Wofford College - Study Abroad

La Universidad fue tomada!!

Hello again! Its been awhile since I have posted but a lot has been going on!

Last time I posted I mentioned that our classes were "en paro" which basically means we don't have class.  The university students from all over Valpo and Chile in general were starting to protest which would last all the way up to last week.  Thats right...no University class, at least any consistent schedule, for about 5-6 weeks! I still had class for my program and class for exchange students so it wasn't a complete vacation.  The thing was that not only were we "en paro" but a few weeks in the students began to "take" the University buildings.  This is where they would actually move into the buildings and lived there until last week.  It was pretty radical but they have finally decided to discontinue the protests and tomas for now and we can continue with class.  So basically tomorrow morning will be the first time I have had University class in quite a while. 

University buildings "en toma"

They have decided to extend the first semester but obviously we can't stay past the program date due to flight and school schedules etc.  So this week will begin the "make up" process.  We will have to work with our professors to etch out a plan of attack! We'll see how that goes. 

Meanwhile, I have been able to do some very fun things.  The last week in April, CIEE took us to La Serena which is a beach city about 5-6 hours north of Vina del Mar.  We went to an observatory (what this area is known for), had a cookout with a local high school, toured a pisco factory, and spent time getting to know the region. 

 

Pisco Factory

The next weekend...me and a few friends headed outside the country for the first time.  We made the 7 hour bus ride through the Andes Mountains to Mendoza, Argentina.  It was incredible!  The weekend was full of activities and great food! On Friday night we went to a famous restaurant called Las Tinajas which was a full spread of all kinds of food but the best part was the full grill of meat.  We actually spent the weeked with former Wofford Grad Logan Stout who had been working in Santiago for the last few months.  She studied here in Valparaiso a few years ago too and was basically my motivation for coming here!

Argentinean Asado

On Saturday we rented bikes and toured part of the wine country.  Mendoza is famous for its wines and different vineyards (I'll still have to say, even though I am not a big wine fan, Chile's wines are definitely better!).  We ended up taking a few tours and eating lunch along the way too.

Wine tours and lunch!

In addition to doing a little traveling, I have been able to spend some quality time with my host family as well.  We went to my "uncle's" house in Santiago for Mother's Day and I met even more family members.  It was really fun though and the food there was great as well!  And I have great news...Vina del Mar's professional soccer team, who hasn't won the Chilean championship since 1976, has made it to the finals!!  This week they will play Colo-Colo, a very good/popular team from Santiago.  It should be great! I'll let you know how it goes.  Wish us luck.

Hope all is well state side! I have about 2 months left and I am loving every minute.  Let me know if you have any questions...I would love to answer them or just talk about Chile in general! We'll talk soon! Ciao.

Chett

spring break '08 Spain, Ireland, England...it's almost over

(the uploader for pictures isn't working, I'm sorry)

One of the advantages to studying in the spring semester in Nantes, is the two week spring break you get in the middle of April. Though it is less than enjoyable to add up the sum of travel, food, and stay money put into two weeks of European extravaganza, the chance to really explore Europe, whichever parts you are interested in, is priceless!  It was kind of weird saying bye for a whole to weeks to my very francophone life, but I set out for Charles DeGaulle Airport so excited!  To cut down on cost, and not risk missing our early flight to Malaga, Spain, two other friends and I decided to head to the airport very late, and spend the night there.

