Redirecting

I’ve noticed a few people have started following this blog! So you know, I’ve largely stopped using it. Instead, my YAV year will be posted at:

kylecucho.wordpress.com

Thanks for taking the time to follow me and hopefully you can take the extra moment to switch over!

Kyle

Lima, chance meetings, sandboarding and other adventures

So… Lima is a cool town. I went walking and found the painters’ plaza while trying to ask about paragliding. It was too foggy (a trait of Lima) for that, so I walked around the plaza.

I spoke with a man named Melchior Mendez who spends his day tracking seismic activity and his nights painting. The paintings were beautiful and he was very friendly and just interested in talking some and less the sale.

There was also a great open exhibit in the park on children and how society and parents constrain them. Some showed kids wanting to play and their parents telling them not to get dirty. Others showed parents keeping kids from outdoors and telling them how lucky they were to have the safe environment. Last, others showed children demanding more toys. It was moving and often very funny. They reminded me of Calvin & Hobbes.

There was also a “get active” fair going on in which everyone was playing games in the blocked off streets. Also, there was a free zumba class that over 200 people were participating in. It was a hilarious spot and I really enjoyed watching, though I didn’t participate, I was feeling a bit tired.

I did end up meeting some cool students from Soka University in Southern California. They invited me to spend time with them, they too were traveling post-study abroad. Except they had been in either Ecuador or Mexico. After spending lunch with them, they invited me to go sandboarding in Huacachina in southern Peru. It is an oasis in the desert that is the south of Peru along the coast. I agreed to go taking a single backpack and leaving the rest of my stuff in my Lima hostel.

We caught a 7:30 pm bus, got in at 11:30 pm and crashed in our hotel. The next morning I walked around the little tourist-based town and marveled the giant sand dunes towering over the hostel.

By 10:00 we were out and traveling the sand dunes on a dune buggy. That was amazing, but bumpy. I now understand why all the vehicles on Tatooine were either hovercrafts or tanks. Far less bumpy rides.

We took several photos, I am stealing those from my new friends as my camera is broken and then got to the first sandboarding hill. We went down on our stomachs first and then had the opportunity to board the rest. I tried and at first was successful, but could not slow down. On what I thought was the last hill I went all out after flipping several times and the velcro securing me in slipped and I popped my knee on the sand. It hurt at first, but I assumed all was fine. I had to limp a bit, but just belly boarded the rest. It was an extremely fun trip and something I never thought I’d do.

When I got back to the hotel I discovered that no one had any ice, which was concerning and my knee was getting worse. Once the bus ride happened I was going for five hours seated and the knee swelled up a lot. So now, almost 21 hours after the initial injury, I am quite bothered by it. I’m icing it now, but you know, still sucks. It should be fine by Cuzco, but we’ll have to see about Pachacamac, the tour I planned today.

Still amazing experience and just really defined what I wanted to do for this backpacking, amazing things with random people I met. I also met a nice French girl who took pictures for me and I explained that I will be friending people on Facebook to see photos of my adventures. She loved the idea and agreed to friend me. It was a shame that the rest of our travel plans did not line up.

Tomorrow my mom and dad get in, so I’m very excited to see them after nearly 4 months. It has been quite long. Hopefully they don’t fret too much over the knee…

MIA

So I’ve been missing in action awhile, sorry about that. Didn’t have internet in the house, so I just stopped posting. My bad. I can sum up pretty well what happened though:

I kept up with Quechua classes with Institute of Andean Culture and Language and studied the use of borrows from Spanish in the language. It was a tough study and I wasn’t able to speak to as many speakers as I wanted, but I still got to talk to 12 or so. I was also limited to Cochabamba a very “mixed” area for Quechua and Spanish. There are historic and sociolinguistic reasons for that. Cochabamba was long the commercial center at the heart of Bolivia while Potosí was the mining center. Trade requires conversation, which occurred in the more powerful language… Spanish. Mining requires exploitation of labor and little conversation in a common language. Other reasons played in, but that was the most convincing I found. Determining the use of borrows was challenging, but relatively successful. The process went so:

I showed them the drawing below by Emma Matthies. It is full of various representations of different words, verbs, nouns and adjectives about which I was curious. I sought to know if they used the Spanish or Quechua. Sometimes it was obvious like with an image of a “cow,” since they were concepts interested with the arrival of the Spanish. “cow” translates to “vaca” in Spanish and “waka” in Quechua. Others were clear replacements of things that existed like sewing (seeds) and harvesting and I was curious about the use of Spanish there. In that case it depended with speakers, the more often they used the language or younger they learned it, the less they used borrows. It was really a fascinating look at how language can change with contact with another language.

The studied was limited by the use of a picture and an artificial request for a description. Instead of just talking naturally, I had to request they speak Quechua to me and many sought to speak a “better” Quechua than the one they normally spoke. They would use words that they rarely used instead of showing me their more natural dialect. Still, I gathered information on similar borrows that were clearly inevitable if they could not seem to find a Quechua word for them. A better speaker should really come back to explore borrowings in natural speech. They would likely find more than I did.

You might notice the title, I also used the information I gathered to write a children’s book. The book describes each small scene told from the point of view of the sun. I asked for suggestions from people to add some life to it as well. Many speakers sought to point out that contamination is bad, so I wrote that the trucks created smoke that was difficult to see through. Likewise, I reflected a cultural value of elders’ knowledge as greater than science at times and had her spinning wool. The best part is the Quechua literally translates to “Winter is coming.” which I wrote in honor of Game Of Thrones. I should add the book is written in Spanish, Quechua and English. If I can raise around $600 I can publish it with Kids Books Bolivia, an organization founded by Heidi Baer-Postigo, one of the directors of my program. If you feel like helping out, feel free to contact me. I am not one for shamelessly plugging, but I really think this book can do a lot of good.

