December Update

Dear family and friends,
Querida familia y amigos,

I hope that you are all well and that you are enjoying the holiday season.
Espero que todos estén bien y que estén disfrutando de la época de las fiestas.

I’m sorry that I have not written an update for quite some time.
Lo siento que no he escrito algo en tanto tiempo.

Right now I am in the city of Santa Cruz. I have just returned for a trip to Cochabamba. I spent 2 weeks there to attend a workshop with my work partner, Professor Pedro Ipamo and to attend Spanish language classes.

Ahora estoy en la ciudad de Santa Cruz. Acabe de regresar de un viaje a Cochabamba. Yo quede dos semanas allá para asistir un taller con mi compañero de trabajo, Profesor Pedro Ipamo, y para asistir clases del idioma castellano.

I don’t even know where to begin with this update. First I guess I should inform you all of the current political situation in Bolivia, as some of you may have seen news blurbs on CNN or something like that. Bolivia is going through some changes. A new constitution has been drafted and was signed a few days ago. This would be fine and dandy if all of the appropriate parties had been present, but they were not. The constitution seemed to have been signed overnight, without following the appropriate protocol. The new constitution will allow the current president, Evo Morales, the power to run of president over an over again…which makes some Bolivians less than happy. Evo Morales receives a great deal of support from the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who is not a fan of the United States. This is could potentially be reason for concern. The constitution also creates controversy over which city is the capital of Bolivia. Bolivia currently has 2 capitals, La Paz and Sucre. The new constitution however seeks to make La Paz the one and only capital. This would cause a major shift in the location of political and economic power within the country. Today the officials and representatives from all over Bolivia are meeting to discuss a counteraction to the signing of the new constitution. We are not really sure what is going to happen. They have also called for a referendum, which would result in a national vote to decide if Evo Morales should continue as president. The whole situation is confusing. Last week there was an uprising and blockades in the city of Sucre. Last week there was a peaceful gathering of several thousand people in the city of Cochabamba. And there is currently a hunger strike going on in Santa Cruz. I am not sue how many people are involved, but the plaza is filled with tents of people camping out. My friend Anna and I walked through the plaza today to check out the hunger strikers. I had never seen a hunger strike before and was surprised to see such a variety of people. There were even a significant number of children participating. Today is the 8th day of the hunger strike and I have no idea how many days they will continue. The department of Santa Cruz is also calling once again for autonomy. This is an ongoing battle. Half of the country seems to be in favor of Evo Morales, and the other half seems to be against him. This is all I know because the news stations here are not very informative. Even the Bolivians seem to be confused. But that is my explanation derived from what I have seen and heard, accuracy is not guaranteed. I assure you all that I am safe and not in any sort of danger. The demonstrations and tactics they are using to protest are overall peaceful. The Peace Corps keeps a close eye on the political situation and will take precautions and appropriate measures as needed to insure the safety of all volunteers.

Moving on from politics…

I have been out of my site since the day before Thanksgiving because I had to travel to Cochabamba to attend a workshop with my work partner.

Right before Thanksgiving my friend Mathias, a fellow peace corps volunteer, came to visit me in my site. He traveled out to El Puquio by himself on the 20 de Enero micro bus and was blessed with an uneventful trip. We spent a couple days together exploring El Puquio, introducing him to my friends, climbing the water tank, and playing cards. The first day he was with me we took a walk down the road towards San Lorenzo, and we encountered a HUGE TARANTULA! It was awesome. The tarantula was scared of course because we were mean and threw a small stick close to it. I am not sure how many of you have ever seen an angry tarantula...but let me tell you...its cool. When a tarantula gets angry it stands up on its back leg and raises its front legs into the air, like it is trying to make itself as big as possible. So there we were face to face with a giant angry tarantula...and what do you think we did? Well, we took a picture of it of course! Haha.

It rained for most of the time he was in my site with me, so we spent a lot of time playing cards and cooking. And let me tell you, we made the best spaghetti in the world. Well, maybe it was not as good as Grandma Meray`s...but it was pretty darn good, and totally vegetarian friendly. Overall it was a pretty laid back visit, nothing super exciting happened...until we got on the micro to head back to Santa Cruz.