Spain was absolutely beautiful! We stayed in a little coastal town about 45 minutes west of MalagaFrom Spain, one friend and I headed to Dublin, Ireland for the next leg of our break.  Dublin is a magnificent city.  All I wanted was a really nice camera to take pictures, but my point and shoot digital worked just fine! Dublin is bustling with people and very alive.  We walked all over that city, and ended up in one of the many vegetarian restaurants that Dublin has to offer (my friend, Liz, is a vegetarian). The next day we took a tour up to Belfast, in Northern Ireland. If you ever make it to Ireland, Belfast is a must. I had absolutely no idea of the history, or the ‘troubles’, as the Irish say, that are definitely alive still to this day.  The most amazing thing I learned was that when the ‘troubles’ are said to have stopped, there were 12 walls separating the Catholic side of Belfast from the Protestant side.  Now there are 42! We took a Black Taxi tour in Belfast that showed us both sides, and the famous murals. Fun fact about Belfast: the Titanic was built there!  The next day we took a tour into the countryside of Ireland. You know, the rolling green hills, the sheep…It was magnificent. The tour was centered around Glendalough and Wicklow where Hollywood filmed movies like Braveheart, P.S. I Love You, and Reign of Fire, but we saw so much more than the land they used!  It was incredible!

by bus. We got one full day of planned beach time, and we also visited Malaga, Granada, and Cordoba.  What was interesting was not the amount of tourist we saw in our little town, Torrox-Costa, but the number of Germans that lived there permanently! We went to Spain, and heard German everywhere.  We had a connection with one lady there who was married to an American man. They were both elderly, and he lived in an assisted living facility along the coast. One day we all went to visit there, again chock full of Germans, but it was perhaps one of my favorite things we did! We just got to visit catch up.  The man had actually graduated from Clemson, and had lived in South Carolinaall his childhood. I think it was refreshing for him to meet someone who could catch him up a little on the area!

The Grand Finale of spring break was London! Liz and I stayed on the southwest side of London, in Richmond, with a family member of mine! It was so great to make contact with her, and see more of London that what everybody normally sees. When we did head into the city, we saw it all. My favorite was the Tower of London.  They prisoner stories there are amazing, and it is in such great condition. We got kind of a back-stage tour of the Tower of London by another family member who had so many amazing escape stories. Did you know that the crown jewels that are housed there were once stolen and that there used to be a polar bear that would go fishing in the Thames?

All in all, the whole trip was fantastic.  However, headed back to Nantes on the train was incredibly relaxing. Coming into my host family’s house was about as normal a thing as I could have done, which makes thinking that there are only 11 days left in the semester completely crazy. I was walking home the other day past the cathedral and huge garden thinking, “How crazy is it that I get to walk by these things every day and in two weeks, just like that, my ‘normal’ is going to change so much!” It is bittersweet, but true. I’ve got exams and then a very long flight! See you soon, friends!!

-Julia

Still in disbelief

After being here in the Dominican Republic for almost my complete 4 months (I go home in just a week and a half now), I am still constantly in disbelief at my experiences here. I am amazed by how independently I functioned living in a big city for the first time, amazed that I was actually able to interact and get by speaking my Spanish here, and just when I thought I was getting used to the gorgeous ocean views, I was absolutely stunned by the pristine beauty of Isla Saona. I can't believe my time here is almost up, and as many days as I was just frustrated at so many of the cultural differences and the problems encountered in a third world country, the thought of leaving here is making me appreciate everything this country has to offer a lot more. While I am still very much ready to head back to the comforts of home and my beloved Wofford, I will always look back on my experiences with great appreciation for the people here who took me in and the beauty I was able to experience. Here are a couple pictures from my great trip to Bayahibe and one of me with my classmates:

Here I am with some of my classmates from Centro Bono, a Jesuit school that trains priests and religious workers. Can you pick me out in this picture? I know it was a tough one to find me! Being the only girl and a clear minority in this class, I felt very aware of how different I was, but I never felt unwelcomed. At the beginning I was absolutely mortified- these guys were nothing like I was expecting. Being told I'd be taking classes at a Jesuit school, I imagined more mature and solemn types, but these guys are just loads of fun and love cracking immature jokes wherever possible. Being a foreigner and not knowing what's going on half the time, and not knowing why it's going on the other half of the time, these guys really looked out for me. Francis for example, dreams of being able to speak English perfectly and was always trying out new words of me, while Ruben would always listen understandingly to my complaints about the majority of Dominican men and their unwanted attention before leaving class halfway through because he found it so boring. On top of adjusting to the Spanish in the classroom, I also found myself adjusting to aspects of Haitian culture, as about half my classmates were Haitian and would speak Creole among themselves. They made me feel a lot better about my horrible Spanish though, as for many of them Spanish was not their strongest language.

