Judah: Las Primeras Dos Semanas

As I had hoped, Bolivia is new, exciting, and challenging. If I had to summarize, I would call it a country of extremes: extremely high mountains, extremely friendly people, extremely delicious foods, and extremely beautiful landscape. All of our hosts have been most welcoming, treating us like royalty. Here are a few images that stand out in my mind- Santa Cruz: A tropical city at reminds me much of Miami in terms of lifestyle, nightlife, excitement. Our hosts were most gracious, wining and dining us, and showing us their most impressive projects to help burn victims (Cerniquem) and help educate kids in poor neighborhoods in the outskirts of this booming metropolis. Sucre: A beautiful colonial and university city where our group felt a bit more at home. It has a small town feel, and many gringos come here to learn Spanish. I was fortunate to visit the language academy where my host oversaw the operations. Their program was developed to teach students of all ages to be communicative in Spanish in as little as one to two weeks. Quite impressive, and I came away with some ideas for my own students. The highlight was our trip to the small town of Chaco, where Rotary Club de los Charcas was providing much needed healthcare and educational materials for free to all those in need (over 200 people). We spent the day helping sort medications and passing our clothes, books, and toys to most grateful recipients. 9 year old Wilbur who was wearing a Mexican soccer jersey became my best friend for the day and took me on a tour of his town and we ending up climbing up trees to pick guayabas, avocadoes, passion fruits and other unknown treats. Then we topped it all off with a cookout, great food, soccer, volleyball, music and dance… Potosi: A mining town once the economic center of the world due to its Cerro Rico, which continues to be one of the richest mines for silver, zinc, lead, tin…they continue to mine with pickaxes, dynamite, shovels, and wheelbarrows, walking miles into the small tunnels and spending the day (or the night) in dangerous working conditions (to say the least). But they pay a tribute to their Tio, sharing liquor, cigarettes, and coca with him so that he will keep them safe. The highlight of Potosi for me was joining two of Bolivia`s top cyclists on a training ride from Potosi to Miraflores, only 25km, but a vertical drop of over 2500 feet, where we enjoyed a bath in the hot springs. Then the ride back we had some serious climbing and it took all I had to keep up with these two 120 lb climbers. Now, we get to spend an extra day in Potosi since there are blockades preventing us from leaving. The public employees are demanding a raise in wages to keep up with inflation, and the president has not yet agreed. So, as is common in Bolivia, the people unite in protest. Not to worry, these have been nonviolent protests, and our hosts assure us that we will be able to leave this evening headed to Sucre and then fly to Cochabamba tomorrow morning.