And we're back!

From the hot beaches...


to the frigid bleachers!

Bear Down!

Ilhabela

Our last official stop was on the island of Ilhabela, Brazil. After a day of bussing around the south of Brazil, we arrived at Sao Sebastiao for a twenty minute ferry ride to the island where we stayed at Pousada dos Hibiscos (The Hibiscus Inn). Right away we could smell the fragrant hibiscus flowers that made the courtyard of the inn feel like a botanic garden. After all of our hard work and traveling, we were excited to arrive for some rest and relaxation in the sun! Right across the street from the Pousada was pizza place that had some of the best pizza. We also had several dinners in the nearby Vila (town center), which was within walking distance along the waterfront. On one walk to the Vila, a stray dog decided to follow us the whole way and then all around town once we got there. The whole trip in South America, we (and particularly Derek!) were very careful of strange dogs. This one really took a liking to D for some reason. It was wasn't until we arrived to dinner and the restaurant owner's dog (a very fat basset hound) scared off D's new friend. The dogs really know where to find the food though. Our last night out, a cute golden retriever showed up in the restaurant looking for scraps. He couldn't find too much on the floor, and Derek wouldn't let me give him anything off of our table. But he was lucky that another fellow was willing to feed him. He proceeded to give him french fry after french fry straight from his plate! The weirdest part was that the restaurant staff didn't seem to mind. Not bad for the dogs!

Some highlights of our stay on the island included renting bikes to ride to the north end of the island to relax at one of the less inhabited beaches. But our favorite adventure on the island was definitely on the last day when we hiked to Cachoeira Toka (The Toka Waterfalls). After slapping on some very greasy citronella bug repellent that everyone was using, we headed to three different parts of the falls. Two of the three had tobagones naturales (natural slides). The rocks of the riverbeds were so smooth from years of water running over them that we could shoot right down the falls. It was so much fun!

It was a great way to finish off our three and a half month honeymoon. We were sad for it to all end, but excited to get back for the holidays and seeing everyone in Chicago. It was just the right amount of time for celebrating our wedding, and we got in all three parts that we wanted: hiking, volunteering, and relaxing. It was just perfect!

Finding Yoda at the Santa Cruz Circus

The great thing about having so many volunteers cycling in and out of the Centro Medico team is that there is plenty of energy for going out to be tourists and explore new things Cruceño. A couple weeks back we finally made it to the circus (sadly without Mike). For a twice daily show and pretty low attendance, there were some real gems there-probably the most flexible woman and most daring trapestas I've ever seen. Some of the other filler acts weren't so hot, but then came the finale of the first act: Star Wars circus--a short re-enactment of Empire Strikes Back in full costume mixed with dancing and really bad sword fights. All the major characters were in attendance, except of course for Luke Skywalker who must have had the night off. After the act was over, our group went up on stage to take a polaroid (hopefully soon to be scanned and added) with all the Star Wars characters. Char gave chewey a big high-five.

Some other highlights of our last couple weeks in Bolivia included a return to Casa del Camba (Derek's favorite restaurant in the Cruz), a return to the zipline and amazing lunch buffet at Ricoñada a few miles outside the city, a trip to buy new mattresses for the house with Nico the super shopper and master bargainer, and several new volunteers in for power paps week (thanks to Dr. Janice Duke). Char and I also made a trip up to the top of the bell tower in the main cathedral to get a good birds eye view of central Santa Cruz on a bustling evening.

In distributed energy news, a slot finally opened up for an empty SUV trip from Santa Cruz to Palacios to bring out the solar thermal panel and solar water still--too bad a last week of mostly rain made final testing a bit difficult. Derek also brought out some technicians from Enersol to go over the plans for the solar electric system. Hopefully the new bids will come in a bit lower and the system will be the optimal fit to move forward. Both of Derek's projects will remain works in progress.

Our last weekend in Santa Cruz happened to be Ibaña's high school graduation and party which worked out well as we spent on more night out dancing in the streets with our friends in Palacios. The Buena Vista HS has a great tradition of a ceremony in the plaza followed by setting up tables in the streets of the square so that each graduate's family can throw its own dinner party while bands play music throughout the plaza. Readers who previously volunteered with CMHP will be saddened to hear that the party doubled for a goodbye party for don Celso, Aide, and Luz who are bittersweet in leaving the clinic for greener pastures. Hopefully some day they will fulfill their dream of returning to build their own house in Palacios. The clinic will miss their family dearly. Celso is a daily source of humor, wisdom, inspiration, and a reminder that todo es tranquilo. "Muuuy bieeeeen Carlita!" will be forever adopted in Derek's vocabulary.

Finally, we said goodbye to DJ. We will miss that pup!

Gretchen's Last Night

Equipetrol...need I say more!

