Wishful thinking

A Bolivian friend of mine gave me a belated birthday gift a couple of weeks ago. He and his wife were very excited for me to open it. As I pulled off the wrapping and opened the box, I was met, face to beak, with a rooster.
"Do you know what it is?!" they asked.
"Er, yes, it is a rooster figurine."
"Yes", they answered, "but do you understand what we are gifting you?"
(Hm, I mused, clearly not!) "No."
And then they launched into an explanation about how in their culture when someone gives you a chicken (if you are a man) or a rooster (if you are a woman) they are wishing you to find a wife or husband.
"Don't you think it's handsome? For sure, you are going to be lucky this year and find love."

Whoa. Now, I know that people here are generally alarmed when they hear that I am single and/or I don't have kids (and I am not a religious Sister). It's as if you are cursed. Or they chalk it up to you being a 'crazy foreigner'. But, come on! Is faith in a rooster really going to be the answer? Scoffing was going to get me nowhere, so I just smiled and replied that it really was a gorgeous rooster and posed for many pictures. It is currently being displayed in a place of honor in my home. I suppose I should be gratified that my (Bolivian) friends care so much about my future marital happiness. Assuming, of course, that marriage is equated to bliss.
I am now left wondering if this is the beginning of what will soon be a collection . . . and for every holiday or Important Saint's day that I remain a singleton in Bolivia I will be receiving another bird or object of some kind that will Bring Me a Husband. Heaven help me!

Not paying attention. . . and BAM! hit by a biker

Today I was exiting a bus, and as soon as my feet hit the pavement, I was hit by a bicyclist. Hm. Maybe I am being dramatic, but I was definitely grazed. . . I made a full 360 degree turn, got tangled up in my own feet and ended up on my keyster on the side of the road. Never saw it coming. I just looked up to the faces in the bus window, who were rather entertained at the sight of this foreign woman half laying in the street and sidewalk with a dazed and confused look on her face. Oh, and the cyclist? I like to think he turned around to make sure I was okay - which I was, thank goodness. When I had the presence of mind to look for him, he was pedaling like the wind, crossing a busy intersection, getting as far away from me as possible. What a way to start the day. I will probably wake up tomorrow morning to find some nice purple and black splotches. Thank you, biker! I will definitely pay more attention on my bus exits in the future.

On another note, today is La Noche de San Juan (Night of Saint John). What will Bolivians do tonight? Burn their old stuff (or garbage) and eat meat. I guess that is a bit simplistic. As tradition goes, tonight is the longest night of the year south of the equator, and it will get cold because the sun will be 'lost'. In order to guide the sun back, everyone makes huge bonfires during the night. The bonfires are also a way to keep warm. Plus, the cold makes a great excuse to drink (alcoholic) punch and eat sausages, hot dogs and other types of meat all night long. People are supposed to burn wood(en furniture), but if a family doesn't have wood, they just burn their trash - you know, that tire that has been sitting in the lot? Those plastic bottles that have littered the front yard? Light 'em up, baby! And since I live in a poorer area, it is pretty much a guarantee that these will be the items making up the bonfires in my barrio.
I fear for my lung health! Here's praying they don't get too pyro-crazed and try to light anything near my house on fire. (I was in Argentina last year, so I missed out on San Juan. Rumor has it that the city is so smoke filled that the airport closes down until midday every June 24th. Yikes!)

The Wonders of PVC Pipe

My dad won the March reader challenge. . . of course, he had a leg up on everyone else since he was here in person to assess the situation.

During my parents' visit to Bolivia, my dad checked out the laundry area of my patio and came up with the following system. For about US$18 (see note below), he rigged up the following canopy to keep me out of the sun as I wash my laundry. Two PVC pipes connect into the planter on the 3rd story, and one PVC pipe acts as a brace that keeps the fabric in place. He also made a brace out of wood for the bottom, which rests on the sill of my utility tub and slides a foot or so in either direction to adjust to the sun's movement across the sky. It takes me about 3 minutes to put up and a minute to take down, so it is a relatively easy apparatus to handle . . . There are still some adjustments I have to work out, but I have been getting a lot of questions as to the result of the challenge and thought I would satisfy the curiosity of those who are still interested.




Note: ~$10 of this was for the shading fabric. I was originally going to use a sheet, but it proved to be too heavy. I decided to splurge and buy a fabric sold in Coch for shading gardens - this one offers 90% shade and allows the wind to pass through. I still need to wear a hat while I do laundry, but otherwise, I have not been sunburned. Hooray!! Thanks, Dad!

