Jan 25, 2007 - La vida diaria

It's that time again. Another Thursday in Cochabamba.

A few questions to be answered from my last email re: the book thanks to Craig
Name: Dignity and Defiance is the name everyone finally settled on.
Published by: Published in the US by University of California Press, Rutgers University Press, or Kumarian Press
Language: in English.
When will it come out: To be finished this "spring" (North American) and to come out soon after that.

Daily things about my life here that are totally different
1. Little tienda right across the street from my house. Need cooking oil? No problem. Out of tissues, toilet paper? Run across the street. Super convenient. All the basics, close to home.
2. No cell phone (I've caught some flak about that from friends here who wonder where I am, but I'm usually at home, at the office, or at tai chi)
3. No car (totally unneccessary - there's public transportation EVERYWHERE)
Micro, truffi, or taxi truffi (fixed route transportes - micros are minibuses, truffis are white vans with sliding doors turned buses (I've heard they're similar to transportes in Asia), and taxi truffis are taxis on fixed routes: 1.50Bs.
Average taxi ride: 5 Bs.
4. There's a damn good bakery (pasteleria) right next to the office, so all afternoon we smell the breads and pastries baking and a certain individual may be totally addicted to a certain pastry or two
5. Throwing toilet paper in the trash - their sewage system (alcantarrillado) can't handle it. It always makes me think about how much TP has to be taken out of the system at sewage plants in the US. That's a lot of toilet paper!
6. All my friends' friends are married with kids. Some having their second. Scary.
7. Sticking out like a sore thumb - getting whistled at all the time - this bothered me a lot at first, but now I'm mostly over it. It's not going to change anything I do, so at this point, I just have to put up with it.
8. Phone calls - From my house, I call to local landline phones. For cell phones - you can go anywhere in Cochabamba and there are women (occasionally men) at puestos on the corners selling snacks, gum, cigarrettes, water & soda, and phonelines out - with different prices for landlines and cell phones, all terribly convenient and none very expensive (Also at the tienda across the street). From my computer I call to the US! (If you have skype, I'm lswhitesell)
9. Here, I have the option of going to a grocery store (which I'm going to have to break down and do if I want to buy tahini for my hummus addiction) or shopping at one of the many marketplaces, where you can walk down the aisles and compare one vendor (casera)'s produce to another, they're all right next to each other. If the woman you usually buy from is out, her friend sitting right next to her, ready to sell.
10. Politics is like the weather - it affects whether you go out, whether you travel from one city to another, etc. I think Bolivia (at least partially) has the blockading tactic to thank for a fairly well-informed population. Now if we could just get some dialogue going...
11. Speaking of the weather, how about that sun? Oh man is it strong - higher altitudes make for redder sunburns. I've been good though, sunburn free since I bought sunblock on Day 2.
12. Tai Chi - 6:15AM every morning - really does an incredible job at keeping me sane and non-stressed. Wonderful people, mindful exercise that pushes you to your limit, good times. If I could only manage to go to bed by 10pm every night, I would go every day...
13. Everything is really inexpensive. A sampling of recent purchases: My rent in the center of the city in a beautiful house - $100. Delicious pastry next door: 1 Bs/13 cents. A liter and a quarter of strawberry yogurt: 9Bs/$1.13 Shampoo that I would buy in the States for much more (probably one of my most expensive recent purchases): 22Bs/$2.75.
14. The constant fear of the runs. So far, I've been lucky, but I fear that my super-salad this afternoon may have done me in. More bread and crackers, please!
15. Jazz every Thursday! My housemate and co-worker Gretchen/Graciela is a fabulous sax player. She invited me out to see her play last Thursday, and her jazz group is a lot of fun and really good. Last week there were four guitarists (one bass, one really good older electric player, one younger show-offy type electric player, and one visiting acoustic electric), one baterista (percussionist), one trumpet, and Graciela on the sax. Really really good stuff, and totally informal feeling.
16. La comida cochabambina - the eating schedule is brutal! I don't eat this many times a day, but if the Bolivian women could, they'd make me!:
Desayuno - breakfast
Midmorning snack - 10AM - salteñas
Lunch - the meal of the day - Soup, Main Dish, Dessert (Yes, everything shuts down between 1 and 3)
Tea - every afternoon somewhere between 3 and 5ish
Dinner - between 5 and 7ish
Snack - en la calle - anticuchos or sandwich
I think my next email will have to be about Bolivian food so I can explain saltenas and anticuchos.
17!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pre-carnaval parades!!! About half an hour ago, I started to hear bands and thought - oh, a few groups of pre-carnaval bands got together to play in the plaza, that's pretty cool. The music started getting louder and louder and was accompanied by whistle-blowing (played in time with the music by various leaders of each mini-group), until I *had* to come out of hiding in the back of the office and go onto the balcony to see what was happening. Sure enough, one of the dance groups (which means a few groups of 10-20 littler kids who go out in front, to warm up the audience, a couple of lines of older guys - 40s or 50s - here and there, and six or so larger blocks of fifty young women and young men, respectively) had gotten together for a little pre-carnaval rehearsal, coming up Calle San Martin, all in matching t-shirts and jeans, accompanied by two bands, and followed by blocks full of cars upset at the holdup and momentary traffic jam! But for all of us who crowded out on balconies and sidewalks to see the preview of coming attractions, it was a moment of alegria - joy to see the dancing begin. I have a feeling the food email will have to wait --- Carnaval is coming!!!

More Daily Life Differences (Added February 21):
18. Texting for free (if you have an internet connection, you can send free text messages)
19. Non air-conditioned spaces (which also means that I am an ice-water addict, but I see nothing wrong with this)
20. Laundry - Up until today, I've been washing my own clothes by hand. More about this later.


Spanish words of the day
bocado - mouthful, bite
mordisco, mordedura - bite (dog, person)
picadura - mosquito bite
morder, picar - bite
mañoso/a - picky (eater) (used mostly in Sta Cruz) - for those that remember the maña work grouping