I am now just days away from the end of my 10 months here in Cochabamba, Bolivia, both very excited to be returning home to family and friends, and dreading the moments when I will have to finally say goodbye to my "family" (i.e. the kids) and friends here. It seems as though my time here has just flown right by, as if I only arrived a few weeks ago. And yet, in denial of my departure or not, it is coming. Just yesterday I had my first despedida, this one with Tyson and Carolina. This coming week, I can expect another 3 before heading off to the airport. Friday morning I shall be saying goodbye to the kids at CAT, Saturday lunch time will be a "chau" to the boys at Nasaret, and Saturday night I will say goodbye to my friends. Then Sunday morning I will be boarding a plane.
How do I sum up the last 10 months? I don't even know where to begin. Certainly, they have been challenging, fun, and sometimes confusing. I have probably been sick more often, and worse, during my 10 months here than during that prior 10 years of my life. I have made and said goodbye to many friends. I have wondered if there was anything I could really do do to help while here. I have missed people back home in Canada. And yet, this has probably been the best 10 months of my life. I have made some great friends here, and gotten to know some absolutely amazing children. Yes, it will be very hard to say goodbye to the kids, but I see this as proof that I have been able to connect with them. My missing them shows me that, during my time here, a relationship developed that is worth missing.
I want to thank everyone who has followed this blog and kept up with my life down here. I also want to thank everybody who has supported me on this trip: financially with money, emotionally with emails and letters, and spiritually with prayers and encouragement. Your support has made it possible for me to be here, and has also reminded me of the blessings that I have been given. Despite my sadness at leaving here, I am honestly looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back home.
Will I ever return to Bolivia? I honestly don't know. I expect that the next 2-3 years will probably be occupied with finishing university, and then working for at least a bit. After that, only God knows right now. I would certainly love to come back here, and see everyone again. But with my apparent skill at picking up languages, I suppose I could really go anywhere. On the other hand, there are also plenty of things to get involved in, right back at home in Canada. I guess I shall just have to wait and see what God has in store.
I suppose that, really, the only thing left to do is say goodbye. As this will be my last blog entry, I must say—in one context at least—goodbye to those of you who have followed this blog over the past months. That being said, I will be saying "hello" to many of you quite soon. Goodbye also to the friends I have made while here—I wish you the best, and earnestly hope that we will keep in touch over the years, and maybe even see one another again, wherever we end up. Finally, I will have to say my hardest goodbye to the kids later this week. My kids, my soccer trainees, my Math and Spanish pupils, the ones who have driven me crazy, made me angry at times, made me laugh and smile, who sometimes made me cry when I learned their sad stories, and most of all, who made me love them. I will miss them dearly, and I will remember them always.
Goodbye. Chau. Hasta luego. Adios. God bless.
This is Dave, signing out.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Eres un Campeón
Once again I must apologize for my lack of a post last week, however I was very busy (even more so than usual) and did not have time to post an update. Either way, I will do my best to sum up the past two weeks.
Health-wise, I have unfortunately not be doing so well as of late. While my eye infection cleared up fairly quickly, I ended up getting another cold later in the week. Then, on Thursday (the 3rd) I re-injured my foot, in the same spot where I injured it about 2 months ago. Finally, I ended up not sleeping this past Wednesday night due to a very bad bout with a 12-hour stomach flu. (I then spent all day Thursday and half of Friday sleeping). Thankfully, I am now feeling much better health-wise, except for my foot which hasn't fully healed. Either way, my various health issues have not been enough to prevent me from having an otherwise excellent two weeks.
On June 30th, an 11-person team from Elevation arrived here in Cochabamba for a 2-week trip. I enjoyed hanging out with them during their time here, including working with them at CAT, taking them out or going with them to dinner, and going bowling with them. I even got to take them to Las Leñas, and they all agreed with my opinion that they serve excellent pizza. I said goodbye to the team this past Saturday, when they all headed off to the airport to go back home to Waterloo. I look forward to seeing them again when I return there this fall.
Last week, I spent all day Monday through Wednesday at CAT with the Elevation team, painting the girls room, which had already had some physical renovations done using money that the team raised back in Canada. In addition to painting the walls—which included painting some big flowers too—we varnished and did some minor repairs on all the wood furniture used in the room, and also paid to have a plastic floor cover (which will help to insulate the room and should be easy to clean) installed. The room now looks much nicer than it did before, to the excitment of not just the girls, but the staff as well.
At Nasaret, we celebrated the home's anniversay on July 4th with an entire day in the park. We had bbq'd chicken for lunch, and many spent the day relaxing. The highlight for me, however, was our afternoon game of Deathball. Deathball is a simple 5-rule game that John used to play back in the UK, at a school where he worked, and he thought that the soft grass in the park provided a playing field for it. So after lunch we made an announcement that we were going to be playing a game that was only for the "men" in the house, and off we went. Before starting the game, John explained the rules to the boys: 1) Your team must place the ball, with your hand on it, in the other team's "endzone", a small circular area; 2) No going outside the playing field with the ball; 3) No punching; 4) No kicking; 5) No crying. With the rules explained, John and I picked teams and play began. Deathball plays sort of like a violent version of rugby, and the kids absolutely loved it. I think it was good for them to be able to get out some aggression in a controlled manner, and it was also cool to see just how tough some of them really are. I think they probably enjoyed pile-ups most, since quite frequently there would end up being piles of 10 or more boys, sometimes not even bothering to fight for the ball.
Last Saturday (the 5th), I enjoyed going back to my Bolivian family's house in order to attend a surprise birthday party for Rachel, one of the Tearfund girls. I baked a chocolate cake for the occasion, and decorated it using M&M Minis, complete with an orange M&M llama. In addition to cake, we of course had pizza, and some truffles that Hannah had made. Rachel hadn't actually been expecting the party, so it was a nice surprise for her. The funniest moment of the night, by all accounts, was when I sang "The Happy Happy Birthday Song" (by The Arrogant Worms) to Rachel after dinner. I honestly had to stop singing a few times because I was laughing so much. For those of you who have never heard this song, a few of the lines from the song are as follows:
"Happy Birthday! Now you're one year older.
Happy Birthday! You're life still isn't over.
Happy Birthday! You did not accomplish much.
But you didn't die this year I guess that's good enough."
Rachel's actual birthday was on Tuesday, and we celebrated it with dinner at Las Islas, a not necessarily safe (stomach-wise) grouping of street food vendors on the north side of town. I enjoyed a yummy dinner of grilled anticucho (cow heart) with potatoe and yucca. (Thankfully, I was able to enjoy it without any undesireable side effects.) After dinner, the girls and Ludwe made their way to the movies, and I headed to Philipa and Lois's despedida. It was a fun party, although saying goodbye to them made me realize just how soon I leave, which is now in under two weeks.
The biggest highlight of the past two weeks, however, and possibly of my time in Bolivia, were the Nasaret boys' football (soccer) tournament finals this past weekend. Both our 9-and-under and our 12-and-under teams made it to the finals, which were played on Sunday. The entire house went to see the games, and everyone was really excited. The sub-9 team had a really hard-fought game, which they won 3-2. Beyond being a really good, exciting game of football, John and I (and the boys, and the entire house) pretty much exploded when the final whistle blew. The sub-12 team's game wasn't quite as exciting, due mostly to the fact that they had played a better team during the semi-finals on Saturday, and so the team they faced Sunday was less of a challenge for them. They won 7-1, against a team that was from a football school. The two wins were a really big moment for the boys, and everyone is still excited about it. John and I had coached them for over a month prior to the tournament, they worked really hard for it, and they got to see the results of their hard work. While I am of course excited to see the results of the time I put in with them, I am more excited about what this means for the kids themselves. Some of these boys worked hard and improved a lot, and they can see that. Also, for them to have won something, to have earned it, to be the best, is absolutely huge for them. When I think about the hard lives some of these kids have had, when I see the low self esteem some of them have, I can't even begin to imagine the good it does them to be able to say "soy un campeón" (I am a champion). It's just huge. To be able look at them in the eye and say "Eres un campeón" (You are a champion), and have them not think that it's just words, but something that they know is true, is just so awesome. While these boys are "champions" (special, amazing, awesome, worthy of being loved and cared for) in my opinion, regardless of whether or not they're good at football, there's something special for them in winning something, in being the best. They're not used to winning, they don't usually expect to be the best, and just maybe this tournament will start them thinking that they are good enough. And not just in football, but in the rest of life, too. Maybe some of them can begin to think "soy un campeón" in whatever it is they're doing, in whatever situation they're in.
We celebrated the victories with dinner—four massive (70cm/2'4") pizzas which the boys happily polished off—and a movie at my house Sunday night. It was a nice way to celebrate the victories, and also a good way to end the winter school vacations. Everyone came, not just the football teams, and was happy to celebrate. For the movie, we watched Kung Fu Panda, which both the kids and the adults (including myself) enjoyed. At the end of the day, all the kids went home, feeling happy and excited, thanking me for the use of my house and John for the pizza. I decided to leave cleaning till Monday morning, and went to bed, still happy for their victory.
Health-wise, I have unfortunately not be doing so well as of late. While my eye infection cleared up fairly quickly, I ended up getting another cold later in the week. Then, on Thursday (the 3rd) I re-injured my foot, in the same spot where I injured it about 2 months ago. Finally, I ended up not sleeping this past Wednesday night due to a very bad bout with a 12-hour stomach flu. (I then spent all day Thursday and half of Friday sleeping). Thankfully, I am now feeling much better health-wise, except for my foot which hasn't fully healed. Either way, my various health issues have not been enough to prevent me from having an otherwise excellent two weeks.
On June 30th, an 11-person team from Elevation arrived here in Cochabamba for a 2-week trip. I enjoyed hanging out with them during their time here, including working with them at CAT, taking them out or going with them to dinner, and going bowling with them. I even got to take them to Las Leñas, and they all agreed with my opinion that they serve excellent pizza. I said goodbye to the team this past Saturday, when they all headed off to the airport to go back home to Waterloo. I look forward to seeing them again when I return there this fall.
Last week, I spent all day Monday through Wednesday at CAT with the Elevation team, painting the girls room, which had already had some physical renovations done using money that the team raised back in Canada. In addition to painting the walls—which included painting some big flowers too—we varnished and did some minor repairs on all the wood furniture used in the room, and also paid to have a plastic floor cover (which will help to insulate the room and should be easy to clean) installed. The room now looks much nicer than it did before, to the excitment of not just the girls, but the staff as well.
At Nasaret, we celebrated the home's anniversay on July 4th with an entire day in the park. We had bbq'd chicken for lunch, and many spent the day relaxing. The highlight for me, however, was our afternoon game of Deathball. Deathball is a simple 5-rule game that John used to play back in the UK, at a school where he worked, and he thought that the soft grass in the park provided a playing field for it. So after lunch we made an announcement that we were going to be playing a game that was only for the "men" in the house, and off we went. Before starting the game, John explained the rules to the boys: 1) Your team must place the ball, with your hand on it, in the other team's "endzone", a small circular area; 2) No going outside the playing field with the ball; 3) No punching; 4) No kicking; 5) No crying. With the rules explained, John and I picked teams and play began. Deathball plays sort of like a violent version of rugby, and the kids absolutely loved it. I think it was good for them to be able to get out some aggression in a controlled manner, and it was also cool to see just how tough some of them really are. I think they probably enjoyed pile-ups most, since quite frequently there would end up being piles of 10 or more boys, sometimes not even bothering to fight for the ball.
Last Saturday (the 5th), I enjoyed going back to my Bolivian family's house in order to attend a surprise birthday party for Rachel, one of the Tearfund girls. I baked a chocolate cake for the occasion, and decorated it using M&M Minis, complete with an orange M&M llama. In addition to cake, we of course had pizza, and some truffles that Hannah had made. Rachel hadn't actually been expecting the party, so it was a nice surprise for her. The funniest moment of the night, by all accounts, was when I sang "The Happy Happy Birthday Song" (by The Arrogant Worms) to Rachel after dinner. I honestly had to stop singing a few times because I was laughing so much. For those of you who have never heard this song, a few of the lines from the song are as follows:
"Happy Birthday! Now you're one year older.
Happy Birthday! You're life still isn't over.
Happy Birthday! You did not accomplish much.
But you didn't die this year I guess that's good enough."
Rachel's actual birthday was on Tuesday, and we celebrated it with dinner at Las Islas, a not necessarily safe (stomach-wise) grouping of street food vendors on the north side of town. I enjoyed a yummy dinner of grilled anticucho (cow heart) with potatoe and yucca. (Thankfully, I was able to enjoy it without any undesireable side effects.) After dinner, the girls and Ludwe made their way to the movies, and I headed to Philipa and Lois's despedida. It was a fun party, although saying goodbye to them made me realize just how soon I leave, which is now in under two weeks.
The biggest highlight of the past two weeks, however, and possibly of my time in Bolivia, were the Nasaret boys' football (soccer) tournament finals this past weekend. Both our 9-and-under and our 12-and-under teams made it to the finals, which were played on Sunday. The entire house went to see the games, and everyone was really excited. The sub-9 team had a really hard-fought game, which they won 3-2. Beyond being a really good, exciting game of football, John and I (and the boys, and the entire house) pretty much exploded when the final whistle blew. The sub-12 team's game wasn't quite as exciting, due mostly to the fact that they had played a better team during the semi-finals on Saturday, and so the team they faced Sunday was less of a challenge for them. They won 7-1, against a team that was from a football school. The two wins were a really big moment for the boys, and everyone is still excited about it. John and I had coached them for over a month prior to the tournament, they worked really hard for it, and they got to see the results of their hard work. While I am of course excited to see the results of the time I put in with them, I am more excited about what this means for the kids themselves. Some of these boys worked hard and improved a lot, and they can see that. Also, for them to have won something, to have earned it, to be the best, is absolutely huge for them. When I think about the hard lives some of these kids have had, when I see the low self esteem some of them have, I can't even begin to imagine the good it does them to be able to say "soy un campeón" (I am a champion). It's just huge. To be able look at them in the eye and say "Eres un campeón" (You are a champion), and have them not think that it's just words, but something that they know is true, is just so awesome. While these boys are "champions" (special, amazing, awesome, worthy of being loved and cared for) in my opinion, regardless of whether or not they're good at football, there's something special for them in winning something, in being the best. They're not used to winning, they don't usually expect to be the best, and just maybe this tournament will start them thinking that they are good enough. And not just in football, but in the rest of life, too. Maybe some of them can begin to think "soy un campeón" in whatever it is they're doing, in whatever situation they're in.
We celebrated the victories with dinner—four massive (70cm/2'4") pizzas which the boys happily polished off—and a movie at my house Sunday night. It was a nice way to celebrate the victories, and also a good way to end the winter school vacations. Everyone came, not just the football teams, and was happy to celebrate. For the movie, we watched Kung Fu Panda, which both the kids and the adults (including myself) enjoyed. At the end of the day, all the kids went home, feeling happy and excited, thanking me for the use of my house and John for the pizza. I decided to leave cleaning till Monday morning, and went to bed, still happy for their victory.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Dinner and a Movie
Since my last update, I have been doing fairly well, although a little tired. Wednesday and Thursday were quite busy at Nasareth, with soccer practice from about 1:30-3:30 both days, after which we returned to the house for afternoon snack. After snack, we then headed out to play ultimate frisbee for roughly an hour and a half. Since I was playing both soccer and frisbee with the boys, I ended both days feeling exausted, but happy to have had as much physical activity as I did. The boys, of course, loved doing both sports and ended each day with significantly more energy than I.
On Wednesday, I also had the great pleasure of dropping off a large bunch of Ultimate Frisbee discs at Nasareth. The boys were very excited to finally get them, and thought that the designs on them were quite cool. They were also excited to play with the new discs (on Wednesday and Thursday). I'm planning on organizing a tournament among them, and the members of the winning team will each get to choose their own disc. Most of the boys have already picked the design that they will choose when they win, so they're quite excited about the upcoming tournament. I must also send a big "thank-you" to the wonderful people at The Internet Disc Shop, who provided me with a great deal on the discs, since it was for the home.
