So I’m back! Home at last after 10 months of living and working in beautiful Bolivia. Well actually I’ve been back for about a month now. So I thought it would be a good time for one last blog entry.
My time in Bolivia was quite the experience. To try to sum up my 10 months in a blog would be impossible but here are just a couple of many highlights. The majority of these pics are posted on facebook which you can see at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82517&id=504288283&l=1f54cde6f7
Power to the people
Protests are a very common sight in Bolivia. I encountered hundreds of roadblocks, marches, and general demonstrations during my time there. But back in October I ran into one protest that floored me; it was one of the most amazing things that I saw in Bolivia.
I was in La Paz for a couple days attending a conference. I had heard a march was taking place but I didn’t think much of it. While the conference was taking place, thousands and thousands of ordinary Bolivians had taken to the street and were marching over 200 km towards the city of La Paz to push congress to call a referendum on a new draft constitution. With every day, more and more protesters joined.
The organizers of the conference decided that on the last day of the conference they would bus people out to where the protesters were to lend support and drop off much needed supplies and food. I thought I would just check it out and I hopped on a bus and traveled about 2 hours to where the protesters were.
After a month or two of living in Bolivia, roadblocks and marches had become more than anything just major inconveniences. After getting stuck in traffic over and over and over again, they start to get pretty annoying. But just walking around and being among thousands of protesting Bolivians was something I had never experienced before. Just seeing the sheer number of people was in it of itself incredible.
When I got there, the protesters had set up camp and were resting for the night. A group had gathered at a plaza for a bit of a pep rally. This picture doesn’t do justice to the number of people that were there.
As the sun set over the rally, the temperature began to drop significantly. The Altiplano can get extremely cold, especially at night. I had about 5 layers on and was still cold. And here I was watching a bunch of these little cholita grandmas walking around in their flip-flops and skirts. No one had hiking boots, thermal socks, fancy tents or inflatable mattresses; most barely had enough food for the night. It was humbling, it was raw, it was real, it was genuine, it was hardcore.
Here are a couple shots I stole of the protest...…. passing through El Alto….
…then entering La Paz.
Señor Rogers
Before heading off to Bolivia, I was a little nervous about what my job would be. I was told that I would be working with children and youth at an arts and culture centre. I was pretty reluctant to take the job as images of guitar sing-alongs and puppet shows would go through my head. The last thing I wanted to do was spend a year as the next Bolivian Mr. Rogers, or Señor Rogers. In the end, luckily, there were no guitar sing-alongs and no puppet shows. But one of my jobs was working as the director/coordinator of an after-school program for kids from a high-risk community. It was a lot of work but at times also very chill. For part of the day, I got to hang out and just chill with kids which was a ton fun. Here are some pics from that.
Researching at 13 000 ft
I never imaged that doing research for my thesis would be a highlight but it was. The major reason for that is because I really like my topic. I spent about a month and a half traveling around doing research on the hip-hop movement in the mountainous cities of El Alto and La Paz which largely consisted of me hanging out with rappers.
The hip-hop in El Alto and La Paz is, for the most part, very social and very political. Most of the rappers are coming from the poorest, toughest, most marginalized hoods in Bolivia and are using hip-hop to give what is traditionally a silenced sector of society a voice; they are mostly young, indigenous males.
This is a picture of me with Abraham, one of the local rappers and a very cool guy. In addition to rapping, he hosts his own hip-hop radio show, the only hip-hop show in El Alto. One day he invited me to be a “special guest” and be part of one of his show. After the radio show, not going to lie, I felt pretty G. It was pretty sweet.
Travels
Bolivia is an incredibly beautiful country. The tourist industry is pretty weak in Bolivia which I actually enjoyed. Everything is so raw, so un-touristized. Here are couple pics.
I just wanted to end off by saying thanks to everyone for their support during my time in Bolivia.
Hello everybody! I remember when I started this blog, I thought I would update it at least twice a month. I’ve missed that mark by a bit. But it’s a new year so I thought I´d start things off well with a short update.