Also, writing it was difficult. I don’t mean the creativity, that was of course hard, but harder was the spelling system I used. You see, there are many dialects of Quechua with much phonetic variation. For example, there are at least six different suffixes to represent the progressive tense “-ing.” They are all fairly similar, but do not fit a single spelling:

“sa”
“ska”
“shka”
“cha”
“chka”
“sha”

And those are just in Bolivia. As you can see spelling “correctly” has little meaning. You have to choose a system and stick to it. There are two popular ones: the normalized and the phonetic. The normalized looks to use history as its base and also the Quechua of Peru, considered the “purist.” Meanwhile, the phonetic looks to match as closely as possible, the modern-day Quechua, while it ignores history.

But either way you are creating a norm. That’s something I felt I didn’t have a right to do as a foreign student of the language. Quechua’s history has been greatly intertwined with the history of colonization in the country. So… I decided to go with examples of children’s writing in Añaskitu from the organization Center for Andean Communication and Development (CENDA). It is a supplement to a bilingual newspaper put out by the group. Using this, I based my writing off of how the children wrote so that instead of telling them I was just matching them. At times I made my own choice for simplicity (above I chose “sa”) or because there was no consistency.

The book turned out well and I was very happy that I used my place as a foreign student  to communicate the ideas of the speakers of Quechua who I spoke with. A challenge in Bolivia is the number of foreigners who come write books and just leave, I sought to at least communicate rather than just write and I think in many ways I was successful.

Once the program finished, I spent some time in Cochabamba. Blockades stopped me from traveling Bolivia unfortunately. Yet now I am in Lima, Peru for a bit before Cuzco with my parents. Let me tell you… it is beautiful. I am greatly saddened that my camera broken and I am unable to show you alongside my descriptions. Likewise, I am realizing traveling alone is faster, but it is really nice to have someone to share the sights and discoveries with. That’s where you the reader come in, so please enjoy what I have to say about everything and comment. Talking as I see and discover new things, helps me process them. While I’ll get that for real in Cuzco, I’ll miss it everywhere else and I’d love your input on my travels. As well as suggestions for what I should see!

Got a little lazy about updating my B.

So… gonna summarize quickly a lot of stuff. Two weeks worth.

Um… so as for Holy Week. Still hilarious to look like some representations of Jesus. But more importantly, the plazas. Especially Holy Friday. Should have brought my camera just to photograph and video the scenes before me.

I went to the plaza to eat with my German friend Lukas and found a march of people from church to carrying a giant bed meant for I assume Jesus. A marching band was also playing “The Sound of Silence” again. My theory is that it is actually a religious song here, but I am not really sure. Still awesome to hear some Simon & Garfunkel.

Then I went to Santa Cruz and had a great time seeing the Miami of Bolivia. Seriously, Miami. It even had lots of sand (dunes) and too much sun. Plus, the people were way more superficial than the rest of Bolivia in that they judged by looks in a much more obvious way. As such, not my city. But it was very warm and the scenery was beautiful.

The dunes there are amazing. It was once all vegetation but after overuse through growing of sugar cane, completely lost all nutrient value and the good topsoil washed away. Now it is a beautiful, but sad sight. The area is wildlife preserve that is quickly regrowing and will one day return to its naturally healthy state. Much has regrown already.

We also saw Plan 3000, another sad area where refugees from a flood in the 1980s moved. They still have not been given right to the land that the government moved them to, nor do they have clean water or proper sewage. It has much to do with slow and corrupt political functions. Those are terrible in the US, but seeing the way they’ve stunted improvement of quality of life in this area is sadder. No one was at fault for the flood, but many are at fault for not responding correctly.

Then we went to Samaipata. There is the Fuerte of Samaipata there, an archaeological site of Incan ruins. Incans went really far east, which I have only just learned. A fairly interesting place to see.

The next day involved going to see giant ferns which grow in Bolivia on a hike that turned out to be way more than the promised two hours and more than a relaxed walk. I was told to bring comfy shoes, that did not mean converse. That meant hiking boots. It was a little misleading, but all in all a beautiful hike. The general wish was that we warned.

Also, Samaipata is this odd nuclear haven for Europeans. Some Swiss scientists in the 80s determined it an excellent hiding place in case of nuclear fallout. So… a bunch went. Now the place is half Bolivians and half Europeans and all peaceful. It’s managed to stay small and welcome a lot of people. The Europeans were obviously highly privileged to live there, but they have not tried to change the town, but respect it. I really admired that.

Then we came back to Cochabamba and started in on the time of ISP prep. We presented our mini-ISPs. My group’s on graffiti went very well. Especially after the chance to watch and participate in graffiti-ing.

As for my personal ISP, I’m studying word and grammatical structures borrowed between Quechua and Spanish. There’s a lot and I’m curious to see how bilingual speakers use them. Are they acknowledged borrowings, do they use the words that existed before, has the cultural knowledge of past words been lost, all that. I am going to survey speakers and interview linguistic experts in the field. Hopefully, I get some good stuff.

Plus, I am going to write a children’s book based on my knowledge of Quechua. I’m hoping it turns out alright. I’m still deciding how I want to write it:

A children’s dictionary of different words?

A Quechua legend?

Or a story about the process of language shift?

Whatever it is, I’m going to be very intentional about my translation into Quechua to make sure it is not an afterthought so I don’t seem colonize-y, but to really try and make it a good translation. Hope I can. I’ll be continuing with classes too, which will be great.

Also, I sadly had to switch families. I say sad, but I do like my new family. The problem was the construction was going to step up at my old house soon and that would interfere with me staying there. They were sorry to see me go, but logistically I couldn’t stay. Luckily, I’m still in Cochabamba and can see them whenever. It was sad goodbye.

As for the new family, they are great. It’s a mom and her daughter. Plus, her brother who comes by a lot. Plus, she runs an embroidery factory. Keith and Keira if you are reading this, I’m serious. Just like Marjorie’s. Same tools and everything. Anywho, they are very kind, but it is a change in standard of living.