Friday was also tiring, in a good way of course, though this time due to extra activity at CAT. We took all of the kids to a nearby park to play for the morning, and it was a lot of fun. I climbed a tree and then some of the kids got to sit up in it with me, we played on the slides and swings, raced, wrestled in the grass, and even did something akin to jousting using some rubber, air-filled and bouncy donkeys. It was a great morning, with the staff and the kids all having a great time. Since they're still on winter vacations here, the staff are hoping to be able to do this at least once a week. Also, the kids really had a good time taking a car (small pickup, actually) to the park, despite the fact that we could have walked. While I'm not usually one for dumping extra emmissions into the atmosphere, riding in a car was a rare and exciting chance for some of these kids, and they quite enjoyed it. (Besides, the car ran on natural gas anyway.)
Friday afternoon I didn't get to do much with the boys at Nasareth, since they were doing a full cleaning of the house. However, Friday night they were all very excited to be coming over to my house. I ordered pizza, 3 massive ones to be exact—roughly 70cms (or 2'4") across—which they very excitedly ate. Despite the fact that they had just eaten pizza on Tuesday night for a despedida (goodbye party) for two volunteers, they were still very happy to eat it again. A few boys even had as many as 5 slices! (I also ate my good share, of course.) After the pizza, I turned off the lights in the "boardroom" and we all got to watch Prince Caspian, projected onto the wall giving it a "big screen" effect. The boys all loved the chance to come see my house, to eat pizza, and to see the new Narnia movie, and so the night was a big success. In fact, John and I are hoping to be able to do it again another Friday sometime before I go, which should be exciting.
Friday, I have to admit, was also a bit of a scary/odd day for me. Being the 27th of June, it marked one month to the day of when I will be leaving. I now have less than one month left, something I don't like to think about too much.
Saturday was a fun day with a bbq at my house in the evening. At the house were Ludwe (who helped cook and provided the bbq), Philipa, Lois, Connie (who's down here for 10 weeks as part of her Development Studies at Queen's), and the Tearfund girls, who had just got back from La Paz that morning. On the menu were two different cuts of beef, chicken breast and leg, sweet potatoes, yucca (a white potatoe-like root that is very popular in the tropical regions of Bolivia), and salad. We all ate quite a lot, and then spent a good chunk of time just talking, before finally sitting back to watch the movie A Good Year.
Sunday was another busy day. After church, Connie came over and we celebrated Canada Day in the afternoon. We are, of course, both aware that Canada Day does not occur until July 1st, but as I will be celebrating it with the team that is down here from Elevation (my church in Waterloo) on that day, we decided to celebrate it a little early. I also said goodbye to a woman named Linda who has been down here for the past few weeks, but am looking forward to seeing her again some time in Waterloo, where she lives. After celebrating Canada Day, I joined up with some friends at the Portugese service at Calama. Leaving the service, we went out for a late dinner, and then ended up catching The Hulk at the movies.
The only down point to the whole week has been that I am suffering from an eye infection. I have no idea where I got it from, but all Sunday afternoon/night, as well as this morning, my eyes were sore, itchy, and terribly red. However, I made my way to an eye doctor this morning, who, after explaining that I had a very bad but not serious eye infection, gave me some drops that are already making me feel much better, and orders to go see her again this coming Thursday. While she was very nice, I hope that it will be the last time I need to go see her.
On Wednesday, I also had the great pleasure of dropping off a large bunch of Ultimate Frisbee discs at Nasareth. The boys were very excited to finally get them, and thought that the designs on them were quite cool. They were also excited to play with the new discs (on Wednesday and Thursday). I'm planning on organizing a tournament among them, and the members of the winning team will each get to choose their own disc. Most of the boys have already picked the design that they will choose when they win, so they're quite excited about the upcoming tournament. I must also send a big "thank-you" to the wonderful people at The Internet Disc Shop, who provided me with a great deal on the discs, since it was for the home.
Friday was also tiring, in a good way of course, though this time due to extra activity at CAT. We took all of the kids to a nearby park to play for the morning, and it was a lot of fun. I climbed a tree and then some of the kids got to sit up in it with me, we played on the slides and swings, raced, wrestled in the grass, and even did something akin to jousting using some rubber, air-filled and bouncy donkeys. It was a great morning, with the staff and the kids all having a great time. Since they're still on winter vacations here, the staff are hoping to be able to do this at least once a week. Also, the kids really had a good time taking a car (small pickup, actually) to the park, despite the fact that we could have walked. While I'm not usually one for dumping extra emmissions into the atmosphere, riding in a car was a rare and exciting chance for some of these kids, and they quite enjoyed it. (Besides, the car ran on natural gas anyway.)
Friday afternoon I didn't get to do much with the boys at Nasareth, since they were doing a full cleaning of the house. However, Friday night they were all very excited to be coming over to my house. I ordered pizza, 3 massive ones to be exact—roughly 70cms (or 2'4") across—which they very excitedly ate. Despite the fact that they had just eaten pizza on Tuesday night for a despedida (goodbye party) for two volunteers, they were still very happy to eat it again. A few boys even had as many as 5 slices! (I also ate my good share, of course.) After the pizza, I turned off the lights in the "boardroom" and we all got to watch Prince Caspian, projected onto the wall giving it a "big screen" effect. The boys all loved the chance to come see my house, to eat pizza, and to see the new Narnia movie, and so the night was a big success. In fact, John and I are hoping to be able to do it again another Friday sometime before I go, which should be exciting.
Friday, I have to admit, was also a bit of a scary/odd day for me. Being the 27th of June, it marked one month to the day of when I will be leaving. I now have less than one month left, something I don't like to think about too much.
Saturday was a fun day with a bbq at my house in the evening. At the house were Ludwe (who helped cook and provided the bbq), Philipa, Lois, Connie (who's down here for 10 weeks as part of her Development Studies at Queen's), and the Tearfund girls, who had just got back from La Paz that morning. On the menu were two different cuts of beef, chicken breast and leg, sweet potatoes, yucca (a white potatoe-like root that is very popular in the tropical regions of Bolivia), and salad. We all ate quite a lot, and then spent a good chunk of time just talking, before finally sitting back to watch the movie A Good Year.
Sunday was another busy day. After church, Connie came over and we celebrated Canada Day in the afternoon. We are, of course, both aware that Canada Day does not occur until July 1st, but as I will be celebrating it with the team that is down here from Elevation (my church in Waterloo) on that day, we decided to celebrate it a little early. I also said goodbye to a woman named Linda who has been down here for the past few weeks, but am looking forward to seeing her again some time in Waterloo, where she lives. After celebrating Canada Day, I joined up with some friends at the Portugese service at Calama. Leaving the service, we went out for a late dinner, and then ended up catching The Hulk at the movies.
The only down point to the whole week has been that I am suffering from an eye infection. I have no idea where I got it from, but all Sunday afternoon/night, as well as this morning, my eyes were sore, itchy, and terribly red. However, I made my way to an eye doctor this morning, who, after explaining that I had a very bad but not serious eye infection, gave me some drops that are already making me feel much better, and orders to go see her again this coming Thursday. While she was very nice, I hope that it will be the last time I need to go see her.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
T.I.B.
To those loyal followers of this blog I must apologize for my lack of an update last week. Unfortunately, however, I spent most of last Monday through Thursday at home trying to get over the worst non-amoeba illness I've had here. It was really just another cold, except that in addition to the standard stuffed nose and cough I had some pretty bad headaches and my mind felt like it was lost in a think fog. The biggest problem with being at home was that I really didn't have much to do to pass the time, since I have neither a TV nor a computer, and reading was pretty much out of the question. I was also unable to nap to pass the time, since I was sleeping 11 hours or so each night. To avoid going stir crazy, I actually got out of the house once per day, but the heat outside just generally made me feel worse. As of Friday though I was able to return to both CAT and Nasaret, which made me happy. I am now almost fully better, except for a bit of a lingering runny nose and a slight cough.
In addition to the cold, while out on Tuesday, someone managed to pick-pocket my cellphone, which I wasn't exactly pleased about. It has now been replaced, but I had an interesting few days in which I was unable to call anyone, since I store all my phone numbers in my phone! All in all though, I am in a strange way thankful that my cellphone was pick-pocketed, and can't really complain all that much. In the week before Dave left Cochabamba, he had his cellphone (and wallet) stolen from him at knife-point. I also know three Catholic missionaries here who have been robbed at gun-point. So really, of all the ways for my cellphone to be stolen, pick-pocketing isn't really that bad. I also learned two important lessons as a result: 1) I shouldn't go out while not well enough to pay attention to my pockets; and 2) For all the advances technology has made over the years, pen and paper is still a pretty good way to store phone numbers.
I have also spent the past two Saturdays working at various projects. This past Saturday I spent my morning helping to paint what will eventually be a community centre, and the prior Saturday I spent the morning and afternoon very far South, in an area of town called Pucara. I basically spent my time shoveling dirt and rocks, and picking the ground to remove more dirt and rocks. The church I go to here, Calama, is helping out another Baptist pastor, who lives down there with his 4 kids, of whom 2 are blind. His wife is currently in Italy, working to try and get some money to support the family, and it is very hard for him to look after the children and work at the same time. The reason we were moving the dirt is to make room for some big water tanks which will be buried in the ground. This area of town doesn't have running water, and so the residents have barrels of water which are filled by water trucks that come by. The problem however is that this pastor's house is on a hill, and so the house is about 1.5 stories up from where the barrels holding the water, which sit on the edge of his property next to the road, are located. The plan is to install some big water tanks which will store a lot of water, and then to put in a pump that will transport water up to the house. Given that the ground is made up of hard clay and rocks though, progress was quite slow. For this reason, I think that Hans (the same Hans as from the Mosoj Yan project) is going to hire a bulldozer to assist in the dirt removal. While I have enjoyed the chance to help out a little bit at some different things over the past few weekends, I think that my plans for the coming Saturday are going to be to rest and relax a bit.
The other thing that I did this past Saturday was attend a wedding in the evening. I was invited by one of the nurses to CAT, who was relieved when she saw me on Friday and was able to invite me. When I hadn't been at CAT Monday through Thursday, she was worried that I had already gone home. The wedding was pretty good, although it went very late (I left the reception at 1:45am and it was still going) and it would have been nice to go with someone. That being said, it was nice to see some of the staff from CAT outside of work. Also, the start time of the wedding ceremony ended up providing a few laughs. Now what you have to understand is that Bolivia does not exactly operate on North American/European time, and so things here usually happen later than scheduled. For instance, when I went to Boris and Claudia's wedding back in January, I arrived 45 minutes late and still had to wait another 45 minutes before most people showed up (and an additional 20 or so until the bride and groom did). Nevertheless, I decided it would be a good idea to arrive on time, and so I got to the church at 5pm on the dot, the time that my invitation said the ceremony would start. The church was empty and there were 3 people waiting outside. By 5:10 there were about 12 of us standing outside the church, inlcuding the groom, but no bride yet. We then heard someone inside the church speaking, and looked inside to discover that the priest officiating the ceremony had already started the wedding mass! Unsure of what exactly to do, some people went in while others stayed outside. At about 5:20 the groom walked up the aisle, and took his place on a bench at the front of the church. The wedding service continued for another 5 minutes—still with no bride present!—before finally the priest's reading from 1 John was interrupted when the Mariachi band outside began playing "here comes the bride," and Sonia (the bride) walked up the aisle to join her soon-to-be husband. I had been told once during language school that the Catholic weddings here are quite punctual, but it was rather something to see the wedding service start without the bride! Later in the service, the priest even started joking about how Sonia had arrived late. While taking about the need for commitment in marriage, he even said "I just want to make sure you understand this because, you know, you showed up late for your own wedding." It was absolutely hilarious!
This week I had originally planned on going to Trinidad (a city in the Beni region, not the country) to visit a missionary from my home church in Toronto who lives and works there. However, my plans ended up changing, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to go now. Winter vacations, originally scheduled to begin on June 30th, have been moved up. On Thursday June 12, the Bolivian government announced that vacations would be starting the following day, June 13th. Since the boys from Nasaret are enrolled in a 5-on-5 soccer tournament taking place over the vacations, and I'm taking them to it, my travel plans got pushed aside. "T.I.B.: This is Bolivia."
The boys actually had their first game in the tournament this past Friday, and I was incredibly proud of them. I felt like some odd mixture of coach and father watching them play, and was really happy for them. We have two teams in the tournament, one in the 9 and under category and another in the 12 and under category. Our sub-9 team won their first game 3-0, and the sub-12 team won theirs 5-2! As someone who spent a lot of time with John training them over the prior few weeks, it was good to see them play so well. Also, watching them play against other kids their own age, I was able to see just how good they really are. Yesterday our sub-9 team won 8-1, and the sub-12 team won their game 5-4. Today only the sub-9's played, and they tied the game 0-0. (The other team's goalie was very good). Neither of our teams have another game until Monday, and so I'm going to take advantage of this by spending the next few days training with them. Since the boys are on vacation now and don't have homework in the afternoons, I'll also be able to take them to play frisbee. And if you're worried about me working them too hard, I assure you that with their endless supplies of energy, the boys will be finishing the next few days feeling less tired than I will!
Wishing everyone reading this a happy, healthy week. God bless.
In addition to the cold, while out on Tuesday, someone managed to pick-pocket my cellphone, which I wasn't exactly pleased about. It has now been replaced, but I had an interesting few days in which I was unable to call anyone, since I store all my phone numbers in my phone! All in all though, I am in a strange way thankful that my cellphone was pick-pocketed, and can't really complain all that much. In the week before Dave left Cochabamba, he had his cellphone (and wallet) stolen from him at knife-point. I also know three Catholic missionaries here who have been robbed at gun-point. So really, of all the ways for my cellphone to be stolen, pick-pocketing isn't really that bad. I also learned two important lessons as a result: 1) I shouldn't go out while not well enough to pay attention to my pockets; and 2) For all the advances technology has made over the years, pen and paper is still a pretty good way to store phone numbers.
I have also spent the past two Saturdays working at various projects. This past Saturday I spent my morning helping to paint what will eventually be a community centre, and the prior Saturday I spent the morning and afternoon very far South, in an area of town called Pucara. I basically spent my time shoveling dirt and rocks, and picking the ground to remove more dirt and rocks. The church I go to here, Calama, is helping out another Baptist pastor, who lives down there with his 4 kids, of whom 2 are blind. His wife is currently in Italy, working to try and get some money to support the family, and it is very hard for him to look after the children and work at the same time. The reason we were moving the dirt is to make room for some big water tanks which will be buried in the ground. This area of town doesn't have running water, and so the residents have barrels of water which are filled by water trucks that come by. The problem however is that this pastor's house is on a hill, and so the house is about 1.5 stories up from where the barrels holding the water, which sit on the edge of his property next to the road, are located. The plan is to install some big water tanks which will store a lot of water, and then to put in a pump that will transport water up to the house. Given that the ground is made up of hard clay and rocks though, progress was quite slow. For this reason, I think that Hans (the same Hans as from the Mosoj Yan project) is going to hire a bulldozer to assist in the dirt removal. While I have enjoyed the chance to help out a little bit at some different things over the past few weekends, I think that my plans for the coming Saturday are going to be to rest and relax a bit.