Work Work wise, lots has happened since I last updated. Since October, in addition to running the after-school program for kids, I’ve become the Project Manager of a project that I wrote back in September. I received a $15 000 grant from the Canadian Embassy back in November and, up to xmas, I was insanely busy managing the project.
There have been a number of problems within the organization that has made implementing the project difficult. It’s been stressful, tiring, but it’s also been an amazing opportunity. I originally thought I would be assisting a project manager. Turns out I am the project manager, the one and only big cheese of the project. I’ve had to learn how to do a ton of new things on the fly; everything from how to find an architect and technical consultants to hiring and contracting construction workers. I’ve learned a ton. It’s been tough learning but that kind of learning tends to stick the best. But the fun’s not over quite yet. Still have a couple weeks left until the project is officially done. When it is all done, I’ll post some pics.
Thesis Thesis work is going well. During these last three months that I’m here (wild!) I’ll be focusing more on my thesis. My thesis topic hasn’t exactly been received all that warmly here in Cocha. When I first told people at work what I was doing for my thesis, most would reply with an “Oh” followed by a pause then, “Hey you know what else you could do your topic on…” But that being said, I’m really pumped about my thesis. I like my topic a lot. For those that don’t know, I’m doing my thesis on the hip-hop movement in El Alto and La Paz. In a nutshell, I’m closely examining this very political and very social grassroots movement lead by one of Bolivia’s most marginalized groups - young, urban, indigenous youth. These rappers aren’t the 50 cent rappers of Bolivia. These young guys are using hip-hop has a tool to improve the conditions for people in El Alto, one of the poorest, most marginalized cities in Bolivia. Its pretty cool stuff and they are amazing people to be around. During these next couple weeks I’ll be traveling between Cocha and El Alto/La Paz lots chillin with the ‘rapperos’. Pumped.
Christmas break!! For the last two weeks of December, I flew back to Toronto to spend Christmas break with family and friends. It was one of the best Christmas breaks I’ve ever happened. Nothing too exciting happened. It was just really good to chill with the fam and friends. But I definitely missed all you guys on placement. Big shout out to you guys.
Flying black to Toronto after spending a bunch of time living in Bolivia then flying a couple weeks later back to Bolivia has made me realize how well I’ve adapted to life here Cochabamba. I was gone for 7 months, which relatively speaking is not that long. But I’ve apparently done an excellent job of teaching myself how to live life in Bolivia. There are a lot of little things that I do now without thinking that has come with living in another culture. Its nothing major but those little things became very apparent during my first couple days back in Toronto. Let me give you two examples.
Here in Bolivia, like in many other Latin American countries, it customary to give a little peck on the check when you greet a woman. Whether it’s for the first time or the 100th time, when I meet a lady I generally give her a little kiss on the check. I’ve apparently become very accustomed to that because its become second nature. Back in Toronto, for the first two or three occasions that meet up with a friend who was female, I would start leaning in for a kiss. Luckily I would realize what country I was in before I started plucking. I’d play it off smoothly as some new leaning thing I do. But ya, turns out things haven’t change much in Toronto; people still don’t do the whole kissing thing.
Another example is traffic. In Cocha, cars will not stop for you. If you have the “right of way” there is still a very good chance they will sail right through. But in Toronto, cars yield to pedestrians. Wild. I remember crossing a street in downtown Toronto with some friends and seeing a car traveling in our direction. We had a green light so my friends started crossing. I just froze on the side walk thinking “What are they doing?! There’s a car coming!” But then the car just stopped. And then it waited for me to cross. That was just straight up weird to me when it happened.
But after about two days of slight adjustments, it was like I never left. No more leaning in for kisses. No more freezing at the side walk. It was all good. But now I’m back in beautiful Cochabamba and, well, I’ve re-readjusted back to life here. Ahh yes, the noise, the smells, the kissing, the traffic. It’s good to be back.
…. passing through El Alto….
