Back to Alaska....

Well, our life back in Alaska has swallowed us back up and it feels very strange to have such recent memories of Bolivia. It is such a different place than Alaska. We read of Bolivia in the papers and hear about it on the radio once in a while, and we feel very far away.

I watched the presidential candidate debate tonight and I wish both the candidate had more compassion towards other countries. It seems foreign policy is all about strategy and how other countries will affect us and our agenda. My perspective on our government is much more cynical after seeing more of the world and realizing how much hog wash we get in our media. Also seeing how others view us. We really need to clean up our reputation and the only way to do that is by good actions done with true motives and not doing just to get something we want.

When I think about Bolivia, I feel sad about the orphan babies growing up in the orphanage. I feel deprived when I pay $2.60 a pound for apples here in Homer, compared to the markets piled high with beautiful fruits and vegtables down there. I feel the absence of public transportation here. Homer feels really open and empty after living in a city. In Homer it seems so quiet at night, even downtown compared to the streets of Cochabamba. I don't miss the dogs there and always standing out as someone too tall and strange. I worry about the politics in Bolivia and pray for peaceful resolutions to the conflicts and controversy. I'd like to go back, but not sure when that will happen.

Good-bye Bolivia for now, and thanks for the many lessons we learned in 2007-2008. We will know much better what those lessons were in the time ahead. Now we are still processing.

Missing Alaska

While shopping in La cancha a couple of weeks back my father-in-law Pat snapped this shot of me. It appears some of the boys here take there vodka fairly seriously.

We are getting reports of great spring skiing in Alaska...And with longer days its beauty pulses.

We are really trying to "Be Here". Its not hard we are truly in a place where diversity pulses...and every time you turn around something you thought you had clear gets reshaped.

While we miss Alaska we are savoring Bolivia.... but I think I'll pass on the vodka.

Adios Catalina

Cate left yesterday to head back to Alaska. We're really gonna miss her.She'll have a pitstop in Seattle for car shopping and then she'll drive the last couple of thousand miles in the new (used) ride...So even though I started this blog...Cate has carried it...but now it falls back on me and the girls...Today as we do every sunday we went to solomon klien..the girls missed Cate come bath time where they do assembly line bathing of the 20 some infants...The older gang I work with got to play out side after breakfast I pushed alot of swings "mas fuerte Papá" (more force) and washed alot of cups and helped the guy with the fruit and veggies unload....The girls are off to watch the finals of the "world tour of beach volley ball" Go figure .... beach volley in a landlocked country at 8500 feet.... USA is in the finals against Brasil... Cochabamba is sports crazy.... they'll host anything...tb

Maggie's new school

Sacrado Corazon, or Sacred Heart, is a private catholic K-12 Bolivian school about 5 blocks from our apartment. Maggie started here in 9th grade at the beggining of their school year, Feb 1.

The tuition is $40 a month. This is about one-tenth as much as the International school but is still too much for many Cochabambinos. The school day is all in spanish except the english class. All Maggies homework has to be done in spanish and NEATLY. Much more emphasis on rote memorization, neatly printed homework and copying pages than what we are used to in the states. For example, music class is copying songs neatly into your notebook and then writing an analysis of what the lyrics mean. The songs are things like the national anthem, the navy song, stuff like that. I'm not sure if they have actually sang the songs yet. Mags is making friends and recently went to a camp about 1 hour outside Cochabamba for 2 days with the entire school. There are about 35 kids in each grade. Maggie was impressed that they had no problems taking all those kids out to the camp. She said the worst thing that happened is that the 18 year old seniors went to smoke ciggaretts in the woods. They have a lot more control over the kids than teachers in the states. I think its because the kids are taught more respect in the home. The kids come to school with stronger values and a stricter upbringing from home, making the job of the teachers a hell of a lot easier than what the teachers in the states have to deal with.

