Hi team!
Just to let you know, when I'm not traveling, I'm hoping to keep a blog about human rights up and running at http://everyone-has-it.blogspot.com. The first post is on the Uganda Gay Rights situation, and the next one I'm hoping will be on AIDS sex workers in Africa, soon to come. The blogs are meant to be short and sweet since there aren't any photos (and no photos can be used because of the whole copyright-infringement issues of current events photos), and you all would get bored immediately otherwise. If you have any feedback or suggestions, I'd really appreciate it since it's such a new blog.
Peace,
Sarah
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, April 3, 2009
My work of late...
Holas a todos!!
Ok, so now that I have one blog post up FINALLY, I thought I would go crazy and even put another one up. This one is to show that I do other things besides party all weekend with festively-dressed Bolivians.
So, the reason why I have not been able to write any blog posts is because of a little project called Centro para Rehabilitación para Ciegos “Manuela E. Ganarillas.” I have been working with this center for the last two months to develop an environmental education program for blind students there. It is by far my favorite work I have done so far with my NGO here. Even though it took an incredibly long time to get this project launched and has resulted in many weeks of stress for me, I cannot deny that the skills I have gained and the relationships I have built are more than worth the trouble.
I have been given this project to me by my supervisors as my own, meaning that although they are an endless source of knowledge and support for me, I have planned and implemented every single lesson I have had with these students. In addition, I have nearly mastered my use of Spanish in professional environments (it is difficult to cheat and use hand gestures in front of blind students, I learned quickly), and have truly experienced what sustainable development is, as my priorities with the older blind students (from ages 20-38, though they still have the uncomfortable habit of calling me Profesora Sarah, like I´m a professional or something) shifted beyond environmental education and instead to teaching them environmentally-friendly microenterprise skills so that they can find a way to gain their own income.
I teach two groups, one of children from ages 11-16, and one of the older students that I have already talked about. This was the first time that I have gotten the chance to work with education with young adults, and I was not that surprised to find that I loved it, and even enjoyed it much more than working with the younger group. It is very difficult to work with younger blind children in a group, because their level of development and integration into the community are at staggeringly different levels, and it has been very difficult for me to adapt to this. For example, I have two students 11 years old, one who was more than ready to learn something more complicated than the food chain, and one who was so distracted by playing with the plastic animals that I was using as a teaching aid that she ended the lesson not knowing how to define the phrase “food chain.” J It´s been a new experience teaching them, to say the least.
On the other hand, the students of my age have already found their own ways to be independent and are genuinely interested in how they can save the environment, how they can teach others, and how they can “meterse en su comunidad” – find their own place in society. So far I have loved every lesson I have had with them, because they are so passionate and excited about learning everything and about applying what we have learned to their lives. Working with them has helped me understand sustainable development in a much more tangible manner, and I am hoping to be able to work with adults, especially the younger ones, in third-world countries throughout my life in various workshops like those I have been able to teach here.
OK, enough blah-blah-blah, here are some various photos of the projects that I have been doing with these students. Some of them were taken by my supervisors, Alejandra and Lia, as I was stressed-ly running around trying to make sure that every student was doing what they needed to be doing.
The young'ns learning to recycle paper (sorry about the crappy shadows):
The older group learning how to plant medicinal herbs and herbs for cooking:
Water conservation project:
My favorite project so far, where the older ones make baskets out of used newspaper. The whole goal is to give them microenterprise training so that they can start their own business:
About a third of the money donated to Fundación Gaia Pacha by all of you wonderful people is going to this project, so thank you! The majority of the rest of the money is going towards creating another center for environmental education not unlike the first one on the sustainable farm, only this one is in a natural history museum. The rest of the money is going towards creating environmental education workshops for environmental engineering and education majors at the local universities. If we get the chance to get these projects up and running to the point that I can take photos of them before I leave, I will post them as well!
I hope all is well with you all!! I will hopefully post another blog soon of a beautiful trip I took in January to the world´s biggest salt flat, called Salar de Uyuni, now under extreme international spotlight for its lithium resources for batteries for electric cars. This all depends on my ability to steal the photos taken by some friends on this trip while I was without a camera, but stay posted.
Cuidense!!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Carnaval!
Hello All!!! I hope this extreeeeeeemely late blog post finds you all well. I thought that instead of trying to keep you all up-to-date on my life for the last four months, I thought I would just give you a picture and video version of my life so that you could see it yourself.
I’ll start with Carnaval 2009, which takes place at the end of February. While the really famous Carnaval in Rio de Janiero is all about getting really drunk and naked for a weekend and dancing like crazy (which I am not denying that we would all thoroughly enjoy as well), Bolivia is known for its cultural celebration (OK, and its drunkenness, but drinking here is a very cultural activity). Its most famous celebration is in Oruro, where the city transforms from sagebrush-blown ghost town to party-till-you-drop town as the celebration begins Friday night with live bands all night long, from folkloric music to rock bands. Then, at 7 AM, the parade begins, where traditional dance groups from all over Bolivia (and one from Chile, which is mostly there just for all of the Bolivians in the audience that are still bitter over Chile stealing their ocean access to throw water balloons and to spray foam at them) come dancing in beautiful, extremely ornate costumes, and dance through the town for three or four hours. This lasts until sunrise the next day, which I’ll describe in a moment, and then a second wave of dancers comes in and dances all day Sunday.
