Oct 2006

Hey everyone! I`ve read everyone`s emails but don`t have time to reply to all of them so I`m just doing a quick blog entry.

I`ve been working with Inti Wara Yassi in the Parque for a week now and man am I having a good time. The rainy season seems to have started a wee bit early to the jungle is full of mosquitoes, almost to the point of unbearability sometimes, but aside from that it`s been an incredible experience so far. The jungle is beautiful and full of life, and the people I work with here are amazing as well. Volunteers are going to be scarce in a few days cuz people are leaving and there has been a roadblock on the way for a few days, but hopefully more will show up soon cuz it`s gonna be a lotta lotta work soon.

For now though we are all working together with the animals, trying our best to give them the best lives they can have in their situations. It turns out only a few can be released into the wild; the others were either treated too badly before they were rescued and are too used to humans, or they have some sort of disability (ex. a baby howler monkey with an amputated arm) that disallows them to survive in the wild.

I am working with Wayra, a 2.5 year old puma that was poached and owned previously by a man who treated her badly and took her to schools to make her do tricks for the kids there. She`s very tempermental and difficult to deal with sometimes, but she`s wonderful and when she`s in a good mood she gets very playful. I work with her with another volunteer (there has to be 2 to take her for walks and for general safety). The first few days Wayra was in heat so she was pretty grumbly, but yesterday she was in a better mood to we were able to play soccer with her and it was so so much fun. I have to be really careful cuz she`s a big cat and very capable of hurting me if she wants to, but as long as I and everyone else respects her space and her mood, things are fine.

The other animals here are also spectacular and some are very lovable, big as they are. We`ve got an anteater, parrots, pios, tucanes, howler monkeys, a little baby nocturnal monkey (I forget the type), ocelots, pumas, jaguars, pigs, an eagle... So much to see and to much to be done.

I`ve been writing in my journal a bit about the park and how it`s run, it`s good bits and it`s injustices, but I just don`t have time to write about all that now.

We are in a nearby town at the moment for a night out and a cold beer or two - it`s important to get away sometimes so we don`t go crazy in the jungle.

I gotta see what`s going on in the world so I`m signing off for now. I have 2 more weeks here and may or may not get to the internet again. This is a good place though; I`m glad I came. More to come later.

Hey beautiful people, turns out this is my last blog entry for a while.

After asking someone which micro, the little public buses they have here for about 1/6 the cost of a taxi ride, gets me to the bus terminal, I hopped on and bought a ticket to the Parque. I figured since I have everything I need there`s no point in waiting another day, so I leave at 10.30am tomorrow and won`t return for a few weeks.

I am dead-dog tired from walking around all day and from the heat. Santa Cruz is relatively easy to find your way around but I think I took that for granted today cuz I kept getting disoriented and had to backtrack a few times to get where I wanted to go.

There are tack shops here! I passed a few along the street filled to the brim with leather saddles and whips and stirrups and blankets for the horses. Woowee I wonder if that means a horse ride is just a skip and a hop away. We`ll see when I get back I suppose.

Today while I was looking at this bizarre exhibition of Dutch-influenced accessory art pieces (like handbags, jewellery, shoes, hats) my camera flashed "Full Card" for the first time ever. Ack I have to delete my pictures and trust only in my data CD! Ah well, more room for jaguars and pumas.

I`ll write again in 3 weeks! (There is a small chance I can write before that, if I go to the neighbouring town on a day off, but I can`t say for sure so don`t worry if I don`t.)

Chao!

Ok so after another really frustrating time at the immigration office Wednesday afternoon (I won`t go into details because it turned into one of those occasional bad days), I finally got my passport back and was able to get the bus on time.

I didn`t get to say good bye to Naomi, unfortunately, cuz when I returned to the hostel she had checked out. I have a good idea of where she went, but I hadn`t the time to check.

Anyway, I arrived here in Santa Cruz after a long long bus ride. Here`s part of what I wrote on the way and after I explored a little:

"11.24am - 19 Oct. 2006

"Still on the bus. I had an off and on sleep partly because I`m sitting next to a woman with her 5ish year old daughter sharing the space and partly because there are so many checkpoints in Bolivia, which means the bus starts and stops a lot. They are those police checkpoints I read about in Lonely Planet; they occur at every town exit.

