ISP- El campo otra vez

I’m sure you are all wondering what I’ve been up to. Well I have been working on my Independent Project (ISP) for the last about a week and half. We have a month to do it, but basically I wanted to do it as fast as possible and get back to Cochabamba, family and friends. Let’s see to start it all off I embarked for La Paz with a fellow student and friend, Mary Jane. We left the12th of November on a bus. We had a nice ride and arrived in La Paz around 6pm. I called my advisor once I arrived and he told me to meet him in a certain museum at 7pm. Needless to say I got there a little late.

Long story not too much shorter, that night we discussed my project a little more and he introduced me to Charo, a very sweet woman who was to be taking me to the campo to meet the family I was to be living with. I thought I would be leaving the next day, but Charo is a very busy woman and couldn’t take me until Friday. So I had a nice four days in La Paz with Mary Jane. I interviewed a few people about my topic and I met with Fernando (my advisor) two times once at 7am and the other time at 6am, he likes to wake up early….

The family I stayed with was Flores. There was abuelita (grandma) and Felisa and Nati (two of her six daughters). The special thing about this family was that their dad (don Policarpio, who died four years ago) was a very famous man who also wrote a book about his life called “El Hombre que Volvio a Nacer” (The man who was born again). So he was this guy who knew nature well, observed it well, medicine man etc.

So it was similar to my other “campo” experience in a few ways, but this time we all slept in the same room, which was nice in some ways, in other ways I just wanted a little more privacy. La abuelita only speaks Aymara (which is a native language and sounds NOTHING like Spanish) BUT she understands Spanish. So needless to say I couldn’t actually talk to la abuelita, and that really sucked when we went out shepherding the sheep for 10 hrs a day. So I basically talked to myself a lot during those times.

Highlights:
I arrived Friday morning and that Sunday the family had planned a trip to Copacabana for the day. I woke up that morning very sick, wont go into details but I did throw up and the dog did eat it right when it hit the ground. I was debating whether or not I should go but I figured I would be extremely bored if I stayed in the campo. So I went on the four hour bus ride, that wasn’t too bad. I met the rest of the sisters and their kids who live in the city. Then we climbed this mountain in Copacabana and well unfortunately it wasn’t enjoyable for me because I was feeling pretty bad. Plus la abuelita had me carry her stuff for her (no one knew I was sick). The best thing I think about the experience was the sisters who live in the city understood that I prefer going to the bathroom in a real bathroom (not outside like the women who wear the pulleras (big skirts that act like curtains so you can pop a squat anywhere)) and they understood my appetite isn’t as big as theirs.

One day Felisa and I were out herding sheep and around lunch time a van of four people pulled up, they were taking a census of the old people. So Felisa and Nati run off to prepare lunch for all of us and they leave me with the sheep. I was supposed to herd them into the corral, but well….I’m not a natural sheep herder. I chased them all over the yard, but they just wouldn’t go in the direction I wanted them to. Meanwhile these four people were standing outside watching some stupid gringa chase around sheep, I can only imagine what they were thinking. Then la abuelita came out and started yelling at me in Aymara, obviously I didn’t understand what she was saying, but I knew she was telling me to put them in the corral, which I already knew…I just didn’t know how. So after yelling at me one more time she came and helped me and in a matter of SECONDS the sheep were put away…whew.

So then another morning Felisa and I went out to herd the sheep. We opened the gate and all the sheep came running out like normal and Felisa went ahead of them and I was to take the back, like normal. Well there was a surprise waiting, a new baby sheep had just been born that morning. Cute right? Well kinda but then the silly little thing couldn’t figure out how to get out of the corral. And here I am alone with this little wet sheep with a bloody ambilical chord who just came out of another sheep’s butt. So then Felisa yelled at me to pick it up and bring it out to be with the other sheep. Just at that time mommy sheep came in and started baa-ing like crazy looking for its baby. So I was kinda freaked out to pick it up plus it kept running away from me, so I chased it all around and finally caught it and took it out into the field. Thankfully by the next day, it knew how to get out of the corral by itself.

