Well, a new week and come and gone, and I finally managed to get some action in the work department. Yep, I’ve been going to CIAT everyday and so far it has been going pretty good. The office itself is a tiny, run-down building about a block from my house. It has two rooms, the small, cramped room that the two guys I work with share, and then a much bigger, empty room with big windows that I’ve been using. There’s still no desk yet, but they’ve pushed a table up against the wall, so that’ll do for now. They’ve assured me that soon I will be going out to the campos to help the farmers and give chats about fertilizers and pesticides and stuff like that, but for now I’ve found myself with a veritable desk job. For some reason they want the little English-speaking, confused-looking girl to edit a 62-page Spanish report, as well as help write the proposal for the municipal viveros, which of course is also in Spanish. I don’t mind doing it, and actually kind of like it, but geesh! They’re taking a big risk with me since I can barely speak the language, much less write it or edit someone else’s work. Oh well, only a week or so more of that until the proposal is done, then we’ll send that into the mayor’s office and do fun stuff while we wait for the money to come in. My schedule for the last week has been roughly: get up, eat, go to the office, chat with the dudes, then get to work on the computer in the backroom until noon, go home for lunch and either hang out, do laundry, or go to the market until whenever I feel like it (usually around 3), then go back to the office and try a little bit more until my eyes hurt or I just feel like going home. Basically I make my own schedule and no one asks about it. It’s great. This week one of them also took me out to the experimental farm place (it’s right next to the Mennonite colonies) and showed me around. It’s pretty big, with lots of different crops growing. Unfortunately it was all recently harvested, so a lot of plots were bare, but hey, I could still picture it in my head. And the fun thing is that when planting season comes I’ll get to go out there and play in the dirt and help out.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, something super sad and gross happened at work on Thursday. I was sitting at the table, alternately writing the proposal and looking out the window into the neighbor’s backyard, when all of a sudden two guys, one with a large knife, came stomping through the backyard towards this cute little pig who always makes comforting piggy grunting noises while I type. Before I could register what was happening, the pig was screaming bloody murder and the guy with the knife was slitting its throat right in front of my eyes (well, luckily some of it was partially hidden by a bush and on looking children that appeared from nowhere, but you know what I mean). My first instinct was to pass out, but I guess that before I could pass out I had been making some strange painful moaning sounds that the guys from the next room heard and came running out to investigate. They said my face was white and my hands were clasped to my face Home Alone style. They made me go into their office and sit down for a bit. Of course when they saw the dead pig they just started laughing like I was an idiot. They couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen a pig slaughtered before. What was kind of ironic was that just as I entered their office to sit down, the pig-murderers came around the side of the office carrying the dead pig between them, so I had to watch them walk all the way down the street with it before it was actually gone. So, as you can imagine, that was a tough day for me. It’s bad enough to have to see a pig being slaughtered, but much worse when you aren’t even expecting it. But I guess that’s the sad and very real side to life that I’ve been sheltered from back home. And to be honest, I like the way they do it here better. Each animal is raised with the utmost care and only killed when it is necessary, usually by the owner themselves. It just seems like the best way to go. They don’t do it with malice or joy, they do it to eat and survive, and that’s just life.
On a happier note, I’ve got some animal sightings to add to the list. First of all, I discovered that yes, there are wild parrots, and in fact there are a ton of them!! They’re gorgeous, with bright lime green bodies and red and yellow on their heads. They look like a beautiful piñata when they fly in a big group together. They’re also very very loud, so you always know when they’re coming. I also saw and got about 3 yards from a huge hawk or some sort of big bird of prey, I can’t really tell the difference. It was just sitting on the side of the road watching me come toward it. I thought it was hurt, obviously, since we were staring each other straight in the eye and yet it still wasn’t moving. Finally, though, when I was almost close enough to touch it, he hopped up and flew away. It was pretty cool. I also saw a big group of vultures of some kind, and those weren’t quite as cool. I mean, once you’ve seen one vulture you’ve seen ‘em all. But I do seem to always forget how big they are. Vultures are big damn birds. And oh yeah! This doesn’t count as an actual sighting since I didn’t actually see one, but when I was on the farm I kept seeing what looked like big gopher holes, so I asked Humberto (my work partner) what animal had made them. The answer: an armadillo! How cute! Yeah, armadillos are crawling all over this place, and apparently they taste good, too. Everyone eats armadillo here and he just couldn’t believe that I’d never tried it before. Now I’m invited to an armadillo dinner on his dad’s property as soon as they catch some armadillos. If I can work up the courage to try one I’ll tell you how it tastes.