Here are some photos of some of the costumes:
Here are a few videos of what we saw throughout the first day. Prepare yourself for the wonderful filming skills of Sarah!!! (I am not responsible for any vomiting that occurs while watching these.)
True to Bolivia’s machista culture, many of the women’s costumes were designed to show off their legs and their wonderful skills of moving their hips, and many of their dances (in my humble but feminist opinion) are more to show off their bodies than to dance some sweet moves. There were a few exceptions to the rule; one of them included a dance and costume that seemed to want to portray women more as scary ogres than as beautiful showpieces. Here is a video of both worlds: a simple women’s dance in beautiful costuming, as well as some women’s costumes that really should have given me nightmares at night.
Bolivians have an obsession with fireworks, and it definitely came out at Carnaval. I watched dancers dance among exploding bottle rockets and men gathering to collect up the fireworks while they were still shooting into the air. Here is a traditional dance of the tinkus (I think) dancing like gazelles (with bulging calves of steel, I’m sure, to be able to do this for so many hours) through some fireworks.
s
Around 3 AM, the best group in Bolivia, proudly from the university in my own hometown Cochabamba, started to dance a dance called Caporales. While the women normally have very simple steps in this dance (though not easy – they move their hips for three or four hours straight in five-inch heels), several women in this group chose to dance de macho – that is to say, they danced the men’s dance steps instead, which are much more energetic and lively, which I just loved, so here is a video of them. This is another one of the exceptions to Bolivia’s machismo. Keep in mind that they do this for three or four hours. This group also came the next day to parade again:
At the end of the night, around 5 AM, all of the Bolivians and foreigners that had not yet passed out in a corner in the street climbed a hill together to the church of the Virgin Maria of Socavón, who is the saint of this whole holy weekend, and bands played traditional Bolivian songs while a crowd of thousands of people sang, danced, drank some more, and watched the sunrise together. It was so holy to be surrounded by such a happy crowd of people, everyone barely with enough room to dance but still dancing, and then, as the first rays of the new morning came, every person raised their arms into the air with their palms facing the sun to soak in the warmth and new light. I didn’t have camera batteries at this point, but I don’t think that it was something that I would want to capture on film, just because it was such a personal (and interpersonal) experience.
Oh, and one more thing about Carnaval: it’s a complete crazyhouse for the audience members. During the short spaces between these beautiful costumes and dances, the stands would turn into a war zone of water balloons and foam spray. I’ve been accustomed to dodging water balloons - or we can be honest about my reflexes and say I’ve been accustomed to being hit by them – since December, because Cochabamba is even more determined to waste this country’s precious and scarce water resource than the rest of the country, but I have to say, Carnaval was a completely different story. You cannot take more than two steps without being sprayed by a water gun, by espuma (foamed soap), or pummeled by water balloon after water balloon. Here is a picture of the beautiful girls I went with after we got a little too involved in a war with a bunch of ten-year-olds:
And here is a video when we decided to do an experiment. Basically, my blond hair has gotten me way too much attention since I’ve been here (not in a bad way – people just notice me very, very easily), a huge white flag in a crowd of brown people, and seeing how much Bolivians got pummeled when they went down to the street in the breaks between dances, my friends and I wanted to see what would happen if me and my blond hair went down there:
Well, that’s about all. Sorry I’ve been so busy lately to update this! It just means that your donated funds are going to a good but very time-consuming cause down here. My next blog will be about the work I’ve been doing, followed up by a Salar de Uyuni blog.
P.S. My plans for the summer are more or less officially decided now, so I thought I would give you all a quick update:
April 30 – My FSD program ends, my parents come to visit and we run wary-nary around Bolivia and Peru like chickens with our heads cut off for ten days but manage to see EVERYTHING.
May 10-12 – I come home and spend Mother’s Day weekend with the feminine side (or I guess less masculine side) of my family in the mountains of Southern California.
May 17 – I fly down to Phoenix! Hopefully there I can experience the salsa dancing and clubbing there and make a very scientific comparison to the dancing down in Bolivia. I’ll also be spending my birthday there and joining my Camp Sparky friends for Big Camp!!
May 24 – run off to Seattle to visit the siblings and amigos!
Shortly after that – Run up to Juneau to hopefully get some nice backcountry skiing in with the sister-poo!
June 1 – my research internship up in Juneau begins. It’s a paid research position where I will basically be helping to survey the alpine and subalpine ecosystems in southeast Alaska, because it is one of the least studied ecosystems but a great indicator for climate change. We will be spending extending stays in the backcountry skiing and hiking our lives away and lamenting our difficult lives. I will also be creating my own research project up there.
August 15th – my program ends, I run home, dump my stuff off in my room, and run off to Arizona to start my semester and see if I can handle an academic lifestyle again after a year of feeling like I’m working in the real world (and then find that I can’t, and drop out of school. Just kidding, Mom ;) )
Much love to you all from Bolivia!!! Keep in touch and let me know what you have been up to!!!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Disclaimer
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years and that this blog finds you well! I just need to write a quick disclaimer that there probably won't be too many blog posts any time soon - some silly person decided to leave her camera in the glove compartment in her car while she was in the US, and didn't pack it on the return to Bolivia. So, without photos, this blog would be pretty dry.
A quick update...I am still working on the Ecoteca on the little farm, and Gaia Pacha will soon start building another similar environmental education center in the local Natural History Museum. And, starting in February, I will get to start working with the blind kids on an environmental program! So I am really excited about that!
