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.