While I have seen a lot of beautiful places here in the DR, my daytrip out to Isla Saona was by far the most beautiful. My friend Ellie from Georgetown and I headed to Bayahibe for the weekend and boarded a large Catamaran sailboat early in the morning to head out to the island off the southeast coast.

Here's the view from the beach of Island Saona. I was in shock the whole day and must have said a thousand times, "I can't believe I'm here" or "This place is so beautiful I can't believe it's even real." The island is pretty deserted except for the tourists who head there for day trips. It's the most isolated beach with the clearest water I've seen here.

This was one of the coolest parts of the trip. The boats took us out to the "Piscina Natural" which is a natural pool in the middle of the ocean. The water is only about waist deep, perfectly still and crystal clear. There are starfish in this area, but you have to be careful because holding them out of the water for more than just a few seconds can kill them, and the tourism industry has already started to take its toll on the population. I was surprised though by how spiky and heavy the starfish was. It was incredibly gorgeous though and one of my most prized pics so far.

Insert creative blog title here

Well, I've not posted in a good while, so I'm going to hit the highlights.

My friends came to Guanajuato!  Alice Harvey and Lindsey Gates, on their Wofford spring break (Ok Lindsey has already graduated, so she would kill me for saying that) came to visit Guanajuato.  Joining them in their arrival to Guanajuato was Vanessa Lauber, this year's presidential scholar.  We all enjoyed a few days together before the Lindsey and Alice went to the beach and Vanessa went to work once again on her project.  It was really nice to see some familiar faces for the first time in a few months.

During my spring break, I did a service project in Mesa Cuata with a handful of other students.  We taught young kids how to make recycled paper from scrap paper, picked up trash around their school, played a little soccer, wrote letters to their sister school in the United States, and on the last day took the kids to Guanajuato for a little treat.  Attached is a picture with my little friend Marisol when we went to a mine on that last day.  I think the camera surprised her.

Last week, the CIEE students and myself took a group trip to Zacatecas.  The city was really gorgeous and had some great ruins in the surrounding area.  CIEE took us to tour the facilities of large beverage producer named Modelo Group Inc.  I was quite impressed with Modelo Group Inc.  Their facility featured a zoo, several greenhouses growing young saplings to be planted in the surrounding area, and boasted an incredible amount of recycled waste, water which was in turn used to nourish the young trees they planted.  During the same weekend, I was informed I was the recipient of a grant that will send me to Germany next year.  I am terrifeid and excited all at once about this prospect, but I know that another Wofford student and one of my best friends, Claudia Winkler, will be in the Rheinland as well.  It is comforting knowing that even though my time as a Wofford student is ending, I am about to take another journey with a fellow grad and dear friend.  I am confident it will be a very special year, just as these last four have been.

A month from yesterday, I will be hoping on a plane bound for upstate South Carolina.  It's hard to believe that my time in Guanajuato, and as a Wofford student, is nearly to an end.  I have two days to catch up (and say goodbye) with my friends before graduating on Sunday, May 18th.  I wasn't there to try on a cap or gown to order for the ceremony, but my mom was kind enough to take care of that for me.  Hope it fits.

Vanessa Lauber will be returning from Oaxaca and her research at the end of next week.  We will have a couple of days to catch up before she herself hops on a Wofford bound plane.  I am sending my regards via Vanessa to everyone at convocation at the beginning of May.

I hope everyone is enjoying the remainder of their semester as I soak up the remainder of my time as a Wofford student in Guanajuato.

Saludos desde México,

John

An interesting week!