Also, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to those who donated!!! You have no idea how much it means to me and all of the Gaia Pachans, and to the kids as well!!! So muchisimas gracias!!!!!
I hope all is well with you all!! Take care!!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
La Coyuntura
This might be something that not too many of you are interested in, but I wanted to give a “brief” sum-up of the political situation here in Bolivia for those of you who may be following the news and hearing about recent deaths or planned demonstrations. I am not sure if these explanations are even relevant or interesting to those of you who have not lived in Bolivia and have not experienced the racial and political tension that have shaped this country, but I hope that this will give a bit of insight into Bolivian politics. At the very end there is a bit of speculation about the impact of the US on Bolivia, so maybe that will be a bit more interesting. Enjoy!
January 2009, will be a historic month in Bolivia. While Americans, with the exception of a few Deep Southerners in denial, have been eagerly awaiting this time as one that symbolizes the (hopefully) positive changes that will come to our country in terms of economic management, government programs, war spending, etc., etc., as we welcome our new president to his position, Bolivianos too are waiting for this historic month to arrive, though with an air more of apprehension and anxiety than excitement, and an undeniable fear of what this change may bring.
On January 25, 2009, Bolivians are voting on their new Constitution. President Evo Morales claims this Constitution will bring about a new Bolivia, a change that all Bolivians deserve, and a change in which, in his words in a recent interview, campesinos (the indigenous, rural, and often landless population of Bolivia) will finally know what it is like to be in the upper-class, and white people (“blancos”) will finally know what it is like to be poor.
Ironically enough, in his new Constitution, Evo guaranteed the inalienable protection from discrimination for all people.
As an extranjera (foreigner) that has been living in Bolivia for the last three months, I am far from an expert in Bolivian politics, and lack the advantage of a lifetime of living with Bolivian politicians, the vast majority of whom have the habit of promising things during their campaigns, following through on very few of these promises, and then stealing a large chunk of the citizens’ tax money and running off to the United States. However, despite this disadvantage, I have been talking politics with many people in the last three months, and will try to give you all an idea of the “coyuntura,” the situation, here in Bolivia, and the implications of that the new Constitution and the current political situations have for Bolivian citizens here.
Bolivia is a starkly divided nation, with five natural resource- and agricultural-rich states forming a lovely half-moon on the east side (calling themselves the medialuna), and four poorer states laying to the west of them. The medialuna, for quite some time now, has insisted on autonomy: that the revenues from the currently nationalized natural resources should be placed in the hands of the regions of these resources; AKA, the medialuna is insisting that Bolivia adopt a commercial system similar to that of the United States, instead of losing a large chunk of their money in paying taxes and supporting areas of Bolivia that are not as economically successful (mostly because they, although nearly as resource-rich as the medialuna, are investing their money in economic activities that are not suitable to their climate nor geography).
Despite this stark division, that causes economic and racial tension that often breaks out in the form of road blockades, violence, and sometimes murder, every region of Bolivia shared a common hope in 2005 when Evo Morales was elected to be the next president – a hope that, eerily enough, mirrors the hope that Americans now have for Barack Obama. Evo was the first indigenous president of Bolivia, representing a long-underrepresented and discriminated population of his country. Like Obama, Evo came into power during a politically turbulent time in his nation, and promised political and economic stability, an end to poverty, protection for the rural poor, and equality for all people. Most importantly, Evo promised something that the people of Bolivia had not seen for a very, very long time: Change.
Here’s a shortlist of what Evo’s presidency of change has accomplished in the last three years:
1. Many threats to take unused land under government control (without payment to owners) to give to campesinos, without any capacitation programs for them. This was tried once before with the agricultural reform in 1954, only to find that, without any capacitation program, the campesinos had no knowledge of how to work their new land, and therefore could not farm it. They also were not provided with any information on the local market, so did not know what crops to produce or where to sell them, resulting in absolutely no drop in poverty despite the intention.
2. Payment to campesinos to create roadblocks to stop traffic, and more importantly, transport of goods such as food, between cities, for various reasons, usually involving a fight for land. These roadblocks usually break out in violence and can result in deaths; a year ago, a roadblock between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba resulted in many people going hungry as food trucks could not make it into the city. Other roadblocks, such as one recently created by foreign used auto importers, result in the death of people on both sides of the block.
3. Eradication of the coca eradication program. Although the coca-cocaine issue is an extremely complicated one, and although I personally think that the US and Europe has a responsibility to focus more on cocaine programs in their respective countries instead of destroying coca fields by the masses down here in Bolivia (many of these coca crops are used locally and never used for cocaine; the coca leaf has many natural, medicinal, and cultural purposes here in Bolivia), I still feel that Evo should be working to destroy cocaine laboratories, as they are, beyond destroying the lives of millions of people worldwide through addiction, are also destroying the rainforests of Bolivia from drug-trafficking corridors that could be used for eco-tourism or other sectors of the economy. In addition, many of Evo’s closest supporters, living close to him in huge mansions of La Paz, are involved in cocaine drug rings, and it has become obvious that Evo has other motives in throwing out the U.S. DEA and the coca eradication program than simply that coca is part of Bolivia’s natural and cultural heritage and should be protected as a natural medicine.