I no longer have wi-fi. The bathroom doesn’t have a separate shower, but is just a shower built that sprays on the whole bathroom. Also, my mattress is lower quality. But, half the  family speaks Quechua, so I can practice and give them my survey. As well as meet their friends and family that speak Quechua. So advantages and disadvantages. Pochy (homestay coordinator) did a great job of hooking me up with a family that fit the needs of my project.

The one bad part about no wi-fi though is I have to do a lot of coordinating with people for meetings. Without wi-fi that is far more difficult. Plus, I had gotten used to it here. Sort of feel like if I hadn’t had it from the beginning I’d have been fine. It’s almost like getting the change within Bolivia is harder than getting it coming in, if that makes sense.

I’m considering buying a modem to have the option to purchase internet time daily. It’ll depend on the price of a modem, but it might be helpful. Especially near the end when I’m writing up my study.

Or I will not buy it and just move to a hostel for the last week since having it will be really helpful when I’m writing up my ISP. It’ll depend what is more “price effective.” Ruby said modems are like $30, plus a rate of 7 bolivianos an hour. I’m going to go downtown tomorrow and find out.

The other option is buying a jump drive and internet cafeing everything. That’s technically cheaper, but doesn’t let me work in the peace and quiet of my home.

It’s a small setback and definitely a problem related to privilege, but one that I think would bother anyone during the initial transition. Still loving my new family. They are friendly and I’m really enjoying having Quechua, Spanish and occasionally English in one household.

Now to make the ISP go well…

 

Been A Bit

So the foot is almost better. No running, but hey, who needs that? I’m just sitting here watching Spanish Wall-E and writing a post, I see no reason to run… Well except when I’m beating a light crossing the street or trying to catch up with friends, you know that stuff. I’ll see how I am for a long walks probably in the near future for our trip to Santa Cruz, so we’ll see how I’m doing after that. Hoping it gets better by May cause I’m hoping to be able to climb Machu Picchu.

Otherwise, I can give a quick update about what I’ve been up to. I went to my host sister’s school finally and it was amazing. It is a school sponsored by the Catholic organization Alegria y Fe and the government making it a public school. The school is called Juan 23 and is based on the same bible chapter, though I’m unfamiliar with the specifics in that passage. A great part was the philosophy of horizontal relationships between students and teachers. All the students knew Paola (my sister) by her first name and she knew many of their names. Plus, the campus was beautiful and full of different buildings, basketball courts, soccer fields and a lot of open space. The Father of the school emphasized free time most of all outside of classes and the students were extremely bright for their age I found. Also, though it is Catholic by funding and origin, it had no religious requirements of students (other than a convocation once every six weeks, which isn’t exactly leaving students be). Still students seemed happy and the school was surprisingly great.

Last Sunday I got out to Tiquipaya (a town nearby) for a conference on climate change with youth here. It was a great opportunity that I just had to take, though I didn’t really have the time cause of all the work I have. Still, I loved the conference. I was surprised that many students were a little confused about climate change by adding littering to the problem. It’s another problem, but it is technically incorrect and that cause problems when trying to create positive change. It makes sense, the problem they most have to deal with is litter and trash in the streets.

Plus, the conference itself was more idealistic. Everyone left with the idea that they should stop littering and using gas, and it would all be better. Since the average age was 15, that wasn’t awful since really it just helps to have them interested and excited about fighting climate change. Hopefully they stay involved in the future and learn more. I encouraged them to study the issue of it really interested them, hopefully a few take an interest and heed that advice.

Plus, I met some gap-year students in a program called Dragons. Dragons is a fantastic program that really allows students to learn about Bolivian culture in a “you get what you put in” environment. They live in more rural areas and get to study weaving, or charango, or guitar, or other parts of Bolivian culture and it is really cool. Something I wished I had done, cause I’ve always wished I did a gap-year first. Good to meet another group.

Other things I’ve done is get involved with graffiti. I met the owner of a graffiti bar and he left me and the other two in my group come by to watch him graffiti inside his bar and even help with the stenciling. He was redoing the entire bar for this Saturday, his five-year anniversary. That was just the coolest, if not slightly messiest academic project I have ever had. Still the guy was really cool and showed us a bunch of cool graffiti things.

I also interviewed an instructor of Dragons about graffiti as she did an Independent Study on it when she was an SIT student. She was super cool and had interviewed Pablo (the owner of the bar) when he was starting. It was great to hear about him taking off she said.

Anyways, the graffiti project went really well. It was just a survey, but we learned a lot and if I wasn’t already studying language I’d make that my full Independent Study. However, Meredith, another girl in the group, is studying it and will be using all our contacts for her study. It’s really great to see that be put to good use cause it was awesome to put together. The only shame was most of our contacts were made to late (we met with another graffiti group and had chances to meet at least one or two others), but that was all Monday before the Thursday it was due.

I’m really happy I got involved with this project. As an Econ major I rarely get to study art and graffiti is a fascinating project. It is all about the confrontation between artist, public and the authorities. Challenging assumptions about society and calling attention to the failings of authority and culture in general. Plus, Bolivian graffiti is beautiful and full of highlights of the cultural and some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen.

I still don’t know how I feel about tagging and what it does for society, but it really is beautiful. Some of the tags are just fascinating to track and even others great to photograph. Overall, I loved that study and now I really know some of the city’s graffiti, can track it and know who made it. It’s great to be a little more involved in the culture in that way.

Other thing! Holy Thursday is awesome here. That night Bolivian Catholics (and other Christians probably) go to 12 churches (the stations of the cross bit) and also they close all the streets by the plazas in the city center and a fair emerges. People are selling all kinds of food, there are merry-go-rounds and fair games. The night is a lot of fun.

