"No ve?" vs. "YYYYYYYYYYYyyiii?"

So Thursday night, Lucas, Mansi, and I boarded our bus cama to Santa Cruz around 10PM. Although there was some confusion about which bus we were supposed to board and some scrambling around to find the right bus, we ended up getting to our correct bus and our right seats. Almost immediately we were on our way and fast asleep in our luxuriously wide bus cama seats. Well the trip was supposed to take about 10 hours, but we were on the bus for about 14 hours due to some unexpected cocaine checks by the cops with canines.

Finally when we arrived, we made our way to Jodanga's Backpacker's Hostal. We had made reservations for Saturday night, but couldn't for Friday, so we decided to check it out in person to see if they had any space. Turns out, they did not. Well, we looked through the books and the recommendations in the front lobby for what to do for the rest of the day, the night, and the next day until we could come back to the hostal. We settled on spending the afternoon at the Cabanas 20 minutes from Santa Cruz near the river, and the night and next day in Samaipata about 2.5 hours west of Santa Cruz in the cloud forests of the Bolivian lower mountains. At the Cabanas, we had a delicious fish lunch (Surubi... mmmm), and then Lucas and I drove around on some 4-wheelers in the dust and dirt.

After the 4-wheeling, we caught a cab back to the taxi station to Samaipata and were immediately off winding through the mountains near Santa Cruz to our Friday-night destination. Around 7PM, we were dropped off in the Plaza Principal of Samaipata, which was absolutely gorgeous. We took a seat on a bench and read my guide book to figure out where we were going to stay. As Lucas was reading off the options, I am pretty sure I heard the word "view," and I immediately said, "YES! Let's go there!" So we were off to Hostal Posada del Sol. So when we arrived, we were shown a suite with 2 bedrooms, a private bathroom, a kitchen area, a sofa, a single bed in the living area, and a double bed in the main bedroom. Well, Mansi and I could definitely share a bed, but we were nervous about how pricey it would be. Turns out, it was only about $8.50 per person to stay there! We were so excited that we had a clean and beautiful place to stay with the most amazingly beautiful night sky and stars above us. We showered and then headed into town to book our hiking tour into Parque Amboro for the next day and eat some dinner. We ate at a beautiful place called Latina Cafe that made me feel like I was nestled in a stone cottage in the middle of the French Alps. 

 

We had yummy pasta and delicious red wine. After dinner, we met some American and Hungarian travelers and bar hopped with them. Turns out there are really only 3 bars in Samaipata, so we bar hopped between the three. I would definitely say that Che Wilson was probably the most "hopping" of the three, but still nothing compared to Cochabamba. Anyhow, we had some skunked beer and then called it a night since we had to wake up early for our hike.

In the morning, we ate our included breakfast with the amazing view shown above in the background. Home-made jam, fresh warm bread, tea, and papaya juice with lemon really hit the spot. We then gathered our things, stored them in a luggage room, and headed off into town to meet up with Javier, our guide for the hike into the park. 

Javier was absolutely great. The hike, on the other hand, was an absolute adventure. Well the cloud forest is a very very humid place. Recently however, some very cold winds from Patagonia in Chile and Argentina called el "Surazo" came into the cloud forest and made the branches and leaves freeze. The last time this happened was 30 years ago, so we were in for an unexpected treat that only happens every few decades. The trees and leaves had basically exploded because of this phenomenon, since when water freezes inside things it explodes. Therefore, the entire forest was basically on the ground.

Well, it was definitely a tough hike up the mountain. Good thing Javier had his handy machete... well, actually Lucas had it most of the time since Javier didn't really feel like wasting the energy cutting things and Lucas was all for it. I fell a few times, and I was completely dirty, and I had some ants in my pants (just at the ankle part which is now swollen with ant bites), but the view from the top after 7 hours of hiking was absolutely magnificent. We were extremely exhausted, but we rested for 30 minutes to an hour at the top before heading back down.

After arriving back in Samaipata, we picked up our things, and hired a private cab back to Santa Cruz. We slept since we were totally burnt out, and we knew we wanted to go out and experience Santa Cruz's night life. We ate at a place on the Plaza Principal, and then headed to Equipatrol for some night clubs. We wanted to go into this place that my host sister had said was good, but it was closed for a birthday party. As we were walking away though, the guards said, "ok, ok, 10 Bs." So for 10 Bs, we entered a private birthday party. We danced the night away and then Mansi and I headed back to the hostal around 2:30AM while Lucas stayed out.

