christmas in patagonia (the place where they make all the cool outdoor gear?)

No no, it's the magical land where you go once you've bought all that expensive and colorful gortex garb. And we're on our way.

Ho ho ho and a happy new year!

We've been in Bolivia nearly eight months, and Tom and I are about to embark on our first ever south american vacation. We've toured various parts of Bolivia (all amazing) under the guise of getting some work done, but now we're about to head into Argentina, land of good wine, chocolate, ocean, and patagonia. Perhaps it has even more than those to offer, but them are good enough for me.

On Christmas we're flying into San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina for a week and some to play with Maggie and Matt, good buds of ours from home. They picked this town as a meeting point based on its mountain and lake awesomeness. We can't freakin wait.

Today is the first day of winter. There is snow back home, Christmas music, red ribbons and green wreaths -I can picture it all so clearly. And here we are, sweating our socks off in 99 degree humidity. They put up Christmas lights here too, and sometimes you hear strange versions of spanish dubbed christmas tunes, but man, sure feels like summer. I can't wait to get down to patagonia, spend some nights under the stars, play in the mountains, take a dip in a crystal clear lake, and play with some fine old friends. That sounds like a holiday to me.


So here's Chile and Arge, and the orange part is Patagonia. We'll be sort of nestled between the H of cHile and the G of arGentina.

It's reported to look kind of like this:

But I haven't been yet and stole these pictures off someone else's blog. Hope we get to see some views as sweet as this.

And this is a picture of the hostel where we're staying for five dollars a night:

As if. You can only find a deal that sweet in Bolivia. Come find out for yourselves. I'm serious.

we don't want no civil war

Got a phone call from my ma yesterday, after she'd received a call from a friend who'd heard that Bolivia is heading into civil war. I assured here that, despite being held captive in Cochabamba going on four weeks now, we are safe and sound and should be allowed to return to Santa Cruz any day now. The news here isn't talking of civil war, but there are a lot of demonstrations, a lot of riots and blocades, and a few million people who are willing to fight for what they want. So, yeah, sounds like civil war could be on it's way.

The news here in short: last week the constitutional assembly passed a new constitution giving more power and rights to the indiginous people of Bolivia, who make up roughly 60% of the population. Essentially asking the non-indiginous crowd to work together with them for a more equitable Bolivia (think affirmative action, but on a broader scale). Trouble is, it was an impromptu session and most of the assembly members who would have voted against it were not present. So people are upset. Three days later, the departments of Santa Cruz and Tarija more or less rejected the new constitution and declared autonomy from the rest of the country in order to keep their financial resources within. Essentially, screw you guys, we're better off on our own.

So things are tense, major highways are blocked, demonstrations are getting violent. But this is nothing new. Bolivia is a country of revolutions and constant changes. While the American slaps on a bumper sticker that listlessly asks if it's been four years yet, the Bolivian takes to the street, marching, chanting, fighting for change. This kind of upheavel comes and goes a few times every year, but no one seems to know how this episode will end.

The U.S. government recently issued a travel warning on Bolivia that says, (i'm paraphrasing here) "It's dangerous. Do not travel to Bolivia unless it's absolutely necessary." Well humph, we were hoping for some visitors this year. I don't mean to make light of the political situation, but we, as individuals, do not feel in danger. Really we just want to go back home to podunk Oki where all is normal and quiet in its special japanese-bolivian way. All roads to Santa Cruz are currently blocked off, unfortunately, and for now, we're just waiting and watching.

If you want my opinion, you should still come visit us.

tom and anna love aiquile!

After two good weeks in Cochabamba, where we were getting further language training, learning how to design and write up projects, and staying out too late with friends for too many nights in a row, we took a trip to Aiquile, a small friendly town a few hours outside of Coch. It's home to Emily and Jasmine, two of our peace corps friends who are helping out the orphans and teaching good things to the kids of the area.

We went to Aiquile for a water testing workshop and learned all about how to make petri dishes and test chlorine and ph levels and look for poop in the water. Our plan is to install a similar lab at the water cooperative in Okinawa. Good fun. Kind of like chemistry class. Except we took lots of field trips, drank beers at lunch, and played wolley ball with our teachers afterwards. So, better than chemistry class. It was a great trip, Emily and Jasmine treated us like royalty, and we got to check out yet another beautiful part of the country. We planned to head back to Oki on Friday, but alas, all roads are blocked on account of political mayhem. So we're back in coch. Maybe tomorrow we can go home. . .