Thanksgiving...Twice

So since we were in Palacios on Thursday, which has a very small kitchen with limited cooking utensils, we decided to have two Thanksgivings: a smaller, less extravagant one the day of; and a huge, much more elaborate one on Sunday after returning. On Thursday, we subsituted chicken for turkey, we ate instant potatoes, green beans, instant gravy, and an apple crisp. It was quite delicious, and we were able to share our American tradition with Ginda and her daughters, Celso, Aide, and Luz, which was really fun! But I know what you are all thinking - NO STUFFING! I know, we all were thinking the same thing, but don't worry we made up for it on Sunday. Not only did we have an eleven pound turkey (which Derek took the lead on), but we also made homemade mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and of course homemade stuffing (thanks to Gretchen). It was a feast! I seriously did not think I was going to be able to make it to the soccer game that we went to afterwards - I was so tired! I think that Derek and I both have a new found confidence in our cooking abilities after being major contributors to the efforts that day!

Que mas? Well, the soccer game that night was certainly exciting as well. Not so much the actual playing, but what happened near the end of the game. Blooming, the Santa Cruz team, was playing La Paz. The score was 2-2 for most of the game until the last 5 or 10 minutes when La Paz scored 2 goals. The crowd when into a frenzy and stormed the fence surrounding the field. As they banged against the fence and chanted "Autonomia!" the policia gathered to protect the La Paz bench that the angry Santa Cruz fans had swarmed behind. At the moment that the game clock hit zero, every member of the La Paz team, coaches included, jumped up from the bench and ran full force towards the tunnel down to the locker room. If you look closely at the picture here, you can see all the police, the players bolting across the field, and the huge "Autonomia" signs covering the bench and plastered at the top of the bleachers. I hadn't seen any of them run that fast at any point during the game! We then looked at each other and thought that maybe it was time for us to go to! As we made our way out as quickly as possible, we were met with a bit of chaos as fans poured out of the stadium. As we made our way away from the stadium, we could still hear tons of people chanting and lighting off bottle rockets. It was a crazy thing to see. It doesn't take much to get the people here in Santa Cruz fired up when it comes to politics. Many of the government's previous leaders now live in Santa Cruz since the new president, Evo Morales, has been in power in the country's administrative capital, La Paz. The majority of people in Santa Cruz are opposed to the new government and president, which is why the fans were yelling "Autonomia!" This is a common saying here that we see everywhere. We've now been to probably the two most exciting soccer games that we could have seen here: first it was the cross town rivals of Santa Cruz (Blooming and Oriente), and then the city that wants autonomy versus the city it wants autonomy from!

Our time here in Santa Cruz is winding down. Before long we'll be off to Brazil. We've posted more pictures from the last few weeks on the side panel. There are some good ones of us milking some cows!

Nos Encanta Amboró

The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is fortunate to be almost adjacent to one of Bolivia's top 3 national parks, Parque Nacional Amboró. Needless to say, I had been chomping at the bit to explore. A couple weeks back Mike, Ethan, Gretchen, and Dr. Douglas left for Cuba. The rest of us figured a trip to Amboro was the perfect remedy for our sadness and longing for our friends, so off we went down the old highway to Cochabamba with our laid-back and strapping guide Marco. Rich had a major man-crush and persevered throughout the trip in trying to discover the secret to his physique.

Parque Amboró is rich in ecology and social history. With ecosystems varying from Andes foothills, to northern Chaco, to Amazon basin, the park has nine different life-zones and more biodiversity than the entire country of Costa Rica! It was founded in the 80s as German Busch Wildlife Reserve and was studied and expanded by Bolivia's two most famous biologists, Robin Clark and Noel Kempff. Legend holds that for many years, Clark single-handedly defended the core of the park, the area with the most intact ecosystems, by walking it's red-line boundary with a machete and shotgun. Due to its proximity to Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, there has long been a problem of colonios invading the park to slash and burn to create crop and grazing land. As a result, a multiple-use area was later designated in the land surrounding the park to serve as a regulated buffer.

Day 1 of the trip featured a hike down into the valley of Refugio de Los Volcanes. We'd enjoyed some great vistas, new birds, insects, and flowers, and of course some cataracas (waterfalls). After a nice lunch and nap in the sun in the valley basin, we hiked back up toward to road to Samaipata, all agreeing we would have rather had the uphill first. We were all strugggling a bit that day after an all-nighter at the reggae bar for Ethan's last night in Bolivia.

Highlights of our night in Samaipata included the coolest swing outside our cottage, eating half-chickens, political discussions over café con leche with Marco (who turned out to be an avid socialist and Evo disciple), some salsa dancing, and...not to be forgotten...karoake. By the night's end we had done Roy Orbison and Bobby Darin proud as the only gringos in the discotec.

Day 2 was even cooler. Our destination that day was La Yunga, located another hour west. La Yunga is famous not only for its forests of helechos gigantes (giant ferns) but also as a model of community-based natural resource management. The mostly indigenous community of La Yunga has developed into an ecotourism economy over the last years. There are now many experienced naturalist guides and a small ecohostel. While I've often read about such park management models, I felt surprising excitement to actually hear the guide explaining to us in spanish that they feel their economic future and the future of their children hinges on the preservation of these ecological treasures in Amboró. The giant fern forest felt somewhat surreal as the sun slowly baked off the morning fog. The most amazing thing about the ferns was their age. As they only gain 1 cm each year, many of these trees were thousands and thousands of years old. The entire walk took place on bridges constructed from a wood species that can withstand a lot of humidity and moisture so as not to let anyone accidentally step on any 20-50 year old saplings. The hike ended at a grand vista of the park where we rested and chewed coca leaves. The guide gave an impressive tour and we hope that many more travelers come to see the ferns and the visionary community working to preserve them.

