Colegio

I had the rare opportunity to be in grade 12 (promo) twice in Bolivia! When I first arrived I was in the promo KEPLEFFG and then I got to take part in prom and grad and all that jazz, when it vacations were over we had to go back to school and instead of going to University, we got to go back to the same school but in a different grad class. There are so many differences between last years and this years school experience! Por ejemplo. last year I was in the same class a Flora, an exchange student from France, because neither of us spoke spanish we would always be together speaking french. We started classes in September, the end of the Bolivian school year, so there were defined cliques and all that jazz in the class so it was hard to make friends, the language barrier didnt help either. To be honest, I really did not like going to school last year, it was super hard and I made a fool of myself on a minutely basis. En Cambio, this year when I started classes in February, I could speak spanish and I was by myself in my class (Flora got bumped down to grade 11 :S). I was forced to make friends and the fact that I could communicate made all the difference in the world! I started making friends and hanging out with them outside of school (something that never happened before) and laughing at the jokes and "doing the homework" and all around enjoying school. My promo this year is called DRUZZS and it is seriously the best ever! We are like a family and everyone is included in everything, we actually have get-togethers for the entire promo like every weekend and it is always a good time! 

Friday unfortunately was my last day of classes due to the fact that the next 3 weeks are Winter vacation, it was so sad to think that I am never going to be in the same class as my companeros any more, that I am not going to graduate with them and that for some, I will never see them again. School went from being almost unbearable to the highlight of my week, I think I was the only person who didn't get excited for the weekend. I am really going to Miss Dios Es Amor, even the super tacky uniforms, it was my home away from home and I had lots of great experiences there. As a goodbye thing, my class threw me a chupa (party) at my house after school and there was an assembly in the afternoon to say goodbye to me :(Everyone signed my uniform and left me notes in my book, it was a great last day but it was bittersweet due to the circumstances.
</3

Los Pacos

So basically the Bolivian police system is the most corrupt thing that I have seen...ever. As of right now,  police officers are making very little, about 1326.74Bs per month, that is equivalent to $195 PER MONTH! It is outrageously low even for Bolivian standards. As a result, all police officers in all of Bolivia have gone on strike. In La Paz and the capital ,Sucre, things have been getting progressively worse, the other day there was a march of about 300 officers up to the doors of the presidential palace. Military forces were called in to help calm things down; when the military is involved in Bolivia it usually means that there is a big issue.
Santa Cruz has seen the effects of the strike as well. Although there are not riots, protests or marches (yet), all of the police officers, security guards and officials have refused to go to work and instead are doing a lock in at the various police stations and training facilities. Due to the lack of security and protection, all of the banks in Santa Cruz ,and I believe all of Bolivia as well, are shut down to the public until the strike stops. Also the streets have become way more dangerous, especially at night! Hopefully to put peoples minds at ease, the police strikes have not had a huge effect on me nor my life here. Just that it is a little inconvenient that the banks are closed, but thats what ATM's are for! :) I am fine and for the moment the strikes are having no effect on me! In Fact the strikes are kinda helping!
Because the police make so little in their salary, they are very super extra corrupt. Pretty much every night after 8PM there is a roadblock somewhere in the city. These are no ordinary road blocks, they are designed by the police in order to get as many people fined as possible! Here's the catch though, usually all it takes to get out of these fines is slipping the police officer 100Bs and it is like nothing ever happened.
A few weeks ago, I was driving home with one of my friends when we had to go through a road block, the paco (cop) asked for his licence and all that and it was all good until he asked to see our Carnets (Bolivian ID). My friend gave him his and I handed over my Canadian ID, immediately the cop started asking to see my visas and passport and legal documents and was pretty much trying to make it look like I was some illegal immigrant. I didnt have any of my papers with me and he started threatening to call immigration and to have me deported and I started to panic, my friend was way calm in the situation and just casually handed over 50Bs. Instantly it was like nothing had ever happened, we got to leave with no problems and the cop even told us to have a good night. Gota love the way this counrty works :P

Hailey

Everything is different now, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Hailey, my best friend, went back to the United States on Thursday and although it was not as difficult to say goodbye to her the second time (she tried to leave on Monday but because she is 16 they wouldn't let her leave the country) it was still one of the hardest moments in my exchange.
For the last 9 months, Hailey and I have been nearly inseparable, we have done everything and nothing together, I would go to her house almost every day after school and we would just be together so that we wouldn't have to be alone. Hailey has been with me and there for me through all the good parts and the bad parts of my exchange, she has helped me grow and taught me a lot over the course of the year. Hailey was my person here, we took on Bolivia together, we were the unit that people always associated to be together, like the 2 Emily's or Lou and Marie. When she left, she took the Bolivia that I know with her and now it is like there is a hole in me.

