Adventures in South America

Carnival

danalee — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 05:49:00 GMT

I never thought in my wildest dreams I would go to a Carnival. Much less one as crazy as this one.

Our journey there was just so…Bolivian. Of course I met up with Wendy (Bolivian girl I met through Oliver’s) over an hour late. Traffic everywhere, can’t get a cab, cab can’t take us all the way there. Finally meet up with Cinthia (Another Bolivian girl I met through Oliver’s) and Michelle (An Australian that met Cinthia just the night before and was along for the ride!) just about the time the bus was supposed to leave, 7pm. Everyone on the bus already has their bottles open and the drinks are pouring. We can’t leave until the driver gets permission, it will only be 1 more hour they say. Ya right, this is Bolivia. After almost 2 more hours, everyone had abandoned our bus so decide we should too. We get onto a very nice bus, that is full and about to leave when, wait!!! Our bus is leaving and we have to get on it! Why?! Well there are people staying at Cinthia’s house so we HAVE to go. Uhhhh ok…. So the 4 of us girl get off to loud “BOOOO’s” because now the bus is not full and can’t leave. “no es me culpa” we yell….

Hop on the original bus and it leaves right away, thank goodness. Bottles open, music is turned up and dancing ensues.

Oh wait I forgot to say how I had to pee in an alleyway during all this waiting. As I would find out, not so unusual for carnival.

Everyone has to be silent as we go through the two checkpoints, which is like trying to settle down a bunch of little kids hopped up on sugar.

The time passes fast but still, we don’t reach Oruro until 4 am where we are greeted with the bitter cold. A quick cab ride and we arrive at Cinthia’s house where we bundle up on the floor and fall asleep.

Wake up early and head off to the parade. Excitement is in the air. We don’t have seats yet so we just decide to walk toward the plaza (the end of the parade). We walk and walk and walk, with what seems like no plan. But I have to trust the Bolivians on this one. Then michelle sees a guy she knows from cholitas wrestling across the way and waves hello. Cinthia is insistent that we go find them, Michelle and I don’t understand why. They had only met once and barely knew each other. But we find him and they start talking. Turns out he is in a huge group of Couchsurfers (an online site for travelers to stay at each others houses for free and meet up in new places) so we hang around by the fence and talk to them. We hit the jackpot. We found great people and didn’t pay for seats (seats can cost up to 500 or more bolivianos!)

Pacenas, pacenas, foam, pacenas, foam…oh ya and lots of dancers!!!! The bands were incredible and everyone sang along in the stands. We went out and danced with the dancers in their incredible costumes. Talked to everyone around us and shared drinks. Such an incredible day (minus the terrible bathrooms)

Then I met Irma (a fellow teacher from the deaf school) to get my costume for our dance! We had to buy shoes and hair tassels too.

More madness ensued until CRAZY rain started at 8pm. It was an intense downpour that flooded the streets immediately! Once it clamed down I walked to where I was supposed to meet irma. But with no phone, I was lost. Finally I walked up to a group of guys that had on my group belt. They kindly let me use their phone and I found Irma. Then I got my hair braided! And put on my traditional dress!

There was still HOURS to go before we got to dance. We went to Irma’s house for a coffee then back to the waiting area. I talked with the guys in the band and drank lots and lots of Singani. Finally it was time! In the rain at 1pm we started our dance. There was barely anyone in the stands at first. And I was still struggling with the steps. But the further we got the more exciting it was. People were still cheering and singing with us! After hours and hours of dancing and waiting and drinking, we get close to the plaza. We sing, “ we are going to the plaza, we are going to the plaza, with all the happiness” When we enter the plaza its like another world. Everyone in the full stands are on their feet, and screaming at us! The energy is incredible! To think, some of these people have been here since 9 AM and its now 4 AM!

Finally we enter the church, which was an incredibly strange feeling for me. A unique experience for sure. Everyone goes silent and gets on their knees. A prayer is said and we crawl through the church “en rodillas” up to the virgin mary. Then we backed out on our knees so not to turn our backs. That was redundant.

Time to go home. Nice sleep on Irma’s couch.

In the morning, I had no money, no phone and no idea where to go. A quick chorizo sandwhich and I tried to find Cinthia’s house. After a few wrong doors we found out they weren’t there. So I headed back to our seats from yesterday. Thank goodness they were there!

More parade, more pacenas, more fun. Sunday the costumes were more traditional, beautiful and colorful. A quick dinner and put on more clothes. And watched the parade until our eyes were almost closed.