A Whirlwind Blog Entry

It's been busy here in Bolivia; so busy that we've been too distracted to keep pace on the blog. Since Char's birthday, there has been almost a complete turnover in the volunteer crew. Three volunteers left, and three new ones arrived. When the new Northwestern resident arrived, we basically took her straight from the airport to Aqualand to enjoy a day of water, sun, and huge slides. While it was no Noah's Ark or Racing Rapids, we had a wonderful time. Derek, along with Ethan and Mike, rode the equivalent of the Plunge head first and backwards. Char was nearly swept away in the wavepool while she laughed and laughed uncontrollably. It certainly was not the typical Bolivian experience, but it was nonetheless a great first day for Dorothy.

Our sporting events continued at a high pace at the clinic. We played another exciting game of basketball so intense that Ethan came away mad and seriously bruised. It was nothing that a cool bag of juice couldn't fix. Derek learned a new dessert recipe for mousse de banano (whipped egg whites, bananas and cloves) from Maria, the nurse at the clinic. Despite his best efforts, he had some trouble since Maria forgot to pack the whisks for the electric mixer. Derek finished off the week at the clinic with a horse and cart ride to town under the sunset with Celso. We are really getting used to the tranquilo way of life in Palacios and are recognizing more and more why the Molitch-Hou family chose this spot for the clinic.

Back in Santa Cruz, we enjoyed another night out at the Cuban restaurant followed by drinks , live music, and dancing at Cafe 24 by the Plaza. Char practiced her Spanish all night talking with our friend Xavier, who thinks we should have at least five children - loco! We also did some power shopping so get ready for Christmas! In addition to many presents for everyone back home, Derek bought a charango, the traditional Bolivian ten-string instrument made of an armadillo shell.

After a short weekend in Santa Cruz, it was back to Palacios for Char and back to work for D in Santa Cruz. Char has been helping out with a parasite and Vitamin A program in the local schools. She visited several schools this past week to talk with teachers about handing out medications to the students. It should be very interesting in the weeks to come. She also got some more driving practice in during a huge storm. The dirt/sand road was nearly washed out as she expertly maneuvered the SUV to safety! Meanwhile, Derek was working into the wee hours of the night all week building a solar thermal collector. He bought a drill, some saws, and scavenged the junkyard district of Santa Cruz. The highlight of the week was walking down the 3rd ring showing the condensor coils he cut off an old refrigerator to all the shop owners who had given him blank stares when asking them where to find a scrap yard. IF it works, the system will be used to heat water and potentially be connected to a solar still for purifed drinking water. His larger project, the solar photovoltaic system, is still in planning and evaluation stages, but it has been fun to start pounding some nails and experimenting with designs in the meantime.

We finished off this weekend with an awesome Halloween party at our house in Santa Cruz, where we went as Popeye and Olive Oil--because everyone here thinks Derek laughs like Popeye. Everyone had a great time picking out the most amazing costumes in the costume district that D found while searching for fiberglass insulation. Not only were the costumes a hit, but the party also included sweet halloween blue and orange lighting, carved pumpkins, muchos dulces, a flying ghost remeniscient of 1102 Saalsaa haunted houses, a major dance party, Charlotte's famous chocolate chip pumpkin cake, a re-appearance of Derek's coveted fresh guac and salsa, and most fun of all, a very pensive penguin. A great time was had by all, even the clerk at the costume store who Rich had invited that afternoon. Dancing went late into the night and we were both "strong to the finish thanks to [eating] all of that spinach" [pizza]. Toot Toot!

More to come...and check out our new pictures we posted (the link is on the side panel).

Love,
Char and D

road rage: a guest blog

Disclaimer: this blog entry was not blogged by one of the lovebirds, instead this is a guest blog blogged by a fellow Centro Medico Humberto Parra Volunteer and NU alum (go cats) and Pwilder (go wild), so I apologize for any confusion.

I've not blogged a blog entry before, but I was told by my brother that I should use the word blog frequently. He has a blog here: www.centromedicohumbertoparra.blogspot.com. He also told me I should plug his blog.

So, on to the subject of the blog, the road rage of recent birthday girl carlita (she was carlotta when she first got here, but that kind of means big fat charlotte, so we changed it to carlita shortly after she arrived. Carlita means cute, thin charlotte.) Also, I'm not sure if road rage is appropriate as it was more road fear, but either way...

Since arriving in santa cruz, carlita has learned quite a bit including spanish, cervical cancer screening, and what derek looks like with a beard. But most importantly she's learning to drive stick shift in a country where the rules of the road are much like the laws of the land, kill or be killed, or if you're bigger you can do whatever you want. Luckily we have an SUV which is almost the largest vehicle available in santa cruz, making us quite dominant when driving. However, the Micro (a small bus) is slightly larger and they are exempt from all laws because they provide public transportation, so we are not kings of the food chain. also, since we obey laws in the united states, we are much more likely to be taken advantage of.

