You got the stuff?
Well today has been a pretty easy day. Since our group got back on Wednesday the Instituto gave us the rest of the week off. Kind of like a vacation from a vacation. So I got to wake up late (let me remind you that “late” means about 8:30) and just chill. I woke up and had my bread and tea. Once the house emptied out I decided to burn my pictures to CD so I could send them state side and have someone upload them for me. This procedure was a little harder that I expect. Mainly due to the fact that the program I was using was in both English and Spanish. So what should have been a very simple task ended up being a battle of wits…or a battle of languages. In the end…I prevailed. After lunch, I checked out an internet café to find out if I burned the CD correctly. So I walk up to the nice lady and ask for a computer, only to realize that none of the computers have a CD Rom. Just my luck. However, I decided to take the opportunity (I mean since I had a computer at my disposal) to send some random e-mails and check some random things. As I was in the middle of my great e-mail to some friends, the internet went dead. The whole café lost its internet connection, and now I was completely out of things to do…so I chucked the deuce and walked out. I went to the Instituto and used their CD Rom and found out that I actually did burn my pictures correctly. After this I decided to go to the Post Office downtown so I could send my CD to my parents. I hoped on a Taxi-Trufi (a taxi that runs on a route…something like a bus but in car form) and got downtown. I found what I thought was to be the post office and very calmly walked up to the caja. I asked the lady in my nicest and most polite Spanish “That I would like to buy stamps so I could send some letters to my family in the United States.” The lady then laughed at me and told me that I wasn’t in the post office and that I should consider walking down three buildings. I went ahead and thanked her for her suggestion and told her that I would CONSIDER going to that building. As I walked out I learned that Bolivia Express doesn’t mean express mail…but is a sign to sucker poor saps like me into thinking that they can buy stamps in a store that doesn’t sell them. Once I got to the post office things went well. I was able to buy my stamps and then I was off. The only thing is that the Bolivian mail system isn’t the most reliable so who knows if I my letters will ever reach their destinations. After that I went out to buy a card for Caitlin. I figure that Caitlin would like a “Get Well Better” Card versus a “Te Amo Con Toda Mi Alma” Card, I finally found a shop that sold them. I guess this whole love thing is a big in Bolivia, who would have known? So I went up to pay for the card and realized that I didn’t have any money. However, after checking my wallet I found 5 dollars and tried to pay with that. The lady looked at me and said that she could only accept Bs and that I should go down to the corner of the street and exchange my money with the people sitting at the corner. Alright…doesn’t that sound shady? I mean, think about it. Go down to the corner and exchange money with someone sitting down were the only directions that were given. Being the totally brave and courageous (aka stupid and a huge sucker) person I am, I went. I found this nice old lady who periodically screamed ¡CAMBIO AQUÍ! (Check that out…I am learning how to use this keyboard and all the symbols.) So I walked up to her as if I was about to make a drug transaction. I calmly got to her, looked over my shoulder and handed her my 5 dollars. As I waited for her to examine my cash, I hunched over and scratched my nose (covering up my face, in case there were pictures being taken of my transaction). After the “GODMOTHER (or in Spanish Madrina) decided that my cash was good, she reached into her pocket and pulled the biggest wad of Bs that I have seen thus far. I getting a little impatient started looking over my shoulder and then back at the Madrina, waiting for my “product” (aka my Bs). She counted the Bs out and as I reached for them, she stashed them into my hand so as no one could see what I had just received. Making sure that I hadn’t been ripped off any of my product I measured/counted what I had been given. Once I knew that this was a good transaction, I looked over my shoulder one last time and walked into a crowd, so as not to be followed. It was a really humorous experience…or at least I thought so. The only question that I had is how come that little fragile old lady hadn’t been robbed yet. I mean, every time I am in the Cancha (something like a street market or flea market) my family tells me to put my wallet in my front pockets, so as not to get it stolen. This old lady had her Bs out in the open and no one stole from her. Maybe she really is the Madrina. After getting my Bs, I walked back to the store and bought that card for Caitlin. Then I took a taxi and headed home. As a reward for completing all my tasks for the day, Emily and I went to get some tacos (which are by far one of my favorite foods here) that we had been craving for days.