Sleep in, find a mini bus home, luckily cinthia doesn’t pay so we each pay half price!

All in all it was an amazing experience I will never forget.

Until a stupid kid threw a water balloon out of a moving car and gave me a huge black eye! Now that I would like to forget…

Photos: oruro carnival 2013

danalee — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 03:59:00 GMT

i found paradise

danalee — Fri, 7 Dec 2012 12:11:00 GMT

well i made it to cartagena, and its beautiful. but really really hot. lots of fruits being sold on the street and yummy cold limade. my first meal was incredible, pork medallions with roasted red peppers and parmesan cheese, plantain chips, coconut rice salad and a frozen lemonade with brown sugar. the hostel is very social so i made some friends and went out to go dancing. turns out the live music on the street was way more fun to dance to. just like me, i had to make my way to the ocean to touch the carribean sea under the moonlight before heading home. the next day i was off to playa blanca, in the blazing heat, with 2 backpacks. one bus to the market, another bus to the canal, crossed the water to a motortaxi. i didnt think it was going to be possible with all my stuff but it worked somehow. although i held on for deal life as i tried to enjoy the beautiful scenery. soon we were at the beach, where i found the first place to camp and put down my stuff. quickly changed and ran into the crystal clear blue and green waters of the carribean. I FOUND PARADISE. palm trees. coctails out of coconuts. soft white sand. hammocks. oh ya and women coming up to you offering massages. i couldnt say no. thus a 1 hour massage by two women was thouroughly enjoyed. many of the tourist boats leave around 4 and the beach becomes even more tranquil. i had a great time that night hanging out with the colombian guys who work there, drinking aguardiente and learning about their culture. the late night swim underneath millions of stars in the warm waters wasnt bad either. it was too hot to sleep in the tent, so hammock it was, which was actually very comfortable. woke up and lounged, swam, tanned, explored some caves with bats, went for a jetski ride, took a nap in the hammock. oh and i ate a whole fish, and i actually liked it! went to sleep early after a long day in the sun. woke up to that incredible view, i still couldnt believe where i was. went for a run, which felt so good since i havent exercised in months. went for one last swim before heading back to cartagena.
this afternoon i went to this...mud volvano? it was strange and amazing its this hill rather that has this incredibly thick mud. its actually very deep but there is no way to sink in it. it was one of the strangest sensations. there are guys in the mud who give you a massage, then you just hang out in it for awhile. then you go down to the river where women clean you off. my skin feels amazing after!

the locals are so nice, warm friendly and open. but wow their accent is sooooo hard to understand!

so much to update

danalee — Tue, 4 Dec 2012 07:58:00 GMT

sorata adventure
valle de los animas
end of the year celebration at Huascar Cajias and volunteer plan
bogota
cartagena

time is flying by

danalee — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:36:00 GMT

I did a few tourist things last week. I visited Tiwanaku. It is a set of ruins only 45 minutes outside of La Paz. The Tiwanaku culture is even older than the Incans, as early as 1500 BC. Mostly it was just of old rocks. Maybe we needed a tour guide to appreciate the depth of the site. The best part was a below ground temple. There were all these weird heads coming out of the walls, and strange statues in the middle. I did however enjoy the museum. It had a lot of artifacts from Tiwanaku culture and cultures after and did a good job showing just how ancient this culture is.

I also went to Valle de la Luna. Very close to the south of La Paz, this valley is a small park that has very strange rock formation. You do feel like you are somewhere on the moon or another planet. Good thing it is so close though because there really isn’t much to see besides the same weird rocks.

Work has been good but also frustrating. I was able to go on a new home visit with Caritas last Wednesday. I visited the home of a 21 year old girl with multiple disabilities. She is a new case and her father is very reluctant to any help. I am going to try to make her a communication book so she can better express her wants/needs. Mostly I think she needs more stimulation. Caritas is great at working with the whole family, so hopefully we can get across to the grandmother and father to just give her more stimulation throughout the day.

In this family there is also a 9 year old boy who is not currently going to school. He was diagnosed years ago with ADD. He attended 2 schools but after trouble in the classroom (disrupting, climbing on desks, running out the door) he was “kicked out”. I put that in quotes because if you ask the teachers or administration they would deny that he was kicked out. Only that it was not the appropriate placement. This case really got to me, and made me think about what I could do here for the special education system. The government supports inclusion. But so many of these kids are not ready for inclusion. And the teachers are not prepared to handle them. There is no middle ground. The students can go to specialized schools like the deaf or blind school, or a school for severe disabilities. None of these places can meet their needs and get them academically or socially ready for inclusion.

