Sometimes it is hard to even know where to start. When you are a writer, as many of you that read blogs are, then you understand how important words on a page can be. Lately, it has been hard to find the words to accurately describe all of the whirlwind of things that have been crossing through our atmospheres. How we have overcome all of the illnesses and weird reactions that we have had to things, but mainly how we have come to terms with the fact that we only have a week left in Bolivia. There are often moments in the day when we are sitting in our arctic tundra office in Tiquipaya, Bolivia when we just turn to each other and say “we are in Bolivia guys”. It’s like we need the constant reminder to understand the significance of where we are. It feels like we have been here forever. We have all gotten used to our daily routines; waking up early in the morning, eating our morning breakfast (always bread, butter, jam, and maybe some terrible nescafe), walking to get our busses or trufi’s, arriving at work, going home, spanish lessons, an afternoon coffee. It is always the same walk and I have started to recognize faces and they have started to recognize me. People say it is hard to change, it is hard to be away from home and feel the same things that you do at home, but when I really think about it, if one opens themselves to the idea it really isn’ t hard at all.Of course, there is no place like the place that you grew up and that will always be a part of you, but as you grow with time you begin to realize that you are so much more then what you thought you could be (well hopefully most of us anyway). It is not necessarily checking off the different places places and countries that you have been, it is more about how those places affected the person you are. Some of them may not because you do not let them, but the ones that do constantly change something with in you. We may all remember the beautiful landscapes that we saw in Bolivia, or the sunset at the Aymara new year, or that one time we were all sick or broken at the same time, but for me the things that matter the most seem to be the most simple. The people that we have met, the conversations that we have had, the acceptance that somewhere so far from home could still feel somewhat familiar, or the fact that hearing and speaking in another language that most of us don’t speak back home (besides Andrea cause she’s Columbian) can not feel weird. For me, I never studied Spanish before coming to Bolivia and knew the least out of everyone that was in our Nourish group, but knowing Italian and taking Spanish lessons has helped me tremendously. I even look forward to being able to speak in Spanish for two hours with my teacher or walk her to her bus after class perusing the streets and talking about politics, differences in culture, or what I am doing during the weekend all in a language that was a complete mystery before I left. This is something that is completely beautiful and unique about travel, it brings out something with in you that tends to constantly surprise, challenge, or impress you. But, sometimes you also disappoint yourself. This comes with the expectations that we are given with traveling to far off lands and having adventurous experiences. It is easy to imagine yourself in the middle of all having the time of your life, but when you get there you may not find that it is everything that you wanted it to be. That place that you saw in the picture, you know the one with the girl in a dress beaming while a background of mountains sweeps behind her, well maybe you forgot, but its winter in South America. Maybe, you didn’t even bring a sufficient jacket. Maybe, you were sick that day, but tried to do it anyway expecting yourself to somehow be revived by the infinite beauty of the mountains. Maybe, that was not the best idea. The saying “things aren’t always what they seem” is unfortunately true a lot of the time, but not all of it. There are fragments of travel that bring you more beauty and more growth then you may have expected.

Last night we all went to this even called “parlana”. Basically you pick the flags of the countries where you can speak the language. I picked up a flag to show that I was American, but I wanted to practice Italian and Spanish. I spent most of the night ironically speaking in Italian with a man from Sicily, but the idea of the “parlana” is something that I thought was really cool. I would really like to incorporate this type of activity at my school or find one like it to be a part of in Boston. It was an enjoyable and productive night for all of us. Actually, to be honest, this week has been productive overall. We wrote on our little blackboard at work all of the things that we wanted to accomplish by the end of our stay and have all been working hard to accomplish them.We are working on trying to get to get Freddy (creator of CECAM) to Guatemala to be part of a bici-maquina work shop at an organization called bici-tec. We are all really excited about the prospect of this happening because we can only imagine that with Freddy’s knowledge of bici-maquinas and all things “hands-on” he will learn really fast and soak up every moment of the workshop. We found out about it from the a organization in Boston that we visited before coming to Bolivia in Boston called Bikes not Bombs. They are an incredibly wonderful organization that we were all incredibly impressed. if your interested, look them up and learn about what they do! Along with that we also are making documents and downloading videos to teach the teachers how to use the internet and different ways that they can make soap. There are many other things on our list, but I won’t bore you with the details. Today and tomorrow are our last days at work (WAIT WHAT) and on Friday morning Keara, Carrie, and I are heading for Salar de Uyuni for our last trip in South America. We all leave Wednesday for Santa Cruz. From Santa Cruz, Bolivia all the girls (except for me Pascale) will leave to go back home. I will be heading to Brazil, Panama, then meeting my dad in Costa Rica before heading back to California. I think the general consensus is that we are all sort of ready to leave or at least we have come to accept that our time in Bolivia is coming to an end. This experience has been so many things, I can’t wait to see what the last week brings us.

To everything and more,

The BU/BC Nourish Bolivia team (Pascale, Keara, Andrea, Carrie)

P.S.- Listen to this song, it pretty much is our experience in Bolivia and it is a pretty good music video as well. Just imagine having to hear this song everyday on your way to work. Now, close your eyes and your in Bolivia. Enjoy!