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.
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