 

A quick update!!

So last week, just after Patagonia, my parents and younger brother came to visit.  It was my brother's Spring Break so it was a good time to travel south.  Unfortunately, they were only able to stay for about 2.5 days and then had to head back. 

Although the visit was short, we packed in a lot of activities.  We explored a few "Cerros" of Valparaiso:

Watched the sunset from Hotel del Mar:

We also drove up the coast, had dinner with my host family, and my brother and I were able to play "baby futbol" one night.  Overall it was a good visit and I am happy they were able to experience a little of what I do and see everyday.

Last Saturday, I was able to do one of my favorite things in Chile: Go to an Everton Soccer Club game in Vina.  Everton is Vina del Mar's professional soccer team.  The games are crazy and everyone is pretty obsessed! They are definitely the best games I have been to.  Here are some pictures!

So on to this past week.  School has been going pretty well so far.  Each week, for the most part, it becomes easier and easier to understand and communicate in class.  It definitely takes some time!  This past week though I really only had University class one day.  Our classes were "en paro" which basically means they are suspended.  Starting on Tuesday, the university students all around Valparaiso began huge, full stage protests.  The base of these protests stems from the raise in student bus fares on the Micros (buses that are used all over to get from place to place).  In addition to this, other issues pertaining to equal education, food quality, and textbook availability were also being challenged. 

Until they come to an agreement with the school and government, we are in a stand still.  I find this entire situation so fascinating.  I have never been around/experienced such passion for change.  They are upset about something and are actually doing something about it, instead of waiting for something to happen.  Although, in my opinion, some of the issues they are focusing on are quite small, they are still making a difference.

Hopefully, they will be able to resolve the issues soon and I'll keep you updated!

The real Patagonia!

    

So here we go.  At the University, last week was entitled "La Semana Novata."  I still am kind of unsure as to the exact meaning of the week but I do know almost all classes are canceled and there are big parties around town to "celebrate" the beginning of a new school year.  This, therefore, is essentially my spring break.  With this time, my two friends and I planned a trip to the southern region of Chile (region XII, Austral) to begin an adventure into the immense region of Patagonia.  This has been something I have been looking forward to since I had considered studying here. 

We left Saturday morning March 29th at 5 am and began our day long travel journey.  Tyler (a friend from New Hampshire) and I started with an hour and a half bus ride to Santiago from Valparaiso.  After this we took about a 2 hour flight to a city called Puerto Montt.  In Puerto Montt we had a 4 hour layover until our next flight which was semi-torture.  The PM airport had only 3 gates or "puertas" as they call them, so as you can assume there wasn't a whole lot to do!  The next hour and 15 minute flight to Punta Arenas brought us almost to the end of the world.  Only a few more hours south and you will hit the end of South America and all thats left is Antarctica, which is pretty far south.  We got to PA about 7 o'clock and had to take a taxi from the airport into town (30 min) to find a bus station.  We made it there and bought tickets for a bus to Puerto Natales at 8 pm.  The ride to PN took about 3 hours and went through the absolute middle of nowhere...literally.  And for some reason in Chile, the bus conductors love to use heat.  Its a normal temperature outside and sometimes a little A/C would even be appropriate but instead they blast the heat thinking everyone is freezing cold.  The reality is that you can sweat more inside a bus than if you were running a marathon outside.  It was quite uncomfortable but the trip was necessary!  We arrived in PN at around 11 and found our way to a hostal called "Backpackers Kaweskar."  Kaweskar is the name of an indigenous group from southern Chile.

At the hostal we met up with Doug, the third member of our group, and five other girls from our program that had arrived the day before.  The hostal was quite nice, fully-equipped with sheets and an included breakfast.  (By the way, our traveling isn't over yet)  The next morning Doug, Tyler, and I woke up at 6:45 am to eat breakfast and catch the bus to Torres del Paine National Park at 7:30 am where we would begin our journey.  This bus ride is about 2 to 2.5 hours and then we finally got to our destination! Quite a trek but in hindsight completely worth it.

