A lot to catch up on..

I realize I am REALLY far behind on blogging, and I have to apologize because I have been insanely busy and haven't been able to keep you all updated.
Bolivia is hot, really hot, but I am proud to say I'm surviving. I am constantly amazed by the things I see here, and I am continually learning.
Last week was the campamento de medio programa. I cannot believe that my time here is already half over! Since we're going out of the city for Carnaval (the big four day celebration all across Bolivia and other parts of South America), we stayed in Santa Cruz for the mi-projet instead of going away. It was a week packed full with group activities, and counterpart talks. In the end I think it was fairly productive!
Over the past few weeks we have been going out once a week to collect money for Casa de la Mujer. We have raised a pretty good amount of money, though I'm not sure exactly how much. We're planning to continue collecting weekly until the end of the program, and hopefully we will reach our goal!
My Spanish has gotten a lot better since coming to Bolivia, and I can now hold my own in most conversations! I am still practicing every chance I get though, and I have a lot more to learn.
My work placement is absolutely incredible! I will blog more about it later, because its so great it deserves a separate post. But it is partly to blame for me being too busy to blog.
I know this is just a really quick update, and I apologize, but my Education Day is tomorrow so I have to get back to working on it!
My counterparts (Sophie and Danitza) and I are running the education day tomorrow on the topic of abortion. Abortion isn't legal in Bolivia, but just as many abortions happen yearly in Bolivia as they do in Canada. The difference though is that in Canada the abortions are in safe, supervised environments, while in Bolivia they are happening illegally, in unsafe locations. I have learned a lot about abortion and its situation around the world, now I can only hope that tomorrow the rest of the group learns just as much!
Hasta proxima.. and it will be soon I promise!

Second Sector Project Activity

We did our second activity for the sector project (Casa de la Mujer) on Wednesday January 9th.
In the afternoon we stormed the plaza, which is the big central park in Santa Cruz, with our posters and collection buckets. We spent the afternoon talking with people about our cause, showing off our posters, and collecting money.
When the event was over we had raised around 1050bs! So far our money raised for the Casa de la Mujer is around 2550bs, and we're still collecting!
:)

Sector Project: first activity

Our sector project (the focus of our work when not at our work placement, and what we are raising money for) is the Casa de la Mujer in Santa Cruz. It is a location for woman and children that are victims of abuse. They can visit the center during the day, or in severe cases they can live in the center. They have doctors, psychologists, a library, a technology center that holds classes, and even their own radio station. It is a great place for women to take shelter or even to access resources.
We did our first activity for the Casa de la Mujer on Thursday January 3rd, and it was a great success!
We made posters against violence, and violence against women, and then went to El Cristo (the big statue in Santa Cruz). We collected money from people and cars at the lights, and showed our posters. Since our sector project supervisor David used to work on a television show, three different stations came to film us. We raised around 500bs, and made plans to do it again to keep raising awareness and funds.
Here are some pictures from the event! :)

The Amazing Race - Santa Cruz edition

On Thursday December 27th our group did a mini "Amazing Race" across the first ring of Santa Cruz to help the Canadians learn a bit more about the city and learn to find their way around. All of the Canadians were paired up (pairs were picked randomly from a hat), and then they were given one Bolivian "guide". The rules were that the "guides" were to accompany us, but they couldn't help us by translating, or giving us directions. They were just there to make sure we stayed inside the first ring, and to help us stay safe.
My team was Ian, (a Canadian from Nova Scotia), and Nicole, (our Bolivian "guide"). Each team was given a paper with checkpoints across the city, and instructions for what to do at each checkpoint. We were also given a map of the city.
Then we began the race! It took a bit under three hours for the first team to reach the finish line. Guess who the first team was? Ian, Nicole, and I! :)
Everyone had tons of fun, and we all learned a bit more about the city and how to get around, so in general it was a great activity for the whole group!

Work Placements!

The first few weeks here in Bolivia have been spent very busy! We have been getting to know the city, and visiting all of our possible work placements so that we could pick which ones we would like. There were a number of different work placements we could pick from, and we got to visit almost all of them.
Two of the locations were really interesting when we visited them because we got to partake in some of their activities. The first was the Centro Cultural San Isidro, which we visited twice because they invited us back to another activity they were holding.
The Centro is in one of the poorer sections of the city and its spread out across a neighborhood because they have multiple buildings. They work directly with children, and occasionally adults, in the neighborhood to help with education, development, and promotion of the arts and culture. The activity we returned to visit was their "Chocolatada Navidena". It was a clown show and some other activities, followed by the distribution of chocolate milk and snacks to the kids. I learned after this event that this was what a typical birthday party would be like for the richer parts of Santa Cruz, but for this section it was a form of getting kids involved in healthy activities and providing them with food when most of them weren't getting enough at home. It was a really incredible experience working with these kids for the short afternoon that we were there, and when I left the center was near the top of my list for work placements!
These are some pictures from the day at the Centro Cultural San Isidro:

The other placement that we visited and got to participate in an event was Plataforma Solidaria. It too is a center in one of the poorer districts that works with children. Plataforma is in the seventh ring, and to get there we had to navigate through a neighborhood of dirt roads that were so rough they caused our micro to get stuck. They work in education, nutrition, and promoting positive influences and activities in a very rough area of the city. 