So Mathias and I woke up early the morning before Thanksgiving to get on the lovely 20 de Enero micro bus to head back into Santa Cruz to attend the Thanksgiving festivities. The micro was PACKED. I know this might be kind of hard to visualize for some of you, so I will be as descriptive as possible. The bus is not very big, and it is really old. It has a bit of rust and is always dirty. Inside the bus there are 20 seats...and on this particular day there were over 60 PEOPLE inside the bus. You do the math. 20 seats and 60 people. We were CRAMMED and JAM PACKED into that little ugly bus. And to make matters worse, there were 6 or 7 guys sitting ON TOP OF the bus. Not safe. Inside the bus it was hot, sweaty, dusty and smelled like a mix of urine, body odor, vomit, gasoline, and boiled chicken. Not pleasant.

I was wedged between Mathias and a young girl of about 14. The girl was holding a bag of baby chicks on her lap...and eating chicken right off the bone out of a plastic bag. No doubt the poor little chicks mother. It grossed me out.

In front of Mathias and I was a pair of 9 year old girls who were sharing one single seat. The girls were topless, because it was so hot. Halfway through the ride I noticed that the one girl was checking the other girl`s hair for lice. I said to Mathias, “Look there...now that is what I call a good friend”. He laughed and we watched them for a minute...only to suddenly realize that they were not just taking the lice out of eachothers hair...they were EATING THE LICE TOO! Kind of gross...but at the same time heartwarming. Think about it. Both those girls were probably bored, hungry, and had itchy heads. And they were such good friends that they sat there and tediously picked out the lice from eachothers hair. And then being generous friends, allowed eachother to eat the lice. That is friendship. You scratch my back and I`ll scratch yours.

Because the micro was so packed with people, it was a little weighed down. Every time we came to a big hill the bus driver had to stop and request that half of the people get off the bus to help push. That happened at least 8 or 9 times. It was exhausting. At one point the bus broke down, and we all had to get off the bus. I was thankful to get off the bus because I had to pee really bad. I ran off down the road and climbed into the trees a little to do my business...and during this process I someone managed to slice the back of my right arm on a branch and bleed on my shorts. I know have a thin little scar and a blood stain to remind me of the dangers of low branches.

Remember those people on top of the bus? Well, at one point we hit a bump and a guy fell off...yep...that is what I said. The guy fell off the top of the bus. Thankfully he did not get hurt, and the bus driver was in a good mood and went back to get him. Then the crazy guy climbed back on top of the bus...which seemed like a bad idea to me and everyone else on the bus. But the fact is that he was so drunk he probably did not even feel the fall, so therefore had no aprehensions about getting back on top.

Mathias got to truly experience the infamous 20 de enero bus. I am thinking of making t-shirts that say “I SURVIVED THE 20 DE ENERO MICRO”.

It was a long ride, but it was not so bad because I had Mathias with me...and a bag of mangoes. I love mangoes. I now express my level of happiness using mangoes. Today is a pretty good day...I give it 7 sunripened mangoes.

I spent Thanksgiving at a resort called Bella Vista, which is about an hour and a half from the city of Santa Cruz. The majority of the volunteers working in the department of Santa Cruz attended the event, because Thanksgiving is the only non-Bolivian holiday we are given off work. The resort was absolutely beautiful. The pool deck overlooks a flat green valley with palm trees. You can see off into the distance for miles and miles as the flat land pushes up into rolling hills and eventually rises into small mountains. The sky is endless and overwhelming. It was a hot beautiful day, probably around 93 degrees. Every room had air conditioning, which was a big treat for me because I could hardly remember what it was like to not be hot and sweaty. The Peace Corps provided us with 2 turkeys, which are actually quite expensive here in Bolivia. The volunteers all brought food to prepare traditional Thanksgiving dishes and a variety of tasty things. There was mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, corn, carrot soup, broccoli, black bean salad, wheat bread, corn bread, baked apples, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, chocolate pudding with bananas, mashed zucchini, and so much more. We had a feast on the pool deck as the sun was setting. It was awesome. And although I missed all of my family and friends, I was happy…because come on, when else in my life was I going to get the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving in my bathing suit at a tropical resort in Bolivia surrounded by palm trees, parrots, and a group of wonderful friends who believe in the same cause as I do? Oh and I forgot to mention the toucans (yep like on the fruit loops box). Don’t be jealous, I took pictures for you all haha.