Plus, we found a bar that broke the one rule about no selling alcohol on Holy Thursday. We wouldn’t have bothered, but a Dragon was coming down and looking to get a drink cause it wasn’t allowed for her program in Tiquipaya. So we obliged and had a great time just having a few drinks after walking around and participating in Bolivian church culture. It is way more involved than in the US, a fact that I am conflicted on. It’s great that people are invigorated for something they believe in, that is authentic. And yet, there was a comedic man critiquing society from his conservative Christian point of view. He said some pretty awful things about women’s rights, gays’ rights and many others’ rights and in general was not someone I agreed with. For example, “Anyone who doesn’t clap is a faggot or a dyke” is a direct quote. The worst part is the people loved it.

Of course looking like Jesus he had to point me out and that just made me uncomfortable because I had no desire to engage with him. So I pretended my Spanish was worse than it really is. That usually works well here. On that note, no more hilarious night to look like Jesus than last night. Kids and adults alike couldn’t stop the staring haha. Cracked me up.

Anywho, that’s Holy Thursday here for ya. Really a different experience for me. Oh! And a man was playing “Sound of Silence” on accordion. It was amazing. I may post a video later if I feel like working through the technology.

Grammatical Apology

Hey, so it has been pointed out there are a lot of grammar muck ups. My bad. Plus, a lot of homonym mix-ups. That is the one that leaves me most ashamed.

I figured it was inevitable since I write without editing or rereading really. Figured an audience of my parents wouldn’t mind, but as it turns out, many more are reading. So to those others who aren’t obliged to love and be proud of me, my bad. I’ll try and step it up a bit, if anything just so I feel less hypocritical. I know I have to fight the impulse to immediately judge those who misuse “there.” Grammar Nazism isn’t a good trait, but it’s something I should own up to in my own writing.

To those reading and enjoying, please continue. The substance outweighs the mistakes in my opinion and I’m hoping yours as well.

12 Days

Shoot… been awhile since I last updated. Totally my bad, got caught up in being in La Paz and then it just felt so daunting to summarize everything that had happened.

So… let’s see, I went to La Paz with the group and got to see the business capital of Bolivia. It’s a dirty, unorganized city, but really very fun and full of interesting restaurants. Plus, I found it easy to get where I needed to go and like everywhere in Bolivia, Bolivians know directions to everywhere.

When we arrived we went right to Tiawanaku, the ruins of the capital of the Andean empire that predates Incans. That was amazing to behold. They were architectural geniuses and incorporated their 13-month calendar throughout the area. Plus, they used the surrounding geography to create perfect straight lines using a complex system of white dots on mountains that I didn’t get at all, but somehow created incredible architecture.

Then, we went to La Paz for the night and stayed in a beautiful hotel. I have to add that I found La Paz challenging to walk with my foot, but thanks to Lupe and Ismael I was given a cane to walk around with. Canes are awesome. I mean I just felt like a boss using it, though I really relied on it a bunch. I feel a little bad because it was inevitably banged up by the trip.

For instance the first night involved a long walk around the city to find a restaurant (which was closed, doh!) and that really took it out of me, but I have to see my foot has greatly improved with the aid of a cane and more rest than I usually would take on trips like this one. (Usually a midday hour or two in bed.) That I hated and am definitely going to do all I can to prevent injuries whenever I travel again.

The next day we met with a Minister of the Foreign Affairs department Fernando Huanacani. He explained the Vivir Bien policy that Bolivia has applied with the new state. The idea is not always getting all you can, but getting what you need, having respect for others and the earth. Really, it sounds great, but it is something we as humans constantly fail to do. If it works here though, I’ll be really happy. My worry is he wanted to spread it to us in the states. Don’t know if that’ll fly.

Then we went and saw the artwork in the studio of Robert Mamani Mamani. He does amazing artwork reflecting his appreciation of nature, mother nature and his spirituality. The paintings were amazing. He is considered one of the most famous in Bolivia today. Here is a wall of his work:

We also visited El Alto and saw a few cool locations. First was a trip to the Public University of El Alto, which student protests created. Seriously, they protested not having a school and one was created. We met students and did a mini-exchange. Sadly, we don’t live with them, but it was a great chance to meet some other students our age as we spend class with each other.

Then we went to El Trono, a theater that gets kids off the street in El Alto and teaches them theater, break dancing, allows them to go on a local radio station, etc. It’s fantastic. It was a beautiful building made of all recycled materials and many other start ups have emerged around Latin America. Plus, many children get to travel abroad to perform for international audiences. That was super amazing and something I’d really want to do. If it wasn’t for the whole… needing a real job thing. In fact, I realized here that I could have taken a totally other path in my life involving arts and reaching out to the community more so.

There was a volunteer from California that I realized I could really be/have been if I had not done the whole Econ major thing. I am also thinking recently on whether or not I would have liked that life more. Who knows, could just be cause I am here in the moment. But much of this class is tearing into the perfect theories of economics when put in practice. For example, the World Bank has so many concrete problems that we’ll get to later.

The group will be building a cool new village in Chapare (the coca region) that is essentially imagined and created by the kids. It is supposed to be a perfect village. They are putting things like composting toilets in and other sustainable items. It’s planned, but a fascinating idea. They have a wordpress blog to called “Pueblo De Los Creadores.” I may re-blog it at some point. It’s the type of place I’d go if I needed to just get the hell out of dodge for a bit to restart things.

Then the next day we did a bunch. We met the director of the movie Chiquiago, Antonio Eguino. It’s four vignettes of indigenous people in La Paz (the movie name, is the Aymara name for the city). It’s a beautiful film from 1978 that just truly captures the experience of Paceños from all socioeconomic backgrounds, focusing on the hardships of being indigenous. It’s a powerful film and I highly recommend watching it. The quality is not amazing, but that hardly changes the impact.

