this post is rushed... i know i have yet to update you guys on what i´ve been doing for the past two weeks, but that will have to come within the next two days because this entire week and tonight is especially busy.
We have to throw together a thank you party for the community tonight but also.. it turns out that we are leaving at 11p.m today. We were planning to leave the midnight between tuesday and wednesday, but due to a workers´blockade, we have to leave as soon as possible. The national government is trying to send in workers from all over the nation to drill into a newly discovered petrol resource. In response, the local workers are going to dump giant mounds of soil on the main road into camiri sometime early tomorrow morning as a protest. We have to get out before they set up the blockade.
more information to come. leaving for santa cruz tonight. will be there for 2 days. hopefully be able to update before we go to lima.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
shmeh
There´s two weeks left of this program in Bolivia and I wish I had more time here. I´m definitely going to miss the rhythm and routine I´ve gotten myself into the past few months. I´ll miss my family, friends and food that i´ve been getting to know so well. I guess I´ll have to come back some day. Time to make the most of every moment I´ve got left.
Two weekends ago I went to a horse race with my counterpart´s family. It was a big event in Chorety, a small community just on the edge of Camiri. I went with Romeo (another canadian) Julio, his brother, uncle and a few other relatives. There were a couple hundred people in the field when we arrived, already drinking. Restless horses were tied to the surrounding trees, their owners feeding and watering them. Julio´s uncle used to be a sergeant for Santa Cruz´s mounted forces and reptutable horse trainer so me and Romeo were introduced to a lot of interesting people. Everyone we met was eager to chat and to offer us free beer. Good times.
I refused a beer and I was put in my place when the person responded by saying ¨´you´re not going to make many friends if you´re timid´´. True dat.
They had a BBQ set up in the center of the event. They were selling this delicious thing called Chorypan that was basically a sausage on a bun with onions and a bunch of wierd spices. Uuh.. So dilicious. I bought 4.While we were there from 12 until 5... we saw about 5 races.. 2 horses at a time. Both horses with their riders would race on a straight 300m dirt track while people yelled and screamed and waved their hats in the air, betting on the horses with beer. It was awesome to watch.To get home, everyone jumped into the back of anyone´s pick up and just went along for the ride.. me and julio did the same, yelling to the driver when we got relatively close to our house.
Julio´s brother Luis Alberto came down from Santa Cruz recently for his work vacation. Usually he only comes to Camiri every second weekend but now he´s here until the 6th of November. Him and his twin brother Luis Carlos have been hanging out with a lot of their old college friends. . They´re both 24 but they have their own houses. Me and Julio have been tagging along with them a lot. As a result, all last week I hung out with a lot of Bolivian groups. Usually I have someone I can talk English with, but for those 5 days.. just Spanish. At times I just listened, but for the most part I was actually able to have a few lengthy discussions. It was cool. I met a lot of their friends that live locally in Camiri but also a few who came to visit from Santa Cruz.
This weekend we went back to the same field in Chorety.. except this time for a drag race. We were supposed to go on Saturday but the event was rescheduled for Sunday because of heavy rain. It doesn´t usually rain here but when it does it´s really heavy and the river floods. Anyways.. we went on Sunday with the same crew, except this time without Luis Alberto and Romeo. Cars that looked like they had been through a demolition derby and a few dune buggies were being tended to by a crowd of mechanics. There was at least another hundred people more than at the horse race and just as much beer. More BBQ too. I got a lot of sun that day. It was a dusty 3 km track. The first event was who could do one lap the fastest. There was a lot of sharp turning involved. On each turn, every driver pulled a heavy drift. There was constantly a massive cloud of dust in the air from each car zooming by. People were standing at every turn getting sprayed with dirt but none of them really seemed to mind. The second event was three cars at a time in 10 second intervals. Even more dust. Again... I was introduced to A LOT of people. It always started out with a member of Julio´s family saying to someone ¨¨that boy.. he´s from Canada¨¨.. hearty handshaking and offering of beer would ensue.. people are REALLY friendly here. I ended up telling dozens of people about what Canada is like and how I´m enjoying Bolivia. Julio would reiterate questions for me in simple spanish if i didn´t understand.Definitely one of the highlights of the day was the awards ceremony. The top three drivers were soaked in beers as they were handed their trophies.... and the outburst of cheering that erupted upon the announcement of the first place winnner caused a drunk to fall off his cement block and pass out on the ground for about 2 hours. He was alright. he just needed his sleep.me and Julio jumped in the back of his friends pick up to get home. On the way we talked with 2 other randoms that had been at the races with us.
So ya.. that was my last two weekends.. lots of high velocity.
Tomorrow I´m giving a presentation at a local high school on violence against women. We´re going for an hour to do some exercises with one of their classes.. talking about verbal and physical abuse... mostly to engage them in discussion. Later tomorrow we´re going out of town to help a school fix and paint their broken chairs and tables and clean up some of the garbage in the town plaza. More on tomorrow in the next note.
Already, we´re talking to the Bolivians about dressing warmly and the dangers of yellow snow. Time has flown by pretty fast recently. We´ll be in Canada soon enough. Our exchange is invited to a local bar for Halloween this Saturday. Some of our friends in town are going back to Santa Cruz fairly soon so it will be our last chance to say goodbye.
The second part of our exchange will be another 2 and half months in Perth. Ontario. I actually have no idea what we´re doing there but it´s just an hour away from Ottawa. I do know that we´ll be coming down for at least a day to introduce the Bolivians to the Rideau canal and maybe even camp fortune or edelweiss. It´s pretty close to home.
So ya.. Canada really soon. I probably just have one more blog entry left from Bolivia. Again.. how are things going with you guys? send me an e'mail.. leave a comment.. whatever.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RANDOM
I saw about 15 high school students dressed as michael jackson running through the plaza today.. gloves and all.
