The Llama Chronicles: Christmas Edition

Hello the people,

¡Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Hope everyonés holiday was lovely lovely and that you didńt miss me too much. I had a very
weird Christmas, first of all it was summer,second of all, Ím more like an aunt here than a kid so
my role shifted from participant in the arguments over who gets to play with the new toy
first to mediator of such arguments. It́s just good that my little kid Spanish is stupendous so I can
successfully intervene without the focus of the conflict shifting to how bad my spanish is...

I did find a cd by a very cheesy guy Miguel Luis or Luis Miguel, cańt remember which, who does
Christmas songs in Spanish with a swing band. Incredible. Learned Santa Claus is coming to
Town in Spanish to the delight of young and old alike.

We did big celebrating Chirstmas Eve, getting started with hot chocolate and panetón (think
fruitcake but less icky) around 8, moving on to presents which was quite the event. After
presents we spent an hour playing with the playstation-esque thing that Dayana got
(they cost $10 in the market here. INCREDIBLE!) because the duck hunting game was just too
fun. My abuelo kicked everyonés butt. Then we got in the car and went down to Plaza Colon to
look at lights and for the girls to play some, there were pony rides and bouncy castles and other
carnival stuff which Ciria, bless her little 6 year old heart, found thrilling beyond all reason. Then
on to the other grandparentś house for dinner, which started at midnight and was huge, more
presents for the kids and the playing and chatting continued on until 2 in the am. It was fun,
lots of family, lots of love, some tears over sharing presents (hey, it was MY hat and I dońt have
to share if I dońt want to) and it was basically all very new. I spent a lot of it doing that thing I
have to do a lot, watching confused until I get what´s going on and can participate.




Christmas day was all eating and visiting family and neighbors and being visited and playing.
Turns out I can put together a play kitchen faster than anyone. Points for me! I got a makeover
from Ciria who was eager to use her new makeup set and between you all and me, blue and violet
are not my colors...when they are applied to my cheeks. It was pretty comical but to her credit
she did it in the dark, by christmas lights only. I got to talk to my family in the states all through
their christmas dinner which was lovely and made everything better. Next year I will be the
heart of the christmas joy, just watch.

I am also writing now to let you all know that I did it. I  really did. I found the llamas. There are
pictures to prove it and I will send them along assoon as I find a computer that will let me upload
them. My mission iscomplete, which is really too bad because I have MONTHS left here.


I need a new project and I am open to suggestions. The last few weeks before Christmas have
been spent traveling, which wasn´t as adventure-y as I expected. First, I spent 5 days traveling
to Copacabana and Isla del Sol with Danielle Kravetz (for SLC people) which was part for fun and
part to cross overinto Peru to get our passports stamped. Lake Titicaca is the highest
navigable lake in the world and I could feel it. I forgot how icky altitude exhaustion is but that
difference of 4,000 feet between Cochabamba and the lake was plenty. It didn´́t help that
Danielle and I kept choosing these ambitious hill-climbing hikes but that́s not the point.

I dońt  want to talk about Peru, it was a disaster and not even a funny one but the chicken was
good. Copacabana is lovely and touristy and by the water, which I miss a lot when Ím in Cocha.
It́s Boliviás major pilgirmmage site for the Virgen of Copacabana, the Cathedral is the focal point
of the town and there is this hill, that looks less painful than it is, that has the stations of the cross
all the way to the top where you have altars of the seven sorrowful mysteries and forthe Virgin
herself along with incredible views.


Isla del Sol, howeveris the center of joy in the universe. To the Incas it was the birthplace of the
sun and it is incredible, covered with ancient terracing. The only downside is that you step off the
boat and have to haul yourself up these awful ancient Incan stairs, which you cańt appreciate
until you come back down, to get to the top of the island where they hide all of the hostals and
llamas. The hostal, though, was charming and the views incredible. It came complete with
resident llama and lots of donkeys who make hilarious noises about every half hour. At night,
because of the altitude and the darkness of the island and surrounding lake, the stars are
incredible. Previously hopeless with the whole astronomy thing, I could find constellations and
saw stars I didńt know existed. I wish I could have spent more time but Cochabamba and a group
trip were waiting so I only got one night under those bright Bolivian stars.