Well, about a week ago I realized that cute, thin charlotte had yet to drive in the heart of the city, so as I like to do, I challenged her to drive through the city. Here is a verbatim transcript of carlita's monologue:
"oh god"
"okay"
"oh god"
"move lady"
"no, lady move"
"oh god"
"okay, okay"
"oh god"
"move bus"
"oh no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO"
"oh god"
"okay"

repeat x 15 mintues.
we made it alive and well, but carlita did not drive home.
So that's an outsider's perspective on one of the lovebird adventures. but not to leave out our Environmental Professional, he and i came up with this song while riding in the back of a cab listening to Char say "Barrio Ah-ero-nautico, conoce?"
(sung to the tune of la cucaracha)
Mujer Boracha
Mujer Boracha
Se caye cuando camina

Toma cerveza
Toma cerveza
Y comienza murmura

Mujer Boracha
Mujer Boracha
Más bebida se necessita

Toma tequila
Toma tequila
y después se vomita.

Mujer Boracha
Mujer Boracha
Se despierta con reseca

Y Mañana
Y Mañana
Otra vez se pasa

Disclaimer part 2: charlotte neither drank tequila nor vomited.

Love,
Ethan

Barrio Ay-eh-ro-nautico

Another amazing trip to the clinic in Palacios. This week I joined Char in helping to check in patients and fill prescriptions from the pharmacy closet, getting a deeper view into the clinic's day-to-day operations and standard operating procedures. I gained an even deeper respect for the work performed each day by the nurses (Maria, Guinda, and Gretchen) and the doctors. Amongst the 50-70 patients who arrive via CMHP's micro buses each day, there is quite a wide range of medical problems from tropical skin fungi to mucho diabetes to a woman this week who had over 100 larva living in her ear drum!

Char (here practicing taking blood pressure on Dr. Susan Hou) has been the queen of taking blood sugar readings for all of the patients, doing her friends at Neighborhood Diabetes proud. I was put to work trying to fix the EKG machine amongst other medical equipment. I had more failure than success but enjoyed the challenge. We're enjoying filling any niche we can in completing day-to-day work whenever we aren't working on our longer term projects for Centro Medico. We can also always count on great sports with the youth from Palacios each night. Due to the average Bolivian stature, I had never felt so tall when we played full court basketball. We've promised to teach them ultimate frisbee soon as Dr. Susan brought down a good disc--frisbees are non-existent in Santa Cruz sporting goods stores. I've been all over town looking.

This week was also special as it was the cumpleaños (birthday) of Carlita on Friday. Que divertido! She assured me that it was definitely her best birthday since we've been married. After a pancake breakfast and a good day at the clinic, we returned to Santa Cruz for a night out to dinner and then home for cake. Based on a recommendation from a former volunteer, we headed to Van Gogh, a new restaurant in the trendy Equipetrol district complete with Vincent's art, good Chilean wine, and really tasty food. No guinea pig this night Dad, but we some great salmon ravioli and tropical fish with a passion fruit sauce. In honor of the birthday girl, some champagne made its way out with the chocolate lava molten cake for dessert. The group was in high spirits in celebrating the birthday and the last night in Bolivia for volunteer Liz Wolf, a medical student at Northwestern. You could say we were all a little borracha by the end of the envening. Our cab driver got to listen to Char practice her intonation of "Barrio Aeronautico, conoce?" the whole way back.

Then home for more cake (Char's classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting) that Zoila and Vero had made Friday while we were at the clinic. Those girls are fantastic and such a great addition to life in Santa Cruz. A tradition in Bolivia is to push the cumpleaña's face into the birthday cake after she's blown out the candles. As you can guess, Char was up to the challenge.

Feliz 25th Cumpleaños a mi bonita Carlita!

Molten Cake!

Things are cruising along here in Bolivia. We have been getting lots of work done on each of our projects during the last couple of weeks. Today, I visited the government Health Services Office to to find some demographic information for my cervical cancer project. While I do think that my Spanish is improving, it still is always difficult to understand anyone who continues to speak at a normal speed despite knowing that my Spanish is not very good! I managed to find out what I needed, with some help from Derek. In the afternoon, I went to the hospital with Mike to visit a patient from Palacios who has been in the hospital for several months now. His name is Ruddy (pronounced Rudy, like the Notre Dame football movie!), and he is always very appreciative of our visits. It's always amazing to visit this hospital, Hospital Japones, as it is so different than any hospital that I have ever been to at home. It is a public hospital, like Cook County Hospital, so it has less resources than some of the private hospitals in Santa Cruz.

In addition to working hard, we have had lots of fun. On Friday, we had a great fiesta in honor of Dr. Hou's arrival. She will be here through Saturday working with us at the clinic. It's fun to be down here to learn from the founder herself as much as we can about the clinic and its future. For the party, Derek made the largest bowl of guacamole that I have ever seen, and he grilled probably 75 kabobs! Last weekend we went to Mariposario - a wonderful place with a butterfly sanctuary, pools, water slides, kyaking, horseback riding, eating, hiking, and more. We even saw three sloths up in the trees in the butterfly sanctuary! And, on Saturday night we went out for a big group dinner with everyone and had a wonderful surprise at the end of dinner. I ordered a chocolate cake to split with another volunteer, and it turned out to be my favorite chocolate molten cake! Yum! I do miss certain foods from home, so this was a wonderful surprise!