My mom sent me my ipod so I can now drown out any pitbull or Michael Jackson with slipknot or rage against the machine.
I have a papaya, orange and lemon tree in my house´s courtyard.. ridiculously delicious smoothies.
I´m being called Terminator or John Connor a lot.
More children pelvic thrusting and standing on their tiptoes.
Did I mention the poop buckets? In every washroom.. you´re supposed to put dirty toilet paper in the trash not the toilet. delicious.
The pronuncation of the word ´´years´´ in spanish is important.. it differenciates wether you´re saying how old you are or how many anuses you have.... a.. ani?
I was feeling fat so I put on all black clothes in 40 degree weather and ran for 2 hours. death.
I can´t wait for that breath of cold air.
There´s two weeks left of this program in Bolivia and I wish I had more time here. I´m definitely going to miss the rhythm and routine I´ve gotten myself into the past few months. I´ll miss my family, friends and food that i´ve been getting to know so well. I guess I´ll have to come back some day. Time to make the most of every moment I´ve got left.
Two weekends ago I went to a horse race with my counterpart´s family. It was a big event in Chorety, a small community just on the edge of Camiri. I went with Romeo (another canadian) Julio, his brother, uncle and a few other relatives. There were a couple hundred people in the field when we arrived, already drinking. Restless horses were tied to the surrounding trees, their owners feeding and watering them. Julio´s uncle used to be a sergeant for Santa Cruz´s mounted forces and reptutable horse trainer so me and Romeo were introduced to a lot of interesting people. Everyone we met was eager to chat and to offer us free beer. Good times.
I refused a beer and I was put in my place when the person responded by saying ¨´you´re not going to make many friends if you´re timid´´. True dat.
They had a BBQ set up in the center of the event. They were selling this delicious thing called Chorypan that was basically a sausage on a bun with onions and a bunch of wierd spices. Uuh.. So dilicious. I bought 4.While we were there from 12 until 5... we saw about 5 races.. 2 horses at a time. Both horses with their riders would race on a straight 300m dirt track while people yelled and screamed and waved their hats in the air, betting on the horses with beer. It was awesome to watch.To get home, everyone jumped into the back of anyone´s pick up and just went along for the ride.. me and julio did the same, yelling to the driver when we got relatively close to our house.
Julio´s brother Luis Alberto came down from Santa Cruz recently for his work vacation. Usually he only comes to Camiri every second weekend but now he´s here until the 6th of November. Him and his twin brother Luis Carlos have been hanging out with a lot of their old college friends. . They´re both 24 but they have their own houses. Me and Julio have been tagging along with them a lot. As a result, all last week I hung out with a lot of Bolivian groups. Usually I have someone I can talk English with, but for those 5 days.. just Spanish. At times I just listened, but for the most part I was actually able to have a few lengthy discussions. It was cool. I met a lot of their friends that live locally in Camiri but also a few who came to visit from Santa Cruz.
This weekend we went back to the same field in Chorety.. except this time for a drag race. We were supposed to go on Saturday but the event was rescheduled for Sunday because of heavy rain. It doesn´t usually rain here but when it does it´s really heavy and the river floods. Anyways.. we went on Sunday with the same crew, except this time without Luis Alberto and Romeo. Cars that looked like they had been through a demolition derby and a few dune buggies were being tended to by a crowd of mechanics. There was at least another hundred people more than at the horse race and just as much beer. More BBQ too. I got a lot of sun that day. It was a dusty 3 km track. The first event was who could do one lap the fastest. There was a lot of sharp turning involved. On each turn, every driver pulled a heavy drift. There was constantly a massive cloud of dust in the air from each car zooming by. People were standing at every turn getting sprayed with dirt but none of them really seemed to mind. The second event was three cars at a time in 10 second intervals. Even more dust. Again... I was introduced to A LOT of people. It always started out with a member of Julio´s family saying to someone ¨¨that boy.. he´s from Canada¨¨.. hearty handshaking and offering of beer would ensue.. people are REALLY friendly here. I ended up telling dozens of people about what Canada is like and how I´m enjoying Bolivia. Julio would reiterate questions for me in simple spanish if i didn´t understand.Definitely one of the highlights of the day was the awards ceremony. The top three drivers were soaked in beers as they were handed their trophies.... and the outburst of cheering that erupted upon the announcement of the first place winnner caused a drunk to fall off his cement block and pass out on the ground for about 2 hours. He was alright. he just needed his sleep.me and Julio jumped in the back of his friends pick up to get home. On the way we talked with 2 other randoms that had been at the races with us.
So ya.. that was my last two weekends.. lots of high velocity.
Tomorrow I´m giving a presentation at a local high school on violence against women. We´re going for an hour to do some exercises with one of their classes.. talking about verbal and physical abuse... mostly to engage them in discussion. Later tomorrow we´re going out of town to help a school fix and paint their broken chairs and tables and clean up some of the garbage in the town plaza. More on tomorrow in the next note.
Already, we´re talking to the Bolivians about dressing warmly and the dangers of yellow snow. Time has flown by pretty fast recently. We´ll be in Canada soon enough. Our exchange is invited to a local bar for Halloween this Saturday. Some of our friends in town are going back to Santa Cruz fairly soon so it will be our last chance to say goodbye.
The second part of our exchange will be another 2 and half months in Perth. Ontario. I actually have no idea what we´re doing there but it´s just an hour away from Ottawa. I do know that we´ll be coming down for at least a day to introduce the Bolivians to the Rideau canal and maybe even camp fortune or edelweiss. It´s pretty close to home.
So ya.. Canada really soon. I probably just have one more blog entry left from Bolivia. Again.. how are things going with you guys? send me an e'mail.. leave a comment.. whatever.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RANDOM
I saw about 15 high school students dressed as michael jackson running through the plaza today.. gloves and all.