Things that have happened in the recent past:
I barfed one morning for a while, but then soon felt better (this is also the first time I’ve been sick since I got here, and let’s hope it’s the last!).
I was forced to play soccer soon after barfing, but was relieved to find that our team won 4-0, so not much running was required from me.
We gave Oso a bath and cut out some of the stickers from his tail (which now looks dorky and butchered, thanks to me. Oops!).
We played basketball and are planning on playing fucsol (well, I don’t know if that’s how you spell it, but it sounds like that) Thursday with a group of locals. Fucsol is like indoor soccer except with way less people per team and with a tiny, hard soccer ball. I haven’t played yet, but I’m sure it’s fun.
We weeded the garden and made an official compost pile.
We discovered a snake chillin in our shower, which we removed with a dustpan and set free to roam the streets of Charagua. Oh yeah, so add snake to the animal list. This one was bright lime green and medium sized. It was really really beautiful.
I’ve been working on my vivero project even though the dudes are out of town until Tuesday and they locked the office so I don’t have the outline to work off of, which makes it harder.
We invited some old couple over for dinner this coming Sunday night, and our response was “we’re probably going to be out of town that day, but if we get back early, we’ll go.” So I guess that means we have to cook a nice dinner, then wait to see if they’ll show up to eat it or not. These people and their flimsy answers!!
And that’s all I can think of for now. I’ll keep the updates coming as soon as I can!

Good news!!! Work work work! I went into CIAT this morning and before I knew it I was given my very own officey area. Well, as of yet it is just an empty room with bags of seeds and dead bugs, but soon enough it{ll have a desk and chair and for some reason that{s really exciting! I have to start writing up a proposal for the mayor to buy the seeds and materials for the new vivero, and on the 21st i have to give a big charla to some farmers and kids in some small community down south somewhere. it{s really exciting!
The latest on the Oso-war is that he came back to my house last night, so i let him sleep there. i mean, that{s not cheating, he came to me, right? Every time i try to kick him out he just stays outside the door and moans. I think I{m winning!! Pretty soon I{ll go talk to the new pseudo-owners and see if they really want him or not.

I don{t even know where to begin! So much has changed in the last day. For starters, the biggest thing is that my counterpart has been fired and so now I{m stuck with some new guy I just met yesterday for about 2 minutes. The reason for the firing is super complicated and political. I guess yesterday 28 people from the alcaldia (mayor{s office thing), including my counterpart, were let go because they supported the autonomia for santa cruz. A couple weeks ago there was a board meeting with the mayor (mostly all guarani people and therefore MASistas and supporters of the president Morales), and they decided that they wanted to kick out anyone who was against the president. Apparantly the mayor himself was against this idea, since he was friends with everyone, but he was apparantly the odd man out at the board meeting, so he got over ruled. So, just like that, all those people are gone (and 28 is a large percentage of the people who work there), and by the end of the week new (probably mostly guarani people) are going to come and fill those positions. I was talking to my counterpart yesterday and this other guy that was let go as well, and they say that most of the new guys don{t even know a thing about their new position, but that they were assigned it anyway. I don{t know if that{s true, but i guess i{ll find out!! So, now i have to start from the beginning because the new guy doesn{t know anything about what i{m working on and i need to get to know him in general, too. He seems like a good guy, I just don{t know him at all. I don{t know how this huge change is going to go over in Charagua. A lot of ganaderores live here, and they{re mostly all pro-autonomia, anti-president and they{ve got a lot of money and say over what goes on. I wonder how they{ll take this. That party I went to with my boss the other week, those were all pro-autonomia people. Ay ay ay!! I hate politics and now i have to deal with it front-row. This sucks!Can{t everyone just get along? The guy i might work with from CIPCA didn{t want me to work with the organization directly because they are MASistas- pro-president, and they said that might get me in trouble with the ganaderos if i was seen working with them, but now it seems like all the MAS people are in charge for a while!! I{m so confused. Plus, there{s an election for a new mayor at the end of the year (every 5 years they pick a new one), so this might all change within a couple of months when they pick the new guy! Federico, my old counterpart, is hopeful that he{ll get to come back into the alcaldia pretty soon, but we{ll see. I hope so, but we{ll just have to wait and see.
