Oblivion ??? ….. Bolivia !!!!

“Tomorrow” is today !

My career at Cochabamba’s Internet cafes is over !! I’ll be home more, now.

I am connected to the Internet at home, finally !!!

Get a Skype account - it’s free - my ID is:    its.dad

Computer to computer conversations are free for nothing ! If you’ve got a webcam I’ll be able to see you, otherWISE you’ll have to put up with looking at me. I’d love to see you & talk with you sometime.

It’s my two month-iversary since I arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia !! I am amazed at how fast the time has gone. Sometimes I can´t believe that I am actually here. This now is the second longest, after Toronto, that I´ve lived anywhere.

Happy Purim….. Happy Easter…… Happy Spring to everyone in the northern hemisphere. Here, of course, it´s the beginning of autumn in the City of Eternal Spring - which means the end of the rainy season , for the next 6 or 7 months.

I took the opportunity of this four day weekend to do some touring to La Paz - the highest capital city in the world !! I left on a Wednesday night cama (sleeper bus). Here they celebrate Maundy Thursday, not Easter Monday. I arrived before sunrise after an 8, or so, hour ride, through which I don´t think I slept much. La Paz is built in a series of basins, right on the sides of the mountains. My first view was from above, as the bus spiralled its way downtown. This view was amazing as the steep mountain sides where filled with thousands of street and house lights. I noticed the effect of the increased altitude on my breathing.

I stopped in an Internet station at the Terminal for a while waiting for the restaurant to open for an American desayuno of scrambled eggs, toast & jam, and coffee. Then I took a cab to my hostal in the daylight. It was a pretty amazing drive as every street is either up or down steep hills. There aren´t many streets that are level there. Stopping and starting on these streets was like riding a thrill ride at the Ex. The drivers here are highly skilled, and the brake mechanics must be national heroes. I have yet to see a single traffic accident in 2 months.
The streets were filled with Quechua and Aymara women who set up their wares on the sidewalks and curbs. They sell anything and everything. And, they carry their stock in sacks on their backs up and down the steep hills, every day. Most every street is as steep as Spadina Road, alongside Casa Loma; or, Pottery Road, down from Broadview !!

I arrived at my hostal, checked in and immediately tried to recover some of the sleep I missed on the bus. The view from my room overlooked some slummy-looking tin roofs, but I had a clear view of Mount Illimani - the trademark, snow-tipped mountain that overlooks the city. It´s a very impressive sight.

I left about 10 to begin exploring. I went down the street, figuring I´d save the up for later. La Paz is a much bigger and busier city than Cochabamba. It seems even busier than Toronto with so many more people out walking, and the innumerable street vendors.

You need good pair of lungs and good set of knees to get around on foot there. I have neither ! After a few hours of  walking climbing around, I was tired out. The woman at the hostal suggested that I might enjoy the double decker bus tour of the city. It was easy to agree to this. In fact, I spent almost 5 hours on the bus seeing most everywhere to be seen. We travelled out & up to the suburbs. The highlight is an area of highly eroded hills which has been turned into an ecological site called the Valley of the Moon. We got off the bus and wandered around a while. Pretty cool place. The guide says it changes every year with each rainy season.
The business section and the higher class homes are located in the lower, oxygen-richer altitudes. There are some really nice neighbourhoods with so many beautiful homes. The tops of the hills are the lower class neighbourhoods.
We got taken to a few lookout positions for the incredible views of the city, which I hope you can appreciate in the photos. It´s better in person. The ride around this city was amazing. Waiting for a red light to change, while the bus was stopped on the uphill slope was breathtaking (literally). And then there were a few long stretches of road that would make for a most incredible bicycle ride down. I´d take a cab up, though.

Then on Friday, I had arranged for a tour to Tiwanaku - an ancient site, estimated to have thrived over 1000 years BC until around 1200 AD. I shared a driver and guide with a couple from New Zealand. It made for a most pleasant day.
This “lost” civilization pre-dates, but certainly influenced the Incas. The Tiwanaku civilization is credited with advanced agricultural, astronomical, architectural, engineering and construction methods and techniques, some which have not yet been explained or duplicated. I´m still reading about it.
The excavations and rebuilding are very slow processes, sometimes having to stop for lack of funds. The museum on site has remains of various artifacts and pottery but much was destroyed or looted.
A number of monoliths have been found and relocated around the site. The Gateway of the Sun supposedly lines up with the rising sun on the December solstice. That day is celebrated as the beginning of the new year by the local native people. There is a subterranean temple, with the carvings of the heads embedded in the walls. My friend Fred likes the Chariots of the Gods theory -that the place was visited by extraterrestrials & that this a monument to them.

