Que tal

2007-08-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Same ole’ Roy

“In daylight? In sunsets? In midnights? In cup of coffee? How do you measure, measure a year?” I believe the Rent song Season of Love asks a valid question. Now, multiply that year by two. It has officially been more than two years, since I left my house to join the Holy Cross Associates.

Since I have been gone many things have changed. Friends have graduate college. Some have almost completed their master programs. People have gotten married. My sister and brother-in-law have become parents again (and another is on the way). Cousins are entering their final year of high school. And so much more. While living in Bolivia and Chile, I have changed. I am now more mature, know what I stand for, and understand my values.

Two weeks ago, I decided to take a mini-vacation with some of my community members to Mendoza, Argentina. I quickly threw stuff into a backpack, and we hopped on the metro – fingers crossed – hoping that we would be able to catch the last bus out of Santiago.

As we got settled on the bus, I began to get comfortable. I took off my sweater folding it into a pillow, pulled my hat over my eyes, and wrapped myself in my blanket. After a few moments, I opened my eyes, only to see my three community members laughing at me. Or better yet my blanket.

You can put Roy in a life changing experience and make him more mature, but down deep inside, he is still just Roy. I guess something will never change.

2007-08-07T15:04:00.001-07:00

Theological gadget

Over the past few weeks, my coolest gadget - that has been both a blessing and a curse – is my alarm clock. My parents as a birthday gift some time ago sent me an alarm clock, because I had been complaining about the one I had. Years ago, I would have said, “Geez, this is cool. Never seen one of these before” very sarcastically. However, this year, I was completely stunned by this cool gadget. The alarm clock has huge digital numbers, a blue indaglo light, alarm clock, the date (month, day, and year), and a thermometer, all displayed on clock face. It’s awesome.

As winter arrived, I began – and still do – to talk to my parents on the phone, while in my sleeping bag. Yet, my mom and dad would laugh as I spent minutes on end shivering through the phone. “Why are you shivering?” my dad would ask. “I am cold . . . burrrrr . . . I swear . . . burrrrr . . . it’s colder in my room . . . burrrrr . . . than outside” I would mumble through chattering teeth. I must have told everyone in the world that it was colder inside my house than outside, and of course no one believed me. However, my new gadget proved my point.

The first day I got my toy; I took it outside and put it directly underneath the sun. Five minutes later, it read that it was 18 degree C. Then I realized, since my room isn’t directly underneath the sun, I should move the clock to the shade. Ten minutes later, the clock read that it was 15 degrees C. Then I put on my scarf, sweater, gloves and beanie and walked my clock into my room, and left it there. Five minutes later a difference of another 6 degrees was revealed, making my room a freezing 9 degrees C. Finally the proof I needed.

I say that my new gadget is both a blessing and a curse, mainly because I can now see how cold it truly is inside my room. Reading in bed and stealing glances at my clock, only to see the temperature dropping doesn’t help the morale in my room, especially when “nature calls.”

Being a native Texan, I have always had heat year-round. It’s probably because I never really had “white winter” or any winter, in fact, that I always painted it romantically. In the Houston heat, exiting your car, walking from the driveway to your house, you are already drenched in sweat. It’s nasty! I have spent my number of sweat-drenched days in Texas, to determine that I would rather be cold than hot. In the heat, you can only take off layers of clothes until a certain point before it becomes a crime. However in the cold, you can always put on layers. After spending winter in Santiago, I have experienced a cold so cold that it hurts your bones. Honestly, the winter – the cold – SUCKS! Wow, wasn’t I naïve?

Recently I had a conversation with Patrick about what Heaven will be like. I told him it would probably be nice and warm, unless my neighbor loves having blizzards. Then my house might get some nice cold fronts. As I sat on my sofa freezing, this did not appeal to me. So I thought to myself “Dude, screw that, go to Hell, heat all around.” Suddenly a quote popped into my mind “The biggest trick the devil ever pulled on mankind, was to make them believe that he didn’t exist.” I disagree. “The biggest trick the devil ever played on mankind was making them believe that hell was hot. Five bucks says in freezing cold!”

Thus, I pray “. . . lead me not into temptation.”

2007-07-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

Viernes Santo

2007-04-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

As I enter my second year as an Associate (I know it’s hard to believe that I am entering into my second year, especially since I don’t update this blog) I am trying to take advantage of opportunities that I might have overlooked last year. Thus this year, when Padre Pepe invited a group of students to climb a mountain on Good Friday, I quickly volunteered to be a chaperon.

A typical Good Friday would usually consist of me attending the Stations of the Cross or evening mass. This year I accepted Pepe’s “locura nueva” and decided that I would go on the travelling Stations of the Cross, as we climbed up a mountain. About thirty of us accepted this challenge and spent the night sleeping in the principal’s office on the nice hard floor. Early the next morning we woke up and darted towards the mountain.

Before I continue I must preface, that I am not in the best of shape but then again I am not in the worst of shape. However, if you would have seen me (and my group) on Friday morning you would have thought otherwise. Our guide, Matias, must have thought we were on The Amazing Race, because he was running up the side of the mountain as we dragged ourselves behind – or better said as we dragged our behinds. As we rioted for our first stop (which was “ten minutes” early) the grand majority of us were coughing and fighting for air.

Living in the capital of a country, peace and quiet are hard to find. Thus the goal of the day was to take 14 moments to reflect on the Stations (we only actually completed 4). At each moment we would say the station, read a brief spiritual passage, and reflect on questions: How is Jesus condemned in our society? How do we see Jesus struggling/falling in our lives? How do our mothers (parents) struggle through our pains? Each member shared his or her opinion and helped bring a profound spiritual moment to the day. And if the reflection didn’t bring this spiritual moment, I guess the 6-foot cross our group was lugging to the peak of the mountain might have helped.

After about 7 ½ hours, we reached the summit. We did our final spiritual moment and marked our arrival by placing the cross on top. A cross that should be seen from downtown (if you have great eyesight and if the smog ring isn’t too heavy), even though I have yet to see it.

In the end, the day was lovely and truly a once in a life time experience. On our decent the only noise that could be heard, were the footsteps of our fellow members. However, since we were usually walking around corners, the other people couldn’t be seen, and thus left the illusion that an invisible friend was walking by our side.

C is for CAMPING

2006-12-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Being down here in Chile during Christmas is always a strange time. Not only because if we were to be back home, its highly probable that we will be with our families and loved ones, but down here in Chile that’s a little hard to do. Then if that’s not strange enough, it’s the middle of summer. That’s right – even for this TEXAN – its hot. I mean singing Jingle Bells, Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree, and Deck the Halls just don’t mesh well with 95º temperatures. I believe the only carol I related to was Dreaming of a White Christmas – mainly cause that would have meant this evil heat wave would be no more.

So instead of sitting around our house on Christmas, we decided to celebrate in a slightly different way. We went camping for two nights. After celebrating our wonderful Christmas Eve meal, exchanging our Secret Santa gifts, and preparing our camping food, we headed out early on Christmas Day. Christmas day was a day just to relax and have fun. Take a dip in the natural feed pool and relax. Day 2 included a small HCA: Retreat where we got to discuss the four pillars of our program, helping us focus on goals for the upcoming year.

Needless to say it was a great and memorable Christmas with 6 wonderful people.

Caminata

2006-10-30T06:48:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

When most people think of the word “weekend” most think of Saturday and Sunday. Days when a majority of people don’t have to work and they are able to use their “free time” for recreational activities, leisure, and chillaxin’.

However, there are those few that use their weekends to be productive. Such as: my Tío Teddy (who rode a mountain bike from Houston to Austin), Adam (who did the LIVEstrong Challenge 2006), and people who go out and run 5Ks, 10Ks or marathons. Recently I have been thinking that they may be on to something, and made it all the way to the sofa in order to think about what I should do.

Thus when the Pocuro house roped me into – by roped I mean, they asked me very politely and I said yes – confirming that I would do a “caminata" I politely accepted the invitation. This would be a great time to be "productive" by doing a small pilgramage that a Saint walked. Thus I dusted of my tennis shoes and got ready for a small walk. Friday night when I got to Pocuro is when I found out that the caminata is 27 KMs long and that the bus will be passing at 5:45 AM. (Did I mention I was ROPED into this?)

By the time we walked to the plaza and took our bus to the starting point of the caminata it was about 7:15 AM. Some of us were happy, while others “aren’t morning people.” Rumor had that the caminata de Santa Teresita de Los Andes in 2005 had about 100,000 participants, and people were saying that this year there were less people. I honestly thought there were at least 120 thousand by the never ending line of people.

In the end, after several breaks, a 40 minute lunch (in which I took a power nap), and a lot of walking – 27 KMs to be exact – we made it to the finishing point. It only took us a few hours.

At the santario, we celebrated a mass. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many youth who were excited to celebrate a mass. There were banners, Jesus flags, and Santa Teresita bandanas all being violently waved in the air. I would have to say that the craziest thing was singing the closing song – Tres Cosas Tiene El Amor. Everyone was singing the verses and then suddenly when the chorus came – the crowd went crazy. One second we were all singing – then the Holy Spirit must have descended upon us – because all of a sudden our church song turned into a mosh pit. Everyone was jumping, singing, and hugging each other. It was the coolest thing ever.

After a long day, I instantly crashed when I found my pillow . . . only to be woken up by the church bells next door. Now here it is a few days later and I am moving slower than usual cause I am sore. That’s what I get for wanting to be productive.

Lesson learned. Being lazy is being productive in my book. I will never doubt myself again.

2006-09-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Chilean Pride

Over the past few months, I usually answer the question "where are you from?" by answering "Texas." Then once I read the confused look on some faces, I added "From the United States, one of the states near Mexico" and things tend to be clear.

I guess I take a lot of pride of where I come from . . . The Lone Star State. Ain't no place like TEXAS. I can honestly say that Texans are some of the most prideful people I have met. Over the years, I came up with the conclusion that no group of people could not be more proud than Texans. That was before I met Chileans, and my great theory was thrown out of the window.

Here are two examples of what I mean.

First, during the World Cup a little Chilean boy carried the game ball to the referees. The whole country went insane, not because Chile won a game (which could not have happened since the country did not make the cut) but because little "Matias" presented the game ball. Not one Chilean knew the final score of the game - or who was playing for that matter - but knew that a Chilean presented the game ball.

Secondly, I have just recently become a huge fanatic of Lost. Chile has just started showing the show dubbed in Spanish and it is a hit. Not becuase people think that the show is interesting, cool or keeps its viewers on the seat of their seats asking "What the heck it happening?" but because Hurley is Chilean.

