Friday, March 9,2012

This week we did four days of teaching art, two in Aucapata and two in Cosnipata. Walking to and from Cosnipata was supposed to be a 20 min stroll down and a 30 walk back up. Instead the hike was more than an hour and the going was gently down for three quarters and then very steeply up. Luckily Jim was my mule and carried our stuff. It was all I could do to get there and back. After the first days walk, I said that wouldn´t go to Charaj which is our distant village and billed as two hours gently along with ten or fifteen minutes steeply down.

The teachers all left for LaPaz today for a protest. Last night when the bus came in at four with Amparo, our dentist, people were gathering for the return trip to LaPaz which didn´t leave until 1 AM. There were several benches in a line filled with teachers. I couldn´t believe that they were going to sit there for nine hours before starting a twelve hour bus ride. Juan Carlos, the bus driver, his wife and daughter were at the bus. When I realized that they too were just going to try to sleep and stay warm until 1 AM, I impulsively invited them for supper at 7. After I invited them, I realized that we had limited cutlerly, pots and chairs but we made do. We had a wonderful feast and Amparo could translate so that was a huge help.

Plans here shift daily and the biggest asset is remaining flexible. Ernesto was to have left yesterday but he is still here. Today´s plans of teaching at Charaj are cancelled because there is no school. My plan of having a shower or doing laundry in the kitchen sink is off because we are again without power.

This time in Aucapata has some amazing experiences. The walk to Cosnipata, while difficult for me, is absolutely fantastic along a mountain edge, with a sprinkling of adobe casas here and there. The mists roll in and out, constantly exposing vast vistas then obscuring everything except the immediate path. Occationally people, pigs, mules or dogs walk the other way. The teaching I love. I find I am able to communicate with the kids easily through demonstrations and pantomime. The kids, while shy and worried about making a mistake or wasting materials, have long long attention spans and they love the various projects especially with the new supplies.