This day ended with a return trip to the Valley of the Moon, and back to the hotel.
Saturday morning I walked around the Witch´s Market, window shopping for dried llama fetuses and other assorted sacrificial items to Pachamama - Mother Earth. Instead, I bought I nice distinctively Bolivian, hand-made hoody.
I decided on a day bus home, wanting to see the countryside and small towns on the way; but mainly so I could sleep in my own bed. Parts of the highway ran alongside very steep cliffs, with evidence of recent landslides on one side, and broken guardrails on the other. Fortunately we got back to Cochabamba without incident.
Sunday was for recovery & relaxation, and today was back to school. I have my next holiday for May Day and am reading the guide book for my next destination.

Hope everyone is well and will be able to celebrate Spring soon.

I´m happy to hear from friends and relatives back home, and still can be reached at: jswise@yahoo.com

The good news is that it has been a pretty quiet routine couple of weeks, and the bad news is it has been a pretty quiet routine couple of weeks.

I´ve been in my new place for two weeks now, and other than the neighbourhood dogs who have regular nightly barkfests any time someone or vehicle passes by; and, the rhythm of the pouring rain on the (tin) living room roof I´ve settled in comfortably and have a “home” at last.  I live in a gated community - actually the whole city is a gated community. The photos I´ve posted will give you an idea of the luxury I´m living in. I´ve paid for an Internet connection which should be installed this week, but I´m not holding my breath.

School continues to roll along. I´m keeping up with my Global Plan, as are most of the kids in the class. I still haven´t come to terms with the approach here, and none of the kids who need tutors have gotten them yet. They are falling farther and farther behind. I can´t figure why the parents keep these kids in the school, knowing that they´re not able to keep up. There are alternatives. I wish this school had something in place for the kids who needed extra help - I spent too many years in Special Ed. Other than the cash, I´m not sure there are any educational reasons that some of these kids were accepted in the first place. “When I´m elected King of the World….” The merry-go-round in grade 3 continues… the latest teacher (the 4th) seems like she´s going to stick….a while.

I´ve developed a bit of a social life. I´m meeting new gringos, and drinking more beer.  I mentioned Peter, a retired tacher from England; and, now have met Nick, who is the host Professor for students taking the Bolivia option, from West Virginia University. We´ve met a few times already, and have plans to celebrate St. Patrick´s Day (on the Ides of March) tonight at the Irish pub. They´re closed on Mondays.  I also enjoyed a home cooked dinner last week at a couple´s who were Lani´s colleagues last year. They are returning to the northern hemisphere soon & wanted to hear about life in Canada, specifically Vancouver. I made most of it up. I wonder if the process for emigrating to Canada is anything like getting a visa in Bolivia ?

Speaking of the on-going visa hunt - it´s still on-going.  Sounds like Toronto´s winter !  The word of the day, most every day is “Manaña…Manaña”. The guy at the Ministry of Trabajo (Labour) who took my 50 Bs for “cab fare”, still hasn´t shown up at the school. He seemed disappointed when I showed up on Thursday & couldn´t understand what he was saying…. more money, probably. My agent, Nurem, is recovering from a gall bladder operation and might get back in the game soon.

I´ve booked the long weekend to go to La Paz, and the pre-Inca ruins at Tiwanaku. I´m taking a night bus on Wednesday & returning on the Saturday night bus. It´ll be nice to do some touring and to see something new, and old. It´ll give me something to report on, next week.

I´ve been checking in on the Toronto weather and am happy to see temperatures above freezing. With the first day of Spring - Autumn for me (and Bolivian Fathers´Day) - this week,  hopefully it will begin to feel spring-like for you. To those returning from March Break I wish you the best for the last term. It won´t be that long until summer vacation. Those at Out of the Cold sound like you´ve had an amazing season, and have definitely earned your place in heaven.

Happy Easter to those celebrating. The chocolate egg vendors have appeared here.

Keep writing. Be well.

The weeks seem to be just flying by… already another weekend gone ( happy new month) and it´s time to write again. Sorry I´m late this week, Caley.  I´ve said that life is settling into a comfortable routine, mostly - which isn´t as exciting as Carnival to read about. But there is some new news.

