Day 88 to 94 - Finding Normalcy in Bolivia

February 11 - 17  Sucre, Bolivia

The next week or so we found a routine.  I would get up, enjoy a workout, coffee, and breakfast, we'd catch the local minibus to the outer edge of town, always confirming with the bus driver that yes, that was indeed the direction we wanted to go (apparently tourists don't typically go in the direction AWAY from the center, they only go INTO the center).  We would volunteer for a few hours at a school/ daycare center, we'd catch the bus back in time to eat lunch, put finishing touches on our Spanish homework, and head to Spanish classes.  We'd have four hours of Spanish class, then at 6 PM we'd head back home, brains fried, and make dinner. 

Carnival continued for almost a week...and so did the rain.  Despite many things being closed (as everyone was celebrating), we were able to still continue our days as we wished, dodging the occasional water balloon and spray of foam,  including a few visits to a Salteña place, and other eateries.  Salteña's are sort of like empanadas but the dough is sweeter and they are baked to perfection.  They have three things on the menu - beef salteña, chicken salteña, and vegetarian.

On the day of "official" Carnival, which I think coincides with Fat Tuesday, we woke to a knock on our door at 730 AM... it was the owner of the house saying it was time for Carnival.  Along with the 5 other tenants, we rolled out of bed.  There was Leche de Tigre waiting for us, a special alcohol with coconut milk.  We also had a traditional ham sandwich (for the record ham sandwich is not my fav breakfast) and beers special for Carnival.  He set off firecrackers and we made an offering to Pachamama.

We attempted to eat lunch above the market, at the comedor, which is local food, plated by different women cooking, depending on which stall you were sitting by.  I was a bit overwhelmed!  There were kids with foam and lots of smoke, from people lighting off fireworks.   It wasn't a very desirable environment to have a meal, no matter how cheap and no matter how authentic it was, so we ate elsewhere.  We'd come back after carnival.

That day, most people celebrate at home, so it was and bit quieter.  We walked to class and got hit by plenty of balloons.  That evening, we decided it would be more fun to along. We changed into our ponchos, dropped off our valuables and loaded up with water balloons.  We got into several water balloon fights, then retreated home, soaked.

Carnival ended and the city returned to normal.  The sun was shining, school was back in session, and everyone continued their normal business.  In the mornings, I started going to a gym with a new friend from Germany, and was grateful for a buddy to get up early before a full day of volunteering and Spanish classes.

We cooked a delicious dinner with the German girls that lived in the house, and attempted to have a baking night, where I taught them how to make American style chocolate chip cookies, and they taught me how to make a German dessert.  Mine failed as the ovens are crap in Bolivia, the altitude is different, and the baking soda/powder are different strengths, all resulting in one giant flat-as-a-pancake cookie.  It still tasted good, though!

There was a free Salsa class at one of the bars twice a week and we went a few times, even convincing Evan once!

On their last night we had cooking class just the four of us and it was really lovely evening.  We made a typical Bolivian dish with boiled potatoes, a picante sauce, veggies, and a salsa de mani, a super mild peanut sauce.  We closed out their last night in town, sharing a bottle of wine and talking into the wee hours.  I was sad to see them go!

We also started volunteering. One of the workers from the school met us to show us the bus and what not on the first day.  We took the city bus to the outskirts of town. The bus stopped at a deserted intersection and told us sorry but we needed to get out and walk from here because he was almost out of gas and needed to fill up.  We walked up a hill thru the mud and arrived at the school at about 830. Kids apparently got there at 7.  The place was quiet when we arrived. Deserted. The worker from the school peaked around until she saw the "principal" across the road and hollered at her.

 They weren't getting money from the government and couldn't pay the teachers and the woman couldn't do it by herself so she closed. The school was in disarray.  Thus was a problem because this kids have nothing to turn to and no help for schoolwork etc.

