site visit. or, i know they´re speaking spanish but that doesn´t mean i understand it.

apologies in advance, i´m writing this as a train of thought and very quickly, as opposed to my usual quasi-edited (at least written at my own leisure beforehand) entries.

I´m in the terminal in Santa Cruz (hot and humid) waiting to get a bus back to Cochabamba, which I think I´m considering ¨home¨in Bolivia...

My site is in the ¨valles cruceños¨--very fertile, lots of green plants and red dirt (or mud). I was expecting a little bit more tropical weather in my town, but turns out it was pretty chilly, especially for the first 24 or so hours when it rained. Once the sun came out though, I didn´t feel quite so betrayed by the description of sub-tropical. The sun is strong, but the breeze keeps it nice, and it´s not so hot that it burns up any plant along the way...so actually pretty dang good for growing vegetables. There´s some pleasant babbling creeks on the edges (obviously with the standard pigs and cows and clothes washing to make them contaminated...grrr), a pretty plaza in the middle, and several little tiendas where one can acquire: rice, pasta, potatoes, oil, cookies, plastic tubs, and other essentials. Apparently there is a market on Saturdays, but I didn´t get a chance to see it before I left this morning. We also have a new and professional looking ¨hospital¨-which i´d call more of a health post but it does make me feel at ease about minor injuries and illnesses (pretty sure they could stop bleeding and keep a fever down...but i wouldn´t want to get surgery there). I´ll be reporting to the local government office- keep in mind it´s a VERY small town-but I think I´ll be doing a lot of my work with the schools (i met the directors of each, they were eager). Past PCV´s have done some great work there, it will be interesting to see where I fit in. For example, I was shown the greenhouse at the school, which would be totally functional except they stopped planting in it, waiting for instructions or something, even though the people should technically know what they want to plant. They asked ME what seeds to order (though I´m not really allowed to tell them what to do until after my 3 months of community diagnostic, so i hope they can take some initiative). Also was a worm compost bin that was grown over with weeds and the worms were mostly gone. Sort of a bummer, i think a lot of my work will be in convincing the people that they don´t need a gringo to tell them what to do (though I´m sure the past volunteers were clear on that as well). At this point I only have a few concerns: getting enough fruits and veggies (my counterpart is convinced he´s going to get me to eat meat...NOT HAPPENING, totally don´t need meat to survive there which would be the only reason for me to eat it), i don´t yet know where I´m going to live and i´m supposed to by now (they´re still working on it), feeling isolated since i´m surrounded by mountains and the road out is often very muddy/dangerous during the rainy season, mosquitos and the wonderful things they bring along, and the possibility of interesting political happenings in May (though don´t believe what you read, the campo is way tranquilo, not violent).

Oh and the cruceño accent kinda makes me feel like i haven´t gotten anywhere with my spanish. they talk fast and different, without ¨s¨ and seem to me like they´re mixing up their tenses and conjugations funny...but hey what do i know right? they said i speak well, which is funny because i felt like the whole 4 days in site i just kind of did a nervous laugh, except when it was important, in which case i would ask for a repeat, and get the same speed and same words...so THEN i´d do the nervous laugh. everyone also thinks i´m going to bring someone from the village back to the U.S. (since another girl volunteer did). doubtful...and kind of annoying when that´s the second thing anyone says to me.

Sorry no pictures, i felt kinda awkward being unknown around town...i didn´t want to be all gringo with my digital camera. I´ll work up to it. Kinda looks like my pictures from tech week.

Finally STOP BEING LAZY AND WRITE ME EMAILS ALREADY...or i´m going to stop writing blog entries and then you´ll have one angry mother (mine) to deal with. To all the strangers reading, you don´t really have to email me...just my lazy friends who i love and miss very much :).