After about a 30 minute boat ride across Lake Pehoe, we arrived at a lodge and began the most physically demanding and difficult task I have ever encountered.  We all had large packs with all the necessities, plus some, that we had to carry the entire trip.  I don't think I really knew what I was getting myself in to!  We hiked the "W" trail, named so cleverly after its actual trail shape.  I have included a link to a very basic map of the trail:
http://www.besthike.com/southamerica/chile/images/w_sm.gif

So here is the basic rundown on our 4 night/5 day trek through the park:

Day 1: hike 4 hours - 11km, Camp at Refugio Grey at the base of huge Glacier Grey

Day 2: hike 6 hours - 18.6km, Hike back down 1st part of "W" and over towards the middle part, camp at Campamento Italiano

Day 3: hike 4.5 hours - 9.5km, Hike up into the middle of the "W" and back down (Valle Frances), and hike over to right side of "W" and camp at Campamento Los Cuernos (this is where we had a mouse in our sleeping tent and storage tent...it so nicely woke us all up at 1:30am and thoroughly freaked us out, quite an experience!)

Day 4: hike 7 hours - 19.7km, Hike from Cuernos all the way around the bottom right point of the "W" to Campamento Las Torres at the base of the parks landmark, Las Torres (the towers)

Day 5: hike 4.5 hours - 10.7km, Hike at 5:45am in the dark and rain to the base of the Torres (you are supposed to be able to see the sunrise reflection off the Torres but it was rainy and kind of foggy but still very beautiful).  Hike back down, pack everything up in the rain and head down to Hosteria Las Torres to catch our bus back to Puerto Natales.

 

During the trip we made friends with two Australians, a Spanish girl, and two girls from London.  All of them were doing some kind of long journey through South America and made me very jealous.  The instant bond you make on the trail with people is pretty cool.  All of them are going to or already have passed through Valpo and Vina to visit.  We also made friends with plenty of mice on our trek.  They get in your tent, in your packs, in your food...everywhere! Each night we "bear bagged" all of our food and put it in trees.  None of this seemed to bother the mice because every morning we would wake up with a new surprise.   

Wow...by the end we smelled bad (good thing everyone else was in the same boat!), were exhausted, and all we wanted was some pizza and a hot shower.  I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The trip was amazing and the park was unbelievable, I will definitely be going back sometime in the near future. 

I finally got back to Vina del Mar on Sunday morning April 6th and was happy to welcome my parents and my brother on Monday morning to my new hometown.  We had a great time together touring Vina and Valpo and I enjoyed showing them around some of my new favorite places.  It was a short visit but a full one!

I hope everyone is doing great! I'll be in touch!

Chett 

So its been a month...

So it has been a month since I last posted.  Forgive me please!  My last blog post was a recap of my times in Paris.  I left off saying that I was headed into a weekend meeting my mom and grandmother in Paris.  Let me just say that seeing your mom and grandmother come around the corner in the airport is one of the most fun things ever!  We had a great time in Paris, driving to Normandy, and staying in one of the best bed and breakfast's ever (La Ferme du Pressoir in Villers-Bocage).  The picture opening up this blog is from my latest excursion to the capital with some friends from Columbia, SC.  We had quite the amazing race experience in the metro to meet a friend at the pyramid at the Louvre that definitely involved running through the metro and jumping into a car as the buzzer is sounding!  I find it so amazing that I have the ability to know my way around a city as large, exotic, and fascinating as Paris.

So I have also just finished the week of 'devoir maisons'--the literal translation of 'home work' but the actual translation of 'research paper'.  5 pages of single spaced information on art history, in French, was less than simple!  I also had similar assignments in my Middle East class and French Romanticism.  Now it is over and I can breathe-until finals that is!