We're off to the clinic again tomorrow...
And check out the new pics that are posted on the sidebar!

More Pictures!

We've finally got some pictures of Santa Cruz up on a server. We're trying out Picasa.
Click to see them!

El Centro Medico

Last week was our first trip out to the clinic. Located about 70km to the northwest of Santa Cruz down the "new road" to Cochabamba, the clinic is based near the friendly pueblo of Palacios, a close-knit community where the Molitch-Hou family is greatly beloved (a major road is named after Dr. Susan Hou and the plaza is named after Dr. Mark Molitch).

It was fun to finally see firsthand the clinic building and house for volunteers. We also had the great pleasure of meeting Celso, the caretaker of the clinic land, and his family. He promises to be a great guide of the surrounding woods, taking us to hike, fish, ride horses, or hunt hochi. We also quickly met Maria and Guinda, the two nurses who really run the show at the clinic. Their passion and friendly nature clearly make the clinic so much more effective.

From the moment we arrived in the morning the clinic sprang to life as the colectivos (buses) began arriving with patients. Char was immediately put to work checking in patients while I spent the day in the sun taking measurements, assessing the solar window, and doing an inventory of the various electricity loads at the site. A few of the children at the clinic that day decided to follow me around so I had good company. We are enjoying our general role as the non-doctor volunteers and pitch in however we can.

A highlight of the week was a night spent in the center of Palacios near Maria's house where we played countless games of volleyball and got to know the 50 some kids in town. One young girl from Brazil was simply enamored by Charlotte (tan bonita) and liked to follow her around. We also enjoyed celebrating Gretchen's birthday and learning the Bolivian happy birthday song as well as some of their other birthday traditions, including push the birthday girls face into the cake! We are very fortunate to have such warm and friendly hosts here. We're having a great time.

Samaipata

Last weekend, we took a three hour drive to a town called Samaipata, which in Quechua means ¨rest in the highlands.¨ It was so amazing and very relaxing. Seven of us and went and rented a house at a place called La Vispera. Our house overlooked the Inn´s grounds, which was quite beautiful from the hammock that we snoozed in. The other cool part about La Vispera was the dining. For every meal of the day, you could enjoy a fresh cooked meal with all of the vegetables picked right from the garden in front of the restaurant. They were sure to warn us that because of how fresh everything is, you have to allow at least an hour to prepare. Needless to say, we only had two meals there or else we would never have had time to see anything else in the area! But what we did have was delicious!

We also visited some local ruins in the area, which were quite interesting, though of course no match to Machu Picchu! But the windy trip up into mountains was worth it. The views were a bit hazy because of all of the burning that goes on at this time of year. Though it is often illegal, people here clear the land, much of it rainforest, to prepare for farming. Our guide at the ruins told us that the views become much better once the rainy season starts (January) because the rainfall clears the smoke out of the sky.

While we certainly did not have any rainfall, we did get some swimming in before heading back to Santa Cruz. We visited Las Cuevas to float in the river and get pounded by some serious waterfalls. It felt so good in the middle of the hot day. Overall though, the temperature was perfect up in the foothills. Back in Santa Cruz and at the clinic, the temps are pretty hot, but we are adjusting to the heat I think. Unfortunately, we can´t go to the waterfalls every weekend, but we have heard about a place called Aqualand here in Santa Cruz that might be fun as it continues to heat up!

More to come soon...

Pictures!

Check out our pictures! We have posted two albums of pictures from our travels so far, and there will be more to come!
Click here!

Viva Blooming!!! Goooooaaaaallllllllll!!!!!

With the house overflowing with volunteers, there is always someone around with whom to talk or plan an outing into town. Thus we've had a lot of excitement around here since our arrival. The first highlight was two nights spent at CruzExpo, one of the largest fairs in the world where you can find everything from live reggaeton music to autodealers to massive, prize-winning cows to cerveza gardens to crowded dance clubs. The fair began this weekend as Monday marked the day Santa Cruz was founded. The town's center is the beautiful Plaza of September 24th (photo) and Monday was a major holiday here. Dr. Douglas warned us we would be amazed by the number of Bolivian super models in attendance advertising at the various booths--we even got to see Miss Bolivia dancing in a live advertisement for a new caffeinated beverage. Our herd wandered through it all, amazed at the creation of such elaborate structures for only 2 weeks. The end of the night included jumping a fence into a jammed, and sweaty (ahem...I mean hip and happening) dance club. A good time was had by all.

While the fair was interesting, the best experience of our first week in Santa Cruz had to be our outing to un partido de futbol! To review common knowledge, futbol (soccer) is definitely the sport of choice in Bolivia. Santa Cruz's Tuhuichi Aguilera stadium is within walking distance of the volunteer house. Thus we clearly had to check out a game right away. Plus, we had the great fortune of arriving just prior to one of the biggest games of the season, a match between the cross-town rivals of Santa Cruz: Blooming vs. Oriente. This is Santa Cruz's version of the windy-city classic. Dr. Douglas and Ethan are die-hard Blooming fans while our new friend Javier, hermano de Veronica, lives and dies with Oriente. We had been caught in a tug of war between the two sides during the days leading up to the game, unsure of where our allegiances would lie. In the end, and naturally, Charlotte and I jumped onboard with the boys in blue, especially since their rival team wore green and gold. Learning the Oriente's full name was Oriente Petroleo only reinforced my choice. Viva Blooming, brother team to the Osos de Chicago!