I will stop there on this rant, as I will probably dedicate a longer entry on this topic later.

I finally got to go to Hacha Uru, the association of parents with disabled children. It was such a great experience. I can tell that this group has a lot of motivation and can do great things for the community. I met a small group of kids getting extra help with academics. Then we started the crafts group. The moms were a mix of hesitant and excited. I think it will take awhile to get them to make things they can really sell. But the best part is the atmosphere. It was the first time I have felt completely comfortable with a group of cholita moms. There is something about women creating together. All I was doing was braiding old scraps, but with your hands busy it is easy to converse. I started to learn about their stories. I was happy to learn about a new special education school. Unfortunately, she didn’t remember the name, but I will find out next session. I am going to start going on Wednesday to help the kids with homework and then work in the crafts group. I hope to learn a lot from these moms!

Carolina and I have finally started the process of trying to get new hearing aides for some of the kids. The phono-audiologist Dianne has used in the past has become hard to work with for many of the families. She does not want to work directly with the school because she thinks that they will not keep up the relationship or the school will get shut down because they don’t have enough students. I don’t understand why we don’t just use someone else. The whole thing is slow and frustrating.

I can’t believe how fast my time here is flying by. I leave for my next set of travels in less than 2 weeks. This weekend I’m going on a mini adventure to the town of Sorata with Soraya. Should be fun!

a hectic week with the donors.

danalee — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:42:00 GMT

http://airlineamb.org/index.html

A group from Airline Ambassadors came to visit La Paz this week. Paula, a long time friend of Dianne, was on her 19th trip down here. Paula and her group support many of the projects Dianne is involved with. I was lucky enough to travel around La Paz with these people and learn about some new projects they are helping to fund.

Helping Hands- http://helping-hands-project.squarespace.com/

This organization is located only blocks from my house in San Pedro. We were invited to their center for lunch. It was a great experience to meet the young people they are helping. They told us about what they are studying in the universities and what their dreams are for the future!

Caritas La Paz- http://www.caritas.org/worldmap/latin_america/bolivia.html and http://www.caritasbolivia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=28

Caritas helps families in need here in La Paz. I have been working one morning a week with Caritas at the homes of Disabled children who are not going to school.

The donors visited the homes of families and heard their stories:

A mother renting a single room for her, her husband and 3 small children (2,4,9) She has been unable to work since her hip dysphasia has gotten worse. She told us that they are barely able to feed their children. She wants to open up a small kiosk near home to sell food items for extra income. She received $100 as start up capital!

a very young family with 2 children (4 and 2) the father recently lost his job with benefits. the 4 year old has a birth defect in which one leg is significantly shorter. The doctors have advised surgery. The parents would like to open up a dinner spot outside their garage for income to raise money for the surgery. They received $100 as start up capital!

A family of 4, mom dad and 2 daughters (13, 15) who just moved here from Beni (another province in bolivia) and have been struck with a lot of bad luck at once. The father was in an accident in which he lost his sight in one eye, therefore could no longer work as a driver. now he has glaucoma in his other eye and is in danger of loosing what sight he has if he does not keep up his treatment. Mom works 7 days a week as the sole earner of the family. the 15 year old daughter had to quit her job recently when she became epileptic. She started having grand mal seizures a couple times a week. She has just started an expensive medicine. the 13 year old has ovuitis, a chronic infection of the eyes. She has gotten one surgery to insert and inter-ocular lens. She now needs another surgery for the other eye. She also requires expensive eye drops. This family wants to start a small cafe, tea, bread stand near their house to help pay rent and medical bills. They received $200 dollars as start up capital!

Hacha Uru-This is an organization of parents with disabled children. The organization grew out of Caritas, and has recently become its own independent organization. Hacha Uru meets at a center on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Their children are able to get help from a physical therapist and an educational psychologists, while the parents meet to discuss issues. The parents fight for equality in education, healthcare, and legal rights. They fight hard for the inclusion of their children into mainstream schools.

Hacha Uru also tries to provide ways to create small businesses. A new group of parents (mostly mothers) has formed and will be making handcrafts to sell at markets and stores for extra income. I hope to be working with this group on Wednesdays! The crafts group received $200 as start up capital!

Uruguay High School-This is an amazing school. it is a public high school in which 1/4 of the student body is deaf. Many of the students from Huascar Cajias feed into this high school. There are 5 signing interpreters working at the school. unfortunately, the state does not pay the interpreters for their work. This year, the donors have given a years worth of salary to all 5 of the signing interpreters!