Life with my host family is going excellently!  When my mom came she brought Jelly Bellies and a pizza cutter.  She brought Jelly Bellies because it was around Easter, and she brought the pizza cutter because she had asked me what my family needed.  I found it kind of strange, but the first thing I thought of was a pizza cutter for their various tartes and homemade supreme pizzas.  Well the Jelly Bellies were a hit.  My 16 yr old host brother found it hilarious to give the root beer flavored one to all his siblings.  The pizza cutter is also now the most commonly used utensil in the kitchen, I believe.  I am fairly sure that you can get them in France, but my family just hadn't given the pizza cutter a chance yet.  Also when my mom and grandmother came, I was sort of surprised to find out which members of my host family spoke English.  We only speak French in the house, unless my host mom wants my 16 yr old brother to practice for an English test, or she is translating something we are eating for dinner. 

Today is the start of our spring break, so I am going to miss my host family a lot!  To match with the university here, we have two weeks to travel and discover Europe!  So tonight I head to Paris where a plane awaits to take me to Malaga, Spain.  I'll be there for a week.  Then I'll head to Dublin, Ireland and on to London.  It is crazy that I have the opportunity to see Europe like this!  I'll update you on my travels when I get back!

A bientot!

Julia

Now what?

With easter just passed, I now have the experience of Semana Santa in the Dominican Republic under my belt. And the thing is, it wasn't anything like I imagined.

While hanging out near the First Cathedral of the Americas, I did see a parade on Palm Sunday of men dressed up like Roman soldiers marching down the street followed by a statue of Jesus on the donkey, with stander-bys joining in with their palm leaves and following the parade down the street. It was a really cool glimpse at the demonstrations of the Catholic faith in this country.

Other than that though, I barely saw the impact of Easter at all. For the most part, Semana Santa only signifies the national spring break where everybody heads to the beach and the cops come out in full force in popular vacation spots. At the beach where I was staying with my family, there were tents full of cops who camped out on the beach non-stop. Boca Chica is also one of the busiest and craziest beaches in the country though, well known for its rampant prostitution. With stages set up on the beach and an international volleyball tournament going on right beside me, I felt like I'd been dropped into MTV's spring break, or the closest I would ever come at least.

On Easter day I finally mustered up the courage to go to church here at the Evangelical Church that's right across the street from where I live. I never really realized just how intimidating coming into a church environment can be for an outsider, especially one who doesn't have a complete grasp of the language. I came in and felt right at home though, with the only scare when everybody around me started screaming to the pastor "visita!" and trying to make me introduce myself as a visitor. Afterwards, trying to have some fun with all my Easter traditions from home, I died some easter eggs with a friend. My host mom was completely baffled by the practice and after we were finished, she quite blatantly and much in the Dominican way asked, "Now what do you do with them?" with a baffled expression as she examined what I had just done to her eggs.

I must admit I was completely shocked that with all of the American influences in this country, the traditions of dying eggs and the easter bunny had not reached this deeply catholic country. I guess some things are out of the reach of the capitalist hand after all.

It has officially been a month!

                       

Hola a todos! Wow so on Monday it was officially a month abroad!  A month into something I actually never thought I would do and it has been more than worth it. 

Since we last spoke, there has been a lot going on.  Two weekends ago the CIEE group all went to Pucon, which is one of Chile's most well know outdoor adventure cities.  They have huge lakes, mountains, a volcano, waterfalls, etc., etc.  You name it they have it!  It is about a 10-12 hours bus ride from here in Vina del Mar and we left on a Thursday night and arrived early Friday morning.  That started the trip off interestingly...10 hours in anything for me is enough.  After arriving we went straight to a Mapuche community, (the indigenous people of central and southern Chile) went to a museum, ate some native cuisine and trekked back into the country to visit a small town in our huge tour bus.  If we didn't stick out enough being from the US, now with our tour bus going down a narrow dirt road wasn't helping.  We arrived there finally and began our Mapuche experience.  We learned some dances, drank some mate (herbal like tea) and played a sport called "balin".  Its just like field hockey and was very fun!