This is just a brief list, obviously. Many of Evo’s “cabinet” has also been involved in drug rings, violence, and murder. To say the least, he has lost the confidence and trust of many of the people that originally voted for him; even campesinos are starting to become skeptical. However, he still has wide popularity, and the hope for change still exists among many of the rural poor of this country, who make up a vast majority of the population. And, come January, Bolivia may be in for permanent change. Here are some elements of this new Constitution. I read it earlier this evening, and believe that my translation was correct, though my interpretation may not be, so if you are a Bolivian, please correct me! (Note: I actually included some good things too):
1. According to Evo, a “promise” of autonomy. This is created as an incentive to the medialuna to support the new Constitution. Unfortunately, the Constitution contains no guarantee of autonomy, despite what he says. It creates the possibility of autonomy, with a two-thirds vote of a region, under the rules and regulations of “The Framework Law of Autonomy and Decentralization,” which has not yet been written (the draft will be ready by the end of December or beginning of January). Then, if autonomy does pass, it becomes nearly irrelevant, because later in the Constitution it firmly states that the most important resources of the nation, those of which the medialuna have been fighting for, such as hydrocarbons, will always be property of the federal government.
2. The granting of autonomy to campesino populations, including judgment of crimes according to their own traditions, within limits of the constitution and federal laws.
3. Equal rights to all Bolivians and foreigners living within Bolivia, with special emphasis on afrobolivianos (ex-slaves), campesinos, and especially campesino women.
4. A limit on the maximum amount of land that a single person can own at one time, the amount of which will be determined on January 20 as well, between 5,000 and 10,000 hectares (1 hectare = 2.5 acres I think). Note that many people in the medialuna own much more land than this, and this is Evo’s plan to be able to take over this land to give it to campesinos (without, I must add again, any programs to teach these campesinos how to manage their land or to provide them information on the market and selling their goods). Also, many commercial farms in Bolivia that provide a large amount of the alimentation for this nation would be unable to make any money on such a small plot of land, and would go bankrupt. One of the feared consequences of this change would be a national food shortage.
Tensions are growing between the people here. It began with “Autonomía, carajo!” (carajo is a pretty strong curse word here) t-shirts, and will most likely grow to violent blockadees. Bolivians and foreigners alike are anxiously waiting to see what January brings.
Meanwhile, we are also waiting to see how January will change the relationship between the U.S. and Bolivia. Evo-supporters have happily put up banners spanning the wide downtown streets saying “Bolivia, Venezuela, and Cuba united against the Empire” while Evo and Bush take turns worsening the relationship between the two nations, both kicking out the other countries’ ambassadors, Evo kicking out the DEA, and Bush putting Bolivia on the nation’s blacklist, cutting off all trade and impoverishing 20,000 more Bolivians, and then, completely illogically, pushing Obama to improve trade relations with Colombia, which has a stronger cocaine trade with the U.S. than Bolivia. Bolivians have already heard rumors of Obama working to improve its relationship with Cuba and Venezuela (some of these rumors I think may be wrong, and have something to do with the fact that socialist leaders of South America and democrats in America both have the labels of “leftist” in their respective countries), and are waiting to see if Obama will hope for the same with Bolivia. Evo has already expressed his pleasure at Obama’s election and his willingness to work with him in the future. However, many Americans living in Bolivia are anxiously waiting to see how Obama will react towards Bolivia; they are wondering if Obama will choose Bolivia as the nation to “rule with a hard fist,” to show his force as a new president.
Personally, I am really excited to be part of such a momentous day both here and in America, and am anxious to see what the day will bring for both countries.
January 2009, will be a historic month in Bolivia. While Americans, with the exception of a few Deep Southerners in denial, have been eagerly awaiting this time as one that symbolizes the (hopefully) positive changes that will come to our country in terms of economic management, government programs, war spending, etc., etc., as we welcome our new president to his position, Bolivianos too are waiting for this historic month to arrive, though with an air more of apprehension and anxiety than excitement, and an undeniable fear of what this change may bring.
On January 25, 2009, Bolivians are voting on their new Constitution. President Evo Morales claims this Constitution will bring about a new Bolivia, a change that all Bolivians deserve, and a change in which, in his words in a recent interview, campesinos (the indigenous, rural, and often landless population of Bolivia) will finally know what it is like to be in the upper-class, and white people (“blancos”) will finally know what it is like to be poor.
Ironically enough, in his new Constitution, Evo guaranteed the inalienable protection from discrimination for all people.
As an extranjera (foreigner) that has been living in Bolivia for the last three months, I am far from an expert in Bolivian politics, and lack the advantage of a lifetime of living with Bolivian politicians, the vast majority of whom have the habit of promising things during their campaigns, following through on very few of these promises, and then stealing a large chunk of the citizens’ tax money and running off to the United States. However, despite this disadvantage, I have been talking politics with many people in the last three months, and will try to give you all an idea of the “coyuntura,” the situation, here in Bolivia, and the implications of that the new Constitution and the current political situations have for Bolivian citizens here.
Bolivia is a starkly divided nation, with five natural resource- and agricultural-rich states forming a lovely half-moon on the east side (calling themselves the medialuna), and four poorer states laying to the west of them. The medialuna, for quite some time now, has insisted on autonomy: that the revenues from the currently nationalized natural resources should be placed in the hands of the regions of these resources; AKA, the medialuna is insisting that Bolivia adopt a commercial system similar to that of the United States, instead of losing a large chunk of their money in paying taxes and supporting areas of Bolivia that are not as economically successful (mostly because they, although nearly as resource-rich as the medialuna, are investing their money in economic activities that are not suitable to their climate nor geography).
