A little Bolivia story: A couple years ago I studied abroad in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Cochabamba is a quaint quiet city that is located in between the altiplano of the Andes and the lowlands leading to the Amazon. It is kind of off the normal tourist track since there isn't anything especially noteworthy unless you count the Christ statue on top of a hill like the one in Rio de Janeiro. It is pretty small, with narrow roads left over from colonial times. The plaza is really lively especially around lunch time when everyone walks through it to get home for a leisurely lunch and nap. In San Borja, Lima, we see modern Peru. Our streets are wide with green boulevards, people commuting, people walking dogs. There are parts of Lima with beautiful architecture, balconies, narrow streets, typical plazas, but they aren't part of my everday sites.
While I love the feeling of the city and how it looks, what really excites me about Cochabamba are the people that I met when I was there. Since I have a tourist visa of 90 days, I have to cross the border to renew it for another three months. I am happily taking the opportunity to go back to Cochabamba for a few days, despite the fact that it is not near the border. I have really been enjoying reconnecting with people there to let them know I am coming back for a visit. So far I have emailed with one of my host sisters, one of the director's of my program, the administrative assistant of the program, and Juan Pablo.
In Bolivia I did research that turned into my thesis back at Skidmore on the communities in the Zona Sur, which is similar to Carabayllo (and the Zona Norte) in Lima. With the help of a resident who had been elected to serve on the public water committtee which took over after the perserverent Bolivians kicked out the private Bechtel-funded water company, I met a couple really great families. They both welcomed me to their houses, answered all my water questions, and invited me to watch the latest soap operas with them.
I head off tonight on a 2am flight and will wake up in Bolivs!
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