So, that{s it for the political situation. It{s crazy, but it{s also changing rapidly, maybe tomorrow something completely different will happen. Who knows? But oh yeah, it{s war time with Ben{s old family. Today I was walking to the market with Oso, and this dude (ben{s old host-dad{s nephew) runs up to me saying that he and his family moved into that house, and so now they can take care of Oso. I didn{t put up a fight then because I was too shocked, and before I knew it Oso was gone!!! I{m so sad and mad right now!! But don{t worry, the fight isn{t over. I love Oso and I{m getting him back!! Plus, they don{t even feed him over there! I was planning on making him nice and fat and happy!! I{ll let you know how this Oso war turns out. I{m not giving up hope yet!
Well, for some good news I{ve got work to do. I{m looking up characteristics of different tree species that grow in Charagua for a different, bigger, and better vivero. Yep, I might be scrapping the old one and joining with a different organization to make a bigger one a little ways from town that would help more people (including the mendonites, if they{ll accept it). It would still serve the same purpose, it would just be bigger and a more involved process. And since I{m supposed to be the tree expert (even though I haven{t even seen most of the trees here in my whole life until now!), I{m getting on the research right now! I{m actually really excited. I even have my own little table to go do work in this building close to my house. and i like the guys who work there, so all is looking good.
So that{s the news for now. I{ll let you know how the dog-war, political-war, and work stuff go as the week progresses!! Yikes! Oh yeah, there{s also a transportation strike in all of Bolivia! But being here in little charagua without a car and only a couple streets to walk down, i{m doing just fine.

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!!)!

So it’s Wednesday around noon and my boss just left. The last two days were full and exciting, which is just what I needed! I will now recap the last two day’s events. Monday around 4 or 4:30 my boss, his assistant lady (who I LOVE!), and a third year volunteer who specializes in natural resources, arrived in Charagua and came straight to my house. Luckily, Ben and I were waiting for them with chips and dip (being the oh so gracious hosts we are, plus in Bolivia food is love). So we spent an hour or so chatting with them, asking how the drive was, etc. At that point, being the old lady that I am, I was already thinking about dinner, maybe reading a chapter or two in my book, then hopping into bed nice and early. However, my boss had different plans. See, he’s a social guy, so he wanted to immediately talk with everyone in town. So off we head to the mayor’s office, where my counterpart works. We chat with my counterpart, sign some papers, then head to the mayor’s office, chat with him, and sign some more papers. At that point I thought we were done, but no. I had told him that I had talked with CIAT (I know what it stands for now! Centro de Investigacion Agricola Tropical), and that they want me to start working with them right away. This news excited him so much that he wanted to go talk with the boss guy there himself. So off we go to CIAT’s office at 6:30 or so and chat with them (there are 3 guys that work there, but we only met 2) for at least another hour. I kind of spaced out for a while, but all the hand shaking and head nodding makes me pretty sure that they like each other and that I’m going to start working with them immediately, probably even today, in fact. After that I was sure we were going to eat, but he wanted to talk to Ben’s counterpart right then as well. So we swung by the school director’s office, but she wasn’t there. So instead of just leaving, we chat with some other guy (actually, the owner of my house), who happens to be the school superintendent. At this point I demand food, so we go to one of two food places in Charagua. The menu (not written, of course, but verbal) always consists of chicken or beef, with a good old fashioned side of rice and potatoes. Anyway, by the time dinner is over, it is quite late. I don’t know what time exactly, but time for bed for sure. The PCVL (third year girl) stayed at my house, so I slept on the floor on my pad. I must say, I almost preferred that to my bed, which is horrible! Early the next morning, the PCVL and I went to Ben’s house to help him give some student-teacher kids a charla on compost (because there’s a compost pile there). After that my boss and his assistant met us and we were off once again to chat with everyone. First we went to the school director’s office and this time she was in. So, after signing some papers and chatting we went to CIPCA’s office (the other organization I am trying to work with and where my Spanish teacher’s dad works). The response was complicated and I’ll get more into it later. But basically I can work with Maritza’s (Spanish