding the tin roof down. Our meeting place was a covered patio without walls or chairs. In the beginning, all of the children were together and we sang some songs that I didn´t know. But these children knew these songs well and I was impressed that so many of them actually sang. Then they were split up by age groups for the Bible lesson. I stayed with my friends that had the 2-5 year olds. Always a challenge since they have about a 2 min attention span. I spent some time chasing after run away kids and trying to get them to listen to the teacher. While the other groups were still going we played some games with the little ones to keep them from interfering with the other groups. After a little while, it was finally time to give out the food and head home. I was relieved only because it was freezing cold (probably 40-50 degrees with no wind protection and only a light jacket). We had to hunt down some christians they knew in the area and gave them the left over food and we left for home.
There were two little girls, not more then 3 or 4 years, with shawls on their backs carrying baby dolls in immitation of how the grown women carry their children and things. They were too cute for words. I also left there with a terrible terrible headcold which I still have 3 days later!
As I was talking to my friend about the experience later I was reminded that however little impact we think we are having, we may be the only Jesus these kids ever meet. We will never know the lasting impact we are having on these little lives. Its something we would all do well to remember. I would like to be a part of this ministry on Sundays (outside of my orphanage work and spanish studies) but I will be more of an observer and helper until my language improves to the point of being able to teach. In the next few weeks, if I am able to go out with them, I would like to see the older childrens classes and I think there is also a class for teenagers/women as well. If I can I will take some pictures for this blog but if its a sensative thing there then you will just have to make do with my descriptions.
Prayer request. Ever since last week when I carried Viviana uphill I have been having some problems with my right knee. Its kind of been an on going problem but this last week I´ve had more pain then usual. Its not so bad that I need to see a doctor or need medication but please pray for healing and that it might not get worse. Roads around here are rocky and uneven at best and I believe my knee is on the verge of dislocating or something similar to that. Thank you!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Did you miss me?
Sorry about that folks, I´m slacking on my weekly updates. But honestly, there hasn´t been much to share lately. Except the three men and a baby in the front seat of the taxi trufi last week... that was a pretty funny site. But lo and behold, something intresting happened today! So here is the story :)
Today has been an intresting day in my life. I picked up viviana to take her for her therapy as usual. In the taxi on the way I noticed one of the main bridge intersecions had two of the passageways kinds roped off. So traffic was moving slow through there but it was at least moving. I thought maybe it was construction or something. Well, an hour later we are on the return trip and we are on another road and the driver tells me ¨blockades¨ which makes me groan cause I have the baby with me. I look around and see a lot of people walking and not a lot of cars moving. Great. But the driver, thank God, doesn´t give up. He worms his way (on the wrong side of the road) up to the road we need to turn left on (a big main road that circles around the city) and we get across. Thank God we didn´t have to turn right since that is where we would have hit the blockade for sure. Once we were headed up into the right area for the orphanage I breathed a little easier. Too soon! The closer we got to the home the more traffic we hit. And this is up where there is very little traffic! It was because everyone was trying to take the backroads since the blockade was on the main road. We finally got close enough to the home that I got out of the car, picked up viviana (she´s a pretty big girl) and walked inbetween half moving vehicals, walked up a steep, rocky, semi-wet hill (still walking inbetween cars, the whole place was like a parking lot on Christmas eve), and finally got her home to the orphanage without incident. Phew! I think I had a few more angles with me today then normal! Rather then try to ride back in a Trufi I opted to walk. Turns out walking was a faster choice too! So that was my morning! A good part of the eastern side of the city looked much like the area I was in but everything in the west seemed pretty normal. Thankfully.