The other thing that I did this past Saturday was attend a wedding in the evening. I was invited by one of the nurses to CAT, who was relieved when she saw me on Friday and was able to invite me. When I hadn't been at CAT Monday through Thursday, she was worried that I had already gone home. The wedding was pretty good, although it went very late (I left the reception at 1:45am and it was still going) and it would have been nice to go with someone. That being said, it was nice to see some of the staff from CAT outside of work. Also, the start time of the wedding ceremony ended up providing a few laughs. Now what you have to understand is that Bolivia does not exactly operate on North American/European time, and so things here usually happen later than scheduled. For instance, when I went to Boris and Claudia's wedding back in January, I arrived 45 minutes late and still had to wait another 45 minutes before most people showed up (and an additional 20 or so until the bride and groom did). Nevertheless, I decided it would be a good idea to arrive on time, and so I got to the church at 5pm on the dot, the time that my invitation said the ceremony would start. The church was empty and there were 3 people waiting outside. By 5:10 there were about 12 of us standing outside the church, inlcuding the groom, but no bride yet. We then heard someone inside the church speaking, and looked inside to discover that the priest officiating the ceremony had already started the wedding mass! Unsure of what exactly to do, some people went in while others stayed outside. At about 5:20 the groom walked up the aisle, and took his place on a bench at the front of the church. The wedding service continued for another 5 minutes—still with no bride present!—before finally the priest's reading from 1 John was interrupted when the Mariachi band outside began playing "here comes the bride," and Sonia (the bride) walked up the aisle to join her soon-to-be husband. I had been told once during language school that the Catholic weddings here are quite punctual, but it was rather something to see the wedding service start without the bride! Later in the service, the priest even started joking about how Sonia had arrived late. While taking about the need for commitment in marriage, he even said "I just want to make sure you understand this because, you know, you showed up late for your own wedding." It was absolutely hilarious!
This week I had originally planned on going to Trinidad (a city in the Beni region, not the country) to visit a missionary from my home church in Toronto who lives and works there. However, my plans ended up changing, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to go now. Winter vacations, originally scheduled to begin on June 30th, have been moved up. On Thursday June 12, the Bolivian government announced that vacations would be starting the following day, June 13th. Since the boys from Nasaret are enrolled in a 5-on-5 soccer tournament taking place over the vacations, and I'm taking them to it, my travel plans got pushed aside. "T.I.B.: This is Bolivia."
The boys actually had their first game in the tournament this past Friday, and I was incredibly proud of them. I felt like some odd mixture of coach and father watching them play, and was really happy for them. We have two teams in the tournament, one in the 9 and under category and another in the 12 and under category. Our sub-9 team won their first game 3-0, and the sub-12 team won theirs 5-2! As someone who spent a lot of time with John training them over the prior few weeks, it was good to see them play so well. Also, watching them play against other kids their own age, I was able to see just how good they really are. Yesterday our sub-9 team won 8-1, and the sub-12 team won their game 5-4. Today only the sub-9's played, and they tied the game 0-0. (The other team's goalie was very good). Neither of our teams have another game until Monday, and so I'm going to take advantage of this by spending the next few days training with them. Since the boys are on vacation now and don't have homework in the afternoons, I'll also be able to take them to play frisbee. And if you're worried about me working them too hard, I assure you that with their endless supplies of energy, the boys will be finishing the next few days feeling less tired than I will!
Wishing everyone reading this a happy, healthy week. God bless.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Thinking of Goodbyes
It's been another good week here in Cochabamba, and I am pleased to still be injury and cold-free. I also got more sleep last week than the week prior, mainly due to the fact that I haven't needed to bake any cakes. I have still managed to keep quite busy though, which doesn't surprise me.
This past Thursday, I canceled Bible study in order for us to celebrate my friend Hannah's birthday (she's part of the Tearfund team). Instead, we all got together and just spent some good time hanging out. On the menu for the evening was ice cream, a chocolate pudding and graham cracker thing someone gave me the recipe for, and chocolate fondue. I also used up the last little bit of coffee that I purchased while in Canada over Christmas, having saved it for Thursday night. In addition to eating, we also played two rounds of Mafia, a hilarious and fun game that most people from St. Paul's should recognize. For most on June I am hosting the Bible study at my house, since Allison (who usually hosts it) will be doing some travelling, and was also sick last Thursday.
Friday, I had the great pleasure of finally placing a frisbee order for the boys at Nasareth. A friend of mine's dad in coming down here on the 19th, and was kind enough to allow me to use up some of his suitcase space with 20 frisbees. And because of who I was purchasing the discs for, I was also given a great deal on them. Since I'm going to have a few extras, I'm planning on organizing a tournmant with the boys, and letting the winning team select a disc each. I have told the boys about this, and they are quite excited.
This Saturday, I didn't get any rest, but was instead conscripted to do some manual labour. The Tearfund girls all volunteer for an organization here in town called Mosoj Yan, and although they don't all work in the same project (Mosoj Yan has 3 houses in different locations), they did all volunteer to work on the garden in one of the homes. (Please keep in mind that I am using the word "garden" lightly, "jungle" would likely be a more appropriate description.) Under the leadership of a wonderful Canadian Dutchman named Hans, they started this past Friday. They apparantly worked very hard, cutting down and burning overgrown vegetation, hauling limber, gravel and cement mix, and getting a start on what will eventually be a chicken koop (thus providing the home with a source of eggs and possibly meat). On Saturday, I spent most of the time mixing cement (by hand using a shovel—not an easy task) and then pouring it to form a small wall which will be the outside of the chicken koop. I also helped to put in the 2-meter long beams (i.e. logs) that will be supporting the roof. It was actually nice to do a little bit of hard physical work, and I enjoyed it. I even have a small blister on each hand to prove that I worked hard. (Or possibly to prove that I was silly for not wearing work gloves—your pick.) Depending on whether or not they finish work on the chicken koop this week, I may end up going out again this coming Saturday to help them finish.
I have also been acutely aware this past week of how soon I am actually going to be leaving. I now have less than 2 months left here, and I know that it is just going to fly by as the rest of my time has. On Wednesday morning, as I was in the bus with the kids from CAT on our way back into the city, one of the boys, Jose, leaned over, put his head on my lap, and fell asleep. As I sat there, my arm on his shoulder, I think I got a glimpse just how hard it is going to be to say goodbye. I am actually looking forward to going back home, but I don't how on earth I'm going to say goodbye to the kids. I feel as if I will be saying goodbye to my kids, and I don't look forward to that. I know that I'm going to miss them. Back in March, when we had the despedida (goodbye party) at CAT for Isabel, I remember seeing her cry and thinking, "that will be me in 5 months." But back then my actual departure seemed so far away, whereas now it seems to be edging ever closer. I will obviously make the most of my remaining time here, but I have been more and more aware of just how little that time actually is.
I also said goodbye on the weekend to my friend Dave, who is making his way back home to England after a quick trip through Paraguay and Brazil. It was sad to say goodbye to another friend. Ludwe mentioned to me on Sunday that it can sometimes be a little hard for him, since everyone comes and goes but he, being a Bolivian, stays. I am however thankful for that, because he has been a constant friend over the course of my time here. I am also thankful for the new friendships that form, and especially for the Tearfund girls who I am really glad to have gotten to know.
That's it for this week. Wishing everyone reading this a healthy, injury-free week.
This past Thursday, I canceled Bible study in order for us to celebrate my friend Hannah's birthday (she's part of the Tearfund team). Instead, we all got together and just spent some good time hanging out. On the menu for the evening was ice cream, a chocolate pudding and graham cracker thing someone gave me the recipe for, and chocolate fondue. I also used up the last little bit of coffee that I purchased while in Canada over Christmas, having saved it for Thursday night. In addition to eating, we also played two rounds of Mafia, a hilarious and fun game that most people from St. Paul's should recognize. For most on June I am hosting the Bible study at my house, since Allison (who usually hosts it) will be doing some travelling, and was also sick last Thursday.
Friday, I had the great pleasure of finally placing a frisbee order for the boys at Nasareth. A friend of mine's dad in coming down here on the 19th, and was kind enough to allow me to use up some of his suitcase space with 20 frisbees. And because of who I was purchasing the discs for, I was also given a great deal on them. Since I'm going to have a few extras, I'm planning on organizing a tournmant with the boys, and letting the winning team select a disc each. I have told the boys about this, and they are quite excited.
This Saturday, I didn't get any rest, but was instead conscripted to do some manual labour. The Tearfund girls all volunteer for an organization here in town called Mosoj Yan, and although they don't all work in the same project (Mosoj Yan has 3 houses in different locations), they did all volunteer to work on the garden in one of the homes. (Please keep in mind that I am using the word "garden" lightly, "jungle" would likely be a more appropriate description.) Under the leadership of a wonderful Canadian Dutchman named Hans, they started this past Friday. They apparantly worked very hard, cutting down and burning overgrown vegetation, hauling limber, gravel and cement mix, and getting a start on what will eventually be a chicken koop (thus providing the home with a source of eggs and possibly meat). On Saturday, I spent most of the time mixing cement (by hand using a shovel—not an easy task) and then pouring it to form a small wall which will be the outside of the chicken koop. I also helped to put in the 2-meter long beams (i.e. logs) that will be supporting the roof. It was actually nice to do a little bit of hard physical work, and I enjoyed it. I even have a small blister on each hand to prove that I worked hard. (Or possibly to prove that I was silly for not wearing work gloves—your pick.) Depending on whether or not they finish work on the chicken koop this week, I may end up going out again this coming Saturday to help them finish.
I have also been acutely aware this past week of how soon I am actually going to be leaving. I now have less than 2 months left here, and I know that it is just going to fly by as the rest of my time has. On Wednesday morning, as I was in the bus with the kids from CAT on our way back into the city, one of the boys, Jose, leaned over, put his head on my lap, and fell asleep. As I sat there, my arm on his shoulder, I think I got a glimpse just how hard it is going to be to say goodbye. I am actually looking forward to going back home, but I don't how on earth I'm going to say goodbye to the kids. I feel as if I will be saying goodbye to my kids, and I don't look forward to that. I know that I'm going to miss them. Back in March, when we had the despedida (goodbye party) at CAT for Isabel, I remember seeing her cry and thinking, "that will be me in 5 months." But back then my actual departure seemed so far away, whereas now it seems to be edging ever closer. I will obviously make the most of my remaining time here, but I have been more and more aware of just how little that time actually is.
I also said goodbye on the weekend to my friend Dave, who is making his way back home to England after a quick trip through Paraguay and Brazil. It was sad to say goodbye to another friend. Ludwe mentioned to me on Sunday that it can sometimes be a little hard for him, since everyone comes and goes but he, being a Bolivian, stays. I am however thankful for that, because he has been a constant friend over the course of my time here. I am also thankful for the new friendships that form, and especially for the Tearfund girls who I am really glad to have gotten to know.
That's it for this week. Wishing everyone reading this a healthy, injury-free week.
Monday, June 2, 2008
"It's Been One Week...
...since you looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said 'I'm angry.'" Those are the starting words of the Barenaked Ladies song One Week (you may remember it better though as "the chinese chicken song"). The song probably pops into my mind every week as I begin my blog post, most likely due to the words "It's been one week." Not entirely sure why I decided to share this bit of randomness with all of you, except perhaps to change things up a bit.
The week itself has actually been quite good, without anyone telling me that they were angry, although I ended up getting a tad less sleep than usual. Not to worry though, as my 4pm Sunday afternoon nap, which turned in to going to bed at 4pm, more than made up for the lost z's. Monday night I grabbed pizza with some friends at my favorite restaurant, Las Leñas, which serves cheap but delicious (the best in town) wood-fired pizzas. On Mondays they offer a special deal, of which we took full advantage. Arriving home late, I proceeded to bake a cake, which had me up until somewhere between 1 and 2 in the morning. This wasn't because I am particularly inept at cake-baking—I used cake mix so even if I was (and I don't think I am) this shouldn't have posed a problem—but because the oven at the house doesn't get very hot, and so it took quite a while to bake all the way through. It probably didn't help either that I doubled the batch, so it was a thicker cake. I then got up at 6am in order to prepare the icing, a very simple yet tasty chocolate one, the recipe for which was given to me by a friend here. The reason I was baking the cake was because last Tuesday was Día de la Madre (Mother's Day) here in Bolivia, and I was making it for CAT so that we could celebrate it. The funny thing—which wasn't quite so funny at the time—was that, upon arriving at CAT on Tuesday morning, I was told that we would instead be celebrating Mother's Day on Thursday! The reason for this was because many of the nurses had the day off so that they could celebrate the day with their families. This is of course a good reason, but something that would have been good to know Monday night! Oh well, "T.I.B.: This is Bolivia." (The actual celebration on Thursday morning was nice, although in my infinite intelligence I managed to leave my camara at home. The cake, though slightly dryer after two days in the fridge, was still good, and quite popular with both kids and adults.)
Wednesday morning, instead of going with the kids out of the city where we usually go, they were instead taken the Plaza Colón, one of the main plazas here in town. The reason was because Wednesday was Día del Desafío, which basically had to do with encouraging people to get out and be active. It was mostly made up of different military groups performing acrobatics and making human pyramid-type things, but our kids actually participated too! They did two races, the first of which involved pulling themselves along the floor (we laid down a tarp) using a rope, and the second was a wheelchair race. It was pretty cool, and the kids seemed to enjoy it. We theorhetically could have even made the news, given the number of camaras present, but I don't have a TV and probably wouldn't watch it if I did, so I have no idea of knowing if we did or not.
It was also a good week at Nasareth, and I noticed happily on Friday that the boys have improved quite a lot in Ultimate Frisbee. There is also a team here from McMaster who have been good enough to bring us down two discs, which as soon as I get them I will be taking to the home. The boys are certainly excited about this, as I have been promising them some "real discs" for quite some time now.
This Saturday started early, but was quite good. At around 8:30am, I started up El Cristo with my friends Katie, Heather, Emma, and their upstairs neighbour Connie. Quite surprisingly, Katie and I made it to the top in only 20 minutes! Since it took me about an hour the last time I did it (in October), I was happy to see how much I have improved. Katie, Heather, and Emma have started making a habit of going up each Saturday morning, and I think I may try and join them from now on. After Cristo, I tossed around a frisbee for a bit, grabbed a quick lunch with the Tearfund girls (Heather, Katie, Emma, Rachel, Hannah and Hannah) at their place, and then went into town with a few of them to enjoy a coffee. After a good coffee and a nice chat, I went down to La Canqua, and later to the store buy some coffee (for the house this time).
Sunday, I was supposed to go see the new Indiana Jones movie, but was unable to. The reason for this was because, while at church on Sunday morning, the frame of my glasses broke! I had noticed a crack in the frame Thursday night, but had been hoping that they would hold together through the weekend—I hoped wrong. Not to worry though, I have since had them repaired again, but was displeased because I had to cancel on the movie. Not the end of the world though, as I'll be seeing the movie this coming Tuesday instead. The temporarily broken glasses did not however prevent me from enjoying a hearty meal of charque for lunch. Charque is a Bolivian dish of dried, salty meat (I think we got llama but could be wrong), served with potato, boiled egg, maiz (a large white corn they eat here that has been growing on me), and fresh cheese. I skipped out on that last item because I don't like most of the cheese here, but the meal was otherwise very enjoyable. You also eat the dish with your fingers, with the exception of a small spoon they give you in order to help with the removal of the egg shell. Everyone liked the meal, and we filled up quite well on the large portions served. Returning home, my decision to grab a quick nap instead became a very early bedtime, as you already know.
Wishing everyone reading this a great week.