So that’s about it for highlights, things that actually amused me in the campo. I avoided lice again, which is good thing I guess and they actually put me to work more than my other campo family. I’ve read most of the book their dad wrote and it’s good and that and my stay there will write a nice 20 page paper for this independent project. I rushed home after all of this, back to Cochabamba. I’m SO ELATED to be here and have a full week to work on the paper and then another week for editing. I don’t really think that’s what the directors want me to do, but I’m much more content with this schedule.

Fallin in Love

Hopefully that title caught everyone’s attention. I wish I had some grand traditional love story to tell you all, but I have something better. Last night was amazing.

We are rapidly approaching our ISP period, when we set out on our own for four weeks to investigate our topic of choice and a majority of us are going to go to some unknown part of Bolivia, live with some unknown family and study, live, learn and then write a 20+ page paper about it. Hence this group of 26 amazing people is going to be split up for four weeks and I personally have a hard time being away from them for a day.

So what happened last night, you ask? Well let’s start at the end. I came home last night and crawled into bed and was exhausted, but my mind was going a mile a minute. I thought about love and how I don’t know what it means at all, but how I think I saw another beautiful glimpse of it last night.

So what happened!?!?!
Well Joe, a really cool kid in our group, threw a party, BBQ, major gringo hang-out session, whatever you want to call it, at his house last night. I was personally excited to make food to take and share it with friends. So people filtered in, the grill finally got lit, Sam dutifully flipped every burger and we ate and ate and talked and talked and laughed and laughed and danced and danced. It was like Madison County in Bolivia and that’s not normal, Madison doesn’t usually go anywhere, it stays in the heart of the Blue Ridge, but last night I think it moved further down south.

So who did I fall in love with?
Everyone.
Joe-for having us all over even after only sleeping for four hours the night before and for putting on eyeliner and a dog collar and taking amazing pictures for Halloween
Amy- for laughing really hard at my stories about my host family
Michael S- for bringing that really dark chocolate and having that amazing horse shirt
Dana- for lying on the bed with me and talking and laughing out loud…and other things I don’t remember
Amanda- for making banana chocolate chip cake and listening to Sufjan on repeat for the last few days
Lisa-for shaving her head
Hanna S- for being chill and an amazing goth and for bringing a salad with RANCH dressing
Jenny- for being a hott go-go girl
Hanna R- for being constantly hungry
Jess- for living with nuns
Sam- for flipping burgers for three hours and telling me amazing stories about his life
Brendan- for being a mama’s boy and for wanting a solar power battery charger
Rene- for an amazing broccoli casserole, laying on the bed laughing…and other things
Talya- for trying to help me open the wine bottle
Michael E- NOT for squeezing my dreads (awkward), but just for being a sun-burnt Michael E
Ernesto- for dancing an amazing salsa or whatever it was with me
Margaret Ann- for her AMAZING spanglish
Vivi and Maribell- for breaking it down with me and telling me I was a good dancer (ha! Latino girls telling me I’m a good dancer)
Matt- for being way to curious about everything
Jackson- for trading earrings (bling bling)
Kayla and MJ- for coming to Joe’s right after getting off the plane
Tierra- for being an amazing dresser and for paying for me when I had 10.5 bs to my name
David- for coming to Cochabamba and being put in this mess (he’s Joe’s friend backpacking though L.A. for the semester)

….I’m only missing Leah b/c she wasn’t there, but I fell in love with her a while ago because she is sooo energetic and smart, and I like her laugh

Ok so that’s the group of 25, an amazing group that I literally am in pain about leaving Thursday…when we all reunite again in a month, who knows what will happen….

OH! PS- I got a new power chord for just $105 US dollars (that was sarcastic) but I’m realllly glad to have it!