Leaving Bolivia

I am currently sitting in the La Paz airport waiting to board a flight to Lima and then Quito. Starting my summer in Ecuador is currently too much for me to think about so I am just going with the flow and trying not to worry too much. Mostly I am consumed by being so incredibly sad that my semester in Bolivia has ended. Although there were good times and bad times overall I am an amazing experience and met so many people that I am sad to have to say goodbye to. I am so glad that I loved my time here enough to be so sad to leave, but it doesn't make it any easier.

My whole group our second day of orientation. It seems like so long ago, but also so recent. Weird.

Last weekend our whole group reunited for the first time after the month of being separated for the ISP. It was crazy to think going into it that it would be the last time we'd all be together. We spent evaluations in a beautiful hotel-esq place in Tiquipaya, about a 20 minute drive outside of Cochabamba. I stayed in a bungalow with Laura, Olivia, and Maddy and it was great to be back together again and hear about all the adventures people had while we were separated.

Laura, Olivia, me, and Maddy. I'm going to miss those girls.

We spent the first two days doing presentations. Everybody in my group (now 23 of us since Karen left early to go back to the US) had to present their research for 30 minutes. We started at 8am the first day and finished around 7pm. I thought it would be so difficult to sit through but it was actually incredibly interesting. Everybody in my group chose really different and fascinating topics and the 20 minutes of talking went by really quickly in most cases. I was very nervous to present my completed video. Unfortunately, something went wrong technology wise and the last minute of my video was cut off, but other than that I received positive feedback. Although, what are people supposed to say besides "good job"? I'll let all of you guys be the judge when I come back and show you. And yes, to answer previous questions, it does have subtitles.

Besides presentations we had some time to hang out, play some mini-field soccer, go into Cochabamba, and have meetings about re-entry, what we've learned over the course of the semester etc. It was pretty cool to think back on all of the amazing things that we've done in the past three and a half months and think about how much people have changed. Maddy, Olivia, and I also got to go in to Cochabamba and meet Laura's parents who are here to travel after the program ends. It was so interesting to see their reactions to things and realize how much better I know the city now than at the beginning. Also, there was a HUGE dog there named Gorda (fatty--shout out to Romeo) and she had the biggest head I've ever seen. We hung out a lot also.

Gorda and me. AKA the big head club.

After presentations people from my group started leaving gradually. That was really hard for me, I would've rather had it just happen all at once I think. On Tuesday morning only about half the group was left and I headed out to spend one last day with my host family. We had lunch together, then I went to the Centro and hung out with a few remaining people in the group and delivered copies of my project to organizations that had helped me. My host sister, Marita, drove me to the airport for my 8pm flight to La Paz. My host parents sadly couldn't come to the airport but we talked on the phone and had a heartfelt goodbye. It is amazing how quickly I became comfortable in their house and how strange it is going to be for me to not be living there anymore.

My Bolivian host family and me at our farewell party. I think this
sadly is the only picture we have of all 4 of us.

After my flight being delayed for 30 minutes I finally arrived in La Paz at 9pm last night. Ethan and I got Mexican food and spent the night there. He had to leave the hotel at 4am this morning and I had to leave at like 5:45. I don't know how I am going to survive this day of traveling emotionally or physically, but hopefully I will just sleep on every step of the way.

I am nervous but excited to start my summer in Ecuador. I don't really know what to expect but I am sure that it will be an amazing adventure. Just because my time in Bolivia has ended doesn't mean my South America blog is over. You still have another 2 and half months of entertaining blog posts to look forward to.

Somos Auroristas, Vamos a Ganar!

One day during the ISP period after working with a few other people in a café all afternoon Zach informed us that he was going to an Aurora soccer game and Maddy and I decided to go too. I can't believe it took me so long to finally attend a Cochabamba game, but I am so glad that I did. After we arrived we ran to the ticket office because the crowds looked big and we were afraid we wouldn't get tickets. After buying our tickets and meeting up with some of Zach's family (his actual family who are from Cochabamba) we entered the stadium. Turns out, it really wasn't crowded at all but at least we got a workout in.

It wasn't all that crowded but there were enough people there to make the atmosphere super exciting. People were all wearing light blue and white, singing songs that I didn't know about Aurora, and throwing confetti that was just ripped up newspaper and brochures, so sustainable!

The game about to begin.

