cookie monster

Earlier this week I was walking home from work right behind an older gentleman, he must have been over seventy, when I saw him make a swift move to scoop a pack of cookies from a street stand and place them in his coat pocket.  At first I laughed at how sly he was, then I thought about confronting him. Then realized- maybe I should abstain from confronting locals for minor misdemeanors. 

I have been thinking of this man, how completely unsuspected he appeared.  How he would likely take the cookies home to his wife, or give them to his grandchild who would never suspect his grandad was a thief.  I am reminded how ineffective judging solely on appearance can be.  How often do we try to hide behind our stereotyped facades to make sure our wrongdoings are carefully hidden... But I am a pastor, I am a successful businessman, I am a straight A student, I volunteer, etc.  Case after case and life experience after life experience, have shown me time and again that the most beautiful and seemingly great people can be living with ugly hidden double lives.

I am currently working on translating a study guide, in which the idea that injustice at times is not in plane sight.  Yet that does not mean it does not exist. We tend take the saying "out of site, out of mind" and use it when we find convenient. If we do not see something  then it might as well not exist. Maybe we try to excuse our blinders because we know that when we do witness something horrific we feel a certain level of responsibility to act, to speak out, to help.  

When it comes to the most horrific things that occur on a daily if not hourly basis around the world such as forced labor, sexual slavery, child abuse, domestic violence, and abuse of power, we feel overwhelmed at what exactly we are to do and how exactly we are to react.  Since its not part of OUR lives what can we really do?  Yet in our silence we are acting, we are becoming complacent, we are shutting out reality, isolating ourselves under that nice facade of who we are supposed to be.  I personally feel that I will be held accountable for not only what I have witnessed, but also for what I know.  

We underestimate the power we truly have; as individuals, as small communities and even as the Church.  History tell us time and time again that change began with one person who spoke out. Spoke out against injustice he or she observed, who did not settle for the reality what he or she was experiencing or seeing, but desired to seek and see change. 

I don't want to seem like the pot speaking to the kettle, since I too failed to speak out to the man who unjustly stole the packet of cookies.  A lessoned learned and perhaps next time I will have more courage or know how to tactfully approach the situation. Nevertheless, I hope that silence would not be my continued response to injustice, however great or small.  That I would speak up, act out and confront those who knowingly are hurting others. 

On that note, I would like you to check out the new "rockumentary" CALL+RESPONSE in select theaters nationwide.  

p.s. 50,000 farmers and laborers are on their way to La Paz to block Congress. They are due in Monday.  If you read this before then please pray, hope, meditate, whatever you believe in, that the march would be peaceful as promised. I have my doubts since all schools have suspended classes for Monday so to not expose students to possible violence. Hmmm.

food

Thailand is a hard act to follow when it comes to the culinary world.  Bolivia isn't renowned for its variety of flavor, but it does have a plethora of potatoes. So far I cannot stake too many complaints in the food department.  Although this past week I had to use my creativity to hide/make disappear both a portion of cow tongue and a LARGE portion of cow stomach.  I successfully did not even try a bite of either, I do have my limits (and so does my stomach).  

Breakfast has been interesting. The lady I live with, Doña Lurdes, likes to wake up and make something for me.  I am very grateful for her cooking, but I sometimes can´t enjoy hamburger patties and salad that early in the morning. Today I finally made it to a proper grocery store (most people shop at open markets) to buy snacks for work and oatmeal for breakfast.  

For lunch I either go out with coworkers to local hole in the walls or share a salad in the office.  There are three lunch clicks at the office and I am trying hard not to be placed in any of them. I have dinner at home, which is where I get most of my Bolivian cuisine.   Usually lunch and dinner begin with soup and then there is a main course that usually has rice AND potatoes.  As I mentioned there is a wide variety of potatoes, I have probably tried up to five types.  I am a huge potato fan, which is a good thing, but have not found a liking for the chuño (dehydrated potato).  Tonight I had the nice surprise of a banana sautéed in what I think was balsamic vinegar. Don´t knock it till you try it!

On the sweet side, Bolivians are huge coke fans, perhaps due to the huge use of the coca leaf.  There are also tons of bakeries, coffee and ice cream shops around my office, which keep my sweet tooth quite satisfied. 