On to what I did in Cochabamba…

First, a little geography/weather lesson. Santa Cruz in on the eastern side of Bolivia, which borders Brazil. The department of Cochabamba is located in the middle of the country. The city of Cochabamba is located in an Andean mountain valley. The climate is temperate, not too hot and not too cold. The days are pretty warm and generally dry. The altitude results quickly in some serious sunburn, so sunscreen is an everyday must. But as soon as the sun goes down things cool off quickly. Santa Cruz is located in Bolivia’s tropical warm lowlands, complete with parrots, palm trees, and humidity. I personally prefer the weather in Santa Cruz, but many others would disagree.

The Peace Corps put on a workshop called Small Project Design. It was a very helpful workshop in which the volunteers and their Bolivian work partners learned how to plan, design and write up a small project. My work partner, Profesor Pedro, and I designed and wrote up the plan to implement a nutrition campaign in El Puquio. This project would include activities such as presentations in the school, cooking classes for interested persons, a girls cooking club, a presentation at a town meeting, a health and nutrition fair, and the planting of a town garden. Profesor Pedro seems very interested in implementing a nutrition project and I fully support the idea. This would be a multifaceted project that would be carried out over the course of a year or longer.

The second week in Cochabamba was for volunteers only. We met with out bosses and discussed many things. We also attended language classes to give us a little boost on our spanish skills. There were also several fun and interesting activities. One morning I had the opportunity to visit a nutrition rehabilitation center for children. I got a tour of the facility, which was extremely clean and well organized. And then I got to play with babies and little kids! It was heart breaking to see the state of malnutrition most of them were in, but heart warming to feel their little hands grasp my fingers through the bars of their cribs and play pens. The facility cares for children under 5 years old who have been identified as severely malnourished and deficient in emotional and cognitive areas. The treatment is free to the families, but the mothers are obligated to attend weekly nutrition and health classes so that their child does not end up back in the facility.

While I was in Cochabamba I had a minor health issue. I woke up one morning with a huge painful bump in my armpit. Okay, maybe it was not huge. It was the size of a nickel and felt like a marble under my skin. It did not stop hurting or go away for a few days, so I decided to go to the medical office. I found out that my mystery bump was some kind of infected abscess. A clogged pour, sweat gland, burrowing insect, or a variety of things could have caused it. The bottom line was that it needed to be drained. Mauricio, the Peace Corps doctor had me lay down on the table and he proceeded to jam a HUGE NEEDLE into my armpit to try to drain the abscess with a syringe. It did not work. So he gave me some antibiotics and sent me to the emergency clinic to have it taken care of by a doctor there. It was not a fun time. I had to lay down on a table covered in a white sheet topless with one arm above my head. There was a huge blinding white surgery room light hanging down from the ceiling. I was scared. Thankfully, my friend Laura was with me. She even took a picture of me laying on the table haha. The doctor did not use and anesthetic…and the procedure was painful. I knew he was going to slice open the abscess, but I was not prepared for what it actually felt like. It felt more like he laid all of his weight into my armpit and punctured the stupid bump. Laura watched the whole thing and claims she never saw blood come out the way it did from my armpit. It felt really strange and it burned. Then the doctor squeezed the bump. It hurt or course, but I had to laugh when he commented on the amount of puss that was inside the bump. After he cleaned on the wound, he stuffed some sort of drainage contraption inside, so that the would not close up before all the goo drained out. Sort of nasty, but cool at the same time. After I got up, I looked at the table and saw a huge blood stain. I had never seen that much of my blood spilled out…but it did look sort of cool on the white sheet haha.

