Tunari y Fútbol

Greetings. I thought Í´d just do a little recap-action of the weekend, since it was a pretty good time. Friday my program went to a little town called Tarata, it is about 45 minutes from Cochabama. ¡Que lindo! It is a old town built during colonialism, which is obvious from the archicture. It is famous for many things: there is a tea factory, Frutti, which distributes throughout Bolivia and the world; a Chicha factory where they make, well, chicha, which is a alcholic drink native to Bolivia. Its kind of sweet, and kind of yeasty, its hard to describe and I have no idea how it´s made. Its kind of a love it or hate it thing. Many, many musicians also hail from Tarata. Walking around with a few other students, we met some of them. They were super nice and said there is music in the town square every day at noon, but the only thing we found in the square were teenagers with waterballoons...saying they were a pack of wolves is an understatment, but we escaped dry. We then went to lunch at an old hacienda. Haciendas are plots of land with huge houses that were built during the colonial periods by the Spanish. They came in, took the land from the people who lived there and then made those same people farm it for themselves...basically a sort of feudal system for a long time, and arguably still exists. It was a beautiful house and the land was gorgeous, however it was really strange to be in a space that kind of represents a lot of oppression and explotation, of land and people. The man who lives there now is about 80 and it was his grandfather´s hacienda. He was kind of crazy, but very kind and extended the invitation for us to stay there any time we want. I would really like to, there was a lot of land to explore and its good to get out of the city.

Friday night I went to a c´oa (I have no idea how to spell it) with my host mom. C´oas are held every first friday of the month. They are a traditional celebration with a lot of things i can´t reallye explain, but it´s supposed to bring good luck. The one I went to was through my mom´s political party, MAS (the party of the president, Evo Morales), in support of their candidate for Governor. It was me and a bunch of middle-aged people, pretty much, but it was interesting and fun to see people rallying together. Literally, together, because it was pouring and so we were all huddled under an awning.

Saturday, I went to Tunari National Park, which is in the mountains that surround Cochabamba. I did a small hike with a few friends, but it was way harder than I thought. Altitude is Real. We got some great views of the city. We had a guide book that said there was supposed to be lakes at the top, but we never found them.

Sunday I had a great almuerza (lunch) with the extended family. We went over to one of my aunt´s houses and had a great soup and tamales. We had planned on going to the big futbol game but tickets were hard to come by, so we watched it together after lunch. My mom said people started camping out on Wednesday night to by tickets on Saturday! It was the championship of the Aerosur Cup, Wilsterman (a Cochabamba team) vs. Bolivar (La Paz). My family is split and it a riot to watch the game with them. We brought out the TV from the back room and put it in the living room. It was a great game with lots of joy and suffering because it was so close. it ended in a shoot-out. I was nervous and I had nothing to be nervous about. There are more games this spring and hopefully I can make it to one. They are ridiculous. Then we went back to my family´s apartment, but to the one above us (another aunt) to play cards. Every sunday night they play ´gim´. i don´t really know how to spell it but i eventually learned how to play it. however, I got my butt kicked and I think I owe mi tía Marta 15 bolivianos, but I´m not sure.