Aurora scored twice within the first ten minutes, so the game was exciting right from the beginning. I won't say it was the best soccer I have ever seen but the played hard and people were so passionate about their team which was a fun environment to be in.

At halftime Zach's family bought us hamburgers. I was already incredibly full from dinner but I managed to eat the whole thing and thoroughly enjoy it. I also got the opportunity to film some kids working in the stadium for my project. Definitely ethically questionable but definitely useful.

Stole this picture from Maddy. But we had the same
sandwich so I think it is okay.

Overall it was a really fun experience and I am so glad I got the opportunity to see some Bolivian soccer. We left the stands singing: "soy Auroristas, Aurorista soy yo." I guess I am officially an Aurorista.

Police escorting the refs out of the stadium. Better safe than sorry.

Starting my ISP (Independent Study Project)

It is really hard to believe that I am so close to being done with my semester here in Bolivia. Although in some ways my time here went really slowly and it was bien challenging mostly my three and a half months here have flown by and I am going to be so sad to have it all end in a week and a half. 

After we got back from Santa Cruz we all had to turn in our ISP proposals, IRB ethics forms, and a literary review about our chosen topic. We spent a week working on these assignments and then jumped right in and started our research. My chosen topic is child workers here in Cochabamba which means I have been continuing to live with my host family and working on my project. Other people in my group traveled to other cities or small villages to do their research.  

My project was very frustrating and challenging at first. First of all, I got my ethics form back from my advisor and she informed me that it is against Bolivian law to film or photograph kids under the age of 18 even with their parents consent. Obviously this didn't bode well for me since my project is making a video about children. Anyway, after a few stressful days we realized that that is not true and as long as I have consent from parents, guardians, or "tutors" I would be okay. 

My first day of ISP I headed to SEDEGES which is basically Child Protective Services. Everybody had told me to talk to them but the woman there was super mean and wouldn't film an interview with me. Then, my afternoon plans fell through. The next day I met with Heidi, our Academic Director, to inform her that my project was a disaster and was for sure not going to work out. She assured me that this is how it always is with these types of projects in Bolivia and that I was going to have days when nothing worked out, and days when magically everything worked out. Turns out, she was right. The next day I was able to film two excellent interviews and felt so much better. 

My second week of ISP I met Juan Vicente, who is one of the leaders of UnatsCo, the Cochabamba branch of the Bolivian Child Workers Union. He agreed to help me out with my project as long as I gave the organization a copy of the final video so they could use it to promote themselves and find funding. I filmed an interview with him and then he took me on a visita to the Cancha, the giant market. We walked around and he asked random kids he knew who were working shining shoes, washing car windows, or helping out at fruit stands to film interviews with me. Although some were rather skeptical thanks to him several agreed to be filmed and finally my project really felt like it was going to work. 

This type of research in Bolivia is definitely frustrating. People are constantly late to meetings, don't show up at all, or schedule them for days when the office is going to be closed. There are several areas of the city that have no street signs so finding places is often difficult. Bolivians in general are super helpful and willing to sit down and talk to you, but I have had a little bit of trouble since I am always asking to film and sometimes they aren't so excited about that. It has been completely overwhelming to be alone in this process of research, but at the same time it has been challenging in a really great way. 

Mostly, I have been pleasantly surprised at how many things have actually ended up working out in my favor. After those first few days I didn't think that I would have enough footage for a 20 minute video, but now that I am in the editing process I realize that I definitely do, so that is exciting. Since I don't really know what I am doing or how to use Final Cut Pro it is still touch and go if my video is going to be halfway decent but we shall see. 

Santa Cruz

Wow, I have officially become a terrible blogger. We got back from Santa Cruz weeks ago so I am embarrassed to be posting this now. But, better late than never, amiright? I sincerely apologize to my avid blog readers for going so long without a post.

Anyway, after we crossed the road block and got in a random bus on the other side we arrived hungry and tired in Santa Cruz. Laura, Maddy, Olivia and I went to get dinner (and ice cream) and then headed back to the hotel. I knew before hand that there was a pool at the hotel but I had been joking that there was going to be a swim up bar--and then there was! It was really just bar stools in the pool, no actual bar, but still it was pretty exciting to learn that I could predict the future. So anyway, we bought our own supplies and enjoyed the swim up every night we were there.

Olivia with the ice cream and chocolate cake
Sundae that we split. I honestly probably could've
eaten the whole thing myself if I had really tried.