Then we met with World Bank officials in the French Alliance building. There we learned about the World Bank plans and people really went to town making this rep explain his points of view on development. I realized a few problems with the World Bank. They ignore politics. Completely. A democracy is any place without a coup. Also, development is monetary and formal sector based. There are many reasons for that, but it isn’t the end all. The rep did say that people don’t need to use the World Bank to develop. However, a government may not represent the views of the people just cause it didn’t have coups. In that sense, the World Bank has a failing. I don’t know, I was disturbed and don’t know if I could see myself doing that after this program. It’s funny, this rep is the only person whose name I missed as well… reflecting my slight disappointment.

I will add I thought people were a little unnecessarily vicious and unrealistic about what he’d say. Challenging his definition of development was a waste of time. He’s not going to change his mind publicly and hounding him on that point just wasted time I felt. It was more interesting to understand why the World Bank has not changed it’s definition or it ignores the political make-up beyond existence of coups. (Granted that probably isn’t official policy, but still it was a surprise.)

After that we went to Mujeres Creando. This is a group that promotes feminism and equality for women, as well as provides important services to them. They also graffiti their messages around the city (as I’m studying graffiti that was a great find). While they are a bit extreme and preachy, they do a lot of amazing work for women. Providing one of the few safe places for women in domestic violence situations and one of the few groups that just knows how to handle those issues correctly. While they are not likely to gain support with their extreme views, they are providing great services because they just do what they want. It’s a tradeoff.

A great quote by the speaker Julieta Paredes was:

“Some people ask if you are machista or feminist. That’s like asking if you are a robber or philosopher. That’s ridiculous.”

She had a point too and it addresses people’s confusion about the too. One is being a bad person who considers women lesser. The other is a philosophy, a way of viewing the world in which women are equal. The results of that equality may trouble people, but the two ideas are not even related.

The next day we went to Tocoli for the village stay. And holy crap what a beautiful place. We were right on Lake Titicaca. Like right there. And we got rowed out to look around and it was beautiful. Plus, the town was only 21 families and really tight-knit. Before you read “isolated” into my description, there was plenty of connection with the outside world. While this village was an old Aymara settlement that many of these families have lived in for a long time, they have radios, electricity, migrant workers and just in general contact with the outside world. They’re people. There are differences of course, but they are people.

Also, it was the first language barrier I encountered. Aymara was the only language of many of the women and that caused issues with communication. I have to admit though it was interesting to pick up what I could. Though it did trouble my Quechua.

Though I have to add I didn’t have an amazing time with my family. My host brother/dad (his mother was my mom, so it was a relationship I can only describe as such) spoke Spanish, but we didn’t really connect. The first night I was feeling a little off and not outgoing and that seemed to keep us from connecting from there on out. He also was only in town for the week on vacation from construction work in La Paz.

Additionally, my foot kept me from climbing the mountain. Actually, my foot made others keep me from climbing. I was a little tired on the way up to work with my brother/dad on construction and he told me to stop halfway up at a house of his friend, where Abby was homestaying. That was a fun day, she had six younger siblings I could play with. Plus, they let me help with the sheep which I couldn’t have done otherwise. Oh and her brother wrecked me at marbles. He was so good! Here’s a picture of her sister Viviana climbing me:

My brother wasn’t much of a talker either. He was in Aymara, but I found his Spanish hard to understand and he found mine hard to understand as well (neither of us spoke it as a first language). So we didn’t really bond. Plus, at the end pretty sure he didn’t know my name. Though I didn’t know my mother’s cause she only shared it once and I really had trouble pronouncing it. It was like Wanari or something. I felt weird using her first name though and as she never went further than a hundred feet from the house, I never saw her engage with other families. Seems kind of sad, but it is good that her many children (six) visit as often as they can.

Then I went down the mountain to eat and discovered Rene was staying up top and so I was free for the afternoon. I really had nothing to do. At all. So I went to the beach and hung out. Got a boat ride with my friend Ben’s dad. And watched them pick potatoes cause there weren’t enough tools to go round. Just ended up feeling disappointed sadly.

Making matters worse was the perpetual stomachache. I found myself unable to digest the potatoes. That was made clear once they came out the other end. That left me feeling disgusting and for some reason I was fed so much. So much! I just felt my stomach ready to blow at times and that left it so upset that talking and connecting was even harder. It also kept me from going out in the morning to see the sunrise on the Lake, which I had really looked forward to. I kind of saw it one morning from my house, but it just wasn’t the same I’m sure. I did get many amazing photos, but still always gonna regret that.

I did enjoy one food though. It’s called Pito and has the consistency of sawdust, but it’s a fine cornmeal. You need water or tea to eat it, but once I figured that out (such that it stopped sticking to the roof of my mouth) it was like a delicious cereal. I am going to see if I can find it elsewhere.

One upside were the cute animals. First was the beach puppy Charlie (I named him!). He was some sort of beautiful mixed breed that was super friendly. I usually don’t touch dogs, but he was too weak to bite (so no rabies) and I knew that it was too cold for many dangerous insects. So I played with plenty. Plus, the group loved him.

Also, my family’s cat (they also had hens) had three kittens while I was there. When I left they had 36 hours and could fit in the palm of your hand incredibly. That was amazing. They were so gosh darn cute.

Still, at the end I just was ready to leave. Our community work day was lackluster because of the classic behind schedule Bolivian Standard Time. So we started at 10:00 and were done by 12:30. We were supposed to dig a whole to gather water so they could make adobe bricks. The intention is to build an area where volunteers can stay when they visit. It was built on sacred ground, so it was cool to see them ask permission to build of the Pachamama (mother earth). Still the lack of work sucked. I wanted to help. Though I really blame our time constraints. If we had had another day it might have been possible to do more. I don’t know, just a thought.

Like I said I was ready to leave and enjoyed the ride in the bus. The landscape is beautiful in the Altiplano. Mountainous with long stretches of valleys and plain areas. Plus, it meant I could get non-potato food.