If that isnt enough to tell you how proud this country is. I believe that this Cristal commerical (click on PUBLICIDAD and then on SPOT TV to see it) says it all. The commerical is in Spanish, but I think yall will get the idea.

After being down here for a few months, I will say that I love Chile. Mainly because the Chilean Flag reminds of me of the Texan Flag.

2006-09-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

Snip!

Some months ago, I had a realization that my last years of college would be the only time I would be able to do some things and get away with them. Eating pizza all the time. Playing poker on Thursday nights with the guys. Growing my hair out.

So when I started to grow my hair out, people were okay with it for a while. A few weeks into it, my hair looked liked a huge fuzz ball, and the jokes came forth. The peer pressure to cut it was unbelievable. However, people kept on harassing me, so I took the high road and made up a lie, "I can´t cut my hair, I am growing it out for Locks of Love."

After I started telling people about my great idea - that small voice in the back of my head that I don't listen to much kicked in - I realized that I couldn't just say that. So I actually began doing it. I was doing all well, until May 2005 when I cut 6 inches of my hair (not for graduation but for the three weddings that I had in a two week span). Thus I started again, and started growing it out again. A year and three months later, I had my long hair again.

Yesterday I realized 2 things:
1. I have more than 10 inches of hair, and
2. summer is going to be hot.

So I cut my hair completely off. The moment of truth, here is what I look like now.

Now everyone say a prayers and lets pray that my package of hair arrives to the organization, and not in the trashcan of some customs official.

Special thanks to all who supported my...mainly my cousins Adrian and Matthew.

Household Chores

2006-06-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

This post is dedicated to my mom. Mainly cuase I think she will enjoy it. Not becuase I am actually updating my blog, but becuase on any given Saturday my mom usually wakes up before everyone else and starts cleaning house. So here is finally a post that I can relate to her.

Since being down here, my housemate and I had to figure out some type of way to break up the household chores. I mean it just wouldn't be fair if Meg had to clean the bathroom every week, while I had to clean the "library." So we have a list of rotating jobs. The jobs that rotate on a weekly basis are as follows: the kitchen, living room, library, community night and bathroom.

Every now and then, when one of us gets done with our chore early (we have a deadline to finish the weekly chore by Monday) we usually try doing other jobs that need to be done around the house. Last week, Tom very eagerly decided to defrost the freezer - I can only imagine what next week is going to bring us.

My new best friend

2006-06-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Let me just say that celebrating my birthday down here in Chile was a completely new experience. Not cause I didnt spend it with my family or friends from back home - which was sad - but mainly cause things are just different.

Usually in June, I would be wearing shorts, goofying off, enjoying the true Texas heat, all while sleeping in late and not really having any "real work" to do. However, things in Chile are a little different.

1. I am in the middle of WINTER. not summer.
2. I am still in school, not chillaxin' at home.
3. I am about to go on Winter Vacation for two weeks, not summer vacation for two months.

Anyway, as I got back home from the Saint George's College Confirmation Retreat, I walked into my house to find Sponge Bob. My housemates know two things about me:
1. I have a sweet-tooth, and
2. I am Mexican.
So they got me a piñata with a lot of candy inside. Basically they gave me the gift that keeps on giving.

My Stgo. roomies rock!

Toma: Revolución Divina

2006-06-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

After about two weeks of hearing about the TOMA and the student riots, everyone has become aware of the situation. Most Chileans support the students - even prinicpals of schools.

This sign can be found on the Padre Pepe's, a Holy Cross preist and the principal of Saint George's College, office door.

Amen father!

Colegio en Toma

2006-05-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

In most high schools the most important thing that a student councils usually accomplish in a year is putting on a dance. This year, in Chile the students have bigger dreams.

About a week ago, a lot of students decided to exercise thier rights and go on strike for a better education. Several students are leading a huge national movement in the hopes to get improve the educational system in Chile.

From what I understand (and I dont claim to understand a lot) are fighting for five items. Of the five I only know three:
1. PSU - similar to the SAT - The students are asking that those in a lower socio-economical level should be able to get a discount or take the test for free. 2. ESCOLARES: The students are fighting for free transportation on subway and buses.
3. LOCE - a law that has been in place for a while. Students want the government to make revisions to the law.

Students decided that they would go take over thier schools. Students have been living in their shcools and decorated them in interesting ways. One signal that a school is "en toma" is usually having desk and chairs blocking the entrances to the school (pictured above).

In the end, this movement has been making national news and the students are the most powerful people in Chile. Talk about an effective student council!

Taking a Bite out of English

2006-05-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

At Saint George's College, I teach three 5th grade English Clubs(Storytelling, Exploring Nature, and Living Well). These are basically required English electives that allow the students to experiment with the language in a fun manner. Thursday mornings I teach the Living Well Club, which basically shows students how to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle.

After talking about the Food Pyramid Concept, my students looked hungry. I mean - I tortured them by talking about food and not providing healthy snacks. Vanessa (the teacher who plans the Living Well lessons and I just follow them in my class) decided that we should cook in class.

So one Thurday I had the students work in groups and pick a healthy sandwich. In thier small groups they had to write all the ingredients and steps needed to prepare their sandwich in English.

The following Thursday my students got to "cook" sandwiches in class. Each brought his/he own ingredients and went to town. Some of my students made very delcious and healthy sandwiches ad others well . . . didn't.

The end result was my classroom being a mess, most of my students dirty, and me beat. Cooking is tiring . . . imagine doing it was 18 fifth graders.

Crack! went the Egg

2006-04-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

So back at home for Easter my family and I make Easter Eggs. However, being away from my family I completely forgot about making Easter Eggs. Then about a week before Easter it hit me that I needed to make Easter Eggs. So I began the process of eating eggs for just about every meal.

I believe the others in my house were confused when they saw me cracking the eggs. Instead of cracking it regularly into two parts, I only cut out a small portion on top, and shook the egg whites and yolk out of the shell. So now I had an empty egg shell - with a hole on top. Caitlin and Tom looked at me strangely, and so I decided to explain what I was doing.

In Texas we have Easter Eggs that we dye, put confetti into to them, put tissue paper on top of the shell (to prevent the confetti from falling out, hide the eggs, children find them, and then the war starts. Its basically like a mini-pinata. I also told them that there are some places in Houston, that you can go and buy shells with or without confetti by the dozen. And to my surprise, the very next day I received a package from my parents that had a dozen and a half Easter Eggs.

Thus throughout the Easter Day, I slowly starting taking out my housemates. When they weren't expecting it all you could hear was my arm soaring through the wind and CRACK! Of course we all got a little confetti on us - and the house was a mess. But no one could get mad because there were so many pretty colors!

Pictures of my housemates will be uploaded to flickr soon.

Places have 4 seasons?

2006-04-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Well I am not going to lie, being down here in Chile during April is weird. Mainly cause instead of going into Spring - I am entering Fall!

I guess with Easter coming and going has really had me thinking about the weather down here. State-side most people are beginning to put away there heavy coats and busting out all their shorts and summer clothes. However, down here...WRONG!

Being from south Texas, I am use to two types of weather - Hot and MELTING HOT! During the summer (November-February-ish) people would complain about the heat. I would look at them and kind of laugh. I mean the heat has nothing on me. Me and the Santiago Heat had an understanding - during the summer I will put on shorts and tank-tops and sit in the shade. Check!

However, now as we are entering the phase right before winter - I believe its called Fall (once again I am from Texas and really never had the opportunity to experience this) its getting cold. Right now, Caitlin and Meg both sleep in their sleeping bags. Tom and I are a little more stubburn and have decided not to bust open our "sleepings" until May 1. We realized that if we bust them open now, that we will be sleeping in them until October - that's 6 months!

Anywho. The weather is nice and the scenaryis beautiful. The leaves are changing colors and parts of Santiago remind me of that painter that was on PBS - I think Bob with the afro - that always painted those happy tress.

I am really enjoying having this wonderful time. At times it is a bit cold, but nevertheless I am still alive and haven't frozen. Then again, we haven't entered winter. Bottom line - Fall is actually kind of a pretty season.

My Bingo Card

2006-04-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

BINGO!

So if y'all read Ryan's blog, y'all should know that a few weeks ago we went to go play bingo. I could go into all the details about how it was great. How we (Ryan, Tom, and I) arrived at 9:30 PM to play the first round of bingo and ended up being the firsts ones there. I could tell you that it was a hardcore game, and that we all had our game faces on. But let me just give you the quick run down.

Here is the quick run down
- We get there at 9ish and buy our cards.
- Around 9:45 the place is bumpin'.
- We start playing bingo, and Ryan puts on his game face.
- The games get intense.
- Ryan wins - sorry no pic of that.
- The guys celebrate the victory with a round of choripan.
- Meg wins.
- Ryan wins again, but Tom receives the prize.
- We leave, so as not to get jumped by the Chileans.

For a more intense and better recap of the night´s events, I would recommend reading Ryan´s blog (title: A Wild Saturday night).

Hurricane Work

2006-04-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

So after I started working officially I thought things would be great. I would go and talk to my students, and we would just have a blast. The first few weeks were great, then came the crash course into teaching. I had to make a lesson plan.

I am in charge of the Storytelling English Club. This is basically like a required English elective that all 5th and 6th graders need to take. So since I presented this theme of storytelling, I have to plan the semester. So I had to get to work. Here is a picture of what our table looked like one night when I was trying to be productive.

In the end, I got my lesson plan done and my students are learning somethings. I consider that to be a successful lesson plan. Not bad for a teacher with only one month experience.

Isabelle

2006-04-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

When I made my decision to join HCA: Chile for two and a half years, I was like this is the next big step in my life. I guess somewhere, in the back of my mind, I believed that life would kinda stop and nothing to interesting would happen until I got back. I mean, we all know that the world revolves are ME and not the sun.

How wrong I was.

Back before I left for orientation, I told my sister and Jared (my brother-in-law) - mainly Roni though - that she could not have a kid while I was away in South America. I told her that she can not get pregnant while I was gone. Then thinking about it I went ahead and told her that she could get pregnant in April of 2007 - add the nine months I would be home from my years of service. So during orientation - about two weeks that I had this conversation with my sister - I get a call and of course I am told that "Rolé you´re gonna become a tío again." I was overwhelmed with emotions - mainly something near anger cause I was gone not even two weeks and my little sister was pregnant.

Anyway - back to present day. So this whole time I have been told that my sister is pregnant, but its been kinda hard to believe mainly cause I havent been around her to see it. Her whole pregnancy happened while I was away from the house. So I think I have been doubting the whole thing - and kinda believing that it was a conspiracy that my whole family was involved in to bring me back home. I mean I think I had about three pictures of her "pregnant" but to me it seemed like she had a pillow underneath her shirt.