Swim up bar lanterns. The real reason we have headlamps.

The next day we had free time so a bunch of us went to the zoo. We had heard great things about the zoo and also that it was going to be super depressing so I didn't really know what to expect. It was a little bit sad, as all zoos are, but mostly it was pretty cool. It also was a great opportunity to take awesome photos posing like animals. The best part of zoo trips for sure.

That night was Tuesday which means two for  one tuesdays at dumbo, the ice cream place. It was kind of embarrassing to hold one cone in each hand, but mostly I felt pretty awesome. It was my dinner after all so I can't feel that bad.

Our last day in Santa Cruz I discovered that there are situations when sunblock just doesn't work. Literally, the sun is just too strong and my fair irish skin can't handle it. We went to visit the sand dunes which had been created because of all of the deforestation in the area. We walked and sweated to arrive at the dunes where I decided it was a good idea to take my shoes off and then had to run across them because my feet were getting burned. Although incredibly physically uncomfortable it was a pretty amazing thing to see.

Yes, this is a snapchat, but it is the best documentation I
have of my horrendous sunburn

Concepción y Santa Rita

So after what seemed like approximately no time back in Cochabamba after our La Paz excursion we left for our Santa Cruz trip. They called it our Santa Cruz trip but in reality we spent most of our time outside of the city in a small town called Concepción and one night in a village stay in Santa Rita.

As soon as I stepped off the plane, I could tell that we had entered Las tierras bajas. The lowlands. It was as humid as Connecticut in August and could not have been more different than the cold rain we had left behind in Cochabamba. We got right on the bus and headed to a reforestation project outside of the city. Most of what I remember from that visit was the amazing food: yucca and cheese on a stick, fried and boiled humitas (ground corn cooked in husks), juice and FRUIT. So good. After that I was in a food coma. We planted some trees, took a tour, and got back on the bus.

Maddy mid-bite at our hotel in
Concepción

Something like 6 or 7 hours later we finally arrived in Concepción. Everybody was overheated and exhausted but before we had even dropped our stuff off in our rooms, we were informed we had class. Rude. Oh, also, our stuff had been tied to the roof of the bus and obviously it had been raining for a good part of the trip so our bags were mostly soaked.

Laura, Erin, Maddy, Olivia and I were in a room together and it immediately began to smell like must after all of us and hung up our wet clothes in every part of the room. Wow, I am making this sound really unpleasant when it wasn't. Our room was awesome, Maddy and I shared a huge bed (because I wouldn't sleep in the uncomfortable twin bed by myself) and the other three were in the loft. Our hotel also had a patio area with hammocks and a pool. Also, the food was AMAZING. Life was good. Minus having to go to class.

The next day we were supposed to go to our village stay. We all packed up all our stuff only to be told that because of all the rain there had been a change of plans and we were going to be going to the village stay the next day instead. It is Bolivia, where plans are meant to be changed and people are supposed to be flexible. That day nobody had any idea what was going on until we arrived wherever we were going. We got to listen to some baroque music, visit a sawmill, go swimming in some sort of laguna, visit one of the most amazing churches in the world, and go to a museum. Also, we once again had an awesome dinner.

The best meal ever

The next day after eating approximately an entire papaya at breakfast I packed up my stuff and we finally actually went to our village stay. When we arrived we watched some of the kids from the village dance and then danced with them, played some games, listened to some drumming. After getting a brief introduction to the village we had the best meal I've had since being in Bolivia. There were fried platano and cheese balls (sounds weird but they were awesome), this really good cabbage stuff, some type of amazing fried rice, yucca, vegetables. Basically, it was great. After eating myself into yet another food coma Olivia, Maddy, Laura and I were introduced to our host mom and left to go get settled.

Our room

Our house

Our host family was AWESOME. All six of the host mothers that my group was with were part of the weaving cooperative in the village. They make amazing scarves and sell them at the baroque music festival that happens once a year in Concepción. We also had several host siblings including one who rivals my sister Kate in the incredibly tight french braid department. It was really interesting to spend time in a chiquitano village after having spent time in Tocoli, an Aymara village. There are so many different indigenous groups in the lowlands in Bolivia and their culture is completely different from the indigenous quechua and aymara people of the highlands. For me, the biggest difference was how open the people of Santa Rita were. They were friendly and excited and it didn't take any time to break down walls.