My mom sent me my ipod so I can now drown out any pitbull or Michael Jackson with slipknot or rage against the machine.
I have a papaya, orange and lemon tree in my house´s courtyard.. ridiculously delicious smoothies.
I´m being called Terminator or John Connor a lot.
More children pelvic thrusting and standing on their tiptoes.
Did I mention the poop buckets? In every washroom.. you´re supposed to put dirty toilet paper in the trash not the toilet. delicious.
The pronuncation of the word ´´years´´ in spanish is important.. it differenciates wether you´re saying how old you are or how many anuses you have.... a.. ani?
I was feeling fat so I put on all black clothes in 40 degree weather and ran for 2 hours. death.
I can´t wait for that breath of cold air.
Monday, October 12, 2009
So yesterday I went for a twelve hour hike.
We got up early in the morning and met at the plaza around 5 in the morning. Only a bit over half of the group showed up (about 11). Christoph and Alex, two German volunteers living in Camiri showed too. We took a cab all the way to the edge of town and followed a narrow cliff path for a few kilometers. Too cool. We walked underneath overhanging rock and through a couple of caves. You could look down and see the river rushing by far below and look across the valley to the massive cliff-face of the opposite hill. They call them hills but they really look like mountains. Anyways, lizards crawling all over the rocks, natural spring water seeping out of the rocks, no guard-rails... pretty sketchy but a super nice view.
We followed a water pipe all the way up to a water reservoir that is the only water source for a small rural community near by.. i don´t know how to spell this.. -eat-in-am-beek-wa. By this point we had been hiking for about an hour and a half. This is where the group split. Our final destination was the Chorro water fall.. but apperently the only way to get there was by using the river as a road. Not everyone felt like getting wet. Only me, our supervisor, ze germans, and 3 others from our group decided to go all the way.
The water was only 4 feet deep at most in some parts. The footing was difficult but at some points you could walk on the bank. We worried about running into snakes and bears, but ze germans had a machete that they bought the previous day. Hardcore. At first we just used it to chop away at anything that was well out of our way but we actually ended up needing it. There were parts where we had to cut away at vines and stuff that looked like bamboo.
It was a 3 hour hike to the falls. We were starting to think that it didn´t even exist along the way. Besides a few falls on slippery rocks and a bit of quicksand we were golden. It was just really far. My feat were wet all day. No snakes.
The waterfall was only about 12-14 meters high with a large clear and clean pool at the bottom. We all jumped in that and swam around in it in the 30 degree weather. It was only late morning. Me, Alex and ze Germans ended up climbing the waterfall to look at its 4 levels. Pretty fun bouldering. We found some wierd spiders and some brown frogs with blue eyes. I ended up dropping my camera in the water. No harm done though. We jumped off the side of the water fall into the pool below to get down. We got out of the water quickly because we´d pushed a bunch of mayflies into the water. So gross. We speared them with our bambooesque poles.
After taking a break we prepared for our long hike back. We didn´t talk much because we were focused on pace. We found a super long vine on the way back hanging down in the middle of the river. We stopped to swing on that for a while.. from bank to bank.
I was so hungry by this point. I needed some pollo sucre. It´s basically fried chicken. The fast food place of choice in Camiri. Basically the McDonalds equivalent.
Interlude: Me and the students take the dried kernels off the corn at my work. it goes to my friend Romeo´s work placement to be ground up and then fed to the chickens. the chickens go to pollo sucre for 18 cash bolivianos a pop. The circle of life. Very lion king.
Anyways. After vine-swinging we made the long wet hike back to the reservoir. We went through another cave to a different path that led down to a swimming hole, a part of the river at the bottom of the valley. The water was all brown from rainfall but it was fine to swim in. This river was a lot wider and deeper than the one leading to the waterfalls. Both banks were lined with huge smooth rocks sculpted by the river. Excellent for climbing. We bouldered up to the top of the rocks and jumped off 8m drops into the river. At first we were unsure if it was deep enough because the water was all chocolate-milky. I got one of ze Germans to jump off first. It was fine. There´s no way we´re not going back before we leave Camiri. We need more people next time.
So ya.. I got back around five thirty to a cold lunch. I showered and went straight to bed. So tired. But it was such a nice hike. I want to go back to do some more climbing and jumping. I have some sweet photos from that day too.
Best day in Camiri so far. Plus I got to clear the path with a machete.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random thoughts.
There´s a station with Simpsons in spanish 24/7. Since i´ve seen the episodes before it´s a good way to learn the language.
They drink wine mixed with coke here. Not the best.
Siempre el mismo pregunta. I´m always asked if i´m cold in 15 degree weather.
Michael Jackson is too popular here. I liked a few of his songs before the trip but now i´m just sick. I´ve been asked to translate few. I see little kids pelvic thrusting everywhere.
Ive been getting almost no exercise and eating and sleeping so much more. Ive felt so disgusting but apparently ive lost 3 pounds.
hamburger and fries is a dollar fifty.
stray dogs are so scary.. especially at night when you´re the only person in the street.
i have a parrot named florita.. it doesnt talk so much as go MRAH! MRAH! MRAH! for about 10 minutes every morning. Its going to get doused in gasoline sometime soon.
wearing a seatbelt is unheard of
We got up early in the morning and met at the plaza around 5 in the morning. Only a bit over half of the group showed up (about 11). Christoph and Alex, two German volunteers living in Camiri showed too. We took a cab all the way to the edge of town and followed a narrow cliff path for a few kilometers. Too cool. We walked underneath overhanging rock and through a couple of caves. You could look down and see the river rushing by far below and look across the valley to the massive cliff-face of the opposite hill. They call them hills but they really look like mountains. Anyways, lizards crawling all over the rocks, natural spring water seeping out of the rocks, no guard-rails... pretty sketchy but a super nice view.