The game was excellent and exciting down to the last whistle. Tons of hustle and passionate play by both sides. We had fun with our new Blooming gear and a loud plastic trumpet blown at key moments of the game by Mike Molitch-Hou. Oriente had the first goal late in the first half and went into the break in the lead. The fairly even, back and forth play continued into the second half until Blooming managed to get a dribbler into the net to tie it up. Then the stadium came alive. With 5 minutes to go, Blooming drilled in the game winner (all 3 goals were off corner kicks). We were on our feet singing with our section and poor Javier looked like he was going to be sick. Some Oriente fans went as far to light a few fires down in their endzone before they left. To top it off, this game knocked Oriente out of playoff contention. I felt as if we had just sent Farve back to Mississippi for a long off-season with our new fight song:

Vamos!
Vamos a ganar!
Te llevo Blooming
dentro de mi corazon!

Santa Cruz

We've now been here for almost a week and have had lots of fun so far. In addition to the other volunteers, D and I have met many wonderful people already. Among those people are the Villaroel family. Douglas Villaroel is the doctor here in Bolivia who has worked over the years to help create and maintain the clinic. He and his family have done so much for all of the volunteers who have come down here. Before the volunteer house was built, the volunteers used to live with Douglas and his wife Chemita at their house. They have three kids: Daniel, Diego, and Susan. At the volunteer house, besides the volunteers, we also live with several other people. Nico and her daughter Johanna live here. Nico helps maintain the house and cooks the most amazing lunches for us when we are here. I am still getting used to the huge, late lunches and very small dinners! Veronica and Zoila also live here. They grew up in Palacios (where the clinic is) and are original volunteers. They are now living in Santa Cruz and going to university. We are getting great Spanish practice in with all of these native speakers around!

Last weekend, all of the volunteers went with the Villaroel family out to lunch at this amazing spot. We drove down a dirt road for about twenty minutes to what seemed like the middle of nowhere until we finally arrived. We paid 65 Bolivianos (about $8) to have an all you can eat Bolivian buffet. Not only was the food spectacular, but the setting was too. The restaurant was situated next to a beautiful pond filled with coi fish and surrounded by palm trees and small hills. As we explored the area after lunch, we found playgrounds, a small go-kart track, huge stone slides, and best of all a zip line! We took our turns flying down the line! It was one of the weirdest places I have been, but it was so beautiful and we had a wonderful afternoon.

This week, we had an overlap of volunteers so the clinic dormitory did not have space for all of us to come. So Derek, our friend from Northwestern, Ethan, and I stayed in Santa Cruz this week instead. We've gotten a start on our projects and been able to meet more people here in Santa Cruz including the staff at Douglas' endocrinology office. On Tuesday, Ethan and I visited a clinic patient who came to a hospital in Santa Cruz for surgery. I hope to spend some time with a local OB soon to ask some questions about my cervical cancer project. I have also made plans for some Spanish lessons with Chemita.

So there is a lot going on here, but we are excited to get to the clinic next week to see what that is like. As we had been told, this area of Bolivia is much different than the rest of Bolivia. Much of Bolivia's wealthy population live here in the lowlands. With the country's first indigenous president who is "a man of the people" fighting for the rights of the poor, the call for autonomy can be heard loud and clear throughout this city. The president, Evo Morales, was actually just on the Daily Show the other night. Jon Stewart did not press him too hard on any of the issues that people have with him here, but it is an interesting interview to watch.

We miss you all and will keep the updates coming!
Love,
Char

It happened on Bueno Street

Coming into La Paz was amazing, as I´m sure you´ve heard from anyone who has been there. Our bus stopped to let all of us tourists get out and take some pictures of the amazing city that sprawls up from the valley into the mountains that surround it.

We immediately got our bearings as we walked up and down some huge hills to get to our hostal - a mansion that was a residence for a former president. We spent our first evening at a fancy Italian restaurant listening to smooth jazz covers of the Rolling Stones!

The next day was our full day to explore the city. It started out with a stop off at a chocolate shop and the students´plaza. It was on our way to lunch that it happened...We were at the corner of Bueno Street trying to cross (which can be very hard with such small sidewalks and such crazy drivers!) when I heard a ripping noise. I thought it was the velcro pocket on my purse being opened, so I swung it around to see. I was right that someone was trying to get into my bag, but not by opening it, but instead by slashing it with a knife! Luckily, the hooligans weren´t able to get anything, but I saw them running up the street ahead of me as a I figured out what had happened. Needless to say, my bag stayed around my front the rest of the day!

The incident put a bit of a damper on the day, but we were still able to enjoy the Coca Museum, which outlined the history of the controversial plant, as well as the Musical Instruments Museum, where D and I got to play a few of the instruments ourselves!

