Marchando adelante in Bolivia!

Saludos dearest friends, and family

I hope you're all enjoying what I hear has been a beautiful (if not a bit too warm) start to spring up in the States! The weather has continued to be gooorgeous here, although it has continued to rain occasionally, which is apparently quite out of character for this time of year. Climate change is actually changing things. Oy.

On a much happier note, it's been a LOVELY past few weeks. I'll try to go in order:

Passover! Was fascinating! For the first night, two of my friends and I put together a seder. That's right, here in Cochabamba. Not only did we have a seder (with a complete seder plate), we had Matza and Manishevitz wine! All this thanks to a very wonderful Jewish community that imports the supplies from the States for Pesach. One box of matza? $10. But so worth it to a homesick Jew on her favorite holiday! The seder was beautiful. There were 3 American Jews, one American non-Jew (Brandeis student who missed going to seders!), and 5 curious Bolivians. This was my first time leading a seder in Spanish! We went through the whole thing, and given that it's Bolivia, we started several hours late, and ended our seder at 1am (not so weird for me!). Everyone at the table contributed to interesting conversations about the meaning of freedom, the true nature of the four sons, and the reason why we eat these very specific foods. Having to explain Passover to so many people here has truly made me appreciate how symbolic the whole holiday is. The egg/life/spring metaphor was especially resonant for people. The second night of Passover, we went to the Jewish community's seder at the community center. I'd say there were between 30 and 40 people there. They high-tailed it through Maggid (the story telling section) like I've never seen. And even though we skipped Elijah and didn't get to sing all the songs, it was a really wonderful experience. At the end, one woman sang Chad Gadya in Spanish. That was definitely one of the highlights. Other highlights: matzah ball soup, chrayn, plentiful matzah...I guess all the food. Another interesting part of this whole experience is that there was a highly varied level of knowledge of the traditions. Melissa (another US American) and I ended up singing a few of the songs solo, to the delight of the Jewish mom-types at the table. I was so grateful to be included in their community that night. It definitely brought joy to the next 8 days without the bready deliciousness of Bolivian food.

The end of classes: Was sad. It was the last time that we're all (all of the students) going to be in Cochabamba before the last 2 days of the program. It was exciting to hear about what everyone was going to study for this last month, but it made me realize how quickly time passes when you're having fun and learning a lot! I still feel like I just arrived (although I'm sure my parents feel differently...Hi Ema and Abba!) I've really made some wonderful friendships with the people on this program. Whenever an era of my life ends and another begins, I always feel a a little sad. We had a goodbye dinner with our host families during which I ate more delicious food and danced to lively traditional Andean music from a large live band. It was so wonderful to see the connections that students have made with their Bolivian families. I for one, feel so lucky to have been placed with this family. My little brother, Diego, and I have learned to communicate with odd noises that make my host mom giggle. My host mom and I spend time together cooking or just drinking coffee and talking about life's craziness. My older brother and I continue to play chess occasionally and go out to meet friends and dance or listen to great music. I'm glad I get to be here for the next few weeks. Speaking of which...

ISP! My Independent Study Project started last week; I decided to stay in Cochabamba to do my research. Those of you who know how I spend my time in Oberlin will either roll your eyes or laugh. I'm studying...public transit. The system here is fascinating in that it's not actually a cohesive system. And it's not actually public. All the different forms of transit are owned by different private companies. The micros, the trufis, and the hundreds of taxi lines. My original proposal involved studying access to public transit in the public service-lacking Zona Sur (southern zone) of Cochabamba. However, things have expLOded in terms of transit policy here in Cochabamba, so I may be changing focus a little bit. The municipal government is working on imposing a law that limits traffic for taxis in the center city. Based on the last number of the license plate, each taxi will have a day when they are not allowed to enter the center city. Congestion and traffic is a huge problem here (as it is in most cities), and with over 200 taxi companies and over 5,000 taxis, the city thought it was logical to limit their access. But there has been an INCREDIBLE uproar.

