Part II

Rurrenabaque, Bolivia

Tiwanaki Ruins, outside of La PAz

Valparaiso, Chile

Yay!! Go Obama!!

Mendoza, Argentina

On a bike tour of the vineyards.

Barriloche, Argentina

A black glacier. Wierd, huh?

South American Trip '08 Part I

Mancora, Peru

So after all the stress of evacuation it was only fitting to start the trip with some r&r at the beach. A group of us headed north, way north, to Mancora, Peru. A cute little beach town practically on the border with Equador. We didn't do much but lay in the sand, play in the waves, take naps, eat ceviche, and drink cerveza for five days. In other words, it was absolutely perfect.

A little game of sunset soccer.

Huaraz, Peru

A few of us girls hesitantly left the beach and headed for Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca (Supposedly the most beautiful region of the Andes, but personally I think Bolivia has got more pristine, beautiful places. People just don't know about them.) Anywho, I acquired giardia from my last plate of ceviche on the beach and was incapacitated for the first couple of days in Huaraz and couldn't do any hiking with my friends. They had to leave for Lima, but I stayed for a few more days to explore the area solo.

A little town outside of Huaraz. There was a festival going on and everyone was dressed in their best bright and colorful clothes.

Parque Nacional Huascaran. Named after the tallest peak in Peru. (note- that is not actually Huascaran in the background)

Now this is actually Huascaran. In the foreground and behind the camera is the remains of Yungi, a town of 30,000 that was completely buried by an earthquake and the resulting landslide from glaciers on Huascaran, in the late sixties. Only a handful of people in the whole town survived by running to the tallest part of the cemetery which was built like a wedding cake. This cathedral was built on the site of the original. Now the site of the disaster is a park for tourists and New Yungi was rebuilt nearby.

A bus that was partially dug out of the rubble. They're not sure if there were people in it or not when the landslide hit.

Potosi, Bolivia

Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). Once one of the most productive mines in the world, fueling the once richest city in the world, Potosi. Production has since slowed down dramatically, but miners continue to work and die (40 per year) in incredibly harsh conditions.

One of the "nicer" sections of the mine. You could actually fully stand up. There are many long sections where you have to literally get on all fours a crawl through dark spaces (the only light is from your head lamp) and try not to choke on the dust. How the miners actually drag heavy bags of rocks through these spaces I have no idea. We spent just a few hours in the mine and we all came out with scratchy voices (from the dust I think) and completely exhausted from crawling up and down the mine shafts. My quads were hurting for days. And the miners do it 12 hrs everyday!

Fun with dynamite. A demonstration of how miners put together dynamite, light it, bury it, then run!!

Huayna Potosi, outside of La Paz

A big group of B44ers reunited in La Paz to conquer Huayna Potosi. A mountain just under 20,000 ft. I personally didn't fell fit enough or have the ganas to climb the giant so I went as cheerleader for the team and just kind of hung out in the lodge while the real bad asses climbed.

The girls. Erica in the middle was the only woman of the group to climb the mountain. Huayna Potosi in the distance.

Team Coca Boca (Coca Mouth). Named after the guys' ability to chew ridiculous amounts of coca.

I hiked up the mountain the first day with the team for their practice session in ice climbing techniques. This is as far as I made it up the mountain, but it's the first time I actually touched a glacier!

While the team was climbing I made a flag for us to pin up on the walls of the lodge. I tried to incorporate the themes of America and Peace Corps. Pretty nice, huh?

BOLIVIA EVAC EXPRESS

Where to begin?? Well for starters we´ve all been evacuated, all 113 of us. Peace Corps Bolivia has been suspended. Meaning they have the intention of starting up the program again someday, but no one has any idea when. Rather than reenlisting I have chosen to COS or close my service.

Over the last year and a half of my service we´ve had countless EAPs (emergency action plans) and even one consolidation where all the volunteers were brought together in one place because of an upcoming referendum and the potential unrest that could ensue. But throughout all the EAPs, marches, protests, riots, and bloqueos I was never actually worried that anything was going to happen to us. It was just something that you delt with being a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia. There had been lots of evacuation talk over the years, but I never bought into it. ¨It´ll blow over just like all the times before.¨

Typical bloqueo outside of Tarija.