Back home a day and off again, this time to Sucre which is the official though not active captial of
Bolivia (I really cańt explain, I dońt get it either) and Potosi, which used to be the richest city in
the world and a major silver-mining center. Sucre is very white, they have a law that dictates
that everyone in certain areas of the city must whitewash their buildings once a year to preserve
the reputation of the city. Tons of Spanish colonial architecture and a really bizarre park with a
kid́s speedway and pony rides and a lagoon and a small eiffel tower. It also had this incredible
musuem of indigenous textiles of the jálqa and tarabuco quechua-speaking groups, I was a fan.
Potosi was high and cold and gray and seriously needs to look into some sidewalk expansion.


Cerro Rico looms over the city. Once it was the source of an incredible amount of wealth, which
mostly benefitted the Spanish, now it is still mined but is considerably less bountiful. It was a
strange contrast, the poverty of the city and the people in it and the remnants of its legacy as the
richest city in the world. Amazing architecture, often poorly maintained surrounded by
delapidatd buildings. On our final day, we took a tour into the mines of Cerro Rico. This was an
adventure. First of all Bolivia doesńt do seatbelts and really doesńt do safety codes. We got all
dressed up in these bright orange uniforms and headlamps and piled into a van and started a
harrowing journey up the mountain in the rain. I tell you, every ride at Disneyland, every
rollercoaster, every roadtrip with my biological father did nothing to prepare me for this ascent.
It fell somewhere between thrilling and horrifying but I lived to write the email, so I guess it́s all
fine. Our guide stopped off with us near the top to set off an explosion of nitroglycerine and
fertilizer and it was pretty strange, watching him running with the burning fuse to drop the
package off. The boom echoed off the surrounding mountains and I cannot believe that they do
that inside the mine. Unbelieveable.

Yes, so there you have it. More Bolivia joy than anyone could ever need. That is my Christmas
gift to you all.

I hope you all did have beautiful holidays and that your vacations (or not) continue to be great
fun and everyone has a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Lots of love from here and the llamas!

LOVE!

Mollie 

The Llama Chronicles: Monkeys and Todos Santos

Oh, friends and loves,

 
It´s been very long and a lot has happened. I´ve been busy, I´ve been lazy, and this has
definitely been one of those emails that I have avoided for so long I have come to dread
writing it. But the time has come and I miss you all and I know you miss me so I´m
going to do my best.
 
Shortly after my last epic edition, I took a weekend trip to the Chapare, a region of 
the Cochabamba department known for jungly things and a  hot climate as well as for harshly 
suppressed coca growing. I had two missions for the trip. The first was to eat fish. 
They have rivers and fish and I miss both lots. The second was to see monkeys. Oh me 
and my ill-conceived ideas for animal adventures...It was hot and humid and I was smelly and 
sweaty the whole time but I took incredible hikes with my wonderful wonderful travel 
buddy Abby and ate beautiful fish and the whole thing was a little surreal for me 
because for me the jungly things had always existed exclusively on tv and in national 
geographic but there I was with bugs I didn´t know really existed outside of the zoo 
and everything.

As for the monkey mission...Abby and I went to this national park 
which serves as a refuge and rehab center for illegally domesticated exotic animals 
like monkeys and it´s supposed to be great because you go and you can play with really 
chill wildlife and take great hikes. So we go, we walk into the park, are on our 
first trail on the way ON THE WAY to the monkey playground and something grabs me by 
the wrist so I turn around to see what weirdo is trying to get my attention on this 
trail in Bolivia and its a monkey, who proceeds to climb up my back and sit on my 
head. I shouted something and Abby turns around and sees this and doesn´t know what 
to do and all I can think is "what do you do when you have a monkey on your head?" 
Fortunately, as I was pondering my options, it took off into the jungle relieving me 
of the need to make a decision about what to do. That was not all for my head in 
Chapare, however. Sitting in a restaurant that night, with roosters and dogs and cats 
wandering around, I feel something land on my head, but when I ran my hands through 
my hair I didn´t turn up anything so I let it go. Three mintues later, Abby´s face 
contorts with horror and she says "it´s not a spider." 
Honestly, that was the best thing she could have said
because I caught sight of something bright green and 
defintiely in my hair out of the corner of my eye. Up
and out of my chair, knocked it off my head and it
turned out to be a tree frog. I must have the nicest-
smelling hair EVER. 
 




