Rachel Hoffmann -- Bolivia

February 26, 2008

Hey Everyone!

It has been a while since I have written. I just finished my 6 months here and I would have to say that January was probably my favorite month so far. It has been extremely busy, but I am enjoying everything!

Well as you probably know I went to Brasil (to the beach!) for the New Year, and then I came back for two weeks, then I set off again on another trip with all of the exchange students. It was so amazing. There were 24 of us, in total, who are living all over Bolivia. But most of us are here in Santa Cruz. So we left from Santa Cruz to Sucre, which is the official capital of Bolivia but the government is located in La Paz. A few months ago there were a lot of issues there and a lot of protests with police and the people. But when we went everything was fine. It is a really beautiful city. Almost all of the houses and buildings are white and have the colonial style because it developed during the time the Spanish were there, so there are a lot of really pretty buildings. We went to a couple of museums there, it was fun to get to know more about the history. If you know Ignacio, ¨Nacho¨, the exchange student at Salem, he is from that town and his host sister, Molly, is my friend. She is staying at his house for the year. It was so refreshing though, we got off the plane in Sucre, and it was about 30 degrees cooler than Santa Cruz and sooooooooo nice to feel some semi colder weather. It was our vacation from the humidity for two weeks.

So we stayed there for a couple of days, and then we took a bus to Potosi, which is the highest city in the world. Well it is tied with a city in the Himilayas. The ride was so beautiful. There were mountains, land slides that took out part of the road, and just a lot to see. We kept going higher and higher and then it just flattened out and around you were all of the mountains, but just flat land. It was really barren, and a lot of poor people live there. They dont have cars in the country, and take everything by foot or by horse or donkey. Or anything thats not a car. So anyway, it was a lot colder in Potosi. It was also extremely hard to breath because of the altitude. It felt like someone was stepping on my chest. And the great thing about it was the city is really hilly so we got to walk a lot up these huge hills, well they seemed huge at the time when I couldnt breathe. Potosi is a mining town, and very depressing. The land was almost reddish, and all of the kids have really rosy cheeks from the cold and the sun. It is what they would call a ¨cuya¨ town, here in Santa Cruz. Where the people are poor and they speak with a different accent. A lot of them are supporters of Evo. Anyway, it was really cool to see though. We got to visit the mines and this was soooooo cool! We dressed up in these hideous looking mining outfits with the head gear and lamp and everything. There were a bunch of gauchos too(Argentinians) that we all had crushes on. So we go up this creepy road to the mines on the top of the mountain. Oh but at the bottom you can buy coca leaves and cigarettes and bomb materials for insanely cheap. Its for the miners, but it was kind of creepy how easily accesable it was. The coca and cigarettes are for the miners because they are in a creepy dark cold mine all day and the coca helps them stay awake and not be hungary, and if you want to take their pictures its nice to give them something. So we entered the mines, which are full of minerals. It was really cool to see. Theres silver, zinc, and a bunch of other ones I dont remember. Its one of the richest mineral mines in the world. They were actually exploading while we were in there, but the guide didnt seem worried, so I tried not to be. They have this special religion in this city where they believe in the devil but it protects the miners, they call it the ¨tio¨and then there is the mother earth, and its all about the protection of the miners. It was kind of scary inside but really interesting to see.

So after a day there we took a bus to the Salar de Uyuni. Which are the biggest and most beautiful salt flats on the world. Apparently you can see it from the moon. It is just miles and miles of flat land which is natural salt. Once it used to be a lake or something like that they think, and it dried up and now it is just salt. So the ride to Uyuni is about 10 hours long, depending on road conditions. It was extremely cold, okay so it was only like 40 but when you are at such a high altitude and can´t breath it is a different, dryer cold. We left at night and drove the whole way there, but the road is just mud and it was horrible. At one point at about 3 in the morning the bus stopped and we all had to get off, run in the wild across this huge flat land, luckily it wasnt a hill, it was bad enough running in the altitude, in the cold. It was so windy. The bus drove off the road and goes flying across to the other side until it made it to the good side of the road again. It was a site to see, a bunch of gringos running at night, and this bus that looked like it was about to fall apart any minute. We were so tired when we got back on. It was something I will never forget though. In all of the cities, no matter how cold they are, they dont have heat. So I slept with a bunch of clothes, my llama hat and mittens, and about 5 blankets. Oh and the showers are freezing, if you are lucky you might get a semi warm one. But the next morning we set off in a group of 5 SUVs to go to the salt flats. It had rained the day before so they were flooded, but only with about 3 inches of water. First we arrived at a train cemetery. It was where they dumped the trains that transported all the minerals. It was kind of eerie, but there were beautiful mountains in the background and the sky was so blue. My friend Lucy fell in a hole in a train and we had to pull her out. It was pretty cool. So we thought that was beautiful, but we keep driving and all of a sudden the horizon disappears. We had to wear sunglasses because it was so bright with the reflection of the sun and the white of the salt. We kept driving until all you could see was white around you, the sky, and the mountains in the distance. The amazing thing was because it was flooded, the water reflected the sky exactly like a mirror, so it felt like we were flying. It was like heaven. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. It wasnt that cold anymore beacause the sun was out. We stopped to get out and took a bunch of pictures, and because it is so flat, you can pose like you are eating someone, or holding them in your hand. It was so much fun. So we drove to this island in the middle of the salt flats, it took about 2 hours, then we ate lunch there. The island was full of cacti(cactuses?) it was really cool.

