Right now I’m wearing wool socks, fleece pants, long underwear, a long-sleeve shirt, a jacket, gloves, and a wool hat. It’s freezing. I don’t get it, just a few days ago it was burning hot and now I can’t even feel my legs I’m so cold! I guess winter has officially begun. It’s kind of fun to snuggle in my bed and read, but doing anything else is just too much!! Seriously, it’s freezing here. Well, at least it feels like it. I have no idea what the actual temperature is.
This past week I was in Santa Cruz going to the bank and picking up supplies, and got caught in a nice, spooky storm. It rained and thundered (there was probably lightening too, but I can’t see much out of the hostal windows) for a day and a half, which meant that the day I was planning on doing all my shopping I stayed inside and watched horrible Bolivian tv in my hostal room instead. I didn’t bring a rain jacket or umbrella because it’s normally a sauna up there, and going out in that would have meant certain death (or at least hours of cold, wet discomfort. Same thing, right?). Now that I’m back in Charagua I thought it would have rained and stormed here as well, but everything is dry as a bone. Cold and hell, but dry.
But the good thing about my Santa Cruz visit was that I got to meet the new director for Peace Corps Bolivia. I can’t remember her name, but she’s a she, was the previous director of Georgia, and apparently knows her stuff. I’ve heard lots of different things about her, but as of now don’t have any opinion one way or another because I haven’t seen her in action. Another cool thing was that Chris Dodd, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Connecticut, came to Santa Cruz to talk to some volunteers (he only talked to 10 or so volunteers, and it was by invitation only, and when they were doing the invites, I wasn’t a volunteer yet, so I missed out). Apparently he was a volunteer in the Dominican Republic back in the day, and wanted to talk to some fellow volunteers on his way to a big meeting in Buenos Aires. So, even though I didn’t go, I got to talk to some people who did and they said it was pretty interesting.
And more exciting news: I might have a doggy. His name is Oso, he’s a huge, skinny, 5 year old gray/brownish/spotted hunk of burning love. He’s the sweetest dog in the world and doesn’t have a home anymore. He was Ben’s owner’s dog, but that dude is on his death bed in Santa Cruz (it’s really a shame), and his whole family moved up to Santa Cruz as well. So for the past month no one has been around the feed Oso, nor have they sent anyone else to. Poor Oso!! He’s literally been starving. Ben has been feeding him, but now that he has to move, I’ve decided Oso is going to live with me. I already asked the dying guy’s wife (who came back for a day to pick up some last items from the house) if I could adopt Oso, and she basically said “whatever, if you want to that would be nice.” So Oso’s been living with me for the last couple weeks. I still haven’t asked my land lady, but I plan on doing that today. I think it should be fine, though, since the girl who lived here before me had a dog. Plus, Oso is absolutely adorable, sweeter than any other dog in the world, and just lays around all day like an old man. He’s harmless. I just need to wash him. As soon as it warms up he’s getting a bath whether he likes it or not!!
So that’s about it. Tomorrow’s the big day, my first day at work. The only catch is that I have no idea what it is I’ll be doing, but I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be fun. Hope you’re all doing well and keeping warm (you lucky dogs and spring time!!)!