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)