I had a good time in Cochabamba with all of my friends. I got to see the volunteers from my training class whom I had not seen since August. A lot of people looked much different. In fact, the majority of my friends looked different. People had either lost or gained a ton of weight, grown beards, or just looked generally more like hippies haha. And in case any of you were wondering...I have not shaved my head yet and yes, I did break down and finally shave my legs. But I still highly reccomend that all women give the hairy legs thing a try. It is liberating.

Well, this is getting to be a long email. But I have one more little life lesson to share with you all.

Life Lesson: WATERMELON IS A DANGEROUS FRUIT

So I was walking down the street yesterday afternoon with my friend Anna. I was heavily weighed down by the excessive amount of things I was carrying. I had my bag and 2 packages that finally arrived from the States. So there we were walking down the streets of Santa Cruz City, chatting away. And then all of the sudden I felt my foot slip and I stumbled forward. Then my legs collapsed under me and I found myself laying on my side in the middle of the sidewalk. I quickly lifted myself up and looked down at the ground trying to figure out what happened. And there I saw it...a stupid little watermelon rind. I had slipped on a piece of watermelon rind. I took an inventory of my body parts as Anna looked at me in shock. She probably wanted to laugh at me because it was exactly like those cartoon situations where someone slips on a banana peel...but in my case it was a watermelon rind. My right ankle and leg were a little scratched up, no big deal. But the stumble before the actual fall took a HUGE CHUNK out of my right big toe. And it was bleeding all over the place. A flap of skin about a half of an inch wide was hanging off the tip of my toe. My toe nail was all scratched up and looked like I had dipped my toe in a mixture of dirt and blood. It was nasty and it burned really bad. Thankfully we had some clean water with us to wash off the street grime before we continued on our way to the hostel where we were staying. But by the time we got there my flip flop was stained red from my blood and my toe was throbbing. It was nasty and painful. So beware, watermelon is a dangerous fruit.

That is all for now. Thanks to all of you who made it through that email. I will be back in the city for Christmas and to pick up Josh...who arrives on the 27th! Yahoo! So I hope you all have a great holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in advance. Happy Birthday to all of you December Birthday people....I do not have my birthday list with me right now so you will have to excuse me for not being able to give personal birthday wishes.

Oh I forgot...here is something I should have included in my November update.

You will never guess what I did on my last day as a 21 year old...so I might as well tell you right now.

On the 14th of November I had an overall bad day. First, I burned the birthday cake I was trying to bake myself because I got distracted playing jump rope with the kids and I forgot about it. Then I accidently put the baking soda in twice when I tried to make another cake...which resulted in the cake overflowing the pan and burning on the bottom of my oven. Thankfully, the 3rd attempt to make a cake was successful. But by this point, I was frustrated and my room was super hot from having had baked 3 cakes on a 90 something degree day. I was feeling pretty down about the cakes and the fact that I was going to spend my birthday away from all of my family and friends. My host family had gone off somewhere and I was alone. It started to get dark out and I shut myself in my room. I lit some candles and started to jump rope and do excercises in my room. I was getting super hot and sweaty...number one because I was working out and number two because my room was still boiling hot from baking 3 cakes in a poorly ventilated area. Then all of the sudden it got pitch black outside and clouds started rolling in. I could hear the wind from inside my room. I looked out the window and saw the lightening start to flash. A storm was coming. Then, the sky opened up and the rain started to pour down. And as I stood there sweating to death looking out the window, a brillant idea hit me. Without hesitation I proceeded to fling off my clothes. And then I ran out my door BUTT NAKED into the rain! Thats right...I ran outside BUTT NAKED. It was pitch black out, except for the flashes of lightening. No was was home and no one was around because it was pretty late and there was a thunderstorm raging. So I proceeded to bathe myself in the rain that was coming down, and it felt amazing. The rain cooled my skin and washed away my anger and frustrations. I danced around a bit too...haha. And then I ran back into my room. But it had felt so refreshing and exhilarating that I just had to go back out. So I ran back out again and danced around in the rain yelling and laughing out loud. And then I ran back inside. But of course that was not enough. So I ran out again and spun around until I was super dizzy...and then I went back into my room. I threw myself down on my bed and laughed out loud for quite some time. I felt like I had been born again...it was like a new start. That rainstorm was surely a gift from God. I had never felt better in my entire life. I had never done something like that before. And it was a perfect way to celebrate my last night as a 21 year old. So if one day my children or anyone else asks me what the craziest thing I ever did when I was young I can say...Well, when I was 21 years old I joined the Peace Corps, moved out into the middle of the jungle, and danced butt naked in the rain during a Bolivian thunderstorm.