Us and the family, minus the older kids who were at school

My host mom and her
weavings

We spent the afternoon swimming in a pond (?) and eating pan de arroz and super sweet coffee. We also watched a weird soap opera with our host family. Our room had a double bed, twin bed, a hammock and no walls. I got the hammock so that was cool. My mosquito net was not very secure and I didn't feel like I could move much in my sleep for fear of getting dengue or falling out, but it was a cool experience.

The family hanging out on my bed

Our attempt to take a picture of our host sisters.
Everybody ended up wanting to be in it.

The next morning we had homemade empanadas that were fried in approximately 8 cups of oil but could not have been more delicious. After breakfast we left the village and started our long bus drive to Santa Cruz. We found out a little ways in that there was a road block on our route and the alternate route was too muddy from the rain. We weren't sure what we were going to have to do and ended up walking over the blockade and finding other buses to take on the other side. It was a pretty unique experience to walk over a road block and our director told us it was the first time in her 15 years of working for SIT that she had had to do that with a group. So basically we are famous.

Overall my time in Concepción and Santa Rita was awesome. It was a lesson in flexibility and going with the flow. Also in dealing with an absurd amount of mosquito bites and class in the amazonian humidity. The one thing I did not learn to do was to not eat until the point of feeling ill. So worth it. 

A Baking Disaster

So for one of my last spanish classes our assignment was to cook something and then explain the recipe using commands. Sounds simple, right? Wrong.

I decided that an easy thing for me to make was brownies. I went through a phase in 6th or 7th grade of baking brownies almost every week, so I basically have the Baker's Chocolate one bowl brownie recipe memorized. Plus, is there anything more delicious than those brownies? Probs not.

the second fail

I decided to make my brownies on Sunday since the assignment was due on Monday afternoon. I went to the grocery store after lunch and bought a HUGE thing of baking chocolate (after asking the lady at the store if this was in fact baking chocolate), eggs, and butter. My host family had sugar, vanilla, and flour that they said I could use. Here lies my first mistake.

After getting back home I made a double batch of brownies because I had gotten about 10 times as much chocolate as I needed. It tasted slightly different because it was sweetened chocolate but mostly the same and seemed to have the same consistency. Our oven here has the settings low, medium, and high so I just kind of guessed and stayed in the kitchen so I could make sure they wouldn't burn. Ah, it is making me nervous just writing this.

Anyway, after about 15 minutes in the oven it started to smell like burning so I quickly checked on my brownies. They had risen an absurd amount and the batter had proceeded to spill EVERYWHERE in the oven. I immediately started to panic and didn't know what to do. This was so awkward. My host family already assumed that I had no idea how to cook and now I just felt like an idiot.

Who knows if it will work

My host mom came in and told me that I had used too shallow a pan, but those brownies never rise so that didn't make sense to me. My host sister came and said maybe I had done some conversions wrong or perhaps it had happened because of the altitude. I felt really stupid but they were both super nice and laughed it off. They helped me clean up the mess and then my host mom and I found a different recipe that needed no conversions and tried again. The batter wasn't quite as good, but it seemed fine. We put them in the oven and what do you know? It happened again. My host mom was so shocked and confused. She told me that I must've bought the wrong kind of chocolate and once again I felt like an idiot.

At this point I had spent about 4 hours or so making batter, cleaning dishes, cleaning out the oven, and then repeating each step. I had also wasted like 10 eggs and tons of other ingredients. I was so frustrated that I just left the kitchen and decided I would either make something the next day that didn't involve using the oven, or just show up to spanish without anything.

Finally success!

My host sister came home that night and informed me that it was not the chocolate that I had gotten but the fact that we had accidentally been using self-rising flour. So it wasn't my fault! Hooray! She searched for a recipe that called for self rising flour and while I was skyping she ended up making me new brownies (don't tell my spanish teachers)

I apologized and thanked her many many times and I was just so relieved when that spanish presentation was over and I could stop thinking about my baking disaster. I will have to cook for my host family in the future to prove I am not an idiot in the kitchen, but for now I would just like to forget about the whole thing. My sister thinks it was funny and assured me that "it is all part of the adventure."

