One week down

Just finished my first full week here in Bolivia!

Things with my host family are going well. I've successfully broken the ice with my host mom by means of several instances of miscommunication that she thought were hilarious. The first was when I finally asked, after five days of scalding showers, if there was a way to turn down the hot water heater in the third floor bathroom. Apparently there is a special pump for cold water that you have to turn on two floors below. The second occurred when I forgot my key when leaving to go to my organization's main building for dinner. After the meal, I called home to make sure that people were up so that I didn't get stranded in the street when I made it back. My mom picked up, asked who was calling, to which I responded "Cameron." This, however, was interpreted as me asking to speak with Cameron, resulting in a minute of me listening through the phone as my mom looked for me throughout house while calling out my name. It wasn't until she decided I wasn't anywhere to be found and got back on the phone to let me know that I wasn't in her house that we were able to sort the confusion out. She found both situations very entertaining, and has since been very interested every time I go to the other house and asks who I'm going to see since, as she says, "her son cannot be messing around with any ugly girls." I've taken it as sign she's taken ownership of me.

The best part of my new room is that it is covered in trophies. My host brother, who has since moved out and has started a family, is very good at something, though I'm not exactly sure what it is yet. Some of the trophies are from playing pool, but the rest are a little more vague as to what skill they're commending. I know they have something to do with cars, since some of them have little golden wheels on the top, and some say "audio-tuning." So, maybe he's gotten prizes for installing stereos really well, which apparently is something you can compete in. A lot of them also say he's part of "auto-tuning" in the "Hotwheel Club," which to me just means those little toy cars. I probably should just ask if I really want to know, but at this point I like the idea that his special skill to be installing stereos in toy race cars and so may just end up going with that.

From Bolivia Blog

From Bolivia Blog

My internship has been going well; I've just been researching what I'm supposed to be writing about and will start talking with the staff regarding how my article will be structured this coming week. Meanwhile, since I'm only working mornings, I have these wonderful lazy afternoons to kill. Thus far, I've been reading for pleasure, for what feels like the first time college started, and running on this bike track that goes around the outside of the city. It's really nice to avoid traffic, except I get chased by little dogs with some frequency. They will, however, usually leave you alone easily enough if you pretend you're throwing rocks at them, which I'm sure is an entertaining spectacle for passersby. There is also the unfortunate occurrence of people pooping on the bike track, which isn't very pleasant just because it's sad and super awkward to run by (which has already happened twice). We'll see if I end up preferring to run on the street if the dogs and the pooping become a little too much.

Espero que todos se encuentren bien,

Cameron