California Girls, we're unforgettable, daisy dukes, bikinis on top!!!! (-Cab dancing)

We talked with the night guard at the hostal for a while and got his number. We shared our peanuts and chocolates with him, and he was very happy. Then we went to bed... I think Lucas came in a couple hours after that. We are still not sure what happened with him that night. The next morning we headed to Alexander's with our new friend Magella from Ireland, but living in Australia. We might even meet up with her in el Salar to do the Uyuni trip with her.

After cake at Alexander's we went to the artisan market, bought some bracelets (for Eva... you better be happy), and then sat on the Plaza Principal. Then it was time for Mexican food and the trip back to Cochabamba. The trip back actually was a little smoother. 

 

Certainly there were cops searching for cocaine, but they only found that our ayudante (the helper, not the driver) was drunk. Oh well, they kicked him off, and we were back on the road. 5:30 AM, and we were back in Cochabamba. I was ready for a quick nap, and then a full day at work. Today will probably be spent finishing the enlgish portion of the website that I started yesterday, as well as planning Mansi and my fabulous ending trip in Bolivia to Sucre, Potosi, and the Salar.

So where did I leave off... Well I think it was Saturday. Turns out the girls from Northwestern went to Chapare, so we decided not to have the bonfire. Also, I saw rain for the first time in Bolivia, so that kind of prevented the bonfire as well. We still went to Katarin's for dinner though where I helped make about 5 pizzas! They were absolutely delicioso! We also made jello shots (mmmm) for afterward. While we were still in the process of making the pizzas, though, Matias, Katarin's 5 year old son, got a hold of the jello shots and said, "mmm, jello, can I have it while I wait for the pizza???" It was extremely hilarious and we had to pry it out of his hands telling him it was a trago (shot) and not for kids. So after dinner, the jello shot competition began. I hardly knew it would be a competition, but after 15 jello shots, I sure felt ready to head to bed. I was so exhausted from the night before, that I fell asleep at 9PM on Katarin's sofa! I was woken up at 2AM by Karin. And I happened to have a blanket covering my body and a pillow under my head... how deep was I sleeping? Anyways, Karin is a sweetheart and made sure I was comfortable even in my sleep.

Sunday was spent at the Hotel Portales pool again. The sun was out again. No more rain. At night, Natalia, Mansi, and I made quesadillas at their house. I was in charge of the guacamole and salsas. They were absolutely delicious and their entire family ate with us and enjoyed it.

The rest of this week was spent at the office creating the website. On Monday we met with the web page designer. He taught us how to enter our information onto the current website. This week we have basically been working to refine what we already have and enter all the information onto the website. Next week, we will be working with the designer so he can do all the coding since we have no idea how a PHP platform works (although I can know create basic HTML websites... yay me). Well we will be working to have the website be dual language, photo slideshow, mini entrance site for affiliates to upload their information, a search option, and basically making the design more user friendly. To see what we have so far, visit www.cadepia.org. We only have the information now, but you will at least be able to see the changes if you look at it now, and look at it at the end of next week.

Well last night, I went on my first date. If you can even call it that. I would like to think that it was NOT a date. Anyhow, I set up Esteban and Mansi because Mansi likes Esteban's teeth... or dientes. Mansi told me I had to come if she was going to go out with him. Esteban told me if I came I had to bring a date. Well, I wasn't about to bring my 35 year-old Bolivian stalker, Richard (who turns out to actually be un buen gente according to my work friends who know him because he is an affiliate). So instead, I turned to a boy I had met a while ago and who keeps texting me asking me to hang out with him. So all four of us ate at Paprika where I had the best margarita I have tasted in my entire life! After we wanted to go dancing at Tirana, but it was closed! So being my boring self, I went home and went to bed.

Also, I forgot to write about this... yesterday, my mommy made cunapes (which is a yucca bread with cheese pictured below), cheese empanadas (plain and picante), AND rollitos! They were all amazing and I am excited to go home right now and eat some more!

 Cunapes

Rollos

Well, I'm about to leave work to go find some portable speakers (parlantes portatiles... I need to remember that word) since I'm leaving for Santa Cruz tonight with Lucas and Mansi. Then I have to eat, finish packing, and I'm off to the Las Vegas of Bolivia. Pictures and more to come. Miss you all!

