Sadly B41 has just left Tarija. This post is a shout out to them: Julia Milne (Chicago, Il), Emelia Hurley (Reston, Va), Winston Harrell (South Boston, Va), Steve Cooper (upstate NY), and Shelby Tracy (Texas). They have mostly lived to the south of Tarija city and collectively have worked on projects including: teaching English, building an internet cafe, building a miniature golf course out of recyclables, building bathrooms, working with orphans, working with womens groups, and working with bees and honey!

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Thanks to my favorite aunt Betty Jo the teachers of my English club, my head nun (Sister Mery), and a few Nunnettes learned all about coloring Easter eggs and Easter egg hunts in general.

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Once upon a very very sunny day I was headed out to Elke and Arend’s farm when the small bus I was riding on died. Being only 5 miles from the farm I decided to walk, and along the way I happened upon a public works project to build a drainage system along this main road.

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How was your thanksgiving? We Tarija volunteers would have invited you to our river celebration, but we were desperate not to run out of turkey this year!

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Translation – what a rush ! Have you ever tried it? Boy do you feel powerful . . . errrr, I mean, helpful . . . no, really!

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I recently had the chance to visit an orphanage down in Bermejo, Tarija. Bermejo is the Southernmost town in Bolivia – just a few minutes and a river separates Bermejo and Argentina.

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Hola, otra vez de Bolivia !

We are living in the 21st Century, and most of us are used to flying from one place to another. Perhaps we’ve recently become accustomed to griping about security lines, clear plastic bags, checking all liquids, almost every kind of delay –  and who knows what the future will bring . . . right?

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While most of our friends in North America are busy adjusting their air conditioners and car stereos a few of us down south are remembering the nostalgic days of summer when there was actually water around here.

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The Nuns of Santa Isabella are truly amazing. They run a soup kitchen, a vocational school, an adult school, and a boarding house / orphanage all on the same small plot of land ! One of the most important components of their service is their steadfast commitment to the soup kitchen that feeds young children from the community on a daily basis. This seemingly innocuous soup kitchen proved the catalyst for an emotional revelation for me – I hope you’ll appreciate my experience.

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We Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) might like to think we’re all qualified to do whatever it is our communities ask of us– but it won’t come as a surprise to most of you that underwater basket weaving and plenty of games of Beirut or *Beer Pong* during college did not exactly prepare us for every rigorous eventuality in the developing world !! 

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Every day is a great day for a celebration – and what more worthy cause to celebrate than the dedication of teachers? (more…)

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Strangely enough, peanuts are abundant here in Tarija, and so I hear, around most of Bolivia. Even the poorest of the poor families who live way out in the ‘campo’ (Spanish for the boonies) either grow peanuts or can easily and cheaply attain them. Unfortunately, most folks are at a loss as to what to do with all their nuts . They usually toast them or use them to make a peanut soup that has actually become one of my favorite foods here in Bolivia ! But rarely are they harnessing all the nutritional power of peanuts - and in a country where good nutrition is quite low on the scale of priorities that’s more than unfortunate. (more…)

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Bio-diesel is as cool as his hair !!

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Lately, I’ve been receiving a few emails about how many different ‘types’ of volunteers there are in the Peace Corps. Fortunately, the Peace Corps web site has plenty of information – this is just a short ‘cheat sheet’ on PC in Bolivia. 

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Many factors have contributed to the explosive spread of  HIV/AIDS in Africa; sadly some of these Bolivia shares. The macho/patriarchal and heavily religious elements which enjoy such power in Bolivian society contribute heavily to the lack of sexual education. Moreover, goods are transported throughout the country by land – creating a large cadre of (overwhelmingly male) workers who work far from home. Sex and sexual education are still taboo topics here, which unfortunately escalates the danger of Bolivia having a more serious problem with the virus.

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Now I know you’ve all been dying to learn how to make adobe bricks and then construct (hopefully) permanent structures out of them – yes ?

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