So… in sum… I was bummed about the village stay. I expected much more, but injury, sickness and a less than stellar family held me back from an amazing experience. It’s alright though. I did learn a bunch and am writing a reciprocity project children’s book about beach activities told from Charlie the dog’s point of view.

Oh here is a great shot on the lake.

Update: I may have been a little too negative about Vivir Bien. It’s a fantastic idea and I really want it to work. Though at times they are a bit too critical of economic theory. (Competition works and does find the optimal point. I do believe that. Issues arise when the assumptions don’t match the world, which is always and why competition often appears to suck.) Overall, Vivir Bien is cool. It tries to take into account externalities and that’s somewhere our system fails.

I also would love for it to work in the USA. And I think on an individual level it can. Even on a community level. But on a national level, it just won’t fly til we implement some structural changes. It’s really progressive. Plus, it’s some Bolivian program brought to the US? Many people are way too proud to take some “poor, backwards Latin American country’s system” in the world I see.

However, individuals can start to live this way. I know many who already do. I plan to do so more in the future. But as an official policy, not enough politicians will do this. They’d get kicked out. Maybe in the future it will change. I have a more progressive generation, I think. And I hope it will.

Thanks to my mother for pointing this out that I came off a little negative. I was trying to be realistic and it read as shutting down the plan. Still I have to be honest about my point of view. Please comment if you disagree and convince me otherwise, I’d like to be convinced otherwise.

Feet Are Really Important

So I have learned one thing in the last few days, I really need my foot. Like a lot. It wasn’t broken, thankfully. But it is a little funky and walking takes a lot of energy. Though there are some fantastic creams and drugs here that just make it stop feeling anything. That helps a lot, but at the end of a day when I largely avoided walking, it still kills me. It should get better soon, but to help that happen Ishmael is giving me a cane to assist with the walking on our trip to La Paz next week.

I’ve kept busy though considering the difficulty of walking. It’s nice that in this city I can largely take public transportation everywhere without having to walk far to get on board.

I’ve started a project to study graffiti in Cochabamba, a very interesting subject, I must admit. There’s a lot around here and much of it has a much more important role than that of the states. Plus it is more beautiful than any I have seen in the states. I am excited to study it.

Plus I handed in my Independent Study Proposal. I plan to look at influences of Spanish in Quechua (and vice-versa) through borrowing, code-switching, etc. It is looking like it iwill be a really interesting study, given how much I am seeing just learning basic Quechua.

Also, Hugo Chavez died the other day, which devastated many individuals here. That’s a major difference between the countries. Here Chavez is remembered a hero and his loss brings worry for the future of Venezuela without its charismatic and strong leader. However, in the states his death provides hope for the future of Venezuela. It’s incredible.

Oh! Also, the other day I went to my friend Yona’s for her birthday in what was one of the most interesting taxi rides ever. First, the driver got lost five times cause it was in an area neither of us knew. (That shows how huge Cochabamba is.) Then when we finally found it and started climbing the hill up to her house and the engine overheated. (Pointing to how hilly the area is.) It was fun though and the driver was an amusing guy. He really rolled with the whole getting lost thing.

That leads me into another great transportation story. I went to hop on the 136 trufi to get home, but decided to take another route. However, it was going the opposite direction. I figured it’d turn around fairly soon, but instead it drove for 30 minutes to the end of its route. I realized my mistake 10 minutes in, but decided to ride it out. See a part of the city I wouldn’t otherwise. Then I hopped in a departing trufi and got back an hour later, two and a half hours after I left class. I ended up in the southwest of Cochabamba and saw one of the poorest areas. The roads were no longer paved. This was the area that rarely gets water despite the mild progress since the water war. I felt a little stupid, but it was great to see the area.

Oh! We also finished out the History class and are starting Multiculturalism and Globalization. This should be pretty interesting. So far we attended (a slightly lengthy) de-patriarchalization talk. It was all about the ways society is naturally biased towards men. It’s something I’ve learned a lot about, but oddly this was a debate between two different sides. Sadly the Spanish was hard to follow, but it was interesting to see them argue about nuanced points I could hardly understand just cause of the specificity, not cause of the language.

Plus, I attended Spanish class yesterday for the first time (I haven’t been because of quechua) and we learned about gender roles in Bolivia. Machista society is plenty huge here, but little by little especially in cities women are receiving more opportunities. It was good to talk with my mom about equality afterwards, it’s an issue that is near and dear to her heart. The rest of the family is less forward about it, but we can still converse.

I really liked the Spanish class. I could ask about different issues that had to come to mind, like Señora vs. Señorita. Essentially, the diminutive implies that unmarried women are smaller and haven’t not reached the full potential yet. However, the law has changed to allow women to use other terms and also keep their maiden name. That’s really surprising and given my connection to my mother, good to know.

Otherwise, not much more to update. Tomorrow I go to my sister’s school and can participate in her English class. It should be fun, I’m really curious to see what the schools are like. Granted this is a fantastic private school, but still it will be good to see and learn about. Plus, I can kick start the interest in class for her students, who apparently don’t want to learn. Granted I think it is dumb that English is a dominant language, but really English fluency can really go a long way. It’s a good thing to graduate high school with.

Potosí/Sucre

So this was an amazing excursion. We did so many incredible things: venturing into a mine on Cerro Rico the mountain beside Potosi. Also, we played with miners’ children in a non-profit school, went to a hot spring in the mountains and hit up a few museums.

Let’s start with Potosi, the mines were amazing. I was very excited to see them and all the history there. I mean that is why there is Bolivia, that revolutionized the monetary system in the world and the effects were felt very far beyond just Spanish. While it is a sad history here in Bolivia, I was very glad to see it. It was a surreal experience and also, very beautiful. Such a sad spot where an estimated 8 million people have died, but the mountain was very beautiful against the crisp blue sky. Odd.