La Paz is one of the busiest and most interesting cities that I have ever been to, but it was also a little overwhelming! It was a great stop on our travels, but we were getting very excited to get to Santa Cruz to setttle in for a while and start our volunteering.

So we have made it here now, after a very exciting bus ride last night. At about 1:30 am, we were rear-ended by another bus. That bus had a shattered front wondow, and our bus required about two and a half hours of work on the engine before we could get going. So the ride that was already a long 10 hours from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz became about 13 hours! But we made it and arrived to a wonderful volunteer house where we are looking forward to meeting everyone this evening and getting to work this week!

Lake Titicaca at the Copa...Copacabana!

After saying goodbye to Cusco with a night on the town with our guide, we made a very quick stopover in Puno before heading into Bolivia. We stayed for a couple of days at Lake Titicaca in Copacabana. Our hostal, La Cupula, was a wonderful recommendation from our friends Andrew and Laurel. It was definitely the most comfortable and most beautiful place that we stayed. With views overlooking the lake from our front door and hammocks swinging in the front gardens, it couldn´t have been any better.

We took a boat out to Isla del Sol for he day and hiked from the north end of the island to the south and saw pre-Incan ruins as well as the historical stone from which the Incans were born. It was a beautiful and surprisingly quiet hike along the ridges of the islands´mountains.

For each meal while we were there, Derek ate some form of trucha (trout) - whether it was fried, sauteed, stuffed, or baked, it didn´t matter as long as he could eat it fresh from Lake Titicaca. It was quite delicious!

We were sad to leave Copacabana behind, but we pressed on for all that was to come in La Paz...

La Glorieta, so much potential

North of the cold clear waters of Lake Titicaca, Puno is the folklore capital of Peru. Highlights of our stay there included a ride on the tricycle taxi, a grilled alpaca lunch, a hunt through the city for the post office to mail postcards, and, after discovering that post offices do not have mail drop boxes in Peru, a long micro ride with campesinas to Chuicuitos, just southwest of Puno.

Chuicuitos is a small and sleepy village also perched above the beautiful lake (the top half of which is also known as Chuicuito). In our web research back home we had discovered a hostal "off the beaten path" called La Glorieta that was not in any of the Peru guidebooks. The setting couldn´t be more stunning and romantic. The habitaciones are found in small stone buildings with spanish tile roofs and solar water heaters for each room. The quaint decor features alpaca and sheep wool apolstery and hand carved furniture. You´d think it really would be the place to rest after an arduous trek and get away from it all. Unfortunately, the comforts and service could be drastically improved.


Being so remote and undiscovered, we were actually the only folks staying at the hostal that night--or even that week--except of course for a couple new cute friends who really knew how to spit (see photo). As a result, the hostal caretaker wasn´t the most available and helpful as others along our journey. In addition, being so high in elevation, it was quite a chilly at night, even in our room. And the beds were a good "mind over matter" experience, to put it delicately. The shower stall was the entire bathroom itself, toilet and all, and the room would fill up quickly with water during the shower as there was only one small drain about 1 cm in diameter. It had emptied by the time we returned from our trout dinner up the hill. Needless to say, Char was ready to move on.

We set off for Copacabana with higher hopes and daydreams of running our own inn, because settings like this have too much potential!

Reflections on Salkantay

Our Salkantay "deep trek" north of Cusco was so excellent, it deserves another post. Char and I keep talking about how much fun it was and how we miss our days on the trail. Like any extended backpacking trip, it is our companions that we will miss most.

At least 3 times a day we miss Loriano, our trip Chef. It was quite surreal to arrive to camp to an already prepared piping hot meal. Such a feast always began with a delicious soup and usually included two of our favorite staples: rice and potatoes. We are missing those tent dinners these days, although I have not eaten anything but fresh trout since we arrived in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca-grilled, stuffed, fried, or de diablo, trout is delicious no matter how they serve it.

Then there is Esteban, the best muleteer in the Andes. Not only was he kinder and more gentle to the mules than other muleteers on the trail, but he seemed to have a deep connection with his animals (trekking companies here hire a muleteer and his mules). Esteban constantly was working hard but always took time to smile and say "hola amigo." One of our best camping spots was in Esteban's yard. The most beautiful yard on the trail.

Our fellow trekkers were a friendly and comical group. Kason and Melissa, hailing from Toronto Canada, were a fun loving pair that kept us laughing all week. They really pushed themselves on this trip and it was fun to see them succeed. Melissa is a med student in Toronto and while Kason is in finance, we discovered his real calling is mule riding. Then there was Ikuko, a Yale School of Forestry grad from Japan now working at the World Bank in DC. Her enthusiasm and wonder along the trail were such a great contribution.

Last but not least, we will miss our fearless guide Milthon (pronounced Milton...as in my least favorite economist). A born leader and a real character, Milthon got a kick out of our group. He usually hiked ahead with Char and I so we really got to know him well. He was so curious about married life and seems to be headed that way soon...but he'll have to give up the breakfast in bed he gets from his mother when he's in Cusco! Milton has been leading trips for 5-7 years and spends most of the nights each year on the trail, but still considers himself (and dresses like) a city boy. We began to call him El Jefe like the campesinos and muleteers on the trail do. The best part about our leader though was that he loved to party at night. His highlight I think was our night back in Cusco when we went out with him to the clubs. I introduced him to tequila shots (uno, dos, tres) and eventually he and Charlotte were tearing it up on the dance floor! We had a bittersweet departure but may soon meet again if he comes to visit us in Santa Cruz.