Well, March 31th - about 10ish Chilean Time - my sister and Jared became the proud parents of Isabelle Nicole Jones. So now I am a tío again and realized there are two options to explain what happened:
1. Realm of Reality -the world doesnt stop for me just - and my sister really does have a new daughter. Or,
2. my family has taken this conspiracy to far and are really desperate for me to visit.

Here is one of the first pictures of the new Jones Family.

2006-04-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Collin & DOG!

So my sister, Jared, and Collin all moved out of the house. I have talked to Roni and she loves the new apartment. From the sounds of it - it sounds really nice. I am sort of jealous of all the cool stuff they got in their place.

Both Roni and Jared are happy, Collin however seems to be a little confused. According to Roni, Collin runs through the rooms looking for DOG (aka Copper - the dog that my parents hvae). Collin will bolt to the bedroom look under the bed (cause that is where Copper hides from Collin), then towards the bathroom, and finally to the kitchen - only to find that there is no dog.

So being the nice tío that I am, I told my parents to buy a dog for my nephew. I also stressed the point that I will reimburse them in about three years - when I have a steady income. My parents agreed.

One day while I was talking to my mom, she asked me to make sure that my bank account was fine. That I hadnt had any charges or strange activity happening. I assumed that there was a scam state-side and that my mom was worried. So I did, only to find . . . that my account had been charged something at Build-a-Bear. I was confused and told my parents to please look into what happened.

About a week later, I received a package with a thank you card from my nephew saying "Thank you for your generosity!" with a picture of a DOG! and Collin.

Thanks to my parents and the use of my debit card - my parents made sure that I bought a brand new DOG for Collin.

SGC

2006-03-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

So this week I have officially started work. I am working at the SGC - Roni and Dad that doesnt mean Star Gate Command - or better known as St. Geroge´s College, a local Holy Cross School in Santiago. I have been offered a teaching position and have accepted. I will be teaching an English Club, which is an elective conversational English class, for 5 graders. This week I have been in meetings all day getting ready for next week. Basically what I have figured out this week is that I have 4 hours of class at SGC and will be teaching in room 310. Other than that I have nothing. I have no attendence list, no lesson plan, and no experience. Makes is kinda hard to believe I start teaching on Monday doesnt it.

I think Chile has gone insane - can you believe they are letting me teach? I can't!

Waterfalls vs Penguins

2006-03-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Monday, we had the opportunity - because we are so far south - to go to a near island and look at the penguin colonies. But after asking around about the prices realized that trip could not happen on our stipend. So instead today we went to a national park.

In order to get to Parque Nacional Alerce Andino, we had to wake up at early and take a bus to a city about 45 minutes away. Once we got to the drop off point, we had to hike 7 Km just to get to the entrance of the park. Then from there another 3 Km to the waterfalls. The scereny was beautiful (and for some great pictures check out Ryan´s flickr account - my camera batteries were dying so I don't have many pics). I got to see some cool sites and some nice waterfalls and had a nice picnic lunch under the sky in the cold wet rain. Oh I must have forgot to mention our hike - from drop off point to waterfalls and back - took 8 hours. 6 of those 8 hours were in the rain and most of us were not prepared. Now reflecting on the experience I stand affirmed that we should have gone to see the penguins.

Puerto Montt Sunset

2006-03-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Puerto Montt

So on Friday (our last day of Habitat work) we decided that we should go ahead and buy our tickets for a Saturday night trip back to Santiago. At the window we were told that all tickets on Curz del Sur- the line we used to get down to Temuco cause it was cheaper than the other - were completely booked until Wednesday. Instead of paying for a completely expensive ticket - being the adventures and completely intelligent people we are - we decided to take advantage of this opportunity and headed SOUTH.

The weather was freaking cold, which we were not expecting . maybe we aren't as smart as I thought. We quickly found a hostal and chilled. It was nothing amazing - I mean it was a hostal - but cozy. The only thing I hated was that I felt like I was in the land of the Smurf. Every time I got up and walked anywhere I hit my head on a beam on the roof or something. I think I still have like ten bumps on my head!

We walked around the majority of the time. While in Puerto Montt we practiced our pillar of simple living (look at the link first). Okay, so we really didn't have a hostal I just felt bad for all yall who think that I am down here in Chile living a hard life - now its time to be truthful. What I am really doing down here is taking a luxury cruise for two years. This whole HCA thing is just a cover-up. I mean we even ate at McDonald's while here.

Other than that, we just enjoyed being in community with each other and getting to know the locals. We ate out every now and and then, and mainly just chilled. Enjoying our last few days of summer before our work begins. And in the evenings we headed to our cruise ship to take naps.

Trenches

2006-03-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Habitat for Humanity

Well a group of us (7 HCAers, Anna and Matias) all headed down to Temuco to do habitat for humanity. It really fun and completely different from any habitat experience I ever had in the states. For starters our first task was to take off the newly placed walls of the houses...which was weird. We were helping expand a section of small governmental homes for people and by the time the house is finished the house will have doubled it in size. The house as a finished product will be 43 meters squared...which is SMALL.

Monday and Tuesday we had to dig trenches which was hard cause the soil was rock solid. Wednesday I got rained on for about an hour. Once the rain ended, we went out with the hopes to dig more trenches only to find moats. Our trenches were so great that they kept all the rain in. Since we didn't want to dig up water we went to go build the wall frames which was fun. Thursday is when the fun end when we were told that the first trenches we made were completely wrong because the maestros or the experts measured everything wrong. So Thursday and Friday our group got to redo the work that we did the first two days. Boo to that.

The view around there was nice. Chile has so many great views the scenery changes drastically within a two hour car drive - or for me a bus ride...since the only wheels we got are our bikes that currently have flats in them. But back to the scenery - for instance today I took a break and walked up a hill and got a great view of volcanoes...it was breathtaking. I was in the middle of a wheat field looking at three snow covered active volcanoes. Only in Chile could I have done this.

Altogether Habitat was an interesting experience. Despite all the re-digging trenches I am sure that all 9 of us would say "I would do it again next year if I could."

2006-02-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

TALCAHUANO

So I was only planning on being gone for a day or so on this little trip to Lota, what was I thinking? The night before we were gonna leave, I got asked if I wouldnt mind switching places with Victoria´s husband in the car because they couldnt get tickets back to Santiago and Christian had to work. Being the nice guy that I am, I said of course...figuring I would be back home Monday night.

Sunday- original day to go back home- My HCAers left and I stayed with the Capoiera Team. We went to the pool, another beach, and a really awesome park. At the pool we chilled. Then the team started throwing people into the water. I tried fighting off 5 team members and ended up losing - making an awesome splash as I hit the freezing water. The only thing that made me smile was that I took one of the team members down with me. Both at the beach and the park, I saw the team do thier presentations which lasted an hour tops. The beach presentation was alright. But once the team got done, there was like a farewell to summer beach party. So a few of us joined in on the games and dancing. Even Arturo and Lula (Renzo´s daughter) got into the mood and danced with each other. In the evening we (Carolina, Victoria, Arturo, Niko, and I) all went to spend the night at Govy´s house in Talcahuano.

Monday - Got to go see the port city Talcahuano. At the port I got to see Sea Lions or Lobo marinos just swimming around. In the evening Renzo and Mathis came to join the sleepover.

Tuesday - We went to go see a historical ship the HUASCAR. I was cool and interesting to see this ship that is part of the Chilean Naval Port. Govy´s dad was part of the Navy so we were able to get in quickly. Then in the evening the guys practiced some Capoiera and that was about it. I called my parents to tell them that they should not call me cause I was in a different city and completely forgot to wish them a Happy Valentine´s Day. Today is when I started wondering when I would get home.

Wednesday- We leave Talcahuano and I get back home.

My vacation was really fun and I had a blast. However, next time I would like to have more that two pair of clothes to wear for three days.

2006-02-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Beach Fun at Lota

So this past Friday, the Santiago House headed out. One of the families - the siblings are Christian,Victoria, a second Christian (Victoria´s husbandd) and Arturo, Renzo, and Carolina- in our community invited us to Lota (just north of Concepción) for the weekend. We - the four HCAers and the brother Christain - left around 11 Friday morning, and had a wonderful 7 hour car ride. During our adventure, we almost lost Caitlin´s sleeping bag. We put it on the rack on the car and just outside of Santiago we noticed it flapping in the wind. We quickly grabbed onto it until the car came to a complete stop. Then a few hours down the trip, a car honks at us to pull over. As we do so, we realize that the rack is not completely secure and almost fell completely off. The car ride was interesting to say the least.

In Lota we stayed with a close friend of the family. We got their and had ¨onces¨which is kinda like a dinner snack. Most families dont eat a really dinner, just something light to hold them over til breakfast. After this we went to the beach and just walked around in the evening. It was really nice to walk around the beach. It was fun. Once back at the house, we saw the Chilean Tennis Team play their round of the Davis Cup, and just chatted it up with everyone. After a few hours we all hit the sack and since the house was small and Tom, Christian and I slept on the floor in the living room. Tom actually slept under the kitchen table.

Saturday- We all just kinda chilled and relaxed. I went to a beach with Renzo and Carolina (who are a part of a Capoiera Group) and the rest of the team. It was AWESOME! The picture does it no justice. Then in the evening the team had a presentation and that we went to see. Renzo is doing the flip facing his sister Carolina. I thought that was cool. They both go in the circle at the same and ¨play.¨ I only wish my sister and I would have learned this at one point in time. wouldn'twouldnt that be a great way to settle a fightruement?

2006-01-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

CEVA
January 25, 006

Alright so Monday I started this week long Church day camp thing, called CEVA. This year, Maureen - one of my program-mates in Pocuro - is the woman in charge. So since we volunteered (more likely got suckered - just kiding) to be group leaders. We have been going from 7:30 AM to at least 6 PM every day in the blistering heat. This task is draining. I feel almost like I am in SEU Orientation but missing my other half - AARON!!

Anyway. Monday Jamie and I had to explain the Creation Story. Jamie summarized the main points, and while he said everything I got to play God and act everything out. It was a hit and the kids seemed to be very excited.

Then on Tuesday, it was a hot day and we talked about taking care of the world. Basically how we should recycle and the water cycle. We took a field trip in the morning to learn more about these things in the morning. Then in the afternoon we got a visit from the Bomberos. Basically the firefighters came in and hosed us all down.

It was fun at first until, the kids decided to attack the Tios (group leaders) and pick them up and throw them into the huge mud puddle that formed. Yeah, you guessed right, I was one of those Tíos lucky enough to get THROWN right into the mud. It was a lot of fun. When I got home, it took at least 3 shampoos to get MOST of the mud out. I am sure I have at least a kilo of mud hidden somewhere in my hair.