The week after that came Todos Santos on November 2. Back in grade school I knew of 
Día de los Muertos but never really got it. Don´t really know what the deal is 
everywhere else, but here in Bolivia, it was amazing. The day before, starting around 
lunchtime, I went with my abuela and Karina my "mom" (she´s 28) and the little girls 
around the neighborhood. In families where someone has passed away in the last three 
years, they set up an altar for the person in their living room or patio decorated 
with food, flowers, pictures, and bread. The idea is, as it was explained to me, that 
the person´s soul is tempted back to join the family by the food. Neighbors, like us, 
come around to visit with the family and the soul of the departed and are obligated 
to pray for the soul of the dead. The customary prayers are 10 Our Fathers, 10 Hail 
Marys, and 10 Glory Bes for each soul, usually it´s one departed but at one house 
there were 8...that´s a lot of praying. I didn´t know my prayers in castellano so I 
said mine in english which was a great novelty. The family of the departed thanks you 
and compensates you for your prayers (and this is where it´s like a strange trick or 
treating) with a small glass of wine and a plate of bread and cookies. You take a bag 
and collect bread as you go to eat for the next two weeks. You drink a lot of wine 
and a lot of chicha, this maize beer which is really not delicious. If you are close 
friends of the family you sometimes get fed too. I had a stomach infection and I was 
hurting, but I ate two full meals, two soups and drank more wine and chicha than I 
ever wanted to see in my life. Day two of Todos Santos is more of the same, some 
revisiting of the homes of close friends and then around noon, the altars come down. 
We were at our closest neighbor´s house. They fed us and then we and some other 
neighbors took down the altar by dividing up the bread and flowers and things on it 
and turning the tables it was set up on upside down. this is to confuse the soul so 
that it will go back to the cemetary when the family goes later that afternoon. The 
family of the deceased cannot participate in taking down the altar so they make 
themselves busy passing out what´s left of the wine and chicha. Apparently, you have 
to finish what´s left in the house, and because this is Bolivia, we made our offerings 
at the four corners of the altar to Pachamama before drinking every glass or gourd. 
The floor was such a mess when we left...After all of this we went to the cemetary to 
clean and decorate the tomb of Kari´s grandfather. Man, I´ve never seen a cemetary so 
full or so like a party. I mean, mariachis! If I had thought the chicha and trick or 
treating/bread collecting activities were over I was very wrong. We visited I don´t know 
how many graves to pray and collect our baked goods. It was amazing. It was very 
intense and I was very very sick but it was also very very cool and I loved having 
the opportunity to participate.
(Photos below: Todos Santos with the familia...extended)
Oh man, what next? This is way too long already so quick rundown. There´s been a first-
grade graduation, a stomach infection, I climbed to Jesus, got chased by a pug while 
taking my morning run, ate llama, haven´t seen one though, love of my world Abby left 
for the states, was very sad for a while, figured out how to get happy again though I 
still miss her crazy, all the presidents of Latin America are here for a meeting, the house flooded, 
the parents are building a new part of the house which is noisy and messy, Christmas 
is coming, work is good, am trying to develop a project, am learning quechua, saw the 
longest parade EVER (12 hours), made a Bolivian thanksgiving - lacked sweet potato, 
included chicken, AND...I think that´s all that´s happened here...I think. Dunno, it´s 
hard to say.

I don´t know what happened with my Spanish. I was cranky when I was sick because it 
was awful and then all of a sudden...it was like I saw the light. Still need practice, 
clearly, but I must have eaten something special or I don´t know what because I have 
just been talking up a storm the last week and a half. Thank God, too. I was starting 
to worry that I would be here ten months, get home, and still be crap. 
 
I´m off to Isla del Sol to take care of my visa with Danielle Kravetz (for you SLC 
people) this week and to Sucre and Potosi the week after that. May take off to Chile 
and Argentina after Christmas for 2 or 3 weeks...clearly I take my job here very 
seriouly...
 
Anyway, miss all of you, especially with Christmas coming up. I know number one on 
all of your wish lists is a ticket to Bolivia to come visit me. I feel like with a 
buddy, I could go find the llamas. I just need some support...Hope everyone is well 
and I´d love to hear from you all. I´m gonna try to get to my individual emails but I 
live for email and those who have tried will vouch for me, if you email me, I will 
email back!
 
I LOVE YOU!
 
LOVE!
 
Mollie