finally...real pcv life

Big sigh of relief...I finally spent a week as a real pcv, and it feels great to finally be on my own. Um, I added my new address and cell # to the right for (niles)/bree and all others who would like to give me a call. I do have service in my site and even my room, although better service is obviously going to be when I´m in town...like this weekend, hint, since I´m on the internet, and no internet in site. Um, here is a picture of my room after being in it for approximately 10 minutes, I´ve put everything in its place eventually...and it is not such a tornado, but I was pumped about pulling everything out of boxes. It´s definately a nice place except for the pink-peachy color, and most assuredly bigger than my grosvenor room...not so much roughing it.

But...I really like Ms. Timmerding´s questions cuz it gives me a starting point to write about....so, I do have running water and even a flushing toilet, although sometimes the water decides to not run, but only for a couple of hours at most. But...no shower as of yet, so the buckets and sponge bathing will have to do for now. Hoping to get it fixed, but its not so bad really. Here´s a view of my town and typical altiplano, with lake poopo in the background.

It is all blue-skies and sunny, sunny now that it is turning into the dry season-winter. Definately getting colder...so I´m bundling up in layers and hats and such, but not so bad when I think about winter in the states. Climate-geography is coming into practice here...clearer skies=colder weather, since the clouds would hold in the sun´s heat.

Quechua is spoken in my site and on the eastern part of the lake (descendent from the Incas) but Aymara is typical of La Paz and other altiplano areas (descendent from the Tiahuanaco culture...the people who lived here before the incas came). But there is also a small village of Uru-Uru´s who live a couple kilometers away from me who speak uru-uru and have small round adobe houses that look similar to hobbit homes (small doors and everything). I´m learning a bit of Quechua slowly but surely. Like ´kay urapi tiyakuni´ means ´Yo vivo aqui abajo´ or ´I live right down there´ when people wonder where I´m living.

Yes, I´ve definately gotten homesick and miss my family and friends, but it´s all normal and natural. You begin to feel home here, and make new friends and family, and realize what an amazing experience it is to be living in a different culture and know how much you are growing as a person...and that at the end of it all, appreciate and love the ability that I will be able to go home and share it all with everyone. So, there is no ´I´d rather live in....´ because I´ve chosen to live here for 2 years and its all part of the adventure. That being said...the biggest thing to miss is people, cuz you can´t have everyone you care about with you at all times, but then after that probably food. It´s a bit hard to choke down potatoes and rice and noodles all the time, and not have cereal or pancakes for breakfast, and pull ice cream out of the fridge at night when you get the craving. But, on the other hand, everything is fresh and healthy and the soups are really amazing. I just have to be conscious about getting all my vitamens in, and take advantage of the fresh vegetables and fruits. Um, but my favorite candy is: snickers or peanut m&m´s and any fruit jelly-beans and-or hard-candy. Those always brighten the mood...and are fun to receive in the mail.

A definate life-saver for times when my moods are down is my music though, I´ve bought speakers for my ipod and that has been essential. Oh, and its the same time as EST right now...since you switched forward for day-light savings. The sun hits the peak of the mountain exactly at 7:30am and goes down promptly at 6:30pm...fairly regular.

Bolivia is an amazingly diverse country though. Something I think you should know is it is extremely politically active, with an abundance of popular participation in political events. There are regular road blocks to show disagreement of political decisions. Cutting of transportation access to major cities causes huge disrupts in economic daily business, let alone inconveniences in traveling. We always have to check to see about road-blocks before we head out anywhere. Currently there are ´bloqueos´ about oil and gas in the south-eastern part and about used U.S. clothing imports: the government wants to stop ´used-ropa´because it is putting Bolivian clothing factories out of business (and they are all for nationalizing the country and decreasing outside influences, but the used ropa sellers number in the 180 million (don´t know if that is exaggerated or even true) and they are protesting the decisions for the security of the jobs and well-being.

Um...but now a bit about work. Cuz that is what I´m doing here...I will probably be teaching in the school, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders environmental classes once a week, and have plans to get a recycling project up and running again: both schools have bins but they aren´t being used. I´ve talked to the government-mayor´s office about helping to get a land-fill project working again, currently they just dump their trash in the river ravine and also to see about an abandoned tree-nursery/greenhouse. A few community members expressed their excitement about giving trees away to help secure soil and provide wind-breaks around crop areas to people in the campo. I would also like to start an eco-club with the kids to use the recycling money for excursions and do fun things with them about the environment (maybe a radio show or tv anuncios)...to help them build pride and ownership. And other than that, I might volunteer in a day-care, spend a lot of time sitting in the plaza and chatting, learn some Quechua, get a bike and ride out to other communities, cook with the cholitas, play basketball and volleyball (I´ve been in a serious v-ball tournament this week), and make new friends. Sounds good to me.

Oh, and here´s a shameless self-portrait when I climbed the mountain last saturday.