Potosi and Sucre

I am back at home munching on some buttered rolls and sipping on hot tea and thought what better time to update my blog. This past week has been packed between traveling to Potosi and Sucre. Our group arrived to Potosi Monday afternoon after a quick flight to Sucre and 4 hour bus ride up to Potosi which at 14,000 ft is the highest city in the world. Potosi also happens to be one of the poorest cities in the world. While I have started to like Cochabamba more and more it could not compare to how much I enjoyed Potosi. In colonial times Potosi ranked as one of the wealthiest cities in the world for its rich mining industry. Through extensive and brutal mining efforts Potosi supplied large proportions of the worlds silver and tin. For this reason the city has beautiful old structures and narrow streets barely big enough for a car to pass through, I loved the feelings of antiqueness and history that the city held. Despite the beauty of the city because the mines of Potosi have been so exploited there is not as much work for the population and the city is riddled with struggling families of ex-miners, and miners.


On Tuesday our group entered the mines. Before we entered we were provided with the proper attire including helmets with large head lamps, classy blue jackets, and bulky rubber boots. Once everyone was set and looking good in blue we stopped by a market close to the mines to buy some gifts for the miners we were going to pass in the mines as a sign of respect. Some bought alcohol, others bags of coca leaves, and myself a few sticks of dynamite. Our tour through the mines involved a lot of ducking and crawling as we explored 5 of the many levels of the mine. I couldn’t help but feel like an ant in an anthill and found myself getting somewhat anxious at the thought of getting lost in such a complex three-dimensional maze. After the mines we visited a centre for children of the miners. The centre reminded me a lot of CODESCO RL, where I worked in Nicaragua. Wednesday half our group stayed in Potosi to explore various museums, while the other half ventured off to a hot springs known as the ‘eye of the Incas.’ I joined the hot springs group and though I did not go for a dip I took some time to hike around, journal, and take lots of photos.


Sucre is another beautiful city full of antique white buildings. In the Sucre airport is a big sign welcoming you to the capitol of Bolivia, there is definitely still some tension about this capital issue. Thursday morning we visited an indigenous art museum which focused on the ancient and recent weavings of the Quechuas. I was fascinated by everything, so much so that I am considering doing my month long research on the topic. After the morning at the museum the group split for some individual Sucre exploration. I broke off with three others to eat some chorizo (a special kind of deep-fried sausage), a typical dish of Sucre. We then bought a bunch of chocolate (which is also uniquely good in Sucre) and sat in the plaza for a few hours.

While I would have loved a few more days in Sucre to explore I am happy to be back in Cochabamba with my host family. It can get a bit tiring traveling with a group of 23 people. That said I feel a lot closer to the group after a week of travel and am having an all around amazing time. Classes will begin as before on Monday and then Saturday we will be heading to La Paz for a week.

Tranquilo en Cochabamba

For anyone who has been keeping up with Bolivian news, things have been a little on edge. Cochabamba is tranquilo, but in Pando and Santa Cruz there has been a lot of violence and demonstrations. Last week when I was walking back from class I couldn’t help by notice I wasn’t having to dodge as many cars and buses as usual. When I turned the corner into my neighborhood (Chimba) the line for the gas station was down the street and around the corner. Because of the blockades in the south gas has not been as abundant in Cochabamba. There was a crowed of people around the gas pump with empty trash bags and coke bottles to fill with gas, quite a sight. I don’t want to go too deeply into political issues but Evo Moralez asked the US ambassador to leave the country which has caused a few repercussions. The Peace core has left the country but SIT has decided that we are in no immediate danger and are going to continue the program as planned. If things turn more serious we will relocate to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Between classes, watching the news, and getting to know Cochabamba better I have been pretty busy. I usually get back from classes at 7ish have a simple dinner of tea and bread and am able to read a few pages of tarea before I pass out. I have been taking Tai Chi classes in the mornings which are adding to my overall exhaustion at night. I get up at 5:45 every morning and call a taxi to take me to my director Ismael’s house where he and his wife give lessons in tai chi. After tai chi I head to SIT for classes. My classes are going great, and are getting easier and easier to follow as my Spanish improves.

