Prohibido Orinar En Este Lugar

Translation: Peeing prohibited here (From a sign in the park)


Who We Are

We are B46, the 46th group serving in Bolivia. We are comprised of 21 people- two married couples (one young and one older) and the rest singletons pretty recently out of college. I guess it was pretty much what I expected as far as demographics. There are two major life stages in which you can ditch what you have in the States and venture off into the unknown. One is right after college, or before “real life” begins, and the other is at retirement, or when “living life” begins.

I must admit I was a little nervous walking into the room in DC where I met my colleagues for the first time. I didn’t know if I had become too corporate without realizing it. They asked us to dress business casual and I didn’t want to be overdressed and therefore pegged with the yuppie label amongst a world of hippies. Fortunately for me, it was a surprisingly normal looking group of people. The Peace Corps hippie stereotype is woefully out of date. As for the Peace Corps “look” though- that only took about two weeks to get. Now when I look at the group, especially the males, it is obvious that many have gone without showers for several days, scruffy beards, hair still matted from sleep, and just an overall scraggly look. However, this is what passes as “business casual” in the Peace Corps. As long as you don’t have on flip flops, you are dressed as business casual. Hiking boots included.

Family

I live with a very nice family, rather well-off compared to the rest of the community. My host mother (if she can really be termed my “mother”, as she is only two years older than me) has two children, a little boy of three years and a daughter of six. She was extremely poor as a child, no money for shoes, for food, for schooling or anything else. Her father left the family when she was about three years old, just one week after the birth of her youngest brother. She did not get to attend college because her mother could not afford to pay for it. However she married a long-time family friend almost 10 years her senior and they worked hard to make a living. They now have a new house with an oven, a fridge, a shower, and a toilet. That’s living it rich.


Facilities, cont.

Many of you found my family interview to be rather humorous. Facilities before family, terrible I know. Even more terrible when I find that just because you have a shower doesn’t mean you can take one. We have had no water coming to the house for the last four days. I am reaching my limit as to what I can take. My head itches.

Safety

There are certainly horror stories associated with service in the Peace Corps. Stories of rape, abduction, murder, etc. Though they are rare, they do happen. Bolivia is unique in that it is the only country in which a volunteer has just completely disappeared. It happened back in 2001, when a volunteer went to the capital of La Paz and was never heard from again. They are still continuing the search for Wally and this week brought in search dogs that are again searching the La Paz region.
As such, Peace Corps Bolivia has implemented increased safety regulations, including a 10:00 curfew for the first three weeks of training, and moved to midnight thereafter assuming we are on our best behavior. My class is the first class to have the restriction imposed, but I guess we don’t worry nearly as much. We have numerous safety classes trying to scare us to death, but I have only taken away two major lessons:

Lesson #1: The Rock Fake Out

Dogs roam around everywhere. They are not pets- they are guard dogs. They bite. They may have rabies. But the one good thing is Bolivian dogs are afraid of rocks. And so, when a menacing canine is headed your way, bend down, pretend like you a picking up a rock to hurl at it, and it will suddenly sprint in the other direction. As many of you know, I am scared of dogs. I freeze and scream when they run at me and can´t think fast enough to look for a rock. Therefore, lesson learned. Walk around with a pocket full of rocks.

A sidenote- someone fed the dog at my house poison and it died. The next day my host mom bought one from the woman roaming up and down the street selling puppies. It cost her 20Bs, or $2.50.

Lesson #2: The Tuck and Roll

There are many forms of public transportation here in Bolivia. One is a bus that takes a predetermined route. This is called a trufi. Then there is a shared taxi that takes a predetermined route. This is the taxi-trufi. Then of course there is the taxi, and then on top of that the radio taxi, which you phone for ahead of time and it comes to pick you up. A secure option but takes some time. All are considered pretty safe except for the taxi. So if you are ever in a situation where you took a taxi against your better judgment, you begin to get a bad feeling in your gut which is then confirmed when the driver won’t pull over to let you out, you do the tuck and roll. Tuck, and roll the heck out of the taxi.


Please do not let either of these scenarios scare you. I have been vaccinated against rabies and I plan to use a radio taxi for all of my late night transportation needs.


Health

I”ve heard that you will never be healthier than the two years you spend in the Peace Corps. I can certainly see how this is true. We take vitamins, we get shots, we receive a first aid kit with a miracle known as Pepto Bismol. We get to do a #1 and #2 in a little plastic cup when we get sick, and then get to take our little bundle of happiness in a brown bag on an hour long bus ride to the lab where they analyze the aforementioned liquids, and I do mean liquids, to determine whether we have amoebas, parasites, or just a bad case of food poisoning. We’ve learned the difference between diarrhea and dysentery, and what exactly things must look like and how long it has to go on before we can technically say that we have either.

I, luckily, have not had anything more than a mildly upset stomach. My bout with food poisoning that landed me in the ER in Vietnam could have led to irritable bowel syndrome, where my stomach would be even weaker than it was before. Instead, my body decided to take the other route. I have now eaten hamburgers, dumplings and ice cream off the streets, against the advice of the medical office, and have lived to tell the tale.

On Wednesdays we get shots, sometimes up to four at one time. Some leave your arm quite sore and results in a lot of yelling when someone inadvertently gives a friendly punch in the recently vaccinated area. I have received 2-3 vaccinations each week since I’ve gotten here. I don’t even know anymore what I am getting. I don’t know if all these vaccines will really keep me safe… I think a better idea is to give all Bolivian men a shot against yellow fever!