Maggies 9th grade (primera de Secondario) stays in one room for the school day of 8am to 1:30pm. (then everybody goes home for lunch) It has a wooden floor, plaster walls and one large green chalk board in the front of the room. Windows are painted white to minimize daydreaming and distractions out the window, and the seats are wooden desks like we are used to seeing in antique shops. 2 kids per bench. The teachers come to the rooms and so the 9th grade stays there. The teachers have so supplies. They often ask one of the kids for their book to teach from and they have no pen or pencil. So there is no borrowing from the teachers! No posters on the walls, no globes, no "hands on activities". Its just a teacher and a peice of chalk. No printed hand outs or worksheets. You are responsible for copying the notes they write on the board. Teachers show up minutes before the start of school and literaly punch the clock in the office. They lock the school rooms minutes after school is out, and go home. Uniforms are required, but as you can see from the photos, they aren't super strict about this, loose ties etc... Maggie likes it and rides public transportation to school in the morning amidst many other uniformed kids all over the city headed for thier schools.

Rock & Republic and Globalization?

Here is a little guy who is sporting a Rock & Rebublic sweatshirt in a very small village outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is attending an afterschool tutoring center sponsored by the local Methodist church where a friend of mine works. Andrea, my sister's sister-in-law, is president of the Rock & Republic company so this caught our eye. Do you think R&R is doing business in Bolivia? I doubt it. Logos of all kinds are ripped off here as the copyright laws are quite different than what we are used to in the states. This dude was definately lookin cool.

Pat and Marilyn in Cochabamba

Mom and Dad have been real troopers down here. They survived customs and the 14,000 ft elevation in La Paz and now are comfortable enough to head out for lunch on their own! They went about a block from our apt. for a typical meal, the "set lunch" or almuerzo. We wrote a few key words down for them in spanish and off they went. They were happy with the large home cooked meal that is typical for lunch here. Soup followed by meat and potaoes for the second course, a beer and small dessert. All for about $1.70 each. We've been keeping them busy and they are game for most of it. Today we will go see Maggies school.

Mom and Dad Maloney come for a Visit

Mom and Dad came with us on Sunday to help in the orphanage and to deliver the electric baby swings they so generously brought down along with a bunch of baby stuff from Liz and the twins. Here they are with the 4-5 year olds. The babies all had chicken pox so there were some cranky ones that really appreciated being held by a couple of gringo grandparents!

Fish of the Ichilo River

Heres a little fisherman we met on our trip to Puerto Villorroel. (explanation below). These catfish are the major predator on the Amazon river system. Besides a few otters and porpoise, these guys get to be up to 6 feet long and keep things in check in the murky channels of these large rivers. They are good to eat and caught at this size with gillnets and the larger ones are caught using set and baited hooks. There are many species of catfish and they rule underwater. There have even been parts of monkeys found in the stomachs of some of the large fish.

Efficient Outboards

So if you are a small operator in the fishing fleet here, you have a canoe, a paddle, a cooler, a buddy, a pair of flip-flops, shorts and a t-shirt and one of these outboards. They are small Honda engines like we use to run our hydraulics with a large shaft and a small propeller at the end. You can use a cast net, set hooks or a drift gillnet. Usually they fish at night and deliver in the morning. Oh, they also have a market and ice. Two things we are having trouble getting in Alaska. We are so far ahead of these third world countries aren't we?

Mother ship with canoes. Gillnetting and shortlining.

(For explanation of this trip, read next blog down) These boats go out for about 2 weeks and gill net and also use hooks. They have two large styrofoam lined wooden ice boxes for a hold above deck and clean the fish and ice them until they deliver. They cook and sleep onboard in hammocks, about 4 guys or a family and some crew. The hieght of the river changes a lot over the seasons of rainey and dry and the fish they target changes as many large predatory catfish and others migrate through thier area to spawn up in the headwaters. Some come as far as 4,000 kilometers from the estuary and mouth of the Amazon.