Sometimes I do other things that don´t involve parties

Where to even begin...Well Tuesday was interesting because I spent much of the day lying on the bathroom floor with my head over the toilet, but hey, This Is Bolivia, so I have come to expect that. Good new though, I am still not afraid of tomatoes or any other raw vegetables that are placed in front of me. On Wednesday I went back to work, and Yudozca, the woman that works in my office invited Esteban and I to a party for her younger sister who was returning home from Argentina (the sister lives there). I went with my sister, and we talked, I got to hear her sister play the violin amazingly, and we had an interminable pizza (basically a pizza that is the size of a medium-sized circular table about 3.5 feet in diameter).

On Thursday, Esteban and I basically finished up the website we have created for CADEPIA. Then at night it was Festival de La Paz, so of course we had to go out. Mansi and I first met at a pizza restaurant to hang out with this guy we had met the weekend before, but then we didn´t want to see him, so we just left and stood him up. Instead we bought a bottle of wine and made spaghetti at her house. Then we took the bottle of wine to the streets to finish it up and met Lucas at the festival. We had this delicious hot milk drink with cinnamon and Singani.

I have no idea what it is called, but it is muy rico. We stayed out late meaning the next morning I really did not want to get up for work.

When I kiss boys they enjoy it...

When they kiss me, it's torture... I guess I haven't grown out of my disgust of kisses.

Friday seems like it passed in a second. In the morning Esteban and I went to the post office to see about CADEPIA´s current situation since they used to have a P.O. box but hadn´t paid in about 15 years. Turns out they gave our mailbox away and don´t even have a record of us in the system. This is a great thing because that means they have no proof of the debt CADEPIA is really in with them, so we can just go ahead and get a new P.O. Box. We need one because we want to start getting donations and people are going to need an address to send their checks to. Well Friday night, I left work early after I presented the website to my supervisor who was really impressed. I hung out with my sister and niece for a while and then met up with everyone at Mansi´s where they were playing catcho and drinking rum. We then went to Tirana and I was talking with this boy that is half Bolivian but he lives in the U.S. Turns out he was only 18, so we all decided to leave to go to Pimienta. Soon after, everyone wanted to leave and, once again, it was just me and Mansi. We met some Australian boys and we hung out with them the rest of the night. I think I got home around 4AM, so I am a bit tired right now. I did wake up in time, though, to go get fitted for the leather coat I am having made for me.

That´s it for now. Pictures to come, and more stories about the fogata I am going to attend with my family tonight. We are each designing our own pizza. Yummy!

Life in CADEPIA's office

This post is dedicated to the Bolivian culture here in CADEPIA/APIMEC’s office:

(1) Everyone loves to watch the World Cup. Work seems to stop whenever there is a game on. Work definitely stops whenever there is a game on with a South American team. In fact, if I wanted to leave work to watch the game at the closest bar or restaurant, I would likely find someone from CADEPIA there screaming at the T.V. Since the World Cup ended yesterday, everyone seems a little bit down since there are no more distractions to prevent us from working.

(2) Everyone likes to be involved in everyone’s love life. It seems as if I am currently going on several dates with friends of friends and family members of people in the office. I’m sure hoping it's all a joke. Also, I seem to be the target of everyone's jokes since I have a Bolivian stalker named Richard. Richard is an affiliate of CADEPIA, and that is all I knew about him. However, as soon as I told one person in the office about Richard, everyone in the office found out about Richard. Some internal stalking about Richard's personal life then followed, and now I know that Richard is a carpinter, is about 33 years old, and was also very good friends with the volunteer from Spain who came before me. Thanks CADEPIA, maybe now I will take him up on his offer to go to the movies, but really really really, I will not!

(3) If you come into work on time you are early. If you come into work 30 minutes late, you are probably still early. About 45 minutes late is right on time. I think I am supposed to be working about 40 hours a week. I'd say that usually is only about 30-35 hours. I've learned here that the U.S. is obsessed with moving as fast as they possibly can. That creates stress. Stress makes you uncomfortable, fat, and unhealthy. We all need to learn to slow down, maybe not quite as slow as things move here at CADEPIA, but slow enough to build relationships and be healthy.