TODAY!! Today, I followed a march with over 10,000 drivers (taxis, micros, trufis) organized by their sindicato (union) and empresa (company). They started at the head of the main boulevard and walked down, setting off fire crackers and chanting: "Mayor, be careful, the drivers are amassing!" (Ok, it sounded a lot better in Spanish). I interviewed about 8 people about their thoughts, which primarily consisted of: "either apply it to all of us or none of us." They're alluding to the fact that the new law would not apply to other forms of transit (which are not public!) like buses and trufis (minibuses). I witnessed some very minor violence (a driver who was not marching with the crowd was punched in the nose; a trufi that was doing its route had its windshield smashed). Mostly, the march was peaceful and was mostly about intimidating the government. One man I talked to told me that he doesn't think that they'll pass the law, because if they do, the taxi drivers and their allies (which amounts to over 10,000 people) will completely shut down the city with blockades. He compared this movement to the Water War of 2000. Many non-taxi drivers are frustrated with the drivers because when they shut down the city, it means that many people can't get to work or school. I'm really looking forward to continuing to study this conflict and the role of government in transportation here. I have an interview with the head of city transit on Thursday.

This summer! I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by people doing incredible work here. Thanks to an Obie alumna who has been working here for many years, I have a job this summer! I'll keep you all updated as my responsibilities become more clear. In the meantime, it looks like I'll be helping to put together an educational program based on the effects of climate change on Bolivian society, the economy, and Bolivia's most vulnerable communities. I'm in the midst of applying for funding, but I'm 99% sure I'll be here until the end of July. If you're on the continent, let me know! :-)


Anyway, I should get back to work. Here are some more updated photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

I'd love to hear from you all and how you're doing! Thanks for reading this far!

Love and abrazos (hugs!),

Eliana

Quiet sunny days in Bolivia..

Saludos dearest friends and family!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful beginning to spring, and for those who celebrate, a lovely Passover, or a happy Easter! I'm sitting outside on my porch after having eaten a delicious traditional Bolivian Good Friday meal. Although my family is entirely a-religious, old habits die hard. Arroz con leche (rice pudding) is my new favorite food.

Yet again, it's been a while since I last wrote! Since we got back from Sucre and Potosí, we've finished our classes, taken our finals, visited Santa Cruz, and started preparing for our final individual projects. I'll start from the top!

The day after we got back from our adventures in Sucre and Potosí, we had our Spanish final, which was really nothing like any other Spanish final I've had. Our Spanish teachers sat in the back of the room giggling and joking with us and giving us occasional "thumbs-ups" as we took five minutes to speak about any topic we had covered all semester. I talked about education and activism in Bolivia. We learned from one of our professors that one of the biggest problems with the Bolivian public education system is that students no longer learn how to think critically. This lack of critical thinking, according to Prof. Postigo, has led to a lack of real political engagement of our generation. It's interesting to think about this in the context of the current Morales administration, which many compare to the Obama administration (Evo Morales is the first Indigenous president of Bolivia).

Anyway, after exam day we had several days free to work on our projects for our seminar (Multiculturalism, Globalization, and Social Change). My group did our project on the water system in the Zona Sur (the southern zone) of Cochabamba, which is an enormous chunk of the city that lacks most municipal services (such as water). We got to walk around with a woman who lives there and meet the presidents of two water cooperatives that provide services for the 8th district of the zona sur. Although we were only about 20 minutes down the road from the center city, it felt like we had jumped worlds. There was no apparent sewage system, the roads weren't paved, no trash collection, etc. The houses ranged from shacks with corrugated metal roofs to quite new modern homes built by those who had gone to Spain, earned a bunch of money, and returned to build on cheap land. We spoke mostly about the impact of the lack of water/water infrastructure and how it is causing a lot of uncertainty in the future of the community. We made a brief documentary about it, and we also got to interview Oscar Olivera, one of the protagonists of the Water War in 2000. (This program hooks us up with so many connections!)