Despite this stark division, that causes economic and racial tension that often breaks out in the form of road blockades, violence, and sometimes murder, every region of Bolivia shared a common hope in 2005 when Evo Morales was elected to be the next president – a hope that, eerily enough, mirrors the hope that Americans now have for Barack Obama. Evo was the first indigenous president of Bolivia, representing a long-underrepresented and discriminated population of his country. Like Obama, Evo came into power during a politically turbulent time in his nation, and promised political and economic stability, an end to poverty, protection for the rural poor, and equality for all people. Most importantly, Evo promised something that the people of Bolivia had not seen for a very, very long time: Change.
Here’s a shortlist of what Evo’s presidency of change has accomplished in the last three years:
1. Many threats to take unused land under government control (without payment to owners) to give to campesinos, without any capacitation programs for them. This was tried once before with the agricultural reform in 1954, only to find that, without any capacitation program, the campesinos had no knowledge of how to work their new land, and therefore could not farm it. They also were not provided with any information on the local market, so did not know what crops to produce or where to sell them, resulting in absolutely no drop in poverty despite the intention.
2. Payment to campesinos to create roadblocks to stop traffic, and more importantly, transport of goods such as food, between cities, for various reasons, usually involving a fight for land. These roadblocks usually break out in violence and can result in deaths; a year ago, a roadblock between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba resulted in many people going hungry as food trucks could not make it into the city. Other roadblocks, such as one recently created by foreign used auto importers, result in the death of people on both sides of the block.
3. Eradication of the coca eradication program. Although the coca-cocaine issue is an extremely complicated one, and although I personally think that the US and Europe has a responsibility to focus more on cocaine programs in their respective countries instead of destroying coca fields by the masses down here in Bolivia (many of these coca crops are used locally and never used for cocaine; the coca leaf has many natural, medicinal, and cultural purposes here in Bolivia), I still feel that Evo should be working to destroy cocaine laboratories, as they are, beyond destroying the lives of millions of people worldwide through addiction, are also destroying the rainforests of Bolivia from drug-trafficking corridors that could be used for eco-tourism or other sectors of the economy. In addition, many of Evo’s closest supporters, living close to him in huge mansions of La Paz, are involved in cocaine drug rings, and it has become obvious that Evo has other motives in throwing out the U.S. DEA and the coca eradication program than simply that coca is part of Bolivia’s natural and cultural heritage and should be protected as a natural medicine.
This is just a brief list, obviously. Many of Evo’s “cabinet” has also been involved in drug rings, violence, and murder. To say the least, he has lost the confidence and trust of many of the people that originally voted for him; even campesinos are starting to become skeptical. However, he still has wide popularity, and the hope for change still exists among many of the rural poor of this country, who make up a vast majority of the population. And, come January, Bolivia may be in for permanent change. Here are some elements of this new Constitution. I read it earlier this evening, and believe that my translation was correct, though my interpretation may not be, so if you are a Bolivian, please correct me! (Note: I actually included some good things too):
1. According to Evo, a “promise” of autonomy. This is created as an incentive to the medialuna to support the new Constitution. Unfortunately, the Constitution contains no guarantee of autonomy, despite what he says. It creates the possibility of autonomy, with a two-thirds vote of a region, under the rules and regulations of “The Framework Law of Autonomy and Decentralization,” which has not yet been written (the draft will be ready by the end of December or beginning of January). Then, if autonomy does pass, it becomes nearly irrelevant, because later in the Constitution it firmly states that the most important resources of the nation, those of which the medialuna have been fighting for, such as hydrocarbons, will always be property of the federal government.
2. The granting of autonomy to campesino populations, including judgment of crimes according to their own traditions, within limits of the constitution and federal laws.
3. Equal rights to all Bolivians and foreigners living within Bolivia, with special emphasis on afrobolivianos (ex-slaves), campesinos, and especially campesino women.
4. A limit on the maximum amount of land that a single person can own at one time, the amount of which will be determined on January 20 as well, between 5,000 and 10,000 hectares (1 hectare = 2.5 acres I think). Note that many people in the medialuna own much more land than this, and this is Evo’s plan to be able to take over this land to give it to campesinos (without, I must add again, any programs to teach these campesinos how to manage their land or to provide them information on the market and selling their goods). Also, many commercial farms in Bolivia that provide a large amount of the alimentation for this nation would be unable to make any money on such a small plot of land, and would go bankrupt. One of the feared consequences of this change would be a national food shortage.
Tensions are growing between the people here. It began with “Autonomía, carajo!” (carajo is a pretty strong curse word here) t-shirts, and will most likely grow to violent blockadees. Bolivians and foreigners alike are anxiously waiting to see what January brings.