We followed a water pipe all the way up to a water reservoir that is the only water source for a small rural community near by.. i don´t know how to spell this.. -eat-in-am-beek-wa. By this point we had been hiking for about an hour and a half. This is where the group split. Our final destination was the Chorro water fall.. but apperently the only way to get there was by using the river as a road. Not everyone felt like getting wet. Only me, our supervisor, ze germans, and 3 others from our group decided to go all the way.
The water was only 4 feet deep at most in some parts. The footing was difficult but at some points you could walk on the bank. We worried about running into snakes and bears, but ze germans had a machete that they bought the previous day. Hardcore. At first we just used it to chop away at anything that was well out of our way but we actually ended up needing it. There were parts where we had to cut away at vines and stuff that looked like bamboo.
It was a 3 hour hike to the falls. We were starting to think that it didn´t even exist along the way. Besides a few falls on slippery rocks and a bit of quicksand we were golden. It was just really far. My feat were wet all day. No snakes.
The waterfall was only about 12-14 meters high with a large clear and clean pool at the bottom. We all jumped in that and swam around in it in the 30 degree weather. It was only late morning. Me, Alex and ze Germans ended up climbing the waterfall to look at its 4 levels. Pretty fun bouldering. We found some wierd spiders and some brown frogs with blue eyes. I ended up dropping my camera in the water. No harm done though. We jumped off the side of the water fall into the pool below to get down. We got out of the water quickly because we´d pushed a bunch of mayflies into the water. So gross. We speared them with our bambooesque poles.
After taking a break we prepared for our long hike back. We didn´t talk much because we were focused on pace. We found a super long vine on the way back hanging down in the middle of the river. We stopped to swing on that for a while.. from bank to bank.
I was so hungry by this point. I needed some pollo sucre. It´s basically fried chicken. The fast food place of choice in Camiri. Basically the McDonalds equivalent.
Interlude: Me and the students take the dried kernels off the corn at my work. it goes to my friend Romeo´s work placement to be ground up and then fed to the chickens. the chickens go to pollo sucre for 18 cash bolivianos a pop. The circle of life. Very lion king.
Anyways. After vine-swinging we made the long wet hike back to the reservoir. We went through another cave to a different path that led down to a swimming hole, a part of the river at the bottom of the valley. The water was all brown from rainfall but it was fine to swim in. This river was a lot wider and deeper than the one leading to the waterfalls. Both banks were lined with huge smooth rocks sculpted by the river. Excellent for climbing. We bouldered up to the top of the rocks and jumped off 8m drops into the river. At first we were unsure if it was deep enough because the water was all chocolate-milky. I got one of ze Germans to jump off first. It was fine. There´s no way we´re not going back before we leave Camiri. We need more people next time.
So ya.. I got back around five thirty to a cold lunch. I showered and went straight to bed. So tired. But it was such a nice hike. I want to go back to do some more climbing and jumping. I have some sweet photos from that day too.
Best day in Camiri so far. Plus I got to clear the path with a machete.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random thoughts.
There´s a station with Simpsons in spanish 24/7. Since i´ve seen the episodes before it´s a good way to learn the language.
They drink wine mixed with coke here. Not the best.
Siempre el mismo pregunta. I´m always asked if i´m cold in 15 degree weather.
Michael Jackson is too popular here. I liked a few of his songs before the trip but now i´m just sick. I´ve been asked to translate few. I see little kids pelvic thrusting everywhere.
Ive been getting almost no exercise and eating and sleeping so much more. Ive felt so disgusting but apparently ive lost 3 pounds.
hamburger and fries is a dollar fifty.
stray dogs are so scary.. especially at night when you´re the only person in the street.
i have a parrot named florita.. it doesnt talk so much as go MRAH! MRAH! MRAH! for about 10 minutes every morning. Its going to get doused in gasoline sometime soon.
wearing a seatbelt is unheard of
Thursday, October 1, 2009
yo
So I was in Santa Cruz for 2 days... yeah. What I thought was going to be a cultural night of traditional Bolivian song and danse turned out to be a the most massive trade show i´ve ever seen... with a thirty boiviano entry fee. This place was packed. It was basically a large park filled with product mascots, 50 foot advertisements, and various stations filled with furniture, cars, cell phones.. everything. Everyone was hitting shoulders because it was so packed. The funny thing was that each sale station had at least 2 supermodels in heels showcasing the goods. In more ways than one i suppose.
´´Do YOU come with the car?´´
The professionals were straight-backed and constantly smiling while others were sitting down looking at their cell-phones with a bored ´why-am-i-here?´´ expression on their faces. Most people were attracted to each sale because you could take a picture with the ladies up front. I settled for a photo with two guys dressed up as a ketchup and mustard bottle.
After a lot of walking around, I found out that the other people in my group were just there to ´´look around´´ so I suggested we leave as soon as possible.
After that we met up with a bunch of people from the Santa Cruz exchange which was really cool. We hung out with them through various orientation sessions and hadn´t seen them for a month. Apparently there´s lots of tension in between the supervisors and volunteers there but all the participants were getting along in their exchange fine otherwise. We went to a couple of bars and hung out for the rest of the night. More photos i have to upload somehow.. magically.
I would´ve liked to stay in Santa Cruz longer but we had exhausted our time limit. Whatever. I think some Santa Cruzians are coming down this Saturday to chill.
Not much new to say. We had a dry electric storm which was pretty spectacular. Also, there are two new german volunteers that have joined the others. Alex and Christoph. They both speak fluent English and we´re just getting to know them.
I might be switching work placements for a week with Claudio. He´s getting tired of shovelling poop at the farm and needs a break.
When the Bolivians can´t pronounce my name.. I tell them it´s like John Connor from Terminator and their faces light up with understanding and recognition.
My ipod is on its way. Thank you so much mom and dad. If I hear uno, dos, tres, quatro one more time I might have an an aneurysm. Yes, I know you want me. Yes, I know I want you go take a long walk off a short pier. Soon I´ll be able to drown in all out with Protest.. soon.