The week itself has actually been quite good, without anyone telling me that they were angry, although I ended up getting a tad less sleep than usual. Not to worry though, as my 4pm Sunday afternoon nap, which turned in to going to bed at 4pm, more than made up for the lost z's. Monday night I grabbed pizza with some friends at my favorite restaurant, Las Leñas, which serves cheap but delicious (the best in town) wood-fired pizzas. On Mondays they offer a special deal, of which we took full advantage. Arriving home late, I proceeded to bake a cake, which had me up until somewhere between 1 and 2 in the morning. This wasn't because I am particularly inept at cake-baking—I used cake mix so even if I was (and I don't think I am) this shouldn't have posed a problem—but because the oven at the house doesn't get very hot, and so it took quite a while to bake all the way through. It probably didn't help either that I doubled the batch, so it was a thicker cake. I then got up at 6am in order to prepare the icing, a very simple yet tasty chocolate one, the recipe for which was given to me by a friend here. The reason I was baking the cake was because last Tuesday was Día de la Madre (Mother's Day) here in Bolivia, and I was making it for CAT so that we could celebrate it. The funny thing—which wasn't quite so funny at the time—was that, upon arriving at CAT on Tuesday morning, I was told that we would instead be celebrating Mother's Day on Thursday! The reason for this was because many of the nurses had the day off so that they could celebrate the day with their families. This is of course a good reason, but something that would have been good to know Monday night! Oh well, "T.I.B.: This is Bolivia." (The actual celebration on Thursday morning was nice, although in my infinite intelligence I managed to leave my camara at home. The cake, though slightly dryer after two days in the fridge, was still good, and quite popular with both kids and adults.)
Wednesday morning, instead of going with the kids out of the city where we usually go, they were instead taken the Plaza Colón, one of the main plazas here in town. The reason was because Wednesday was Día del Desafío, which basically had to do with encouraging people to get out and be active. It was mostly made up of different military groups performing acrobatics and making human pyramid-type things, but our kids actually participated too! They did two races, the first of which involved pulling themselves along the floor (we laid down a tarp) using a rope, and the second was a wheelchair race. It was pretty cool, and the kids seemed to enjoy it. We theorhetically could have even made the news, given the number of camaras present, but I don't have a TV and probably wouldn't watch it if I did, so I have no idea of knowing if we did or not.
It was also a good week at Nasareth, and I noticed happily on Friday that the boys have improved quite a lot in Ultimate Frisbee. There is also a team here from McMaster who have been good enough to bring us down two discs, which as soon as I get them I will be taking to the home. The boys are certainly excited about this, as I have been promising them some "real discs" for quite some time now.
This Saturday started early, but was quite good. At around 8:30am, I started up El Cristo with my friends Katie, Heather, Emma, and their upstairs neighbour Connie. Quite surprisingly, Katie and I made it to the top in only 20 minutes! Since it took me about an hour the last time I did it (in October), I was happy to see how much I have improved. Katie, Heather, and Emma have started making a habit of going up each Saturday morning, and I think I may try and join them from now on. After Cristo, I tossed around a frisbee for a bit, grabbed a quick lunch with the Tearfund girls (Heather, Katie, Emma, Rachel, Hannah and Hannah) at their place, and then went into town with a few of them to enjoy a coffee. After a good coffee and a nice chat, I went down to La Canqua, and later to the store buy some coffee (for the house this time).
Sunday, I was supposed to go see the new Indiana Jones movie, but was unable to. The reason for this was because, while at church on Sunday morning, the frame of my glasses broke! I had noticed a crack in the frame Thursday night, but had been hoping that they would hold together through the weekend—I hoped wrong. Not to worry though, I have since had them repaired again, but was displeased because I had to cancel on the movie. Not the end of the world though, as I'll be seeing the movie this coming Tuesday instead. The temporarily broken glasses did not however prevent me from enjoying a hearty meal of charque for lunch. Charque is a Bolivian dish of dried, salty meat (I think we got llama but could be wrong), served with potato, boiled egg, maiz (a large white corn they eat here that has been growing on me), and fresh cheese. I skipped out on that last item because I don't like most of the cheese here, but the meal was otherwise very enjoyable. You also eat the dish with your fingers, with the exception of a small spoon they give you in order to help with the removal of the egg shell. Everyone liked the meal, and we filled up quite well on the large portions served. Returning home, my decision to grab a quick nap instead became a very early bedtime, as you already know.
Wishing everyone reading this a great week.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Chocolate Economics & A Breath of Fresh Air
I have had another good week here in Cochabamba, made even better by the fact that my foot is now healed! After having looked at my foot 2 weeks ago, the physiotherapist at CAT had suggested a drug that I could use that would help. I however, sort of failed to actually pick it up right away, and did not do so until last Monday. Not suprisingly though, once I did get it and actually start taking it, my foot was fully healed in only 4 days! Needless to say, I am quite happy to be able to play sports with the boys again. It is also quite nice being able to walk at my normally fast pace, as opposed to the slow pace I was stuck with while my foot was injured. That being said, it means I will once again be getting annoyed when stuck behind Bolivians, many of whom walk as if they're on a Sunday afternoon stroll, without anywhere to go and all the time in the world to get there. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, we in the "Western World" should perhaps take a cue from the Bolivians and learn to slow down a little bit. However, I walk fast even when I'm not in a hurry, and so slowing down to what seems like an ant's crawl drives me nuts!
From top to bottom: (1) Playing in the river, (2) Making smores, (3) & (4) Eating smores, (5) Everyone
Everyone who went on our original trip up the mountain on May 1, taken before leaving.
Two weeks ago on a Thursday, I had been talking with one of the boys at Nasareth, named Angel, who proposed a chocolate trade for me. John awards the boys chocolates for various things thougout week (playing well/improving in soccer, doing extra math excercises, doing homework problems perfectly without help, etc.) and hands out the chocolates on Friday evenings. Angel had earned 2 chocolates this week, and wanted to know if I would be willing to trade. The chocolates that he wanted from me, not on offer from John, were the small Ben 10 chocolates based on some cartoon and complete with a sticker that I had been buying for the boys able to beat me at chess. Since the boys get to choose from a small variety of chocolates, Angel originally offered me a Nikolo (a terrible chocolate bar that the kids love) for 2 Ben 10 chocolates, since the Ben 10's are quite small. I then said that I didn't want Nikolo, but would be more than happy to trade for a Sublime (a smaller but delicious chocolate bar loaded with peanuts—I generally consume about 1-2 per day). My conscience getting the better of me, and setting aside my desire for an economic experiment in trading with imperfect information—yes, I know, I'm a nerd—I informed Angel the following day, Friday, that Ben 10's are actually quite cheap, only 50 Bolivian cents a piece, which resulted in him increasing his demand to 3 Ben 10's for 1 Sublime. I agreed to the terms of trade, and we struck a deal.
However, there was a slight problem: word of the trade got around. Another boy agreed to the trade with me, and by mid-afternoon snack time I had several boys offering me the same. At this point, John decided that he would not allow chocolate trading to occur. "Why?" you ask. Well, Nikolo is (or was) by far the most popular chocolate bar choice among the kids, with Sublime coming in quite far behind. Nikolo also cost almost 1B less per unit. However, I had changed Sublime from an ordinary (and not very desireable) chocolate good into a good that was desireable because it could be traded for Ben 10. In so doing, I was noticeably increasing the demand among the boys for Sublime, a demand that had not existed until trading Sublime for something not on offer was possible. John, foreseeing his chocolate costs increasing, decided to declare that there would be no trading in chocolates. I offered to pay him for the extra he was spending by giving out more Sublimes, but he replied that if the kids really wanted Ben 10's, then he should just offer them Ben 10's along with the other chocolates, giving them what they wanted directly. So on Friday evenings, the boys are now offered Ben 10's along with the other chocolates. And from the number of stickers I've seen floating around this week, I'm assuming that they must be in pretty high demand.
This Saturday, I also had another chance to get out of the city and enjoy nature. Along with a bunch of friends, we made our way to and up the mountain that John and I took the boys back on the May 1st holiday. We also had a good time, and found a nice shaded spot with a view over the city where Ludwe and I made a cooking fire. We enjoyed burgers and sausages for lunch, as well as some smores, and basically just sat around hanging out. We left a tad late though, and I was temporarily a little worried about making it down the mountain before it got dark. Nevertheless, we made it down in time, and as we walked along the "road" out of the mountains and towards the Taquiña factory where we would find a trufi, we were treated to a beautiful view of the skies over Cochabamba reddening in the sunset.
From left to right: Heather, Katie, me, Lois, Philippa, Emma, Ludwe, Hannah, and Hannah
Red skies over Cochabamba.
This past Thursday was a public holiday holiday here in Bolivia, and so John and I took the opportunity to take a few more boys from Nasareth on a trip out of the city. Since we were taking the younger boys this time, we decided that it would be better to not go up the mountain, since it would be a little more difficult for them. Instead, we went to a river that leads out of the mountains and is still quite far out of the city, and spent the day there. We got a ride to the Taquiña factory, which is about as far North as the city goes, and walked about 40mins up the river from there. We then spent the day cooking sausages, making pita pizzas in the coals of the fire, making smores, playing in the river (which was freezing cold) and then warming up in the sun, and having a fort-building competition. It was a really fun day, and the time just flew right by. The boys had an excellent time, and I enjoyed getting out of the city and breathing in some fresher air. It was also a little more relaxing, since we spent the day in basically one spot. There are a few weeks of school vacation in June or July I think, and so John and I are hoping to be able to do a few more of these trips.
From top to bottom: (1) Playing in the river, (2) Making smores, (3) & (4) Eating smores, (5) EveryoneEveryone who went on our original trip up the mountain on May 1, taken before leaving.Two weeks ago on a Thursday, I had been talking with one of the boys at Nasareth, named Angel, who proposed a chocolate trade for me. John awards the boys chocolates for various things thougout week (playing well/improving in soccer, doing extra math excercises, doing homework problems perfectly without help, etc.) and hands out the chocolates on Friday evenings. Angel had earned 2 chocolates this week, and wanted to know if I would be willing to trade. The chocolates that he wanted from me, not on offer from John, were the small Ben 10 chocolates based on some cartoon and complete with a sticker that I had been buying for the boys able to beat me at chess. Since the boys get to choose from a small variety of chocolates, Angel originally offered me a Nikolo (a terrible chocolate bar that the kids love) for 2 Ben 10 chocolates, since the Ben 10's are quite small. I then said that I didn't want Nikolo, but would be more than happy to trade for a Sublime (a smaller but delicious chocolate bar loaded with peanuts—I generally consume about 1-2 per day). My conscience getting the better of me, and setting aside my desire for an economic experiment in trading with imperfect information—yes, I know, I'm a nerd—I informed Angel the following day, Friday, that Ben 10's are actually quite cheap, only 50 Bolivian cents a piece, which resulted in him increasing his demand to 3 Ben 10's for 1 Sublime. I agreed to the terms of trade, and we struck a deal.
However, there was a slight problem: word of the trade got around. Another boy agreed to the trade with me, and by mid-afternoon snack time I had several boys offering me the same. At this point, John decided that he would not allow chocolate trading to occur. "Why?" you ask. Well, Nikolo is (or was) by far the most popular chocolate bar choice among the kids, with Sublime coming in quite far behind. Nikolo also cost almost 1B less per unit. However, I had changed Sublime from an ordinary (and not very desireable) chocolate good into a good that was desireable because it could be traded for Ben 10. In so doing, I was noticeably increasing the demand among the boys for Sublime, a demand that had not existed until trading Sublime for something not on offer was possible. John, foreseeing his chocolate costs increasing, decided to declare that there would be no trading in chocolates. I offered to pay him for the extra he was spending by giving out more Sublimes, but he replied that if the kids really wanted Ben 10's, then he should just offer them Ben 10's along with the other chocolates, giving them what they wanted directly. So on Friday evenings, the boys are now offered Ben 10's along with the other chocolates. And from the number of stickers I've seen floating around this week, I'm assuming that they must be in pretty high demand.
This Saturday, I also had another chance to get out of the city and enjoy nature. Along with a bunch of friends, we made our way to and up the mountain that John and I took the boys back on the May 1st holiday. We also had a good time, and found a nice shaded spot with a view over the city where Ludwe and I made a cooking fire. We enjoyed burgers and sausages for lunch, as well as some smores, and basically just sat around hanging out. We left a tad late though, and I was temporarily a little worried about making it down the mountain before it got dark. Nevertheless, we made it down in time, and as we walked along the "road" out of the mountains and towards the Taquiña factory where we would find a trufi, we were treated to a beautiful view of the skies over Cochabamba reddening in the sunset.
Ludwe and I standing on a tree branch (that's Cochabamba in the distance behind us).
From left to right: Heather, Katie, me, Lois, Philippa, Emma, Ludwe, Hannah, and HannahRed skies over Cochabamba.UPDATE MAY 30, 2008: Photos from my various trips up the mountain and river are now uploaded on my Picasa. Clicking on the slideshow (now showing these photos) or the link to my Picasa, both now on the right side of the page, will take you there.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Dichotomy
It has been another good week here in Cochabamba, although a little more uneventful than usual (that's not necessarily a bad thing). I have been enjoying my time at both CAT and Nasareth, except for the fact that I have been unable to play sports with the boys in the afternoons due to my foot. My foot is slowly getting better, but way too slow for my taste, and I am getting a little impatient waiting to be able to play football and frisbee again. On the bright side, being in Nasareth from 4-5:15 each day has at least given me the chance to play a little more chess with the boys, some of whom have been improving significantly over the past two months.
At CAT, we have already begun scheming up some plans for Mother's Day, which is May 29th here in Bolivia. We really don't have that much planned, except that I will bake a cake and bring it, but the kids are already getting very excited at the prospect. They also want to make some cards, but I'm not exactly sure when we'll be doing those. On Tuesday morning, I arrived bright and early at 7am in order to make the kids pancakes for breakfast. Ever since making them back in March, the cook has been bugging me to make them again so that she can learn (and so that she can have them again), and I finally did. She is now happy that she knows how to make them, and I wrote out the recipe for her too.
Tuesday night I joined English Dave and Ludwe for dinner at a restaurant called Bufalo's in order to celebrate Ludwe's birthday. Bufalo's is an all-you-can-eat restaurant, with tons of amazing meat options. The waiters actually come around to the tables with skewers of the different types of meat, and if you want some they cut off a piece (or two) for you. By far, my favourite of the options (Ludwe's too) were these chunks of meat semi-coated with garlic, yum! (Don't worry, I brushed my teeth as soon as I got home). Also, since Bufalo's is trustworthy, I was able to eat some rare meat, something I have far too sporadically been able to enjoy here. It being Ludwe's birthday, they not only brought him a free drink, but they also dropped the price of his meal by about 30Bs, which was pretty cool!
On Friday afternoon, I had another sad reminder of the backgrounds that many of our kids come from. While helping one of the Grade 6's I do homework with at Nasareth, I noticed that he hadn't put much effort into that day's homework. While I would not normally accept this, I decided to let it slide a little when I noticed what the homework was. The assignment was to write a letter to your parents, thanking them for everything they do. This particular boy's mother is dead, a result of living on the streets, and I have been told that his glue-addicted father, currently living on the streets, doesn't look like he'll be alive much longer either. This same father also, I believe, forced him to steal things as soon as he was old enough to. So what is this boy supposed to write? Well, he wrote that Nasareth is a nice house, that the home he'll be moving on to next year is big but also nice, that Grade 6 is difficult but that he's doing well, and that Grade 7 will be harder because he'll be learning more important things. That was basically it. Nothing much, but what could I tell him to add?
This, I think, summarizes the seeming contradictions I see working here. This boy has a very sad past, yet he is most of the time smiling and happy, joking and laughing, and I thank God so much for Amanacer and Casa Nasareth that make this possible. I thank Him as well that I have been the reason for one or two of those smiles. It is this dichotomy, these opposite and yet co-existing worlds, that I have begun to see here. It was the same three weeks ago. I was incredibly honoured to be Danielle's "dad" for her Quinceañero, but also sad that her own father was not present to do it himself. These happy and sad worlds co-exist inside each smiling child I work with, perhaps always present even when I only notice the one or the other. God willing, the happy world, the world of love, will turn out to be the greater. Obviously these kids' pasts cannot be changed, but their futures can be made brighter, happier. And thank God for that.
