Fotitos!

The view outside town!
My favorite English student and her kidlet at graduation!
Shimu and I at the high point (literally) of the Inca Trail!
Macchu Picchu!

In the latest news:

Peace Corps Volunteers and Fullbright Scholars in Bolivia have been asked by a US Embassy Representative to spy on Cuban and Venezuelan nationals. See here and here. A huuuuuuuuuuuge breach of protocol (to ask such a thing) any compliance with the request has been denied as both PCVs and Fullbrights are specifically apolitical. The US Embassy has also acknowledged the error as such.

Cuban and Venezuelan nationals are in Bolivia to enact various social programs in the country´s ongoing socialist, um, consolidation. (ie we´re rolling with the socialist homies and they´re paying for stuff.) In my own town we have Cuban doctors which guarantees good music playing in the bar for at least a few months and Venezuela has funded quite a few construction projects. We also had, for a time, a tall leggy Venezuelan number doing literacy programs. I didn´t have much interaction with her because I only understood about 4% of the words coming out of her mouth.

This, by the way, could get Peace Corps kicked out of the country.

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Peace Corps´official statement is linked to the link above. but if you care for it in Spanish (por si a caso) aqui está:

DECLARACION DE CUERPO DE PAZ

Desde su inicio en 1961, Cuerpo de Paz, ha mantenido el firme mandato que sus voluntarios se mantengan al margen de cualquier actividad oficial correspondiente a la política extranjera de los Estados Unidos, lo que incluye el involucrarse en actividades de inteligencia. Este mandato ha sido reforzado constantemente por todas las autoridades de Cuerpo de Paz desde hace más de 46 años.

Cualquier conexión entre el Cuerpo de Paz y la comunidad de Inteligencia comprometería seriamente la capacidad de Cuerpo de Paz de desarrollar y conservar la confianza de la gente del país en el que el voluntario presta sus servicios.

Consistente con la política de cada una de las administraciones de Cuerpo de Paz desde 1961, el Director Ron Tschetter, quien es un ex voluntario que hizo su servicio en la India (1966-1968), ha sido explícitamente claro en reafirmar esta antigua política y, una vez mas, asegurar que el objetivo de los voluntarios de Cuerpo de Paz es trabajar en el servicio a la comunidad, solamente.
La política de Cuerpo de Paz en contra de las conexiones de inteligencia, se basa en la autoridad general del Director Mundial de Cuerpo de Paz, provista en la sección 5 (a) del Acta de Cuerpo de Paz, de establecer términos y condiciones de servicio a los voluntarios, y por el Acta de Servicio Extranjero de 1980, y la antigua y siempre vigente política de la Agencia de prohibir cualquier conexión entre Cuerpo de Paz y la actividad de Inteligencia anunciada por primera vez durante la Gestión del Primer Director de Cuerpo de Paz, Sargent Shriver en 1961.

Desde la apertura del programa de Cuerpo de Paz en 1962, más de 2500 Voluntarios norte-americanos han servido en Bolivia. Después de un receso que comenzó en 1971, el gobierno de Bolivia formalmente solicito a los Estados Unidos que este retorne a Bolivia, y por lo tanto, el Cuerpo de Paz re asumió sus operaciones en 1990. Hoy, 130 voluntarios están trabajando en Bolivia en las áreas de agricultura, desarrollo de microempresas, educación, saneamiento básico y proyectos de medio ambiente. En los lugares que así lo requieren, Cuerpo de Paz también integra a voluntarios capacitados en informática y tecnología para expandir el acceso a la tecnología entre la juventud boliviana, agricultores, micro empresarios y municipalidades.

La seguridad de los Voluntarios sigue siendo nuestra primera prioridad. Debido al ambiente en que se trabaja, el Cuerpo de Paz basa su seguridad en minimizar los riesgos a una mínima expresión e incrementa la seguridad proveyéndoles una experiencia significada a los voluntarios y a sus familias anfitrionas. El Cuerpo de Paz esta celebrando sus 46 anos de servicio en la casa y fuera de ella. Actualmente hay más de 8000 voluntarios haciendo su servicio, 37 años en el campo. Desde 1961, más de 190.000 voluntarios han colaborado en promover un mejor entendimiento entre los norteamericanos y la gente de 139 países donde los voluntarios han servido. Para ser voluntario de Cuerpo de Paz, se requiere ser de ciudadanía norte-americana y tener al menos 18 años de edad. El servicio de Cuerpo de Paz es un compromiso de 27 meses.