On the way back we rode on the top of the SUVs and I got to watch the sunset in the distance. To the left there were thunderstorms, and you could watch the lightning strike in the distance. But Straight ahead was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. To the right there was a little rain storm that looked really out of place, because it was only one little cloud. We stopped at the Hotel de Sal, its made purely of salt, and I met some Russians and Japenese people there. We stayed until the sun went down all the way. There arent words to describe it, it was just so beautiful. Everyone has to go to the salt flats!

So after Uyuni we went back to Potosi again, and the same thing happened with the bus, we got out and ran. We spent some more time there looking at museums and stuff like that important to the history of Bolivia. It was right before carnaval, one of the most important holidays here(not really, but probably the most famous) anyway everyone would attack us on the street with shaving cream and water balloons. After a while we got the point and bought some to attack the other gringos that we saw on the street. From there we went back to Sucre, then took a plane to La Paz.

In La Paz we met up with a new exchange student who lives here in Santa Cruz now, she is from New Zealand. Her accent is so cute. We went to the witch street where they have llama fetuses, oh by the way I ate llama and it was soooooooo delicious! I bought a bunch of artesenal stuff for gifts. Then we left for Lake Titicaca, which sadly I had to tell my mom doesnt mean ¨lake booby poop¨, it means sacred lake, or puma rock, depending on which language. It was cool because half of the lake belongs to Peru, so I was really close to Peru! We ate lunch in this town called Copacabana, where hippies line the streets selling jewelry and there are tons of places to eat fresh trout from the lake. The water was so blue and the day was perfect. So we took the boat from Copacabana to La Isla del Sol, island of the sun. It was so beautiful. It is inhabited by indigenous people, and once it was inhabited by the incans, and then later another ancient group. they have ruins there. it was cool because they do the terrace farming there and a bunch of natural plants grow there that are used for medicine, I think before they grew them, and now they just grow on their own. Our hotel was really cute, made out of stones, and there were little girls that followed us there to sing for us. One of the girls names was Rosario. At night before dinner there were probably about 6 little kids, from the age of 3 to 6 and a few of my friends and I learned the song ¨la cucaracha¨ and we sang and danced with them in a circle. then we would all fall down. we let them take pictures and they loved it! These are little kids that are pretty poor and may have never seen a camera in their life. It was so cute. By the end of the night they were clinging to us. Then my friend Zane break danced for them, and from the money they gained from singin, they tried to pay him some. It was the cutest thing ever. Once again, we watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. It was over the lake looking out from our room window, and everything turned navy blue and orange. Some of us swam in the water, but it was sooooooooooooooo cold, so I stayed out. I dipped my feet in though.

We headed back to La Paz and spent more time there. Our friend Julien took us out to a disco there, and let me tell you high altitude dancing really tires you out! We were such a big group that we kind of took over every place we went, but we met a lot of cool people, and now I think we are the most famous gringos in Bolivia.

After La Paz we headed to Cochabamba and saw the Christo on top of the hill. I think its the biggest in the world. You probably know the one from Rio in Brasil. One of the guys who helped build it did the weddings of everyone in my new host family. I danced with him at my sister Fabiola´s wedding. He was the coolest priest I have ever met. He could go lower than I could when we were dancing and he´s like 75!

So after Cochabamba it was a flight to Tarija. This is more like Santa Cruz, just smaller. It is known for its vinyards and fruits and people. They say that people from Tarija sing instead of talking. My dad from my last family is a Tarijeño and no matter how often Id see him he´d always greet me with ¨Raqueliiiita¨. It was so cute. So we went to this really pretty vinyard called the Casa Viejo. We just passed time in the city and the plaza. We also visited this really beautiful and peaceful waterfall. I fell in, some people went swimming. It was really nice. We ate at these markets and bought some fruit, but I got sick for the first time in Bolivia, and go figure it was 5 months into my trip. The food was still good though, but I was in bed for the last day of the trip. It was still fun though.

After 12 days of traveling, all of us were so close. It was so amazing to bring people from all over the world together, and have us get along so well! In all, there were kids from France, Belgica, Alemania, Canada, The USA, and New Zealand. We are such good friends, and we had a great time so we are going to try to plan another little trip with all of us.

When we got back we had carnaval, which is more traditional in other cities, but in Santa Cruz it consists of being painted by paint that doesnt come off at all, after 2 weeks I finally got the blue off of me, but not out of my hair, so I had to dye it. There is a lot of singing, dancing, and a lot of drunks in the street for 3 days. The first two days are great, but the last day they start to squirt shoe polish and pee at you in the water guns, so it´s best not to leave the garage or house that day. It was crazy, but we had the best time.

I switched my host families about a week ago, just to get a new experience, and I absolutely love them. I loved my last one too. But it´s nice because I am now living closer in the city and can walk places instead of taking creepy taxis. I also started classes the other day in the University. My career is international relations and right now my class is political science. I have a lot of friends, one who I actually met on my trip to Brasil. We go out to lunch and we are going to get together to watch movies and stuff. The teacher loves me, but only because Im from the USA and he uses me as an example for everything. Its pretty cool though to get a different perspective on things. I he only knows my name though, and Ive only been there for a week. I get embarassed though because he talks so fast and sometimes its just too early to learn, so he calls my name and I dont know what hes talking about. Í guess I have to pay attention now.

Well everything is going great here. My host sister comes home in a week, and I am so excited to meet her. She was staying in Virginia, but she had to come home early to take a test because she wants to study in Brasil.

I hope everyone is doing well and that you arent freezing too much. We are almost starting winter here, if you can call it that, because its still about 85 or 90 every day and so humid! At least I have AC now!

I miss you all tons and hope to hear back from you!

Love,

Rachel (Raquel)