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