When we went to the school on Wednesday we were in for a treat! The kids had prepared a great show for us! There was a performance on the pan flute, 2 miming acts, a dance act with traditional and modern dance, and a theatrical performance!

Father Lutz- I dont know the official name of this organization. But his organization helped the street kids here in La Paz. He had a shelter for the boys who worked as shoe shiners during the day.

we got to see a great concert of a group formed out of this organization. They play traditional music, but the lyrics were about the suffering and struggles of the kids on the street. It was a moving experience.

Huascar Cajias- The school I volunteer with!

choro trek and coroico

danalee — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:54:00 GMT

this trip was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life.

day 1: Soraya takes forever to get out of the house! hahaha we finally get into an overpriced cab to villa fatima, and into a minivan on its way to coroico. A very short 40 minutes later we get dropped off on the side of the road at "La Cumbre". Then we start a steep ascent to the top of one of the highest passes in the Cordillera Mountains. Up, up, up, up. the scenery looks otherworldly. there is snow around and very few vegetation. At the top, the view is unreal. The mountains are beautiful and we were proud of our first accomplishment. There were lots of people at the top, families and school kids. They all wanted to take pictures with us! pretty cute. Then we headed down the Incan paved trail. A pack of llamas were our leaders! down, down, down, down. Around 1 oclock we came upon some really awesome ruins where we decided to have lunch. Already the scenery was changing. the streams ran through lush grass. As we continued to walk, a bit down hill, we passed a very tiny village with straw roof huts. Then we passed a larger town where we payed a small fee to an old man, with no teeth, who barely spoke spanish. He also had what i think was a cat skin on his stoop. we were definitely not in the city anymore! around 6, the fog started to roll in. you could barely see 20 feet in front! it was like being in some lord of the rings shire, so bizarre. Soraya, who by the way has never been backpacking or hiking for more than 4 hours before this trip, started to loose it. But i encouraged her to push on and at 645 we crossed an indian jones style bridge to our campsite for the night. I cooked us dinner in the dark and we fell asleep immediately after!

day 2: we got a late start because we slept so long! with no time to cook i made a quick sandwich and we were off. into the jungle we went. This was a day of butterflies. I have never seen so many different kinds of butterflies in nature. I was walking through huge groups of them, bright blue and yellow and orange and red. The scenery was so lush we little waterfalls coming down the side of the mountain. Then we happened upon a HUGE mama cow with HUGE horns. she was feeding her tiny baby in the middle of the trail. there is very little room to go around them, and they didnt look like they were moving. a cliff on both sides! so, we quietly inch our way around the hill not looking her in the eyes and hoping she doesnt charge at us! safely we continue. then we happen upon a small horse in the middle of the path giving birth! only one foot was out, it didnt look like it was going smoothly... I had no idea how to help so we had to just move on :( We had lunch by the river where i played in the cold water. The trail continued up and down and up and down and up again onto the mountain side where we found our next campsite. And we arrived in the daylight! we cooked our dinner with a group of israelis, one even happened to work at camp newman this past summer! off to sleep.

day 3:wake up make DELICIOUS banana pancakes. this was a day of waterfalls. we started to make our way through the mountains, weaving though the ins and outs of each mountain. after our first long descent to a river, we decided we needed to go for a swim. best. decision. ever. the water was freezing but felt so good on our sore bodies. the sun was shining and the jungle vegetation was beautiful. we were definitely in the middle of no where. it felt amazing to be that deep into nature. we were hours walk from any roads, and yet i felt extremely calm, serene and safe. After saying goodbye to our swimming hole, we started "devils hill." For me it was one of the hardest parts of the trip, the neverending uphill was tough on the muscles. finally we reached the famed japanese house. supposedly there is an old japanese man who lives there but we didnt get to see him! we did eat a nice hot lunch and rested before starting off again. When I looked out onto the mountains, I had no idea where a village could be! It looked like we could have walked for another 4 days before finding a real village. Finally around 430 we spotted a road! we just had to hike down switchbacks for about an hour to make it to chairo! Since there is no public transportation in Chairo we had to hire a car for a ridiculously expensive price to go to Coroico. Neither Soraya or I had planned to spend that much money on the trip with paying for campsites, or pay to use the trail and then this car ride!