I did heard dust in the wind in spanish the other day which was pretty cool.
Work´s going good. Mario´s has got addition and subtraction down over the past 2 weeks and we´re moving on to multiplication. Today was another session of removing the dried kernels from corn. SO much corn. They´re going to grind it all up to make a kind of flower. I tried to suggest that they should have a massive popcorn fiesta but the kids looked at me in confusion and threw kernels at me.... cunning.
Anyways.. that´s all I have for now. I´m probably forgetting a few things. I´ve found a usb-picture-uploader-thingy so hopefully I´ll have some photos up soon.
i bid you toodles
Connor
So I was in Santa Cruz for 2 days... yeah. What I thought was going to be a cultural night of traditional Bolivian song and danse turned out to be a the most massive trade show i´ve ever seen... with a thirty boiviano entry fee. This place was packed. It was basically a large park filled with product mascots, 50 foot advertisements, and various stations filled with furniture, cars, cell phones.. everything. Everyone was hitting shoulders because it was so packed. The funny thing was that each sale station had at least 2 supermodels in heels showcasing the goods. In more ways than one i suppose.
´´Do YOU come with the car?´´
The professionals were straight-backed and constantly smiling while others were sitting down looking at their cell-phones with a bored ´why-am-i-here?´´ expression on their faces. Most people were attracted to each sale because you could take a picture with the ladies up front. I settled for a photo with two guys dressed up as a ketchup and mustard bottle.
After a lot of walking around, I found out that the other people in my group were just there to ´´look around´´ so I suggested we leave as soon as possible.
After that we met up with a bunch of people from the Santa Cruz exchange which was really cool. We hung out with them through various orientation sessions and hadn´t seen them for a month. Apparently there´s lots of tension in between the supervisors and volunteers there but all the participants were getting along in their exchange fine otherwise. We went to a couple of bars and hung out for the rest of the night. More photos i have to upload somehow.. magically.
I would´ve liked to stay in Santa Cruz longer but we had exhausted our time limit. Whatever. I think some Santa Cruzians are coming down this Saturday to chill.
Not much new to say. We had a dry electric storm which was pretty spectacular. Also, there are two new german volunteers that have joined the others. Alex and Christoph. They both speak fluent English and we´re just getting to know them.
I might be switching work placements for a week with Claudio. He´s getting tired of shovelling poop at the farm and needs a break.
When the Bolivians can´t pronounce my name.. I tell them it´s like John Connor from Terminator and their faces light up with understanding and recognition.
My ipod is on its way. Thank you so much mom and dad. If I hear uno, dos, tres, quatro one more time I might have an an aneurysm. Yes, I know you want me. Yes, I know I want you go take a long walk off a short pier. Soon I´ll be able to drown in all out with Protest.. soon.
I did heard dust in the wind in spanish the other day which was pretty cool.
Work´s going good. Mario´s has got addition and subtraction down over the past 2 weeks and we´re moving on to multiplication. Today was another session of removing the dried kernels from corn. SO much corn. They´re going to grind it all up to make a kind of flower. I tried to suggest that they should have a massive popcorn fiesta but the kids looked at me in confusion and threw kernels at me.... cunning.
Anyways.. that´s all I have for now. I´m probably forgetting a few things. I´ve found a usb-picture-uploader-thingy so hopefully I´ll have some photos up soon.
i bid you toodles
Connor
Friday, September 25, 2009
I forgot to mention in my last entry the massive massive fires I witnessed on the horizon in Santa Cruz. At the orientation camp at night, the Bolivian volunteers seemed generally unphased by the massive, walls of flame burning the large fields in the distance. The wind there is really strong too. We were told that farmers, instead of paying hired-hands to remove the remnants of their previous crops, set fire to their land to make way for the new ones... which produces a pretty cool-looking effect at midnight. Metal.
So anways. I´m still at work 4 times a week at the orphanage. In the mornings I teach basic english conjugation and vocabulary. It´s usually by request. As I draw/write a fruit or animal on the board, all the children yell it out in spansih. So it´s also an extremely loud spanish lesson for me. Usually Julio and I teach a group of boys but now and again we get a group of girls who have a trifling interest in learning a new language. I also help the teacher translate brief descriptions of dinosaurs for pictures she´s posted around the room.
In the afternoon I teach addition, subtraction and multiplication to Mario while Julio teaches handwriting to Benito. These one on one sessions are two and a half hours but usually end up being around 2 because of short attention spans. The orphanage doubles as a catholic school, so all the kids take part in prayer, readings and help with all the chores within the building. The other day we helped them remove dried kernels from corn. There was a ridiculous amount. The entire inner courtyard was filled with bags of the stuff.
That reminds me. All the houses in Camiri are all one level. They all have an inner courtyard and open doorways/screen-doors to all the adjacent rooms of the house. There are no seals to conserve heat because it´s warm enough all year around to wear regular clothing and be comfortable. And if it does actually go down to 11, everyone´s dressed for winter. I get asked if I´m cold a lot. I respond by saying I´m Canadian. I like to remind all the Bolivian volunteers that Canadian winter goes down to minus 35. The 9 bolivian volunteers will be coming with us to Canada in November by the way. If you haven´t heard about my program, we´ll be going to Perth, Ontario for volunteer work placements until February.
The only exercise I´ve gotten so far was a volleyball match in a raquetball court and playing soccer against a high school. Volleyball works for me because i´m relatively tall here in bolivia, but there´s no way I can keep up in soccer. No hands is a stupid rule.
Our group has had a few food problems over the past little while. A supervisor and 2 canadian volunteers had a stomach infection for a couple of days while one of those three also had salmonella. So that´s super fun. They were in the clinic for a bit but their fine now and running around. I had, what appeared to be the onset of, a stomach infection but it was just a light fever for a day and it passed.