She said she could open back up if we were able to help.  Of course!  The first day we cleaned the school.  Some of the windows were broken, and it was dry outside, so dirt had blown in and covered everything.   That night after class, we went to a vidrio to cut new class to replace the windows.  We were feeling good about our donation to the school and figured the price tag would be pretty high for custom cut glass and supplies.  When we walked out with a $7 bill, we asked ourselves "wow, what else can we fix?!"

The next day Evan replaced the windows while I helped kids with homework.  We expected to take the day off that Saturday but the mom of one of the students asked us to help her son finish because she couldn't.

At the school, we did a lot of cleaning (which can be a challenge when there is no running water), gardening, yard work, and helping kids with homework.  Homework ranged from learning Quechua, the local indigenous language (which we were no help with) to math problems.  I enjoyed helping with math, making sense out of over-complicated word problems.  The only issue was with division - I still can't figure out how they do division!  One kid had to write all of the numbers in Spanish, from 1,000 to 2,000, in cursive.  And, if he messed up, he had to rip the page out and write the entire page again.  It took him forEVER to do it without mistake. I  was not impressed with this assignment, but who am I, a volunteer only around for a few weeks that hardly speaks Spanish, to tell the teacher it was a waste of time.

 On Saturday, we switched to take morning classes so we could volunteer and then go play Wallyball with other spanish students from the school.  Wallyball is basically volleyball in a squash court where you can use the walls. I loved it and it was quite the motley crew.  We had an old German guy with pants tighter than mine and a pony tail, a 7 ft English girl, a wild Argentinian guy, a few unassuming Bolivian guys that were well practiced in Wallyball, including someone's kid brother.

We found time to hit some of the attractions in town, including visiting San Felipe, a church and old convent.  You can walk around on the roof, giving amazing views in every direction.

We had become regulars at the market, buying our eggs, veggies, fruit, and spices from the vendors.  There was also an area with ladies selling fresh juices, and I quickly fell in love with this little spot for fresh juice for a dollar.  Maracuya is my favorite - passionfruit!  Pro tip - order "zumo" instead of "jugo" - Jugo is typically watered (or milked) down, while zumo is just the fruit.  I always request sin azucar - without sugar.

At the Spanish school, one night we were asked to volunteer to speak English with (Bolivian) English students, so for two hours one night, we sat around a table with six Bolivians in their early 20's and spoke to them in English to give them a chance to talk with native speakers.

I had also been enjoying all of the textiles, scooping up a few as we found ones that passed my sniff test (and were connected directly to the artist or to healthy work practices, which possible.)

We ate at many good places.  In case of interest or if you ever visit, a run down of a few of our favorites:

• Lunch of the day at El Cuchillo, that basically was like someone's house. We had a soup mani, a tang-like drink, and a main. Evan had fried chicken with friend potatoes and I had the spicy chicken which came with red onions, spicy red peppers, and pasta.  Both were good and we left full and feeling like we robbed the place ( less than 3 total)

• Lunch at Chifa and thai - an adorable thai / chinese restaurant with a plethora of amazing teas.  The menu of the day was delicious (and cheap!), which included a soup, main, and espresso or ginger cake for dessert.

• Lunch at El Germen- Evan had menu of the day which was a quinoa soup, yuka pastel and beet salad and I had papas rellenas...stuffed potatoes. Both were good but it was so slow...
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• Lunch at Pollo (Oriental) where you could order chicken by the 8th, the quarter, half, or whole, and it was served with fried potato wedges
• Patio for Saltenas - delicious. Evan thought the beef was too sweet and preferred the chicken.

• Slateneria flores for saltenas- all delicious, beef chicken and veggies
• Dinner at Cafe Monterosso - a sweet little Italian restaurant on the second floor, which seemed like you were at someone's house for dinner.  There is no signage, just a light above the door indicating they are open, and a bell to ding to signal your desire for the door to open.  This was the most expensive place we ate and eat our splurge was still not much of a splurge.  Homemade pastas and tiramisu - so good we ate their our last night in town.

And food a la casa! We made so much food with fresh veggies and ate a lot of fresh fruit.