Cochala/o is the word meaning of/from Cochabamba. It can be an adjective or a noun if reffering to a person. It describes a way of life, attitude, aesthetic preference and local pride of Cochabamba. One thing for sure they do here is celebrate. Anything, nothing, Saints, people, milestones, historical dates and figures...they just like to throw parties. Maybe I'll try to tackle the rest of that definition some other day. This is a political parade that passed while I was typing this. The presidential candidate is wearing light blue mostly hidden by the pink tuft on the hat of the last green dressed lady.
I have found some temp work at a couple cafés at night, there have been some birthday and going away and graduation parties to attend. I go the the Villa three or four times a week to play around, tell jokes, attend meetings, loose at Foosball... 
My god-daughter's graduation was exciting. I got to walk her down the isle when they called her name. Roxana told me that I was not allowed to wear a button-down shirt, that, actually, I HAD to wear a black t-shirt. Her silly graduate cap was falling off the back of her head most of the time, I tried to fix it a few times, but we ended up talking and laughing the whole way down to the podium and risers. We had a pretty good time.
There were a bunch of old Amistad folks that showed up for the ceremony. A couple girls that had fallen off the map were there, some old workers, inlcuding Paul Newpower, who has been at Amistad since the beginning and in Bolivia for even longer.
Afterward, we all went to lunch and had a feast of Pique Macho, Which is an awesome Cochabamban dish with wedge fries under meat, sausage, blood sausage, veggies, hard boiled egg, spicy peppers, and onions in a delicious mystery sauce.
This is Roxana, the graduate and her proud god-father.I found a place to climb and made some new climber friends.
Climbers are most always good folks. Learned the details of our friend's death, the guy that started the climbing group and turned his garage into a super bad-@ss climbing cave, Santiago, died six months ago December 8 while he was trekking Mount Tunari alone. There is a pretty rugged part with a slanted gravel trail and jagged rocks below. That's where they found him. But he died doing what he loved and his legacy lives on at Andes Extremo (the name of the climbing group). We miss Santi.
I made a day trip to Aramasí with some folks from Amistad. They had to do inventory. I got to teach the kids hacky-sack, visit the dam, see the community gardens, and get a wicked sun burn on my nose. I think I will learn most of my Quechua from the children, they talk to me and hang around most, the adults are still a little sheepish. Maybe that's not fair, I just haven't got to meet many grown-ups in Aramasí. I'm scheduled for my first Quechua lesson in Cochabamba on Friday. Supposedly the teacher is great, very engaging and interactive, which is exactly how I learn, especially languages.
The water behind the dam is pretty low. But it's a pretty good lookin' dam, eh?There has been a dry spell made them use most of the water that had stored up so their gardens wouldn't dry-up. But it looks like there is some serious rain coming these next couple weeks. At least today there is. They are still working on the tubing to direct the water to strategic spots around the community. But there is enough to make do for now. They mostly dig trenches from where the water comes out to their gardens, so the water flows down the trenches. This is effective, but not very efficient.
Elections are this weekend, so the government issued a nationwide ban on alcohol consumption Thursday, Friday and Saturday. No drunk voting allowed. So tonight they are going to make up for the loss of this weekend. Ah, Cochabamba.
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