Bolivia has a way of getting dangerously close to the edge of disaster then at the last moment, as if suddenly realizing just how bad things are, backing slowly away from the edge. I was never really worried until a little over two weeks ago. It was a gray day. So overcast the sun was totally blocked out of the sky. I was walking through the usually loud and bustling streets of Bermejo, but that day they were almost completely empty. Shops were shut up, mini bloqueos of rocks cutting off everyother street corner. There was a paro civico that day so almost everything was shut down and little traffic other than the occasional moto was on the street. I found the one internet place open in town and checked out the local news.

Just the night before I was watching on the news violent riot scenes in Tarija. They were actually throwing dynamite at one another and one man managed to blow his hand off. Ofcourse a camera was right there to flim the grizzly aftermath. This guy stumbling down the street, dilirious from blood loss, looking down and grabing what was left of his mangled hand with his one good remaining hand. The film crew following him along recording every second, but never actually offering to help. The next day the man was on the news again. This time weeping saying that he made his living laying bricks and looking back on it, the 300 bolivianos he was given to participate in the riot was not worth it. Yes, Bolivians from all political spectrums are regularly given money to participate, or fined for not participating, in political demonstrations. My friend´s family had to pay 300 bolivianos (a lot of Bs for the average family!) for not participating in their town´s bloqueo. And University students can actually have their grades lowered for not participating in marches, protests or other demonstrations. Yeah, to say it politely...it´s really screwed up.

Anyways... back to the point. Things were getting pretty hairy, even in Tarija. Usually, while the rest of the country is going up in flames, Tarija is pretty tranquilo. I saw the unrest as a bad sign of things to come. Over the next few days things only seemed to get worse. Protests and riots continued in many cities. A few people were killed in Sucre and the worst in Pando with over 30 dead. And among the riots the US ambassdor Philip Goldberg was declared a persona non grata and demanded to leave Bolivia. He was accused of citing the violence. A totally rediculous claim, but thats the way politics works down here. It was really just an opportune time to kick him out. So with no ambassador what was going to happen to us?

When I heard that all the Tarija volunteers were coming down to Bermejo I thought ¨This is it. I´m packing my bags.¨ The next few days were a frusterating mystery. Peace Corps seemed to tell us as little information as possible. We were all speculating what was going to happen to us. Were we going to wait in Bermejo while things cooled down? Be flown to Cochabamba where all the other volunteers had been consolidated? Or evacuate the country? I tried to explain to my host family and friends as best I could the situation. That I didn´t really know what was going on, but there was a chance I wouldn´t be back. My Dona insisted on everyone getting together for coffee and bread. She said a prayer for me and we all ended up crying. It was very touching. And before leaving, I was fortunate to run into a group of teachers I worked with that had heard about the situation and they thanked me for everything I had done for them. There´s a lot of times in Peace Corps when you wonder if what your doing really matters. But I knew talking to those teachers that day that they really did appreciate the work I did for them and that really feels good.

Anywho... we headed to the Bermejo airport, a small paved strip in a never ending field of cana. Told we were to board a plane, but didn´t know where. Then the big bellied C130 rolled in. It was a very surreal moment. A crazy mixture of emotions. ¨This is crazy! This is so cool! Oh no, we might not be coming back!¨ When everyone had boarded and the plane was in the air we were told we were leaving the country. But again the ambiguity! We weren´t told which country! It was becoming obvious that PC was telling us as little as possible so that people wouldn´t freak out and refuse to board at the last second, which some people may have done.