I swam in the river again and figured out why it´s called rio de la muerte. The legend is that a woman was waiting for her husband to come back from the war on one of the bridges they have crossing the river. When her tears fell into the water, the river flooded and washed away anyone along the shore. And that´s why flash-floods kill 20 men (only) men each year... a spiteful widow who´s condemned my gender. I won´t be swimming during rain. It hardly rains here anyway.
I´ve been hanging out with Julio´s family a lot. They like to drink. Everyone´s been getting a kick out of the flashing LED turtle lights my Dad gave me to give as gifts. The bolivians use them as rave lights in their cars at night while blasting their music. I´m officially sick of top 20s and michael jackson. I desperately need my ipod. Need slipknot. Need killswitch. I was asked to translate beat it into spanish. madness.
My spanish has been improving dramatically. I have a good foundation for learning the language as I know french. The two are shockingly similar.
We´ve been getting to know another group of volunteers in the town as welll. There are four germans doing a similar exchange and they have their own place. Nico, Hannah, Ronja and whatserface. Hannah and Nico speak fluent English while the other two are just learning. We´ve gone out with them a couple of times. Nico is easily the most massive person in the entire town. 6´´ 4 is an unheard of height here.
So i´ve been enjoying the sun, the fresh fruit and the company. I´ll be heading to the city of Santa Cruz for a couple of days at midnight tonight for the anniversary.
If you guys have any questions let me know. More importantly tell me about yourselves and Canada.
hasta luego
Connor
So anways. I´m still at work 4 times a week at the orphanage. In the mornings I teach basic english conjugation and vocabulary. It´s usually by request. As I draw/write a fruit or animal on the board, all the children yell it out in spansih. So it´s also an extremely loud spanish lesson for me. Usually Julio and I teach a group of boys but now and again we get a group of girls who have a trifling interest in learning a new language. I also help the teacher translate brief descriptions of dinosaurs for pictures she´s posted around the room.
In the afternoon I teach addition, subtraction and multiplication to Mario while Julio teaches handwriting to Benito. These one on one sessions are two and a half hours but usually end up being around 2 because of short attention spans. The orphanage doubles as a catholic school, so all the kids take part in prayer, readings and help with all the chores within the building. The other day we helped them remove dried kernels from corn. There was a ridiculous amount. The entire inner courtyard was filled with bags of the stuff.
That reminds me. All the houses in Camiri are all one level. They all have an inner courtyard and open doorways/screen-doors to all the adjacent rooms of the house. There are no seals to conserve heat because it´s warm enough all year around to wear regular clothing and be comfortable. And if it does actually go down to 11, everyone´s dressed for winter. I get asked if I´m cold a lot. I respond by saying I´m Canadian. I like to remind all the Bolivian volunteers that Canadian winter goes down to minus 35. The 9 bolivian volunteers will be coming with us to Canada in November by the way. If you haven´t heard about my program, we´ll be going to Perth, Ontario for volunteer work placements until February.
The only exercise I´ve gotten so far was a volleyball match in a raquetball court and playing soccer against a high school. Volleyball works for me because i´m relatively tall here in bolivia, but there´s no way I can keep up in soccer. No hands is a stupid rule.
Our group has had a few food problems over the past little while. A supervisor and 2 canadian volunteers had a stomach infection for a couple of days while one of those three also had salmonella. So that´s super fun. They were in the clinic for a bit but their fine now and running around. I had, what appeared to be the onset of, a stomach infection but it was just a light fever for a day and it passed.
I swam in the river again and figured out why it´s called rio de la muerte. The legend is that a woman was waiting for her husband to come back from the war on one of the bridges they have crossing the river. When her tears fell into the water, the river flooded and washed away anyone along the shore. And that´s why flash-floods kill 20 men (only) men each year... a spiteful widow who´s condemned my gender. I won´t be swimming during rain. It hardly rains here anyway.
I´ve been hanging out with Julio´s family a lot. They like to drink. Everyone´s been getting a kick out of the flashing LED turtle lights my Dad gave me to give as gifts. The bolivians use them as rave lights in their cars at night while blasting their music. I´m officially sick of top 20s and michael jackson. I desperately need my ipod. Need slipknot. Need killswitch. I was asked to translate beat it into spanish. madness.
My spanish has been improving dramatically. I have a good foundation for learning the language as I know french. The two are shockingly similar.
We´ve been getting to know another group of volunteers in the town as welll. There are four germans doing a similar exchange and they have their own place. Nico, Hannah, Ronja and whatserface. Hannah and Nico speak fluent English while the other two are just learning. We´ve gone out with them a couple of times. Nico is easily the most massive person in the entire town. 6´´ 4 is an unheard of height here.
So i´ve been enjoying the sun, the fresh fruit and the company. I´ll be heading to the city of Santa Cruz for a couple of days at midnight tonight for the anniversary.
If you guys have any questions let me know. More importantly tell me about yourselves and Canada.
hasta luego
Connor
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Hey peoples. Here´s what I´ve been up to...
After meeting at Canada World Youth headquarters, me and the 26 other volunteers took a bus to a camp just outside of Montreal where we had a 5 day orientation. We learned a bunch of useful stuff like spanish, bolivian customs and greetings but also boring stuff like teamwork and group dynamics.Besides the ridiculous amount of mystery pudding, we were fed well and had bunkbeds to sleep in (epic score).We had a soccer field and volleyball court just beside the st. laurence so it was a great place to hang out if you had free time. The group had a lot of bonding time.