Last weekend we had Monday off to celebrate the day of Cochabamba. A group of us decided to hike in a nearby nature reserve, Tunari. It was nice to get out of the city for a while. The hike was beautiful with great views of Cochabamba…

On Thursday our group went into the campo for the first time. The difference between the city Cochabamba and the campo was amazing. I hope spend a lot more time getting to know the campo…

Cochabamba

I have officially been in Cochabamba for a week, thought it feels more like a month. I am starting to feel much more comfortable in the city and am excited to be back in the routine of a student. My schedule more or less is class from 9-12:30 in either a Field Study Seminar or a Culture and Development Seminar, 12:30-2:45 I have off to walk home and eat lunch with my family and then I return to SIT from 2:45-6:15 for Spanish classes. I will have my first official Culture and Development Seminar tomorrow and am getting pretty excited since our teacher was just elected governor of Cochabamba. Since he is busy with this new job our classes will be held in the governor’s office. All our other classes are held in a portion of a University (located in the heart of Cochabamba) which has been segmented off for SIT. It is a beautiful place to have classes with high ceilings, a black and white checker board floor, and a few random pillars. It kind of reminds me of being on an antique stage. The building is about a half an hour walk from my house which I would usually enjoy taking four times a day if it weren’t for all the streets I have to cross which are packed with merciless cars and buses. My host mom has been walking me to and from classes for the past few days but today I convinced her that I understood the way, and after being drilled with a few questions I ‘past the test’ and will now be permitted to walk alone.

My host family is fantastic; we clicked right off the bat. I am living with a middle-upper class family in a very comfortable home. My host parents Jane and Rudy are jewelers that work from home and create beautiful necklaces, rings, bracelets… They sell their jewelry in Bolivia but also in the USA and Europe, it is very impressive stuff. They have a web-cite which I would include on this blog except that I can’t remember it at the moment. I also have two host sisters, Deni (17) and Vanette (13) who are a lot of fun. My host Dad is rather obsessed with motorcycles so after I arrived to the house Thursday night, before I had time to start unpacking, me and my host family went to a motorcycle gathering where there were various competitions and people walked around admiring other peoples antique motorcycles. It was great, I ate some delicious empanadas (by far my favorite Bolivian food so far), and watched my host mom win a competition in which, standing behind the driver of a motorcycle, she was able to take a bite of a hanging hotdog as the motorcycle past under it. Friday I spent some quality bonding time with my youngest host sister. Vanette is very into acting so we went to a play that was put on by her acting school. The play ‘Nuestra Historia Mas Alla del SIDA’ was about how AIDS was introduced into the Bolivian society starting from the period of the cave men. It was very well done and a good introduction for me into Bolivia because it contained a lot of Bolivian history and even talk of globalization.

Sunday in Cochabamba was the day of the pedestrian. It is a kind of holiday here where for one day no one drives any motor vehicles and the streets are instead filled with people walking or biking. It is supposed to be a day to respect the environment and acknowledge problems with pollution. My host sister Deni got me out of bed bright and early and we biked all over Cochabamba. It was a really fun way to get to know the city better. We both agreed at the end of the day that this should be a tradition that takes place every Sunday. The only issue of the day was that we didn’t respect how strong the sun was and both ended up pretty rosy.

Day of the Pedestrian

Statue dedicated to the lerdaer of the struggle to free Cochabamba from the spanish rule. I pass this four times a day to and from classes.

Moving South

So here I am at in an Internet cafe yet again, this time getting settled in Bolivia. I have been here for three days now and am still going through orientation with SIT. Tonight I will be meeting my host family for the first time and then tomorrow I will move in with my host family and start getting a feel for my daily routine. My group seems great so far. They are from all over the states and have a wide rage of interests academically. I am finding that all the initial impressions I am making of Bolivia are based off of my experiences in Nicaragua. It has been a little harder then I thought it would to change mind sets from working in Nicaragua to being a student in Bolivia. Then again this is only day three...

For anyone who has been keeping track of my blog, thank you. I really appreciate the encouraging comments, it means a lot to me to know people are behind me in all my travels. I thought before I dive into describing in detail my semester in Bolivia I would give a wrap up of my time in Nicaragua. In the end my grant project was an incredibly rewarding experience. Through working with the youth and community of the centre my motivation behind the project began to pick up as I realized that these individuals wanted to learn english for different reasons then why I have been trying to learn spanish. Besides increasing the opportunities for them to find jobs in their futures, enigish is a sign for them of wealth and success. They therefore have a drive to learn english that most americans do not share in their studies of spanish. The highlight of the project for me was how in the process of implementing the english classes I held workshops with the youth encouraging them to think of ways in which english would influence their future. I then had them each pull together their ideas in a picture which I compiled and created a design for a mural which I completed painting in the last few days of my internship.

I had wanted to go a little deeper here into my final thoughts on Nicaragua but I am finding that I have less free time then I did in Nicaragua and need to run back to get ready to meet my host family. Once I get settled with my host family this weekend I hope to add a little more to this post.