Meanwhile, we are also waiting to see how January will change the relationship between the U.S. and Bolivia. Evo-supporters have happily put up banners spanning the wide downtown streets saying “Bolivia, Venezuela, and Cuba united against the Empire” while Evo and Bush take turns worsening the relationship between the two nations, both kicking out the other countries’ ambassadors, Evo kicking out the DEA, and Bush putting Bolivia on the nation’s blacklist, cutting off all trade and impoverishing 20,000 more Bolivians, and then, completely illogically, pushing Obama to improve trade relations with Colombia, which has a stronger cocaine trade with the U.S. than Bolivia. Bolivians have already heard rumors of Obama working to improve its relationship with Cuba and Venezuela (some of these rumors I think may be wrong, and have something to do with the fact that socialist leaders of South America and democrats in America both have the labels of “leftist” in their respective countries), and are waiting to see if Obama will hope for the same with Bolivia. Evo has already expressed his pleasure at Obama’s election and his willingness to work with him in the future. However, many Americans living in Bolivia are anxiously waiting to see how Obama will react towards Bolivia; they are wondering if Obama will choose Bolivia as the nation to “rule with a hard fist,” to show his force as a new president.
Personally, I am really excited to be part of such a momentous day both here and in America, and am anxious to see what the day will bring for both countries.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Only in Bolivia...
Only in Bolivia...
Unfortunately, no matter how much fun it is to have a very forward not-so-gentlemanly monkey attack you with kisses in the middle of the jungle, my joy was a little bit hampered by the conservation conversation (ooo, wouldn´t that be fun to try to say out loud after three months of talking almost all Spanish) I had shortly after. The way this park is managed, monkeys are more than accustomed to human presence (bet you couldn´t have already gathered that from the photos), and the result is that any sickness that a human has poses a major exposure risk to the monkeys of the park, or, possibly, to a whole species of monkeys in the Chapare. We spent a chunk of conversation debating if the benefits of environmental awareness and protection that came out of such close contact with the rainforest outweighed this risk to the animals...we still don´t have a solid answer.
Well, that´s about it about this last month! In other news, I have pierced my ears for the first time ever in my life because of the gorgeous earrings down here (my family and I went on a family piercing trip). I also discovered about a month ago how much of a sense of humor that my host family and I share, which is pretty much down to a tee, and have now found that I prefer to spend my time at home nearly rolling around on the ground laughing and more or less seeing how much we can lovingly insult each other, instead of going out (wild, I know). Also, I´m feeling really lucky to be coming home to visit my family for Christmas, so if you want to get together, shoot me an email or call my home phone (or my Bolivian cell phone, if you really want to burn the bucks)! And thanks to all of you who are donating!! I´ve gotten some really great emails from some of you, and it has been so inspiring!!
That´s about all! I hope all is well and hopefully I´ll be seeing a good chunk of you all (my, what an image) soon!
Cheers,
Sarah
...can you ignore the fact that you have a blog for a few weeks right after asking for donations.
No, really, I'm sorry I've been slacking on this! I'm going to try to give a quick update on my life and the craziness that has been going on in the last month or so!
No, really, I'm sorry I've been slacking on this! I'm going to try to give a quick update on my life and the craziness that has been going on in the last month or so!
So. Only in Bolivia....
...can a first birthday party take 3 months to prepare for and seem as important as an (American) wedding.
I say American wedding because Bolivians put even more effort into their weddings than their children´s first birthdays. One of my cousins was having her first birthday while I was here, so the family bussed it down to Santa Cruz, the tropical paradise (or for me, inferno) 10 hours away from Cochabamba. Although I didn´t get to see a bit of Santa Cruz while I was there, I did get to experience a full-on Bolivian first birthday celebration, which, it turns out, is a really big deal here. My Aunt Carmen, the grandmother of the baby, spent a full month up until 3, 4, or 5 in the morning every night, and she, along with her daughter and the mother of the baby, made everything from porcelain invitations (for 80 people!) to handmade goodie baskets (for 80 people!) to homemade artwork. To give a bit of a taste for what the party looked like:
My cousin, Andrea, and her now one-year-old baby, Yara, in the middle of a mess of dressed up kids. You´ll notice a Snow White in the middle of the bottom row...this little angel refused to play any of the games the entire party because she ¨was waiting for her dwarfs to arrive,¨and when they never did arrive, she promised us that she would call their cells and see what was wrong. No, really.
This is me, getting all cuddly with the entrance decorations. The balloons here and in the other photo above it were the proud work of a morning of turning purple and passing out.
Please tell me why this evil, pink-bellied monster is an appropriate one-year-old birthday decoration?!?!?!
I got stuck in a clown sandwich by the end of the night. I´m putting this up because I FINALLY have a photo of my other sister, Boria, the 24-year-old, for you all, but, unfortunately, she is a clown. This is the only photo I have of her, but don´t worry, it shows her good side (Just kidding, but for the record, she fortunately doesn´t speak English).
The other part of the festivities included the mini-mountain of food that my family prepared: two gigantic cakes, empanadas, traditional Santa Cruz cheese rolls, enough traditional Bolivian candies to make any kids´teeth fall out, a variety of banana breads, dulce de leche tarts, other sweet breads and muffins, and some chocolate chip cookies that I made to sport my good ol´Uncle Sam pride (chocolate chip cookies are so rare here that I was unable to find chocolate chips...the scandal!!!). I blame all this food on the reason why I was unable to hold my own in limbo with the kids...a near-disaster considering the skirt I was wearing and the 80 people present. Boria, the clown sister holding the limbo stick at the time, later told me that, as I fell to the floor, she didn´t know if she should try to grab my hand or my skirt. Though no worries, nothing happened.
After this weekend of preparation and then a party full of food, clowns, musical chairs, and many, many people (but unfortunately for one little girl, no dwarfs), I was exhausted and ready to go home.