Well today has been a pretty easy day. Since our group got back on Wednesday the Instituto gave us the rest of the week off. Kind of like a vacation from a vacation. So I got to wake up late (let me remind you that “late” means about 8:30) and just chill. I woke up and had my bread and tea. Once the house emptied out I decided to burn my pictures to CD so I could send them state side and have someone upload them for me. This procedure was a little harder that I expect. Mainly due to the fact that the program I was using was in both English and Spanish. So what should have been a very simple task ended up being a battle of wits…or a battle of languages. In the end…I prevailed. After lunch, I checked out an internet café to find out if I burned the CD correctly. So I walk up to the nice lady and ask for a computer, only to realize that none of the computers have a CD Rom. Just my luck. However, I decided to take the opportunity (I mean since I had a computer at my disposal) to send some random e-mails and check some random things. As I was in the middle of my great e-mail to some friends, the internet went dead. The whole café lost its internet connection, and now I was completely out of things to do…so I chucked the deuce and walked out. I went to the Instituto and used their CD Rom and found out that I actually did burn my pictures correctly. After this I decided to go to the Post Office downtown so I could send my CD to my parents. I hoped on a Taxi-Trufi (a taxi that runs on a route…something like a bus but in car form) and got downtown. I found what I thought was to be the post office and very calmly walked up to the caja. I asked the lady in my nicest and most polite Spanish “That I would like to buy stamps so I could send some letters to my family in the United States.” The lady then laughed at me and told me that I wasn’t in the post office and that I should consider walking down three buildings. I went ahead and thanked her for her suggestion and told her that I would CONSIDER going to that building. As I walked out I learned that Bolivia Express doesn’t mean express mail…but is a sign to sucker poor saps like me into thinking that they can buy stamps in a store that doesn’t sell them. Once I got to the post office things went well. I was able to buy my stamps and then I was off. The only thing is that the Bolivian mail system isn’t the most reliable so who knows if I my letters will ever reach their destinations. After that I went out to buy a card for Caitlin. I figure that Caitlin would like a “Get Well Better” Card versus a “Te Amo Con Toda Mi Alma” Card, I finally found a shop that sold them. I guess this whole love thing is a big in Bolivia, who would have known? So I went up to pay for the card and realized that I didn’t have any money. However, after checking my wallet I found 5 dollars and tried to pay with that. The lady looked at me and said that she could only accept Bs and that I should go down to the corner of the street and exchange my money with the people sitting at the corner. Alright…doesn’t that sound shady? I mean, think about it. Go down to the corner and exchange money with someone sitting down were the only directions that were given. Being the totally brave and courageous (aka stupid and a huge sucker) person I am, I went. I found this nice old lady who periodically screamed ¡CAMBIO AQUÍ! (Check that out…I am learning how to use this keyboard and all the symbols.) So I walked up to her as if I was about to make a drug transaction. I calmly got to her, looked over my shoulder and handed her my 5 dollars. As I waited for her to examine my cash, I hunched over and scratched my nose (covering up my face, in case there were pictures being taken of my transaction). After the “GODMOTHER (or in Spanish Madrina) decided that my cash was good, she reached into her pocket and pulled the biggest wad of Bs that I have seen thus far. I getting a little impatient started looking over my shoulder and then back at the Madrina, waiting for my “product” (aka my Bs). She counted the Bs out and as I reached for them, she stashed them into my hand so as no one could see what I had just received. Making sure that I hadn’t been ripped off any of my product I measured/counted what I had been given. Once I knew that this was a good transaction, I looked over my shoulder one last time and walked into a crowd, so as not to be followed. It was a really humorous experience…or at least I thought so. The only question that I had is how come that little fragile old lady hadn’t been robbed yet. I mean, every time I am in the Cancha (something like a street market or flea market) my family tells me to put my wallet in my front pockets, so as not to get it stolen. This old lady had her Bs out in the open and no one stole from her. Maybe she really is the Madrina. After getting my Bs, I walked back to the store and bought that card for Caitlin. Then I took a taxi and headed home. As a reward for completing all my tasks for the day, Emily and I went to get some tacos (which are by far one of my favorite foods here) that we had been craving for days.
posted by Roy at 6:35 AM
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