"Waking up to the light this morning has brought an enormous change to the landscape. It`s the first time since Lima, Perú, that I`ve been below mountain altitudes, so now it is hot and humid, and the land is some of the lushest and greenest I`ve ever seen. It`s beautiful. The houses are different, too - they are smaller, lower, and though I`ve seen some tin and tile roofs, are mostly thatched.

"I gotta get used to this heat! Depending on how appropriate it feels in Santa Cruz I might have to wear shorts for the first time since I`ve been here.

"Because Santa Cruz is at 415m I`ve also been taking my malaria pills in them mornings. Only a few days away from Parque Ambue Arí and the big cats! ... I think after wandering at will for over a month it`ll be good for me to do some actual work and to settle long enough to make some better friendships. I want to feel like I`m making a difference here and not just tour around the whole time, though no matter what I do I`m learning a lot, and that alone is important.

"6.58pm

"I can`t get over how modern Santa Cruz is. I`ve been walking down the streets for a few hours, comparing prices on pants and mosquito nets, but passing much more on the way. Out o the centre you can still find your regular South American market, but in the centre I sometimes feel like I could be walking down a street in California...almost. They`ve got posh shops with glass windows, many sports shops like Puma and Adidas, and even more expensive stuff like Chanel and Gucci! It`s definitely not what I expected in South America`s poorest country. And to top it off, most of they pricey stores charge in US dollars, not bolivianos, and for some things you pay close to what you`d pay in, say, an outlet for these brand names. For Bolivian people that`s very expensive, which makes me think the country is not the poorest because everyone is poor - there is obviously a huge gap between the rich and the impoverished.

"I`ve also noticed, as in La Paz, that the fashion here is a bit more liberal: the girls are wearing short skirts and low-cut tops, so I wouldn`t feel uncomfortable, or that I`d get too much attention, wearing shorts. This is a good thing in a way, nice for the hot weather. On the other hand most of the fashion is very Western with Western prices, so who knows what kind of harm it`s doing to the country. Helping to eliminate the middle class? I really have no idea. I`m ignorant on the details of Bolivia`s economy..."

Today I bought a few things I need for the refuge. Now I`m just going to look into bus prices and I`ll either head there tomorrow or Sunday at the latest. I do hope to get one more blog entry in before I go.

CONTACT INFO:
Just so someone knows the details of the park while I`m gone, it`s called Parque Ambue Arí, about 5 hours north of Santa Cruz. The organization I`ll be working for is called Inti Wara Yassi, and their website is www.intiwarayassi.org. On the website they have details about the program, how to call the park if necessary, that kind of thing. Note, however, that there are two locations - if you need details, make sure you look for Parque Ambue Arí and not Parque Machia, which is near Villa Tunari.

The popular music here in South America is really starting to grow on me. The style is called `reggaeton` and it`s this upbeat grinding sexy repetitive groove of a beat that`s the backdrop to every song. I`m going to have to buy a CD before I go home because I `can foresee missing it later.

Someone told me that the many types of hats the women here wear all indicate something about their marrital status and life. Apparently some show they are married, some that they have kids, that they are widows...I`ll like to look into it more; it`s very interesting. In Canada there are no such distinguishing marks, aside from wedding bands.

Of the 5 little museums I went to with Jen yesterday, the Museo de Instrumentos Musicales de Bolivia was the most fun. They had a number of instruments we could actually play, from bells to drums to xylophones and other crazy inventions.

Today I`ve done little. I was told to go back to the immigration office to pick up my passport at 12pm, but when I got there they told me to come back at 4pm. While I was in the area I figured I`d look for this bookstore I`d heard about which sells English language books (I want to read about Bolivian history), but it took me ages and ages to get the proper directions. When I finally got there it was closed until 3.30pm, so I have to stick around this area for a while longer.

I catch the bus to Santa Cruz tonight. 18 hours. Yippee! I´m going to have to bring a bit of extra clothing so I can try to sleep comfortably.

Continuing on from Sunday 15 October 2006:

"Anyway, I went back to the hostel, met up with Olivier, and headed to a meet point where we joined teams with Naomi and some others from the hostel.

"We went to a fútbol game!!!