Two days down - five to go!

2006-01-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

Misiones
January 10, 2006

So after my few hours sleep, I woke up only to pack for this trip that I was taking on the 2nd. Ryan, Caitlin, Emily and I were all invited to attend the St. George´s College Misiones trip. St. George´s is a Holy Cross high school that rumor has has a lot of pull. It has a beautiful campus, about 2 thousand students, and a lot of Chile´s political leaders have attended this school. Its kinda cool to see the direct impact that the Congregation of Holy Cross has on Chile.

Anyway this trip was about 10 days long. I got to go to Ñancuan with 20 others. My students ranged from 14-18 and are some of the most amazing people. This kids are high schoolers and if I would have past them on the streets I would have thought that because of their maturity, opinions, and talents would have been college students.

A basic day of Misiones included the following:
7:30 morning prayer
8:00 Breakfast
9:00-1:30 Missioning (going around the community and just talking to the people and praying with them it they wanted)
1:30-3:30 - Lunch and break time
3:30-5:30 - Niños (did activities with children)
5:30-7:00 - Onces (snack time)
7:00-8:00 - Daily Mass
8:00-9:30 - Dinner
10:00-?? - Evening Activities
1:30- people have to been in their rooms TRYING to go to sleep.

The picture is of us one day missioning. Since we had to go walk to people´s houses, it took forever. Mainly cause we were in the campo and no one lives close to each other. So we were walking several kilometers to each house. The other fact is that I swear, there had to be at least 4 cows to every person. So one day while missioning, Drew got the great idea to spread the Good Word to the natives - whom just happened to be cows at that moment. Yall might not find it that funny...but we found it to be hilarious.

After ten days of hanging around these students I have learned a lot of slang. I am getting some of the common Chilean phrases and even saying a few jokes. Its because of these kids, that I have decided "to apply" (which means asked Father Pepé, the Principal of St. George´s, who happened to be one of the leaders for my group) for a job. He couldnt directly give me anything...but somehow the opportunity has fallen in my lap to teach an English class at the high school for 4 hours a week, and I have accepted.

2006-01-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Michelle Bachelet

January 15 was an exciting day. For those of you who dont know, it was the day of the Chilean Presidential Elections. After a long and huge battle, Chile elected its first female president by a margin of something near the numbers of 53% to 47%.

Rumor had the the president elect was going to be giving a speech in the Centro, so being the curious people we are - but mainly very excited that the candidate that we would have voted for if we had voting rights won - we went out to the Centro. I was able to see her from my place in the mob.

It was awesome. I mean, everyone was very excited that she won and people had Chilean flags flying everywhere. It was a party. I only wish people would be that excited about elections stateside.

2006-01-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

Happy 2006!

Sorry this is late...but better late than never right?

Well bringing in the New Year was kinda strange mainly cause I didnt have any family or old friends in the country with me. But as usually I think I got by. Here is a quick update of my New Year.

The Valanzuela Family - a family of the Associates for several years (rumor has they have been friends of the Associates when Jack, our dog, had 4 legs. Yes...that means that our dog has 3 legs.) - invited us to a New Year BBQ. We (Meg, Caitlin, Ryan, Emily, and I) all accepted and made our way to the House around 6 PM.

We got to the house and after a few minutes we started eating. I ate my fair share and almost died cause I ate so much. Then after an hour or so I made my way back outside and talk to Gabe (one of the sons) who was manning the pit and of course ate some more. Then around 10 PM I started to realize that of the 15 people that were in the house several kept on disappearing for at least an hour. So me being curious I went to explore only to find out that people were taking naps on any flat surface.

Midnight came and we all jumped up and down and the hugs started flying. Then we all calmed down and brought in the New Year with a toast. For the next three hours there was some music playing and all of us were just chilling.

Then about 3 AM the party started. The Chileans start everything late. Sra. Valanzuela welcomed all her guests and made sure that her nephew had some music playing so that we could dance. The funny thing is that down here people dance in lines. I dont mean they line dance...they actually dance IN LINES. Its the funniest thing in the world. After what seemed to be an hour, some more people got to the house - but I actually knew these people. It was our friends Dani, Andrea, and Gavo who came to invite us to another party. Meg, Matt (Meg´s friend from the states who is doing research down here in Chile) , and I all accepted.

As we started walking down the street I realized that there were birds singing and the sun was out. Then I looked at my watch and realized that Ryan, Emily and Caitlin had the right idea to go to home and sleep - cause it was 7 AM.

I got home at 10 AM with Matt and Meg and crashed til 4.

What did I learn through this - for the 2007 party - TAKE A NAP!

2005-12-17T22:55:00.000-08:00

Hasta Leugo Bolivia!

Well in less than 16 hours, I will be in the Cochabamba Airport waiting to catch my flight to Chile. After three months of being here, our time is up and I finally get to go to my placement site. These past three months have been amazing.

Even though I am full of excitement, I am fairly sad. Mainly becuase its "beginning to feel a lot like Christmas" and I am leaving my familia. Right now I think it is harder on them than it is me. They have really taken me in as a "son" and "brother."

Since today was my last day, they threw a small little get together and gave me my Christmas presents. They are as follows:
Shirts
Strongest Soccer Jersey
A sweater
A Coffee Cup
A Scarf

Basically they prepared me for the blistering cold Chilean winters. I cant wait for it. Oh yeah, and my niece also made me a homemade Christmas Card with some dinosuar on it.

Well, I think that is it for now. Talk to yall from Chile.

K' oa

2005-12-06T11:10:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

As y’all should know, December 2 was the first Friday of the month. Down here in Bolivia, the first Friday is very important. The reason that the first Fridays are important is because there is a lot of “obligations” to fulfill. One being Mass, and the second is doing a K’oa (pronounced K-o-ah and which is probably spelt wrong since I don’t know Quecha).

The K’oa is a ritual that most Bolivian families participate in on the first Friday of every month. Some families even do a K’oa EVERY Friday. The ritual is basically asking for a blessing to the Pacha Mama--the Bolivian equivalent to Mother Earth. Many Bolivians believe that the Pacha Mama is a very jealous “goddess” and can bless a family with good fortune or cast a spell of bad luck on a family.

Pablo and Don Teddy performed this ritual for a blessing over their “taller.” A “taller” is basically like a workshop, and my family has a taller for welding in front of Andrea’s house. During the ritual, the “mesa” is burnt on top of coals. The “mesa” consist of incense, a grass like thing, sugar cubes, and so much more. The sugar cubes usually are flat and have decorations on them. Depending on the figure on the sugar cube, is what you are asking the Pacha Mama for. Some sugar cubes have figures of: money, love, a house, children, and so much more.

Once the mesa is burning/smoking, it is time to begin the ritual. First, Pablo went with the coals and mesa and blew the incense into every corner and over every machine in the taller. While Pablo was blowing the incense into the taller, Don Teddy would splash (kind of like when a priest sprinkles/splashes holy water on the congregation) wine and rubbing alcohol where the incense was, and Jessi would throw sugar over the wine and alcohol. After “blessing” each item in the taller, Pablo put the mesa on the floor and made a circle around it with the wine, alcohol, and sugar. Then, we drank some wine. However, before you drink your wine, you are obligated to give some to the Pacha Mama, by pouring the first few drops of wine on the floor. (It just like when you see those movies and guys pouring out beer for their “homies who have fallen.”) Every now and then, Pablo and I would take turns making sure the coals were still hot by blowing over them.

Altogether this was a really cool experience. However, just because I have witnessed one K’oa doesn’t mean that I know how they all work. Each family has their own traditional way of performing a K’oa. Ours took about an hour and a half (the incense part took like 20 minutes tops, and then we drank the wine which last about an hour). However, there are some families that use bigger mesa, more symbols and the K’oa will last several hours.

2005-12-01T05:29:00.000-08:00

And the answer is...

Well Ryan was nice enough to inform the group that today makes 100 days in South America. Its crazy how time flies. I would like to say that that it feels like I left the states yesterday...but that would be a lie...it feels like I left a week ago.

I know I am gonna sound like a huge nerd, but one thing I miss from the states is Jeopardy! I mean, on the few occassions when I actually knew some of the answers, I felt like a million bucks. However, most of the time I was like "man I am an idiot" or "I should've known that" or most common "I knew that!" Anyways, since I miss Jeopardy, I would like to play with y'all. Here is my Jeopardy answer "The capital of Bolivia." Now you have to come up with the answer.
You have all the time in the world...or until you stroll down to find the answer. As you think...please play the Jeopardy music in your head.

Okay here we go. Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825. When Bolivia was founded my its "founding fathers" they decided on a small location. Then about some years ago ( I dont know exactly when), the government realized that it was hard for international travel to get to the capital. So, the government moved all its buildings to what is now known as the capital of Bolivia, La Paz. The interesting thing is that La Paz has never been officially named the capital of Bolivia. The only reason many people believe it is, is because the executive and judical branches of the government are located in La Paz. However, the legistative branch and the equivalent to the Supreme Court can both be found in the "ancient" capital, which is the true and official capital of the country.

Thus the next time the Final Jeopardy answer is "The capital of Bolivia" you know now that:

La Paz is the seat of government, and
Sucre is the legal capital and seat of judiciary.

Well I figured I offer some interesting pieces of information to celebrate our Anyways 100th day in South America. Happy 100th day to us.

2005-11-24T13:03:00.000-08:00

THANKSGIVING DINNER
Well after everyone spent the afternoon fighting with recipes, ingredients, and “different” ovens, we all gathered at the Instituto around 7ish PM. Everyone brought something to our potluck Thanksgiving Fest.

Before everyone arrived, we realized that we didn’t have cups, plates, or silver ware. So instead of using our hands to eat, we all ransacked the Instituto to find something that would help us eat our food more civil. We were able to find plates in the kitchen, and I struck gold by finding a bag of plastic ware (consisting of spoons and forks…no knives). Then someone else found plastic cups. So needless to say our plates were quite funny. Using plastic spoons and forks to cut the turkey into sizes that fit into our mouths, and plastic cup to drink vine…it was pretty “ghetto.”

Once the table was prepared, we all said grace and the fest began. The funniest thing was when our friend Naunja (that is spelt wrong) came in. Not being from the states, this was his first Thanksgiving to ever be a part of. So he asked us, what he should bring. One of my friends told him to bring “something green…a vegetable. Something like broccoli.” He quickly accepted this, and was completely excited about bringing broccoli to his first Thanksgiving Fest. Naunja arrived about 30 minutes late, and brought his steamed broccoli in a very original container. It was the funniest thing to see.

