fish out of water

me, courtesy of sara, with the little flower thing someone pinned on me while i was at church, kind of invading my privacy while pinning it. it is a recuerdo for the ward conference we had today. so festive!

sara and the cookies we made.

old houses

three emilys. everywhere i go, there are emilys making the world a better place.

the update:

i may or may not have made a fool of myself on the dance floor, i did win a dance contest though. i can´t really predict how it happens, but sometimes the stars align, my embarrassement flies out the window, and i am a dancing machine. i even learned some andean dance steps. my best moves were with the 1950`s rock and roll remixes in spanish, i had moves some of these people had never seen before. at one point i had everyone in the church gym (it was a ward family dance) looking at me and cheering. it is so weird to be here, i am completely out of my element, i feel like i am living a movie sometimes.

before i left provo to go to boise, i went to a latin dance party with chelsea, i was reminded that latin culture is all about gender roles, and that i needed to bring all my busty feminine shirts with me, because the women dress ultra feminine. i didn`t want to be that ugly white foreign girl among all these sizzling latin beauties, but if i continue these outfits in the US when i get back, i will be dressed like i´m from the late nineties.

speaking of being the white girl: walking down the street this morning a man sitting under teh shade of a tree said to me, `eres muy bonita madrecita,`another guy on a motorcycle yells `belleza.` cars are always honking at me. because i´m always dressed in some dowdy shirt and my hair is really frizzy from the climate, it must be for the white skin. anyway, i´d be lying if i said the attention really bothered me. this was a weird one though: in sunday school, the stake president was teaching the lesson, talking about saul and samuel, i was sitting quietly on the pew, he asked me to stand up in front of everyone, then he asked me if my other brothers and sisters had skin whiter than mine, and if they were blonder. i thought about lauren, sarah, and my mom, who are the strawberry blondes in the family, i responded yes, there are some people whiter than i am. then he asked me to sit down. i am not sure what that had to do with samuel, but that would never happen in the US. you would not pick on the only person who is different, the only person in a wheel chair, the only black person present, the only person who is divorced, have them stand up in front of everyone and ask them a question about their differences...just a thought. :)

in a nutshell, it has been a good week. the family i am staying with is fabulous. hna. sonia watches over me like a mother bird. before leaving for church today she offered me five different shades of lipstick and a bottle of perfume. she makes sure i get enought to eat and that my glass is full of coca cola, she explains the conversations that happen around me. i´ve gone from one `mommy creek`to another it seems. lauren and i call my parents subdivision, which is actually called hobble creek, mommy creek, because when we go there we do `mommy` activities. we hang out with mothers and spend our time with small children. i have been doing the same thing here: winning dance competitions with the moms, playing with kids, giving out gum and fruitsnacks, making cookies, attending seminary with the young women, and talking to old women about their businesses. it isn´t bad, just different from what i was doing before. i feel like i`ve been handling my life rather poorly lately. i´ve been in a life crisis- graduating and moving away from provo was difficult, i don´t like change, i don´t like doing things i´m not good at, i don´t like being alone, i don´t know if i will get a good job, and i don´t like being in debt. bolivia has been a good challenge for me.

on the plane ride from miami to la paz, my flight went through the night and into the early morning when it is still dark outside. the word for this time, between midnight and dawn in spanish is `madrugada.` it reminds me of the english word madrigal, but i don´t know what a madrigal is. anyways, i think i`m in a madrugada of my life right now, the darkest part of night that comes right before a beautiful dawn. i think i´m going to make it after all. :)

mis pensamientos

those first three pictures are for texture´s sake. as one of the elements of art, i´ve got to give homage to that wonderful and rich part of art. there is so much texture, layering, and colorful combinations in this place. it is a principle and elements of design heaven. if only i was a better photographer...

moises and nic watching tv. moises and his mom live in this room, we are neighbors.
here is elder wilson and comp., from pasco washington. so weird and cool to run into each other here in montero.

it dawned on me, finally, this little gem of understanding: the grand difference between bolivians and americans. get ready for it, you might want to sit down for this. the biggest difference between americans and bolivians, or any latins in general: is that americans hate to wait, and bolivians love it. they love excuses, talking about possibilities and the suggestion of action. i think they derive joy from the creative ways that one can put something off.

this revelation came to me as i ran an errand this afternoon to enlarge a map. all the photocopy places told me they couldn´t do it, that they didn´t have the right kind of machines. being an artsy person myself, who is versed in copy machine methods, i knew this was simply not true. it was suggested that i go buy a larger map, another customer offered to go to his house and retrieve his map and sell to me for 3 bolivianos, and it was suggested that i go to santa cruz where there are machines for this. only after all these suggestions, did the woman at the counter follow my instructions to enlarge the map in parts and then i would tape them together.

this morning, sonia and i went to visit some of the woman who have not been paying their loans back. we heard some incredible excuses: one woman came out with a bright towel swathing her head, hands trembling, coughing, and saying she hadn´t been able to work. another was involved in an elaborate cooking process, unable to go get the money, yet able to come out and tell us this. another woman looked somewhat surprised to see us, sonia told her if she didn´t pay we would have to reclaim the food cart that her loan had purchased. it was agreed that we would bring the woman a jar into which she could put money, little by little saving enough to pay the loan off. walking back to the car i asked sonia how many times she had threatened to reclaim the cart from the woman, sonia replied: 3 times. it had also been 2 years since the woman had taken out the loan

-the good news though is that most of the woman pay back their loans, the visits this morning were not typical. but really, why pay now when you can stave it off, just a bit longer?

This idea was also reinforced when i walked down to the plaza, i was walking down a narrow sidewalk at a typical cadence for me, and saw that a street light was going to change, i tried to hurry up to catch the light so i wouldn´t have to wait to cross. then i looked around at the other people on the street, i had it all wrong. i should walk slow so that i could wait at the light: it´s good to wait at the light. i am programmed all wrong for this place. from that street corner on, i slowed my walking pace, melding into the rhythm of the people on the street: languid. yesterday i saw a sloth in a tree, he moved slowly and deliberately. the only thing worth hurrying for, from what my short time here shows, is meal times. meals are crucial, and i don´t really mind that. with this new understanding, i think i will be fine here in bolivia.

New places, faces.

this is where we bought the meat for luch today.

nic and moises, who live at the house i stay at. i bribe their friendship with candy. we played basketball together at the church yesterday, their family is investigating the church. This is the hallway of the house. my room is on the left, it is built in typical latin style, an open plaza in the middle, rooms all around, and a small gate to that opens to the street.

the pet parrot. he does not like me. i am scared of him any way, so i do not mind.

my room and huge princess bed. i took two naps yesterday. each time i woke up i was incoherent, forgetting where i was, what language to speak. ..etc.

this is nic, he was pictured earlier. he is six. i gave him some gum yesterday and now he has become my ' kick sider ' as ivy would say. he accompanied me to the market today. he likes dogs a lot and prefers soccer to basketball.

bolivia blog

So I'm leaving for Bolivia tomorrow. Good thing I just checked my departure time, I had it all wrong thinking I left in the AM when it's actually around noon. I'm going to blog this baby because it will be easy to turn into a cool book when I'm back. !Viva Bolivia!

btw, I will be near Santa Cruz. More to come!