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Amanda H. Beck
Directora de Prensa
Cuerpo de Paz

Peru and Carnaval

"The Lenni" has returned victorious from her vacation!

So ladies and gentlemen I recently celebrated my one year anniversary of living in Bolivia. How did I celebrate? By leaving the country. On the 24th I boarded a bus in La Paz and 13 hours later arrived in Cusco, Peru. There I met up with my partner-in-crime "the Shimon" to explore the city before leaving for a 4-day trek on the Inca Trail. We were accosted by an army of street vendors, discovered a new cucumber fruit, and snuck into some churches (during services so we didn´t have to pay) and museums. Cusco is way more cosmopolitan than La Paz and although a range of good food (and candy bars) were a nice change of pace it was a bit weird to be a gringa tourist again.

On Friday we woke up at the butt crack of dawn to meet our guide and porters and drive to the trail head. I must admit, that starting I was very nervous that I wouldn´t survive the trail, that my little legs would fall off and my lungs would explode. Shimon and I were the only members of our group so our anthropologist guide had time to explain every little thing to us. I swear he could identify every plant on the trail, knew everyone who lived there, and helped me with my Peruvian Quechua (which is different than Bolivia and I´ve since forgotten). The first day he set a very nice strolling pace on the gentle trail. We stopped half a zillion times to take photos of hummingbirds and orchids and learn a bit about the Incas. (Hey Mom...we killed a cochinilla bug!) The villages on the trail have to haul everything in on the trail or by horse. But the tiendas catering to hikers still sold food (Milky Ways, animal crackers, gatorade) that I can´t get in Bolivia. Maybe I´ll tell the tourism guys here that if they sold animal crackers we´d totally get more tourists.

The next day was pretty much all climbing...up to an altitude of 4215m. Shimon left me and the guide (Ebert) behind because our strolling pace was too slow. But Ebert and I enjoyed the opportunity to keep a steady, non-stop, slow pace that allowed us to talk about politics, plants, and my tendency to use Bolivian slang. At one point the guide commented that I was the only one smiling as I hauled my butt up the mountain but after that day I was pretty much sore until a coupla days after the hike. The next day was relatively gentle but a bit boring...it rained a lot. But we did have more opportunity to talk to more of the hikers. It was a bit weird being one of the only gringos more or less conversational in Spanish and people addressed me in both languages.

The last day we set out for Macchu Picchu racing to the Puerta del Sol (Sun Door) to see the sun rise over a view of the Inca site. Unfortunately every other hiking group also left at the same time so it was like a race with people on your heels at all times. It was the fastest I hiked the entire trip and was not entirely enjoyable..especially cuz it was foggy and we weren´t gonna see the sun rise anyway.

We arrived in Macchu Picchu and got a nice comprehensive tour (after using the lovely flush toilets). Every day there is a limit of 500 tourists on the trail and I think 3000 at Macchi Picchu itself. But because we went in the rainy season it wasn´t too full. It´s not really an adventure. You have porters who carry all your crap, set up the tents, cook delicious meals, wake you up with hot tea etc. There is no way you can get lost and the latrines actually flush.

We had two more days in Cusco which was taken up mostly by sleeping and watching the primary results before taking a 10PM overnight flota to La Paz (and then to Coch). Unfortunately the flota was very slow, immigration took forever and we didn´t get to Coch until 11PM the next day. We ate some pique lo macho. I got a vaccine. And then we caught a taxi to Oruro where we met up with a whole heap of volunteers to party and celebrate Carnaval. On Saturday we went to the main plaza to watch all the traditional dancers and participate in a raucous waterballoon-shaving cream fight.Shimon went back to La Paz and the states Saturday night and due to a lack of buses leaving directly for Tarija, I left for Potosí on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately I missed my connecting bus and due to an overwhelming urge to sleep in my own bed and see my kitten I paid an arm and a leg to take a very bumpy 4hour taxi ride home.

Yesterday I went to my village´s traditional Carnaval celebration (dancing) where as one of the only resident gringos I got pelted with waterballoons. Unfortunately I couldn´t find any of my friends so I left when it got dark to avoid being cold and wet. Today the festivities are continuing but it´s a bit more family oriented.

I´m trying to reflect on how/if I´ve changed after a year here. At the very least I´ve read 60 books (not a change just a lot) a list of which I´ll post eventually if you care. I can say that I have fewer personal space issues, I can sleep in any moving vehicle, and I´m better at talking to strangers.

Feliz Martes de Ch´alla