At CAT, we have already begun scheming up some plans for Mother's Day, which is May 29th here in Bolivia. We really don't have that much planned, except that I will bake a cake and bring it, but the kids are already getting very excited at the prospect. They also want to make some cards, but I'm not exactly sure when we'll be doing those. On Tuesday morning, I arrived bright and early at 7am in order to make the kids pancakes for breakfast. Ever since making them back in March, the cook has been bugging me to make them again so that she can learn (and so that she can have them again), and I finally did. She is now happy that she knows how to make them, and I wrote out the recipe for her too.
Tuesday night I joined English Dave and Ludwe for dinner at a restaurant called Bufalo's in order to celebrate Ludwe's birthday. Bufalo's is an all-you-can-eat restaurant, with tons of amazing meat options. The waiters actually come around to the tables with skewers of the different types of meat, and if you want some they cut off a piece (or two) for you. By far, my favourite of the options (Ludwe's too) were these chunks of meat semi-coated with garlic, yum! (Don't worry, I brushed my teeth as soon as I got home). Also, since Bufalo's is trustworthy, I was able to eat some rare meat, something I have far too sporadically been able to enjoy here. It being Ludwe's birthday, they not only brought him a free drink, but they also dropped the price of his meal by about 30Bs, which was pretty cool!
On Friday afternoon, I had another sad reminder of the backgrounds that many of our kids come from. While helping one of the Grade 6's I do homework with at Nasareth, I noticed that he hadn't put much effort into that day's homework. While I would not normally accept this, I decided to let it slide a little when I noticed what the homework was. The assignment was to write a letter to your parents, thanking them for everything they do. This particular boy's mother is dead, a result of living on the streets, and I have been told that his glue-addicted father, currently living on the streets, doesn't look like he'll be alive much longer either. This same father also, I believe, forced him to steal things as soon as he was old enough to. So what is this boy supposed to write? Well, he wrote that Nasareth is a nice house, that the home he'll be moving on to next year is big but also nice, that Grade 6 is difficult but that he's doing well, and that Grade 7 will be harder because he'll be learning more important things. That was basically it. Nothing much, but what could I tell him to add?
This, I think, summarizes the seeming contradictions I see working here. This boy has a very sad past, yet he is most of the time smiling and happy, joking and laughing, and I thank God so much for Amanacer and Casa Nasareth that make this possible. I thank Him as well that I have been the reason for one or two of those smiles. It is this dichotomy, these opposite and yet co-existing worlds, that I have begun to see here. It was the same three weeks ago. I was incredibly honoured to be Danielle's "dad" for her Quinceañero, but also sad that her own father was not present to do it himself. These happy and sad worlds co-exist inside each smiling child I work with, perhaps always present even when I only notice the one or the other. God willing, the happy world, the world of love, will turn out to be the greater. Obviously these kids' pasts cannot be changed, but their futures can be made brighter, happier. And thank God for that.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Movies, Movies, and More Movies
This has been another good week here in Cochabamba, except that this past Thursday I managed to re-injure my foot. This happened, once again, while playing football (soccer) with the boys from Nasareth. On Friday, as I hobbled around CAT, one of the physiotherapists, Elva, insisted on looking at my foot. She first of all asked me why I had been playing football in the first place when my foot had not gotten fully better from my first injury. When I respond that my foot had improved and that football was fun, and when the other physiotherapist agreed with me that it was, she responded with a simple "men" in what I would not describe as a very complimentary tone. She explained to me that I have apparently bruised the bone, and told me that I couldn't play any sports for a whole week. I certainly hope though that it's only a week before I can get back to playing.
This past weekend was a lot of fun, and I spent a lot of time watching movies. The reason for this was that, Saturday afternoon/night, I had a movie marathon at my house. The cool thing was that Tyson came by early in the afternoon and hooked up the dvd player to the projector for me, so we ended up with a nice big screen for the movies. We (originally 3, but by the 3rd movie 14 including myself) started around 3:30, with a movie called Sherry Baby, which was then followed by Thank You For Smoking, Starter for 10, and finally Shawshank Redemption, which finished at about 12:50. For dinner, we ordered the Interminable (the "Unfinishable") from a place called Eli's. Despite the fact that the pizza was absoluntely huge (we had to tilt the box to fit it through the doorway), we were all pretty hungry by the time it arrived and made quick work of it, finishing it in only 5 mins. We also had some cake to celebrate Ludwe's upcoming birthday this Tuesday, and as a despedida for Madeline who leaves Cochabamba to go first to Santa Cruz and then back to the States today (Monday). And of course, what movie marathon wouldn't be complete without some popcorn?
Sunday after church, a bunch of us went out for Chinese food, which turned out to be a rather interesting endeavor. While some of us had been to this place before, and the food and service had been pretty good, this Sunday was another story. While the food was good, I think I'll choose to describe the service as "interesting". Interesting in that what we had actually ordered sometimes bared little resemblance to the food delivered to our table, and that when it arrived was also another matter. The food arrived in little batches over the course of an hour, and it was sometimes a surprise as to what we got. Some things never arrived at all, like the beef dishes we ordered, and others, like rice, where delivered in quantities over double what we had asked for. The food however was at least quite good, and so most of us were able to eat happily. As for why we didn't just insist on getting exactly what we had ordered, well... this is Bolivia. We did, however, have a bit of a discussion with the waitress when the bill arrived. Foreseeing potential for issues here, English Dave wrote down exactly what we had received and in what quantities, and used a menu to calculate the total. When the bill arrived, however, it's total was 200Bs ($30) higher than what Dave had estimated! Nevertheless, with the help of Ludwe, he managed to get the bill down and pay for what we had actually received, as opposed to a combination of what we had ordered and eaten.
After lunch, we made our way to the movies to catch Iron Man. I very much enjoyed the film, and it was definitely worth going to the theatre to see it on the big screen. I don't usually go to the movies very often here, since you can buy a movie for 10Bs, and it costs 12Bs (on half-price night, 20-25Bs any other time) to see them in the theatre. While Iron Man did make for my 5th movie over the course of 2 days, I didn't mind—I barely watch movies here, so seeing a bunch in one weekend, and cramming in a lot of friends with them, was okay with me.
This past weekend was a lot of fun, and I spent a lot of time watching movies. The reason for this was that, Saturday afternoon/night, I had a movie marathon at my house. The cool thing was that Tyson came by early in the afternoon and hooked up the dvd player to the projector for me, so we ended up with a nice big screen for the movies. We (originally 3, but by the 3rd movie 14 including myself) started around 3:30, with a movie called Sherry Baby, which was then followed by Thank You For Smoking, Starter for 10, and finally Shawshank Redemption, which finished at about 12:50. For dinner, we ordered the Interminable (the "Unfinishable") from a place called Eli's. Despite the fact that the pizza was absoluntely huge (we had to tilt the box to fit it through the doorway), we were all pretty hungry by the time it arrived and made quick work of it, finishing it in only 5 mins. We also had some cake to celebrate Ludwe's upcoming birthday this Tuesday, and as a despedida for Madeline who leaves Cochabamba to go first to Santa Cruz and then back to the States today (Monday). And of course, what movie marathon wouldn't be complete without some popcorn?
Sunday after church, a bunch of us went out for Chinese food, which turned out to be a rather interesting endeavor. While some of us had been to this place before, and the food and service had been pretty good, this Sunday was another story. While the food was good, I think I'll choose to describe the service as "interesting". Interesting in that what we had actually ordered sometimes bared little resemblance to the food delivered to our table, and that when it arrived was also another matter. The food arrived in little batches over the course of an hour, and it was sometimes a surprise as to what we got. Some things never arrived at all, like the beef dishes we ordered, and others, like rice, where delivered in quantities over double what we had asked for. The food however was at least quite good, and so most of us were able to eat happily. As for why we didn't just insist on getting exactly what we had ordered, well... this is Bolivia. We did, however, have a bit of a discussion with the waitress when the bill arrived. Foreseeing potential for issues here, English Dave wrote down exactly what we had received and in what quantities, and used a menu to calculate the total. When the bill arrived, however, it's total was 200Bs ($30) higher than what Dave had estimated! Nevertheless, with the help of Ludwe, he managed to get the bill down and pay for what we had actually received, as opposed to a combination of what we had ordered and eaten.
After lunch, we made our way to the movies to catch Iron Man. I very much enjoyed the film, and it was definitely worth going to the theatre to see it on the big screen. I don't usually go to the movies very often here, since you can buy a movie for 10Bs, and it costs 12Bs (on half-price night, 20-25Bs any other time) to see them in the theatre. While Iron Man did make for my 5th movie over the course of 2 days, I didn't mind—I barely watch movies here, so seeing a bunch in one weekend, and cramming in a lot of friends with them, was okay with me.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Reminders from a Happier World
It has been another good week here in Cochabamba, and I am doing well. Despite my foot not being entirely better, I have at least been able to play soccer and frisbee with the boys from Nasareth again!
This past Wednesday afternoon we celebrated a quinceañeros (a girl's 15th birthday) for three of the girls (although I should now say "young ladies") at CAT. A quinceañeros is incredibly important here, and a HUGE deal. It means that a girl has ceased to be a niña (girl), and is now a señorita (young lady). Originally, this also meant that she was available for marriage. So Wednesday afternoon we had a big party to celebrate the 15th birthdays of Danielle, Susana, and Elísabet. Danielle and Susana turned 15 earlier in April, and although Elísabeth doesn't turn 15 until November, it was decided to celebrate it now since we don't know if there would be enough money for 2 big parties. Everyone dressed up for the occasion, staff, kids, and guests. All of Danielle's class (she is the only one of the three to go to school), including her teachers, were even invited to the party. I assume this was a double treat for them since Danielle has class in the afternoon, and so they all got to attend a party instead of classes. In addition to Danielle's class, some people from Sayde Hayes, the organization that oversees all children's homes in Cochabamba, also came. We even had three people from the regional government of Cochabamba attend, fairly "higher-ups" too, I believe.
As the party starts, the señorita is lead out and "presented" to everyone in attendance. She wears a beautiful white dress not too different from a wedding dress, and would usually be led out on the arm of her father. In this case, I led out Danielle, Freddy (the professor) led out Susana, and the doctor led out Elísabet. Once the señorita has been presented, a waltz is danced with her father. It didn't matter that I don't know how to waltz very well, since Danielle doesn't have good enough movement for the coordination necessary. Nevertheless, we danced around in front of those present, blowing out the candles held by the women and collecting the flowers held by the men. After the first dance, everyone was invited to join in and dance a waltz. After this, the music was changed and everyone danced to more modern music—reggaeton, sadly. At some point, before dinner, we paused and a toast was given for the three quince añeras (birthday girls). Danielle, the only one of the girls able to speak (in Spanish at least—Elísabet speaks Quechua but not that often) said a few tearful words of thanks to everyone who attended. After some more dancing, dinner was served, and then dancing resumed, with people slowly trickling out after dinner. All in all it was a very fun afternoon, especially, I think, for Danielle and Susana (I'm not sure Elísabeth was really able to understand what was going on).
On Thursday, it was a public holiday (Labour Day) and so there was no school. John and I took advantage of this and took 6 boys from Nasareth for a hike up one of the mountains surrounding Cochabamba. We arrived early with supplies for the hike, and everyone took a little bit in their own backpack. Each armed with 2 liters of water, 2 juice bags, an apple, a banana, a chocolate bar, and a portion of the food that was for everybody, we set out. We got a ride to the bottom of the mountain we were planing on hiking up, arrived around 9:45, and began climbing. Some of the kids climbed faster than others, so I stuck with the slower kids and John went ahead with the faster ones. Either way, it was not a very steep climb, and in 2.5 hours we had all made it to our desired campsite—not quite the top, although only about 20 minutes down from it. There, we made a campfire and everyone got to cook their own sausages. Their was also bread, tomatoes, and sliced ham to make sandwiches, as well as potato chips. The boys had a great time making their own lunches, and since John had bought pre-cooked sausages, we didn't need to worry about any of them eating raw pork. After lunch, we hung out up top for about an hour or so, and then started making our way down.
While we had climbed up the east side of the mountain, we decided to make our way down the west side of it. This was mainly because at the bottom of the mountain on the west side was a river of mountain water that we were hoping the kids could swin in. We did make it down, although there were a few steepish spots that made John a little nervous (he doesn't like climbing down all that much), and the kids managed it just fine. I actually had to call ahead a few times to tell the ones in front to wait up. When we got to the river, we first had the boys gather up some firewood, and then they prepared to go for a swin. I got a fire going, and we filled a kettle we had taken with us with river water in order to make coca tea. Because the water was so cold, the boys actually didn't want to get in. Until, of course, John asked them if there were any men in the group who were going to go for a swim. One by one, they all got into the freezing river water, and then ran over to warm up by the fire. They actually seemed to enjoy it, and by this time I had a good fire going so they were able to warm up pretty quickly. Once all the boys were around the fire, I pulled out the marshmellows, chocolate, and almost-graham-crackers we had brought with us, and I showed the boys how to make a smore. Once they had been shown, they were allowed to do whatever they wanted with their marshmellows. Many of them decided to make smores, and absolutely loved them. They all had a great time just cooking—sometimes burning—their marshmellows over the fire, and all were laughing and smiling.
After smores and coca tea, we packed up everything again and made our way down from the river towards the city. We eventually got to a spot from where we could take a trufi, and arrived back at Nasareth only 1 hour late for dinner. All the boys had a wonderful time, and were very excited to have gone. Many of them said the smores were their personal highlight. I also had a great time. It was nice to get out of the city and into nature a bit, and to see the boys having such a wonderful time. John said that he enjoyed almost everything except the climb down. All in all, it was a wonderful day.
Saturday, I spent most of the day at home, resting my foot (which is now almost fully better). In the late afternoon though, I made my way downtown where I met my Bolivian friend Ludwe, and the two of us went to the Feria Internacional de Cochabamba (Cochabamba International Fair). It's fairly similar to the Ex in Toronto, only everything is cheaper once you get inside instead of more expensive. We walked around the grounds and in the buildings, seeing the displays and enjoying many, many free samples. The funny thing was that, although there were different buildings and some degree of organization (there was an artisan section and an eco-market), for the most part there didn't seem to be much organization in the layout within the buildings. And so, in one building, there was a Christian bookstore flanked on one side by an industrial products company, and on the other by a brand of rum. In another building, a company selling chicken products was right across from a telecommunications provider. Make-up and laptops side-by-side in another location... you get the idea. I not saying that this was a bad thing, but it certainly made walking around more interesting.
The other cool thing about the Feria was that it quite literally had everything. There were car dealers, heating products, industrial cake mixers, cafes, toys, and food of all types. In the evening, their were even free concerts at a few places in the grounds. I was very happy to discover that not all of the bands playing were not hiphop, or, worse yet, reggaeton. I was actually able to listen to some Bolivian rock bands, and was quite pleased with what I heard. The first band, Mamut, were quite good. After a few songs, they even had a saxaphone and a trumpet player join them, which was very cool. The second group, A Pie—which means "Stand Up," not "A Pie"—had a electrical violin used in all their songs, and it sounded amazing. The third group we heard, a Mexican rock band call Elefante, were pretty good except that most of their songs were quite slow. And given that it was at that point approaching midnight, their music was soothing me to sleep more than anything else, so Ludwe and I decided to head home.
Sunday, I spent most of the afternoon sitting in my room reading and enjoying the afternoon sun. Though it was very quiet in my area of town thoughout most of the day, the downtown was quite full of different groups marching, either in support or protest of the referendum in Santa Cruz. Despite these different groups being so close together, as far as I know nothing actually happened between them. In Santa Cruz, there was apparently some violence. In one of the areas of the town supporters of MAS were actually preventing voting at the voting station, by breaking windows and doors of the school the station was located in, setting stuff outside the school on fire, and being generally violent. There were around 20 injuries in Santa Cruz on Sunday, and I'm assuming they had to do with this (though I don't know who was injured). Although I haven't really had too much of a chance, it appears that this was the only incident related to the referendum.