A new week a new project? Just maybe

Well last week turned out to be extremely fun. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights were all spent in the pool. Hopefully I'll make some more friends at swim practice this week, though. On Wednesday, it was Aliya's birthday who used to live with my host family, so I guess technically she is my sister too. Her brother and sister came down from the U.S. to celebrate with her. We all had a great big birthday lunch in her honor on Wednesday and everyone opened presents. Then on Wednesday night, there were festivities, singing, dancing, instrument playing, and plenty of tragos to go around. Aliya works for a group called Katari, which specializes in helping young students pursue their musical and other artistic talents. Therefore, pretty much EVERYONE was singing and playing an instrument. It was great listening, although I couldn't participate because, unfortunately, my parents did not give me vocal cords that would sound good to anyone.

On Thursday, work was once again tiring and boring, and pretty much nothing got done. However, we did figure out a new project to work on. We are going to update the website and put more information about internships, volunteering, and most importantly, making donations to CADEPIA. Right now, the organization is a little lacking in cash. My favorite person in the entire office, Berinice, is leaving at the end of the month because CADEPIA just doesn't have the funds to pay her, and it's come to a point where she just isn't going to work for free. But Thursday night after work, I went to Mansi's house where she cooked for Natalia, her Spanish tutor, and me. She made delicious vegetarian Indian food. Yummmmm.

Friday was a little better, we finally got revisions back on our submitted project. They all really seemed to like the model that we built in Excel because all you really have to do is enter in some numbers, and BOOM, you've got an interest rate. We do have a few things to edit, however. For example, we need to create a guide for future volunteers to follow when they are conducting follow-ups with borrowers. Also, we need to create a job description and criteria for volunteers. But they pretty much liked everything else, and will be presenting it to the Board of Directors today. After work on Friday, I went to a charla at the FSD office where they talked about emigration from Bolivia. Apparently it is a pretty big problem, because 1 in every 5 Bolivians doesn't actually live in Bolivia. Also, once a Bolivian leaves the country, it is very very unlikely that they will ever return either because they have a stable situation elsewhere or because the cost of returning is just too much.  I also met the students who had just arrived on the Northwestern service learning trip. I helped them avert a disaster as well. I was talking on Skype to my mom when I heard that chatting about meeting up at Mandarina for dancing at 10 or so. I went down and told them, "no no no" discotecas in Bolivia don't open until midnight, so you better find something else to do before then. I told them about the discotecas, the bars, and basically the nightlife... and they seemed pretty thankful that I was there. (I was the only summer intern there because everyone else was in various places either traveling on their own, with their family, or with work.) I decided not to go out on Friday, though, because I was tired from the week at work, and my sister was sick, so I decided to cuddle in bed with her and watch TV.

Saturday was a bit more fun. I got my hair cut in the morning = $5.50. Then in the afternoon, I went to La Cancha with my sister where I got a mini tour (it is impossible to ever get a grand tour unless you actually stay in La Canch for a week!). I also bought a belt since my pants were falling down... real leather belt for $5, WOW! And then I bought the new Shakira CD for Tricia... except its actually a DVD which is kind of cooler! Then at night I was supposed to go out dancing with Karin, but she felt sick again. Luckily, right after she told me she was sick, Mansi texted me and said she was coming home tonight! So I met Mansi at Dumbo's on the Prado, and then we finished an entire bottle of wine between the two of us at Casa de Solar, and then we went dancing at Pimienta. We met two people, and now we have two Bolivian friends that we are going to eat pizza with this week.

Sunday morning was tough. I needed to sleep. Until 12:30 PM. At 2, we at lunch. Then after lunch I met up with Mansi at Hotel Portales where there is a gorgeous pool. I sat by the pool and read while she worked on writing her grant proposal. Also, since the World Cup final was on, I was up and down from my spot where I was basking in the sun to see the score of the game. It was always 0-0! But I kept hearing screams and shouts, so I kept wanting to see the score of the game. FINALLY, Spain scored. All I could hear was: Espana, Espana, Espana!!!!!!! Viva Espana! Then after the game, and after the pool, I showed Mansi the best supermarket in Cochabamba where we got our share of American food to hold us over for the next week. We then headed to the Prado to search for the best chocolate cake in Cochabamba which I had just tried the night before. It is from a placed called Alexander's and my sister told me it was on the Prado, and there were two stores also in the South. We couldn't find the cafe, though, and we kept asking people, and no one had heard of it, and when I called my sister she didn't pick up. Finally, we decided to head to Cine Center to watch a movie. On the way there, Karin called me... and what did I find out? Alexander's actually has the BEST chocolate cake in Bolivia, not Cochabamba. And what ELSE did I find out? Alexander's is only located in La Paz. Well, I guess it turns out I hadn't really been listening too well when Karin had been telling me where it was earlier. We were a little far from La Paz, so I guess no chocolate cake anytime soon.