My Aunt Carmen later asked me how I liked Santa Cruz that weekend, because I hadn´t yet been there. I responded by telling her I really liked her house.
Needless to say, I didn´t mention to any Bolivian that their one-year-old has no chance of remembering probably the second-biggest party of their life. But it was fun for the rest of us. :)
Only in Bolivia...
...can a first birthday party take 3 months to prepare for and seem as important as an (American) wedding.
I say American wedding because Bolivians put even more effort into their weddings than their children´s first birthdays. One of my cousins was having her first birthday while I was here, so the family bussed it down to Santa Cruz, the tropical paradise (or for me, inferno) 10 hours away from Cochabamba. Although I didn´t get to see a bit of Santa Cruz while I was there, I did get to experience a full-on Bolivian first birthday celebration, which, it turns out, is a really big deal here. My Aunt Carmen, the grandmother of the baby, spent a full month up until 3, 4, or 5 in the morning every night, and she, along with her daughter and the mother of the baby, made everything from porcelain invitations (for 80 people!) to handmade goodie baskets (for 80 people!) to homemade artwork. To give a bit of a taste for what the party looked like:
My cousin, Andrea, and her now one-year-old baby, Yara, in the middle of a mess of dressed up kids. You´ll notice a Snow White in the middle of the bottom row...this little angel refused to play any of the games the entire party because she ¨was waiting for her dwarfs to arrive,¨and when they never did arrive, she promised us that she would call their cells and see what was wrong. No, really.
This is me, getting all cuddly with the entrance decorations. The balloons here and in the other photo above it were the proud work of a morning of turning purple and passing out.
Please tell me why this evil, pink-bellied monster is an appropriate one-year-old birthday decoration?!?!?!
I got stuck in a clown sandwich by the end of the night. I´m putting this up because I FINALLY have a photo of my other sister, Boria, the 24-year-old, for you all, but, unfortunately, she is a clown. This is the only photo I have of her, but don´t worry, it shows her good side (Just kidding, but for the record, she fortunately doesn´t speak English).The other part of the festivities included the mini-mountain of food that my family prepared: two gigantic cakes, empanadas, traditional Santa Cruz cheese rolls, enough traditional Bolivian candies to make any kids´teeth fall out, a variety of banana breads, dulce de leche tarts, other sweet breads and muffins, and some chocolate chip cookies that I made to sport my good ol´Uncle Sam pride (chocolate chip cookies are so rare here that I was unable to find chocolate chips...the scandal!!!). I blame all this food on the reason why I was unable to hold my own in limbo with the kids...a near-disaster considering the skirt I was wearing and the 80 people present. Boria, the clown sister holding the limbo stick at the time, later told me that, as I fell to the floor, she didn´t know if she should try to grab my hand or my skirt. Though no worries, nothing happened.
After this weekend of preparation and then a party full of food, clowns, musical chairs, and many, many people (but unfortunately for one little girl, no dwarfs), I was exhausted and ready to go home.
My Aunt Carmen later asked me how I liked Santa Cruz that weekend, because I hadn´t yet been there. I responded by telling her I really liked her house.
Needless to say, I didn´t mention to any Bolivian that their one-year-old has no chance of remembering probably the second-biggest party of their life. But it was fun for the rest of us. :)
Only in Bolivia...
...can you be monkey-loved in the middle of a tropical forest.
One weekend, after going to Santa Cruz with my family, I went with the FSD interns and a couple of friends to the Chapare, a tropical rainforest about 4 hours away from high-altitude, desert-y Cochabamba. This place was so beautiful!! One of my friends we went with happened to be an excellent Bolivian frog-ologist (forgot the name in English) that had done pretty extensive research in the area, and the result was that we had connections all over the place. We got to go on a night hike to see a tarantula devouring a cockroach, got to explore bat caves and get within a couple feet of fruit and VAMPIRE bats, got to explore caves with countrywide-famous birds called Guarachos, which, to me, no matter the fact that this is the only place in the world you can see them, are still really ugly; and to camp in National Parks and in university research areas, where we snuggled uncomfortably into our hot and humid tents after being told that, if we slept outside in the fresher air, a bug that enjoyed to crawl up noses and infest brains would happily do just that. Here´s one photo from one of the hikes, plus the vampire bats:
We also "had the privelege" of getting up at 4:45 AM to hike to an area to see wild parrots. Unfortunately due to our lethargy at such an unpleasant hour, our inability to get a taxi willing to drive us to a small village where they were unlikely to be able to find people to drive back, and the donkey-worthy stubbornness of my fellow intern, Evan, to find a river crossing where his delicate feet would not get wet (just kidding, amigo :) ), we didn't get to see too many parrots.
To cross the river without getting wet, Evan spent a good amount of time bushwhacking through the rainforest for 30 yards or so, an impressive feet if you saw how thick this vegetation was (for conservationists out their yelling out in indignation, rainforest vegetation grows back to exactly how it was 10 years later...ooo, impressive!), and was now at a loss as to how too continue (the vegetation was too thick now) and had decided to start hanging from several vines above the river to see if this helped him magically cross the water (I think that is what he was waiting for...there isn't really any other explanation for what he was doing).