Altogether, this was an awesome Thanksgiving. I mean it was different to be away from all my friends and family in the states, but I was thankful to “break bread” with some of my closest friends in South America. This will be one Thanksgiving for the books.

Cooking

2005-11-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Last Tuesday, the North Americans decided that we should celebrate Thanksgiving together. A list was quickly drafted of who was coming and was plates were being made. As we started making the list, we realized that a turkey would probably be way too hard to actually cook. However, in my book Thanksgiving is all about TURKEY (I mean besides all that thankfulness and family/friends thing). I didn’t want to hear anything about us having a Thanksgiving dinner and no turkey, so I got “volunteered” to make the turkey.

So on Wednesday, Caitlin and I went to Santa Rosa’s to buy a turkey. We got a turkey that was about 6 kilos. I defrosted it and started cooking the stupid bird, early Thursday morning. Along with the help of my Bolivian brother, Pablo, the several hour ordeal commenced.

City of Champions

2005-11-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

So right now Ryan and I are a little bitter, that for some strange reason, it takes our letters from our families/friends like 18 times longer to get to Bolivia, vs. Emily and Caitlin who get their letters within a week. So on Tuesday, Caitlin got a package and noticed that it was from the Brockton House (one of the cities that has HCA: Domestic Volunteers). So excitedly, Ryan opens the package, and we find all this really cool stuff. I mean this package was awesome. The contents consisted of:
• Starbursts
• Hershey Bars
• Jolly Rancher Lollypops
• Trident gum
• A supermarket tabloid
• CD
The package was awesome. We are all really stoked about the package and are still on a sweet high from all the candy. Right now it’s easy to say that in our eyes the Brockton is not only “the city of champions” but “the HOUSE of champions.”

THANKS FOR THE GIFT BROCKTON!

2005-11-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Pop goes the Andrea

So after I got home from playing volleyball with my friends, I walked into an emotional battlefield. Just about everyone was loopy and couldn’t speak. Carolina and Ceci (Andrea’s daughters) were jumping up and down the walls. Of course I had no idea, what was happening, so I went to find someone who could help me. I finally found Don Teddy and Andrea, whom told me that the doctor said that Andrea was going to have her son tonight. That explained why everyone was excited.

Since everyone wanted to go to the hospital and wait for the baby, I volunteered to watch my “Bolivian nieces.” I did this for two reasons:
I figured I would be bored just sitting in the waiting room. And if for some reason I was allowed in the delivery room, which would be just weird. I mean we are close and everything down here…but I wasn’t even in the room during my sister’s (my “real” sister) delivery
I would be taking care of 3 young girls, who would have to listen to me, since I am older and left in charge. Basically I would have 3 little slaves to do my biding. How could I pass that offer up?

To make a long story short, Andrea had her son around 11:20ish PM. The funny thing is that the Baby still doesn’t have a name. Her husband, Javi, is currently working in the states for like two more weeks, and she doesn’t want to name the Baby without her husband. So right now, we are calling the little dude, Baby.

Our Greatest Cheerleader

2005-11-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Well the results are in for the volleyball tournament. Unfortunately, we did not “earn” the right to challenge the first place team for the championship, but its all good. After a tough 10 weeks of volleyball, the results are in. From what I understand these were the results:
1. Los Tigres
2. Oblatos*
3. Siempre Listos*
4. Olasem
5. Group 10 (Las Profesoras)
6. Amanecer

As a “runner-up” or what I figure to be an honorary prize for playing (kinda like the award for Most Improved) each team received a prize. We received 8 pens (one for each of the players) and a really nice volleyball. Yes, ONE volleyball between the 8 of us. I still don’t know what we are gonna do with the stupid thing, cause splitting it into 8 pieces would be pointless. So I think Ryan and I are gonna go “Mission Impossible” style to steal the ball and take it with us to Chile. And what I mean by “Mission Impossible style” is just walk into the Instituto and take the ball. It really shouldn’t be that hard, but it just sounds more dangerous and cool using the proper terminology “Mission Impossible style.”

The picture is of Sr. Francis, who was at the majority of our games, cheering us on, when no one else did. She is great.

* I am not really sure what places both these teams came in, so I just guessed. Thus my results are not binding and I withhold the right to change them whenever I please. Especially just to make it seem like my team did a lot better. So if you check my blog and it say that Siempre Listos won the whole thing…I don’t want to get random comments about me being biased.

Lunch is served!

2005-11-19T12:21:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Well I know that I in some of my e-mails…actually most of them…I mention how lunch in Bolivia rocks. I know this is like the millionth time I have mentioned it…but they are like 5 course lunches. Since I am still not use to eating such a huge meal during lunch, my Bolivian mother always yells at me. She claims that I have lost some kilos and thus I need to eat more. Lunchtime has become a battle of wits. I try to put up a good fight when I am full, but most of the time I lose the battles, and have to eat seconds.

Anyway, instead of yall just taking my words and believing that my lunch is awesome. I have decided to post a picture of what we ate today. It has to be one of my favorite dishes here in Bolivia. Now I just need to learn how to cook it.

Today I lost the battle, and had to eat seconds...but as you probably assumed, I didnt mind too much!

Good Advice

2005-11-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

After a long and hard week of “class” a few of us decided to go bowling. One of our profesoras invited us, and of course we accepted the invite. It was awesome. Here we are bowling, and I think that I can speak for the Americans, that we felt like we could have been in our hometowns if only for a brief period. Of course, we all kind of sucked it up. But hey, it’s all good.

As we left, I caught a glimpse of a sign that attracted my attention. So since I really liked the message the sign was saying, I had Caitlin take a picture of me and the sign. As you can see the sign says “Don’t drink too much.” I found it really humorous how the sign has a traffic light and instead of saying “don’t drink and drive” the advice is “don’t drink too much!” Friends, seriously this is great advice, please take it seriously...cause I am not. I found this to be freaking hilarious.

2005-11-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

Full House

So over the past two weeks, the family dynamics in the house have changed. Usually at any given point I live with with 5 others in the house: Sra. Lilian (Bolivian mother), Pablo (Bolivian bother), Jessi (Pablo’s wife), Natalia (their daughter), and Don Victor (Sra. Lilian’s dad).

What has changed is now there are currently four other people who are living in the house. The first to arrive was Don Teddy (Bolivian father). Don Teddy works in Santa Cruz, and is usually gone for months at a time. However, when he doesn’t have any contract, he is allowed to come back home, until his company settles the contracts. Sometimes he is able to finish the work quick and returns in a few days, or sometimes the contacts are long and tedious and take months to finish. So he is back, which is a good thing.

The next person to move back into the house was Andrea (my Bolivian sister). Andrea is married to Javi and they live just a few houses down the street. However, currently Javi is in Minnesota for a month at some work conference. So instead of Andrea staying in her home by herself and her two girls, they moved in. Carolina (9) and Ceci (4) are a hoot. The only downfall to this whole thing, is that when I want to take a nap in the mid-afternoon (after my elephant portioned lunch), I can’t. I usually make my way to my bed, only to get attacked by all my “nieces.” I swear that they think that I am huge toy, some along the “My Buddy” but life-size and real. This is actually really cool and makes me feel like I am at home playing with my cousins.

The surprise guest who moved in was Shirley (my youngest Bolivian sister). Shirley is married to Gonzalo, and she moved in with us for a short period. It sounded like she had a lot of homework to do, and was using the computer and stuff in our house. The second advantage was that “our house” is closer to her university, which is why she will be living with us for a short while.

With all these people living in the house, patience is key. Fighting for the shower in the morning, chairs at the table, and the TV are fun. When we all go to bed, I can’t help but feel like the Bolivian equivalent of the Waltons.

Siempre Listos

2005-11-14T06:27:00.000-08:00

Photo from Roy Pequeno.

Well, once again Siempre Listos (the volleyball team that I am a part of) played this past Monday. Lately we have actually gotten our game together, and we have beaten just about every team we have faced. Currently we are “ranked” in the upper division but no one really knows. This tournament has been fairly organized, but for the most part the players have no idea what is happening. We just show up, in the hopes that we get to play on Mondays. I believe we are currently in second place, and are hoping for a chance to duke it out with Los Tigres. Time will only tell. Keep your fingers crossed.

2005-11-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

Snack time Roni

Yesterday, my hermanas and I were in a huge debate over the words ingenuo (navie) vs ignorant. After about an hour and a half of debating, the conversation ended…and everyone was still talking to each other. I was surprised, because my familia can be very “passionate” when it comes to their opinions. After the debate I thought of my sister.

For those of you who don’t know my sister, you’re missing out. I will just say she is a character. However, one characteristic that I will always remember my sister by is her compulsive need to eat cereal at random hours. I mean there were times she would sneak down in the middle of the night (around 3 in the morning) to eat cereal. And that was before she was pregnant! And cereal is what made me think of her.

Anyway, yesterday my hermanas offered me a bocado (snack). Of course I offered, cause who am I to pass up food? My snack ended up being the Bolivian equivalent to yogurt and garonla, however ours was cornflakes (either plain or chocolate flavored) with yogurt. It was awesome and has now become one of my favorite snacks.

So Roni the next time you get hungry…try this…I think you might like it.

2005-11-05T14:31:00.000-08:00

Answered Prayers?

So after hitting up that stupid mountain that almost got us killed, we all went home to rest. That evening, Ryan, Caitlin and I all went to visit an ex HCAer from Portland (Kim), who just happens to be in Cochabamba. So since we are a close group, we got together with her to show some HCA love. She offered us dinner and then also took us to a live telemarthon, where her friend was playing in a band. After the experience yesterday, at Nuestra Casa, I still had these girls…or these ANGELS…on my mind. Kim’s friend went on stage with his band, and their lyrics were amazing. They helped bring a smile to my face.

Nuestro Jesus Cristo
Padre de este mundo
Te pedimos
Que recuerdas a tus hijos.

I believe this to be a sign that the Angels I met yesterday will be fine.

2005-11-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

Mountains Suck

As I wake up every morning and walk to the Instituto, I still can’t get over the fact that I have mountains a few kilometers away. I am blown away everyday, and I am trying my hardest not to take for granted this beautiful scenery. However, I felt that in order to truly take in the scenery, I should climb the mountain. Of course, I didn’t want to climb this mountain by myself, so I suckered…I mean…asked my great friends, Ryan and Caitlin (I would have asked Emily…but she went on a trip this weekend), to climb the mountain with me. Since they are pretty “tranquil” people, they agreed. The only catch was that Caitlin wanted to beat the heat and meet up at her place around 6:15 in the FREAKIN’ MORNING!

Saturday morning, Ryan comes over to my place and we hitch a ride with a taxi to Caitlin’s crib. She hops in the taxi and off we go to face Mt. Tunari. After about a 30 minute drive we finally get to the park entrance. We pay the taxi driver, and about 6:45, still half asleep, we start following a trail.