The event we were invited for was their neighborhood Christmas party. We came with some other workers from UTEPSA (the university that is also our base camp) and brought gifts for all of the kids. The day was full of activities, (like sports and dancing and group games), until lunchtime and then lunch was given out to everyone. Then after lunch we handed out presents and candy to all of the kids!  It was a great experience and I left the center absolutely in love with the place. 

Here are a few pictures!

Plataforma Solidaria was easily my number one pick for work placements, and lucky for me; I got it! My work there begins on January 14th, and I am working with Alvaro; a Bolivian from my group. I am really, really excited! :)

El Fuerte de Samaipata

I recently posted about my visit to Samaipata, and mentioned that we visited the Inca fort. Unfortunately my camera was dead, so I couldn't post any pictures. The friends I went with sent me their pictures so here are some pictures from the trip! Enjoy :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I may be on a different continent, with a different climate and time, but for all of us one thing is the same; it is the holidays!
So HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all you lovely people! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday, whatever it is that you celebrate, and that it was filled with lots of smiling family and friends, good food, and happy memories!
Bolivian Christmas is a bit different than a Canadian Christmas. Here we celebrated NocheBuena (Christmas Eve) more than we celebrate Christmas Day. On Nochebuena all the family gathers at one house, (in my case an aunt), and have a midnight dinner/party. We celebrated until around 3AM, when everyone returned to their own houses. Then on Christmas Day we slept in until around 10AM, and had a family lunch, after which we did presents.
Most families have a fake Christmas tree, but I have seen some Christmas lights on palm trees; it is not the same thing by far.
It has been very weird to have a Christmas without snow or my friends or my family, but I am embracing it as an experience! Christmas has been the hardest part of this trip so far, because it is such a family holiday for me and because it is the first time I am not with my family for it. But I have not forgotten how incredible, and valuable this experience is and I am continuing to love every bit of Bolivia!
Next up.. New Years!

A Visit to Samaipata

My host family has a "cottage" in Samaipata, a small town about 3 hours away from Santa Cruz. On the weekend of the 22nd we went to get away from the city a bit and relax.
We invited two of the other volunteers, Dana and Franco (who are counterparts), to come with us as well. We drove up late Friday night, and stayed there until Sunday night, when we returned to the ridiculous Santa Cruz heat!
Samaipata is a small town, completely surrounded by mountains. Driving out to get there the road is small (just barely fits two cars), winding, and bumpy. It is paved in some sections, but not all of it so it makes for a very rough ride! The majority of cars on the road are trucks carrying food to sell. They are the South American version of transport trucks; much smaller, much louder, and much slower. Its not uncommon to see people riding on the tops of the load they are carrying, which looks really windy to me!
Their house is in the mountains off a small dirt road that is on the outskirts of the town, and it is absolutely gorgeous! Since there were a lot of us we were all sharing beds, and we completely filled the cottage up!
Saturday Danitza, Sophie, Franco, Percy, Dana, and I hiked up the mountain they live on to a small hotel/cabin at the top. It was incredible to see the beautiful view from the mountain!

Then Saturday afternoon we went to the Samaipata Inca fort, about 10 minutes away from the town on top of a mountain. We spent the afternoon hiking in the mountains, and looking at the fort. Unfortunately my camera died that morning so I wasn't able to take any pictures, but here is the link that tells you more about the fort if you are interested!
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/883
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Fuerte_de_Samaipata

Pictures..

Here are a few of the pictures from the first day in Santa Cruz!
Its hard to get the opportunity to take pictures here because it isn't safe to carry a camera on the street,  so I don't have a lot of photos. Most of these are from outside of the city while we were on our way back from the orientation camp.

Welcome to Santa Cruz, Bolivia !

On Sunday December 16th we loaded back onto the micro (small bus-like things that are the Bolivian version of city buses) and headed into Santa Cruz. I met my host family, who are wonderful, and we spent the rest of the day settling into our new house.
I live on Calle los Junos, between the second and third ring, in a beautiful house with the Camacho family. It is my counterpart Danitza's family. We live with her mom and dad, and their two kids; Jeanine who is 10, and Percy who is 16!
I share Danitza's room, with her and Sophie (my other counterpart), but this time luckily we aren't sharing a bed. Sophie and I sleep in bunk beds, and Danitza has her bed.
The houses here are all behind walls or gates, so to access them you have to ring the buzzer to be let in. Our house is behind a wall, and so from the outside it looks like this:

My room is on the back, on the second floor. The view from the window is out over all the other roofs and houses, which I find absolutely awesome. My favorite place, by far, is to sit outside of my window on the little balcony/ledge!
This is part of the view from my window!