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