Sweet Summertime!!

I forgot all of my english thats why I didn’t post.  Just kidding. I still know english and I still don’t know spanish. But anyways school has ended.  Summer vacation is pretty awesome, I don’t really do anything crazy out of the ordinary. The plaza has become the hang out place for the exchangers.  Even if we have no intentions of going to the plaza when the day starts we always end up there.  It’s always a fun time there though, it almost always involves eating.  I have found my favorite restaurant, Picolos, it’s basically like a Denny’s except it has orange and green chairs and the ice cream is 10x bigger and way cheaper, also some ice creams they serve in pineapples.  Sometimes we get really great ideas when we are in the plaza like shotgunning sodas or drinking an entire liter of chocolate milk.  Shotgunning sodas was fun but ended up rather messy. Drinking a liter of chocolate milk was just a bad idea in general, I would not recommend it.  

I feel like a walrus I’v got a nice layer of blubber now.  I could probably go for a swim in Arctic waters and not get cold.  Unfortunately its really hot here so I have no use for my blubber layer.  I go to the gym a little bit and I run a little bit, but I’m pretty lazy so physical activity is minimal.  (the heat zaps my energy, its not my fault that I don’t want to move!) 

I hope to start some cooking classes soon. I also hope to see Ericka Rivero play tennis soon!!! 

Rotary Trip

         We woke up early on Friday and all the foreign exchange students loaded the bus and headed off to San Javier.  Four hours later we stopped for lunch at a little restaurant and then got back onto the bus and went to the church of San Javier a few mins away. It was really pretty and it had 80% original paint.   It only took 4 years to build and was finished in 1752.  One cool fact about this church is that the bells in the bell tour are only rung when people form the town die.  Good thing that we are all really smart exchange students and didn't attempt to ring them......  We also went to the music school there and some of the students there preformed for us.  We hung out there for a while and walked around the plaza then headed off to Las Piedras del Paquio.  It was absolutely beautiful and there were buffalos so of course I bought buffalo cheese.  We were able to swim in the lagoon and eat some ice-cream before heading off to our final destination.  We finally arrived in Concepcion just in time for dinner.  We ate and chilled in the plaza for a little bit then headed out to a karaoke bar.  All and all fun day. 

Saturday we got a to sleep in a little bit, by a little bit I mean 8, then we headed out to a small town called Candelaria. Once we got there we went on an “Orchid Walk.”  There were not very many orchids because the land there was so dry but there were a few and I can now say that I have seen orchids growing in the wild! The hike was a lot of fun, there were twists and turns and tunnels and tons of great views.  After the walk we went back to the town for lunch.  We then went to another small town, I think it was called Limoncito, for the orchid festival.  There was music and some of the little kids preformed dances.  There was also a competition like thing with a large oiled pole and people tried to climb it and if they got to the top they got a prize!! Its kind of a Mulan moment for me. We were really lucky because we got there early enough to see the guys struggle to set up the pole (I thought it was quite comical). After eating again we festival hopped and went back to Concepcion to see the music performances there.  And of course shop in the market.  We went to an orchid store and dinner then hit the hay.

Last day. We got up early and had breakfast and then went to a woodcarving shop.  What do you know...we got to carve wood.  Yet again my artistic talents failed me, but it was still very fun and I got out of it with minimal injuries!! We boarded the bus and made our way back to Santa Cruz stopping briefly in San Javier again for lunch! It was a fantastic trip.  I enjoyed getting out of the city and seeing the cows and the smaller town life, eating traditional foods and meeting all the exchangers. Can’t wait for the trip around Bolivia!!!! 

Performers at the San Javier School of Music

San Javier Church

Las piedras del paquio

Orchid Walk

Local Children

The Mulan Pole

Dancers 

Festivities

September 21st is the day of students, friendship, spring, love, doctors, and world peace. I think.. i’m not 100% sure.  School ended at 12 and there was a celebration. it was more or less a pep-rally.  There were clowns that preformed and a guy who gave us candy and a band that played traditional music.  I again attempted (and failed) to dance.  And to top it all off the school gave us ice cream and cake =) So for not really knowing what was going on it was a fun day! 