The outcome of the referendum was an strong "Yes" vote for autonomy, about 85%. Strangely enough though, a full-page ad in the Cochabamba paper managed to cobble together a 50% "No" vote to autonomy, supposedly giving MAS supporters the victory. They did this by adding up the votes against autonomy, as well as the number (quite high, around 38%) of people registered to vote but who abstained. While I did hear that there were several idigenous groups boycotting the vote, and so this odd math might not be ridiculously far-fetched, my analytical mind just isn't quite buying it, but who knows? I'm not entirely sure why all these people didn't just vote "no" to begin with, but then I'm not going to pretend that I really understand Bolivian politics. Since the Electoral Courts had declared the vote illegal (it wasn't able to guarantee the required standards) a while ago, and there is now debate as to whether the results of a referendum with a near 40% abstention rate can be accepted, it is unsure what the actual outcome of this referendum will be. The reaction to the results has, at least here in Cochabamba, been quite peaceful. In fact, I don't think there have even been any blockades here since Sunday, which is quite nice. In this case, it would appear that my stocking up was a little silly. However, I really don't mind, since I won't really need to do any shopping this month, and my meal preparation will also be very easy.
I think Cochabamba's own autonomy referendum is supposedly scheduled for some time in June, so I guess we'll just have to see what happens then...
Have a good week everyone.
This past Wednesday afternoon we celebrated a quinceañeros (a girl's 15th birthday) for three of the girls (although I should now say "young ladies") at CAT. A quinceañeros is incredibly important here, and a HUGE deal. It means that a girl has ceased to be a niña (girl), and is now a señorita (young lady). Originally, this also meant that she was available for marriage. So Wednesday afternoon we had a big party to celebrate the 15th birthdays of Danielle, Susana, and Elísabet. Danielle and Susana turned 15 earlier in April, and although Elísabeth doesn't turn 15 until November, it was decided to celebrate it now since we don't know if there would be enough money for 2 big parties. Everyone dressed up for the occasion, staff, kids, and guests. All of Danielle's class (she is the only one of the three to go to school), including her teachers, were even invited to the party. I assume this was a double treat for them since Danielle has class in the afternoon, and so they all got to attend a party instead of classes. In addition to Danielle's class, some people from Sayde Hayes, the organization that oversees all children's homes in Cochabamba, also came. We even had three people from the regional government of Cochabamba attend, fairly "higher-ups" too, I believe.
As the party starts, the señorita is lead out and "presented" to everyone in attendance. She wears a beautiful white dress not too different from a wedding dress, and would usually be led out on the arm of her father. In this case, I led out Danielle, Freddy (the professor) led out Susana, and the doctor led out Elísabet. Once the señorita has been presented, a waltz is danced with her father. It didn't matter that I don't know how to waltz very well, since Danielle doesn't have good enough movement for the coordination necessary. Nevertheless, we danced around in front of those present, blowing out the candles held by the women and collecting the flowers held by the men. After the first dance, everyone was invited to join in and dance a waltz. After this, the music was changed and everyone danced to more modern music—reggaeton, sadly. At some point, before dinner, we paused and a toast was given for the three quince añeras (birthday girls). Danielle, the only one of the girls able to speak (in Spanish at least—Elísabet speaks Quechua but not that often) said a few tearful words of thanks to everyone who attended. After some more dancing, dinner was served, and then dancing resumed, with people slowly trickling out after dinner. All in all it was a very fun afternoon, especially, I think, for Danielle and Susana (I'm not sure Elísabeth was really able to understand what was going on).
On Thursday, it was a public holiday (Labour Day) and so there was no school. John and I took advantage of this and took 6 boys from Nasareth for a hike up one of the mountains surrounding Cochabamba. We arrived early with supplies for the hike, and everyone took a little bit in their own backpack. Each armed with 2 liters of water, 2 juice bags, an apple, a banana, a chocolate bar, and a portion of the food that was for everybody, we set out. We got a ride to the bottom of the mountain we were planing on hiking up, arrived around 9:45, and began climbing. Some of the kids climbed faster than others, so I stuck with the slower kids and John went ahead with the faster ones. Either way, it was not a very steep climb, and in 2.5 hours we had all made it to our desired campsite—not quite the top, although only about 20 minutes down from it. There, we made a campfire and everyone got to cook their own sausages. Their was also bread, tomatoes, and sliced ham to make sandwiches, as well as potato chips. The boys had a great time making their own lunches, and since John had bought pre-cooked sausages, we didn't need to worry about any of them eating raw pork. After lunch, we hung out up top for about an hour or so, and then started making our way down.
While we had climbed up the east side of the mountain, we decided to make our way down the west side of it. This was mainly because at the bottom of the mountain on the west side was a river of mountain water that we were hoping the kids could swin in. We did make it down, although there were a few steepish spots that made John a little nervous (he doesn't like climbing down all that much), and the kids managed it just fine. I actually had to call ahead a few times to tell the ones in front to wait up. When we got to the river, we first had the boys gather up some firewood, and then they prepared to go for a swin. I got a fire going, and we filled a kettle we had taken with us with river water in order to make coca tea. Because the water was so cold, the boys actually didn't want to get in. Until, of course, John asked them if there were any men in the group who were going to go for a swim. One by one, they all got into the freezing river water, and then ran over to warm up by the fire. They actually seemed to enjoy it, and by this time I had a good fire going so they were able to warm up pretty quickly. Once all the boys were around the fire, I pulled out the marshmellows, chocolate, and almost-graham-crackers we had brought with us, and I showed the boys how to make a smore. Once they had been shown, they were allowed to do whatever they wanted with their marshmellows. Many of them decided to make smores, and absolutely loved them. They all had a great time just cooking—sometimes burning—their marshmellows over the fire, and all were laughing and smiling.
After smores and coca tea, we packed up everything again and made our way down from the river towards the city. We eventually got to a spot from where we could take a trufi, and arrived back at Nasareth only 1 hour late for dinner. All the boys had a wonderful time, and were very excited to have gone. Many of them said the smores were their personal highlight. I also had a great time. It was nice to get out of the city and into nature a bit, and to see the boys having such a wonderful time. John said that he enjoyed almost everything except the climb down. All in all, it was a wonderful day.
Saturday, I spent most of the day at home, resting my foot (which is now almost fully better). In the late afternoon though, I made my way downtown where I met my Bolivian friend Ludwe, and the two of us went to the Feria Internacional de Cochabamba (Cochabamba International Fair). It's fairly similar to the Ex in Toronto, only everything is cheaper once you get inside instead of more expensive. We walked around the grounds and in the buildings, seeing the displays and enjoying many, many free samples. The funny thing was that, although there were different buildings and some degree of organization (there was an artisan section and an eco-market), for the most part there didn't seem to be much organization in the layout within the buildings. And so, in one building, there was a Christian bookstore flanked on one side by an industrial products company, and on the other by a brand of rum. In another building, a company selling chicken products was right across from a telecommunications provider. Make-up and laptops side-by-side in another location... you get the idea. I not saying that this was a bad thing, but it certainly made walking around more interesting.
The other cool thing about the Feria was that it quite literally had everything. There were car dealers, heating products, industrial cake mixers, cafes, toys, and food of all types. In the evening, their were even free concerts at a few places in the grounds. I was very happy to discover that not all of the bands playing were not hiphop, or, worse yet, reggaeton. I was actually able to listen to some Bolivian rock bands, and was quite pleased with what I heard. The first band, Mamut, were quite good. After a few songs, they even had a saxaphone and a trumpet player join them, which was very cool. The second group, A Pie—which means "Stand Up," not "A Pie"—had a electrical violin used in all their songs, and it sounded amazing. The third group we heard, a Mexican rock band call Elefante, were pretty good except that most of their songs were quite slow. And given that it was at that point approaching midnight, their music was soothing me to sleep more than anything else, so Ludwe and I decided to head home.
Sunday, I spent most of the afternoon sitting in my room reading and enjoying the afternoon sun. Though it was very quiet in my area of town thoughout most of the day, the downtown was quite full of different groups marching, either in support or protest of the referendum in Santa Cruz. Despite these different groups being so close together, as far as I know nothing actually happened between them. In Santa Cruz, there was apparently some violence. In one of the areas of the town supporters of MAS were actually preventing voting at the voting station, by breaking windows and doors of the school the station was located in, setting stuff outside the school on fire, and being generally violent. There were around 20 injuries in Santa Cruz on Sunday, and I'm assuming they had to do with this (though I don't know who was injured). Although I haven't really had too much of a chance, it appears that this was the only incident related to the referendum.
The outcome of the referendum was an strong "Yes" vote for autonomy, about 85%. Strangely enough though, a full-page ad in the Cochabamba paper managed to cobble together a 50% "No" vote to autonomy, supposedly giving MAS supporters the victory. They did this by adding up the votes against autonomy, as well as the number (quite high, around 38%) of people registered to vote but who abstained. While I did hear that there were several idigenous groups boycotting the vote, and so this odd math might not be ridiculously far-fetched, my analytical mind just isn't quite buying it, but who knows? I'm not entirely sure why all these people didn't just vote "no" to begin with, but then I'm not going to pretend that I really understand Bolivian politics. Since the Electoral Courts had declared the vote illegal (it wasn't able to guarantee the required standards) a while ago, and there is now debate as to whether the results of a referendum with a near 40% abstention rate can be accepted, it is unsure what the actual outcome of this referendum will be. The reaction to the results has, at least here in Cochabamba, been quite peaceful. In fact, I don't think there have even been any blockades here since Sunday, which is quite nice. In this case, it would appear that my stocking up was a little silly. However, I really don't mind, since I won't really need to do any shopping this month, and my meal preparation will also be very easy.
I think Cochabamba's own autonomy referendum is supposedly scheduled for some time in June, so I guess we'll just have to see what happens then...
Have a good week everyone.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Reminders from a Sadder World
Another week here in Coochabamba has again flown by, and I am doing, relatively speaking, fairly well. I say "relatively" since I shouldn't really be walking all the much right now. The reason for this is that, last Thursday, while playing soccer with the boys, I managed to injure my foot. So, because I couldn't really put any weight on the ball of my right foot on Friday, I spent the day resting at home. Saturday, however, since my foot was almost fine again, I basically spent the entire day on my feet. Followed up by a fair bit of movement on Sunday and Monday morning, my foot is now doing noticeably worse than it was on Saturday. Seeing as Thursday is a public holiday and John and I are planning on taking some boys from Nazareth up a mountain, I am now doing my best to keep off my foot.
Other than my injury, though, it has been a fairly good week. I enjoyed my time at CAT and Nazareth, and have been having a good time outside of volunteering. I did, however, have a few reminders over the past week that not all is "bright and sunny" here in Cochabamba, or even Bolivia for that matter.
The first reminder came on morning at CAT, while helping the children with their homework. One of the boys, Mario, was doing his homework, and had to complete a sort of family tree. He needed to put the names of his brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. The only problem: we don't actually know any of this information. The only thing we could fill in on the entire page was Mario's name. Since I am most often playing with the kids, they are usually happy and full of smiles, or at worst angry with me because I'm forcing them to do their homework. Because of this, I am not daily reminded of the harsher realities of their lives...
The second reminder came from a friend of mine who volunteers at a project here in Cochabamba. Apparently, last week, one of the women who used to be with the project hung herself. This was, of course, very hard for the other people in the project, and I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must now be for the children this woman left behind.
The final reminder came as I did my shopping on the weekend. There is now, in my house, enough food to last me almost a month. The reason for this is because, this coming Sunnday (May 4th), the department (what we in Canada would call a "province") of Santa Cruz will be holding a referendum on autonomy from the central government. I have no idea what degree this autonomy would theoretically take, but the referendum is a further step in the conflict between the central socialist government and the more right-wing regional governments (of which Santa Cruz seems to be the leader). I was warned about 2 weeks ago, by a few people, that it would be prudent to "stock up" on some extra food supplies before May 4th, just in case. The reason for this is because we don't know what the response to the outcome of the referendum will be. Of course, it is possible that nothing at all could happen. However, blockades, rioting, or possibly even civil war—depending on who you talk to—cannot be ruled out either. Even simple blockading, a relative certainty here in Bolivia (it seems to be the standard way to protest—or even support—anything), depending on where it occurs and how prolonged it is, could slow down (or at worst stop) the amount food making it into Cochabamba, thus further driving up prices. While the referendum is being held in Santa Cruz, this is certainly no guarantee that problems will not occur here. The difficult thing about Cochabamba is that it is divided between supporters of MAS (the political party that makes up the central government), and those opposed to it and thus supporters of Santa Cruz and the other regional governments that are demanding autonomy. In fact, the rioting here in Cochabamba last January (2008) was, I believe, due mainly to the Department of Cochabamba's Prefect ("governor") demanding autonomy, and the conflict that then insued between those supportive of and against those demands.
Should the best possible outcome (i.e. nothing) occur, then it just means than I won't need to do very much shopping over the coming weeks. Should, however, food prices rise due to blockades, or no food makes it in all due to worse, I will at least be prepared. For those of you reading this who pray, I ask that you would keep the country of Bolivia in your prayers this week. Furthermore, please pray for those who have been unable to afford purchasing a month's worth of food and, should some less-than-desireable outcome occur, will not be prepared.
Other than my injury, though, it has been a fairly good week. I enjoyed my time at CAT and Nazareth, and have been having a good time outside of volunteering. I did, however, have a few reminders over the past week that not all is "bright and sunny" here in Cochabamba, or even Bolivia for that matter.
The first reminder came on morning at CAT, while helping the children with their homework. One of the boys, Mario, was doing his homework, and had to complete a sort of family tree. He needed to put the names of his brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. The only problem: we don't actually know any of this information. The only thing we could fill in on the entire page was Mario's name. Since I am most often playing with the kids, they are usually happy and full of smiles, or at worst angry with me because I'm forcing them to do their homework. Because of this, I am not daily reminded of the harsher realities of their lives...
The second reminder came from a friend of mine who volunteers at a project here in Cochabamba. Apparently, last week, one of the women who used to be with the project hung herself. This was, of course, very hard for the other people in the project, and I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must now be for the children this woman left behind.
The final reminder came as I did my shopping on the weekend. There is now, in my house, enough food to last me almost a month. The reason for this is because, this coming Sunnday (May 4th), the department (what we in Canada would call a "province") of Santa Cruz will be holding a referendum on autonomy from the central government. I have no idea what degree this autonomy would theoretically take, but the referendum is a further step in the conflict between the central socialist government and the more right-wing regional governments (of which Santa Cruz seems to be the leader). I was warned about 2 weeks ago, by a few people, that it would be prudent to "stock up" on some extra food supplies before May 4th, just in case. The reason for this is because we don't know what the response to the outcome of the referendum will be. Of course, it is possible that nothing at all could happen. However, blockades, rioting, or possibly even civil war—depending on who you talk to—cannot be ruled out either. Even simple blockading, a relative certainty here in Bolivia (it seems to be the standard way to protest—or even support—anything), depending on where it occurs and how prolonged it is, could slow down (or at worst stop) the amount food making it into Cochabamba, thus further driving up prices. While the referendum is being held in Santa Cruz, this is certainly no guarantee that problems will not occur here. The difficult thing about Cochabamba is that it is divided between supporters of MAS (the political party that makes up the central government), and those opposed to it and thus supporters of Santa Cruz and the other regional governments that are demanding autonomy. In fact, the rioting here in Cochabamba last January (2008) was, I believe, due mainly to the Department of Cochabamba's Prefect ("governor") demanding autonomy, and the conflict that then insued between those supportive of and against those demands.
