Sunday,Jan 8 2006, 06:00:43 PMNew prospects for 2006

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Again Happy New Year 2006 and all the best to the small and youngest as well as to the older and wiser. 2006 is a brand new adventure for all of us in school, College at work etc...Let's hope it all works according to the plan and to our great hopes for this new year...I mean it.

2006 has started in San Juancito as well!!everyone has now recuperated from their New Years celebration and slowly but surely gets back to work on the field in this warm and humid time of the year. I was happy to spend New Years' in the city where life is soooo different and contrasts the harsh life for the countrymen and women on the countryside. So going back to San Juancito after enjoying the fireworks and the night life in Santa Cruz is really a magic moment that inspires to work harder and do my best with the community for 2006.

My English classes are going just fine every class follows a different rythm and that I really enjoy. The little kids are the most enthusiastic to learn a new language...they see it more as a new game to play with the gringo in town as they most probably don't realize yet that spanish is not the only language spoken on this earth.The other classes are also doing great and we have finished now the alphabet the phonetics and basic sounds of the english language and have now started the year with some new exercises about "is this a pen?" No it is not a pen it is a pencil...or is this a lake? no it is house...one of the next steps could be "yes it is a lake, do you want to go fishing with me?" Who knows...but one thing is clear I DO want them to see some IMMEDIATE results in their learning process as new tourists flow into San Juancito for 2006...I am starting to work on their immediate surrounding environment's vocab so that they can use it as much as possible.All the kids now greet me in English at different times of the day and ask me how I am doing...it is quite repetitive to say I'm doing fine like twenty or 25 times a day but it's important to make them realize that speaking English could and will become an important tool in San Juancito to communicate with the tourists if or when we develop the tourism potential.
This is yet another issue in San Juancito for 2006...I do take advantage of that base I have with the kids to encourage them to work on the eco tourism potential of the village. We did launch this week the community map comptetition with the kids and they are now going to draw the map of their community with all the important activities and sites of the village. We want the tourist to look at that map that will be painted on one of the walls of the center to have a general overview of the village, its activities fishing swimming canoe riding, horse back riding, milking the cows, soccer playing, cooking your own bread, discovering the jungle/forest and the crops beans, peanuts, cajou nuts, papaya, corn, cofee beans, banana and sooooo much more. The best three maps will be rewarded with a set of QUALITY school materials. All participants will also get a pen for participating in the game...think of the olympics the most important is to participate...it doesn't really matter who wins the competition and they do understand that; what it really means is that THEY will participate together to work for their community and ultimately in the next coming years increase the village's income from eco tourism...They are BUILDING something.
I am having a semi hard time with the older tourism group of 6 to develop that potential...and that has brought me to question my mission here in San Juancito...Do people (the tourism group) really want to develop that eco tourism potential...? Do they want to increase their income through tourism...do they just not realize the eco tourism "paradise" they live in?Or do they not understand the steps we could/should follow to develop it some more. Would they be ready to bear with the changes(positive and negative) that might come with an increase of tourism in the village...etc....do they really want all of this? A lot of questions indeed. I now understand the Peace Corps philosophy that we are here to help them do the projects that THEY want...and not the projects that WE wantor that we see could be beneficial...it's their community and I have to let THEM take the decisions they want for their village.So after this community map, of which the kids DO realize the importance, I think I will let some time go by and wait and see what they are looking for and what THEY envision the place to become...and there are many different ways you can develop a site...you could turn San Juancito into a commercial eco tourism site with little huts with a view on the lake and your private canoe as well as all the fruit and food you would like along with all the activities...the other way around of doing things,you can also keep it low key and have the eco tourists stay with host famililies and have bread with tea for dinner as well as fish soup or corn tamales for breakfast cooked in the fireplace/kitchen...and have them live exactly as the community lives, do what they do, live with and around them...So there are two different philosphies of eco tourism...what do we want San Juancito to be like?...I personally like the more roots version where you get to live with the people, eat their food, so different to ours, participate in the family's activities on the fields etc...but there is also the market for those eco tourists who want their private space and their western standard comfort and commodities...So there is the dilemma...and we really have to be very careful in taking either paths as some mistakes MIGHT be hard to fix...
Overall I am very happy with the progress so far...I feel I have integrated pretty well ot the communuty and that thanks to the kids...what would I do witout them it really wouldn't be as fun and rewarding.I still have to go out more often to the chaco and work my a%% off and sweat for more than 20 minutes under the hot tropical climate.That is a BIG challenge for me and my body.I'll build up some more muscle for 2006 grandpa!!! I'll work on it!!

 

We've had two eco tourists traveleers visit San Juancito these last days...Pablo from California who teaches environmental education in different national parks and sites in Latin America and Alex from Holland a tall Dutch guy who admits and prouds himself of traveling through France with his caravan and spending the least money as possible IN France. (he even buys his tomatoes in Holland!!)..Well their are moving on in their projetcs...Pablo's (california guy)is heading next to Chile...Quite smart chap...definitely sees a great potential in San Juancito to develop eco tourism as an alternative to the chaqueo (slash and burn) practices that they are engaged in...San Juancito could also sell the nature of their site to tourists and in that way preserve it better than by cutting down the different trees and...doing the global warming thing...there is also what we call rotation crops which is a less intensive agricultural technique that gives the earth time to recover from the last crop...some plants like beans are also great because they catch the nitrtrogen in the air and send it back into the soil through the roots and through this regenerate the soil...etc...THere is SO MUCH one could do in San Juancito in so many fields...I don't really have the competence to teach environmental friendly agricultural practices but I could teach some basic environment classes to the kids with some resources I can get my hands on. I will have to talk to the teachers as soon as they come back to see if I could teach some more after the vacation (I enjoy it and it keeps me busy) and if so what I could teach them...tourism English or maybe even environmental science basic biology...etc...

Alright I think I have spent enough time for the day in front of this computer and telling you guys all this stuff that you might not be interested in. I guess you are the victim of the Internet and this great tool to communicate across boarders...I enjoy the news from you guys as well don't forget that.

Alright that's it for today...Aunt Margy again thanks for that new material you sent me last week...gotta run everyone not only do I have to move out of my hotel but I also need to run after the bus for San Juancito at three thirty in 45 minutes!!!OoOOOoops,

talk to you soon,
Willy

Saturday,Dec 31 2005, 11:45:45 AMDecember 21st. update

Dear Family and Friends,

Many thanks again for your emails. It means alot to us volunteers to get support from family and friends. So please keep it up.It's been two weeks since the last mass email from Bolivia and alot of things can happen in two weeks of time and DO happen.Though sometimes this can mean that nothing happens but the way nothing happens works in a way that makes it interesting. I told you that the gringas were coming to San Juancito right? Well I also told the entire village that they were gonna come and that we needed to organize ...

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