My Site, or, things I know now that I couldn’t have possibly known before

Last Tuesday I found myself in a nearby community, knowing nobody except 3 people I had met about 2 hours prior while doing a little “work”, and having wait 4 hours (more likely more) til the bus back to my town rolled back through.  Well, this community was only 12km from my town, with a clear dirt “highway” back.  So, I thought, why not walk back?  It’s not raining, and it is virtually impossible to get lost.  The people I was with were not to happy about the idea of my walking that far alone, but eventually told me that there was an alternate route that was not as long.  I just had to…find it.  There was a good chance I could end up in a completely different town, if I took the wrong road off the highway.  I had a very sketchy map drawn (by somebody who didn’t know that the US was North of Bolivia…not that I blame him or judge him for that, but maybe wasn’t the best person to get to draw a map).  I went on my way after basically being forced to lunch (I’ve gotten good at explaining that I don’t eat meat).  I hadn’t understood 2 of the 3 words for the important landmarks to look for, but weirdly, I wasn’t worried.  Me, not worried.  HOW MUCH HAVE I CHANGED???  A lot!  I had figured the shortcut was like, half a km up the road, but I didn’t see what I thought I was looking for (literally, a fork in the road where I would have to take the path less taken).  After about 4km (they have km markers!) I was hoping it had been more like, 8.  Then I saw I had only gone 5.  My legs were killing me, the sun was beating down, I had some water and fruit, but I did not want to keep going.  Then I rounded a switchback, and I found exactly the divergent paths I was looking for.  I had been looking for something that barely looked like a path, according to my map-drawer.  With much hesitation to leave the obvious highway, I descended into this amazing trail through lush mountain vegetation.  For a long time, I couldn’t be sure whether this path was really going to my town, but then I came upon a beautiful clearing, and I saw my town waaaay in the distance.  I made it home, on nothing more than my faith in a sunny afternoon and my once-strong lungs and legs!  So, what did I not know before?  That I can do something like find my way around on vague Spanish instructions and a little ambition.  I told this personal victory story first to set the stage that, although the next part of this entry is going to sound like I’m not having optimal experience, I am so happy to be here and learning about my own abilities, even if it’s not always obvious what I’m doing here on the side of a mountain in Bolivia.

 

So as you can read about my first day here, I got here.  My bed did get set up ok, but oh no, that mattress.  I wish I had made that a splurge purchase…because mine is hard as a rock, after 2.5 weeks of sleeping now has a huge depression in the middle where I sleep.  Oh and although it was wrapped in plastic when I bought it, I’m pretty sure it had fleas.  Entire sections of my body are covered in little red dots.  Who could have guessed that fleas itch so much, now I feel really bad for all the animals of the world without flea medication.  I put the mattress in the sun for a day, seemed to have taken care of that problem, but it’s still realllly uncomfortable.

 

I haven’t really gotten down a set routine with work or anything.  This is what is making my life frustrating.  You all know how I can’t stand feeling lazy…But I’m having trouble making much headway with my counterparts at the mayor’s office.  I was hoping I’d be able to sit down with them and ask questions and get answers, but it’s not the case.  My main work partner is rarely at the office, often away in Santa Cruz.  And the others are really busy, and they do try to be helpful but without knowing what I need help with.  I don’t hang around the office too much, it feels pretty awkward, and it seems that I just need to stop in every now and then.  For a while they were focused on when I was going to meet the leaders of the fruit growers, so we didn’t get into much else.  Then they sent me, essentially by myself, to that other community last Tuesday to meet the president and vice president of the fruit growers.  However, neither was in town, but I did meet with a member of the association anyways.  I have had success sharing ideas with the director of the elementary school, however.  I’m going to be doing some “diagnostic assessment work” next week with the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders.  Honestly, I don’t know how much information about the agriculture or way of life of the town I’m going to get from the children, but some busy work is definitely better than nothing for me.  Plus, the director really supports me, it’s good to have that ally and prove that I want to and can work.  They have a small greenhouse and some land, and it’s kind of nice that I am not supposed to intervene too much in the first 3 months, because I can just observe what current practices are.  I also plan to work with the older grades of school, as many of them work after school (school is only in the mornings) and probably have some relevant information.  My goal for the next couple of weeks is to track down some information about community groups or community meetings, so I can schedule meetings to get some basic information.  It’s definitely not a BAD situation, but I just like to have more direction or focus.  I’ve only been around my site for 2.5 weeks though, I am trying to keep that in mind.

 

The vegetable situation improved after about a week, now there is a greater variety in the market than carrots, onions and tomatoes.  I’ve figured out how to cook this wonderful pumpkin-like squash called zapallo.  Yum!  I am also now an expert in cooking dry beans…the secret is to soak them overnight.  However, now that I’m in the city buying more supplies, I plan on getting a pressure cooker to save time (not that I don’t have an abundance of it for cooking).

 

I have a good friend in a 30-year old woman who takes care of 5 orphans and her son (kind of a long story, but there was a missionary family who started an orphanage project, now they’re back in the U.S. for a while).  I love going over to their house, built by the missionary family, with a big U.S. type kitchen (we made brownies one day, and NOT in an adobe oven!), an English-speaking dog, plus all the kids and my friend.  The children are so sweet and fun, even when they get annoyed that I can’t always understand their Spanish.  We play volleyball and just hang out.  The best part about the volleyball is that I don’t have to be any good to play, we’re all just learning!

My town has: a few stores to buy cookies and dry goods, lots of meat, occasionally vegetables available (I’ve made a point of knowing the name of the woman who sells them), pretty creeks, lots of dogs, chickens, cows, mud, 2 phones in the plaza that don’t work too well for most phone numbers that I need to call (i.e. the Peace Corps toll-free numbers that we are required to call at times), diverse weather (sometimes cold and rainy, sometimes sunny and warm), and many opportunities.

 

I want to spend less time reading books and watching The Office/DVDs on my computer (however, feel free to send along DVDs and books in English or Spanish…I’m just saying I want to not spend all day reading a book).  My difficulty is in understanding the different social activities.  Like basically just sitting, or watching TV or a baby or some kids do something.  But, I never imagined I could be satisfied with the pace of life I have right now, so I’m sure in time I will also learn to enjoy these simpler activities.

 

I want to reassure you all that I’m doing well, learning a lot, and starting do development work-related activities.  So, all in all, despite the hardships (or maybe because of them and what they’re teaching me?) my life rocks for me right now!

 

Congratulations Nik, Nick (and other former residents of the Tube), Chenilicious, and the rest of my buddies in Cornell Class of ’08!  Enjoy senior week, graduation, and the shock about the reality of your life that follows!

 

Congratulations to the rest of you for reading the whole discombobulated (yes that’s the proper spelling) blog entry again.  I’m not even going to promise anything better next time, since my visits to the internet will be basically once or twice a month, I’m guessing.