Carnival
Around three weeks ago the city of Cochabamba exploded into the fiesta of Carnival. We hear that this city is actually a little more tame than Oruro, where the largest Bolivian Carnival fiesta takes place. There was music, dancing, and food all week long, leading up to the main parade on Sunday. Also, in Bolivia, there is a tradition of water balloons and espuma (more or less silly string.) The streets were packed with vendors and visitors and dancers. It began around 10 AM with military style parades, then not-so-military style new soldiers. We were told the new soldiers compete for a weekend off by inventing the most creative/wild dances and costumes. They were pretty funny and lasted a couple of hours.
After the military dudes, the more traditional part of the parade began. This part had traditional music and elaborate costumes and dances. The energy of the dancers was incredible. It rained off and on for most of the afternoon, but the dancers never missed a beat. Every hour of so the parade would take a small break and kids would enter the street and have water balloon fights and spray each other with espuma. Luckily, Erica and I stayed mostly dry and espuma free. The most amazing dances and music came toward the end as it got dark. Live bands on flatbeds, dancing couples, super intricate costumes, and so much energy. The parade lasted past 11pm. We left about 10:30 to have dinner and could hear the music still going. Next year we´d like to go to Oruro to experience the full extravaganza.
Tech Week
Actually this was an 11 day Bolivian Road Trip. The plan was to travel to other parts of the country to visit some current volunteers, get an idea of what our next two years might be like, and practice our language and technical skills. We were separated by our work groups, so Erica and I were apart for this trip. It was a little strange being apart and not having phone or email ability, I missed her quite a bit. And of course it was great to come back to Cochabamba and see her!
My group of Environmental Education (9 of us) , left Cochabamba on Wednesday 3/7. We stayed at a national park in the mountains between here and the city of Santa Cruz. The park was beautiful and we got to swim. We got to Santa Cruz on Thursday and I was not feeling good. In fact by evening I had a fever, sore throat, was nauseous, and had to visit the bathroom every hour or so. We called the med office during the night and I went to a doctor Friday morning where I left them a small sample. We left Santa Cruz, the last city we´d be in for a week and headed south toward Argentina. By noon that day I had thrown up and it was confirmed I had some sort of bacterial infection. Peace Corps medical is wonderful and we had all the necessary meds with us, so I began some strong antibiotics and was feeling much better by that evening.
We spent the next night in a small town of 500 people where we worked with a high school and filmed a short commercial about trash, recycling and clean water practices. It took the better part of the day and we aired the commercial on the one TV channel at about 10pm. The town gathered at the school to watch and all were very pleased. Even though I was still not 100%, it was a fun experience.
We left Guiterrez and headed further south to Boyuibe, a slightly larger town about 3 hours north of Argentina. We spent 4 nights in Boyuibe working two days in schools, putting on two environmental fairs, and spending one day in a tree nursery teaching the townspeople how to mix soil, plant seeds, transplant plants, and generally take care of their trees. We were also interviewed by the local radio station and aired two radio commercials that we had recorded before we left Cochabamba. The people of Boyuibe were great, the town had about 1500 people and all seemed to enjoy our work and didn´t want us to leave. The eco-fairs were a hit. We did puppet shows, showed people how to recycle paper and plastic bottles, collected used batteries, calculated the energy usage of the town, and helped paint murals with the schools. We also planted trees with the school kids on our last day with them. The only slightly challenging part of Boyuibe was the the town had no water for the last two days we were there. Apparently the main water pump had broke and there was no way to get any H2O into the town. We were hot and sweaty and no showers, flushing toilets, or hand washing made for an interesting last two days. Thankfully I no longer had my bacterial friend and everyone else in the group was in good health.
We left Boyuibe on Wednesday morning and drove 3 more hours south to Yacuiba, a small city of about 30,000 people. Yacuiba was right on the border of Argentina and we kept hearing about the delicious and super cheap steaks we would have. Yacuiba did not disappoint. We had a fabulous steak dinner Wednesday night in what was said to be one of the two best restaurants in all of Bolivia. A large, juicy steak and a hearty portion of mashed potatoes cost 35 Bolivianos (almost $4.00) It was amazing. The next day we worked with a group of professors who were interested in learning more techniques and ideas for teaching about environmental concepts in their schools. We had a nice afternoon with them and I think all gained a greater respect for Bolivian teachers. We ended our stay in Yacuiba with a much-hyped parillada with a variety of Argentine meat. Again, Yacuiba lived up to the hype. It was the best BBQ I´ve ever been a part of. We were hosted by a Bolivian family and about a dozen community leaders and had steak, chicken, potatoes, salads, beans, bread... and vino. It was a great time and a fine ending to a week of hard work.
We left Yacuiba Friday morning and drove 7 hours back to Santa Cruz. The plan was to make the 9 hour drive back to Cochabamba on Saturday, but we had all heard rumors of a landslide and the possibility of staying in Santa Cruz or even flying back to Cochabamba. We had met up with the dozen or so people in the Agriculture group in Yacuiba and now were all traveling together. It turned out the roads to Coachabamba were in pretty bad shape and PC made the decision to fly us all Saturday afternoon. What a relief it was to have only a 35 minute flight rather than a 9 hour car ride. Thank you Peace Corps!
Back in Cochabamba
So I got back into Cochabamba yesterday afternoon around 3pm. It was great to be home and back with Erica. Her group was in a slightly different part of the country and made the drive home a day earlier than planned. She will surely write and post pictures soon.
Now we have one week then we leave next weekend for the official Site Visit. Erica and I will fly down to Tarija state and bus about 3 hours to our small town that will be our home for the next two years. El Puente. It has about 500 people and Erica and I will be the first volunteers the town has had. Should be a wonderful adventure.
I´ll end with a few pictures I took before Carnival and Tech Week. Our Spanish class visited the huge Christ statue overlooking the city. Cochabamba built it in the 90´s and made it 20 meters taller than the similar statue in Rio de Janeiro. It was quite a hike to the top, but we had incredible views of the city.
And lastly, a picture of the neighbor´s birds. He also has three parrots and about 75 bonsai trees. What an experience this has been so far. I´m sure the true adventure is only about to begin.
Hasta Lluego,
Marcos
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