Touchdown at Bermejo International Airport

The dreaded evac! It was really happening! We didn´t learn our destination until someone asked one of the military guys on board (insterestingly enough the plane was US owned, but run by Bolivian military personel). First we were stoping in Cochabamba to pick up more volunteers than continuing on to Lima. We were greeted by Peruvian and American soldiers at a small military airport outside of Lima. As well as the US ambassador to Peru and a hand full of other embassy people. We were given a brief meeting and sent outside the city to a bizarre centro vacacional outside of the city. The running joke was that it was a rehab center for those that had previously had tragic experiences while on vacation. We spent the next week figuring out what to do next with our lives- COS, transfer, reinlist. I knew I was COSing so my decision was easy, but a lot of people had to decide it they wanted to transfer to another country and where in a matter of a few days! Talk about having your world turned upside down!

Trying our best to make light of the situation by making a Bolivian stlye bloqueo for the next arriving group of volunteers.

My plan is to travel South America for a few months before returning to the states. I´ll keep you updated!

Thanks for Reading!

I've become recently aware that quite a few people actually read this thing. So I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone. It really is nice to know that people are genuinly interested in what I'm doing over here. So for you I will try to keep this thing more up to date. And don't be afraid to leave a comment. I really do love to read them. I've just updated my previous blog about the teacher's taller below. So check it out.

Your pal,
Al

Some more random pics

This is my English conversation class on their last day of class. They were the most advanced students at the Language Institute I teach at. I was really impressed with a few of them. I think at least one of the students English could rival my Spanish! (which is not saying much for me!) All of them passed their final exams, although there were a few that really should´t have. There´s a lot of pressure to pass students (especially when they are paying for the classes!), but I was proud of them all the same. Though sometimes a bit of a pain in the ass, they really are a great group of kids. I miss them already!

This is Pepino (aka Pepi) and the new puppy Pirata (pirate). Turns out Pepi is a boy after all. I swear I have the worst record sexing kittens. I already have a boy named Ginger and a girl named Hobbes. It´s hard to tell sometimes! Luckily Pepina could be easily changed to Pepino. Pepino means cucumber in español by the way. When he´s not tearing apart my room, attacking my face in my sleep and pooping out worms, he can be a real delight.

More to come...

Finally my Environmental Education Taller!

Finally!! After months of postponements and frustrations I finally had my first environmental ed. teacher's taller! First it was delayed at the last minute (like the day before it was originally scheduled!) because the alcaldia wouldn't give me money to pay for it (after they said they would, of course) then the second time because of teacher's strikes.

The second time around I was able to get funds through the German organization GTZ which I've talked about previously on here (actually, a month later I still haven't been reimbursed, but that's another story I suppose). Anyways, they are the organization that originally donated the Maletines to me. The maletin (briefcase) is a boxed set of four really great educational text books all about environmental ed. in the Chaco. The main purpose of the taller was simply to get these materials to local teacher's so they can use them in their classrooms because as I've said before teacher's are given pathetically few teaching resources here. And the secondary objectives where to learn new dynamic methodologies to teach EE, create and present EE themed lessons, and discuss the environmental problems of the Chaco region.

In all there where 25 teachers who attended with many more wanting to, but unfortunately I only had a certain number of maletines to give away. I had previously worked with almost all of them before so I was a lot more comfortable presenting my portion of the workshop than I think I would have been otherwise. I purposely set up the workshop for the teachers of the two schools I work a lot with specifically for that reason. I figured they already knew my level of Spanish and what to expect of me, more or less, so I didn't get too nervous about it.

Of course there are always a few slackers in every group, but overall I was really pleased with every bodies participation. Five of the participants were actually my housemates and I was pleasantly surprised to see them working on their presentations for the last day of the workshop during lunch at the house! It was a touching moment for me. You could tell that some of the groups really had put a lot of thought into their presentations. It was really nice to hear how "bonito" the workshop was from many of the teachers and how they were surprised that almost everyone had stayed till the last minute, which usually doesn't happen at these kind of things here. So I guess you could say it was a success. Vale la pena! (worth the trouble)


Roxanna (in the dark brown jacket) is actually my host sister and Acelia (in the red) rents a room upstairs next to mine.

I think Norma (on the left above) is my favorite teacher here. She was one of the first I worked with and has always been really enthusiastic about having me in her classroom and incorporating more EE into her classes. She actually comes up with themes she wants me to come in and talk about (which no one else has done) and has always been especially kind to me.


