Tarea:

Wowza! Nothing special, just thought I would make that declaration. I am in Montero now, and I hit the ground running. Yes, I slept the entire day I arrived, somehow I am still a pansy after 24 hours of travel, but yesterday (day 2) I started in on my first task. On thursday, hoy, we put together a workshop for community health promoters to help them help the rural communities they support with STD prevention/treatment, and other gender specific diseases. Nothing says, bienvenido a Bolivia quite like saying "Let's start talking about sex". My first task was to create a model/tool to help with BSE, or breast self examination. A model that these folks could take and use in their communities and wherever else they may give the sexual health talk. Now if any of you have ever made boobs from bra's, foam, glue and pantyhose, you have one up on me. I had not before yesterday (wednesday) and boy was it learning experience. One cannot simply trace the outline of the bra in the hope that the foam will fit...no...siempre necesita mantener la forma de la teta. But success! I created five pairs of boobs complete with inner lump (I will post pictures soon). I also learned the finer aspects of lamination. Seven hours worth the finer aspects of lamination. Because lamination is so expensive i.e. 5 b's a sheet, the cheapest way to laminate is to use packing tape, and a hard smooth surface. Had one visited the house last night, one would have found all of us sitting on the floor merrily taping away into the wee hours of the night, strip of clear packing tape by strip of clear packing tape, page by page. I'm a freakin' machine now...um...I think that is all so far. Work is going to be much fun. Katie (my boss) has a detailed list of things to do when I'm not busy, including but not limited to painting, installation of shelves, organization of "the storage room", and material preparation. I've always heard rumors of the endless tasks of the intern but never experienced them myself. They are real!!! but I couldn't be happier. Thanks again for reading, and I will try and have a post workshop post up soon. Oh, for my faithful followers, one of my tasks has been to have at least weekly postings of tasks, photos, and other such happenings on the Etta Projects facebook page. So like the page, follow it, I don't know how those technology things work, and you may receive an even better view on the work that we are doing down here.

What a day, what a day. We finished all the picture material packets so my lamination days are over!!! until next week. THe workshop we hosted today seems to have been a success with the participants. I was able to take part in the prepared meals, and hoo hoo Doña Emma can cook! I was told the the name of each meal and remembered it until the sabor took over. Lunch was essentially milonesa I think, which is fried carne (or chicken), ho ho ho...it took every ounce of me to say estoy lleno and not go for seconds. Dinner, hooooooo.....it was a Quechua chicken soup with potatos and arroz. It tasted amazing, especially when I was encouraged to add the picante salsa. But the best part of dinner was that everyone at the table spoke spanish and quechua menos the unitedstatesians and the children, and for the first part of the meal I got a quechua lesson from the guy on my left, and provided the dinner entertainment as my thick tongue tried to pronounce sounds barely distinguishable by my european ears. I can now say dinner, chicken, carne, and the short version for potatos. To sum it all up. I wrote these two paragraphs roughly ten hours apart and the only thing I can remember about today is the freakin' food. At nine fifteen it is off for drinks and karaoke, bolivian style.

Primer Post

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my blog. I am new to this whole blogging thing, but I think it will be a grand experience. I will try and have atleast weekly updates if not more. It depends on how much time I have with my computer. For those of you who are new to my spurge style of writing, prepare yourself for unnecessary punctuation and con mucho spanglish. When reading, if my tone of voice changes, or my writing style, then bare with me, the voice in my head simply changed.

First Bolivian Experience:
AS I was requesting gate information on my flight from miami a La Paz, a NEw Zealand guy named marty snagged me as a fellow english speaker headed to the same place. WE immediately proceeded to the Jose Cuervo Taquiria for our last American Beers. We walked around for another place but they won't beopen until I am back in Miami in seven meses. I wanted a greasy burger and Manny's (had it the night before!) but they only had Sam Adams Boston Lager. Not my first choice, but goddamnit it's american! Two beers and a chicken enchilada deep (found out later that they fed us on our red-eye flight) we headed back to the gate in time for Boarding. It was here that Marty and I parted ways because I was pulled aside, for a visa check. I was missing the appropriate paper work. Paperwork that everyone who has ever travelled to bolivia declined I needed, but paperwork that american airlines insisted I have. So I write this first update in...La Paz. Gotcha, they pulled some strings, and I thought I would never say this, but a man on a Segway came to my rescue. I was the last person on the plane. Two beers, a chicken Enchilada, and now an inflight meal, complete with full set of plastic utensils, I passed out on the plane.
I woke up this morning to the sunrise over the mt. peaks surrounding La Paz. If anyone has seen the sunrise/sunset over the enchantments, and more particular Mt. Stuart they might have an inkling of the sites that I witnessed this morning. No customs/border issues, turns out I didn't need the visa application, just the 135 big ones. AS I write these last few words, I am slowly being surrounded by large groups of youth travelling I can only imagine to santa cruz. I am going to sign off and move, porque no entiendo la conversacion y el espacio es muy differente para ellos...ciap