Finally we were in coroico, exhausted and smelly. We met up with Freddy (a friend of our landlord and a new friend of ours!) and he took us to his cabin. He made us an amazing hot meal and we drank fresh caparinas.

Day 4: Seeing the property in the daylight was a whole new picture! there are 3 cabins on the hillside overlooking the mountains we just hiked. a pool, a pizza oven, hammocks, fruit trees, pinapples, flowers. also Jose (the property owner, and the most famous charanga player in bolivia) has 2 cats who just had kittens! they were 4 days old when we arrived....never seen such cute tiny animals.

We went into town with the intention of getting money. well the bank didnt accept just the copy of my passport and the other bank was closed and no ATMs. so we just headed back to the house to lay in the hammocks and swim. not bad. Soraya had to leave to get back to work, but I wanted to stay to see the waterfalls the next day.

day 5: back to town to try to get money. Fred had troubles with his account so that didnt work. Finally i had to ask my amazing brother to wire money to fred so i could even get back to La Paz! after spending all day doing this..... i didnt get to go to the waterfalls :( I will just have to go back again!

day 6: spent the morning in the hammock getting a tan and finishing my book. after a quick swim, it was time to head back to la paz. just in time for the rain to start....

the last week or so

danalee — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:10:00 GMT

I really like volunteering at the school for the blind. It is so interesting and different. I think it will be a great learning experience. It has been awkward in the beginning but i think it will get better once the teachers and staff get used to me.

I was in a 3rd and 4th grade class this past week at Huascar Cajias. It was awesome to sit in on because im pretty sure my sign language and spanish is on a fourth grade level, hahaha. But I did get to work with 2 students who have mental disabilities as well as being deaf. I was teaching addition and subtraction completely in sign language! I felt proud.

I went to the movies for the first time here. It was a fun experience. I saw the movie Ted with spanish dubbing. I think i missed a lot of the jokes but it was still funny.

I watched the presidential debate with dianne and ron and some friends at Olivers pub. It was odd that we were so far away, and I wont even be voting!

Last week I did a presentation to the teachers and director of Huascar Cajias. I was so nervous to speak in Spanish, but i managed to talk about all of my examples for a good hour and a half. I gave them many materials, I think the teachers were very happy. I hope I can continue to help them and impact the school and students.

The orgin of the sun

danalee — Tue, 2 Oct 2012 00:59:00 GMT

"According to Incan lore, after a great flood, the god Viracocha arose from Lake Titicaca to create the world. He commanded the sun (Inti), moon (Mama Kilya) and stars to rise, then went to Tiahuanaco to create the first human beings, Mallku Kapac and Mama Ocllo. These first humans, the "Inca Adam and Eve," were formed from stone and brought to life by Viracocha, who commanded them to go out and populate the world. Thus Lake Titicaca is the birthplace of the Incas, whose spirits return to their origin in the lake upon death." (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/bolivia/lake-titicaca)

It was definitely a magical trip.

Soraya (my roommate) and I got on the last minivan to Copacaban around 6:30 pm on friday. We made it to El Alto where we waited for one person for about a half an hour, typical bolivian. Then we sat in traffic in el alto for awhile, until our driver cut another van off and hit him. the driver got out and searched for us. we he found us, some words were exchanged and it ended in our driver giving him 30 bolivianos (less than 5 dollars). finally on our way. we made it to copacabana at about 10:15. It was eerily quiet. we checked out one really cheap place to stay, one really expensive place to stay and one middle place to stay. we went for the middle of the road room, 50 bolivianos each, actually pretty expensive.

we put down our stuff and went to search for food and drinks. It was oddly quiet, I thought there would be tourists around! we found the main drag and the 3 places our guide books told us about. we had a drink and some hot sandwiches at the first bar. I think it was just about alll of the tourist in town, all 8 of them.

then we went to a bar we passed for salsa music. it was full of hippies who were sort of living in there. a lot of chileans who were working there temporarily. We got to practice our spanish and salsa dance!

the next morning we had breakfast on a beautiful patio near the lake, it was awesome, fresh papaya juice, bread and butter and jam, and a fried egg and steak and french fries and salad and coffee. good start. then we went to try to get a boat to Isla del sol, except the next one wasnt until 4! we bought our tickets and went to look for some fruit and snacks for the hikes. after walking in circles we finally found the fruit market. we payed a hefty "gringo" price for our madrins, mangos, apples and bananas. we also got some Saltenas for the road. went down to the water, sat in some cute beach chairs and drank beer looking at the water.

the boat ride was beautiful, the lake is just endless. it took about 2 and 1/2 hours to get to the north side of the island.

