Sad to say Goodbye

My Bolivian family has been very welcoming and I'm sad to have to move from them for these last 4 weeks. The move will make it easier for me to get to and from CERECO, the special education school where I'll be working. I'll be coming back for the weekends so I can keep seeing everyone!

Pablo, Mateo and Teddy

Lilian making crepes for dinner

Looks like Sadie!

La Paz and Lake Titicaca

This weekend I went with Olivia to visit friends of hers who lived and worked in La Paz for 3 years. Maggie, Tim and their 2 kids Mary and Danny were back visiting La Paz for a few weeks and were very fun hosts--showing us around the rural community on the outskirts of town where they used to live and work, hosting a dinner party in La Paz, taking us to Lake Titicaca and finishing with a visit to the Maryknoll House in La Paz where I met up with Sr. Joan again (she's the one who helped me get through the airport quickly a month and a half ago!) It was a fun-filled weekend filled with breathtaking sites and quality visits with local Bolivian people...and now I am ready to begin another week of language school (this upcoming mixed with volunteer work at CERECO in the afternoons...more on that later!)

La Paz

Mary (showing off the guinea pigs at the house where she used to live in Ayachuma)...Mary reminded me so much of the little girl "Fern" in E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, and looks a little like Dakota Fanning!

A snapshot of Ayachuma

"The Lookout" on the edge of Ayachuma
Young Aymaryn Girl's support/discussion group

The girls performed a puppet show for us

Fishermen on Lake Titicaca

(Left) Me looking out over the crystal clear Titicaca waters

(Right) Cover of Lonely Planet's 2008 Tour Bolivia Guide Book...seriously, this picture looks just like the cover of my guide book!

Olivia (in Mary's shall) in Puerto PerezMaggie, Mary & Megan in Puerto Perez

SUPERFANS

Yep, that's a Superfan shirt alright! And the shirt next to it says Rosie's Place! (The soup kitchen in Roxbury, MA where I volunteered a few times while at BC!)

Val and Anna moved from Roxbury to Cochabamba, Bolivia a few years ago so that Anna could go to high school here before returning to the US for college. Imagine how shocked I was to see a Superfan shirt as I walked outside the Institute doors this afternoon!! The world keeps getting smaller here...El mundo es un panuelo is the saying in Cochabamba...It means the world is a handkerchief! (And that handkerchief is gold with maroon writing on it!) :)

In other news, I am teaching small children how to write with very large pens!

Mateo

17,000 Ft. High in the Andes

Olivia and me on our way to Mt Tunari....

Do you like the alpaca hat that my family gave me?!

Today I performed perhaps the most physically demanding hike ever in my history of hiking.... climbing to the summit of Mt. Tunari, the second highest Bolivian peak in the Andes Mountain range ...Rose, I would have to say that our $20 day hike outside of Custer comes in at a close second! :)

On board for this aggressive test of dexterity and athleticism were 2 Bolivian tour guides (one to drive us up the mountain, the other to walk us to the top once the road was too steep), 2 doctors, 2 priests and 10 students and/or volunteers in Cochabamba like myself! The 2 guides were incredibly skilled leaders and I felt comforted by both the doctors' and the priests' presences...the doctors' for obvious potential medical assistance and the priests, well God only knows...

We started the day out at 7:30am...most of us barely awake as we piled into a 15 passenger van that drove us for 2 hours up the windiest, narrowest road I have ever seen. Our van hugged the side of the mountain, beeping around blind corners to signal our presence. We stopped periodically at freshwater streams to gather water. At first I thought that the guides were gathering water for us to drink later on, then I realized....no, it was water that they were literally pouring directly on the engine to keep it from overheating as we drove on. We stopped at one point to let a herd of sheep cross the one-way bridge that we came to...it was picturesque!

The sheep herders were very good at keeping these guys in line!

After the sheep sighting, we drove on for another hour until the mountain was too steep for car wheels and we got out to hoof it the rest of the way. (With the distance we drove, I thought....gee! We must already by near the top....how little did I know!) We began to walk following a little trail, passing the remains of old housing developments and even one that appeared to be active today...when I say housing development, I mean walls made of stone with a tiny house and a few sheds behind it...a wheel barrow here and there and usually an outhouse.

This house seemed to have folks living in it...can't imagine living so high up in the mountains!

After about 5 minutes...or maybe 2, we all began to feel the pangs of altitude sickness: dizziness, tingling hands and feet, headaches, dry mouth and a heartbeat that felt like it was radiating out of our heads rather than our chests....Drs' advice: let's stop and drink water, rest a few minutes and then continue on slowly. We did this and continue on we did...slowly!! Seriously every 50 feet or so we had to stop to take a few deep breaths before continuing on. The altitude made it feel like there you were carrying a ton of bricks ontop of your chest as you walked...very laborious!

After about an hour of climbing we stopped for lunch. It is always funny to see the various lunches that host families pack for their students...my friend Pat had tiny speckled hard boiled pigeon eggs in his "lunch box!" We all thought pigeon eggs sounded interesting so a few of us shared them with Pat...they looked kind of like Cadbury mini eggs on the outside and tasted just like regular eggs on the inside. I have to admit though every time I let my mind wander to think that I am eating the eggs of NYC's "rats with wings" I got a little queazy!