Should the best possible outcome (i.e. nothing) occur, then it just means than I won't need to do very much shopping over the coming weeks. Should, however, food prices rise due to blockades, or no food makes it in all due to worse, I will at least be prepared. For those of you reading this who pray, I ask that you would keep the country of Bolivia in your prayers this week. Furthermore, please pray for those who have been unable to afford purchasing a month's worth of food and, should some less-than-desireable outcome occur, will not be prepared.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Another Week
It has been a good week back in my regular routine here in Cochabamba. I am doing well, and well rested again. While last week was a little busy, I managed to get caught up with two afternoons siestas (naps) on Saturday and Sunday.
I got back to reading Charlie to the boys last week, and they were happy to be able to continue listening to it (and to get their chocolates, surprise surprise). I also continued coaching the boys in Ultimate Frisbee, something I started before heading off to Peru. It has been a lot of fun, and some of them are getting half-decent/good. They still have a long way to come, but I'm excited and have been enjoying coaching, and playing with, them. I'm working with someone from Niños Con Valor (Tyson's foundation) to see if we can get a donation of some proper (i.e. official size and weight) discs . If not, I'll be putting in an order anyway. We probably won't get them till mid/the end of May, but that just means that the boys will have had a chance to improve by then. The cool thing is that I have also been training John, another volunteer who is here indefinitely, so that he'll be able to keep training them after I leave in July.
At CAT, we ended up celebrating Dia Del Niño on Friday, and it was a lot of fun. There was a clown, some of the staff played songs and sang and others did traditional dances, we had special food for the occasion (fried salteñas—which I helped make!), and each kid got their own gooddie bag full of tasty treats. It was a really fun morning, and the kids and staff all enjoyed it.
Friday night, we had a despedida for Allie, who left Cochabamba to go back home to the States on Saturday evening. After catching a movie, Gone Baby Gone (it's really good by the way), we went to a restaurant in town for some dessert. It was a fun evening, and a good send-off. I'm going to miss Allie, as it's sad to see another friend head off, but she's glad to be able to go back home after being here for a year.
I actually got to see Allie again on Saturday, since we were both invited to Claudia and Boris's house to celebrate Claudia's birthday. It too was fun, and it was really nice to be invited. In fact, Allie and I were the only gringos there! The food was also really good, and I didn't have much room for dinner as a result. The funny thing was that Allie and I managed to arrive to the party late, even for Bolivian time! We got there over an hour late, which for a Bolivian party should have been right on time, but instead we found everyone waiting for us to arrive so they could start lunch! We felt a little bad, but I sort of can't help chuckling about it now.
Wishing everyone back home a wonderful week. To anyone at KSK who may be reading this, I wish you all the best in surviving the final few days up to April 30.
I got back to reading Charlie to the boys last week, and they were happy to be able to continue listening to it (and to get their chocolates, surprise surprise). I also continued coaching the boys in Ultimate Frisbee, something I started before heading off to Peru. It has been a lot of fun, and some of them are getting half-decent/good. They still have a long way to come, but I'm excited and have been enjoying coaching, and playing with, them. I'm working with someone from Niños Con Valor (Tyson's foundation) to see if we can get a donation of some proper (i.e. official size and weight) discs . If not, I'll be putting in an order anyway. We probably won't get them till mid/the end of May, but that just means that the boys will have had a chance to improve by then. The cool thing is that I have also been training John, another volunteer who is here indefinitely, so that he'll be able to keep training them after I leave in July.
At CAT, we ended up celebrating Dia Del Niño on Friday, and it was a lot of fun. There was a clown, some of the staff played songs and sang and others did traditional dances, we had special food for the occasion (fried salteñas—which I helped make!), and each kid got their own gooddie bag full of tasty treats. It was a really fun morning, and the kids and staff all enjoyed it.
Friday night, we had a despedida for Allie, who left Cochabamba to go back home to the States on Saturday evening. After catching a movie, Gone Baby Gone (it's really good by the way), we went to a restaurant in town for some dessert. It was a fun evening, and a good send-off. I'm going to miss Allie, as it's sad to see another friend head off, but she's glad to be able to go back home after being here for a year.
I actually got to see Allie again on Saturday, since we were both invited to Claudia and Boris's house to celebrate Claudia's birthday. It too was fun, and it was really nice to be invited. In fact, Allie and I were the only gringos there! The food was also really good, and I didn't have much room for dinner as a result. The funny thing was that Allie and I managed to arrive to the party late, even for Bolivian time! We got there over an hour late, which for a Bolivian party should have been right on time, but instead we found everyone waiting for us to arrive so they could start lunch! We felt a little bad, but I sort of can't help chuckling about it now.
Wishing everyone back home a wonderful week. To anyone at KSK who may be reading this, I wish you all the best in surviving the final few days up to April 30.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Wine? Of Course Not! Those Are EMPTY Bottles Hidden Under the Floorboard!
I have now been back in Cochabamba for 3 1/2 days, and enjoying the chance to rest up a bit from my journey. Our trip to Machu Picchu was a lot of fun, and despite the high cost, it was by far worth it. That being said, I must give a big THANK YOU to Mom, Judy and Chris for their bday presents to me which made this trip possible!
I left Cochabamba last Friday night (the 4th) on a bus semi-cama, with 5 other people bound for La Paz. In the bus with me were 3 girls from England named Philippa, Lois and Cate, a lady from Scotland by the name of Alison, and a man from Singapoor named Jerry. We arrived in La Paz around 6:30am, and immediately had to begin searching for a bus to Cuzco, Peru, since they all left around 8. Jerry went around and found a company that was willing to drop their price from 110 to 90Bs for us, so we decided to go with them. Jerry tried to get them to bring the price down a little more, and while they said they couldn't bring it down any farther, they did agree to help us bypass the 2B Terminal Tax, which usually must be paid for use of the terminal. While this should have been a clue to us that perhaps we wanted a company with slightly higher ethical standards, we weren't thinking that much at 7 in the morning and decided to go for it.
We made it from La Paz to the Bolivia/Peru border at the town of Desaguadero without incident. Getting through Bolivian Migration was a little more complicated than expected, since the officials there didn't seem entirely sure what to do about my tourist visa extensions, or about Philipa and Lois's 1-year missionary visas. However, since the office was very dark (the lights were off—I didn't ask why) which made reading the documents a little more difficult, Jerry loaned one of the officers his flashlight, "to smooth out the process," and once he was able to read what the visas said we got through no problem. We then had to cross a small bridge on foot to Peruvian Migration, and once through there got back on the bus to continue on. However, somewhere in between the border and the town of Puno, our bus was stopped by Peruvian Customs, SUNAT, who proceeded to do a search of the bus. About 2 rows behind me, they removed one of the floorboards to discover a rather large cache of Chilean wine. And by "large cache" I mean about 45-50 bottles-worth! There were also a few cases in the cargo hold of the bus as well! Surprisingly, once the wine was seized, the bus was allowed to continue on no problem. Someone apparently overheard the driver of the bus mention that "an agreement had been reached" with the SUNAT officials. Since I only saw them filming the removal of about 5 bottles, I have a feeling that the agreement reached involved most everyone from that office going home with a few bottles of wine for their families. That's South America for you.
Lake Titicaca (above), and Peruvian countryside (below), both taken from the bus.
Saturday night we stayed at a hostal in Cuzco, and got to spend Sunday morning exploring Cuzco. The main square of the town is very beautiful, and quite Old European in design, as are many of the streets surrounding it. The thing that I disliked about Cuzco, however, was that, being a very touristy town, it was very difficult to go 10 feet without having 5 people asking you to buy this, eat at this restaurant, etc, and all in English! I have decided that if I every return to Cuzco, I will have a tshirt made that reads: Hábleme en español por favor (Speak to me in Spanish, please). After lunch-time, we caught a bus (on which we were the only gringos) to a town called Orumbamba, from where we took a trufi to the town of Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a beautiful town, surrounded on all sides by large mountains, on some of which are Incan ruins. The town itself is actually very Incan, with all of the buildings still built upon the original Incan foundations! So it was neat to get a feel for how an Incan town was designed. Also, Ollantaytambo was significantly less touristy than Cuzco, and more relaxing, although there were still plenty of tourist shops and restaurants.
From right to left: Lois, Philippa, Cate, Alison, Jerry. Photo taken looking over Cuzco.
The view from the rooftop patio of our hostal in Ollantaytambo.
On Monday, we took the terribly over-priced backpackers' train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, the village nearest the Machu Picchu site. While it's surroundings (mountains) are very beautiful, the town of Aguas Calientes itself is very touristy, and actually a little bit ugly. It is filled with restaurants and bars serving mainly overpriced Western food aimed at tourists. That being said, Lois, Philippa and Cate did manage to find the area of town where the Peruvians live, and said that it was nicer (in that it felt more like home in Cochabamba, complete with cat-call whistles from the men who saw them walk past). Our hostal was actually pretty nice, a not-too-steep climb up to the outskirts of town on the bottom of a mountain, with lots of plants and trees surrounding it. I even made friends with the cat that lived in the hostal!
I left Cochabamba last Friday night (the 4th) on a bus semi-cama, with 5 other people bound for La Paz. In the bus with me were 3 girls from England named Philippa, Lois and Cate, a lady from Scotland by the name of Alison, and a man from Singapoor named Jerry. We arrived in La Paz around 6:30am, and immediately had to begin searching for a bus to Cuzco, Peru, since they all left around 8. Jerry went around and found a company that was willing to drop their price from 110 to 90Bs for us, so we decided to go with them. Jerry tried to get them to bring the price down a little more, and while they said they couldn't bring it down any farther, they did agree to help us bypass the 2B Terminal Tax, which usually must be paid for use of the terminal. While this should have been a clue to us that perhaps we wanted a company with slightly higher ethical standards, we weren't thinking that much at 7 in the morning and decided to go for it.
We made it from La Paz to the Bolivia/Peru border at the town of Desaguadero without incident. Getting through Bolivian Migration was a little more complicated than expected, since the officials there didn't seem entirely sure what to do about my tourist visa extensions, or about Philipa and Lois's 1-year missionary visas. However, since the office was very dark (the lights were off—I didn't ask why) which made reading the documents a little more difficult, Jerry loaned one of the officers his flashlight, "to smooth out the process," and once he was able to read what the visas said we got through no problem. We then had to cross a small bridge on foot to Peruvian Migration, and once through there got back on the bus to continue on. However, somewhere in between the border and the town of Puno, our bus was stopped by Peruvian Customs, SUNAT, who proceeded to do a search of the bus. About 2 rows behind me, they removed one of the floorboards to discover a rather large cache of Chilean wine. And by "large cache" I mean about 45-50 bottles-worth! There were also a few cases in the cargo hold of the bus as well! Surprisingly, once the wine was seized, the bus was allowed to continue on no problem. Someone apparently overheard the driver of the bus mention that "an agreement had been reached" with the SUNAT officials. Since I only saw them filming the removal of about 5 bottles, I have a feeling that the agreement reached involved most everyone from that office going home with a few bottles of wine for their families. That's South America for you.
Lake Titicaca (above), and Peruvian countryside (below), both taken from the bus.Saturday night we stayed at a hostal in Cuzco, and got to spend Sunday morning exploring Cuzco. The main square of the town is very beautiful, and quite Old European in design, as are many of the streets surrounding it. The thing that I disliked about Cuzco, however, was that, being a very touristy town, it was very difficult to go 10 feet without having 5 people asking you to buy this, eat at this restaurant, etc, and all in English! I have decided that if I every return to Cuzco, I will have a tshirt made that reads: Hábleme en español por favor (Speak to me in Spanish, please). After lunch-time, we caught a bus (on which we were the only gringos) to a town called Orumbamba, from where we took a trufi to the town of Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a beautiful town, surrounded on all sides by large mountains, on some of which are Incan ruins. The town itself is actually very Incan, with all of the buildings still built upon the original Incan foundations! So it was neat to get a feel for how an Incan town was designed. Also, Ollantaytambo was significantly less touristy than Cuzco, and more relaxing, although there were still plenty of tourist shops and restaurants.
From right to left: Lois, Philippa, Cate, Alison, Jerry. Photo taken looking over Cuzco.The view from the rooftop patio of our hostal in Ollantaytambo.On Monday, we took the terribly over-priced backpackers' train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, the village nearest the Machu Picchu site. While it's surroundings (mountains) are very beautiful, the town of Aguas Calientes itself is very touristy, and actually a little bit ugly. It is filled with restaurants and bars serving mainly overpriced Western food aimed at tourists. That being said, Lois, Philippa and Cate did manage to find the area of town where the Peruvians live, and said that it was nicer (in that it felt more like home in Cochabamba, complete with cat-call whistles from the men who saw them walk past). Our hostal was actually pretty nice, a not-too-steep climb up to the outskirts of town on the bottom of a mountain, with lots of plants and trees surrounding it. I even made friends with the cat that lived in the hostal!
Taking a catnap with the cat in our hostal.
(Sorry, I know that was horrible but I just couldn't help it.)
Tuesday morning, we got up bright and early in order to catch the first bus of the day, at 5:30am, up to Machu Picchu. Despite our 5am breakfast runing overtime and having to run (downhill thankfully) to the bus, we still made it. When we got up to the site, we quickly entered and made our way up to the Guard's Hut, an area that overlooks the main portion of the site. When we got to the top, it became clear to me that the early wakeup had been fully worth it. The site, shrouded in fog and mist that moved in and out across the ruins, was absolutely spectacular. Lois, Philippa and Cate took a seat and began sketching different parts of the surroundings, while I just sat back, enjoyed the outstanding view, and took a few (well, actually a ton) of pictures. Seeing the mist move in and out, at times hiding almost all of the ruins, I really did have the impression of being in the "lost city of the Incas." After close to an hour and a half of sitting and looking out over the ruins, we decided to explore them a bit and make our way towards Wayna Picchu, a mountain overlooking the site (it's the "nose" on the face, 2nd photo down) that can be hiked up, although they only allow 400 people to do so each day.
From top to bottom: (1) What I saw as I entered Machu Picchu, (2) The view from the Guard's Hut, (3) The mist begins to clear, and (4) The rising sun hits the ruins.
Wayna Picchu was a tiring hike, up steep stairs along the side of the mountain, but well worth it. Along with further Incan ruins at the top, the view of the main site and surrounding mountains was amazing. I have to admit that I don't see a lot of wisdom in building ones cities on the tops of mountains, except that it is an incredible place from which to witness the beauty of God's creation. On the way back down, I took a detour in order to visit the Temple of The Moon, a small location basically dug into the side of the mountain. Although I was quite tired and thirsty from all the hiking, it was well worth it. Since it was already past midday when I got back to the main site, I made my way fairly quickly through the ruins to the exit. Given that I was thirsty, the sun was then shining in full force, and the site was now much more filled with tourists, I decided that it was time to head back in to town. Outside the entrance, I paid way too much for a cup of juice, which I drank before hiking back down the mountain and into Aguas Calientes. (I decided not to take the bus in order to save the $6 I would have spent on the ticket.)
From top to bottom: (1) The view of Machu Picchu from the top of Wayna Picchu, (2) Looking through an Incan doorway.
Tuesday night, we ate in a cheap restaurant that Jerry had found the prior night where the locals eat. The food was quite good, similar to Bolivian food, and we were happy to pay 2/3rds less than we would have eating in a tourist restaurant. We took the backpackers' train to Ollantaytambo Wednesday morning, a bus to Cuzco, and from there made our way to La Paz and then to Cochabamba. We even got across the Bolivia/Peru border without a search revealling wine hidden under the floor of the bus! We actually got back home late Thursday night instead of Friday morning, which was nice because it meant that I got to sleep in my own bed and not on a bus. I rested up on Friday, not doing much, and Saturday I went to Nasareth to celebrate Dia del Niño, or Kid's Day, with them. It was good to see the boys again, and I was greeted excitedly when I arrived with many hugs and questions of how my trip had been (a few even asked why I hadn't read Charlie to them this past week, lol). We're due to celebrate Dia del Niño at CAT on Thursday, and I am looking forward to it.
