1st month on my 21st

This past Monday marked my first month living here in Bolivia. It was also my 21st birthday! I must say it was a pretty sweet birthday. A whole bunch of us hit up a shnazzy restaurant and had a great time. Later on today there is a big music thing at work so, if I am feeling well, I’ll be partying it up again with some people from work.

My Beef
And I am sick again. That is why I have been MIA this past week and a half. Last Wednesday I was hit hard with what I thought was a bad cold. Since Sunday I have been feeling a bit better but I’ve still been pretty sick. Yesterday, I had it and decided to go to the doctor, something I should have done early. My doc was pretty convinced that I had Hepatitis A. After a whole bunch of tests, the good news is that I do NOT have Hep A. My understanding is that my trachea is inflamed which has caused an infection (or the infection caused the inflammation, not to sure). When my doc was explaining this, I was very confused because he was saying that my ´amigdalas´(in spanish) were swollen. I understood amygdala (in english), as in part of my brain, which is pretty serious. Turns out amigdalas are tonsils in spanish. Makes sense.

And then this morning I went to the clinic for an injection for my infection. While the nurse was preparing the needle, I took my sweater off, rolled up my sleeve getting my arm ready for my shot. When the nurse turned around she just smiled and shook her head. Turns out the needle was for my butt. For an hour after the shot I experienced the most awkward sensation I think I have ever felt, my whole left cheek had no feeling. I live pretty close to the clinic and I didn´t want to pay for a taxi, so I walked home. What should have been a 10 minute walk turned into a 30 waddle. I just hope the stuff works.

As a whole, my time in Bolivia has been amazing but for over half the time that I have been here, I have been sick. That has been my only real low for this past month and it has been driving me crazy. Being sick, no doubt, has limited my ability to really live it up here Cocha and have a good time. Here’s hoping my 21st year will be a healthy year.

Work update
On Monday I had a meeting with my boss, the big boss at the Martadero, and the regional director from CUSO. For two and half hours we discussed nothing but me. It was quite the meeting and in the end it went really well. We cleared up some major issues/problems and miscommunications. I’ll talk more about work later on but the short of it is that things are looking much better on the work front.

My vice
I love Nestea. Back in Toronto I used to drink a lot of it. Here in Cocha, I have yet to find the delicious stuff. They have it powder form (I also brought a whole bunch from Toronto just in case) but it is just not the same. I didn’t realize how much the lack of Nestea was affecting me until I started dreaming about it. Ya, the other night I had a wild dream about receiving a case of Nestea. I starting chugging can after can. I had a massive smile on my face. Then I woke up. I am slightly concerned because I don’t think it is very healthy to be dreaming about Nestea. I have a feeling I am going to receive some heat for this cause it may seem like I am missing a drink more than people (i.e. I am not dreaming about people). Rest assured I am missing you all.
Snow?!
Cocha has some pretty amazing weather. For almost everyday I have been here, by mid-day in the sun, the temperature has been a brilliant 26/27 degrees; not to hot not to cold. That being said, when you are not in the sun, especially first thing in the morning and at night, it can get pretty chilly. Last week, parts of Bolivia got hit with some very cold weather. In some of the higher altitude cities, like El Alto, it snowed! Here in Cocha, it was cold but it didn’t snow. But it did snow on some of the mountains surrounding Cocha a couple kms away. It was pretty cool to wake up to snow capped mountains. It was like Christmas. Heres a pic.
So when I was packing to come here, I didn’t expect that the temperature would drop so much. I only brought a few sweaters and no jacket. The other day I went out to buy some warmer clothes, Bolivian style.

This is me decked out in the latest alpaca and llama attire. (If my pants look kind of big that is because they are massive on me. With all the weight Ive lost, none of my pants fit anymore). I look like such a tourist with the llama prints but the stuff is warm.
And to end off, I have a confession to make. I am not particularly proud of this but I think it is important to set the record straight. At the top of my blog there is picture overlooking a city and ‘cochabamba!!’ written across. Well, that is kind of deceiving. That is actually a picture of La Paz, which is a couple hours bus ride from Cocha, but is not Cochabamba. When I was setting up this blog, the overwhelming majority of the pictures of Cocha were of protesters with police in riot gear. I found the above picture, liked it, and put it up. At the time I didn’t really know it was La Paz. But now that I have seen La Paz and Cocha, that is definitely a picture of La Paz. Once I find/take a really nice picture of Cocha, I’ll change the picture.

Oh and contact info. The number I wrote in my previous blog entry is not correct. It is +591 70727466. So call and text away. Just know that my phone is very fickle when it comes to international calling/texting; sometimes it works, most times it doesn´t. And, more economically, I am now skyping so you want to set a skype date, let me know. Finally my address is:
Calle Ayacucho Dept. 4A Piso 4 Edificio San Rafael Cochabamba
To be honest I don’t know if I trust the mail service here. I have heard many not so good stores. So if you are going to send some love via mail, there is a chance it might not make it.

So a month has past. Crazy. My four weeks (now almost five) here have gone by extremely quickly. At the same time a ton has happened. This is also the longest I have ever been away from home, which sounds crazy but that is how it is. Overall, my time in Bolivia has been amazing. I’ve met some amazing people, seen some amazing stuff. Looking forward to the month number two.

Work and stuff...