I know some of you are probably in shock after hearing that. I myself never thought that I would be dancing naked in the rain. (No one saw me I assure you, because if they had I am sure that I would have heard about it the next day haha) But that is exactly what I did. It was extremely out of character for me. And it felt good. I have no explanation for my sudden loss of inhibition. Something inside me just snapped. I was not going to share that story with you all....but then I changed my mind. I thought some of you might get a kick out of it and that it would serve to demonstrate my increasing insanity and new outlook on life. Being out there in the middle of nowhere all alone really does something to your brain. It teaches you to just let go. Don´t sweat the small stuff. Give in to your impulses sometimes. Life is too short to be uptight and reserved all the time. You have to get out there. Experience life. Follow you dreams. Enjoy the moment. Just let go. So go ahead, do something crazy. Do something out of character. Throw a dart at a map and GO THERE. Climb a tree. Jump in puddles. Squish your toes in the mud. Roast marshmallows over your gas stove. Fake sick and call into work. The possibilities are endless. Don´t just dream the dream...LIVE IT.


I love and miss you all. Thanks for the emails, packages, letters, love and support. I really do appreciate it...even if it takes me forever to thank you for it.

Millions of hugs are flying across the equator right now and landing on each and every one of your doorsteps. Enjoy.

Hugs y paz, beth

PS. For those of you who are thinking that I might be turning into a crazzy hippie....you are probably right. I will not deny it. Haha.

November Update - Life lessons

sorry this took so long to get sent out!


Dear family y amigos,

Well, hello everyone! I hope that all is well and that you are all enjoying good health and tons of happiness. I apologize that it has been awhile since I last wrote a group update. I have been out at my site for about a month straight now. (Seriously I have not been more than 7 kilometers from my house). The internet in my site has been kind of unpredictable, which is understandable seeing as how I am in the middle of the jungle!

First, some sad news…my host family’s pet parrot was stolen. That’s right, stolen right out of the tree in our yard. We have no idea who took it, but we assume they have already sold it. Apparently little green parrot is work about 50 bolivianos, which is quite a bit of money for the people out here. But, who knows…she could have magically re-grown her clipped wings overnight and decided to migrate. So if you see a little green parrot that answers to the name Señorita Maria Lorita, let me know.

So now I would like to take this opportunity to share with you a few little anecdotes and life lessons that I have acquired and learned since the last group update.


Life lesson number 2: ALWAYS LOOK AT YOUR TOWEL BEFORE YOU DRY YOU FACE
This lesson may not apply to your life right now. But it is a very important thing for me to remember. A few days ago I was taking my bucket bath out back behind my house. I was going about my business and failed to foresee the impending danger. When I bathe I throw my towel over a huge rock. When I am done bathing the first thing I do is dry my face. So I reached over, with my eyes still shut, to grab my towel and dry off my face. At the last second I decided to open my eyes, and it was a good thing I did….Because there, crawling around on my towel, was a HUGE MILLIPEDE! I mean HUGE! It was about 7 inches long and FAT! I had nearly wiped my face with that big old bug! It was alarming. Needless to say, I let out a bit of a scream and threw my towel. Which was a bad idea because it landed in the dirt and got all full of mud…but at least the millipede fell off and I was able to finally dry off. So, if you are ever camping or something like that, make sure you look at your towel before you start to dry off.