In other news, I will moving leave my host family this weekend and moving into another house. Its a really long story which, if you don´t live in this culture you will not understand, so I will just say that it had become nearly impossible to live in the same home as my language tutor. My new home will be across the yard from my closest friend in Bolivia, it will be costing me less money, but will be the same arrangement as I have now. Three meals a day, laundry, and a decent sized room to stay in. Señora Carmen has been housing foreigners for many many years and is one of the sweetest women I´ve ever met. My friend Amy lived in the room I will be in for 9 months a few years ago and never had one complaint about the house or family. I am looking forward to this move.
More later!
Today has been an intresting day in my life. I picked up viviana to take her for her therapy as usual. In the taxi on the way I noticed one of the main bridge intersecions had two of the passageways kinds roped off. So traffic was moving slow through there but it was at least moving. I thought maybe it was construction or something. Well, an hour later we are on the return trip and we are on another road and the driver tells me ¨blockades¨ which makes me groan cause I have the baby with me. I look around and see a lot of people walking and not a lot of cars moving. Great. But the driver, thank God, doesn´t give up. He worms his way (on the wrong side of the road) up to the road we need to turn left on (a big main road that circles around the city) and we get across. Thank God we didn´t have to turn right since that is where we would have hit the blockade for sure. Once we were headed up into the right area for the orphanage I breathed a little easier. Too soon! The closer we got to the home the more traffic we hit. And this is up where there is very little traffic! It was because everyone was trying to take the backroads since the blockade was on the main road. We finally got close enough to the home that I got out of the car, picked up viviana (she´s a pretty big girl) and walked inbetween half moving vehicals, walked up a steep, rocky, semi-wet hill (still walking inbetween cars, the whole place was like a parking lot on Christmas eve), and finally got her home to the orphanage without incident. Phew! I think I had a few more angles with me today then normal! Rather then try to ride back in a Trufi I opted to walk. Turns out walking was a faster choice too! So that was my morning! A good part of the eastern side of the city looked much like the area I was in but everything in the west seemed pretty normal. Thankfully.
In other news, I will moving leave my host family this weekend and moving into another house. Its a really long story which, if you don´t live in this culture you will not understand, so I will just say that it had become nearly impossible to live in the same home as my language tutor. My new home will be across the yard from my closest friend in Bolivia, it will be costing me less money, but will be the same arrangement as I have now. Three meals a day, laundry, and a decent sized room to stay in. Señora Carmen has been housing foreigners for many many years and is one of the sweetest women I´ve ever met. My friend Amy lived in the room I will be in for 9 months a few years ago and never had one complaint about the house or family. I am looking forward to this move.
More later!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
We´re in the jungle baby!
Over the river, 
over the mountians
and into the jungle we go.
Around here though, its know as The Chapare. Many people have told me about the climatic differences between Chapare and Cochabamba but this was the first time I experienced it for myself. We left Coch at about 7am and drove 4hours across the mountians into Chapare. By 11 o´clock we were hot, muggy, and swatting at millions of little bugs wanting to suck our blood.
For those of you who don´t know, my team is in the midst of building 2 more orhapange homes in the Chapare. We make a trip into this area at least once a month to bring workers, supplies, and money to the construction sites. This was the first time since I arrived in Coch that I was able to go on the trip. I was just along for the ride but 3 of my teams 4 interns went with us to stay in Chapare and work construction for the next week or so. So here are some pictures of the home #1 (we didn´t have time to go to the second site).
This is the front and back of the house
This is one of the inside rooms.
At the moment, the plumbing has not been installed.
This is the shower.
And this is the house the our contruction manager Remberto lives in with his family.
And now for some fun pictures of me enjoying the jungle.
This is me and a little bitty parrot. He´s cute I wanted to take him home with me.
This is an alligator who at one point in time was alive but is now stuffed but very much alive looking!
And finally we have me posing with a banana tree in one of the many banana plantations.
.