In the middle of all this work on our project, we traveled to the Bolivian lowlands. Although many consider Bolivia to be an Andean country, the majority of the land is actually Amazonian. This was our first trip to the Amazonian region. We could immmeeediately tell the difference. Stepping of the plane, not only did the air feel more humid and heavier, but we felt lighter! Everywhere we went, I absolutely rejoiced in my ability to run without being out of breath. We had dropped several thousand feet in altitude, and all of us were enjoying the extra oxygen in our blood. Upon arrival in the Santa Cruz airport, we promptly boarded a bus for Concepción, one of the Jesuit missionary towns a few hours outside Santa Cruz. We visited a museum of old Bolivian church art, and attended mass (some of us felt a bit more lost in the ginormous cathedral than others). The town of Concepción is actually famous for its annual Baroque music festival. After a day and a half long vuelta (tour) around Concepción, we got back on our bus to head to an "ecoresort" (aka hotel in the middle of nowhere). Unfortunately, about an hour away, our bus encountered a chunk of road that we couldn't get through. (See pictures of mud and muddy foot prints). So we had to turn around and spend another 4 hours (thats 10 hours total) in the bus. It was worth the wait though. Although we weren't able to visit the rainforest national park (again, caused by washed out roads), or the community that lives nearby (washed out roads), we did have some pretty wonderful adventures. We got to go on a long walk through a forest nearby and found ourselves in the middle of a small village. Our guide, a tall Italian man with a thick Italian accent and a PhD in biology, told us all about the plants and animals we encountered (including coffee and cacao trees).

Also, at one point we got to run around on a hug rock formation in the middle of the forest, and it was the most free and deeply peaceful I've felt since arriving here. Growing up surrounded by trees and animals and hiking trails has definitely created in me a deep love for the peacefulness of nature. Something about the sound of leaves, the smell of bugspray, and dirty feet just makes me simultaneously giddy and incredibly calm. Although we're not going back to that area during the program, I'm already making plans to try to head back to the forest.

Before we headed to the actual city of Santa Cruz, we stopped at a home/rehabilitation center for malnourished children. Though run by nuns, it did not seem to have much of a religious undertone that usually emerges in these settings. Our guide, a nun herself spoke about the importance of real sex education and the use of contraceptives. That was shocking for some of us, but it was interesting to hear her perspective. Many of the children in the center were not planned, and some were born to teenagers who are themselves malnourished. It was heartbreaking, but we got to play with some adorable babies for a while and learn about how the organization is teaching mothers how to prevent malnutrition in themselves and their kids. So we ended that visit with a little bit of hope.

Our stay in the city of Santa Cruz was short, but nice. We ate at a vegetarian restaurant and stayed in a pleasant hotel (WITH A POOL!). We visited an organization that fights for indigenous rights and is currently working on trying to prevent the construction of the highway in the Tipnis nature reserve (also home to many indigenous groups). We also walked around the central plaza and drank coffee that men cart around in large thermoses. At one point, we were trying to find a cafe my friend had heard of. She walked up to a group of men about our age and asked in Spanish if they knew where it was. They gave her a mildly confused look and started to speak to each other....in Hebrew. About us. And so I chimed in (in Hebrew), "Aaaaand, I speak Hebrew." The looks on their faces was priceless. Most of them ran away out of embarrassment, but one nice guy stayed with us and took us to a "chill" cafe/bar for a concert. We didn't stay very long because we were exhausted, but it was fun and entirely confusing to speak to Yuval in Hebrew, Spanish, and English.

Speaking of languages, my host brother introduced us to a group of really lovely French women, and I've been spending a lot of time with them. Surprisingly, it's been great for my Spanish! My French and their English isn't good enough to communicate, so we speak in Spanish. The other day, Sol, Sophie, and I walked around the city during the Bicycle day. Two days a year, the city shuts down for cars, and only pedestrians and bicycles are allowed in the streets. It was SO cool to walk around and see hundreds of bikes and artisans filling the streets. I had to wonder though, where are all of these bikes during the rest of the year? It was lovely though, and the air felt noticeably cleaner. Sol and I spent a good part of the afternoon in the botanic garden right near my house. It was definitely a lovely break from the crazy car/bus noise and pollution that fills the rest of the year.

Anyway, I should go get ready for our seder tonight! Passover has always been one of my favorite holidays, and I'm always a little sad that I can't be at home with the fam. But I always feel so grateful to celebrate my freedom in many different places with many different people. This passover will have an additional special meaning for me as I celebrate it in another country that was built on the backs of slaves whose decedents still suffer the effects of discrimination and economic and political oppression. I feel so grateful that I have been taken in by so many different communities. I want to share that gratitude with all of you: you have all in some way contributed to who I am as a person today, challenging and comforting me as I grow.
So, thank you!
Chag sameach, shabbat shalom, and happy spring!!

Love and besos,

Eliana

(working on uploading all my pictures. In the meantime: Here are some)