Keys to Surviving in Bolivia

Buenos Noches!!

I hope you are all doing well. There are several things that I have learned about surviving in Bolivia over these past few days. Some of these things are for health reasons and some are for safety reasons and some are just for fun.

Here is what I have learned:

- Never throw toilet paper in the toilet. You always put it in a trash can next to the toilet. It seems a little gross, but that is what they do here!

- Do not drink the water from the tap. Only use purified water. This includes brushing your teeth!

- When greeting Bolivians, you need to shake their hands and kiss their cheek.

- Crossing the street is not as easy at it sounds. Cars do not stop for you.

- People do not wear seat belts.

- You can fit 7 people on a 4 person cab.

- Never eat off the street... unless you want to get typhoid.

- You can buy DVD's for 10 cents

- There are many forms of public transport.

- Bolivians appreciate any Spanish that you can speak.

- We can get cable here, which is fun!

- I need to get use to being called Miss Miss, by my students. They rarely say your last name!

- There are not as many resources to use here, so creativity is a must.

These are some of the things that I have learned and I am sure there will be more to come!

I am enjoying my class. They are very energetic and chatty, but it will be fun.

I feel like I am starting to get into some sort of routine and I am enjoying being here.

For now..... Adios! - Rachel

Buenos Dias de Bolivia

Buenos Tardes!!

Well we made it safely to Bolivia last night! We were met at the airport by a conglomerate of people from the school which was nice, but pretty overwhelming for the first couple of minutes in Bolivia.

We met our two roommates at the airport. One of our roommates name is Julie, she is a fellow teacher at the school and is from Canada. Our other roommates name is Hadit and she is Bolivian and is taking classes at the University.

After being greeted at the airport, we headed to our home where we found our new rooms, the house dog Dulce, and got to know more about our roommates.

After hanging out, we went to a friends house for dinner. We had a delicious Bolivian Meal and it was fun to begin to meet people.

Today we went to a Market to get some fruits, vegetables and some other household items. The market was full of so many beautiful colors, a lot of different meat, lots of flowers, and a lot of different fruits an vegetables. Also from the market you could see the Magnificent Andes Mountains, which are so neat. We could see them as we flew into Cochabamba and we were in awe.

After the Market we came back and helped cut up some Zanahorias( carrots) for a soup we were going to have for lunch. It was a very delicious.

Tomorrow we will be going to church and after we will learn how to make another Bolivian dish!!

So far things are going well and I think I am going to like it here!

So for now, Adios! - Rachel

Visa Approved!

Buenos Dias!

So today I got the call that I have been waiting for, for a couple of weeks now! The Embassy approved our visas and we will be leaving for Bolivia next Thursday!

It is so surreal to think that this is really happening. We have been waiting to hear about this approval for a long time and now it is here. We will be leaving from Boston next Thursday afternoon, have a 5 hour layover, travel overnight to La Paz and then continue onto Santa Cruz. After we reach Santa Cruz we will have to fly to Cochabamba where our journey will be done. It is going to be a long day and a half of traveling, but it will be so worth it in the end.

I am excited to finally meet all these people I have been in communication with these past few months, to see what Bolivia is like, to meet my students and for all the experiences that we will have!

This last week will be spent hanging out with friends, going to a wedding, and finishing packing!

I will keep you updated on everything as we find out more!

Adios!! - Rachel

Update on Bolivia

Buenos Dias!!

It has been awhile since I last wrote. I was waiting to write because I was hoping I could tell you a leave date and some good news. However, that good news has not come in yet.

We have been having some bad luck with our Visa's. We were hoping we would have our Visa's and would be able to leave for Bolivia last week. However about two weeks ago we heard that the Bolivian Embassy wanted more documentation in order for them to approve our Visa's. It seems like every time we give them new documentation they say that they want another document. Today we got some more news that the embassy wanted another letter in Spanish that needs to be sent to the State Department of North Carolina and then the State Department in Washington before it can go back to the Embassy. This process can take up to a week or more. So we still do not know when we are leaving or how long this process is going to take.

So we are missing Orientation this week and will most likely miss the first day of school next week :(

Hopefully within the next few weeks we will have some good information and we can get to Bolivia before the end of the month!

So for now...

Adios!! - Rachel