Developments and Confessions

15 Dec.

I’m at Brazilian Coffee trying to get on the internet to read some scripture before going to Immigration with all my paperwork.

Yesterday morning I got back from a 6 day trip to Salar de Uyuni (the salt flats) and Tupisa (waaaaay south in Bolivia where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid were killed) and Potosí, the 19th century silver mining boom-town; the highest altitude city in the world. I was invited by a German girl named Claudia and some of her traveling friends. Something happened with me and Claudia.
I’ve completely lost track of my spending. Chris has my little book with my expenses because I left it at Casa Esperanza and haven’t got to see him yet. He seems to do a lot of work, I think he likes to work, I hope to settle in and work on something as whole-heartedly. Maybe I’ll go to Aramsí this afternoon. If I can make it back for work on Wed. night.

Claudia cooked a Tai chicken dish, then we stayed up smoking and drinking white wine with Delphine, her house-mate. Delphine is a pretty French girl who is too nice for her own good. She has been in the 3rd floor apartment alone with her leg in a cast for the last week and was craving familiar company. Delphine broke her leg jumping off the roof of a building next to a Chicharía (a place where you drink Chicha, the traditional indigenous home-made social liquor) after the police raided the party with tear gas and night-sticks. The party was raided because it was during the dry law (no drinking alcohol) on the weekend before elections. The party was held in adherence to the tradition of K'oa, an offering of incense to the Pachamama and a small party to celebrate the abundance provided the previous month and a motion of faith that the blessing will carry on to the next month. So at La Tinkuna, a remote Chicharía along the road to Quillacollo, Cochabamba’s closest neighbor, they took the risk to celebrate the K'oa despite the dry law and got busted. The attendees were half foreign volunteers and half Bolivians. Apparently the police broke in with gas and sticks and everyone scattered like cockroaches, as my friend Eden so eloquently commented. Truckloads of foreigners were brought to Interpol to be examined, lectured, threatened, kept up all night and released the next morning. Many escaped via rooftops, some hid successfully until the bust was over. Delphine jumped off a roof and broke her leg and got arrested by Interpol. Eden got away and said it was a great time.

I have to go to Consuelo’s office to get my pictures with red background and pay Consuelo for her help.
I just saw Fansisca, one of Amistad’s most veteran Mamá’s. She is waiting for Cintia to show-up for an important exam next door. Cintia had moved in with her as she was trying to do the paperwork for adoption. But Cintia has had to move back into the girl’s youth house until the adoption is finalized. Cintia is a special one, she has always been a princess, actress, drama queen. I went to her first play when I was here in 2003. She is grown up beyond her age and knows how to carry herself, talk and behave with calculated, but genuine, friendliness.
I need to get online today. But if I go to Aramasí, it would be better.

Off to Migraciones.