After about 15 minutes, we really don’t know where the trail is leading, and ask for directions. (You would think we would take this as a sign of what might happen in the future, but we didn’t even think of it.) After getting pointed in the right direction, we come to a fork in the road. On one side, there are five barking dogs and the other side a nice house. Being all in agreement that we don’t need another dog incident, we don’t pay any attention to the dogs and take the path to the house. Then we hear “No hay camino alla!” Now we are like “Crap, we have to back track and face those dogs, because there isn’t a path this way. Good going us!” We go back a half of kilometer and find a path. We take the path and finally begin to find steps. We start making our way up the stairs and get really tired, really fast. We take several breaks, and drink a lot of water. After about two hours of hiking up these natural stairs, we decide that it would be easier to take the road. The only bad thing about the road is that it has several zig-zags, instead of going straight up. After about another hour or so (around 10 kilometer marker) we reach a really cool playground.

Instead of conserving our energy, we play around. I decide to go down the biggest slide that I have gone down in a while, and Ryan anxiously waiting for a partner to play on the teeter-totter. After sliding down the slide, and hitting an invisible hump on the slide (that hurt like no other) I joined Ryan. We start playing around on the teeter-totter and had a blast. (Side note: If any of y’all have the opportunity to play on one of those things DO IT. I bet you have already forgotten how much fun they are.) Caitlin took some pictures of us, and then I switched out with her and got some pictures of them. After goofing off for a while, we started up the mountain again.

Now it’s about 10:20, we have been hiking for about 4 hours, and we are dying. I don’t know what is keeping us going but we miraculously continue to put one foot in front of the other. Around 10:40, we swear we have found the peak, only to be fooled and realize that there is no way we are ever going to reach the peak. So we pick the highest spot that we are at, and claim its one of the peaks of Mt. Tunari. We get some great pictures and then peace out of there.

Our way down is where the fun began. Instead of following the road (that zig-zagged) we decided to cut corners. This worked the first few times, but on the third or fourth try, we found the flaw in our plan. After about 15 minutes of hiking down the side of a mountain, we realized that we weren’t going to intersect with the path. By this time Caitlin is mocking our idea and we are all getting tired. However, Ryan keeps an optimistic point of view saying “Don’t worry Caitlin we are going in the right direction…DOWN…and making great time!” After another 10 minutes, Ryan and I see the path; however, we realize that it’s on the mountain to our left. Somehow we crossed mountains and we knew that there was no way we would intersect the path. To make matters worse, or to add a sense of adventure, the clouds behind us look really black and we know there is a storm on the way. I don’t know how, but in less than an hour we find ourselves walking through a small village. The people are really helpful and then we end up passing the same little shack where six hours earlier we asked directions to find the mountain path. Needless to say, we took the first taxi turfi to town, and walked home from there.

Altogether it was a great experience, and I feel a lot closer to Caitlin and Ryan. Mainly cause we didn’t kill each other on that mountain.

2005-11-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

Nuestra Casa

After two months of Spanish classes, our profesores decided that it was about time that we, the students, finally put our training to practice. So, today, each student was given the opportunity to pick a Cochabamba visitation site. Some of my colleagues went to: the hospital, the campo, women shelters, and other various places.

Ryan and I chose to visit “Nuestra Casa” an orphanage for girls, along with three of our profesores (Teresita, Oscar, and Karla). This house opened its doors to 8 wonderful little girls on October 7, which range from ages 6 to 14. We arrived at 8:30 AM, while the girls where cleaning the house. Each individual had their respective household chore. Between the 8 of them, they finished in no time. Then the games began.

The first game we played was called (my SLT buddies should know this) All My Neighbors. Basically you have one less chair than the number of people playing the game, and one individual in the middle. Then person in the middle then say something along the lines of “I love all my neighbors who have shoes on.” Then everyone with shoes gets up and runs to another chair, and the person without a chair goes in the middle and it starts all over. However, once you got stuck in the middle three times you had to give up something that you had as a bribe to keep playing. After about half an hour of playing, we were all anxious to retrieve our items. However, before each person received their item, they had to pay a punishment (which the girls chose) in order to retrieve it. Ryan had to act like a roach to earn his watch, whereas I was given “las siete cruzes.” Basically, someone went around making the sign of the cross on 7 areas, and I had to kiss them.

Our second game we played something like hot potato, but of course with a Bolivian twist. Basically in our group of 10 people, two individuals had a scarf. One scarf had one knot, and the second scarf had two knots. Then on the count of three, both individuals had to undo the knots and then tie the number of knots their scarf had at the beginning. The unlucky individual who got caught with both scarves had to do some punishment.

Between games, the dining area transformed into a dance club and the place was bouncing. These girls would put music on and the dances started coming out. Three of the girls even put on a dance performance for us. We all danced for at least an hour. Ryan and I got some really dance lessons and by the end of the day we were felt like professionals. We are currently thinking of skipping the Thursday afternoon dance classes at the Instituto and just go to Nuestra Casa for our lessons.

Today was an awesome experience. I haven’t had this much fun in a while. However, about an hour before I left, I was reminded of the purpose of this Hogar. Unlike other hogares (that are more like orphanages) this place, Nueatra Casa, was different. These 8 beautiful and sweet girls were sent here because they were all victims of some type of abuse. This KILLED me. As I looked at one of the girls, I suddenly realized that the marks on her arms weren’t marks at all, but scars. I lost my breath and felt a pain in my chest, as if someone was stabbing my heart. I didn’t, and still don’t, understand who would hurt these wonderful girls. The only thing that kept me together was knowing that in this place, Nuestra Casa, these girls are protected and loved. Here these girls are loved by 7 other sisters and their Tio (used more as a title) Edward. They are part of a loving caring sweet family.

As we left, the girls latched on to us five visitors. Each one of them asked us to stay a little longer, or to come back tomorrow. Unfortunately I won’t be able to go back tomorrow, but I am going to try my hardest to stop by on a weekly basis to visit these little ANGELS.

2005-11-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

Me and the Big JC

The other day, my hermano Pablo took Jessi (his wife), Natalia (his daughter) and me to visit the CRISTO. The CRISTO stands on a mountain/hill to the west of Cochabamba. HE is a landmark that helps me orient myself, when walking through Cochabamba. The funny thing is that there is also a CRISTO in Brazil, but since the one in Cochabamba was completed only ten years ago, it’s BIGGER than the one in Brazil.

Rumor has that the first blueprints of the CRISTO had various positions. Some that were considered were: CRISTO with one had over his heart, CRISTO with both hands extended in front of him, and finally, CRISTO with his arms open. I am not sure if the Cochabambinos were able to vote, or solely the architects, but the final decision was CRISTO with has arms open. Mainly because Cochabamba isn’t just in front of CRISTO but there are some houses behind him, and by having HIS arms open, HE is hugging everyone.

Day of the Dead table

2005-11-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

Photo from Ryan Greenberg.

Día de Los Muertos

So Halloween came and passed, and since I am in Bolivia, no one really made a big deal about it. I think that in the whole month of October I saw maybe one store that had Halloween decorations. It was weird not to have a Halloween party, no Halloween candy, any trick-or-treaters, or a scary movie marathon. But I was able to participate in several Día de Los Muertos celebrations.

Día de Los Muertos (as described to me…and will probably vary from person to person, especially between Ryan, Caitlin, Emily and me) is as Sra. Lilian (mi madre boliviana) says “is the one day that GOD allows the departed souls to go back down to the earth, and visit their families.”

This celebration begins on November 1 with the preparation of “la mesa.” La mesa has five main components to it. The first component is pictures of the family’s relatives who have past away. These pictures could be of relatives who have past away recently or those who past away several years ago. The significance of the pictures is that these are the individuals or souls that will come to visit the family. The second component is food and drinks. Seeing as how this is the only day of the year that the souls can come visit, it is a tradition to prepare the favorite foods/drinks for the visiting souls. Glasses of water can also be found on the table, so the souls can have a drink after their long voyage back to their families. The third component is candles. The candles are lit exactly at noon on November 1, to welcome the souls to the house/mesa. The fourth component is a cross. The fifth component is a ladder. The ladder plays a huge significance in helping the souls get back to the clouds. Let me explain.

After a full day (from noon of Nov.1 to noon of Nov. 2) the souls must go back to where they came from. So the souls climb the ladder and make their way to the clouds. While in the clouds they help produce rain. Then when it finally rains, the souls (from what I gather) hold on to the raindrops and enter the ground.

Altogether this was an awesome experience. Families have huge “parties” and invite friends and family to join in the celebration of the dead. I found it truly amazing how people view death, not as an ending to life, but as the beginning of a new one. One interesting thing is the traditional drink Cicha. Cicha is basically an alcoholic drink made from some type of alcohol and corn. Whenever, you serve yourself a drink on Día de Los Muertos, you should always pour the first few drops on the ground in respect for your family members who have past away.

This is just a brief segment of the tradition (even though I really didn’t tell you what happened. But send me questions and I will answer them ASAP). I am sure that Ryan, Emily, and Caitlin will have more to tell. So, don’t forget to check out their blogs too. (They paid me to say that.)

2005-10-31T17:25:00.000-08:00

Back to the Cancha

So unlike so many other Halloweens before, I didn’t do anything to exciting. My main excitement came from playing in the volleyball tournament with my team. As y’all can assume I was out for two weeks, since Kujo attacked me. But after what seemed like an eternity I was finally able to join my team on the cancha.

I think that I must define the word “cancha” for most of y’all. The word has two main uses: 1. a cement court with lines for soccer, basketball, and volleyball 2. is the main mercado where people can buy just about anything.

Since I arrived in Bolivia (about two months ago) my life has been filled with several different types of activities. I usually try and play some type of sport on a weekly basis. Monday is usually volleyball, Tuesday is hockey, Wednesday is soccer, and Thursday thru Sunday usually consists of pick up games from tennis to Frisbee. Monday nights have become the new Friday.

Sometime next week I will update a picture with my teammates. But for now the picture of me heckling the profesoras, as we won, will have to do.

2005-10-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Walking with my leg held high

So as most of y’all know, I got attacked by a dog about 10 days ago. I had 12 stitches, but now things are fine. My stitches were taken out, and the doctor says that things are healing great. I am thankful that the dog only bit my leg, instead of taking out chucks of flesh from my leg (as he did 6 months ago, when he attacked a little girl and her mother). I have kept, and still have a very positive attitude about the whole thing, but have been taking notes about things that I have taken advantage of in the states.