teacher) dad privately, but not as part of the organization. Anyway, we also had to ask him (Don Julian) if Ben can live in their house for the next two years! Apparently Ben’s host dad is never there (he’s sick and getting treatment in Santa Cruz) and there’s a scary drunk guy who rents a little room right next to Ben who always asks him for money and is just no good. So currently only Ben and the drunk live there. The assistant lady immediately went around looking for new rooms for Ben, but they’re all crappy and expensive. So our last resort was to ask Don Julian. Luckily he said yes, and I guess Ben will be moving there by the end of the month. Crazy how fast things happen here! Anyway, after that we went to pick up my counterpart to head off to a party ISTACH (the other group I’m currently working with on the vivero) was having (it’s the school’s anniversary) out somewhere in the campo (middle of nowhere tiny community). By the time we got there, people were already drunk, dressed up in their cowboy clothes, and playing random party games. Everyone was having a good time, a HUGE BBQ was grilling up meat, and we got to mingle with all the bigwigs of town. Tons of people were there, including the mayor, who was drunk and still had a dead aim in their pseudo “horseshoes” game (except instead of horseshoes they used the knee bone of a dead cow). We arrived at noon and were immediately served soup. They’re big on soup here, and normally it’s either gross or bland. But this soup was amazing!! It was delicious and actually had beans in it!! I was in heaven, just scarfing it down as fast as I could, until I got to the end. I looked down and right in the center of my bowl was a huge fly larva!! Yes, maggots in my soup! I don’t know if there were more, in which case I ate them all, or if that was the only one, but boy, that certainly was a surprise. But hey, extra it’s just a little extra protein! But after that they brought out the meat. I’m talking several dead cows were on that grill. Two people had to man it because it was so big, one couldn’t even reach over to the other side! Literally troughs of meat were served, along with rice and yucca (kind of like a potato, but better). It was a feast! The beer was flowing, the meat was grilling, the cowboys were being cowboys, in short, it was a good day. Eventually we were called out into a pasture to watch the horse races. I was a little nervous, just because everyone was drunk, and riding horses drunk for some reason just didn’t seem like a good idea! But luckily they found two small, less-drunk guys to ride, and the games began. They rode two horses at a time, bare-back and shoeless (I don’t know if that was preference, or part of the game), and the guys bet on the winner. That was interesting to watch, but by that time it was getting late, and my boss wanted to go see the Mendonite colonies. Yes!! I knew he’d want to go! So we climbed into his car (oh yeah, he had a sweet land rover, and it just feels good to be in a car every now and again) and drove a couple kilometers over to the Mendonite colonies. First off, it’s like entering a different land over there. It looks like the California Central Valley, flat, mostly tree-less and acres and acres of crops as far as the eye can see. The only difference is that there is no electricity, no cars, and tons of windmills. Everyone drives horses and carts (I swear I saw a 7-year old driving his younger sisters home on a cart!), have the same designed houses, and wear the same clothes. The women get married at 16-years old and have kids until they either die in child labor or can’t have anymore. It’s crazy!! And they can’t intermarry with Bolivians, no no no. They’re all blond-haired and blue-eyed. The women aren’t even allowed to talk with a Bolivian. It’s a strange, strange culture. But it was super cool to go check it out. I really wanted to buy some cheese from them, so we finally found a house that sold it and got to look around a bit. Everything is neat and tidy and they are extremely polite. The only thing that bothers me, or just kind of freaks me out, is that I’ve never seen a Mendonite smile. I’ve decided that one of my goals for the next two years is to get a Mendonite to smile. It’ll be tough, but I think it could happen. Okay, after Mendonite land, we went back to Charagua. It’s only 6 or 6:30 by then, and we have to go talk to Don Julian again at 7pm to get more details about Ben’s rent, etc. So at 7pm we go to his house, but no one’s there. After driving around for a while looking for either him or his wife, we give up, get a bite to eat, and go to bed. Wednesday morning we met bright and early and made the good-bye rounds. We stop by all the people’s offices/houses we’ve talked to the past two days and say goodbye, which for some reason takes 3 hours. We then eat some saltenas (these little beef or chicken pot-pie-type things that I can’t stand, but that everyone else, Bolivian and American alike, adore.) and then we are done.