Fishing in Big Rivers

We went down off the foothills of the Andes to the closest fishing river that can be reached by road from Cochabamba. Puerto Villorreol on the Ichilo River. Here is a skipper of a fishing boat holding a piranha they caught, most likely with a gillnet. We think we have problems with seals...how would you like to mend a net piranhas have been working on for a while. They come in to eat the fish in the net and shred the mesh.
I have been working with the conservation organization, Faunagua, on a book they would like to publish on the commercially important fish of Bolivia. Most of which are caught on the big rivers which are the headwaters of the Amazon. They needed more photos for the book in addition to the illustrations I've done for them, so we headed down to Puerto Villorroel to take photos. We wanted to be there on the day before Good Friday because everybody eats fish on the Easter weekend here and the price of fish doubles. So any good fisherman is going to schedule his trip to end on thursday or friday to take advantage of the increased market and price. So the number of boat deliveries promised to be high. Tom, Maggie and I had fun. Franny was on the beach in Chile with a friend at the time. It took a little courage to approach the fishermen and ask for photos, but after we showed them photos of fishing in Alaska they usually warmed up and were willing to show us thier gear and talk a bit. We hired the guy with the prianha to take us out in his "skiff" or canoe for an hour, which was great. We went swimming in the very murky but warm river. Trying not to think about pirahnas.

My Bike

This is my one speed bike I bought for about $70 used. It was made in Brazil and is almost exactly like a million others here that are made in China. Somehow I think mine is better than the Chinese bike Tom has that looks the same, but this one rides better with more room between the seat and the handle bars. They both need repair about every other time you ride them. Tires go flat weekly and all nuts and bolts rattle loose etc.. Not sure why the tires are so inferior here. The wheels are really big so once you get your momentum up, you can really cruise. Cochabamba is relatively flat, so gears are not a necessity. Tom rides a lot in the center of town, and the traffic is horrendous. I get too stressed out riding in heavy traffic. So far, Tom has had one collision with a person and 3 with vehicles. One was a police car. Motorized vehicles have the right away here and if you are anything else, you yield or you die.
My friend Ardele has introduced us to quite a nice loop. It takes about and hour and a half to do and it is best done at 6am to beat the traffic. At the far end of the loop we are in the suburbs, which here means there are small plots of corn and herds of cows in the larger lots. On a typical ride around the loop we may have to stop for a herd of dairy cows, swerve around a dead dog in the road, breath black clouds of diesel from buses, experience many near misses as taxis and trufis cut in front of you and then pull over to the right side of the road, bump over stone cobbled roads, swallow your heart as junk-yard dogs come racing out at you just as a huge truck passes you on the other side, and stop and tighten a few bolts just to make it home. Never boring and always we are happy to make it home, getting exercise becomes a bonus.

What would you do with a year off?

Well, as I only have about 9 weeks left here in Bolivia before I head back to Alaska, I'm asking myself if I've done what I've wanted to do here, and what else I really want to accomplish. One thing these 9 months have showed me is that back home, I tell myself I would be doing certain things if I had more time. Now that I do have time for those things here, I have found myself kind of falling into a similar routine and not really desiring the things I craved when I was really busy at home.
For example; I always said I would excersise more if only I had time. Here I excersice a bit more, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. Also I do not pick up my sketch book unless I really get after myself to do it. And sometimes, I choose to do, and really enjoy things that are very similar to what I do at work. Sitting at the computer and working on some project. So I guess the meaning I'll take home with me is that I probably contruct my life more than I think I do in Homer, and its not always external forces making me spend my days how I do. Having had the opportunity to do just what I want this winter, my life is not incredibly different than when I am at home.
On the other hand, I have taken time to do fun stuff and one of them is taking this photo of a plant outside our elevator door on our floor. I also planted a small flower garden as well on our terazza, so yes, I am doing somethings I kind of gave up when I went back to school and work.

Ann, Armed with Super-Soaker visits Cochabamba.

Since Tom's Mom arrived just before Carnaval, we wanted to be sure she was prepared in a culturally appropriate way. After a lot of consideration and target practice, we choose the Super-Soaker H2O plus model. She really likes the action and range and it gives a new meaning to Agua-cise with her bicep measurements increasing daily. She has emerged from Carnaval with only 2 bruises from water balloons, and we highly recommend this model for the self defense of newly arrived relatives.

Grandma Anna comes for a visit

And just in time! The girls were invited to a "formal" 15 party for one of thier friends and so off they went with Grandma to buy dresses for the event. Here they are on the way out. Ann has negotiated the very unperdictable sidewalks, Bolivian bacteria, and some chilly rainey days very well and now 3 weeks have gone by and we are sad to see her go!

CARNAVAL!