At one point of the trip we had in our car 3 missionaries, 1 child, 1 SEDEGES social worker (think DCFS), 1 special agent of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), and 1 tree grower. Only in the Chapare! I actually learned a lot more about coca on this trip as the Chapare grows a lot of coca. Our friend from the DEA goes to the international church in Coch but spends one week a month at the Chapare base. I live just 1 block away from the main base in Coch. This is what I learned:
1. It takes 400 pounds of coca leaf to make 1/2 pound of cocaine.
2. The DEA finds 80 to 100 cocaine labs every week in the Chapare.
3. The coca leaf in Chapare is only good for making cocaine and is not good for making tea or for chewing for medical purposes (a legit and legal way of growing and selling it).
4. Legally, a family can grow coca in an area 40 meters by 40 meters.
5. After the leaves are picked they have to dry in the sun for 3 days.
6. Most of the cocaine made in Bolivia ends up in Europe, not North America.
And thats it for this trip to Chapare!
over the mountians
and into the jungle we go.
Around here though, its know as The Chapare. Many people have told me about the climatic differences between Chapare and Cochabamba but this was the first time I experienced it for myself. We left Coch at about 7am and drove 4hours across the mountians into Chapare. By 11 o´clock we were hot, muggy, and swatting at millions of little bugs wanting to suck our blood.
For those of you who don´t know, my team is in the midst of building 2 more orhapange homes in the Chapare. We make a trip into this area at least once a month to bring workers, supplies, and money to the construction sites. This was the first time since I arrived in Coch that I was able to go on the trip. I was just along for the ride but 3 of my teams 4 interns went with us to stay in Chapare and work construction for the next week or so. So here are some pictures of the home #1 (we didn´t have time to go to the second site).
This is the front and back of the house
This is one of the inside rooms.
At the moment, the plumbing has not been installed.
This is the shower.
And this is the house the our contruction manager Remberto lives in with his family.
And now for some fun pictures of me enjoying the jungle.
This is me and a little bitty parrot. He´s cute I wanted to take him home with me.
This is an alligator who at one point in time was alive but is now stuffed but very much alive looking!
And finally we have me posing with a banana tree in one of the many banana plantations.
.At one point of the trip we had in our car 3 missionaries, 1 child, 1 SEDEGES social worker (think DCFS), 1 special agent of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), and 1 tree grower. Only in the Chapare! I actually learned a lot more about coca on this trip as the Chapare grows a lot of coca. Our friend from the DEA goes to the international church in Coch but spends one week a month at the Chapare base. I live just 1 block away from the main base in Coch. This is what I learned:
1. It takes 400 pounds of coca leaf to make 1/2 pound of cocaine.
2. The DEA finds 80 to 100 cocaine labs every week in the Chapare.
3. The coca leaf in Chapare is only good for making cocaine and is not good for making tea or for chewing for medical purposes (a legit and legal way of growing and selling it).
4. Legally, a family can grow coca in an area 40 meters by 40 meters.
5. After the leaves are picked they have to dry in the sun for 3 days.
6. Most of the cocaine made in Bolivia ends up in Europe, not North America.
And thats it for this trip to Chapare!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Camping!
Technically, Carnival is over. Technically. Rumor has it that the waterballoons may continue in a dumbed down fashion until Monday of next week. I almost got hit today so I gotta say its true! It looks like the whole city had a great big block party, and thats because they did! There are MILLIONS of broken balloons litering the street. But by far, I missed the worst (or the best, some would say) of carnival by going on a church retreat for 4 days.
In some ways, I almost felt like I was on a youth retreat in the States. Except everything was in Spanish and my shower didn´t have any hot water. When my friend invited me to go with his group I was hoping to practice my spanish and make new friends and enjoy a little bit of a break from my day to day life. And that is exactly what I did. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
We actually ate about 5 times a day! 3 meals and two ¨snack¨ type meals. This was our dining hall and these are some of my new friends. All the food was Bolivian, which I´m now acustomed to so it didn´t make me sick. However, camp food is still camp food and I missed my Bolivian Mom´s cooking :)
We had church services 2 times a day. There was always a lot of music and a message. Most of the speaking was lost on me except one service that a friend translated for me. These pictures are from 2 different services. These Bolivians don´t sit down and sing, they stand and shout and dance. More often then not, the chairs got stacked up, and they would worship in a great big circle like in the picture below. I took comfort in knowing that God knows my heart and God knows Spanish, even if I don´t understand every word I´m singing.