So, finally my boss left and we are left alone again. But I’m really glad he came! It was good to meet everyone more formally, and it looks like I’m going to have my hands full of work, which is exactly what I want! Oh yeah, somewhere in that mess some girl asked me if I would join her soccer team. I said yes, of course, even though I don’t have cleats, I haven’t played in years, and I am dreadfully out of shape and probably can’t compete with Bolivians! And I’m not even sure what I’m getting myself into! They play every Saturday at this big stadium thing, and I even have to wear a uniform get my picture taken for the player’s cards! Yikes! I was thinking of just having a little scrimmage every now and again! I might be in over my head, but I’m at least going to try it out. There’s also a three-day festival this weekend to celebrate the ganaderias (the cow and horse people place), and I told all those drunk cowboy guys that I’d go, so I can’t let them down, especially since I’m going to be working with a few of them for the next two years.
Well, sorry to go on and on. I’m finally done with the update. I hope you’re all doing good and hopefully not much will happen for a while so your eyes can have a rest!

When I first came to Charagua, I was a little disappointed at the lack of wildlife. I’m used to seeing cute little squirrels up every tree and deer bounding around the woods at home, with seals and dolphins swimming around Santa Barbara. At first glance, Charagua showed no signs of having these little friends to give me the company that I normally enjoy. However, slowly but surely these little creatures are showing themselves. Therefore, I’ve made a list of animals (wild and domestic) I’ve seen so far in Charagua:
Cows and bulls
Horses
Chickens. These guys have the run of the land, they go anywhere and everywhere
Ducks
Dogs of every shape and size and in every stage of disrepair
Cats, but very few, and they are all house pets, no strays
Lizards (crazy colors too, bright lime green and white stripes)
Tiny lizard type things, but with big heads and eyes that crawl up walls in houses. Absolutely adorable.
Frogs and toads (dead frog bodies line the streets and several fat, happy ones live in my garden)
Bats. Good pollinators!
Birds. Okay, this is a big category, and if I had binoculars and a hell of a lot more patience, I’d be able to describe more of them. The only one that sticks out in my mind was a tiny little white-as-snow bird with a bright red face and spikey (white? yellow? I can’t remember) hair. It was sooooo cool looking and until it noticed I was there I got to watch it take a little bath in this pond thing. Anyway, I know there’s a lot of birds because the calls are all different and at different times. I hear them all the live long day. Especially my neighbor’s parrots, but those are definitely not wild. They demand food in Spanish all the time. “quiero comer, quiero comer.” They wouldn’t make it a day in the wild! Oh yeah, and tons of hummingbirds! Beautiful!
Pigs (both wild and domestic). The domestics are big, fat, and stinky and kept at home. Although I have seen a couple tied up to posts outside of buildings. It’s like someone rode their pig to work, I don’t get it. The wild ones are delightful! They’re smaller and just run a mock through the brush with their babies. I love watching them scuttle around and snort!