To bite or not to bite

Dogs love me. At least, I seem to draw much attention in the dog department. And I am being literal. I was on retreat a couple of weeks ago. At night, I would hear the dog guards be let out and they would run past my window howling, intent on chasing something out of the yard. We were strictly told not to leave the building while the dogs were on guard. Okay, note taken. When would the dogs be put away? At 6 a.m. Oooo, perfect, I thought.
On the last morning of the retreat, I got up at 6 a.m. and got ready for a morning run. I left the building at 6:15, thinking that I would surely be on the safe side - that the main door would be unlocked and the dogs would be in their kennel. I left the building, trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not bother other guests. I even left the outside door open a crack so that there would not be noise echoing down the hallway. This would turn out to be a saving grace. Why? Oh, that would be because I was making a hasty retreat about a minute later. I rounded the corner of the building only to be met with the growls, followed by the howls of three German Shepherds on the attack. It took about two seconds for me to register that the dogs had not yet been put away and that I should run back to the entrance of the building because the gate would also still be locked. That two second delay was unfortunate. It allowed them to catch up to me and get a couple of quick bites in. Those dogs meant business. I did have time to let loose a terrified scream or two, which woke up almost everyone at the retreat center. So much for my earlier good intentions! [The picture shows where a tooth broke the skin on my leg (red puncture mark) and generally where the jaws came down.] One of the religious sisters who lives on the property came running out and wanted to know if I had been bitten. Uh, yeeeah! And she was quick to apologize and to assure me that the dogs had all their vacuna, or rabies vaccination. Whew, praise God - I wouldn't have to go through 7 weeks of shots again. My question for her was, why on earth weren't the dogs put away?!?! I later found out that their keeper had 'slept in' that morning. Just my luck. I didn't blame the dogs - they were just doing their job. If the dogs weren't there, the retreat center would probably get robbed. (A reality of nicer properties in Bolivia.) I wasn't too happy with the nun who slept in, either, but what was done, was done. I got cleaned up and decided I was too energized to just sit around, so I went on my run, determined not to let the dogs get the best of me. After all, I have to deal with them all the time, at work (on house visits) and at home (my neighborhood is full of dogs who like to fight - my parents liked to say that there were "dog wars" every evening). I have yet one more scar -ahem- memory of my time here. I wonder what sort of advice Cesar Millan (the dog whisperer) would have for me. It's hard to be a pack leader around here!

The Three Week Visit

I returned to my home-sweet-home in sunny Cochabamba this morning after seeing my parents off at the airport in La Paz. My siblings will not be surprised to hear that I broke down and cried while I hugged my mom and dad goodbye. It is inevitable, I'm afraid. I much prefer hellos and beginnings. I am not sure if I wanted to: a) be on the same flight as them, taking me back to the U.S. for a visit b) freeze time, so that we could have done everything I initially planned to do with them during their visit c) go back to bed and get some much needed rest. Perhaps a combination of the three? Who knows . . . but it was time for them to leave and it is time for me to get back to the grind. Much was accomplished in three weeks - more than I have a full appreciation for right now. Here is what I remember at the moment:

1. my mom and dad have a knack for suggesting small home improvements that make a lot of sense. I now have blinds in my living room, hinges that don't squeak, and a canopy for my laundry area. They also helped me move my furniture around to optimize space. An added bonus was getting custom-made screens for my living room and bathroom. (My dad sometimes reminds me of MacGyver because he really can make something out of practically nothing. It was sooo nice to have a Bob-of-all-trades around!) p.s. I will admit that I usually resisted their ideas because 'things are fine the way they are', but I am enjoying all the changes so far.
2. trekking through a rainforest in the Chapare in flip flops. Not a good idea, but we did laugh A LOT that day.
3. being asked 100s of questions that I could not answer in a thousand years.
4. attending the opening day of The People's Summit on Climate Change and hearing the President of Bolivia talk about climate change and rallying the people against capitalism. (Evo Morales made a lot of press because of his opening speech. One of my friends was able to express what I feel is true of Evo - that he sometimes forgets that he is President of a country now instead of President of the coca growers federation. Ah, well. He made 'em laugh!)
5. waking up every day and feeling like I was in a dream state. How fortunate am I that my parents were able to visit me and take me traveling with them?!

When my mom first told me that the visit would be for three weeks, I panicked. After I started planning, however, I thought there would not be time to do everything or show them everything I wanted to show them. I was right - time flew by so quickly. It took a bit longer to get adjusted to the altitude, to catch up on sleep, and to do more than one activity a day. Just means they'll have to come back! I will post more pictures soon, but now I need to relax. Chau!