Carnival in Bolivia is kind of like Mardi Gras. The heart of it lasts three days and on the first day is a parade of all the dancers that have come to town. Oruro has the largest carnival celebration in the country. Advise from other folks about whether to go or not swung like a crazy compass needle...But we decided we must go see it, as crazy as it sounded.

We opted for the 20 hour day tour. Four hour bus ride there and back and dancers going by all day during the "Entrada" or the entrance of the dancers. This photo above, Tom took of dancers from the low lands with exotic bird feathers. I learned recently some of the history of Carnaval, which started in the high Andes. When the first potato harvest is in, it was time to relax a bit and recharge for the next planting. Original peoples believed that there were spirits in the ground and you released them when you pulled up your potatos. These spirits were neither bad nor good. (The bad/good concept was introduced by the Catholics?). But the spirits did party with you for three days, and during these three days there was no God. It was time to let loose. When the party was over, you had to convince the spirits to go back into the ground to help your potatos grow in the next season. One way to help get them get back in, was to throw water. This has somehow lasted throughout the years but I'm sure the young people have no idea the water balloons, called "globos" here, they hurl at girls from car windows while going 30 mph are actually accomplishing such noble things. So water, specifically throwing it at someone else, is a huge part of Carnaval. Also such mutations as cans of spray foam and huge "super soaker" squirt guns.

Diablos!

Even though some of the dance groups travel to town after town during carnaval, one famous dance is unique to Oruro; the dance of the Diablos, or devils. Some say this is somehow linked to the mining history in Oruro. (perhaps the catholic influence of the "underground") There is always one Micheal the Archangel dancer in the group of devils to keep the devils under control. He usually has huge blue eyes and large wings. I guess when the dancers get to the end of the parade, they enter the church and ask the blessing of the virgin of the mines. Then the archangel puts his sword at the backs of the devils knees and makes them kneel in front of the Virgin. There is usually also a statue of this virgin carried on a litter at the front of the group. No matter how wild the party got, no one EVER hit her with a water balloon!

Groups from all over Bolivia come to dance.

Just to give you some background, thousands and thousands of dancers come into Oruro, and ontop of the spectators, it triples the normal population of 200,000 people. The dancers start practicing and working on costumes in November. The parade route is 8 miles long and they dance 2-4 times along that route during carnaval. We saw some dancers in high-heels limping over to the side and thier support person sprayed some kind of numbing novicane on their feet so they could keep going. The costumes are expensive and "sponsors" help finance the groups expenses.

Things began to escalate!

After a while, it became apparent that it was all out war between the two sides of the parade grounds. Expert "globo" throwers were identified in the opposing stands by thier t-shirt color and "hit-children" were enlisted by Maggie to get in close, targeting the worst offenders. Ettiqute began to loosen and there was no longer cease-fire when dancers came through. Some lost patience with mere water balloons and entire buckets of water were thrown into the crowd. I kept waiting for the supply of globos to slacken, but this is Bolivia, and as long as someone can make .25 cents on 10 filled water balloons there would be no lack. Entire families squatted and filled balloons as fast as they could for hours behind the stands, raking in the dough, 2 bolivianos at a time.
I witnessed a toddler hanging around her families globo filling bucket. She was cranky and went up whining to her mom. Mom scolded her and pushed her away, but after a second attempt, the toddler was rewarded with a boob pulled out of busy working mom's shirt, while Mom continued cranking out the globos, which might mean food besides breast milk the next day. There have been many books written lately about how to juggle work and motherhood in the US, but I doubt this woman has read them.

This is when we started thinking about leaving...

(Photo of Ann Bursch on left, (71 years young) and new friend Cindy)

Well, enough is enough, and if you are over the age of an arrested 21 years, after 5 hours of this, your thoughts begin to wander away from this incredibly rich, cultural parade to things like dry clothes and days were there is a God. Someone said something about having coffee in a hotel cafe. Could a haven like this exist in Oruro? Will we survive the gantlet to find it? We know there will not be toilet paper in any bathroom, even an expensive hotel, during caraval, but a china toilet will be enough.

Chile and Peru trip.