"My first in South America - Bolívar (La Paz`s team) vs Potosí. The first half was a bit slow, but it picked up a lot in the second half and in general it was great to be there. Such a good way to see the city! There were mostly locals in the big stadium, divided not-so-evenly between the two teams. Everyone had a great time though. Half-time was crazy; the refs were actually escorted off the arena by a team of army dudes in full riot gear, shields and all. Olivier speculated that it was mostly for show, though some of the crowd were throwing things at them.

"After the game we happened to see this lookout spot in the distance so we wandered over to take a look. Turns out it was this big kids` playground, this vast and colourful play jungle, but high on a hill which afforded a spectacular view of the city. I wasn`t sure I wanted to go in at first, but like so many of the Inca sites I`ve seen it turned out to be much bigger that it first appeared. It was this long, colourful stretch of endless play thing, swings, teetertotters, structures, slides, arranged haphazardly in a swirling curving sweep of Dr. Seuss landscaping. I felt like I was in the land of Oz and that I should follow the green and purple brick road.

"What made it even more fun though was this group of people I fell into. We get on really wee, we`re like minded, and had a lot of fun talking each other. Olivier seems to be the natural leader of the group - he`s a quick thinker, has this contagious hyena laugh, and is very funny; he`s a lawyer back in Belgium. Naomi is also very intelligent and is such a lovely person; she`s a sensitive traveller and has a great attitude about everything.

"The others are wonderful too, Susie especially, but I just don`t have the time to write about all of them.

"When on our way out of the little kids park we came across a big kids one - a mini carnival called `Super Galaxy Park` at the end of the street. I was the most excited because I love stuff like that, and the group waited for me as I went on one of the rides.

"Walking from there we stopped at this crazy contemporary cafe, full of coloured swivel seats, funky lights, a water fountain...really bizarre for Bolivia, and we all agreed it was too pricey for dinner, but we decided to stay for tea just to soak up the atmosphere.

"The best thing about this place was the conversation we had. We were reduced to 4 people at this point for one reason or another, so it was just Naomi, Susie, Olivier, and I. We joked and laughed a lot, but let the conversation get serious, too. Olivier was talking about his visit to the Potosi mines and his encounters with the people who work in them. Apparently most of the men working there know they will die in 15-20 years from breathing all the dust and fumes, but they continue to work because they basically have no choice. There is no money in the silver they mine for, but they know no other work and do it anyway with the (small) hopes that the money will get them through school (many are kids), through a degree, and out of the mines. Only a few make it out. The tourist industry helps a bit because when an agency takes tourists there, into the mines, they bring the food and water or money that the miners need to survive. And the guide Olivier had was a former miner who got out of it because he knew a bit of English and made enough money as a guide. The only people in line for the pension house were women - widows. I wish I could write all the details of the conversation."

I`ve been so busy I haven`t even been able to keep up my personal journal. Yesterday I visited the Coca Museum which was really interesting. They provide English language guide books so I got a lot out of it. It teaches you everything from the historical and current uses of coca today, medicinal, magical, practical; from there it also talked about it`s evolution into cocaine and the cocaine industry, addiction, how it`s made. It was really fascinating and I learned that Coca Cola still uses coca leaves in it`s mix for flavour (though they stopped using the cocaine extract long ago).

I also visited the Contemporary Art Museum. There`s not much I can say about it except some of the pieces were so so beautiful I wish I could take them hope with me. I took a few pictures and wrote the names of the artists I really liked.

Last night I went for drinks with the hostal crowd - yet another amazing time out. Olivier left for Copacabana today so I`m going to miss his company, but Susie and Naomi are still here and we`re going to go to the cinema tonight. I think we`re going to see Volver, Penelope Cruz`s new Spanish film.

I went to the immigration office today to get my visa extended and had one hell of a time there. Canadians aren`t privilege to the free extension, so I had to pay 165 bs (about $23), which was fine because I know I`m going to stay here longer, but I didn`t realize it took a day to process. It was frustrating because the woman was speaking rapid Spanish, knowing I couldn`t understand her, and finally I had to recruit the help of a French lady to get through it all. The delay means I had to change my bus ticket yet again, so I`m not leaving La Paz until Wednesday night instead of tonight.

This is all fine though. I`m not really in a hurry so a couple extra days here are no big deal. I`ll just have to cut my time going through Perú the second time and head straight up to Ecuador.

I´m off to meet Jen, the British girl I hung out with in Cuzco. She happens to be in La Paz now and we`re going to go see a few museums today.

Hasta mañana!