Then we went to Wayna Pacha, or Youth Time, a non-profit school for children of miners. They are sent there for ten Bolivianos a month and their mothers must cook one meal a month. That is a great deal. And it has worked well for the last six years. However, now, they are closing and I was so sad to see that. The facility was amazing and the kids were wonderful, I have never had so much fun playing with kids.

This one little boy, Brian, was the best dancer in the world. I cannot believe how good he was at dancing. Doing splits and completely showing me up. Then another little girl, Mayra, I believe, was funny. She asked for my camera and took a bunch of goofy pictures. I enjoyed looking at them. The only downside was when she tried to not let me have it back. I asked to take a photo and she said, “Just one!” And then I didn’t give it back because I wasn’t going to encourage being demanding. Still it worked out and it was too much for that to bring me down. I surprised at how well it worked out.

Then I let some of the older kids, 14-16 draw on my arm. They put a tattoo that said “El Mejor Amigo” (The Best Friend) and then all their names were signed on. Goofy kids.

Really, there is so much I could say to describe this place and how sad I was to hear it will likely close in September (though the families do not know yet).
Afterword I was interviewed by this man for a local TV station about why we were going there. That cracked me up. I was happy about my ability to explain in Spanish though and while I had a few kinks in my grammar, overall, I spoke well. He asked why we came, what we did, etc. I explained that we played with the kids and learned about the school some. I added that the work of that school is really important and emphasized that it is a vital portion of the community. I couldn’t publically state it would close, but I took the opportunity to stress how amazing Wayna Pacha is. It was the best thing I felt I could do at the microphone.
Well there is one thing I can do. This is a link to a girl starting up a support group for the school, which is really an amazing organization and doing some of the best work I have ever seen. It doesn’t have a flashy worldly impact, but its local impact means the world. That’s a clunky way of using an old cliche, but it’s the best way I can explain what I saw. Please read and take a minute to see about anything you can do, I know I am.
http://ourworld.worldlearning.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1447608&pg=personal&fr_id=1040

Then we went to Inca Tarapaya, an ancient lake in the mountains that Incans had come to for fertility and also burial ceremonies. It was a beautiful place and very warm. The waters were so warm. Plus, there was wonderful mud to coat our skin in, which we all did. Then we climbed up the surrounding mountains and explored, that was very fun and the view was amazing. It was only broken by a pesky advertisement for Tigo. I just didn’t get why it was even there… kinda silly to me cause who was that gonna reach who didn’t already know about Tigo? Considering most of the buildings in the area had a spraypaint on them by Tigo. Just not smart advertising.
Then we went to the Casa de La Moneda in Potosí good museum. It is an old minting place in the area back when silver coins were used. It had a bunch of cool things. Like the currency throughout Bolivian history and beautiful paintings by Bolivian artists during the Baroque period. Also, a silver flattener, which was a gear system pulled by donkeys like that in the blacksmith Will Turner worked in in Pirates of the Carribean. I’m risking how pathetic that makes me sound for the descriptive purposes.
Then we went to Sucre. Sucre was beautiful, but before we could see much a group of five of us got caught in an elevator. We had ourselves and our luggage and the elevator stopped just before floor 2. So we waited for 10-15 minutes after calling the assistant director Heidi. We were slowly taking off clothes as it was getting hot and many were sunburned. Also, we had decided that if it took more than 15 we’d break out the wine our friend had. Almost a shame it opened up for us. Haha.
Then we got to enjoy Sucre. First we went to ASUR, an organization that works in ethnodevelopment. Essentially, they encourage the ancient weaving techniques of the women from pre-incan and incan times. They faded out over time and many were forgotten sadly. ASUR works to set them up with workshops to learn to weave and sell their works for good prices to help expand their subsistence situation. OVerall, it is a good program. The weavings are gorgeous and called part of an Indigenous Art Renaissance. The only downside was the dependency the women had in the program it seemed. While they work independently, the workshops are set up by ASUR. I’m pretty sure their materials are provided to them by ASUR. For now, it is fine, but future autonomy may be difficult at first. The good outweighs this setback though.
Then a bunch of us went to a restaurant over looking Sucre. Wow. What a view. It is a beautiful city that works to maintain its colonial architecture. I won’t compliment colonialism, but it was a beautiful time for buildings.
Then I got some chocolate with Quinoa that was delicious. Muy rico. I am loving trying things I can only get here. For example, the last night in Potosi, I got Llama with coca sauce at a restaurant. I loved it. I wish I could get more Llama in the states, but alas not likely.
Anyways, then we went to a museum that had ethnographic studies of peoples. It had a great language section on studies of language from Quechua to graffiti Spanish to texting Spanish. It also had a great section on the Uru (Oruro) people. Last, the mask exhibit was beautiful and covered masks from the beginning of time to the more recent combinations of cultures from around the world. For example, there was an elephant mask though there are no elephants here.
Then disaster struck. I went to the roof to hang with friends around six-ish. It was a beautiful view, but on the way down I slid/climbed down and landed on my foot pretty hard. I likely bruised my heel though I still need to see a doctor. I thought I’d be fine, but then I couldn’t walk without my vision going away and nearly fainting. So I sat, a friend Yona called Heidi, who got Ismael (other director) and his wife Lupe to come see me in my room. They determined it wasn’t broken and Lupe stayed with me while Ismael went with the group to the next activity.
I finally made it, though with a pretty bad migraine, because part of bad injuries for me that involve blood rushing to the head is migraines. But this migraine was light and I am not sure why. Possibly, the coca. I think coca helped. But also, the music. This school sought to teach street children to play instruments and move up off the street. It’s a good idea. And they played fantastically, both the children and adults. As it played I started bobbing my head and eventually my happiness seemed to outweigh the migraine and the pain shifted from the front to the back marking that I was nearly in the clear.
The only downside was dancing. I still can’t really put weight on my foot now. I just sort of stumble around. I was able to put all weight on my left foot and turn a bit and at times hop around, but the dancing what was taught was not in the cards. The got worse when later the restaurant became a club and people started dancing on the stage and doing Gangnam Style. I just wanted to dance. I love doing that one so much too. Doh. It was called by some, “the worst night of my life” and at that moment I didn’t feel they were far off. Haha. It’s alright though, I’ll have plenty more opportunities to dance in my life. The others broke out some fancy moves for me.
Also, shout out to the whole group for being great with me. I was pretty crippled, but they helped make sure I was alright at all times. Plus, when I wanted to leave I advised some people and Ruby, Yona and John left with me. In general shout out to Ruby for carrying my bag and stuff. She was a great help and an outstanding “buddy,” as assigned by SIT. They helped me hobble back to the hotel (I had taxied there at first) and then we all went to the roof. I don’t really learn my lesson haha. It was beautiful though, totally woth it. The stars were in full shine.
The next day was rough getting moving. I hate not being able to walk without hobbling. Plenty of people helped me move my luggage though. Heidi, Lupe, Ruby, Christine, others. It helped a lot.
In general, Lupe has been a great help. She had Ismael drive me back and got me inside and advised me to rest and that she’d call a doctor to set me up with an x-ray. Just waiting on all of that now. Hopefully something happens soon. I know it is fine, but I’d like the assurance or maybe crutches if they are available. Walking would be way easier that way.
Either way, amazing trip, no matter my injury. I saw so much and am considering doing my ISP in Sucre at the language museum. Or with the children of Wayna Pacha, just cause I loved those kids so much.

