Cochabamba

Thursday already. I have been sick almost a whole week. But I am feeling much better today, however I’m not taking any chances. I already had a warm cup of vitamin C powder from camu-camu pulp and a trimate with lemon juice from the tree outside the window.

My mornings have been leisurely, spent at the dining room table reading proverbs, drinking tea and talking with Donña Celia, the caretaker, and Alejandra, her 6 year old daughter. Donña Celia have been sharing our life stories, testimonies, struggles and faith. We’ve gotten so we talk over each other sometimes, it’s very Latino, I like it. I love that I’m becoming more Latino as I spend time here, speaking Spanish (or Castellano, as they call it), with my old Bolivian friends.
I have been busy in the afternoons running around to collect, copy, and deliver various papers with various signatures and stamps at various prices to various places around the city. I have medical, legal, ecclesiastical, Bolivian and international political documentation to complete, and each document seems to necessitate three trips before it is satisfied. I have a hilarious guide, however, Consuelo. She works in the Archbishop’s office and has connections all over. But her connections do not work in their office every day, so we have to plan our trips strategically so we can pay to have my process expedited. I love Bolivia. Everything must be photocopied and kept in pristine condition.
-looks like I get to go work with Manuel Vargas after all.
Manuel Vargas is the husband of Paula Vargas, the director of Assosociación Amistad Bolivia. Manuel is the head of a project called Las Cuencas de la LLave, which is a holistic development project based on water management. I had a brain numbing morning with him, reading through his project documents and presentations. It is exactly in the vein of what I studied at SIT and will serve me well in forming my own project in Aramasí. Boring stuff, but when I actually get to do it (called implementation in development terminology), hopefully it will pay off.
I had a wonderful adventure getting out to Manuel's office, however. I got to sprint down city streets chasing a micro, their name for mini shuttle buses, jumped over the hood of a car and swung up onto a moving bus. His office is outside of Cocha, in a town called Vinto.
I returned to Cochabamba in time for a meeting with Consuelo and befriended a Colombian nun, Hermana Juana. Consuelo, Hermana Juana our catholic chauffeur and I then road tripped to the Laguna Lalai where the office of the Bolivian anti-crime force headquarters are, FELC (can't remember the acronym).
Hi-light of the day was waiting at the FELC station. I got to talk to Hermana Juana, who was really nice, and really old. And a young couple walked in with a little girl, the little girl managed the four steps down into the station, but got distracted by the ceiling and began to follow her gaze around in a spiral trying to figure out all the elements above her. She lost her balance and fell directly at me. I caught her mid-fall, startling her, and for the rest of my wait she was timidly trying to figure me out. I like unlikely encounters with people I'd never otherwise meet.
Hermana Juana invited me to visit her school/home on the ride back to Cocha and I thought that I should accept, although I really just wanted a nap. Her driver took us deep into Tiquipaya, a very fertile very indigenous zone of Cocha. She showed me around her school which was incrdibly beautiful and lush, even though I know her feet had been hurting. Then I was invited into the patio of he nunery, or whatever it's called. I was interviewed over tea and empanadas by mother superior and an 85 year old retired Italian nun (she was still a nun, just not working at the school). Then I walked probably 4 miles on cobblestone hills back to my room in La Morada.
Now I'm in Casablanca, the cafe I used to work in downtown, using free wi-fi, drinking Bolivian red table wine and there is not an open seat except the one across from me.
Holy molly! There's more. So much has happened. I went to the movies with Roxana, my goddaughter, really just my friend now, it was wild. Every single seat was filled and people were sitting in the isles and on the stairs. And the show after ours had lines around the block both ways! The movie of choice was 2012, and the audience participation made it the best movie I've ever seen in the theater. Everyone was gasping, screaming, discussing the exciting parts, it was awesome. We got balcony seats, which are more expensive, but it was two for one night. One of the kids from the Villa, Ramiro, who had some serious problems and got kicked out was there and he was totally cool, has a cute graphic designer girlfriend. We all went out afterwords and had some green beer at an Irish themed cafe. I introduced them to The Clash.
Ok, that's enough for now. There's more. But I feel like this is enough.