I arrived in Cochabamba looking forward to catching up with Wyatt, Johnny & Ben for a few days before heading to Sucre to take some Spanish lessons. However, my time hear turned out to be longer than first planned. I had two really fun nights out in Cochabamba with the guys and some of the locals they had made friends with, and it was one of these chance encounters that led to me staying. I met Sol while out out partying on Saturday and bumped in to her again whilst contemplating what to do on the Monday. I had had a lot of fun in Cochabamba and met a lot of nice people so I was pretty open to staying when she asked why I was going to go. We went to Capresso (a cool coffee shop part owned by Danny who I became good friends with) with the idea of finding out about Spanish schools in the city. Sol called up her friend Luis to see if he could help with any ideas of Spanish schools. In actual fact I would end up staying with him and his family. After spending the day searching we found a Spanish school which seemed to be just what I needed. Thus the matter was settled, I would be staying in Cochabamba a little longer. I needed a place to stay next and Luis offered me to stay with his family which was perfect as I wanted to find a family to stay with.
View from near my house
I found myself really settle in to life in Cochabamba. On the weekdays I had Spanish classes from 3-6pm with Profesora Carolina. The Spanish lessons were challenging but fun. I have found myself struggling and still am with the numerous ways of conjugating a verd but the lessons really helped my Spanish and my ability to talk to the locals. In the evenings I was usualy up to something with Wyatt, Sol & co. One evening I went to a bar for a photo exhibition which one of Sol's friends was showing pictures at. It was really cool and the final photographer to show the video compilation of his photos was a Canadian called Robert Postma. The photos were incredible and he has had photos published in journals such as National Geographic. This is the link to his website so you can check them out for yourself http://www.distanthorizons.ca/.
Conjugate those verbs
Friends
Wyatt, Jonny & Ben were all volunteering with a great volunteer organisation called Sustainable Bolivia. Along with the volunteer programs they organised lots of events from Salsa classes, the trip to Carnival in Oruro and nights out. It was on an 80s themed birthday celebration they organised for the Director that I met a Bolivian girl named Gris. She would later come with me on the Salar de Uyuni trip and to San Pedro de Atacama (another blog required).
Party times, Gris on my left, Sol on my right
On the weekends the Friday / Saturday were party time. Cochabamba has a lot of bars and discoteca's to enjoy. A club called La Pimienta (Green Pepper) was one of the favourites. Sunday is generally dedicated to family. On the first Sunday I went with my family to a big reunion on a piece of land they own outside of the city. Everyone brought something to eat and drink and we were treated to a great lunch of barbecued fish with lots of potato and salad. There was another foreigner staying with my family called Julie and both of us were instantly made to feel like one of there own. It was a really great experience and a privelege to live with a them.
Family fun
I was lucky to be in Bolivia around the build up to Carnival. Carnival is one of the higlights of the year and is a big excuse for celebration. In the weeks before Carnival there are two days for celebration for men and women, La dia Comadres & La dia Compadres. For what I experienced these were both excuses for men and women to get wasted for a night. For La dia Compadres I went to Wyatt and Johnny's house for the evening. Franz (who owns the house and looks after the 7 or so volunteers staying there) was having a barbecue and there was 5kg of beef ready to be put on to it! It was a great meal accompanied by lots of beer and a game of Cacho ( a dice game that I will definately be bringing back to the UK). Both days are meant for the individual sex but they get celebrated by both anyway. On the dia Comadres the guys wait until late in the evening when the girls are suitably wasted and then head out on to the streets on the hunt. Wyatt, Johnny and I headed out with Luis (one of Wyatt's Bolivian co-workers). The streets were filled with cars and people (mainly guys) and the entertainment consited of alcohol and dancing next to one of the cars which filled the streets and blared out music.
Strikes
My time in Cochabamba was never uneventful and I witnessed a few strikes whilst I was there. Increases in the cost of goods like general food stuffs, sugar and petrol prompted the Transportistas (the unions of all local transport) to strike several times. They wanted to raise the price of a bus rides but the public wouldn't let them. We woke up one morning to find the roads in to the centre clogged with every single bus in the city. The city was in complete shut down until they started moving out in the late afternoon!
The day Cochabamba stood still
On the subject of transport, driving in Bolivia is crazy. A lot seems to revolve around the zero adherance to rules. When driving, people routinely skip red lights and hardly anyone has an actual drivers license. Drink driving also appears to be a pretty common thing.
Money
Bolivia really is a poor country and the poverty line can be very close for a lot of families. That is why the cost of a bus ticket going up from 50 cents (5p) to 1 Bolivan (10p) can have such a huge impact. A person working in a restaurant could earn as little a 700 Bs a month ($100). This is also the reason why practically everyone who is young doe not bother to work until after they leave university (it is free) and can get a better paid job.
Family
Bolivia also suffers from widespread corruption in the government, police etc. leading to zero belief in the justice system. Due to the fact that Bolivians cannot rely on the state for support the family is the most important institution in Bolivia. One of the really admirable things about Bolivian society is that families stick together and look after each other. Children will generally stay at home for university and a lot later in life. The families are also a lot bigger in Bolivia and it can be normal to have three or four siblings and countless cousins. The Navia family who I lived with work really hard to ear their living. They own two pharmacies and Yvonne (the wife) and Denisse (the daughter), who, is 20 years old run them. It is a 12 hour a day job with only Sundays off. Denisse also just started back at university and cannot keep running the shop by herself in the future. They also have to look after Yvonne's mother during the day and she stays with Denisse at the pharmacy during the day. Luis, 24 years old, has just got a really good job with Petrogas where he had his work placement at university. He is the only person to get this job from a public university in Cochabamba as the course you usually need is only available in private universities.
My family, from the left Luis, Abuelita, Denisse, Julie, Yvonne
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