Gringita

It´s hot again. This past week was so cold, around 18 degrees celcius. I don´t know what that means in fahrenheit, just that that feels really cold here. It goes from hot and humid to cold so fast here I think that I´m back in Michigan and living with its dramatic weather.

Last weekend I went out to el campo (the country) to visit one of my host uncle´s farms, Las Mil. It´s not very far out of the city, maybe a 1.5 hour drive. We had to ford 4 rivers to get there. I kept laughing because I felt like I was living the Oregon Trail computer game but didn´t even try to explain that to my family. Everything out there was green green green! Las Mil is 1,000 hectares with a dairy and crops and in the latter part of the Andean Ridge. I thought we were surrounded by mountains, but everyone kept calling them hills. Had a few close calls with cows (hey they looked mean and had huge horns) running at us and trying to scramble to the other side of the barbed wire fence. we walked to a river with barely any water but with sand to rival lake michigan´s and played ¨futbol americano.¨ well not really. everyone kept calling it american soccer and it was really like a crazy game of soccer with a football. i think i like this version better.

at night i ¨showered¨ with river water from a bucket, just had to pick out the bugs floating around. i am definitely spoiled with my city life in santa cruz. then i joined the women of the family and was taught how to make rice empanadas. you spread this yuca/rice mixture that looks like mashed potaoes on a banana leaf, put some cheese (that looks like chicken) and onions in the center, and then fold the leaf in half! in the morning they grilled them and they were delicious! turns out i am also a specialty - to the mosquitos. the rare north american, yum. i always wore long pants and bug spray, but my legs looked like i had chicken pox. i was the only one and wow, did they itch like crazy. everyone would tell me no, no don´t scratch, but i confess i do when no one is looking.

on sunday we walked the 3 km to Amboro National Park, a huge forest park with hundreds of different animal and plant species. it was so beautiful, it took my breath away. well that and the uphill hiking in hot humid weather. but for a cool off we went swimming in the river that snakes through the park. my host ¨niece¨ asked me, can you believe you are in bolivia right now in the jungle? i had to answer no, it does not seem real. i can´t believe i´m in the southern tip of the amazon, a place i have learned about my life and never thought i would visit! but one thing that is so hard for me to see is the lack of respect for this amazing part of creation. littering here is second nature, everyone does it without thinking. one girl in our group had a cold and she would drop her tissues on the ground. ah that just kills me!! i see it all the time in the city, but i couldn´t believe people would litter in this beautiful, pristine forest. bah.

i am feeling really comfortable here in santa cruz. just a little too comfortable. thursday, around 7:30pm i was riding the micro 8 to go to volleyball practice. it was an extremely full micro and i remember thinking wow everyone is just all up in my business. the ceiling was really low, so i stood at the front of the micro with my back leaning up against the micro. i was wearing my calvin college drawstring bag and it was tight up against my back. at one point a seat freed up and i gladly sat down. i opened my bag to put in my extra change....and couldn´t find my coin purse......or my cell phone. both were gone. i looked around and all the people that had been crowding me before were off the micro. so i threw a little fit in my seat. the old man sitting next to me put a little more space in between us. the thief must have unzipped my zipper and pulled out my stuff. they work in groups here, so someone was distracting my attention while his/her partner took my things. ahh i´m just mad at being so naive. now i´ll toughen up and always remeber to hold my bag in front of me.