Twenty-Fun (21)

So much has happened since I last posted. I turned 21 in a foreign country, bought an alpaca sweater, saw Cholita wrestling, ate lots of humintas, biked the death road in Coroico and saw monkeys!

Here in Bolivia, May 1st is international workers day. Kids have school off and many adults have work off. So on my birthday I didn’t go to Virgen Niña or have Spanish class. I slept in, had salteñas and maracuya (passion fruit) juice for brunch and went on a nice walk to show Elisa around the city. We walked to the witches market where I bought myself a birthday gift- an alpaca fur sweater which women here sell in countless colors and patterns. We had a little celebration at home in the afternoon with Olga, Clark, his Bolivian friend Carola, Elisa and me. Carola was very sweet and gave me a Ceibo dark chocolate bar, a Bolivian brand of chocolate that I love. We enjoyed tacos with fresh guacamole and finished with quinoa cake. Everyone sang happy birthday in English and then Spanish. I was told to make 3 wishes. Right after I blew out the candle, Olga pushed my face into the cake! Elisa had warned me about this Latin American tradition but I forgot in the moment and was caught by surprise. We danced a little salsa to end the party. At night, Elisa and I went to a little pub that looked like a train inside called Diesel Nacional where I ordered a margarita. I felt like I needed to order a drink on my 21st :)

Enjoying my margarita on my 21st in my new sweater (chompa)

Last week I spent time in physical therapy and a classroom with kids with autism. I love getting to see the same kids and learning about the different physical therapy exercises for kids with cerebral palsy, autism and other disabilities. I have also befriended the PT residents and get to practice my Spanish with them each day. I attended a conference on HIV at a nearby hospital with Elisa and one of the doctors that helps run our program. I learned that the greatest number of reported HIV cases in El Alto were people ages 15 to 24. This is not surprising considering the high prevalence of adolescent pregnancies in El Alto. It is now the norm for pregnant women to get tested for HIV but there is still a huge gap in terms of testing men, who have positive tests more frequently than women in El Alto.

Api with a little pastry with cheese.
But now I prefer my api with a huminta

Elisa introduced me to one of my new favorite things to eat here: humintas. To my understanding, humintas are made of corn, cheese, butter, sugar and anise, wrapped in a corn husk and either steamed or baked. I also have been ordering api, a warm drink made from purple corn, lemon, cinnamon sugar and water. It’s the best warm night time meal. We also went and watched cholita wrestling last week. A cholita is the name for indigenous Aymaran and Quechuan women. They dress traditionally in multilayered skirts (la pollera), a shawl (la manta) and a bowler hat. Years ago, the women started a wrestling show as a feminist movement to show that they had strength and the ability to make a living without men, who were historically abusive to the cholita women. The show is all pre rehearsed and planned out. No one gets hurt even though it seemed like it would hurt to get flipped over onto the mat! The show was entertaining and the cholitas were talented actresses and wrestlers.

This weekend Elisa and I went to Coroico in the Yungas. It is located about 2-3 hours away from La Paz.  To get there, we took a packed minibus Saturday morning. We stayed at Hostel Chawi, with a beautiful garden and terrace that had a view of the mountains. We were definitely the only guests which allowed us to have the bathrooms and terrace to ourselves. For lunch we ate at Carla’s Garden Pub, popular among tourists for its cold beers, hammocks, WiFi and good food. I enjoyed my Haurni beer with honey and a savory crepe while we listened to a traveling artist from Colombia sing a Beatles' song for us. After lunch we took a bus to one of the waterfalls. Some Bolivians chose to swim in the water but we opted out, not knowing what kind of bugs or bacteria we would be exposed to. Next we explored the town a little and went on a walk to Villa Bonita, a cute little spot where we had some ice cream. We continued down the path taking in the views, seeing various butterflies, birds, beautiful vacation homes and resorts with pools. Because of its tropical climate and proximity to La Paz, Coroico is a popular vacation spot among city dwelling Bolivians. Eventually we turned back because we were confronted by an aggressive dog and didn’t want to be attacked. Elisa prefers cats so she was pretty freaked out. I was too but I had my rock in hand in case he advanced. We escaped him and walked back to town where we ate pizza for dinner at a tiny Italian restaurant. We chatted with one of the owners, Daniel, and watched the hummingbird that had made a home in the light fixture that resembled a birds nest.

Taken from our terrace. On the right is the city of Coroico.

The view from the doorway of our room

Another picture of the gorgeous view from our terrace

Part of Hostel Chawi

The cool walkway down to Carla's Garden Pub

Happy jenny because she has her beer with honey

Elisa and I in front of Cascada la Jalancha 

Villa Bonita-super cute and colorful, plus yummy ice cream

Obligatory selfie on our walk

Some friendly dogs in the sun (not the one that almost attacked us)

One of the many beautiful resorts that we saw on our walk

Day 2 in Coroico I biked down La Calle del Muerte while my guide, Victor, drove behind me. Being the only one on the tour had its perks. I went at my own pace and Victor stopped whenever I needed a rest or wanted to take a photo. I loved seeing the waterfalls on the way down. The views were nice too but were diminished by the heavy fog. I don't think I had the best type of bike for how bumpy the path was so by the end my arms and hands were screaming with pain from vibrations through the handles. Victor dropped me off at Sende Verde, a animal refuge center, where Elisa and I got a tour in Spanish. We saw tons of animals but my favorites were the capybara, the coati, the toucans and the monkeys. What was unique was that the monkeys were outside of the cages, allowed to roam free but stayed in the area for the food and companionship with the other monkeys. Meanwhile we, the humans, were in cages watching them. After an hour at the center, we took a minibus home during which I was fairly stressed due to the combined risks: darkness, fog, stick shift van, narrow roads, and sketchy drivers.

 This was taken while I sat in the main plaza, where local kids were running around
playing the night before. In the morning things were more quiet.

Ready to take on Death Road

I passed tons of waterfalls on the way down

When I finally got out of the fog and saw the view on my bike ride

Capy the capybara and her buddy Bambi the deer

This coati climbed into this man's lap!

Obviously, this is a toucan. My favorite bird :)

A tapir-- weird looking animal

A curious little howler monkey

Walking through the human cage

This weekend 3 new undergraduate students arrived from University of Georgia. Elisa and I showed them around El Mercado de las Brujas yesterday afternoon. I am in the middle of my last week here in La Paz. I am spending my mornings in Virgen Niña, splitting my time between physical therapy and the classroom. I love the kids and the staff at this center and will be sad to leave. At the same time, I am looking forward to moving to Tarija, a much smaller and warmer town in the south of Bolivia. My house mom now, Olga, is originally from Tarija and keeps telling me they have great wine.

Thank you for reading and as usual I would love to read comments and questions :)