CLUB COBRA

So when I got back from vacation in January I joined a new gym. It is called Santa Rosita and is pretty near my school. My friends (Rebecca and Debrorah) and I are the only foreigners there which is nice, it is a completely Bolivian scene. That is nice because sometimes it feels like we are really separated from the community we live in. I speak English all day at work and have mostly non-Bolivian or English speaking friends so it is cool to spend a few hours at night in real Bolivia.

The gym is a pretty big scene. It is about the size of two basketball gyms. It has two raised wooden stages in the middle where the wrestlers, tae kwon doe and karate groups practice. The boxers and kickboxers (I'm in one of about 5 kickboxing group) are sort of scattered around the periphery of the gym. Some days there is a boxing ring set up, some days not. There is a big, official ring set up now because there was a competition last weekend. It was great. I have never been to a live boxing match and was worried that it may be a little too bloody and gross for me. I'm not really into watching people fight. It turned out to be a lot different than I thought. Because it was kickboxing, there didn't seem to be so much face/head punching as I expected. And given that most of the fighters were really good, they seemed to block most of the punches and kicks that came at them.

I'm in Club Cobra. Yes, that is for real. We have black shirts with gold iron-on. It is a big cobra with the words Club Cobra on the front. The back has two people fighting and it says Full Contact Kickboxing. We have to do pushups if we don't wear our shirt to practice. Hard core! Each group in the gym is their own club with their own name. I have not actually had any full contact fights and don't think I ever will. I do it for the workout. People at work say they would pay money to see Rebecca and I in the ring together but I don't think we will ever entertain their desires. Two of my teachers fought last weekend. It was a big tournament and a ton of people came out to watch. It wasn't too crazy because you had to pay 5b to get in. That really curbed the mob. After about 6 matches our assistant Frank went got into the ring. He is the one in the club cobra shirt in the pictures. He didn't win. He isn't so fast on his feet. Renaldo went next and it was great. It was definitely the fight of the night. He fought "Jumpin' Jack Flash". Not sure that guys real name but he is quick. It was a good fight and they were evenly matched. Lots of punch and kick blocking so I liked it. In the end, my teacher prevailed and won the title. It was pretty exciting.

I think the highlight of the whole thing was the huge sound system set up that played Eye of the Tiger at the beginning of each round of each fight. So by the time our professor fought, we had heard the song about 28 times. It was like being in the movies and as cheesy as it was, it really got everyone pumped for the matches, fighters and audience alike. What an international song!

Pictures
-Renaldo, our teacher, when he won (he is on the left, Jumpin Jack Flash is on the right)
-Renaldo getting ready to fight, Frank in Club Cobra helping him out.
-Frank getting ready for his fight. He was bummed to lose!

The Micro

Last week I introduced the Micro to my commute. It is the system of local busses that go all over the city and into neighboring cities as well. It started as a budget issue. After my expensive vacation to Argentina I decided to buckle down on my spending. Not only do I want to save money but I want to fund some more vacations down here. Because the Boliviano goes so far it is easy to spend money on things and justify it as being cheap. But as we all know, a lot of cheap things turn expensive really quick. So the micro. I thought I would take it to church on Sundays since I'm not on a time schedule and can experiment with different lines. A trip on the micro is 1.5 b's (roughly 25 cents). A taxi ride to church is 15 b's so there is a 13.5 b savings one way. That adds up to a lot of b's let me tell you. As the week went on I decided that 1.5 b's beats taxi fares enough that I needed to take the micro any chance possible. I have saved about 125 b's this week alone. When a meal out is 10b's, you are talking a significant savings. It is also a reminder of what a high end thing a taxi is when it is that much more expensive than public transportation.

But this has been more than a money saving change to my week. It has been a humbling experience. I see first hand the poverty in this city as I drive through the many markets. I see women who sit with their little kids all day long (7am-10pm) 7 days a week selling anything from fruit to soap to batteries. I see people struggling on an hourly basis to sustain the life they have. There is so much in this country that is just eye opening in an unexplainable way. The separation between rich and poor is so vast and just being a foreigner puts me in the rich category. It is not a pleasant place to be as the rich in the country don't do a lot to help others. So taking the micro has been a good start to a more normal lifestyle in Bolivia, a good way to see the need first hand, a good way to appreciate the health I have and a good way to start thinking about how I can become a more useful part of the community!