Every day since being bitten something has opened my eyes. I remember thinking, while on the gurney in the ER, how lucky I am that I can afford to go to the doctor. I mean, within 10 minutes of having my leg chomped on, I was receiving medical treatment. I am one of the privileged in the WORLD who can receive medical treatment without a hassle. Many Bolivians (and Americans for that matter) are not as privileged to receive medical treatment. This may be due to financial matters or, in the case of rural areas, the complete absence of medical facilities.

Here in Cochabamba, and as is the case in many cities, the private clinics seem to be the facilities, where a patient will receive the best treatment. However, as mentioned early, not everyone is privileged enough to receive that “quality” of treatment. Thus, many Bolivians must result in waking up early and waiting in lines hours before the center opens, just to have a chance at receiving treatment. One of my profesoras even told me that in extreme cases, individuals decide to sleep outside the doors all night long, to increase their chances at receiving medical attention.

Another thing that caught my eye is that in the mornings/afternoons, my hermano boliviano takes me to school, so as not to put to much stress on my leg. But, in the evenings I take it upon myself to walk home (seeing as how I am really stubborn and I KNOW I can do anything). The voyage to my house is quite an adventure. Instead of having a nice paved road, I have to hobble my way over cobble stoned roads, avoid sudden potholes, and keep an eye out for random dangers in the streets. I have must be on the look out for what I like to call “drive bombers” who, I swear, seeing me (a guy using a crutch/cane) and I swear try to hit me.

It’s strange. That in the past 14 days I have only seen one other individual using crutches. But even more shocking is that I have seen maybe 2 elderly individuals with handicaps. I haven’t seen one child with any type of handicap. After feeling comfortable enough to ask one of my profesoras, I was told that families with children whom have handicaps, see these children as disgraces. At times the family begins to think that they have upset the Pacha Mama (a spirit that many Bolivians believe in…very similar to Mother Earth), and as a punishment the Pacha Mama has given the family a child with a handicap.

The hardest thing for me right now, is walking around my neighbor hood and the city. Everywhere I go, I notice that people are looking at me. I am not sure if it’s due to my brightly colored SEU shirts that I am wearing, or because of the crutch/cane that I am using. I wonder if these individuals look at me and think “He has crutches. He must have received those at the doctor’s office. He must be rich.”

Altogether, over the past 11 days, I have come truly started to realized how privileged I am. Now, the question that has been on my mind for the past few weeks is, “What can be done to help spread the privileges that I have?” Any and all ideas are more than welcomed.

2005-10-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

CNN BREAKING NEWS

HURRICANE ROY HITS ST. LOUIS BRINGING ABSOLUTE DEVASTATION TO BUSCH STADIUM AND THE SURROUNDING AREA. A HUGE SWARM OF KILLER BEES BLEW INTO ST. LOUIS ALONG WITH HURRICANE ROY. BRANCHES THAT WERE FORMALLY BUSCHS (USED FOR THE PERCHING OF THE CARDINALS) ARE NOW MERE TWIGS.... TORN AND BROKEN. GENERAL MANAGER,TONY LA RUSSA HAS REMOVED HIS SHADES, RUBBED HIS EYES AND LOOKED AROUND...TRYING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED. WORD HAS IT ST. LOUIS FANS WILL BE GATHERING THE BAZILLIONS OF RED FEATHERS FLOATING IN THE AIR AND ON THE GROUND TO STUFF PILLOWS. THESE PILLOWS WILL BE USED TO BEAT THE NATIONAL NEWS NETWORKS FOR PROMISING THEM THE WORLD SERIES AND IT NOT HAPPENING!! BUSCH STADIUM ITSELF WILL BE TORN DOWN AND BURIED. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ADVISED CHICAGO, THE WINDY CITY, TO BEGIN TO MAP A SAFETY PLAN IN PREPARATION FOR THE SWARM OF KILLER BEES THAT WILL BE FUELED BY "ROCKET" POWER THIS WEEKEND INVADING THEIR AREA.

Thanks CNN for an awesome story.

GO ASTROS!!!

2005-10-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

Kids do the darnedest things!

This is a picture of my nephew, Collin, participating in two of his favorite hobbies: getting dirty and eating. He is walking/running around the house now, and since he still cant determine his speed, he continues to run into stationary objects. He has learned where the pantry is in the house, and when he has the chance, he darts to it and sits on the floor eating anything in sight.

2005-10-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Roy vs. Kujo

So after the emotional football game, we decided that we should go eat tacos at the local place we love. So we did. Around 9 o´clock we started walking home. I walked Emily and Caitlin to Em’s house, where we were gonna call for a taxi to take Caitlin home. It was our luck, that one of Em’s neighbors used a taxi to get home, and Caitlin could take that one to her house. Caitlin left, as Em and I got dragged in to talking to her neighbor. As we started walking away, the female owner of the house opened the gate and Kujo ran out. He darted around me and then decided to make a quick turn on went after my leg. At first he missed my leg and got my pant leg. And I was like, this cant be good. Then his second attack got my leg. And yeah it hurt…but I was like…what do I do…STOP, DROP, and ROLL. Then I realized that was for a fire, but I figured instead of playing tug-of-war with Kujo (and having my leg used as the rope) I should fall to the floor and try not to pull away too much. When he finally sank his teeth into my leg, I thought about hitting the dog in the eye. But figured I didn’t want to hurt the dog, and secondly, I didn’t want the dog to stop biting my leg and go after my face. I finally (with a little bit of help from the male owner of Kujo) was able to pry to dog’s mouth open with my hands. I limped home (only a block away from Em´s) and told my family what happened. To make a long story short…I have about nine holes in my leg and needed 12 stitches. So as you probably got the idea, but Kujo won the battle.

However, during this same time Emily was at a safe distance trying to figure out what was happening. Then her neighbors started yelling "Su amigo . . . muerdio!" Through my screams, she couldn't make out every word. But all she really heard was muerdio (past tense verb for to bite), which is very similar to the word she understood, muerio (past tense verb for to die). So Emily is yelling to her neighbors that I am not dead, but just got attacked by a dog. It was quite funny when she told the story.

So now in the house, Don Victor (the 91 year old grandpa of the house) and I fight for the walker. So far I have won and am using it…but I can tell by the look in his eye that there is a fight still left in him. I just hope he doesn’t beat me down with his canes, in my sleep.

2005-10-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

Irish Pride

Yesterday afternoon, Emily and I helped support our Domer housemates (Caitlin and Ryan). Since the Irish (ranked 9th) were battling the Trojans (ranked 1st) we had to see it. However, since ESPN Vivo only shows soccer and occasionally a baseball game, we were in a jam. However, Ryan being the genius that he is suggested that we hear the game on the ESPN website. So we did. The four of us were huddled around the broadcast, trying to picture each play. It kinda made me feel like we were in the Waltons’ house listening to the radio. But instead of a radio we were listening to the game via internet on a laptop and to provide the Irish marching band we had an Ipod. It was a great game to hear. It’s too bad that USC sold their souls to win that game. Oh well. After that game the Irish have two new fans, Emily and me.

2005-10-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

¡Ciao!
Alright so one of the greatest things about Bolivia is actually living in a room, and having a place to call “home.” I mean, the last few months have been great. Mainly, cause I got a room to call me own. Yes, at Moreau Seminary (at Notre Dame) I had my own room, but that was different. So in my Bolivian house, I have a closet and a place to put my clothes. Its great! I am not living out of a backpack anymore.

The hardest thing during the first month and a half of joining HCA, was saying goodbye to people. Of course, it was hard saying goodbye to my family, I mean I would have to be a robot not to have been sad about leaving. But it was nice to meet the new faces of HCA at orientation. After spending a week together, all the HCA domestic people left to their respective sites. That meant another goodbye. Then international orientation started at Norte Dame and for two weeks I got to hang out with some really cool people. But that was shorted lived and yet again…another emotional goodbye. Then in Chile we hooked up with the HCAers over there…and after a week…yep you guessed it, another goodbye. This experience has been all about “goodbyes” or “until we meet again” the first few months.

Finally down in Bolivia, I actually got to make some friends and didn’t need to say goodbye after a week. It was something new. But as you know, all good things must come to an end, and yes…another goodbye. In order to say “hasta luego” to our friends, we went out with a bang. Many of the students at the instituto got together for a few hours and just chilled. Since a party also includes pizza, we had to order one, and man was that thing huge. Everyone had a great time, as sent best wishes to our friends.

Best of luck David, Emma, and Eileen!!!

2005-10-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

A New Hat is Woren

Well the other day something crazy happened to me. I was showing Jessi (my
Bolivian sister-in-law) some pics that I had brought with m to keep me in good spirits. She has been on my case for sometime about seeing pictures of my family and friends from back home.
She saw several pictures and finally got down to few pictures that she couldn´t quite understand. It was a of my penguin (a figure in my old apartment) and my yellow hat.

For those of y'all who dont know about my yellow hat, here is the quick run down. This cap was purchased by my dad my first week at SEU. Then I stole it from him somewhere soon after. I started wearing it around campus, and for the last three years this cap went just about everywhere with me. For a while I think people began to think that I was bald (another reason I grew my hair long) since for ages no one seem to have seen the top of my head. This hat was a part of my SEU experience (along with the classes and other things). To this day I dont think people actually knew me, but recognized my yellow hat.

Back to the story. Then I told her how my friends loved to enter my apartment and steal things from me...and the main target usually was my yellow hat. She asked why and I told her that becuase I was famous for wearing it everywhere. She then looked at me and said the most shocking thing ever...what yellow hat? My yellow hat isnt know down here in Bolivia. Before I left Matt and Amanda gave me a new white hat and has started a new era. So I thought I should let yall know that a new era has started with a white hat in south america with a yellow hat that makes a special appearance every now and then.

2005-10-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

What´s the difference between a moshpit and a Bolivian line?