So all in all, despite being on 7 different buses and 2 trains over the short period of 7 days, it was a wonderful trip that I am very glad to have gone on. That being said, I am also glad to be back in Cochabamba, and back to work tomorrow morning.
(P.S. If you're interested in seeing more photos, you can visit my Picasa where I have uploaded plenty more. Clicking on the "My Bolivia Pictures" link under the Links menu, or clicking on the Photo Slideshow, both to left of the page, will take you there.)
Monday, March 31, 2008
What's Wrong with Bribery, Anyway?
It has been another good week here in Cochabamba, with the exception of an annoying flu that won't go away. This is mainly due to the fact that I haven't been getting quite enough sleep as this past week was also quite busy. That being said, my two actual attempts to get extra sleep over the weekend also failed horribly. My first attempt was to sleep in Saturday morning, which I discovered was not going to work at 8:15am, when I was already fully awake. My second attempt to get extra sleep involved going to bed at 9pm Saturday night. However, due to the combined factors of my room still being fairly hot at this time, and the neighbours two houses down having a party and playing their music ridiculously loud (there were a few times when I weighed the pros and cons of getting sleep vs. not going to jail in Bolivia for multiple homicide), I ended up falling asleep much closer to midnight. Oh well, maybe this week will be better to me sleep-wise.
I have continued reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the boys at Nasareth on Tuesday nights. This is going well, and some of the boys who make up my growing audience are actually getting into the story and wanting to know what will happen next. I did sort of resort to "bribing" them with chocolate if they come to listen, which I felt was not only appropriate given the book we're reading, but it also gave me a slight advantage when competing with television. I do think however that there are a few kids who, were I to stop bringing chocolates, would probably come to listen anyway because they're enjoying the story, which makes me happy. That being said, I'm going to continue bribing them anyway, just to be safe. On a side note, if/when I ever have kids, they're not going to watch television, I've decided.
The main highlight of this week was Sunday. After the English service at Calama, I left to go to my old house, where there was a birthday party celebrating Lucas's 4th birthday. It was a lot of fun, the only downside being that Lucas was sick, and so he was neither feeling great nor could he talk that much as he had almost lost his voice. But he still seemed to have a good time, as did everyone else. After the party, I killed time downtown with two friends before going with them to Calama again, this time for the Portugese service. While we actually understood very little, and only stayed for the worship part of the service, it was still very good. The Portugese service is made up mostly of Brazilians, either studying or living here in Cochabamba. Their music is very lively and a little loud, with a large band and several singers. We may even go back to check them out again another Sunday, although I doubt that this will become a regular occurance for me simply due to the extra time commitment.
The other exciting news is that this coming Friday, I will be leaving Cochabamba with 5 friends to visit Macchu Picchu in Peru. Macchu Picchu is a famous site of Inca ruins, and I am really looking forward to this trip. Despite the 2 days each way we will be spending on buses/trains, and the high cost of this trip, I am really excited. We are due to get back to Cochabamba (assuming no transportation issues...remember this is South America) next Friday, April 11. This means that I will not be updating my blog next weekend, since I will not be able to do so.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week. See you (well, I'll update for you) in 2 weeks!
I have continued reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the boys at Nasareth on Tuesday nights. This is going well, and some of the boys who make up my growing audience are actually getting into the story and wanting to know what will happen next. I did sort of resort to "bribing" them with chocolate if they come to listen, which I felt was not only appropriate given the book we're reading, but it also gave me a slight advantage when competing with television. I do think however that there are a few kids who, were I to stop bringing chocolates, would probably come to listen anyway because they're enjoying the story, which makes me happy. That being said, I'm going to continue bribing them anyway, just to be safe. On a side note, if/when I ever have kids, they're not going to watch television, I've decided.
The main highlight of this week was Sunday. After the English service at Calama, I left to go to my old house, where there was a birthday party celebrating Lucas's 4th birthday. It was a lot of fun, the only downside being that Lucas was sick, and so he was neither feeling great nor could he talk that much as he had almost lost his voice. But he still seemed to have a good time, as did everyone else. After the party, I killed time downtown with two friends before going with them to Calama again, this time for the Portugese service. While we actually understood very little, and only stayed for the worship part of the service, it was still very good. The Portugese service is made up mostly of Brazilians, either studying or living here in Cochabamba. Their music is very lively and a little loud, with a large band and several singers. We may even go back to check them out again another Sunday, although I doubt that this will become a regular occurance for me simply due to the extra time commitment.
The other exciting news is that this coming Friday, I will be leaving Cochabamba with 5 friends to visit Macchu Picchu in Peru. Macchu Picchu is a famous site of Inca ruins, and I am really looking forward to this trip. Despite the 2 days each way we will be spending on buses/trains, and the high cost of this trip, I am really excited. We are due to get back to Cochabamba (assuming no transportation issues...remember this is South America) next Friday, April 11. This means that I will not be updating my blog next weekend, since I will not be able to do so.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week. See you (well, I'll update for you) in 2 weeks!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Knowing What It's Like
Last week was a busy, but good one for me. Wednesday was Father's Day here in Bolivia, and at Casa Nasareth we celebrated it with a special lunch, with all the "Dads" sitting at their own table. The really sweet thing was, I was one of the dads! After lunch, the kids sang some songs they had practiced for us, and then we each got a present (some chocolates). Throughout the afternoon, the boys were giving away cards, of which I got a few. It felt a little odd, sweet, happy, and sad (since I will eventually be leaving them) to have them consider me a dad, but overall I really enjoyed it.
Since on Wednesdays at CAT we got ou of the city, we celebrated Father's Day there on Thursday morning. I had picked up some ice cream, strawberry and chocolate sauce for them, so we celebrated the day with that. This was also fun, and the director gave a very brief speech to thank the dads—the doctor, Freddy, and myself—for our work. I also got plenty of thank-you's for the ice cream, which everyone enjoyed. The funniest moment was actually when we were handing out the bowls of ice cream, and Julia, an older woman (I think with Down Syndrome) who lives there, shouted out upon receiving her bowl, "But I want lots!"
Since Friday was a holiday, I took a day to rest up at home. However, close to 11am I got a call from the Dave I used to live with to let me know that Lucas, my soon-to-be 4-year-old Bolivian brother, had been taken to the hospital late Thurs night because he had stopped breathing. Since the hospital was only a 15-minute walk away, I left the house and met him there. Despite being worried for Lucas, by the time we arrived he was for the most part perfectly fine. In fact, the only problems at that point were a slight fever, and the fact that Lucas, who is incredibly active, was seemingly back to his normal self and not pleased at all about being confined to a bed. While the doctors weren't entirely sure about the fever, they discharged him from the hospital around 1pm, with instructions that if his status changed, she should let them know. Since I haven't heard anything since Friday, I'm assuming that he's doing fine now.
On Friday afternoon, I attended with Tyson a "Via Cruz", or "Stations of the Cross" as I believed it is called in English. It is a Catholic Good Friday tradition, in which you reflect on Jesus's journey to the cross, from his being condemned to death to his final crucifiction and resurrection. Here in Bolivia, you actually walk around the neighbourhood of the church, going from station (point in the journey) to station. At each stop, the priest says a few reflective words regarding the station, and then some prayers are said. For instance, at the station "Mary Weeps", the priest talked about the suffering of many mothers in Bolivia, and then prayed for Bolivian moms. The "Via Cruz" that I did was even cooler, since the youth of the church did a re-inactment. So instead of just walking from station to station, everyone quite literally followed "Jesus," complete with a real crown of thorns (placed very carefully on his head though), carrying a cross, escorted by Roman soldiers and followed by two thieves carrying their crosses, to each station. This gathered a lot of attention, and some people who just happened to be walking by ended up following along too. I really enjoyed this activity, and was glad that I had gone.
The other cool Easter-related thing I did was attend a sunrise service on Easter Sunday, this time put on by some of the evangelical/protestant churches of Cochabamba. It started North of the centre of town at around 5:30am, and then everyone paraded down Ayacucho, a major North-South street, to finally end in a colliseum, after sunrise, where a service was held. The mood was a happy one, with marching bands playing lively tunes along the way, and flags waving in the air. It was cool to see some different churches joining together for this event, and I also really apreciated it. After the service, I grabbed some breakfast with a few friends before we headed off to the service at Calama (the church I usually go to).
Despite being fairly busy over the weekend (I did more than attend those two services), I still had a fair bit of time to reflect on Easter. At Easter, Christians all over the world celebrate the death (and resurection) of Jesus, a man who claimed that he was God, incarnate in human flesh and who had come down to this world. And what I realized, relfecting on the Easter story, is that God is not immune to our suffering. We may not have any answers (at least easy ones) as to why there is so much pain in this world, but we do know this: that God is not immune to it. Christians do not believe in a God who sits on some throne in the clouds and and lists out rules to be followed and who has no clue as to what life in this world in really like. Christians believe in "God with us," a God who has come down to this world to partake in our life and share in our suffering. If I'm honest, Christ, like many people on this earth, suffered a lot more than I likely ever will. While this does not take our pains away, while it does not remove hunger from the stomachs of those without food, or the pains that children of abusive and alcoholic parents experience, it does perhaps help to know that God, quite literally in some ways, knows what's it like. As Gary Haugen puts it, "God doesn't glibly spiritualize the suffering of injustice, for he himself has endured it. He knows that the lash is real, that the fist hurts, that torture kills and that injustice can so brutalize our spirit as to make us feel forsaken by the heavenly Father." Or perhaps put more simply in a song by Downhere, "You came down to me, to know what it's like, to know what it's like to hurt."
I was reminded this past weekend of the words of John Stott, quoted by Haugen in his book Good News about Injustice. (Note: I mean no offense to anyone by posting this quote, nor do I believe that either Haugen or Stott intended it).
"I could never myself believe in a God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In a real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered into our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our suffering became more manageable in light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering. 'The cross of Christ...is God's only self-justification in a world such as ours.'"
The cool thing about the Easter story, however, is that it does not end on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, we celebrate that Christ was resurrected, brought back to life. This, is just as important as his death. Because if Christ had only died, had just suffered, then he would have only suffered and then died. And while we would know that God had suffered with us, we would not be left with any real hope of things getting better. But the apostles tell us in their writings that when Christ rose again, he defeated death and that it was no longer to be the end, the final word. Somehow, some way, because of not only Christ's death but because also of his resurrection, we have hope that one day things will be better. And while sometimes that beautiful day may seem unimaginably far away, we have been promised that it will eventually arrive. (We are even strongly encouraged—told, you might even say—to do our best to start bringing about that day right now. Although that is a topic for another post). One day, all suffering will end. In the meantime, we can cling to that hope while doing our best to anticipate it in our actions, and be certain that God knows what we're going through.
Since on Wednesdays at CAT we got ou of the city, we celebrated Father's Day there on Thursday morning. I had picked up some ice cream, strawberry and chocolate sauce for them, so we celebrated the day with that. This was also fun, and the director gave a very brief speech to thank the dads—the doctor, Freddy, and myself—for our work. I also got plenty of thank-you's for the ice cream, which everyone enjoyed. The funniest moment was actually when we were handing out the bowls of ice cream, and Julia, an older woman (I think with Down Syndrome) who lives there, shouted out upon receiving her bowl, "But I want lots!"
Since Friday was a holiday, I took a day to rest up at home. However, close to 11am I got a call from the Dave I used to live with to let me know that Lucas, my soon-to-be 4-year-old Bolivian brother, had been taken to the hospital late Thurs night because he had stopped breathing. Since the hospital was only a 15-minute walk away, I left the house and met him there. Despite being worried for Lucas, by the time we arrived he was for the most part perfectly fine. In fact, the only problems at that point were a slight fever, and the fact that Lucas, who is incredibly active, was seemingly back to his normal self and not pleased at all about being confined to a bed. While the doctors weren't entirely sure about the fever, they discharged him from the hospital around 1pm, with instructions that if his status changed, she should let them know. Since I haven't heard anything since Friday, I'm assuming that he's doing fine now.
On Friday afternoon, I attended with Tyson a "Via Cruz", or "Stations of the Cross" as I believed it is called in English. It is a Catholic Good Friday tradition, in which you reflect on Jesus's journey to the cross, from his being condemned to death to his final crucifiction and resurrection. Here in Bolivia, you actually walk around the neighbourhood of the church, going from station (point in the journey) to station. At each stop, the priest says a few reflective words regarding the station, and then some prayers are said. For instance, at the station "Mary Weeps", the priest talked about the suffering of many mothers in Bolivia, and then prayed for Bolivian moms. The "Via Cruz" that I did was even cooler, since the youth of the church did a re-inactment. So instead of just walking from station to station, everyone quite literally followed "Jesus," complete with a real crown of thorns (placed very carefully on his head though), carrying a cross, escorted by Roman soldiers and followed by two thieves carrying their crosses, to each station. This gathered a lot of attention, and some people who just happened to be walking by ended up following along too. I really enjoyed this activity, and was glad that I had gone.
The other cool Easter-related thing I did was attend a sunrise service on Easter Sunday, this time put on by some of the evangelical/protestant churches of Cochabamba. It started North of the centre of town at around 5:30am, and then everyone paraded down Ayacucho, a major North-South street, to finally end in a colliseum, after sunrise, where a service was held. The mood was a happy one, with marching bands playing lively tunes along the way, and flags waving in the air. It was cool to see some different churches joining together for this event, and I also really apreciated it. After the service, I grabbed some breakfast with a few friends before we headed off to the service at Calama (the church I usually go to).
Despite being fairly busy over the weekend (I did more than attend those two services), I still had a fair bit of time to reflect on Easter. At Easter, Christians all over the world celebrate the death (and resurection) of Jesus, a man who claimed that he was God, incarnate in human flesh and who had come down to this world. And what I realized, relfecting on the Easter story, is that God is not immune to our suffering. We may not have any answers (at least easy ones) as to why there is so much pain in this world, but we do know this: that God is not immune to it. Christians do not believe in a God who sits on some throne in the clouds and and lists out rules to be followed and who has no clue as to what life in this world in really like. Christians believe in "God with us," a God who has come down to this world to partake in our life and share in our suffering. If I'm honest, Christ, like many people on this earth, suffered a lot more than I likely ever will. While this does not take our pains away, while it does not remove hunger from the stomachs of those without food, or the pains that children of abusive and alcoholic parents experience, it does perhaps help to know that God, quite literally in some ways, knows what's it like. As Gary Haugen puts it, "God doesn't glibly spiritualize the suffering of injustice, for he himself has endured it. He knows that the lash is real, that the fist hurts, that torture kills and that injustice can so brutalize our spirit as to make us feel forsaken by the heavenly Father." Or perhaps put more simply in a song by Downhere, "You came down to me, to know what it's like, to know what it's like to hurt."
I was reminded this past weekend of the words of John Stott, quoted by Haugen in his book Good News about Injustice. (Note: I mean no offense to anyone by posting this quote, nor do I believe that either Haugen or Stott intended it).
"I could never myself believe in a God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In a real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered into our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our suffering became more manageable in light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering. 'The cross of Christ...is God's only self-justification in a world such as ours.'"
The cool thing about the Easter story, however, is that it does not end on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, we celebrate that Christ was resurrected, brought back to life. This, is just as important as his death. Because if Christ had only died, had just suffered, then he would have only suffered and then died. And while we would know that God had suffered with us, we would not be left with any real hope of things getting better. But the apostles tell us in their writings that when Christ rose again, he defeated death and that it was no longer to be the end, the final word. Somehow, some way, because of not only Christ's death but because also of his resurrection, we have hope that one day things will be better. And while sometimes that beautiful day may seem unimaginably far away, we have been promised that it will eventually arrive. (We are even strongly encouraged—told, you might even say—to do our best to start bringing about that day right now. Although that is a topic for another post). One day, all suffering will end. In the meantime, we can cling to that hope while doing our best to anticipate it in our actions, and be certain that God knows what we're going through.
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