Another micro perk: There are no bus stops so you get on and off where ever you want!! For those of you who have ever begged a muni driver to let you on at a corner and been denied, you know how great this is.

Montevideo, Uruguay (January 3-January 4)

Two words: Yerba Mate

We only spent two days in Montevideo which was enough time to see the obsession with Yerba Mate tea. So of course, we had to partake. I got supplies at the store (a thermos which they filled with hot water for me and tea). Then Ian scouted out the street market for a good cup and we all headed down to the water for some Mate time. Stacy loved it and is making it his new East Bay thing. Ian, Tracey and I weren't too sure about it. You are suppose to soak the cup in hot water for several hours which we didn't do so I think we were tasting some of the wood from the cup which was not so good.

Cold Mate as made by my friend Analia
Make a jug of crystal light juice.
Add ice
Pour the juice over a cup of mate (it can be any old cup)
Drink it with a filtered straw
Soooo good.

Pictures
-Mate Supplies
-Montevideo 9pm Sunset
-Stacy, Ian and I drinking Mate
-Stacy and I
-Mate Prep

Christmas in Pinamar
-Stacy and I on the bus to Pinamar
-Tracey and Stacy at Christmas dinner
-Jeremy, Tracey and Stacy on the beach
-Christmas toast

A few more pictures from Argentina
Tracey, Sabrina and I in our matching sweatshirts (it was a chilly day when we arrived)
Playing in Buenos Aires
Streets of Buenos Aires
Tracey and I out to dinner
Stacy and Jeremy doing Math homework

Argentina (December 22-January 3)

These pictures are a long time coming!!! I have been back from my vacation for a month now and can't believe it has taken me so long to share the pictures.

Jeremy flew down on the 17th of December and we had a few rainy days full of election excitement. Evo won and we left for Argentina (more on Evo later). We met up with Tracey in Buenos Aires along with my friend Stacy who teaches in Oakland and Sabrina who teaches in Valencia, Venezuela. Tracey's cousin Ian and his girlfriend Linnea also joined us. What a group! It was so nice to be in Argentina. The roads are so nice and smooth, the streets are clean and things are just beautiful. Of course I don't want to dog out Bolivia because I love it here but it was a refreshing break to be in a more developed country.

Our group headed out of Buenos Aires right when we got there to spend Christmas in a small beach town called Pinamar. It was like being back in Northern California. There were pine trees everywhere, nice paths to walk on, a cool, well develped downtown. The 5 hour bus ride down there was even nice. The seats reclined all the way and we got food and movies. Not bad! It was nice to lounge on the beach on Christmas day. We ate good meals and had the chance to celebrate the holiday with a ton of others. Christmas isn't a closed up family thing down here. People go out to eat and shoot fireworks off and are out and about with their families. It was different but really nice! The highlight was the grandma who stood up to toast the entire restaurant on Christmas Eve. She just gave off the most welcoming, sincere and loving attitude. It was comforting to have that being far from home. I thought of my family as Tracey had us tell all sorts of christmas memories over our meals. Mom, Roger, Johnny, Jia-min, Annie, Michael, Cindy, Kurt, Eric, Charlie, Kristen and kids, I missed our morning pajama time together!!!!

After swimming in the Atlantic for a few days we headed back to Buenos Aires where we had an apartment for the week. Apartment travel is the way to go! We just lounged around reading, drinking coffee and hanging out each morning before heading out on the town. Buenos Aires has a great metro system and a cool bus system as well (although unlike Bolivia there are bus stops so you don't get the luxury of door to door service like you do in Santa Cruz). Because there is a bigger middle class in Argentina, sitting and having a coffee at a cafe feels normal and not so elite as it does in Bolivia. It was nice to just roam the streets and be with friends. On January 3, Jeremy left and Tracey, Stacy , Ian and I headed to Brazil via Uruguay.

Pictures:
Tracey and Jeremy at the airport in BA
Stacy, Jeremy and I visiting Evita
Cooking in our apartment
Jeremy's last night
Jeremy, Sabrina, Stacy and I at a local cafe