Life lesson number 2: ALWAYS CARRY A BIG STICK AND A FLASHLIGHT
Last week I was visiting some friends who live on the opposite side of the community. It was getting late, and starting to get dark out. There was going to be no electricity that night, so I figured I should probably head back home. My friend, a teenage girl named Maria, offered to walk with me to the plaza, so that she could help me safely pass the house where the crazy dog lives. I of course accepted her offer and we began our journey. It was a really good thing that I had my flashlight with me. It was already quite dark and there were a ton of strange animals out. The grass was wet from the rain we had had earlier in the day, so all of the creepy crawling things were out to play. On the way we saw 2 huge TARANTULAS, 3 HUGE TOADS, 6 HUGE MILLIPEDES and 1 BIG SNAKE! If we had not had my flashlight we would have surely stepped on some of them. Finally we were getting close to the house were the crazy dog lives, and sure enough…he leapt off the porch and came charging at us barking like crazy. Maria and I stopped in our tracks and yelled at him in Spanish. That didn’t seem to work, so I yelled in English and he stopped barking. Maria decided that it was no safe for me to go on alone. So I continued to walk until I crossed the plaza. But then all of the sudden, the village’s other crazy dog, a big white dog named “loco” (which actually means crazy), came charging at me barking his brains out. I got scared, so I decided to turn around and try to call Maria to come help me again. But she was long gone into the darkness. Then because the big white dog was making so much noise, the other crazy dog came running at barking from the other side of the plaza. So there I was, stuck in the middle of the plaza, with 2 crazy dogs running around me in circles barking and charging me every so often. I did not know what to do. As most of you probably already know, I am scared of dogs to begin with. But I managed to calmly walk to the nearest house and knock on the door. I did not even know who lived there, but luckily it was the home of one of the teacher’s brothers and he recognized me in the dark. He immediately saw my problem and said that he would walk me home, but first he had to get something. I figured he come back from inside his room with a flashlight. But instead he walked out back and got a HUGE STICK. Then he said, “let’s go” and we headed off the porch into the midst of a pack of dogs, because at this point every dog in the village seemed to have come to join in the fun of scaring the pants off the poor gringa girl. So my friend, Nicolas, raises the stick above his head and makes like he is going to swing down and hit one of the dogs. All of the dogs started to back off. So we continued like that the whole way back to my house. Me holding the flashlight and Don Nicolas swinging a huge stick at all the dogs. Eventually I made it home safely and was very grateful to Don Nicolas, he probably saved me from being mauled by dogs. But now I know, if you are going to go out at night…always take your flashlight and a huge stick, just in case you encounter a pack of wild dogs.

Life lesson number 3: DO NOT COOK PANCAKES IN YOUR UNDERWEAR
Cooking pancakes in your underwear is a bad idea, no matter how hot it happens to be in your house. A few weeks ago I was sweating to death in my room and I was for some reason overcome with the desire to eat pancakes. Pancakes are delicious and easy to make, so I thought I would give it a whirl. As usual, I had been sitting in my room stripped down to my underwear in an effort to keep from sweating to death. I did not even consider getting dressed before I started to make pancakes, as cooking in my underwear has become a daily activity. So I started to mix up my batter, heat up the stove, and put a bit of oil in the pan. You must remember that my stove is a tiny little thing, less than 2 feet tall, so I have to squat in front of it in order to cook. So I started cooking my pancakes, squatting in front of the stove. Then, as I was flipping a pancake a HUGE DROP OF SUPER HOT COOKING OIL splattered out of my pan and landed directly on my inner thigh. It was HOT. I SCREAMED a bit and ran across the room to get some water to put on my leg, because it hurt badly. My pancake that I left on the stove proceeded to burn…so I did not even get to eat the pancake. And to make matters worse, a huge quarter sized blister instantly formed on my leg….which my medical handbook classifies as a 2nd degree burn…not good. So lesson learned, do not attempt to cook pancakes in your panties. Always wear pants when cooking with oil haha.


Well friends, I am sad to say that I do not have time for more stories right now. I am in the middle of working on a project that I have to present next week in Cochabamba. But, that means that I will be in the city for about 2 weeks straight, leaving me plenty of opportunities to write another update for all of you to read.

Take care and know that I love and miss you all.

Happy Birthday to Cody, Suzie, and Grandma Meray! And any one else I might be forgetting…Katie Fox too!


Hugs y paz, beth in bolivia