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  Thanksgiving, Pe...

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Wednesday December 28, 2005

Hello All,

I hope this email finds you all doing well.  First as you may have noticed I have now become a Zorpia member hopefully giving you all an easier way to view photos and read my journal entries than before with shutterfly.  It is really quite simple just go to www.zorpia.com/melissainbolivia.  I have minimized the photos for easier uploading but they should be good enough quality and big enough for you all to get an idea of my latest.

So, what is new here?  I was fortunate enough to have my second visitor from the states here from Dec. 8 to 28.  Amanda and I met up in Cuzco enjoyed the 4 day Machu Picchu trek and the Cuzco itself for a few days.   From there we headed to Copacabana and Isla del Sol where we stayed one day and one night walking the island and enjoying the water and fresh air.  On December 17^th we caught the last bus leaving for La Paz and made it just in time for Bolivia’s presidential elections.  In La Paz we rested and were awed at the night and day difference between Election Day (no alcohol sales, no transportation, and most importantly no meetings or “groups” allowed) and December 19.  Not only did Bolivia come through with a majority elected indigenous president but we were transformed into a metropolis that resembled nothing of our first day in the Capital city.

From La Paz we took an overnight bus to Santa Cruz.  It was 18 hours long but one of the nicer buses I have been on in my 1yr 8months (who’s counting) in Bolivia and we met some interesting travelers from South Africa so the time did not seem so long. 

In Santa Cruz I felt back at “home” no longer in the cooler, drier land of Peru and La Paz but back to the hot and humid, Miami like culture of Santa Cruz!  Here we did some major shopping to stock up for Christmas in the Bolivian campo.  We ran into a few Peace Corps friends and made a point to stop into the office to check mail…(thanks for the cards and pressies!), see our beloved office and catch up on PC gossip.

El Carmen was tranquillo and wonderful as always.  We had a warm long ride up and spent much of the first afternoon de polvo-ising (dusting) my room that had been abandoned for a week and a half.  While there we enjoyed spending time with my host family, making paper snow flakes, baking cookies and cakes with them and singing any Christmas tunes we could think of to make it feel a little more like Christmas.  Geoff, another volunteer from San Antonio arrived on Christmas eve. to join us and partake in the festivities. 

Christmas in the campo….well to say it was like any other day would be a lie but it definitely did not feel like a “traditional” Christmas.  My host family killed a pig and prepared it for a midnight feast.  Amanda and I joined the evangelical church for an 8pm to 11pm mass and we even sang Rudolph!  What a sight we were.  I ate chancho (what Bolivians call pig) and put out about 20 stockings for my host family’s grand kids.  It was nice to be with them and in my site.  I could not have preferred any less and of course having Amanda and Geoff there helped me to not concentrate on the fact that this was my first Christmas ever away from home!  Christmas morning we made a feast for kings complete with hash browns, eggs and fruit filled pancakes, exchanged stockings and listed to James Taylor’s “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas.”  With this I felt closer to home knowing that maybe the Ganshert’s were listening to a little James, and the Pulver’s and Traces were most definitely carrying on with card games at the end of Christmas feasts. 

The 26^th we caught a cab and a bus to return to Santa Cruz and see Miss Amanda off.  It was sad to see her go but as always we know that we will see each other in the near future and pick up right where we left off so all is good.

Well, I hope this update brings you all up to date with me.  It would be great to hear from all of you how your holiday festivities are coming along. 

Big Hugs,

Melissa   

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