Saturday was labeled as our "free day."  We had the opportunity to pick several activities through an adventure agency.  These activities included climbing the volcano, horseback riding, rafting, trekking, mountain biking, etc.  A few other friends and I chose to go fishing.  The owner of the cabins we were staying at knew some local fishermen and so on we went.  There were several boats with two people to a boat and a guide.  The guide baited the hook, navigated the sometimes rapid filled river, and told us where to "throw it." It was so fun.  Anna Perkins (a fellow Wofford student) and I were in the same boat and caught 5 trout.  I must admit she caught 3 and I only caught 2, but none-the-less we had a great time.

Our last day, Sunday, we toured the "region" which included three hikes to three different "saltos" or waterfalls.  There were magnificent.  Afterward we enjoyed several hours in a natural hot spring.  Doesn't sound so much like school, huh? Here are a few pics of the saltos.

For the last two weeks I have been going to class, meeting new Chilean friends, and enjoying the two cities!  School here is way different than any other place I have been.  For instance, my Business class has only met two times in the scheduled 6 or 7 because of different school cancellations.  I am taking classes with mostly "primer ano" (first year, freshmen) and they have a lot of activities going on for the first couple of weeks and for one reason or another, class is taking a back-seat!

Next week is called Semana Novata.  I am still kind of unsure about what that means but I do know, no one goes to class and most of the classes are canceled.  Hence, it is the week to travel and I am leaving Saturday with two other friends to fly down south and hike in the Patagonia region for a whole week!  I will post afterwards and let you know how it goes. 

I tried out for a "baby futbol" team last week which in Chile is the type of indoor soccer they play, especially in the cities.  There isn't much green space big enough for full fields so they play in gyms with different rules.  It is very fun and very fast paced! Wish me luck, I need it to represent Wofford soccer!

Hope everyone is doing great.  Please feel free to email me with any questions or thoughts you have. And remember I have a bunch of pics posted at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/McCubreyEJ

Hasta luego, que te vaya bien!

Chett

Sorry if the formatting looks weird, I don't know whats wrong!

The Craziest Week of My Life

Buenas tardes!

Hope that everyone has had a wonderful past couple of weeks! I had one of the craziest/awesome/hardest experiences EVER. We lived in the rural village of Koari, which is about two hours outside of Cochabamba. My host family had a hose of running water and electricity (aka, a lightbulb per room) which is a recent development due to the presence of an NGO in the region. Nonetheless, the normal ammenities of shower, bathroom, and (oh right) people who speak spanish were not so much available...thus it was really challenging! Never fear, complete with sections!

My Host Family:

I lived with a family of 13. Two grandparents, two parents, two brothers, and seven kids! It was crazy all the time to say the least. I slept in a room with 9 other people...six in the bed next to me, and four in the bed across from me. I definitely felt bad having a bed to myself...and by the end of the week actually really WANTED someone to sleep with me because it was so freezing cold at night!

Physical Environment:

The scenery was really beautiful!! The pueblo itself is kind of in the middle of two "cerros" or "hills." There was a huge field of wildflowers growing in front of the house, which was awesome to wake up to in the morning. The house itself was made of stone and mud and had a thatched roof, and of course dirt floors. It obviously wasn´t too well insulated so it got VERY cold at night. I slept with a sleeping bag, three blankets, and all of my clothes (including scarf, gloves, and wool socks). Their fields around the house were of potatoes, lima beans, lettuce, and onions. They also had a ton of animals: ducks, dogs, chickens, cows, sheep, and pigs.

A typical day for me:

6:30-Wake up

7- Eat lunch....yeah, that´s right, LUNCH!

8-Kids leave for school, we peel papas.

