I Have Arrived

Hello everybody and welcome to my South America blog!

A view of the city from the Cristo

I have been in Bolivia for five days now and everything is going well. My flight was very long (JFK--San Salvador--Lima--La Paz--Cochabamba) but I made it and so did all of my stuff! We started our orientation right away and it lasted for four days. One day we did a "drop off" where I was paired with one other student and we were given a location to find and observe. We were assigned the artisanal market. We were left at the bottom of the Cristo statue and had to find our way there, observe, then find our way back to our orientation location. Ethan and I took a long time to find the market and once we got there it was difficult to locate the artisanal section so by the time we got there we didn't have time to write notes and observe, but oh well. The market in Cochabamba, or La Cancha, is huge and has tiny shops with anything you could imagine. Walking through the meat section was kind of gross, but the fruit section was amazing and it was cool to see the artisanal section as well.

The Cristo statue overlooking Cochabamba (it is huge)

Last night we met our families for the first time at dinner. There was a traditional Bolivian band there that played music from Potosi and there was a lot of dancing and good cheer. We got there quite late and my family was was late too (apparently there is something called Bolivian Standard Time which basically just means being really late) but once they got there we ate and danced and got to know each other a little bit. Today I moved in and got to meet my sister. My family is my dad (Luis), my mom (Maria) and my sister (Marita) who is 20 years old. Marita is studying graphic design at the a university in Cochabamba and my mother owns a flower shop. I have yet to find out what my dad does, but I will keep you all posted. There house is nice and spacious and so far we have had delicious food (only one meal but there was homemade ice cream so that was awesome)

I have this weekend free and then I start classes on Monday. I am excited to get into a routine, know my way around, and begin doing research here. I have my first camera class for students doing the documentary on Wednesday so I am looking forward to learning more about that. I will keep you all posted on the adventures that are sure to come and chances are if you're reading this blog I miss you!