So here's the deal, we're trapped in Santa Cruz. Again. It all started Wednesday when we left Charagua to give a taller (workshop, informational talk, whatever you want to call it) in a little town south of us called Boyuibe. The taller was scheduled for Thursday morning, everything was planned and ready to go, all we had to do was get there. So Wednesday morning we get on the flota and make it to Abapo, where our plan was to get off the flota and take a taxi down south to another town called Camiri, where we would then get out and get on yet another taxi to Boyuibe. Lots of work, yes, but pretty standard. So everything is going well until we learn of a huge blocade along the main highway running from Santa Cruz all the way south. So basically we're sitting on the side of the road in a truck stop town waiting for a taxi that is never going to come because of the blockade. It was unbelievable!! After a 4.5 hour bus ride in the hot hot heat and humidity, we got to sit on the side of a highway for another 2.5 hours sweating to death in the sun! It was awful!! Luckily there were two other couples (one bolivian and one menonite) waiting with us to get to camiri, but after almost three hours (by that time it was getting late) we gave up. The next task was to find a place to stay. The only other place, although 2 hours away still, was Santa Cruz. So the next taxi we see we flag down and load our stuff in the car. So Wednesday night we stay in Santa Cruz, hoping that we can at least make it to the rodeo (there was a big rodeo planned for this weekend, and most of the volunteers were going to go check it out) on Friday. As luck would have it, the blockade is not letting up and the rodeo itself has been canceled. So at that point we said, well, at least we tried, and got ready to go buy our bus tickets back to Charagua. Right at that moment I got a call from the security guy saying, there is a blockade back to your site, so you must stay in Santa Cruz until further notice. So that's where I am right now. Waiting in Santa Cruz without a purpose until the roads clear up. The up side is that I got to watch two days of the democratic convention, so that was cool. Just wanted to give you a quick update. I've got lots of activities planned in Charagua, if I ever get back, and I'm excited to get going!! I'll keep you updated on how all that goes once I get back.

Ok. One more thing I forgot to add. The whole time in Santa Cruz there was a hunger strike going on in the main plaza. There was a money issue I guess, and a lot of projects different organizations had planned (including CIAT) were not getting funded. So for almost two weeks the organizations set up tents and mattresses in the central plaza and just layed there, not eating and making a big fuss. But Friday it was over, so they either got the money or needed a sandwhich, one or the other. But the scary thing was that Friday during the day and night there was a huge fight going on about rights for handicapped people. Apparently they were supposed to get support from the government (money, etc.) but they weren{t getting it, so they started a protest outside of some important building. Well, I guess push came to shove and a huge fight broke out, full of tear gas and police beating up handicapped people. Seriously, you could hear the tear gas bombs going off all day during our meeting and all night. Some of my friends went shopping after the meeting and didn{t know about it and found themselves right in the middle of a mad rush. Saturday morning while walking to get breakfast my eyes suddenly started burning. I didn{t know what was going on until I realized it was left over tear gas roaming the streets!! Seriously, that stuff burns!! At first I thought it was pesticides since I had just picked up a leaf to look at the cool bugs on it, but then a second later Ben{s eyes started burning too. It was crazy!! Later that day there was another protest, but luckily I didn{t get involved. Tomorrow there{s going to be a country wide strike, too. I don{t know what this one{s about, but luckily I{m safe and sound in Charagua.

So it’s been a while since I’ve written and there’s been a zillion things going on. I’ll try my best to catch you all up on what I’ve been doing. Ok, last Sunday, August 10th, there was a voting held throughout all of Bolivia to determine if the people wanted the president to remain in power or not. He was certain that the people liked him, despite what some were saying, so he kind of challenged the country to a voting. Not that he would get kicked out or anything would change if he didn’t get the 51%, he just wanted to know if he was liked by the majority. At the same time they also polled the people on if they liked the prefectos of each department (I guess they would be like the governors), although I think that those guys would be kicked out if they didn’t get the majority vote. So that was all fine and dandy, but the weeks leading up to the election were a little dicey for peace corps volunteers. We were accused many times of being spies for the U.S., the president’s helicopter crashed and he doesn{t think it was an accident (although he hasn{t come out and blamed anyone yet), the American embassy was attacked and the next day the Bolivian police that helped protect the building were fired, and two volunteers received threats in their sites that if they weren’t removed something bad would happen. So needless to say we were on alert. The new director decided that it would be best if all of the volunteers were consolidated in a safe location before and during the voting, just so that we’d be safe in case things got crazy. Therefore, the Sunday before the election, or two Sundays ago, all 120 or so of the volunteers, from all departments gathered in a secure location (I’m not allowed to say where) to wait it out. And although it sounds scary and ominous, it was a blast! I got to see everyone from training and got to meet tons of new people. We stayed in a REALLY nice place, with a pool, a volleyball court, basketball court, soccer field, and more. Every 4 or 5 of us shared these cute little cabins that came equipped with two bathrooms, a frig, and a tv! It was awesome! And our meals were all paid for, all we had to do was show up and eat! It was a little strange, though; we had to sign in with the security guard at every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner. One of my friends decided to sleep in on Saturday, and soon the security guard came looking for him, thinking he was a missing person and that it had to be reported to Washington. These guys meant business. In general we spent our days either in boring (but helpful) meetings, or with “free time” meetings where we could discuss whatever we wanted. And of course in the evenings there were always games going on. You could choose from basketball, volleyball, soccer, or swimming. I played my heart out at soccer two days in a row, and on the third I discovered that I could no longer walk. I guess I’m not as young as I used to be. After that I just kind of hobbled around and read by the pool. Ok, so up until Monday night, no one had any idea of how long we would be staying. It was like we were in a time warp, just waiting to get some news of the outside world, but not really caring either way since we were all having so much fun. Finally on Monday night we heard that Sunday went Ok, Evo got 60% of the vote, my perfecto got voted back in (every perfecto except for Oruro and Cochabamba, I think), and there were no major incidences. So Tuesday morning we were packed up and ready to get out of there by 8am.

Most everyone went straight to their sites, except for the Santa Cruz volunteers in my group, who had a 4 day workshop in Santa Cruz along with our counterparts (the dudes we work with, or are supposed to work with in our sites). So Tuesday morning, after throwing our stuff in our bags and being bused all the way back to the city in the pouring rain, found ourselves giving 15 min. power point presentations in Spanish and trying not to fall asleep (we had a good bye party the night before, and not all of us were our 100%). But it actually went better than I thought, seeing as to how my counterpart actually came, which was a big surprise for me. So for the next three days we were booked from 8:30am to 6pm having a project design workshop, which although extremely boring, is quite useful. So by Friday night we were free. Ben and I spent Saturday in the city grocery shopping and picking up a few extra things, and finally made the trip back to Charagua last night. It feels really good to be back. I missed Oso, and was sad to discover that while I was gone got himself into a big dog fight. His jaw is all screwed up and he can’t walk on his front right leg. You can actually see the bite marks in it! But I think that with a little rest and food he’ll be back to normal in no time. I’ve got a ton of project ideas to do with CIAT and now with my counterpart, too. I’m excited to get started! I’ll tell you how everything goes once I get settled in more.