Toccoli (Village Stay)

You can kind of see my host family's house in the middle of that clump of trees

The view of the lake from my host family's house

After leaving La Paz at 5:45AM (horrible) we took a long bus ride to Toccoli, a small village right on the edge of Lake Titicaca. The bus ride down the narrow dirt road to the center of town was terrifying but we all made it alive and were greeted by most of the adults in the village. We had a welcome ceremony that included wearing aguayos filled with flowers, greeting everybody with an awkward almost hug (multiple times), and a lunch of potatoes, platanos, chuño (freeze dried potatoes that taste like dirt) and some tiny fish that I forget the name of.

Greetings with the community

Lunch
We were instructed beforehand to never
step over the food. It seemed like a weird piece of
advice but now it makes sense.

Olivia in her Aguayo

Nina and I lived in the room upstairs, to
the right is the kitchen and to the left is the
pen where they keep their animals

That evening Nina and I got assigned our host family and followed our host mother (who didn't say anything to us at first) up an incredibly steep hill for around 45 minutes until we reached our house. It was touch and go if I was going to make it while carrying the huge bag of vegetables we had been given to give our families as gifts, but luckily after about 10 minutes of struggling my host mom distributed them between some of her neighbors so I was left only carrying my own stuff.

Me, Beethoven, my host brother (Miguel
Angél and my little host sister

In our family there was the mom, the dad, a thirteen year old daughter, a 9 year old son, and then a 3 year old daughter. They also had two tiny kittens, a dog named Beethoven, sheep, a rooster, a mule, and a cow. Although our host mom seemed less than enthused to meet us, she opened up and started answering our questions and even asking us some questions once her husband came home. I think I only heard the oldest daughter speak about 3 words, but our host brother was incredibly friendly and seemed excited to have us there. We had tea (warm sugar water), soup, and bread for dinner and went to bed at about 9:00PM because we had mother else to do. It was freezing cold all night and I got pretty sick in the middle of the night but other than that I had survived my first day of the village stay.

The next day we were invited to The Festival of the Cross that was in a slightly larger pueblo about a half hour drive away. After our bus picked us up two hours late, we arrived at the church armed with flowered crosses that our host families had made us. The service was interesting but long: all in Aymara, the indigenous language which obviously I don't understand, plus no seats so lots of standing. The coolest part was when we all walked around the town square and sang.

Nina and me with our flower crosses

Church

Lunch 

I also found out when I got on the bus that morning that besides one student being left sick in La Paz, there were two others who had gotten bien ill during the night. That afternoon I accompanied Maddy to the local hospital, then that night somebody else from our group ended up joining her. Apparently our group won the prize for most sick students so I'm glad I made it out alive.

After getting back Nina and I herded sheep with our host brother. While the sheep were eating in various different fields we built houses (and schools, hospitals etc) out of rocks and sticks. Apparently when he has to herd sheep that is how he occupies his time and he was really excited to have some people to do it with. It is amazing to think that he is only nine. I can't imagine myself at nine years old spending so much time working alone and occupying myself with rocks and sticks. His parents both work outside of the village though, and sometimes it is just him and his older sister so I guess he is used to working hard.

Me and Nina. Why was I wearing my hat backwards?
Because it is cool looking, obvi.

Our adorable host brother

The next day Nina and I "helped" our mother. AKA we watched while she herded sheep, then each carried one log walking behind her with a huge pile of logs on her back. It was pretty comical how much we couldn't help, however my potato peeling skills have greatly improved and I like to think I was at least a little helpful in the kitchen. 

Nina loved the cats

That afternoon we had a closing/goodbye ceremony with Calixto, the catholic shaman from orientation who is SIT's contact in the village. It was really interesting and we all danced as a family at the end. My host mom and brother danced with Nina and me and my host mom seemed much more enthusiastic and warm towards us than she had in the past.

The next morning after another meal of tea, bread, and soup (they literally eat that for every meal) we got on the bus to head back to La Paz, the airport, and eventually our host families in Cochabamba. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and had trout which was amazing especially after subsisting on potatoes and bread for three days. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to spend longer in the village and really get to know our host families. Between the language barrier (most of them speak spanish and aymara but mostly aymara to each other) and the fact that they took a while to warm up to us it was hard to feel comfortable in such a short amount of time. However, it was an amazing learning experience and I am so glad we got to do it, even if my host mother here may or may not have been disgusted to have me sit in her kitchen after not showering for four days. yolo, amiright?

Me and the family minus the older sister who had gone to school, and yes that is the view from their yard. Amazing.