Well, we just got back from our 3 week trip into Chile and Peru over the girls Christmas break. Our mode of transport was mostly buses like this. Fancy bus like this cost about a dollar or two for every hour you are on the bus, and you can usually find a somewhat express to where you are going. No worries about going hungry on an 8 hour ride. Eventually someone will get on the bus and sell you fried llama meat, or fresh hot corn on the cob with slice of cheese, or a bag of somewhat fresh rolls.

A total of 58 hours of bus riding in 3 weeks.

Pop a motion sickness pill an hour before the bus rolls, make sure you have a roll of toilet paper for the infrequent stops, an extra sweatshirt to prop your neck, and get ready for the possibility of 3 consecutive Arnold Swartzenager movies in spanish on the ceiling mounted 12" screen as you careen through the Atacama Desert.

Chile.

I'd always heard that parts of Chile were a lot like Alaska. But here in the very north, in the Atacama Desert, they only get a few mm of rain a year, so its completely different, but with similar ocean life.

Arica, Chile is a desert on land with rich marine life in the ocean.

Seiners anchored up outside the harbor of Arica.

Pecking order in the harbor.

We watched, fascinated, for a couple hours as fish scraps were thrown into the harbor and the pecking order was revealed. This is how it went: On land… Dogs (on the large side) over Pelicans and Pelicans over cats, cats over very tiny, skinny, wormy kittens. In the water…Sea Lions (called Lobos) rule. Pelicans over gulls and herons and invertebrates get the scraps.

Hostels for accomadations were mostly great.

Frances and Tom plan the next move in our favorite hostel common area and kitchen in Arica.

Good morning, dear.

Franny on the way to the shared bathroom across the courtyard at a Cusco hostal we stayed in.

Maggie has alien invade inner eye.

We think something from the ocean invaded Maggies eye, and she was very brave and fought it off with antibiotic eye drops.

Its not in the guide book.

Tom heard of a beach that was not on most maps, couldn’t be found on the web and wasn’t in Lonely Planet and was determined to go. He offered to scout without us, but we got into the spirit. Here we are in Boca del Rio (the mystery spot) having a tamale and a coke 5 min after arrival waiting for the next bus out of town. I did however find this shrine to San Pedro when I walked around. (above) Looks to me like he must be the patron saint of fishermen, at least in Boca del Rio. Oh well, we were only out 3 hours of bus riding and Maggie made friends with a lively group of fellows in the back of the bus who asked in Spanish, among other things, how much pot costs in United States, if she had a boyfriend, and if she had friends without boyfriends. They were on their way to dive for sea urchins.

Strange New Years Eve traditions.

We were told you must buy yellow underwear and change into it after midnight for good luck in the new year. Here we are in a local market and Tom didn’t think the South American XL was going to do it, and the vender was adamant that, yes, it would fit just fine. He offered to show her on the spot it would be too small, but in the end we all bought a pair. Some with lace.

Eat one grape and make a wish for every month of the year.

Really loud and not pretty firecrackers all night.

We are in the main plaza and all cringing as our ears are blasted with random acts of gun powder. . My right ear is still suffering from one labeled: “Daddies Big Voice” Maggie lit off next to me. Oh, and confetti is big here, yellow for New Year’s.

Cusco, Peru

Stairs near our hostel in Cusco, San Blas zone. We visited many ruins, browsed artisan shops, ate “cuy” (guinea pig), hunted Alpaca yarn, spent probably too much time in an Irish Pub awaiting a late night bus departure, and said “No gracias” a lot to street venders in Cusco. Amazing, wonderful city.

Cate at a ruin puzzling over the many Incan mysteries of stonework.

Trapezoidal niches

The Inca liked trapezoids. Windows, doors, street layout and many of these niches are all trapezoids. Niches in the walls could have been used for shelves inside houses, for idols or statues, or for mummies. Amazing that these granite rocks were worked over 400 years ago.

Incan profile

We had an incredible experience at Machu Picchu in part because of our well educated and hilarious guide Horacio. He spoke English with, what we think, was a French accent. He had some great analogies and comments. When talking about the rock building technique being strong, he concluded with: “They built it this way in case of earthquakes or crazy Arabs.” Here he is, showing us his Quechua profile and how it matches the skyline of Machu Picchu.

Happy New Year to everyone, from the top of Wayna Picchu above Machu Picchu!!!