The best part of all, is that rarely are preservatives used and most of the vegetables are organic.  

bon appetite! 

a way better weekend.

This past weekend was a 180 from last. Friday I went out with four coworkers to dance the night away at a local disco.  My soul needed some cumbia dancing, it had been too long.  I think I surprised the locals with my invisible yet present Latin blood that allows me to blend right in on the dance floor. All the years I offered to compete at school dance competitions in Chile most certainly paid off.  Saturday I went with another coworker, Evelyn, to help out at her church’s youth group fundraiser. The organization, or might I say, lack there of, was expected and while hilarious, I really wanted to take charge and start handing out assignments. There were five of us working the snack stand and no one could decide how to price things.  Sunday I went with Evelyn on her fiancés church’s picnic.  It was great to spend time and get to know her and my other coworkers outside of the office.

 

After work today I went to the Bolivian version of Starbuck’s, Alexander’s, to write some postcards and have an after-work snack.  I began to think of all the things I love here…

publicly affectionate people, natural foods (in fact certain things are only sold until noon due to the lack of preservatives), being able to listen in on a stranger’s conversation and not look suspicious, being able to have a four course lunch for under three dollars, the availability of anything I could ever need/want sold on the street on my walk home, the fact that I can WALK home, the idea that cobble stone streets might outnumber the paved ones and that dirt roads for sure outnumber them all. That you can dance and not be scandalous, that a fully grown adult may only make it to my elbow, that bowler hats and wool leggings have been in style for about one hundred years and likely one hundred more.

 

So far Bolivia has treated me well, one month almost down and looking forward to many more to go.  

headed back.

The past 24 hours has made me 

a) Feel like little Alex on his horrible, terrible, very bad, no good, very bad day.

b) Realize how much a like routine.

c-) Wish I got married young and was expecting my first child (which might not have brought happiness, but it would have likely avoided this).

maybe this is an exaggeration, there were some Lima highlights, which include

a-) Oxygen

b-) Manjar ice cream

c-) a much needed hair cut

But all in all it has led me to be most excited to return to La Paz and get into the swing of things again. 

Thank you for your support.  Please continue to pray for peace in the political situation, that a solution might be found, and that people of both sides would not be at a place where they are willing to risk their lives and the lives of others to be heard. 

¡Feliz Diesiocho desde Perú!

I am currently sitting in a local coffee shop in Lima, Peru.  Yesterday we flew here just as a precaution to what is happening in Bolivia and its current tiff with the U.S.    There was a march of 8,000 people with the intent of burning the American embassy, but it police controlled the situation and it was unsuccessful.  There were also a couple protests that attacked local media buildings in La Paz.  For the most part these attacks are isolated to the locations of the building, on the day of these marches I went out to lunch and didn't even realize they were going on a few blocks away (well aside from the booms, but those sound everyday). Yet since things are a tad unstable it was decided that the Americans from the office should watch things unfold in Bolivia from the outside.

For now we are planing on returning to La Paz on Saturday. Hopefully things will have calmed down.  As for long-term, the country will continue to face challenges (including the passage of the new constitution) that are quite unpredictable and might mean another trip to a calmer neighbor.  I am fine, safe and learning a lot. Lima is way nicer than I had thought, very clean, lots of western and Chilean things and pretty much nothing like La Paz. 

taking it in

If you have watched the news, perhaps for a second across the bottom of your screen there was something about Bolivia.  In the past week there has been violence in the eastern provinces, road blocks and casualties.  Oh and the U.S. ambassador was ousted. Tonight they have declared martial law in one province where the violence escalated.

I am fine. La Paz is under no threat, which everyone here says is a surprise because usually the action is here.  I hope things will continue to settle and that the different factions will come into peaceful dialogue. 

In other news life here is swell. Right now I am taking it all in;  the people, the politics, the colder weather, the food (too much of it) and the beauty that lies in being in a new place. 

politics

So apparently when it comes to gas U.S. news sources cover Bolivia...

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/09/bolivia.unrest/

I hope La Paz lives up to its name. Thus far its all in the east.