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| The Yungas, three hour outside of La Paz |
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| Japanese school, Okinawa, Bolivia |
I had some trouble with this blog, so the pictures are out of order, but at least I finally got a few posted.
As most of you know, I moved to a new site almost four weeks ago. I am now in Okinawa, Bolivia, teaching English to fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. Okinawa has a very interesting history. It was settled by Japanese immigrants in the early 1950's and was declared the wheat capital of Bolivia in 2000. It's quite a change from Cochabamba. Cochabamba is the third largest city in Bolivia and Okinawa is a quiet little village. The sorrounding country side is stunning. Even though there are no mountains here, there are beautiful tropical trees, amazing skies, and miles of sugar cane, soy and wheat crops stretching as far as your eye can see. The weather is also very different and I'm now in a hot and humid climate. I'm adjusting to it better than I thought I would and today, Katie and I went into Santa Cruz and bought a great fan, which will help a lot. There are also lots of mosquitos and there's just no way around it...you just have to use DEET. I don't like it, but it's better than being eaten alive.
Katie is the other volunteer here in Okinawa. She is 23 years old and an absolute bundle of energy, funny, sweet and as cute as can be. We share a small house and since I arrived, we've been busy fixing it up. We've got our work cut out for us, but even after two weeks, it's looking a lot better, and it is wonderful to have some privacy again...to wake up and be and have a cup a coffee, stare out at the trees and just enjoy the peace and quiet before we head off to teach. Our house is on a large grass field, in a gated community, about the size of football field. There are four other small houses aound us where Japanese teachers live. The Japanse goverment pays them to come and teach at the Japanese school for a couple of years and then they go back home. There is also one Bolivian family. We have mango, lime and grapefruit growing on the property, and right now the grapefruit is ripe, so Katie and I have been going out in the mornings, picking a couple off the tree and squeezing fresh juice. So good!
Right in front of our compound, there is a small plaza or park and to the left of that is the Catholic church. Behind the Catholic church is the school, which is run by Salesain sisters. The sisters, living quarters are also near the school. There are five sisters and our relationship with them is very different than what I experienced at the Hogar. They are so warm and friendly and we evern share some of our meals with them. The head sister is wonderful and I feel so lucky to be having this new experience in Bolivia.
One block to the left of our compound is the Japanese school, which is owned and operated by the japanse community. The children there are of Japanese and Bolivian descent. For half of the day, they attend classes in Japanese and the other half is conducted in Spanish. I teach classes at both schools, but it's a bit easier at the Japanese school because class sizes are smaller and I only assist the teacher. We only teach for part of the day, three to four days a week, and three days a weeks we spend around four or five hours doing community work. There are a total of 15 small villages that we visit, so we kind of make the rounds and do various activities with the kids. We also visit adults in the community and simply sit and visit, teach them a little English, or even sit together and knit or crochet. There is so much variety here and I love the sense of freedom.
Last week, the head sister invited Katie, Eric ( another young volunteer who will be going back to the States in May), and I to go with her to visit her mother in an area of Bolivia known as the Yungas, three hours outside of La Paz. We left on Friday night as 7:30 and at 11:30 we we're delayed because of a blockade. These blockades are something very uniquely Bolivian. I'll try to explain. If Bolivian citizens are dissatisfied with just about anything, they can set up a roadblock and no traffic is permitted to pass. The government allows this very grassroots sort of protest and rarely does anything to stop or prevent them. It is an accepted form of expression here. I've already been delayed four different times by various blockades, but this one was the worst. We were stuck in miles and miles of trucks and vehichles for 20 hours. We had very little water, little food and our bathroom was the side of the road. This meant we slept for two nights on the bus in terrible heat and humidity. We finally were allowed to pass and arrived in La Paz early Sunday morning. I won't say it was fun, but it was definatly an experience I'll never forget.
I was amazed the beauty of La Paz. I had heard so much about it being a dangerous city, but I loved it there, with the stunning jagged peaks of the Andes and homes and businesses dotting the mountain sides. We spend the day with Sr. Nora's sister, rested, had a nice lunch and then spend another three hours in a mini van to get to the Yungas. Most of the trip was on a windy dirt road with the most incredible landscape I have every seen in my life. (Teresa, I'm pretty sure you would have jumped out) :o) The Yungus is located in a lush tropical jungle, high in the mountains. I felt like someone had dropped my into a scene of Jurasic Park. It was so mystical and spiritual and beautiful that I just couldn't quite believe I was having this experience. We were there to visit Sr. Nora's elderly mother, who is an adorable indigenous woman who cooked all sorts of great food for us and prepared locally grown coffee that she had roasted herself. Her villiage in located on the ancient Inca trail and she shared lots of stories and folklore about the Incas. She also showed us Inca pots and vases that she had found 50 years prior when they were excavating the grounds for construction of their home.
We arrived back to Okinawa Wednesday afteroon and Katie and I headed out immediately to teach a couple of classes. Friday night I had another interesting experience. At 7:30 most of the village gathered to say the stations of the cross outdoors. We walked with candles, singing along the way and stopping at invidual homes throughout the villiage that had set up stations in front of their houses. It was so dark and the sky was filled with so many stars. I am loving all these unique and new experiences and feel like I'm having a more authentic experience of the Bolivian people here.
My back is doing so much better. I have a very hard mattress on my bed here and that's helped tremendously. I really am pain free now and so grateful. I'll close for now. There are still so many stories to tell, but all in good time!
Love, Judy
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| My farewell party...dancing, music, presents, food and lots of tears |
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| Carnival in Cochabamba, latter part of Feb 2012 |
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| Salesian School, Okinawa |
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| Cooling off at the river during our 20-hour blockage with Eric, Sr. Nora and Katie |
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| Checking out the sights in La Paz |
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| In the classroom with Eric and Katie |