9-Yeah, we´re still peeling papas

10- Herd some sheep

10:30-Cook lunch

12- Eat lunch

12:30- help the kids with their homework/play

1:30- Help with the potatoes in the fields

4:30-peel papas

5:30-peel papas

6:15- Cook dinner

7:30- Eat dinner

8:15- Go to bed

Language Barrier:

The grandparents only spoke Quechua, and the parents spoke very broken spanish...so the majority of my time was spent trying to figure out what it was they were laughing at me about about that particular time! (usually it was my inability to peel potatoes, but I´ll get to that later!) The kids spoke spanish, but most of the time I was with the mom. Thus, sometimes it was a little difficult to understand what they were saying to me. For example:

Sometimes they would mix up verbs and use ones that they didn´t really mean to use. Thus, the first full day I was there they asked if I would like to go for a walk. It was seven thirty in the morning, the sun was still behind the clouds, so I of course said "sure!" Unfortunately, what they meant was "viajar"...we walked a little ways to the main road where we met a bunch of other people and a couple of taxis. Now I´m thinking, "huh, this is weird..." and they are all speaking Quechua now, so I have no chance of knowing what´s going on. But we all pile (yes, all nine of us in a taxi meant for four) into the taxi and THREE HOURS later arrive at a "feria" of different kinds of food. It was a festival in another pueblo with different types of food and music. Needless to say, due to the altitude and lack of shade, I came back with a major sunburn (At 9pm that night). Was it fun? Sure. Was it worth it? I´m not sure! haha. But I did learn to make sure I know where I´m going before I go the next time!

Papas ("Potatoes"):

If I never see or eat another potatoe in my life, I will definitely be happy about it! I have never eaten or peeled or harvested or done as much of anything with potatoes as I did this week. That´s basically their life. That´s all they have to eat, and so that´s all we ate. I brought fruit as a gift when I came, but I had no idea how much of an ammenity that was. The closest place to buy fruit I found out was an hour+ away...and they really don´t have the money to anyway. Occasionally they mixed rice or pasta with the papas....but most of the time, it was literally just papas. I worked in the field harvesting potatoes a couple of days....and that is some hard work! I felt really spoiled never having to do something like that in my entire life until now.

Community:

Everything is about the community there. There is really no such thing as an individual (obviously that´s a little dramatic, but you get the point). They work in groups and help each other harvest their crops, build local buildings, whatever they might need. In fact, there was a death in the community while I was there and literally the WHOLE pueblo came over to their house to cook for them, help them with funeral preparations, etc....and the WHOLE pueblo went to the gravesite with the family. As sad as it was, it was actually really cool to see everyone come together the way they did.

Awkwardness:

"Awkward" was just the word of the week. Awkward to go to the bathroom behind a tree, awkward to sleep in a room with 9 other people, awkward to not understand Quechua, awkward to eat their food when they don´t have much anyway...just awkward all around! I actually felt really sad and guilty when my host mom asked me one night at dinner "its sad the way we live here in the campo, right?" I didn´t think it was sad at all...just a completely different form of life than something I´ve ever experienced.

How I fared:

I was SO good all week until the last night. I ate rebollo (which is cabbage I think) with potatoes for lunch the last day...and that did not turn out to be a good thing. It was cooked, but cabbage retains a lot of water. Needless to say, when I was throwing up in the middle of the field, in the middle of the freezing cold, all night long...it wasn´t fun. By far the worst night I have had in my life, haha. I was really lucky that it was the last night though and I got to go home the next morning! Other than that, I just came out with flea bites and a really bad sunburn. (If you need a good remedy for a sunburn, try tomatoes! My host mom put them all over my face when I got back and it was a TON better the next day!)

All in all, it was one of the coolest things I will ever do. To put into perspective the remoteness of where we were living, the family of one girl in our group had never even heard of the United States!

Would I ever do it again? Probably not. I have never been so happy to see a shower in my life!

Would I tell somebody else to do it if they had the chance? Absolutely!

Anyway, that´s all for now I think.

un besito,

Kristen