"Live like you're gonna die forever"

Last week at work we finished our project! Yay! So the model we constructed has seven risk factors and each factor is assigned a value depending on that particular loan or borrower. From there, the value is given a weight and then a final point value. With this final point value, we created a set of interest rates ranging from 15%-28% depending on the risk of the loan. And I have to send a big thanks to Mansi because she basically set the whole model up... but I do think I could create a new one from scratch if I had to.

Esteban and I then wrote a 35 page report compiling all of our information and then created a PowerPoint. Well that was done on Thursday, to be edited and handed back to us so we could finish it up this week, but TIB (This is Bolivia), and I'll probably have to wait a few days. Now just what to do in the mean time.... I will need to pick a new project.

Over the weekend, the entire FSD summer volunteer group went to the Chapare, or the jungle resort 4 hours outside of Cochabamba. Half way there, I started feeling sick, but I thought I was just car sick. Turns out, I had food poisoning. It probably goes without saying, but I wasn't feeling too good when we took this group photo at lunch.

As soon as I got to the hotel, I curled up in the fetal position and slept basically until the next afternoon. And then, miraculously, I was better! I did miss a hike through a national park which was sad though. Instead I was at the hotel alone, and I hiked down to the river, went swimming. Took a little walk across the rocks, and then went up to the hammocks to start my new book, Mountains Beyond Mountains. Yes... I finished Three Cups of Tea, and it was fabulous... definitely recommend. When the rest of the group returned from the the national park, I went down to the river again with them, and then we had a "discussion" about our internships so far.

Then it was a dinner, and a riotous night of Napoleon (a very awesome card game that is extremely frustrating) and Catcho (the Bolivian dice game like poker). An American we had met by the river earlier that day came to hang out with us with his Bolivian girlfriend. Since I decided not to drink any alcohol (due to my earlier stomach incidents), I got to experience the entire night and actually remember it. Here is how it went:

1. Bottle of rum + Coke
2. No more rum... no more coke
3. Instead of breaking into the building with the bar, we should probably ask them to sell us more rum
4. They won't sell us rum
5. Mateo is inside, how did he get inside? Oh... he climbed on the roof of the people's home and jumped into the building on the second floor.
6. Mateo is unlocking the door and carrying out a bottle of rum + coke
7. Problem solved... leave them a note with money inside
8. But wait... we want cigarettes now?
9. Lets go back in and search for the key for the locked cigarette box
10. The glass box breaks... Let's leave.
11. Next morning... the rum's price increased by 150 Bolivianos ($21).
12. Lesson = don't break into a building to steal alcohol... don't break into a building to steal anything... don't break into a building period!

The next morning, I felt great and rested, but everyone else was still a bit groggy. Mateo ate eggs for breakfast. We smelled it all day long. We went to a monkey park and had monkeys scrambling all around us. And then we ate lunch, and then we headed back to Cochabamba. Back in Cocha, I ran home to shower, met two of the Northwestern girls who had just arrived with the Service Learning Group, and then ran to CineCenter to catch Plan B with Mateo and Mansi. It was the funniest movie ever, but not because it was supposed to be funny, but because it was so stupid.

Yesterday at work, I didn't have much to do, so I researched opportunities for after college. I decided that I am going to apply to the PeaceCorps, Teach for America, and a Fulbright Scholarship. Then before lunch I went to the pool to register and pay for the swim classes. They said I couldn't register and I had to come back at 3. I decided I would miss a little work to register. I went back to the pool after lunch at 3. They lady wasn't there. She finally arrived at 4. Then there was a line to register. And then TIB (This is Bolivia), so everyone decided to cut the American who waits patiently in a line. And then finally I registered which took 1 minute, but for some reason everyone in front of me took about 10 minutes each to register. Next I needed to pay, which was at the stadium next door. Finally, I found the place to pay and paid. Now it is 5:15. They tell me I need to get a medical examination before I can swim. So I go to the room next door to get examined. Another line, of course. Around 6PM I finish the examination, and it is pretty much pointless to go to work, so I skipped.... ooops. They will understand. At 8, I went to the swim class, and it was really good and really difficult. I needed it. Now I'm ready for the day ahead and will try to find some work to do.