This group was giving a presentation on Suelo (soil) and started it with a reenactment of a ch'alla or blessing performed on specific holidays on people's land for good luck. Pretty cool. The girl in the middle is another one of my housemates, Emma.

And I have to give major props to Elliot and Gina, other B44er's for helping me out. They provided a nice listening break from my broken Spanish for the audience. I could of done it without you, but it would have really sucked! You're the best!

And here we are at the end of the workshop. Everyone with their maletines. Now they better use them!

Autonomía Carajo!

Peru Pics

As you can guess the highlight of the trip was the little city on the mountain top, Machu Picchu. We really got lucky because we were traveling during the off season... right at the end of the rainy season, so there were significantly less tourists than normal (look at this picture! you can´t see anyone!) and the weather was absolutely perfect that day. We arrived in the afternoon when the majority of tourist groups were leaving so we had the freedom to leisurely wander the ruins with out feeling like herded cattle. It was nice just to sit down, enjoy the view and contemplate the history of this place. I wasn´t part of the hippie crowd doing tai chi and meditation with the llamas or anything, but I definitely got a very special vibe from this place. Just as we were leaving a rainbow formed... coming from the deep valley bottom and arching over the ruins. It was perfect. Now only if we had remembered to bring our guide book so we knew what we were looking at...




Our next stop was Arequipa. A really cool city in the south/central mountains. I actually liked Arequipa more than Cuzco. It was a lot less touristy and it probably didn´t hurt that it was warm and sunny the whole time. Unlike Cuzco where it was frigid and drizzling and you had to run the gauntlet of vendors every time you left your hostel. But let´s face it. Cusco is a pretty awesome city. So much history! But now back to Arequipa.


This is the main plaza . All the cathedrals and major buildings are made form this white volcanic rock called silar. Very pretty. Below is a view of the country side and the surrounding volcanoes. Absolutely gorgeous!


After a few days in Arequipa we headed to the Colca Canyon. One of the deepest canyons in the world. The scenery was very reminiscent of the Sacred Valley outside of Cuzco. With all the stone walls and terracing. We woke up very early one morning to go to canyon and El Cruz de los Condores. We got to the cross and waited till the sun warmed us and the condors up to get a glimpse of the Andean Condor. The condor is one of those iconic symbols of the Andes and it was incredible to finally see one in flight.


A beautiful church in one of the many little pueblos on our way to the Cross.


Finally! It´s a condor! (looked a lot more impressive in real life)

Our last stop on the trip was the southern coastal town of Pisco. I was really excited about the prospect of lounging on the beach and sippin´a Pisco Sour after more than a year of being landlocked in Bolivia. Unfortunately, Pisco is not really a place to go sunbathing and frolic in the waves. The beach and the water in the harbor were not what you would call very inviting. The beaches were pretty rocky and dirty and the water in the harbor just looked icky. I rolled up my pants and dipped a toe in, just to say I'd touched the ocean more than anything.

Actually, we stayed at a little place south of Pisco called Paracas, nearby Paracas National Park and Las Islas Balestas. A lot more charming than the devastated ruins of Pisco (Pisco was the epicenter of the earthquake last year and is still slowly recovering).

We took a group tour of Paracas Park. It's main attraction is a natural arch carved by the waves called El Catedral. Unfortunately, the arch actually collapsed during the earth quake and was more depressing than awe inspiring. The Candelabra, a mysterious etching in the sand dunes located in the park could only be viewed from boat. On our way to the Balestas Islands we stoped for a better view and pondered it's origins. Paracas Indians, pirates or Mason's? Who knows?

Shoot!! I erased the picture. Will add it again later.

The highlight of our time on the coast was the trip out to the Balestas Islands (otherwise known as the poor man´s Galapagos Islands). There's a group of small islands that are home to thousands, perhaps millions, of sea birds. Every inch of these islands were covered in birds and their guano... pelicans, cormorants, boobies, puffins and even a few penguins. Not to mention the thousands of birds constantly flying overhead. There was also a large sea lion colony with lots of cute pups. A really neat place.