Goats. Soooooooo cute! I don’t know if they’re wild or not, but whenever I see them they’re in a herd all alone, walking in the brush. They have tiny horns and are all different colors. Once they got stuck on the main road I was walking on (they couldn’t escape into the bushes) and I scared the shit out of them. Literally. I had to walk in it until they could get themselves back into the underbrush.
BUGS!!! I wish I was an entomologist! There are so many cool kinds, but I have no idea what they are. Lots of colorful beetles with designs on their backs, walking sticks (you know, praying mantis-like, but thinner and that look like, well, walking sticks. There are a ton of these guys, too, just hanging out in the streets), tiny weeny grasshoppers that are everywhere and monstrously huge ones that scare the crap out of me whenever one suddenly jumps into my path, bees, ants, the wonderful fleas and ticks in my bed, spiders, mosquitos of course, BUTTERFLIES (I discovered a whole butterfly land near my house in a dried creek bed. I love walking by there now because my presence makes them get all flustered so that they all fly up at the same time and I feel like magic butterfly girl (?)), and probably more but that’s all I can think of for now.
Tigers!! Okay, I haven’t actually seen one personally, but I keep hearing stories about them. Apparently in the surrounding area there are a few, and people try to hunt them to show how manly they are. So except for the hunting thing (I’m determined to find these hunters and give them a piece of my mind), that’s really exciting!! One of these days I’m going to go tiger spotting!! All I need is a camera, khaki-colored clothes, and a funny hat. I’ll let you know if I see anything.

Well, moving from one animal world to the other (humans! Yikes!), I met a super nice family today (Sunday). They are the parents of my Spanish/Guarni teacher back in Cochabamba. Ben and I went to their house for a gigantic lunch of beef, rice, potatoes, yucca, tomato and onion salad, potato, fava bean, and pea salad, oranges, and of course, every family’s beverage of choice both day and night- pepsi. The dude (Don Julian) works for a NGO called CIPCA, and I’m really really really interested in working with them! He does agricultural tallers (workshop-like-thingys) with/for the surrounding communities (mostly Guarani), giving them advice on how to improve crop yield, etc. Surprisingly though, he doesn’t know how to compost, so I guess that’s a good place for me to start. I mean, geesh! I have to talk to his boss (the jefe of CIPCA) on Monday to see if I can work with them still, but hey, who’s going to pass up free manual labor? Don Julian also told me about an organization called CIAT (I can’t remember what it stands for) that does agricultural experiments on some piece of land on the outskirts of town. Hello!! Agricultural experimentation??!! That is what I’ve been dying to do since I got here! Of course, I haven’t talked to them yet, nor do I know if they’ll let the little white girl do experiments with government money, but hey, even if they just let me watch what’s going on every now and again that would be great. Hopefully by the end of this week I’ll know if I can work with either either/both of those groups or not. In the meantime, my boss (kind of, he’s the guy in charge of Natural Resource Management) and his little assistant girl (a third year volunteer) are coming to Charagua tomorrow and spending a couple days with Ben and I to see how we’re doing, if we’re finding work possibilities, etc. I’m excited just because it’ll be something to do. Also, I’ve heard that he’s super obsessed with the Mennonites (well, I guess fascinated is a better word), so I’m going to try my best to convince him to take us to their colonies. Apparently they’re awesome. Huge, old-fashioned (they don’t use electricity for anything except stoves I think), crowded with thousands and thousands of blond haired, blue eyed kids (each woman has an average of 13 kids!!! Don’t even get me started on what I think about this!), and in short, just a good place to go gringo ogling. Plus, I hear they make good cake. I don’t know if that’s why he likes to go there or not, but if I liked cake, that would be reason enough for me! So, in short, the next couple of days are hopefully going to be full of fun activity. And I’m not even picky anymore, any activity at all is good enough for me! I’ll let you know how it goes once the big jefe is gone!