Another week

Days in Cochabamba

          After a 12 hour bus ride that sometimes only takes 7 hours, we arrived in Cochabamba. The bus was comfortable and the trip was made overnight, but I still only slept a few hours. We were time to rest when we arrived in Cochabamba, but everything was new and the elevation was much higher. My eyes didn’t close until the sun went down another 12 hours later. I had to acquaint myself with area, and attempt to talk to my host family. Communicating with my host family was difficult at first, but now that I know a few more verbs and phrases I can confer what I need.

          Two days after our arrival we started taking language lessons. Liz, Bekah, and I are taking Spanish, while Elizabeth is taking Aymara and Glenda is taking Quechua. The lessons consist of one on one 4 hour intense tutoring sessions with a 30 minute break in between the 4 hours. It is an exhausting process, but rewarding because of the amount of information we are learning. In the afternoon we have more orientation sessions, and for me, the rest of the time is generally spent studying Spanish.

          The nights are warm and the neighborhood is filled with intervals of dogs quarreling for the last piece of a ham bone. The days are mild in the shade, but intense under the sun. One needs a wide brimmed hat to avoid a sun induced headache from the ultra violet rays that the atmosphere is unable to stop. My fake Columbia brand hat that I purchased for approximately $4.50 from La Cancha seems to stop most of the harmful rays. Cochabamba is situated in a high valley surrounded by Andean peaks, which causes the city to experience an almost perfect climate. There is a rainy season and a dry season, and nearly all kinds of produce are available from the nearby farms.

          My host family has a lemon tree, apple tree, and an iga (sp) tree; the iga tree produces a small fruit that has a sweet taste when ripe. The tree’s fruit become ripe individually making the harvest timeframe of a single tree hard to guess. My neighborhood is calm at all times of the day; the short trees on the sidewalk force taller people to walk in the street. Not many cars traverse the Juan Pablo XXII neighborhood streets, making street walking possible and relatively safe. The neighborhood also has a little produce market every Wednesday and Saturday for part of the morning and afternoon.

          I have eaten most meals with my host family, and every meal has been different and delicious. Bolivians typically eat more meat than other South American countries, but my family has cooked all my meals vegetarian at a request made by the language school. Living with a host family has increased the amount hours I listen to and speak Spanish; soon I will only be around Spanish/Quechua speakers.

          The nest two weeks I will be attending regular meetings with the SEED group and taking language classes. The two weeks after that I will be taking more Spanish lessons while working for OBADES the other half of the day. I haven’t written down all of my experiences; I will leave those for future stories.

          Some ants are crawling up and down a wall in my room through cracks in the plaster in the ceiling and window. Ants are the least of my problems and probably a less of a problem for most Bolivians, so I will let them be and God will continue to watch over both of us. Maybe one might make it to the top of Mt. Tunari that is situated west of the city, maybe.