I think there will be a period of adjusting that has to take place, I mean, when my phone rings, i think that it will be her like usual, then the reality hits that she is no longer here and my heart breaks a little bit. In the afternoons all I want to do is go walk 2 blocks to her house and go on an adventure.I dont want to be sad so I cannot dwell on the past, it was great that is for sure, but I must move forward.
Mi vida, si estas leyendo eso quiero decirte que te amo muchisimo y te extrano mas que las palabras pueden decir, ya se que solo paso 2 dias pero bolivia no sera lo mismo sin ti, tengo que acostumbrar a la vida sin ti, siempre vas estar en mi corazon! gracias por todo este ano, nunca voy a poder olvidarte, sos mi gemele de alma!

The Beginning of the End

Santa Cruz is officially in its winter season, it is no longer scorching hot, en cambio it is about 8 at night and 15 during the day. It is not so bad during the day when it is not raining or windy but as soon as you put either of those into the mix or at night, it is freezing! Houses do not have heating nor very good insulation so ironically I think that it is colder here than it is back in Canada :S

The reality of this experience is starting to hit me, nine months after arriving. Emily Kosier went back to the United States on the 1st of June...and it was horrible. Our exchange group is a very tight unit, I consider all of us to be like siblings, we always use terms like "mi amor" or "mi vida" and we are always together! When Emily left it was a horrible tearful goodbye and it was actually like there was a force ripping her from us! Nothing is the same after that, the dynamic is different and there is an obvious part missing but we are making the best of it. This is the beginning of the end and as much as it sucks, it is the painful reality.
June is going to be a very difficult month, it has already brought heartbreak and tears (for the first time since I left Canada). I am not ready to leave Bolivia, just as I am starting to make really good Bolivian friends and loving school and not having issues with the language, it is all going to be ripped away. I never thought that it would hurt so much, you think about the pain of leaving your family back home but you never think of how much worse it is when you have to go back. It almost doesn't feel like it is worth it.
Nunca en mi vida ha sentido un dolor tan fuerte, nadien van a poder entender. Es como si hay algo cortiendo mi corazon en un monton de partes. No puedo respirar bien jamas porque la dolor me consuma enterito!

When it rains

Santa Cruz was totally not made for the rain. Officially it is Autumn here but it feel nothing like the fall that I am used to back in Canada. Strange things are happening and it is starting to feel like Spring oddly enough. Unlike back home, the leaves on the trees are not changing colour, they seem to fall at all times of the year and not just during one season. At the moment the leaves on the mango tree outside my window are not changing but there are little buds forming where it appears that flowers will sprout; I always thought this only happened in the Spring...apparently not. As for the rain, well we have pretty much had rain every day for the last 15 days. It is not the all day kind of showers but rather an hour or so of total downpour but then the entire city is pretty much flooded for the next hour and then it goes back to normal. Everything here is so backwards it feels like spring in the fall and fall in the spring. So far the weirdest thing that is throwing me off is that when it is like 26 degrees here, everybody is in pants and long sleeves and jackets and scarves...I'm not used to the cold.

Frazzled!

I live in two different worlds, one of which is about to crumble away right before my eyes in a matter of weeks. Today I came to the conclusion that I am not ready for that yet...actually I don't think I will ever be ready for that. As much as I miss my family and friends, I have ZERO desire to come home...ever. I want to live in Bolivia, I feel like I belong here and that things actually click here. Back home I do what im expected to do and to a certain degree what I too want to do, but the only difference is that what I do here is what I have chosen to do all on my own. I made a life for myself without my parents without my friends and without knowing the language or a single person in this country. Despite all the obstacles and challenges that have come my way, I have gotten through it and found a place where I actually feel at home and where I belong.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family, the Okanagan and Canada but the life that I live there is now the life that I reluctantly have to go back to, it is never going to be the same as it was before I  had this experience. The worst part I think is that I am not going to want to be back home and that is going to make it all the more difficult for me to suck it up and stay there until I finish University. Bolivia is the place that I call home now, I love everything about it even the bad parts. I have an exchange family and my host family and best friends that I will have to leave and that is going to break my heart.

I know that as soon as some of my best friends leave, the Bolivia that I know will be different and maybe my opinions will change, but for the mean time there is this little hole in my heart forming at the mere thought of having to go home.

Typical Pacena, cholita selling fruit on the street like it is no big deal.

 Just in case nobody believed me when I say that I love my sisters :)

 I think that they like me too...atleast I hope so ;P

 La Paz streets

 Where houses climb the mountains

 And dogs climb Garbage Cans.

 My Cat likes to surprise us buy doing weird things...maybe this is why he is like best friends with the dogs??

 On the way to Vallegrande...my dad was obsessed with taking pictures of him with "mis dos choquas" aka me and Sarah (becasue we have light hair and skin colour)

 Llegamos en Vallegrande

 Typical Bolivian Plaza

 The toumb/original grave of Che Guevera

 Cailes de Vallegrande

 Here lied? Che...his bones are actually in Cuba now so all that is left is dirt and stuff.

 QUE VIVE LA REVOLUCION?