I haven’t written a separate post for yesterday and today because I’ve mostly been taking the time to rest, read (a lot!),
and explore the area immediately around where I am. I’m afforded this luxury
because I’m currently staying in the suburbs of Cochabamba, where I will be for
the next 5-6 weeks for volunteering with the organization Proyecto Horizonte.
I arrived in Cochabamba from La Paz right before 6 am on
Friday, and waited a little for the volunteer coordinator to come take me in a
cab to my host mom’s house. It took the taxi driver and us a while to find the
exact house on the street because the numbering system is quite confusing, but
it’s quite a nice house. My host mom, Jeanette, still has several old box TVs,
but other than that, it’s two stories with several bedrooms and bathrooms, has
lots of windows, and is comfortable. The only thing is that she has two dogs
(only one of them is allowed in the house for a reason yet unknown to me), and
I promptly fell asleep when I arrived.
I basically spent Friday finishing reading The Scorch Trials, the second book of The Maze Runner series. I had started it
a while ago but hadn’t yet gotten into the story until then, and I basically
finished the majority of the book in a day. I’m extremely excited for the movie
to come out later this year – I’m already picturing how the events of the book
are going to be portrayed!
I had lunch with Jeanette and we talked a little, but my
limited Spanish speaking skills means that I don’t really have the capacity to
initiate much conversation. Katia, the volunteer coordinator, told me that I
could start Spanish lessons next week (when I will also start to volunteer), so
hopefully I will be able to speak more as time goes along.
On Saturday, I did something similar. I slept in until about
10:30 (since when is that “sleeping in” during the summer?!), and then tried to
walk to the city center. I had no map and essentially no access to internet, so
I didn’t know where I was going, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I
tried to leave the house through the back door, but after I closed the door (it
locks itself) I realized that I had not been given the key to get back in
through the back door, or to open the lock on the gate that separated me from
actually going outside. In essence, I was trapped in the tiny little backyard,
and it looked like I would have to stay that way until Jeanette came home in
the late afternoon.
Luckily, I didn’t settle and instead tried to see if I could
get into the house through a window. Everything on the lower story of the house
had metal blocking the entrance, so I instead had to climb to the second floor
and sneak in through the bathroom window. It was quite the experience, but I
hope I will never have to do that again.
I found a rather large and very worn map in the room
connecting to the front door, but I could not for the life of me see where I
was. I had left the main door open, and some security guy rang the doorbell to
tell me to make sure to close it, but not before asking me where I was from,
getting confused when I said, “United States,” and feeling it was his duty to
once again inform me that I look Chinese. Are Americans not allowed to be
anything other than white and blonde? The number of times I have been told I
look Chinese is seriously astounding. I HAVE LOOKED CHINESE MY WHOLE LIFE. I
KNOW I LOOK CHINESE. Do people not think I know
this? I know it’s easy to think that Americans are white and blonde, but it
still irritates me when people are confused. Ugh.
I started off in the direction I thought that Katia had told
me the city center was, but when I got to the main road it just looked like the
road would continue forever. I didn’t see any indication of the city center or
any restaurants that I would actually be interested in eating in, but I did see
a small corner store. It looked to have a lot of what I might need, which was good
news. Since I didn’t find much, I decided to make my way back to Jeanette’s
house to see if the city center might be on the other side. To my chagrin, the
main street on that side looked exactly the same. I walked farther down it than
I had on the other street, but everything still looked the same and I didn’t
see any city center/tourist areas, so I just gave up and walked back to the
street that I live on – there is a small park about 5 minutes away. I bought
some food from a neighborhood corner store and sat down to read The Death Cure, the final book in the Maze Runner trilogy. It is such a great
trilogy, and Thomas is such a beautifully complex character. I actually
finished this whole book today, it was so good.
I went back to the house and had dinner with Jeanette. That
was nice, but I still wish I had internet access for the research and work I
have to do, and that I knew how to get around the city and buy some non-snack
food. Hopefully I can figure everything out soon, because so far my current
situation – being in the suburbs, not being able to find a real
restaurant/market, not having a map, etc. – is not making for the best
experience.
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