After the camp.. we took a plane from Montreal to Toronto and then from Toronto to Lima, Peru where we stayed for the night. We were supposed to leave for Santa Cruz in the morning but our plane was cancelled so we had the entire day to chill in Lima.We went down to the Pacific ocean and watched the surfers for a while. Instead of sand, the beach was made of large, smooth stones. It sounded like a mini-avalanche every time a wave struck the shore. To occupy ourselves, we walked up and down the beach and threw rocks at a dead, washed-up penguin.Later that day we went to public park filled with massive fountains. Supposedly it holds the world record for most fountains in a public parc or something like that. These things were HUGE! i have some pretty awesome photos. Unfortunately I have no way of uploading them so far. Each fountain was a show in itself as it was constantly changing its behavior by shooting columns of water high up into the air or in different directions. Some of them ´´danced´´ to symphony or techno. It seemed like whatever I did I got a whistle blown at me. There are hundreds of staff armed with the damn things.. don´t walk on the grass, don´t climb on that, don´t pee in the water. whatever.
We got to the airport that night to catch our plane, but it was delayed for 2 and half hours. We arrived in Santa Cruz around 4 in the morning and took our bus to the second orientation camp with the bolivian partners. It was basically a never-ending orientation for the first while. Our bus drove over bumpy dirt roads in the dark through what resembled an african sahara. It felt like it too. It was 30 degrees out.When we got to the Bolivian camp, we were told to go into the building silently because the other volunteers were ´´sleeping´´. Once inside all the lights turned on and cake and food was set up everywhere. Totally called it.The greeting was shortlived because everyone was exhausted within the hour. We all went to bed at 6 to wake up 4 hours later. No-one slept well because 5 minutes after we went to bed, a million different kinds of birds started screeching with the sunrise. We couldn´t stop laughing. Insanity¨, the result of a group of sweaty jetlagged youth.
There was another 4 days of orientation at the camp. We had sessions outside in the 35 degree weather and strong strong winds. At times I couldn´t even hear what was being said. With the 27 other bolivian youth, we were constantly practicing our spanish. I started to realize how similar it is to French. We had a pool and basketball court and spent lots of time late at night under the stars listening to an accoustic. we started to learn the chacarella, a traditional bolivian danse. It´s basically a sexy tap-dance. Very similar to an aroused stallion. At the end of the orienation (finally) we still didn´t know what our work placements were, which i found frustrating. The gruop was split into thirds. Montero, Santa Cruz and Camiri. It was time to say goodbye. As I was in the Camiri crew, we had the farthest to go. We were also the last group to figure out who our counterparts were (the bolivian volunteer who we´d be living with in Camiri and Perth for the next 5 months). We ended up drawing names from a hat on the bus to Camiri. I drew the name of the only volunteer who was not at orientation because his grandmother was sick. All i knew was that his name was Julio Cesar.
We arrived in the town plaza at around 9 at night to the local militia band playing Camiri´s anthem. We ate dinner with the host familys at the plaza and were given an official greeting from our partner program FUNDEHUS. I still have no idea what that stands for. I also met Julio Cesar. He´s 22, chill and uses a lot of gel.
We all went to our host families that night. The next couple of days were difficult for my family because of julio´s sick grandmother. I ended up transferring to Claudio´s home (another Camirenian volunteer) to stay with Romeo for a few nights to allow the family some time. Claudio has the cutest dogs i´ve ever seen and I´m going to steal them. He also has a younger brother and sister that are learning English in elementary school. Me and Romeo flipped through their school books with them to teach some English adn learn some spanish.
I´ve since moved back to Julio´s place and Camiri is great. We had a few days off after we arrived. We used them to go to a sugar cane plantation where we drank sugar juice, chewed on fresh sugar cane and ate sugar cane molasses, which is basically a very thick maple syrup equivalent to sugar cane. Never have i used the word sugar so much in one sentence. We also swam in the local river which is called ´´el rio de la muerte´´ as flash floods kill 20 people each year, though most of the time it´s just 3 feet deep and 70 meters across. We walked over the suspension bridge over the river and watched fishermen reel in catches of fish by hand with nets at sunset.
Tequila shots and pitchers here are 2 dollars.
I´m picking up spanish quickly and am able to keep a conversation going for a short while. I´m still flipping through my dictionary whenever i can. I´ve been tripping a lot. My host family´s been great and the group has become pretty tight.
There are SO many stray dogs here. You can hear them all howling at night.
The food hear is cheap and delicious too. They´re big on carbs and proteins, not so much fruits and vegetables. One member of our group has contracted salmonella and an intestinal infection.. sketchy. It was up to me to break the news to her in french. total balls. I´m going to go visit her in the clinic after this.
So Camiri has been great. It´s a small down surrounded my tall tall hills. It´s been very hot most of the time and there´s hardly ever any rain. I´m still exploring the town and just learning to find my way around. Again, i have lots of pictures i´d love to show you guys. There´s lots to talk about.
My work placement is at an orphanage with julio where i´ve been teaching french, english, addition and subtraction to kids in between 3 and 15. I´m also a chemistry/physics homework-checker and designated paper-airplane maker. Me and juilo made 100 airplanes one day and they were flying everywhere. the sister wasn´t happy with us.
soooooooooooo.. yeah... It´s been fun here. I´m still breaching the language barrier but.. all in time. I hope you guys are doing great with your new trendy lives in mtl. I´d love to hear about your new school life and you´re new appartments. I´ve figured out a good place to get on fathebook and maybe even skype.. so let me know when you´d be down to chat it up.
I look forward to coming to crashing on one of your couches soon. LET ME KNOW WHAT´S GOING ON WITH YOU GUYS!!! my e'mails crawlingdragon@hotmail.com
have a good one
Connor
After meeting at Canada World Youth headquarters, me and the 26 other volunteers took a bus to a camp just outside of Montreal where we had a 5 day orientation. We learned a bunch of useful stuff like spanish, bolivian customs and greetings but also boring stuff like teamwork and group dynamics.Besides the ridiculous amount of mystery pudding, we were fed well and had bunkbeds to sleep in (epic score).We had a soccer field and volleyball court just beside the st. laurence so it was a great place to hang out if you had free time. The group had a lot of bonding time.