After thinking I had settled for Lani´s old room (bachelor apartment sounds better), the landlords came to tell me that the place around the corner was fixed up, painted, mowed,  had the locks changed, would get a new shower head and would be ready to move in this past weekend. So, Sunday was moving day. They told me they´d be ready at 9:00 am and I was all packed up and ready to go - but they decided to wait until it started raining around 10:30 !! I´ve got to start thinking like a Bolivian. So, we carried the bed, dresser, table & chairs, plus my belongings to the mother´s property around the corner.  Everything got a nice rinsing. I spent most of the day unpacking & waiting out the rain. The ceiling only leaks when it rains. I´ll put up some pictures soon. I´ll even get to plant a garden !!

I´m still an illegal here, which means I´ll have to pay a 10 Bolivianos / day fine to someone, sometime. Seems like deja vu, but I´m hoping that I´ve now got all the documents I need to get the visa processed and receive my identity card. I got one the School Director was holding back - finally; a photocopy of the landlord´s ID card - finally; and, my NEGATIVE result AIDS-HIV test - whew !! If I think like a Bolivian, then I won´t be surprised that they´ve changed the regulations in the past week.

Today, Monday, I met my agent who is facilitating the whole process. We went back to the Ministry of Trabajo (work), and presented the Ministry Inspector behind the desk with the full folder of documents. He checked everything over and was carrying on in Spanish with my guy, who then told me to give the Ministry guy 50 Bolivianos (about $7). He then slid it deftly into his pocket. This is supposedly for taxi fare, so he can come out to the school to confirm the authenticity of all the authenticated authentic documents I´ve been collecting these last few weeks. UNBELIEVABLE !!! I´ll be surprised if he shows.  Then back to the Police station to present the same documents for their approval. Had another set of fingerprints taken - in case they changed from 2 weeks ago. Much to my surprise, I now have to take the certificate from my  AIDS test from the University Medical Centre to another Medical office and get a certificate that states the first certificate is authentic.  I think this must be a nation of liars, because nobody seems to believe anybody. 

I´ve got to meet my guy again on Wednesday to return to Interpol, and then back to the Police station for the third time, before I can go to the Immigration office and get my visa, and my identity card. Somehow I think this is an never-ending story. Foolishly, I was thinking someone might say, ¨Thanks for coming to Bolivia and wanting to teach our children.¨ I´m not sure why I´m so determined to stay here when everything seems to be saying ¨We don´t want you here.¨ I´m feeling a little frustrated, needless to say. My agent says everything will be done soon. I didn´t even bother to ask him to define ¨soon¨. Enough of that.

So let me tell you about teaching in Bolivia. Does anyone remember the 1950´s ??

Today my Global Plan was due, and was done. This document is my whole year´s plan outlining how many periods I plan to spend on each topic in each subject, taken from the table of contents of each textbook. I can tell you what I´ll be teaching any day of the rest of the year, through to November.  Thanks to Lani, I had an easier time than others, because I was able to edit & revise her 2007 plan. I was questioning some of my colleagues here what the priorities of the school were - keeping to the Plan, or the children´s learning & understanding ? I got the question answered inadvertently when I had taken some extra vocabulary pages for my four weaker kids, for photocopying. The Director ( who controls and monitors the photocopier) wanted to know what they were for ? Then she told me that we don´t have time for supplemental/remedial work, because I have to finish all the text books according to my Global Plan. The kids that need extra help should get tutors - as long as their cheques don´t bounce, I guess.

I´ve got to forget almost everything I know & believe, and just soldier on.

On Monday mornings the school  assembles on the concrete soccer field for the Bolivian national anthem and the Director´s weekly pep talk. She addresses us in Spanish. Today´s topics included a reminder that everyone must be in their school uniforms; that girls with long hair must wear pony tails; that there were no dangling earrings allowed, nor make up; that absolutely no one could have food or drinks in the classroom; that the rooms must be kept spotless for the caretakers to clean. I was able to follow what she was saying with some help from the Grade 6 teacher. She ended up yelling to (at) the students ¨Ingles ! Ingles ! Solo Ingles !!¨ I didn´t need a translation, but I did need to turn away because I was laughing so hard.  Did I mention that the newly hired Academic Director of this English speaking school only speaks Spanish ?

I have visions of Humphrey Bogart twirling the ball bearings in The Caine Mutiny.

¨Prepare to be annoyed  amused !! -  right Bree ?

I´ve got to start thinking like a Bolivian, and maybe it all will make sense.

To everyone at Essex and other public schools - I hope you have a great March break, next week. I know it will be well deserved !

And to everyone - I hope the never-ending winter is coming to an end !!  Have hope !        I will miss bicycle riding through Mt. Pleasant cemetery as the spring blossoms begin to appear. It won´t be long now.

Keep the mail coming. I look forward to hearing from you and do answer pretty quickly !