We hopped off and went in search of a place to stay. after wandering around we looked at a place right on the sandy beach. for 20 bolivianos each (less than 3 dollars) we had a 2nd story room with a window overlooking the amazing lake and beach. SOLD. we put down our stuff and went out for a hike.

Pigs, and cows, and donkeys and alpaca and dogs and cats all over!

the town was so quaint and authentic and traditional.

we got to the ruin right before sunset. some rock where they apparently made human sacrifices. The best was an ancient labyrinth! we sat in the middle and ate some mandarins, then explored! some wrong turns to dead ends, some tunnels to a new set of turns. strangely we saw some people (obviously bolivians) setting up camp on the ruins.

As we headed back to town, i looked up and saw THE biggest most beautiful full moon of my entire life. i started to cry. i just couldnt help it! for those who know me, you know i love the moon, and at that moment i felt its powerful presence and beauty.

dinner in a weird hut like thingy, food wasnt great but the family who ran it was. drank a bottle of wine and looked at the moon over the lake.

up early the next morning and headed to the other side of the mountain. The whole time we just couldnt get over how damn big this lake is. beautiful walk with lunch on the top of a little hill at a picnic bench. when we got to the other side we stopped for a jar of fresh lemonade at a restaurant on one of the cliffs. a hummingbird just completed the unbelievable picture we were in. then we went down to the main town and hung out on the grass for our boat. \

back at copacabana we had time for a quick meal and onto a bus. I forgot to mention this before but to get to La Paz you have to get across a small part of the lake on a "ferry" and by that i mean a wooden raft. Somehow they get huge tour busses across the water on these measly wooden rafts.

anyways, it was amazing. cant wait until soraya can put up pictures!

some things ive been doing

danalee — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:13:00 GMT

I need to write about:

-frisbee game

Ron took me to the french school in zona sur where the canadian ambassador was playing frisbee! It was such a beautiful field, surrounded by mountains. there were about 25 people, canadian bolivian and all sorts of nationalities. there were a lot of different languages happening, french english and spanish all at once. we played 7 on 7. I ran one length of the field and threw up a little, embarrassing but true. combination of the extreme altitude and my unfittness. after that i was in the groove and was able to play better. there were some pretty hard core players out there. I am definitely not at that level! But it was fun and I am excited to go back.

-shoe shiner walking tour

See the pictures, it pretty much explains itself

-yummy brazilian food

Rodrigo and Elaine made us muqueca, a tradition north brazilian dish. IT WAS AMAZING. it was like a veggie stew that you mix with farofa, which comes from yuca flour. it was a very different texture than i had ever experienced, but the combination was amazing. the more satisfying meal ive had in a long time!

-deaf olympics

We went to the stadium and there were 5 schools participating in the festivities! My school, Huascar Cajias was the smallest. The kids did an opening march. Signed the national anthem and then began the events; long jump, sprinting, relays, ball toss. it was very cute. the kids were having lots of fun.

Pictures are coming soon...i hope.

the next day a bottle of water spilled in my bag and got my camera wet. Now it doesnt work :(

Photos: walking tour by shoe shine crew

danalee — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:43:00 GMT

i miss the microwave

danalee — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 05:46:00 GMT

Saturday afternoon, doing work in bed. Thats the only place the internet works!

well i have spent what seems like an eternity trying to get this new printer to work. Yesterday it printed a document and today...NOTHING. its driving me insane. using a printer should not be this hard.

I am starting to create some adaptive materials for the school. A sample of an adaptive book and stand that holds multiple levels of symbols (words, pictures, drawings, photographs and real objects) picture coming soon. I am hoping to do a workshop for parents and teachers on how to make and use these types of materials.

I am supposed to have a meeting some time next week as well with the director. I have so many things in my head and I am trying to write a clear document to her about what type of suggestions i have. So far it just seems all over the place. Its also hard to share the special education system 1. because its just so huge and 2. without sounding well...snobby.

There was no school on Friday, so I had a fun night out on Thursday. I met up with Sophia, a bolivian girl i met through Ron and Dianne, for some drinks at a cool little bar. It felt nice to be in a bar with a cool vibe, international music and young people. Then I went to an anniversary party in Zona Sur with the folks from Oliver's pub. and last an underground bar with lots of dancing.