After the camp.. we took a plane from Montreal to Toronto and then from Toronto to Lima, Peru where we stayed for the night. We were supposed to leave for Santa Cruz in the morning but our plane was cancelled so we had the entire day to chill in Lima.We went down to the Pacific ocean and watched the surfers for a while. Instead of sand, the beach was made of large, smooth stones. It sounded like a mini-avalanche every time a wave struck the shore. To occupy ourselves, we walked up and down the beach and threw rocks at a dead, washed-up penguin.Later that day we went to public park filled with massive fountains. Supposedly it holds the world record for most fountains in a public parc or something like that. These things were HUGE! i have some pretty awesome photos. Unfortunately I have no way of uploading them so far. Each fountain was a show in itself as it was constantly changing its behavior by shooting columns of water high up into the air or in different directions. Some of them ´´danced´´ to symphony or techno. It seemed like whatever I did I got a whistle blown at me. There are hundreds of staff armed with the damn things.. don´t walk on the grass, don´t climb on that, don´t pee in the water. whatever.
We got to the airport that night to catch our plane, but it was delayed for 2 and half hours. We arrived in Santa Cruz around 4 in the morning and took our bus to the second orientation camp with the bolivian partners. It was basically a never-ending orientation for the first while. Our bus drove over bumpy dirt roads in the dark through what resembled an african sahara. It felt like it too. It was 30 degrees out.When we got to the Bolivian camp, we were told to go into the building silently because the other volunteers were ´´sleeping´´. Once inside all the lights turned on and cake and food was set up everywhere. Totally called it.The greeting was shortlived because everyone was exhausted within the hour. We all went to bed at 6 to wake up 4 hours later. No-one slept well because 5 minutes after we went to bed, a million different kinds of birds started screeching with the sunrise. We couldn´t stop laughing. Insanity¨, the result of a group of sweaty jetlagged youth.
There was another 4 days of orientation at the camp. We had sessions outside in the 35 degree weather and strong strong winds. At times I couldn´t even hear what was being said. With the 27 other bolivian youth, we were constantly practicing our spanish. I started to realize how similar it is to French. We had a pool and basketball court and spent lots of time late at night under the stars listening to an accoustic. we started to learn the chacarella, a traditional bolivian danse. It´s basically a sexy tap-dance. Very similar to an aroused stallion. At the end of the orienation (finally) we still didn´t know what our work placements were, which i found frustrating. The gruop was split into thirds. Montero, Santa Cruz and Camiri. It was time to say goodbye. As I was in the Camiri crew, we had the farthest to go. We were also the last group to figure out who our counterparts were (the bolivian volunteer who we´d be living with in Camiri and Perth for the next 5 months). We ended up drawing names from a hat on the bus to Camiri. I drew the name of the only volunteer who was not at orientation because his grandmother was sick. All i knew was that his name was Julio Cesar.
We arrived in the town plaza at around 9 at night to the local militia band playing Camiri´s anthem. We ate dinner with the host familys at the plaza and were given an official greeting from our partner program FUNDEHUS. I still have no idea what that stands for. I also met Julio Cesar. He´s 22, chill and uses a lot of gel.
We all went to our host families that night. The next couple of days were difficult for my family because of julio´s sick grandmother. I ended up transferring to Claudio´s home (another Camirenian volunteer) to stay with Romeo for a few nights to allow the family some time. Claudio has the cutest dogs i´ve ever seen and I´m going to steal them. He also has a younger brother and sister that are learning English in elementary school. Me and Romeo flipped through their school books with them to teach some English adn learn some spanish.
I´ve since moved back to Julio´s place and Camiri is great. We had a few days off after we arrived. We used them to go to a sugar cane plantation where we drank sugar juice, chewed on fresh sugar cane and ate sugar cane molasses, which is basically a very thick maple syrup equivalent to sugar cane. Never have i used the word sugar so much in one sentence. We also swam in the local river which is called ´´el rio de la muerte´´ as flash floods kill 20 people each year, though most of the time it´s just 3 feet deep and 70 meters across. We walked over the suspension bridge over the river and watched fishermen reel in catches of fish by hand with nets at sunset.
Tequila shots and pitchers here are 2 dollars.
I´m picking up spanish quickly and am able to keep a conversation going for a short while. I´m still flipping through my dictionary whenever i can. I´ve been tripping a lot. My host family´s been great and the group has become pretty tight.
There are SO many stray dogs here. You can hear them all howling at night.
The food hear is cheap and delicious too. They´re big on carbs and proteins, not so much fruits and vegetables. One member of our group has contracted salmonella and an intestinal infection.. sketchy. It was up to me to break the news to her in french. total balls. I´m going to go visit her in the clinic after this.
So Camiri has been great. It´s a small down surrounded my tall tall hills. It´s been very hot most of the time and there´s hardly ever any rain. I´m still exploring the town and just learning to find my way around. Again, i have lots of pictures i´d love to show you guys. There´s lots to talk about.
My work placement is at an orphanage with julio where i´ve been teaching french, english, addition and subtraction to kids in between 3 and 15. I´m also a chemistry/physics homework-checker and designated paper-airplane maker. Me and juilo made 100 airplanes one day and they were flying everywhere. the sister wasn´t happy with us.
soooooooooooo.. yeah... It´s been fun here. I´m still breaching the language barrier but.. all in time. I hope you guys are doing great with your new trendy lives in mtl. I´d love to hear about your new school life and you´re new appartments. I´ve figured out a good place to get on fathebook and maybe even skype.. so let me know when you´d be down to chat it up.
I look forward to coming to crashing on one of your couches soon. LET ME KNOW WHAT´S GOING ON WITH YOU GUYS!!! my e'mails crawlingdragon@hotmail.com
have a good one
Connor
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