Alright so I went to see the Kumbia Kings in concert and it was awesome. This was one of the best concerts I had been to in a while. These guys had so much energy, that they were able to get about 6 thousand people up and dancing during the whole thing. It was cool. The concert was cool, but I would like to reflect on the expierence prior to the concert. So down here in Bolivia when you buy tickets to something, its basically just a way into the arena. For example, at this concert you had the floor seat, a standing area, and then the stadium seats. My ticket basically allowed me to go into the proper entrance for my area and that’s it. There are no assigned seats whatsoever, so you have to get in line early to get good seats. So the doors to the place supposedly opened at 6 PM, and Jessy (my Bolivian sister-in-law) wanted to leave the house around 5. I thought that would be okay, but when 5 o’clock came around, and I was engulfed in the Astros game, we waited till about 6:30 to leave. By the time we got there, the line to get into the stadium was HUGE. We started walking in line, only to realize that the line was about 1000 people long. So instead of going to the end, when did what Bolivians do, we cut in line. I don’t know how we did it, but we were lucky enough to weasel in front of at least 600 people. As we got in line, people in the back started pushing and suddenly the line transformed into a moshpit. I got plastered between people. Then on a different occasion, I was waving my hand in front of Jessi’s face in order to get her attention, when I got thrown forward and my arm flew right into a soldier’s face. Opps! After about an hour of fighting our way to the front of the line, we got through the fences, but still outside the stadium and another line formed. As the doors opened, from the corner of my eye, I saw about 400 people rush the field next to the stadium and start jumping the fence. Some people made it over, some people played leap frog over the soldiers, and some got stuck on the fence. It was the craziest thing by far. I mean it seemed like there was about to be a riot. Once I got into my seat, I had to wait for another 2 and a half hours before the concert started. Then finally at 10:30 on a Sunday night, the Kumbia Kings made their way to the stage…and the crowd went wild.

2005-10-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Holla Son

That is exactly what I did when I found out that the Astros won in the bottom of the 18th, while standing in line to see a concert. Everyone around me thought that I was excited that mi equipo de fútbol won. When I told them that I think Bolivia and Brazil tied their soccer game, and that I really didn’t care. Everyone was shocked. As I told them that mi equipo de béisbol won, they laughed. Oh well…I mean we all can’t be perfect and holla for the Astros. BrainO! the Cards are going down!!!

GO ASTROS!

2005-10-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

Damn it feels good to be a Bolivian

Alright so over the last few months I have started to feel really comfortable around Cochabamba. I mean I am beginning to know my way around the city and know what to look for. It’s great. However, over the past three days there have been 2 interactions that have made me feel truly Bolivian. The first was on my way home from the post office the other day (read my prior post You got the stuff?) So I got out of the Trufi at the Cala Cala Plaza. I got out and started walking down Simon Lopez (I know these names don’t mean much but suck it up and read them) towards my house. About two blocks away from Jamie Mendoza, where I turn to go home, a friendly lady approached me. As I was walking, minding my own business trying to keep the rain out of my face, some lady asked me a question. “¿Iglesia de Cala Cala?” she asked. Usually when people ask me these questions, I look at them and tell them in my most respectful Spanish that I am not from around here. They look at me like I am crazy, cause I am walking around this area and that I must surely know something, and usually I or them walk off. However, today was different. This lady asked me where the church was in Cala Cala, and since Santa Ana is one of the 8 places that I am familiar with in Cochabamba I knew this answer. It also helps that I had just past it like 3 minutes earlier. I told her to continue straight and that it would be on her left. She looked at me and gave me a sincere “Gracias” and walked away. As I headed back to my house, I noticed that I had a little bounce in my step and was like yeah that’s right…I’M THE MAN!

My second experience was this past Sunday. I usually go to mass around 7:30 PM on Sundays. For some reason it just feels right, maybe because back at school mass was in the evening or maybe cause it’s the only one that I have been to. However, this past Sunday I wouldn’t be able to attend since I was going to see the Kumbia Kings in concert. So I decided that I would go in the early morning/afternoon. So after we went to by our tickets Sunday morning I had some time to kill. I start reading The Far Side which is always a good way to kill time. Then I realized that I had no idea what time mass was. I figured it was at 11:30 but my family assured me that it was at noon. So ten minutes till the hour, I started walking to mass. By the time I got there at 12:02, I could hear the priest saying a blessing. I had gotten to mass late. I was completely shocked, mass started on time. So as I walk to my seat in the back, so as not to disrupt the mass to much, everyone started shaking hands and started forming a line. I was kind of confused, and then realized that I had gotten to mass not 2 minutes late…but an hour and two minutes late. Communion was starting. After mass I walked out, only to find Emily and Ryan laughing at me. Basically they told me that I am becoming a true Bolivian, attending mass only for communion and then walking out.

2005-10-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-10-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

Alright...First things first. As you can see my title to this entry is I finally gave in. After being harassed by several people for about two months (mainly my MOM) I have decided to give in. Also because Ryan keeps on updating his blog...I am looking really bad that the only way my parents know what I have been up to is through him. So yes, I finally gave in. Thanks to all yall who have been on my back.

Well I am still in Bolivia and having a blast. I just got back from a five day excursion near the Santa Cruz area to see the old Jesuit Missions. Here is an idea of what we did.

Saturday - October 1

Ryan and I woke up about 5:45 in the morning to walk over to Emily´s house (where Caitlin and her were waiting for us). We got there and caught a taxi to the airport. And by airport I don't mean anything fancy like Chicago, Houston, or Dallas...I mean a small little thing with only 2 gates. I thought the South Bend Airport was smallest airport around...but as usual I was proven wrong. We passed through security, who bascially just waved one of those metal detector wand-things in front of our faces and were then able to board the plane. Our flight to Santa Cruz was about 30 minutes. When we got there...we jumped onto our nice bus tour bus and headed off to San Javier. During our ride, we came to a bridge that we had to stop for. The bridge is only wide enough for one lane of traffic, so turns had to be taken. Thanks to the bridge operators, we got through in about 20 minutes. Rumor has that in the past the bus has had to wait at least 5 hours to cross. At San Javier we were welcomed by a group of students who danced and played some traditional dances. After lunch we were invited to the church and were given a private concert from this orchestra/choir. These guys were amazing. They sounded perfect and played with passion and the cool thing was that they all had been playing for less than two years. After this amazing experience we got back on the bus and headed to Concepcion. Here we were able to rest and find our hotel rooms. Ryan and I were roommates and stayed in the Gran Hotel Concepcion, where we felt like Kings. Mainly cause rumor had that the president and queen of Spain stayed in the same hotel when they were here. I mean, we were able to swim in the same pool (actually stick our feet in the same water cause it was cold) as these VIPs from Spain. That night as we were walking to dinner, we became part of a rosary procession that was walking down the main plaza. Since Concepcion (and the other pueblos we visited) only had dirt roads and the plaza was the area with the most traffic, it was crazy to be a part of this mass of people walking down the middle of the street praying the rosary. What was even crazier was how the people respected what was happening. Teenagers stopped their talks for a while, drivers stopped their cars, and men took their hats off as the Virgen passed by. It was these small acts of faith that made this night memorable.

Sunday - October 2

Honestly I don't remember to much from this day. I think we spent a lot of time on the bus and only visited one church. However, the highlight of this day was our hotel. This hotel was crazy cool. From my bed, I was able to control just about every light, the tv, and even use the remote control to control the AC. I mean...we had AC. That afternoon, most of us went to take a dip in the pool. However not having any cool toys to play with, we decided to go diving for Bolivianos (the Bolivian currency also called Bs by us for short). What started out as a nice game to kill some time, in the end became a fight underwater. Between Ryan, Steve and me, the game got really dirty. Punches were thrown underwater to prevent the others from getting the coins. It was a great time...and afterwards we all walked out alive. But the greatest thing about this hotel was the shower. Earlier, when we (Emily, Caitlin, Ryan and I) were in Chile one of the current HCA: Chile guys, Nate, told us that the shower in the Santiago house was the best shower in all South America. Well guess what, we found one better than Santiago and it was amazing. That evening, we went to mass at the local church. It was nice and we actually understood a lot of the mass. Everything was like a normal mass, until the last song of the night. About half way through the song all the power just turned off. The choir couldn't be heard, the lights were out, and the only light was coming from the candles on the altar. However, the most amazing thing to me, was that even though the lights went out..No one left. Somehow the congregation kept on singing and finished the song. The priest yelled his finally blessing and we all walked through the shadows very calmly and everyone saying hi to each other. I think this by far has to be one of the most breathtaking masses I have been a part of.

Monday - October 3

Today was a long day. We had to drive three hours to get to see some of the churches. Usually a three hour drive isn't anything to horrible...I mean that's how far it is from Houston to Austin. But driving down nothing but dirt roads tends to make the trip a little harder. However, the crazy thing was that every time we hit a bump, I would look out my window (which was closed) only to see dust/dirt coming into the bus. After 30 minutes into the ride, everyone in the back half of the bus was coughing. After the three hours of driving, lunch came. Iwasn't to hungry, seeing as how I spent the last three hours eating dirt. But of course, I didn't want to be rude..So I ate. The churches that we visited today were kinda of a blur to me. We saw three churches in about 2 hours and it was crazy. Each church was beautiful but all kinda of seemed very similar. The one that stood out the most was San Miguel, mainly cause it was name after the Archangel Michael. It was beautiful and the altar was amazing. At each church we were welcomed by a member of the parish, who most of the time shared his musical talents with us. In Santa Ana, a few of our members were allowed to play the organ together, and that music soared through the church and out into the plaza. After all the tours for the day we took that great 3 hour trip on that bumpy dirt road back to Concepcion for the night.

Tuesday - October 4

We left our hotel and visited one of the local Tallers (something like a vocational school) in Concepcion. We got to see the Taller where the students get to spend 3 years learning the arts. I was able to talk to a few of the students who were 3 year students about to finish their classes. These individuals had a wonderful talent. I was looking at one student who was putting a few of the final touches on Jesus, before the student attached him to the cross. The details that this student placed on the image were amazing. He showed me a regular block of wood about 3 feet by 5 feet and 2 feet wide, and told me this is where he made his Jesus out of. Of course I took some pictures of him working, and hopefully will be able to upload them soon enough. After this, we left for Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz we checked into our hotel, a Best Western, ate and just relaxed. After what seemed to be a 5 hour bus ride we were beat.

Wednesday - October 5

Well today I finally got to sleep in late. I got to sleep til 9:30ish. I mean I haven't slept that late in who knows when. It was great. As Ryan and I ran to breakfast at 9:50 (breakfast ended at 10) we stepped outside only to find it raining and a bit cold. We ate breakfast and instead of venturing outside to explore Santa Cruz, we went to check out the latest on any sports. I found out that the Astros made the wild card and are going to play the Braves. I was excited...and still am..Seeing as how I have no idea who won last night and will check in the next few minutes. We packed our stuff and the whole group headed to the airport. The funny thing was as we boarded our flight...We didn't go through any security whatsoever. Nothing at all. I mean, when was the last time you went to an airport and didn't have to go through a metal detector? I as walked to our flight..Since I was assigned a seat in the last 4 rows of the plane...I was told to enter the plane through the back end, which was another cool/new experiencee. I got "home" around 3 and talked to my hermano for a while..Then took a nap. The past few days were amazing and I cant wait to send yall pictures.

Well I think that is it for my first blog entry. I will try to keep this updated so Idon'tt have to send to many impersonal e-mails..Butt notice the key word was TRY. Take care.