So here, they dont throw the toilet paper in the toilet, you always put it in the trash because the plumming is bad. seriously, that is a really hard habit to break. just thought you all should know.

coming up! sunday frisbee with Ron and the Canadian Emassador, deaf olympics on tuesday at the stadium, first days with Caritas (home visit organization) weekend at lake titicaca with roommate Seryia.

Some things I miss:

microwave

papertowels

cheeseburgers

fabreeze

comfortable pillows

cable TV

diet coke

I got sick

danalee — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 05:03:00 GMT

It was bound to happen, I got sick. My guess is, just like your first year teaching, the kids expose you to thousands and millions of new germs. Monday afternoon it just took over. So I have been in bed ever since with swollen glands, stuffed nose and aches. Thank goodness for the antibiotics I brought with me. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will speed up my recovery!

Friday was a good night though! Carlos (my roommate) and I went to Oliver's English Pub. Olivers is the travelers spot and expat haven. you hear english all over. I really like the staff there, some nice Bolivian guys and a very silly australian man. Friday is apparently costume night. They had like 100 costumes in this closet, very silly. So the whole bar was dressed up! Then Marcelo took us to a sort of pop-up bar/party thing. We danced and had Pacenas, beers (i cant figure out how to put an n with a curly accent mark over it).

Sunday I met my new roommate, Seryia (not sure if thats how you spell it). She is 25 and from Zurich. We walked around, as i looked for a printer. But everything is closed on Sundays.

Then it rained! NOOOOOO i am not looking forward to the rainy season, although folks say its still a little while away.

anyways, not much else is new from La Paz.

LOVE YOU ALL

Photos: Street Art

danalee — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:10:00 GMT

the beautiful, strange, and amazing street art of south america!

More work to be done!

danalee — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 01:03:00 GMT

This morning I had a meeting with Dianne and two young ladies who work for an awesome organization. I will be joining them on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to visit homes of disabled children and even some adults. They help the families with how to teach these people. I hope to learn and give a lot in this experience!

Photos: jungle adventure 1

danalee — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:08:00 GMT

coroico and caranavi

Photos: The begining

danalee — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:54:00 GMT

a few photos from the begining of my trip

a very odd jungle adventure

danalee — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:37:00 GMT

I was supposed to go with dianne and ron to test out the water pump I brought down on sunday. Its sunday morning, and Dianne isn't coming and Ron doesn't bring the pump. So elaine, rodrigo, ron and myself head off in a van to Coroico, a tourist destination in the high tropical jungle called Las Yungas. About 2 hours later we arrive. It is so different there. It is hot and humid and we are overlooking a cloud forrest. We decide to go down to the river to look for somewhere to stay the night and check out points where the pump may work. After looking at a very very and I mean very sketchy place, and turning up empty, Ron asks if we want to see a little town that has authentic Altiplano culture, but in the jungle. I say Im up for anything, thinking its about 20 minutes away. After a quick taxi ride, Ron runs ahead of us and jumps on a big bus. Without time to think we all follow and the bus takes off. This is when we learn the town is actually 2 plus hours away! After a pretty sketchy bus ride in which we could have tumbled down the Andes(although I did see some awesome waterfalls) we arrived in Caranavi. This is not a tourist destination. anyways, we look for a place to stay and find a little alojamiento. then some frisbee with local kids by the river. They had never seen a frisbee. Dinner and an internet cafe. So far I wasnt impressed. In the morning, I was determined to see some more nature. So after hunting down a tourism map, I see lots of waterfalls and swimming holes that are supposed to be close. Things arent always that easy in Bolivia. First a cab wanted an obscene amount of money. Finally when we did get one to take us he says "oh that place, thats too far" so we ask if he can take us somewhere where we can swim in the river. So a 10 minute drive and he says here you go. We asked to be picked up there in 2 hours.

once we are down at the river, there are about 30 army boys swimming in their speedos. NO THANK YOU. I was not about to get in there with my little american bathingsuit. so we walk a little farther down, and see army men resting with their AK47. Moving on.... walk down the road and ask some man to cross his property to get to the river. Now we are on a real jungle adventure. We take a little path through thick plants and finally end up at the river. Ron decides he wants to sit in the shade across the way, so we cross the river without any shoes, Ouch! but wow did swimming feel good. I would walk up the river and just float down. it was beautiful surrounded by the Andes. Too bad I have about 1000 bug bites now and am itching like crazy.

some beers and lunch later, we hop a ride in a truck back to La Paz. I couldnt open my eyes because he drove so crazy. But it was worth it. We got back in about 3.5 hours, and a big bus would have taken about 6.

to sum up, I still need to see some more jungle and definitely some waterfalls, but all in all it was an adventure

boring rant

danalee — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 11:15:00 GMT

How does one stay humble? This topic came up last night at dinner. If you think to yourself, I am humble, isnt that a bit paradoxical? How do I come to Bolivia without the self righteous attitude that I am here to show them what they do not know. It may be true that I have had the resources to help children in the US with certain disabilities, but does that give me the right to tell others what they should do?