Great people. Great trip. And now on to Bolivia!

Salkantay Trek

After our very important acclimating trip up in Huaraz, we made our way to Cusco to get ready for our trek to Machu Picchu. It was a wonderful trip! We started off by meeting our other trekking mates (2 from Canada and one from Japan), our guide (Milthon), our chef (Lorriano), and our muletier (Esteban). Yes, we had a wonderful chef and a person in charge of the mules who carried all of our heavy gear. This was the beginning of a great trip! On night one, we slept up in the mountains at about 4000 meters just before the mountain pass. It was a bit chilly, but we survived. After crossing the pass the next day, we made our way down through a beautiful valley for the next couple of days. It was amazing to go from below zero temperatures to lush vegetation so quickly (all while enjoying gourmet meals along the way)! We visited several hot springs along the way and met some other trekkers along the same path. We made it to Augas Calientes last night and went up to Machu Picchu this morning at 6am to see the sunrise. Yes it is as amazing as everyone says! Our guide told us that we were lucky to have such a clear and sunny day since Machu Picchu is so often cloudy. We enjoyed the morning walking around the ruins before returning to enjoy our last lunch together before heading back to Cusco.

We´ll keep you posted as we head to Bolivia next!
Miss you all,
Char

A Great Start to the Trip

We couldn´t have asked for a better beginning to our trip. We were able to acclimitize and enjoy the beautiful mountains. In addition to our walk through the countryside, we also took an amazing bus trip up to Lago Llanoyuco outside of Huaraz. The lake is situated up in the basin between Huascaran (highest mountain in Peru) and Huandoy. I had my first mouthful of coca leaves to chew on up in the mountains! We met some nice people and hiked down from the lake to enjoy the mountains. For lunch that day, Derek and I enjoyed the traditional meal of cuy, otherwise known as guinea pig at home. It was served with head and feet on...eek! It tasted a little like chicken though.

The next day, we took it up a level by actually hiking to a mountain lake, Lake Churup. The day hike involved scaling rock faces and using rickety ladders to get up the mountain. Needless to say, we were spent by the end of the day, but it was a beautiful hike. It´s funny how in Spanish, the word ´caminar´, which means to walk, is the word for hike, trek, walk, etc. It makes it a little tought to gauge how intense a day might be! We made it though, and I had no power failures or meltdowns, which means that Derek did a good job keeping me well fed. We finished off the night with some good pizza in the town square!

Off to Cusco...

Huaraz - City of Snow Capped Peaks

We made it to Huaraz on schedule despite our doubts on Wednesday morning. But we found a very comfortable bus to take us on the eight hour journey, including a short stop along the way for a real Peruvian lunch.

After arriving, we were pleasantly surprised by our wonderful accomodations at the Hostel Churup. The hostel has a wonderful common room/bar on the top floor with panoramic windows overlooing the mountains.

Today, we had a nice walk through various villages above the main city. We saw lots of dogs, pigs, and donkeys (they were really cute!). Derek thinks there are more dogs than people around here. The climax of the hike was a visit to Wilkahaurin, ruins from the Wari people from 700 despues de Christo. We made some great new friends including Pasqual y Margarita. If we ever return to Hauraz, we've been offered a free room at Margarita's casa!

We're now off for our second Peruvian dinner. We both wish we knew Spanish better, but our new friends are helping us improve. We'll keep you posted on our progress!

Talk to you soon,
Charlotte and Derek

El primer paseo de un gran viaje

Vamos a Sudamerica! El dia de partida ha llegado finalmente.

We are very happy to report that the first leg of our honeymoon journey is complete, with stops in Andersonville, Minocqua, Madison, and Lake Bluff. After a truly amazing wedding celebration (see photos), we have enjoyed plenty of running, swimming, biking, packing, golfing, and time with our families. In the meantime, Derek has helped Henry Crown and Co. begin to get their ducks in a row on energy and climate change issues and Charlotte has surpassed her husband in spanish speaking skills thanks to the Rosetta Stone.

Thanks to you all, our family and friends, we have both gained some new gear, lost some hair (see photo below), and put on a few pounds from many wonderful send-off dinners.

We are most excited for the months ahead and hope that you will enjoy a few select cuentos (stories) that we share on this Blog (short for weblog to those new to such things). For you die-hard fans, you can use the link below to subscribe to the atom or RSS feeds so that you are alerted with each new post.

The adventure begins mañana;. Our belongings for the months ahead now reside in 4 backpacks - 2 large, 2 small (see below). First stop: Lima, Peru. Then we plan to meander north and south through the Andes, eventually making our way down through Bolivia to Santa Cruz where we will be volunteering at the Centro Medico Humberto Parra. Deep in soul of Bolivia, we are looking forward to a perfect basecamp in a community of fun and passionate medical volunteers.

Enjoy and stay tuned!
Derek and Charlotte

Before

After

"All our bags are packed and we're ready to go..."