Pigeon egg

(By the way, Pat takes the cake on the most exotic meals...he also had cow udder for dinner at his house last night...I am ever the more appreciative that my host dad Teddy has taken such a fondness with Italian food...we eat pasta every few nights at my house!)

After lunch, some stayed back on the large rocks... it was seriously a physical workout just to breath that high up! while the rest of us climbed on for another couple hours or so until reaching the furthest point we could possible climb....(there were varying opinions on how we could feasibly and safely climb as the shale got really deep and slippery...5 of us went one way and 5 more another...I erred on the side of caution and went with the doctors to the lookout over Cochabamba which was slightly less high than the actual summit...so to be fair, maybe I only hiked to 16,800 feet!) Here I am at the overlook (it was breathtaking both literally and figuratively!):

Megs at the lookout

At about 1:30 we began the trek down the mount...it was such a relief to finally get to be walking DOWNHILL!!!! This proved to be much easier than the trip up and we were able to complete the decent in about an hour and a half....back to the bus. On our way down we ran into some furry friends--LLAMAS!! We were warned not to get too close or they might spit on us. I thought they were very graceful albeit a wee bit unintelligent seeming at the same time. I loved them though..they really made me laugh! (Sidenote: I am reading a short story right now in Language school about a one-eyed Llama named Consuelo...all of the llamas we saw seemed to have both eyes.)

Are you lookin' at me?

That looks like a cow on the right...I don't remember there being a cow!

Took this picture for you and your love of silhouetted animals, Roses!

I was soooo elated when we rounded the final bend and saw our bus sitting there! With tired legs, a heavy chest and thirsty mouths, we had a spring in our step the final few strides of our hike towards the ever welcoming site of a place to sit!!! The bus ride back was rough...we all felt pretty dehydrated, my stomach wasn't feeling great...I am blaming the pigeon eggs for making it feel like my stomach was in my throat most of the way, and I we all had monster headaches. Still, it was an incredible day and I am so glad I went, glad to be back safe and in one piece and glad to have had a 2 hour nap afterwards!! Here's a final picture of one of the spectacular views from Mt. Tunari along with our tour guide Emilio. (Sorry to disappoint with the name, Sara...I thought it was Grover, but we had Emilio instead!)

The view from near our lunch spot.

Emilio-the-Patient-Tour Guide

La Chiquitania

This past weekend I traveled with 15 other students…8 Jesuits, 2 Franciscans, 3 other lay people 1 Maryknoller and 1 Dominican to the Jesuit Chiquitania mission site of Eastern Santa Cruz. In the late 1600s, Spanish Jesuits founded 10 mission communities in what is now Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The Jesuits and Native Americans worked together in a successful integrative community that now boasts the history of both groups…the Catholic Church and the Chiquitania.

7 original churches have been restored and the communities today proudly display their rich heritage and inculturation successes! We visited two of the communities: San Javier and Concepcion. San Javier was the first community established (circa 1650) and Concepcion is the largest and considered to be the “jewel” of sorts. Below are pictures of my travels to each!

The trip to the missions involved a flight from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz and then a 4.5 hour bus ride from the airport to the mission sites. It was a long trip but well worth it!

Our tour guide, Mercedes, was incredible… she was incredibly knowledgeable on everything from community life today to the Church’s mission way back when. She brought her 11 year old niece on the tour too…Cristina and I became quick friends…each of us providing a welcomed repose from the 15 other men on the trip. I am convinced that through kids is the best way to learn another language…Cristina just began learning English and she helped me with my homework on the long bus rides!

Our crew with community members in Concepcion after a dance in their village.

The church: Inmaculada Concepción

Wooden cross in the courtyard outside of San Javier.

Altar at San Javier

Baroque choir giving a concert at San Javier

Cristina and me talking with Juancito the Parrot in Concepcion.

An orchid growing in a garden in Concepcion.

Piglets in Concepcion.


Every inch of ceiling, wall and floor is covered in design of either gold, mica or paint.

Shrine in Concepcion

A wooden angel takes the place of each Station of the Cross in San Javier...the missionaries desired to replace the images of Christ's suffering with angels, for they brought forth colorful images of hope to the Chiquitania people.

Smiles Forever

I hadn't gone to the dentist for a few years now...I hate the dentist. Well, not the dentist per se, but I despise the smell, the sound of those scraper tools against your teeth and the feel of grit between your teeth. However, the opportunity to get my teeth cleaned kind of fell into my lap today and I'm really glad a took advantage of it!

Pennye's friend Sandy started a dental hygiene program in Cochabamba called Smiles Forever. It is a two year training program for woman residing in the Madre de Dios homeless shelter. Young women learn how to provide cleanings, assist with x-rays, teach patients cavity prevention, administer fluoride treatments and work in a one-on-one setting. The clinic in Cochabamba just opened up and I signed up to be one of their very first patients.