Lets take the example of hearing aides. One of the projects I am working on, is to get students fitted for hearing aides and them give them a pair. But there are so many students here who have had hearing aides in the past and have chosen not to wear them. Of course there is the case where their parents will sell their hearing aides for money, or they get broken, or the batteries run out. But, is it right for me to tell these students their life will be better if they use their hearing aides? Does being hearing impaired make your life in some way less? Most of you would say it makes life harder. try to think about it from another perspective.

Im still in the midst of working out my own personal point of view. As of now, I think the most important aspects are exposure, and availability.

i believe every child in this world deserves the adaptive devices he or she may need. This is an issue of social and economic means. I also believe that while a child is still very small, they should be exposed to these adaptive materials. Then, when they are old enough to make their own decisión (i have no idea when that it, it depends on the child) they can choose whether to use their devices or not.

There are children at the school with extreme deformation in their arms or legs. Some of the students are able to walk on their malformed legs in a way that just baffles me. One part of me is saying, god wouldnt it be great if they had access to orthotics as a young child. I know this would help their bones form more strongly and save pain later in life. then I rethink, is this just my personal societal view of how a ¨normal¨person should walk? In the end, i continue to reach the same conclusión that all the technology I have been exposed to is for the best of the child.

Bolivia is starting to grow on me. I really wish my spanish were better so I could communicate better with the locals. I have met some really interesting ex-pats though. They have really made me think about what I am doing, and what I can do. Its hard for me to believe that I, little old I, can make a big difference here in La Paz. Yes, I think I can touch some students´ lives here, but I am continuously pressed to think bigger. How can I help a larger population of students with múltiple disabilites. If I could snap my fingers and make magic I would do a few things-

provide free (accessible!) transportation for all students to a state run school

Provide a school in which students can attend all day long- here students go to school in the morning or in the afternoon because there is not enough schools for everyone. therfore, teachers cant keep materials in the classroom, put things on the walls, etc.

provide more materials for each class! students are bored because there is nothing to play with while a teacher is busy with another student.

give access to hearing aides, orthotics, assitive technology

finding my purpose

danalee — Thu, 6 Sep 2012 13:05:00 GMT

it was a good day. I must have really needed the sleep becuase i was dead asleep until 11:30. I met dianne and ron (for those of you who dont know, dianne set me up with this gig and ron is her extrodinary hippy hydropower for the people husband) for lunch at a little cafe. salad bar, peanut soup, and chicken with potato salad. then my big adventure on the bus to my school all by myself for the very first time! I got on the right bus, and got off on the right stop. go me.

Today, I was in the ¨primer¨class, the youngest. I was in my element...finally. There were 6 kids in the class, 2 were absent and one teacher. She has her hands full! Today they were learning colors. Its funny to learn signs in spanish. they are very very similar except when they are based on the first letter of the word. for example in ASL the color yellow uses the sign for Y, but in spanish they use A for amarillo.

There was one little girl, charlene, who has múltiple disabilities. The school was supposed to be just for students with hearing impairments, but due to many political and social issues, this school has begun to accept students who have more special needs. Its great that these students can go to school, and for some its their only option. Except, for those students who simply have hearing loss, they are not getting the rigorous academic experience they need. On the other side the students with more specialized needs do not get the attention or the differentiation they need. Back to charlene. She stole my heart today. She has visión impairments and needs 1 to 1 attention. I hope while I am here I can help her.

the way home was a litle more tricky. I got on a random mini bus and asked if it stopped at plaza san francisco, he said it did. 30 minutes later, it didnt look right. Thanks to a very nice man who said ÿou should get off! I made my way home.

and tonight, La Paz Jazz festival at the teatro municipal with dianne, ron, elena y rodrigo (my downstairs neighbors)

on that I will leave you with a few things Bolivianos like to do:

1. shine their shoes in the middle of the sidewalk

2. drink various juices and teas from a glass at a cart on the side of the road.

3. say ¨buen provecho¨to everyone you walk past as you leave a restaurant

4. jump out of moving vehicles

5. eat lots of sweet bread