My first ‘official’ week at work
I don’t think I have mentioned much about work in this blog. Main reason for that is because, between traveling and being sick, I hadn’t really started work. This past week, however, was my first big official week at the martadero project and it was quite a week.

On my first day I was told that I would be managing three projects. One solo, the other two with some help. And these are kind of big projects. Ya, I wasn’t really expecting that much responsibility. But ok cool. The other thing was that two of the projects have nothing to do with my job description from CUSO. I talked to my boss about this and it turns she had never seen my job description. I was just assigned to where help was needed. Communication between certain groups has been pretty weak. But hopefully this week things will get figured out. I’ll keep you posted.

To be completely honest, prior to starting work, I had heard some interesting things about the project. Some good, some not so good. The martadero project is a busy place with lots of things happening at once. By no means is it a conventional ‘development’ project. It has taken me some time to really understand what the project is all about. A central aspect is the idea of cultural and social development, something that is often overlooked within the world of academia. But in spending time at the martadero, the project seems like a pretty cool place that has an important role to play for the surrounding community.

My first set of roadblocks and protests
Demonstrations are a very common occurrence here in Bolivia. The overwhelming majority are peaceful but all are annoying. It is part of everyday life here. When I was looking for my apartment I was advised to get one within the centro because when protests occur within the city they often block the roads going into downtown. That’s not all that hard to do because there is a river that wraps around downtown so all that protesters have to do is block off a couple bridges. When I heard this I kind of shrugged it off and didn’t think much of it. Well, this past week I got to experience my first set of Bolivia’s famous street demonstrations.

So apparently, for most of last week, protesters had blocked off all the roads leading into and out of Cochabamba. To be straight up, my initial reaction was that of slight concern. But walking around the city, you would have never known what was going on. People just carried on with their everyday life. It wasn’t even a major news item. It was just another roadblock.

Then on Friday, there was a small protest a couple streets over from where I live. As a result of that, it took me an hour and twenty minutes to get to work when it normally takes me about 15. When I got to work, no one was surprised. Demonstrations here are like snow days back home; there is often not much you can do so when things are bad people just take the day off. No doubt this is going to take some time to get used to.

Crib update
My place is slowly turning into a place I can call home. After two full weekends of shopping, I have most of the items I need to survive. I have also developed quite impressive bargaining skills. Later today I am going to pick up some plants, big thanks for that suggestion.

I have officially lost about 10 pounds. The majority of that was from when I was sick. The rest, I think, can be attributed to the fact that I am now cooking for myself. At home, I cook with some frequency, just not every meal, every day. That has been a bit of a struggle for me here. But Cochabamba is considered the breadbasket of Bolivia. There is a ton of fresh food everywhere you go. I just need to figure out how to prepare that food into decent meals. I have, however, mastered the liquid aspect of my diet.

The other day I decided to treat myself to a blender. Hands down, it has been the best buy I have made. Every couple blocks there is a little tienda with fresh fruit. I have been blending away fresh juice and smoothies everyday for the past week. It has been brilliant.

I have been getting some requests to put up more pictures. Thing is this is the first time I have owned a digital camera and I keep forgetting to take pictures. I’ll work on that. Also, it takes a long, long time to upload pictures. For now here is one of the view from my window.
I don’t think I have mentioned my contact info for down here. I don’t really know the official address for my place. They don’t have simple street numbers and postal codes here. I’ll look into that. But for now, my cell number is 70727466. I don’t really know how the whole international calling/texting works. The country code is 591, and Cocha’s code is 4 so my guess is to dial 1591470727466. Calling my cell is not the most economical means of communication for me but until I figure something else, feel me to call/text.

So this is for real...

Feeling good
I am feeling a lot better now. Earlier this week was not so good. Monday night was a rough night for me as I was throwing up throughout the night. Tuesday and Wednesday wasn't as bad but I stayed home spending most of my time in bed. Within a couple days I dropped a little over 6 lbs. But the good news is that now things are looking much better. I've got my energy back, I've starting eating again, and I am slowly packing some pounds back on. Throughout the week Coopers, the family I am staying with, took very good care of me.

The Crib.
I am officially the proud renter of my very own apartment located in the heart of Cocha! I know!...Exciting. This is my very first apartment ever, let alone in a foreign country. This past week, when I wasn't sick in bed, with the help of Jill, I was apartment hunting. Turns out that finding an apartment takes a lot of work. We looked at a couple options. The first place I was shown was a massive 2 story, 2 bedroom gated house with a big old patio. It was very nice, amazingly in my price range, but massive. We saw a couple other options and, by luck, came across a small 2 bedroom apartment in a prime location. The owner is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. The only problem with the apartment is that it is not furnished. So this past weekend I've been running around the Cancha, Cochabamba's famous massive mercado, looking for stuff. The Cancha is pretty sweet. You can get pretty much anything at dirt cheap prices. If only the black market was this accessible in Toronto.

When I was making a list of stuff that I needed to buy it kind of hit me that this whole trip to Bolivia is for real. I am going to be living here for 10 more months. In that time I will most likely need floss, a bottle opener, spoons, a fridge etc. My super long list of stuff made me realize that I going to be here a while and I best get comfy.

Having my own place means that I am now more than ready to host some visitors. So if you happen to be or plan to be in the Cochabamba area any time soon let me know. My door is always open...