Leaving… Almost… Maybe (for Potosi and Sucre)

So we’re trying to head out to Potosi eventually today. The plan is to get there today. Our flight was gonna leave at 9:30 and now is leaving at 3:30. So I went back home and have been hanging out waiting to return at 2:20ish. Meant I could shower cause I woke up late this morning and didn’t get too, so silver lining?

I’m really excited to go there. I mean Potosi was such a big deal in AP World History, now I get to see it? I mean, it’s a sad place. We watched The Devil’s Miner about the dangers of the mine and a system that forces the workers to stay working their for sometimes 24 hours straight in a week for very low wages. It’s a challenge to see that. Equity vs. Equality is always a challenge to discuss.

My director also posted an interesting photo about equality vs. justice showing three people trying to watch a soccer game in two frames. One was tall, one was medium height and one was short. With equality, each got a box to stand on and see over the field’s fence. The shortest of course could not. With justice, the tallest did not get a box, but could still see. The shortest got the tallest’s box and could see.

It’s an interesting argument, especially for a place like Potosi where the people are given the shortest stick in life. In my opinion, they should be paid fairly for their work. They should be paid equal to their marginal revenue product, i.e. the extra they produce by working in the mine. The problem is that the mines have a lot of market power and hire nearly all workers so they can hire below that level. I’m getting a little heady here maybe, but what that means is they are paid below what their work is worth. Additionally, there is no incentive to their health as when they pass a certain age (usually when they die due to silicosis) they couldn’t work anyway. They are too weak. That’s no good.

One major problem is they don’t have other options. If the workers had other options the mines would have to step up what they paid and the conditions workers faced. Yet, they don’t have to and of course that largely doesn’t occur. In mines raising working conditions may not actually equate to better output, the way it does in garment industries or agriculture.

Still I am excited to see what we can of the mines. The area is the reason for Bolivia apparently, well according to history, so I am fascinated historical nerd-wise by it.

Otherwise, I have been laying sort of low lately. Still learning Quechua and enjoying classes. We learned about constructive and honest activism from a guy involved in the water war. I liked what he had to say even if it was preaching to the choir at times with our group.

Also, I watched Django: Sin Cadenas. Or Django: Unchained in Spanish. Great movie. Plus, I was impressed that I could follow it. I missed a few things, but overall I liked it a lot. It helped expand my vocab too.

I’m expanding my vocab a lot everyday. For example “Pícara” is a great word for sassy. Used that one on Rocio my younger sister haha.

Also, did my oral history project on my father. He did not get involved much in politics, but he has been affected greatly as all have in Bolivia. For example, he worked for a nationalized airline, Lloyd Airlines, that fell apart after the capitalization that the president Goni put in place.

His whole life he has benefited from nationalization and seen only problems from capitalization and free market reform. It’s so opposite what I learn and shows that theory doesn’t translate to everywhere.

Sorry this post is getting really heady. Um… we celebrated a friend’s b-day and I had a dance off. It came to a draw. Too tired to win. Otherwise… found a nice Irish Pub named Na Cunna that was pretty relaxed.

Otherwise, eating with the host family now before I (hopefully) head out. Also, I just ate K’ayllu, which is pronounced much like my name. It has quinoa and tomatoes and some other stuff I didn’t recognize, but it was sweet and vegetation. I need more veggies so it was good to get in the diet. Especially after OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO MENTION:

We had pork ribs and chicken heart. The pork ribs were a full rack like a foot and a half long cooked on a stake over an open fire. So good. They had a beer, lemon and salt sauce applied. My sister Paola’s boyfriend Rodrigo cooked for us and it was muy rico. Plus, he and I split the left over beer at like 10:00 a.m. Not the earliest I have ever had a beer, but my host dad laughed at me cause he doesn’t like beer.

Then later that day me and Mauricio, my brother, went to an Aurora vs. Wilstermann soccer game. They are both from Cochabamba so it was like when the Giants and Jets play and just like when the Giants and Jets play it was a blowout win for the more organized team, Wilstermann. The game was 6-0 and red cards caused the game to drop to 11 players for Wilstermann vs. 8 for Aurora. Mauricio explained that the souls of Aurora fans were too crushed for the usual post game fight that occurs after that game in other years. Probably for the best haha.

Otherwise, just waiting to leave. Sorry for the organized nature of the post, just stream of conscious-ing this whole thing.