Tech Week, aka Bolivia rocks but I´m tired

So it would be really hard to describe all that went on during our week traveling through the department of Santa Cruz (in the east). We visited some current volunteers’ sites, to see what their lives and work are like, and also to get technical practice working with communities, especially in the area of beekeeping. It was a lot of getting up early, putting on our bee suits and firing up our smokers, and inspecting hive after hive. We wore bee suits under a realllly hot sun while trekking through mud, under thorns, and up mountains to visit bee colonies. Not always fun during the activities, but looking back it was kinda fun. One day my group walked up a mountain for 40+ minutes, under that hot sun, and I was carrying 4 liters of water and some heavy stuff on my back. At least I wasn’t one of the boys, who rotated carrying a hive box full of frames on their back. We really could have used a burro (donkey), and I think if I have to do that sort of thing in my site, I will invest the 200-300 Bolivianos (27-40 dollars) in a burrito (little donkey, not the Mexican food I’ve been craving)…plus they’re the coolest animal you can find once you leave the Andes (llamas are obviously more awesome, but don’t exist in warmer climates). We definitely learned a lot, and it was cool to be doing things with the members of beekeeping cooperatives (in other words, we were participating directly with Bolivians and speaking Spanish). However, I feel more strongly about doing a non-bee project as my primary project, but I would definitely do beekeeping on the side. I realized this on the afternoon when we worked with a women’s group doing non-bee things. We made jam and just sat around talking about their activities. I actually think that day was my favorite, because the women were so friendly, and so strong! They had built, through a ton of hard work and with their own funds, a center to be the headquarters of their club de madres. That is no small task, they are definitely motivated, and I was just so inspired to work with them (don’t think they really “need help” so much as want someone to facilitate activities with them and the greater community). There will be a volunteer from our training class at that site, and I made it clear that I would realllllly be happy there. We find out our sites on Monday! I can’t wait! I requested a place where they want to focus more on gardens than on bees, but for some reason the trainers really want to put me with a bee-focused site, since they think one semester of beekeeping at school is enough to make me the Bee Whisperer or something. We shall see, I know I will make the best of any site that I get! …but I’m really hoping for one of the sites I requested.

Other random notes:
We danced on the bus a lot, very exhilarating over unpaved curvy roads. That helped us work off the terrible food (mostly) on the trip. The food did not quite jibe with the health conscience of most of our group. Usually lunch and dinner were rice and potato, sometimes macaroni too, with a slab of meat. The vegetarians got to eat deep fried eggs twice a day, the carnivores had a little more variety, but we all were feeling pretty weighed down by the second or third day of that. Our last 2 nights were in a gorgeous tourist-geared town called Samaipata, where we enjoyed tofu, vegetables, French pastry (!!!) and banana splits. If anybody is so inclined to visit Bolivia, that would be a good place to start a trip, since it’s just south of an amazing park, with tons of adventures and hiking available (hence its tourism industry). Also, I also got to know different people in my group of 15 aggies, and that may have been my favorite part…though we’re going to get split up in just 4 short weeks!

Finally, a HUGE shout out to my uncle Kev for sending the Hollywood edition of Vanity Fair, plus three great CD’s. It arrived the day we left, so that magazine got good use during our long rides.

mud and sun and mountains

bolivian toll booth

it´s prettier than this actually

mattress made out of old grain bags...not terrible, not great

eggs, rice, papas fritas

lebo and i do some ballet

How I Eat (a recipe)

So I enjoy just about everything that is put in front of me to eat here…I’m so lucky to be in a host family that serves such a variety of healthy (and meatless!) dishes. I thought I’d describe an especially awesome dish that I learned to make: relleno de achojcha (pronounced ah-CHOK-cha, if the K signifies a german “ch”). It’s sort of like chilies rellenos, but these are fried…mmmmmm J. The vegetable achojcha is not found in the U.S., but you could say it has sort of the texture of a pepper with a mildly cucumber/fresh veggie taste. Looks like a Hungarian wax pepper, but I don’t think it’s in the same family as peppers (still trying to figure out what it’s related to…).

So you start with steamed and hollowed out achojcha (no pic, sorry).

Fill with a mixture of campo cheese called quesillo (mild, soft, similar to ricotta, made locally—often in your own house, though ours came from a little ways down the road), cooked onion and tomato.

Fold up, dip in an egg-flour mixture.

Deep fry.

Blot off some of the oil, try not to eat too fast :).

For context, that day we ate the stuffed achojcha with steamed squash, fava beans (habas) and rice (DUH!).

Sorry all, don’t think you can find achojcha in the U.S….guess you’ll have to come visit some day to get to try it! Though I do think you can translate this nicely onto peppers.