Rachel Hoffmann -- Bolivia / Salem Rotary

Hola a Todos!

I know it's been a while since I have written, but Ive been having so much fun and just havent had the time to write a big email. Everything in Santa Cruz is perfect right now. Today was like 65 degrees and everyone was acting like it was 30 below. We all got out our sweaters and it felt freezing! I stayed in my bed till about 12 like it was winter vacation. But tomorrow is supposed to be 90 something again. Its weird, it gets really really windy for one or two days but really hot, then you know the next day it will rain, and maybe it rains for one day, but the next day is beautiful again.

Ok so what have I done.....well the most exciting thing Ive done in the past few weeks was to take a trip to Trinidad, a small "city" in the department of Beni. I was invited by my second host family and I went with them and Zane, the kid from Minnesota, and the two daughters and their husbands. They are only 23 and 25 so its really fun to hang out with them. The ride was about 8 or 9 hours on this road that wasnt too bad for a highway in Bolivia, but really randomly there would be speed bumps and one time we didnt see them and we went really fast over them and i hit the roof a couple times, it woke me up but it was no biggy.

So Trinidad is pretty much Amazonia, and I guess you could say we were in the jungle. They have some pretty exotic things there. For example lions, anacondas(I saw three of them but they were in a cage, but one of them they found in the canal that was like 10 feet away, they were each about 7 meters long), aligators, capihuara, antas(which is like an ant eater i think, i touched one and it smelled my hand). I woke up in the morning to the sound of squawking wild parrots in the mango tree outside my room. there were tucans, tarantulas, but luckily only in the road so we ran them over. they all leave their homes when it rains. But you all get the point, it was pretty exotic. This town is so cool because the majority of the people dont use cars, they use motorcycles. So i got to take a vuelta(little ride) around the plaza on one of my cousins motorcycles. its kind of freaky when you are in the car though because about 20 motos will come up beside you and you feel like youll get attacked by some gang but you look over and its a grandma. or i did see a couple motos with 4 people. who needs a minivan when you can fit your whole family on a shanty little motorcycle! it does stink to live in this city when it rains though. apparently each year in about december or january it all floods. they are kind of just used to it and they expect to lose a bunch of their cattle and animals and homes. oh speaking of rivers there are also a lot of pihranas(spelling?). they eat tons of fish there because of the rivers.

Probably the most daring thing I did, besides stare at anacondas and ride a motorcycle, was eat alligator tail. it was the best thing ever!!!!!! I was kinda freaked out at first, and so was Zane, but we ate it and it was smothered in a garlic and butter sauce. its now our favorite food. i think they ordered us two helpings each. it was great, we were sitting in this little restaurant and I said to Zane, "do you realize that we are together, sitting here listening to a tape of 80s music from the US, eating alligator tail, drinking something with the name that translates into exotic horsefly, in Bolivia." it was just one of those moments.

I was surprised, i only got 4 mosquito bites, but I did take my malaria medicine so that was good. (mom dont worry!) and i swear that the mosquitos there are nicer than they are here. as we speak they are attacking my fingers.

So back to Santa Cruz, Im in summer vacation now and so I kind of just hang out every day. I sleep late, maybe ill go to the pool with my friends, because I think almost every exchange student has a pool at their house. I always eat lunch with the family, and then after i go to the main plaza in the city with the gringos. apparently we are known as the gringos of the plaza now so i was pretty happy about that. we like this cafe thats actually not bolivian at all, its arabic and the owner is from madrid, but we are now regulars there too. we like to sit there and drink coffee and watch the people in the plaza down below. its kind of funny but one of the things we like to do is watch the other gringos and we will comment and say, oh they are definately tourists, but we arent because we actually live here.

i started salsa dancing classes at this place that teaches all week and then on the weekends it turns into a bar/disco. its so cool the teachers are from cuba. im so jealous the way they move, but they have so much fun, and i love it. i feel really awkward at times, if you can imagine me trying to move my hips and be all sexy like a cuban, then you can imagine how awkward it is. but i dont care because we have a great time.

i also started my traditional bolivian cooking classes and tomorrow im making picante de pollo(spicey chicken) and bringing it home for my family for lunch, so hopefully they like it! its a lot of pressure!

im going to the gym now because the food is catching up to me, but its fun because some of my friends go too. and im actually a regular there too. i have to laugh when all of the really strong guys have to share the machines with me and i move it to like one weight and they use all of them. i think they are afraid to talk to me though, maybe they are just more serious about their work out than i am. its still fun though.

my family is great, i love them so much. im trying to save up for a trip to brasil or maybe uraguay. but other than that im just hanging out and enjoying my time. its funny because when we go to the rotary meetings, they get kind of boring at times, and so what the exchange students do is see how much spicey sauce we can put on our bread at once. the rotarians love it because they are usually bored too and love to watch the boys get really red.

well i hope everyone is doing really well. stay warm, if you get too cold think of me sitting by the pool tanning, or burning(again just kidding mom im using my sun screen!) and im sure that will warm you up!

i love you all and miss you tons!!