First Blog, First Impressions

News from Bolivia: So far, so very good

After the first day in Montero, which if measured in terms of internal chaos and intensity, felt like 10 days things have certainly settled down enough for me to settle in nicely. Yes, first days become funny on the second day after there has been sufficient sleep and food which allow me to feel somehow stable when nearing potential moments of involuntary, emotional melt-down. There is something special about how sharply sensitive one’s senses are to a first day. But of course, life is full of trade offs and for me my razor-sharp intensity is unfortunately coupled with mild, but prolonged hyperventilation.

Day two: I took a stroll by myself to Montero’s central plaza and next to the market. Although
this may seem like routine deal, at the time I was quite proud of myself to have navigated all the way by my lonesome, purchase vegetables and return home safely and 4 green peppers richer.

That afternoon I rode in Etta Project’s trusty pick-up to the Apoyo Escolar (where I work) and had my first real class with the older kids. I was a bit nervous for the afternoon class because all I’ve heard from others is that they are wild, averse to learning and dictate the class schedule. In actuality, this is only partly true. I did have to jive with the chaos a bit, but I was pleasantly surprised to find their willingness to help me learn names, their curiosity of me and interest in answering my questions about their interests and things. Friday is said to be clean-up day—here’s how it works. The boys conveniently leave the room at nearly the exact moment as the girls begin putting a lot of water and soap on the counters. After the counter is cleaned the girls walk with their bare, dirty feet on top of the counters to clean the windows with a lot of soap and water. I chose not to participate in the cleaning for fear that my method would not be as effective. Instead I looked through the recently arrived books and was enthused to find Harry Potter translations.

After the kids finished “cleaning” I told them about Harry Potter in an effort to spark interest in him and the other books in the brand new library/book shelf. To my surprise the kids ate it up. Harry Potter wasn’t exactly the big ticket item because it didn’t have pictures and the majority of the kids, on account of their mother’s illiteracy, the public school system and their malnourishment are not able to digest novels yet. Even still the kids crowded around Victor and I as we alternated reading a book about the 5 senses and I tried to really make the book come to life for them. It was like dominoes as the kids asked my permission and each grabbed a book and sat down to read it aloud. It was pretty great to hear nine different stories being read aloud at once and have the kids summon me to their table in order to see their book’s pictures or to ask me to read aloud. It was for sure a moment. I plan to close my eyes and return to this moment or my teaching “happy place” when I’ll surely want to strangle the kids after difficult days in the weeks to come. To wrap up the school day we played soccer. This provided me with a great opportunity to stretch my legs and show off my mad soccer skills. Mostly, I liked cheering melodramatically after scored goals and encouraging high-fives.

Then it was back into the back of the pick-up truck with the cooks who yelled things to me over the sound of the truck and the wind whipping through the burnt-garbage smelling air. Even though they raised their voices, I could still hardly understand them. Luckily, my misunderstandings are still endearing at this point.

Once at my home, my housemate, Christina invited me to Santa Cruz for the weekend to meet her Peruvian friends, Alex and Josef. It was a toss up between choosing a night alone in my room or a night in the big city with new friends, but I went anyway. Santa Cruz is the most important city to Bolivia’s economy, but affords little cultural richness. Since Evo Morales has started calling the shots, Bolivia’s new political landscape has changed giving the wealthy department of Santa Cruz much to gripe about as its generated income is sent to La Paz, equally distributed to the remaining departments and returns only 20% to the said powerhouse of the nation’s economy.

It was quite a contrast to drive from the impoverished area of Montero into Bolivia’s most affluent, but lesser culturally rich city.

I felt almost guilty that I was able to escape away. Guilty or not, it was relaxing to see a movie and stroll with new friends around the main plaza of the beautiful city…and also to discover that my social life might amount to more than reading before bedtime.

My guilty complex formed from either having the option to leave town or because there was a little, caged monkey in the car seat beside me. Yep, the monkey belongs to my housemate Christina; its cared for by so and so’s mother-in-law and was purchased by my new Peruvian friend Alex-most likely on the black monkey market.

The monkey gave new excitement to our weekend plans when it created a spectacle in the plaza Saturday morning as it broke its leash and frolicked about in the top of a tall tree. The little kids loved it and the security guards didn’t know what to make of it besides the fact that we would be forced to leave the plaza with our circus pet.

Later that day, we rode horses along the river and returned to Montero in time for a grand birthday celebration in honor of my housemate’s friend Fabi.