Road to .......

Bolivia’s future is probably about to change, and that road may be a difficult and long one.

First and foremost we are as safe as can be and have no concerns about our security and wellbeing, Peace Corps is doing a fantastic job keeping us informed, daily, of the happenings around Bolivia.

Alright, so the situation, politically and civically speaking, is not as peaceful as it could be. There are groups, some indigenous and some not, that want specific changes made to the constitution, which is now being revised under a constitutional referendum. I could talk about this all day but I’ll spare you the joy of the intricacies of the constitutional assembly and how they are rewriting the constitution. The main gist of it is that some people do not agree with the constitutional reforms and others do, so what you have is opposing groups who do not like each other. That is as basically what is going on.

I’d love to delve into this more but I feel I should take a ‘middle of the road’ and objective approach, mainly because I’m an employee of the United States government and shouldn’t be making political and or opinionated statements about the country I live in.
Because of the opposing viewpoints of specific groups here in Bolivia there have been strikes, protests and sometimes violence. The situation here is tense to say the least and let me reiterate; we are completely safe and in no jeopardy. I have emailed some of you in the past couple of weeks talking about the situation here and I’m sure that there will be some stories in the newspapers in the next couple of weeks regarding Bolivia and the constitutional referendum. Next week is when the reformed constitution will be voted on and approved by the assembly. I think next week will be a critical time for this country and its mainy different ethnic groups.

On the lighter side of things, Anna and I have been in Cochabamba for two weeks in a hostal with free internet and reasonable rates and I’m not looking forward to returning to the tropical heat of our site, Cochabamba’s weather is amazing. Next week Anna and I will be headed to a town called Aiquile, about four hours south of here, for a water testing workshop. Should be loads of fun, I’ll take tons of pictures on how to test for bacteria and levels of chlorine and all the cool water testing equipment, wow. We miss you all, especially with the holidays passing by. Merry kwanmasunkah! and we’ll write again soon.

how them bolivian roads?

This question from my bud sarah warrants its own blog. Fact is, these roads are bad.

Her question came after reading an article about BBC journalist Lola Almudevar, who was killed last week in a car accident near Bolivia's capital, La Paz. Sad story. Common story. She was in a taxi on the road in the picture above. This mountain pass is officially named Yungas, but it's better known by its nickname: The Most Dangerous Road in the World.

Bolivia has its host of threats: diseases, political unrest, crime, drug trafficking, but getting into a cab or stepping up on a bus is probably the most dangerous thing we do here. The last time I took the ten hour trip from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz, my friend Kyle and I were in the front seats on the upper deck of a large, lazy boy style bus. The view was phenomenal, and despite having stayed up all night before catching our ride at seven in the morning, I was wide-eyed, taking in the beautiful mountains and valleys sliding by. We got stuck in traffic at one point, and, from my high position, I could see past the cars and buses ahead of us. There were hundreds of people standing on the side of the road, all peering down into the steep valley that dropped off to the right. As we eked by, I saw what they saw: an overturned bus a hundred yards down the hill. I learned later that the bus, also headed for Santa Cruz, had left the bus station in Cochabamba just thirty minutes before us. Thirty people were killed. Many more seriously injured. The driver had fallen asleep.

I closed my eyes for the rest of the trip.

It's not just the lack of guard rails, seat belts, and pavement that make traveling the thrill it is here. The drunk drivers, poorly maintained vehicles, half blind cabbies, and love for passing on blind curves add their flavor to the punch. We plan on blindfolding our parents during cab rides when they come to visit. There are plenty of beautiful things to see in Bolivia, but the roads are not one of them.

While we are on the subject of life threatening elements of living in Bolivia, a friend of ours was held up at gun point the other day because someone wanted his cell phone, another is in the hospital from eating some less than clean food, and another with dengue fever. Far graver, four people were killed in Sucre last week during the riots sparked by potential changes to the constitution. It's a crazy place here. Impoverished, unstable, and ever bursting with political change. And yet I don't feel unsafe. It's not exactly the farm life in Free Union, but it's home for now, and I like it.