September 27th-30th

Hello again!

I’ve decided instead of blogging/journaling everyday that it’s more efficient to group a few days together and tell you about them in one post.

I had a really awesome weekend here in Cochabamba with some friends that Lydia met on a “Couch Surfing” website. Friday evening we went to a museum called “La Troje” and it was free! Friday the 27^th was actually “Free Admission” day to any museum in Cochabamba which we only found out late in the day and didn’t think we would get to take advantage of so it’s great that we did! It was all in Spanish, so I didn’t get to take in everything but what I did take in was very interesting. They had ancient chairs, portraits, books and a variety of different devices that humans used years ago here in Cochabamba. Following the tour there was a traditional Bolivian dance and a gentlemen handed us two leaves and told us that we could make two wishes, and project all our positive into these wishes, then put them into the fire and that they would come true as we were sending our love to Pachamama, which I explain further down, don't worry! The group we were with decided that we would head to a “Beer Bar” after which was also really exciting. I met some very interesting people from all over the world, including a French lady and her brother who are also here in Cochabamba working on an internship.

Here is Lydia, Danila and I outside the pub! and some pictures from the museum

The "Leaf" Wishes

Traditional Dance!

 

 

Saturday the 28^th was another AWESOME day for us! Around 3 P.M Lydia and I met with our new friends Juan and Danila and started our journey to Punata, a town about an hour away. Once we arrived the town was bustling with people everywhere, locals selling an abundance of different pastries, fruit juices, souvenirs, and some prepared meats. The parade was the highlight of the day, and was really unlike anything I have ever seen before in my 23 years of life.  The streets were packed with on-lookers with smiles on their faces and buckets full of Chicha to share with all of the dancers. "Chicha is a term used in some regions of South and Central America for several varieties of fermented and non-fermented beverage many derived from maize, and similar non-alcoholic beverages. Chicha can also be made from manioc root (also called Yuca or cassava), grape, apple or various other fruits." Big thanks to Wikipedia as that's much better than what I could have explained! My explanation would be as follows “ Chicha is a strange liquid that’s served in buckets, drank from a coconut shell that tastes similar to a combination of beer and red wine" it was so cool to try it. Juan bought us a pitcher of it, and as the parade went on, we were given a few different variations from locals who were interested in sharing with us Gringa’s. The most interesting thing about Chicha for me was how much of a part of the culture it is in Bolivia. We learned that when someone offers it to you, it is considered very rude to refuse, so we ended up drinking QUITE a bit, but some wasn’t with alcohol so that helped.  Pachamama which translates directly to “Mother World” but means “Mother Nature” is considered a "good mother" and people usually toast to her honour before every meeting or festivity, in some regions by spilling a small amount of Chicha on the floor, before drinking the rest. This toast is called “Challa” and it is made almost every day.  This happened every time anyone had a drink at the parade, and it was really interesting to see something that is such a strong piece of the culture here. Pachamama has a special worship day called Martes de challa (Challa's Tuesday), when people bury food, throw candies, and burn incense. In some cases, celebrants assist traditional priests in performing ancient rituals to bring good luck or the good will of the goddess, such as sacrificing guinea pigs or burning llama foetuses (although this is no longer common, thank goodness for me!)

 

Pouring some Chicha for Pachamama!

A lovely Cholita who kindly offered us some Chicha

 

Giving it a try!

 

 We stayed and watched the parade for a little over 2 hours, and I am so thankful that we were able to be a part of this. Not only were we able to watch all the excited and talented dancers, but at one point some of the beautiful dancers invited us to join in the parade and dance with them, even play some of the instruments that they had! It was an experience I will certainly never forget.

 Young Dancers! So cool

They let me try on their hat!

Part of the parade

 

My lovely dance partner!

Another thing I without a doubt will never forget is the dead Llama that some of parade participants carried around and a few locals posed to take pictures with. I’m quite an animal activist so this was a bit of a shock, but I do understand this is a part of their culture and that Llamas have been sacrificed to Pachamama for thousands of years. I tried to find out if this Llama was killed for the parade or had already been dead, but my attempts were unsuccessful. Please don’t chew my head off! I’m new to this and slowly getting used to how things work, as it’s quite different in Canada. The aspect of animals is something that is taking me awhile to get used to, and I think that’s normal. The stray dogs here are absolutely everywhere, I’ve walked by dead dogs on the streets, dogs without limbs, and dogs that just look absolutely starved. It is painful for me as this is not something you see in Halifax, and I want to help them all but do not have the means.  It is impossible to deal with an animal issue when a country is struggling to feed all the human mouths, and that is something I am really starting to understand. I can only hope that the work I do here will in some ways help those who are suffering and give progress and change to this wonderful country and it's people. Big dreams I suppose!


Overall I had a really incredible and eye opening weekend, and I am happy that I am starting to settle in and feel comfortable here. I knew it would take time, which is why I never gave up and pushed through the bad days. It’s easy to have hard times and throw in the towel, but that’s not what I’m about to do. This experience will help me grow as both a woman and a humanitarian and I truly look forward to those changes. Starting a new work week today and looking forward to finishing our presentation that is due by the start of next week. I will write more on this soon! Thanks for reading everyone J