Before he did this, however, he had to get rid of the pineapple that we had brought along on the hike and sportingly carried for a few hours, and he felt the only way to do this would be to chuck it across the river to his friends waiting with open arms, no matter how impatient we were getting with his silly shenanigans. He spent a few good minutes wrestling with the foilage, trying to get a good angle on the throw, and chucked it...right into the river. I panicked to see my favorite fruit swept away from us by rushing water, and on the instinct that any pineapple-obsessed person possesses, jumped into the river and rescued it. As I got back out, Evan was still hanging from his vines wondering what he was going to do next, and we heard a macaw call, and looked up, and saw the last of the parrots, a beautiful green and yellow blur of eagle-sized birds, fly above our heads. Evan, to state the obvious, did not get to see them )and a few seconds later, was wet up to his knees as he conceded defeat and jumped into the river to cross it). All in all, we probably only saw 20 parrots or so, and only 2 species of an amazing amount of species that live there. However, at least we got to eat pineapple. ;)
THEN, we went off to what could well be my favorite place in the world, which had LIVE, UNCAGED MONKEYS!! (I don´t know why I had to stress that they were alive just now, but it is a perk.) The place is called Parque Nacional Machia, and for a few hours we hiked around the place while monkeys wrestled at our feet, jumped on our heads, and tried to sneak things out of our pockets. THEN, because we had been walking for several hours in a tropical rain forest and had sweated a pretty amount, one monkey JUMPED on me and began to lick my neck for a solid minute! I feel that a play-by-play in pictures speak louder than words:
To cross the river without getting wet, Evan spent a good amount of time bushwhacking through the rainforest for 30 yards or so, an impressive feet if you saw how thick this vegetation was (for conservationists out their yelling out in indignation, rainforest vegetation grows back to exactly how it was 10 years later...ooo, impressive!), and was now at a loss as to how too continue (the vegetation was too thick now) and had decided to start hanging from several vines above the river to see if this helped him magically cross the water (I think that is what he was waiting for...there isn't really any other explanation for what he was doing).
Before he did this, however, he had to get rid of the pineapple that we had brought along on the hike and sportingly carried for a few hours, and he felt the only way to do this would be to chuck it across the river to his friends waiting with open arms, no matter how impatient we were getting with his silly shenanigans. He spent a few good minutes wrestling with the foilage, trying to get a good angle on the throw, and chucked it...right into the river. I panicked to see my favorite fruit swept away from us by rushing water, and on the instinct that any pineapple-obsessed person possesses, jumped into the river and rescued it. As I got back out, Evan was still hanging from his vines wondering what he was going to do next, and we heard a macaw call, and looked up, and saw the last of the parrots, a beautiful green and yellow blur of eagle-sized birds, fly above our heads. Evan, to state the obvious, did not get to see them )and a few seconds later, was wet up to his knees as he conceded defeat and jumped into the river to cross it). All in all, we probably only saw 20 parrots or so, and only 2 species of an amazing amount of species that live there. However, at least we got to eat pineapple. ;)
THEN, we went off to what could well be my favorite place in the world, which had LIVE, UNCAGED MONKEYS!! (I don´t know why I had to stress that they were alive just now, but it is a perk.) The place is called Parque Nacional Machia, and for a few hours we hiked around the place while monkeys wrestled at our feet, jumped on our heads, and tried to sneak things out of our pockets. THEN, because we had been walking for several hours in a tropical rain forest and had sweated a pretty amount, one monkey JUMPED on me and began to lick my neck for a solid minute! I feel that a play-by-play in pictures speak louder than words:
Unfortunately, no matter how much fun it is to have a very forward not-so-gentlemanly monkey attack you with kisses in the middle of the jungle, my joy was a little bit hampered by the conservation conversation (ooo, wouldn´t that be fun to try to say out loud after three months of talking almost all Spanish) I had shortly after. The way this park is managed, monkeys are more than accustomed to human presence (bet you couldn´t have already gathered that from the photos), and the result is that any sickness that a human has poses a major exposure risk to the monkeys of the park, or, possibly, to a whole species of monkeys in the Chapare. We spent a chunk of conversation debating if the benefits of environmental awareness and protection that came out of such close contact with the rainforest outweighed this risk to the animals...we still don´t have a solid answer.
Well, that´s about it about this last month! In other news, I have pierced my ears for the first time ever in my life because of the gorgeous earrings down here (my family and I went on a family piercing trip). I also discovered about a month ago how much of a sense of humor that my host family and I share, which is pretty much down to a tee, and have now found that I prefer to spend my time at home nearly rolling around on the ground laughing and more or less seeing how much we can lovingly insult each other, instead of going out (wild, I know). Also, I´m feeling really lucky to be coming home to visit my family for Christmas, so if you want to get together, shoot me an email or call my home phone (or my Bolivian cell phone, if you really want to burn the bucks)! And thanks to all of you who are donating!! I´ve gotten some really great emails from some of you, and it has been so inspiring!!
That´s about all! I hope all is well and hopefully I´ll be seeing a good chunk of you all (my, what an image) soon!
Cheers,
Sarah
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Donate, Take Two!!
Hi everyone! So it seems that this Donate button doesn't work for some of you, or all of you, so I'm going to go ahead and post this link as well to the PayPal page: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=967028
That should work!! If it doesn't, please let me know!
Also, if you have any questions about this project or anything else, my email is Sarah.Machacek@asu.edu. Thanks!!
Peace,
Sarah
That should work!! If it doesn't, please let me know!
Also, if you have any questions about this project or anything else, my email is Sarah.Machacek@asu.edu. Thanks!!
Peace,
Sarah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)