September 24th

I know that it is an important day but, again, I don’t really know whats going on. From what I have gathered September 24th is an important day for Santa Cruz because it is the anniversary of the people of Santa Cruz de la Sierra standing up to the Spanish in battle for the first time.  And I believe that we had a “parade” for it in school on thursday.  Some students preformed dances, and then each grade marched down the street in front of the school.  And then friday we didn’t have school. =)  

La Feria 

Once a year Santa Cruz hosts the Feria. It a really big event and it lasts 10 days.  I think its an exposition. They sell everything there...literally everything from cars to dentist chairs. Theres food and clubs and games and everything.  Everyone goes. There are a TON of people there.  I went twice. The first time I went we just walked around for a while and ate.  The second time we went to a club called free cola. It was so crowded.  I got so scared because there were so many people.  There was wayyy too much human contact for my liking.  Many people really enjoy the fair here, I don’t understand why, I didn’t think it was that special.  

And most importantly- the 24th was Juan Pablo's birthday!!!!!!! 

The view from my window =) 

There was a rotary gala in place of the meetings that we normally have.  At first it was super boring and I thought that it was going to be just like all of the other meetings but, Surprise,  traditional Santa Cruz music started playing and there were dancers, and glitter, the whole nine yards. The dancers were fantastic! After they had finished their number they brought everyone out onto the dance floor.  Several people tried to teach me how to dance but they failed.  I was the American with two left feet. None the less I had a blast attempting to dance.  It was an outstanding evening.

Other Fun Things

~I have found soy!!!! Yay.. not that I don’t like to eat baby cows but.. Soy is better. The soy here is not as good as Morningstar but it works.  I will still eat meat but now I can just eat less =) All the food here is fantastic.  The ice cream is amazing. A few days ago I had coconut and nutella gelato and it was creamy and delicious.  Tonight I went to “Dumbos” with a few friends and I had the best chocolate sunday ever! The worst thing about the food in Santa Cruz is there is a limited supply of chocolate.  It does not seem like chocolate is as popular here as it is in the U.S.

~I went to the Plaza tonight. It was very fun.  We didn’t do much there, just wandered and ate. It seems like there is always something going on.  Tonight there was a protest, and there were several bands/orchestras playing, its always so lively and populated.  

~It’s really hot here.  I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing yet but I feel like I’m going to miss the snow.  It was at least 86 degrees here the other day and today must be close to that too and its only spring.  

~There was a rotary event last Sunday and there was an indoor soccer “tournament” (there were only 2 teams so we only played one game) My team won! We won a trophy and medals! 

I took my first taxi the other day! Fun and exciting stuff.  Not going to lie I was really scared to take a taxi, Bloomfield did not prepare me for that, but I survived so I call that a success. Besides learning how to take/find a safe taxi I also learned how to get past security at my house.  The first time was a little bit rough.  I live in a condominium and as I found out there is a good security system. There is a large wall around my building and the only way to get in is through the gate in the front of the building. During the day this gate is open but at night they close it. One of my friends parents dropped me off at my home after the movies.  I get out of the car and I wasn’t positive how to get in. So I go up to the person at the gate and they ask me what apartment I’m going to and what family, so I tell her.  Then she starts to call the apartment, I thought that it was a little bit strange but I didn’t know the normal process so I went along with it.  She then said that no one was answering (my host parents went out) so she said that she would send a security guard up there to check it out.  At this point I was pretty sure that it wasn’t normal but I didn’t know what to do so I stood there awkwardly now knowing what to do. Finally, after a few mins of waiting the friend that dropped me off came over and straightened things out.  I still don’t know what happened there but now security knows me so I don’t have a problem. I feel like knowing how to get past security and being able to take a taxi has given me more freedom and has helped me settle in. 

Cochabamba 

Santa Cruz

This is how foggy/ smokey it can get.