Perhaps the most important part of the weekend for me was making new friends. Going into the retreat I kind of knew 3 of the guys, I didn´t know any of them very well. And I didn´t know any of the girls. The first couple of hours were rather ackward for me but by the morning of the first full day I suddenly had like 5 girlfriends! Alcicel, Maria, Dani, Cecy, and Marcela. These girls immeditaly felt like my best friends and we hung out all the time, sat with each other in services and at meals, ect. I tried to get to know as many of the older people as I could. Side note, youth group here is a very broad group, you don´t graduate out of it. So we had like 12 year olds and then like 33 year olds. We had about 50 something in the group. This group is also in a more upper class in society and many of them speak English. Good and bad for me at the same time. But they helped me with Spanish and I helped them with English. It will never cease to amaze me just how accepting these people are. How many people would you welcome into your group gladly that didn´t have a firm grasp on your language? I love these people!
And finally there are the silly games, like in this picture.
In down times, I played a lot of frisbee, sat around with my new friends trying to talk to them, and generally just chilled out. Its rainy season here and the sun has been scarce. That would be the reason I never thought to pack a hat and sunscreen... my face is terribly red at the moment and very painful. My phrase for the weekend ¨Lo siento, soy gringa¨. I´m sorry, I´m a white girl!
In some ways, I almost felt like I was on a youth retreat in the States. Except everything was in Spanish and my shower didn´t have any hot water. When my friend invited me to go with his group I was hoping to practice my spanish and make new friends and enjoy a little bit of a break from my day to day life. And that is exactly what I did. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
We actually ate about 5 times a day! 3 meals and two ¨snack¨ type meals. This was our dining hall and these are some of my new friends. All the food was Bolivian, which I´m now acustomed to so it didn´t make me sick. However, camp food is still camp food and I missed my Bolivian Mom´s cooking :)
We had church services 2 times a day. There was always a lot of music and a message. Most of the speaking was lost on me except one service that a friend translated for me. These pictures are from 2 different services. These Bolivians don´t sit down and sing, they stand and shout and dance. More often then not, the chairs got stacked up, and they would worship in a great big circle like in the picture below. I took comfort in knowing that God knows my heart and God knows Spanish, even if I don´t understand every word I´m singing.
Perhaps the most important part of the weekend for me was making new friends. Going into the retreat I kind of knew 3 of the guys, I didn´t know any of them very well. And I didn´t know any of the girls. The first couple of hours were rather ackward for me but by the morning of the first full day I suddenly had like 5 girlfriends! Alcicel, Maria, Dani, Cecy, and Marcela. These girls immeditaly felt like my best friends and we hung out all the time, sat with each other in services and at meals, ect. I tried to get to know as many of the older people as I could. Side note, youth group here is a very broad group, you don´t graduate out of it. So we had like 12 year olds and then like 33 year olds. We had about 50 something in the group. This group is also in a more upper class in society and many of them speak English. Good and bad for me at the same time. But they helped me with Spanish and I helped them with English. It will never cease to amaze me just how accepting these people are. How many people would you welcome into your group gladly that didn´t have a firm grasp on your language? I love these people!
And finally there are the silly games, like in this picture.
In down times, I played a lot of frisbee, sat around with my new friends trying to talk to them, and generally just chilled out. Its rainy season here and the sun has been scarce. That would be the reason I never thought to pack a hat and sunscreen... my face is terribly red at the moment and very painful. My phrase for the weekend ¨Lo siento, soy gringa¨. I´m sorry, I´m a white girl!
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