The dental hygienist that you see here is named Susana...(very close to my middle name!...Okay, I'll stop with the seemingly forced connections!) Susana was great...very patient and gentle ( I'll admit I was a bit of a baby about some of the scraping yelling "Dolor!"..(pain!) The whole thing lasted about 3 hours....hence I look a little worn out in this photo I think! It was by far the most thorough cleaning that I have ever received and even though I couldn't understand most of what was being said to me (ok, dental vocabulary isn't high up there on my priority list)...I felt in great hands the whole time. Unfortunately I need to go back to get a tiny filling...(I guess I can say my very first cavity was discovered here in Bolivia...sniff!) The girls were good to tell me..."You can come back! We have novocaine!"

After the tooth cleaning I went out to dinner at a local restaurant with the Thursday Night Dinner Crew! Everyone you see here in the photo below is taking classes with me at the Maryknoll Language Institute...the 6 of us have kind of gravitated toward one another as we all belong to the non religious life contingent of students, live pretty close to one another, enjoy trying out local restaurants and could talk for a really long time about anything from politics to Spanish language acquisition! (Back: Dan, Bernie, Pat Front: Me, Pennye, Olivia)

Pennies

• Perhaps the person who understands me most here so far is another language student at the Institute named Pennye. Pennye and I share a similar sense of humor, a love of working with kids, and an equal disdain for sentences combining indirect object pronouns with reflexive verbs.
  
• Meanwhile, in Omaha, my best friend Rosie just got a dog and named her Penny.
  
• One U.S. penny here in Cochabamba can buy you over 7 times what it can in the States.
  
• PENNIES have become very important in my life over the past two and a half weeks and therefore it seemed providential that I take a moment to reflect on what I have always looked at as "mere pocket change."

Pennye and I have classes right across the hallway from each other. She teases me ruthlessly about having had "bichos" or amoebas, in my stomach, is always up up for a walk around town or exploring a new corner of town, and runs a NGO called Comedor de Ninos, which cares for severely malnourished children in the tiny village of Montero, Santa Cruz. Comedor de Ninos also and offers mothers help with economic development through artisan trades like beading and pottery. What is most touching about Comedor de Ninos and Pennye's drive to turn "hunger into hope" is the reason why she began such a courageous project...

6 years ago, Pennye's 16 year old daughter Etta was a Rotary exchange student in Montero, Santa Cruz. She had studied in the rural town for only 3 months when she was killed suddenly in a tragic bus accident. Pennye, a social worker by training decided to commit her own life to the spirit of her daughter and thus began "Project Etta" which Pennye comments about on the organization's website: "Through her death many children will be fed either through the animals they will raise or through her nutrition center. Countless people will feel and be touched by Etta’s heart. No parents could be more proud of their child than we are of Etta." If you want to read more about the incredible work being done by Pennye and Project Etta...and I encourage you too!...go to: www.ettaprojects.org

Today Pennye and I went shopping downtown for Bolivian artwork and antiques that she can auction off at a fundraiser for Project Etta this winter. (Yes, remember it is winter here!) On our excursion Pennye and I talked about my work at Red Cloud and the frustrations and joys that our experiences have in common... hers in Montero, mine in Pine Ridge. We both agreed that the solution to hunger, poverty, violence and sickness in places such as Montero and Pine Ridge is education....programs that support, educate and care for the whole person--this is the goal of Project Etta and this is also essentially the mission of the Jesuits and the Maryknoll Missioners.

I look at Pennye and think of how much she has lost in the past 6 years and then how much she has humbly given to the people of Montero. She spends 3 months out of every year here in Bolivia..mostly at Comodore de Ninos in Santa Cruz, but also here at the Maryknoll Language Institute brushing up on her Spanish so that she can better reach out to the families in the community where she works. The other 9 months of the year, Pennye is on the road fundraising for "Project Etta" as well as being a wife and raising 3 children in her home near Seattle, Washington. I told Pennye today just how humbled I am by all that she is doing for the people of Montero. And she very quietly noted (as we shared a piece of pizza...yes, pizza!) downtown this afternoon, that CHANGE takes time, patience and a whole lot of individual people doing what ever little they can and however little they can give to support the outcome of HOPE.

Pennies = Change = Hope (okay, sorry for the corny connection and over-the-top emphasis with the red text)
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Unknowing of this budding relationship (AKA my constant awe of everything that Pennye is doing with her grief, her life, her faith, her family...), Rosie emailed me today to say that she and Ryan have adopted a dog from the pound and named her PENNY! I couldn't believe this when I read her email and of course emailed her back right away to explain just how neat of a "coincidence" this is for me! It really is the little things in life...

I'll end with a list of what I have discovered 7 Bolivianos can buy you here in Bolivia (the equivalent of one US penny):
-5 rides on the public bus
-4 boxes of oreo-like cookies
-10 antibiotic tablets that I took for my amoebas (they actually only cost 6 Bolivianos)
-2 pints of yogurt
-a taxi ride pretty much wherever
-3 tapioca and cheese rolls
-sunglasses

To think...I actually knew someone in college who used to throw his pennies out!! To think of all the things that the kids in Montero could have with those seemingly meaningless cents....