Hello again from Cochabamba, where I have been here for a
month now mainly doing volunteer work with an association called CECAM. I apologize in advance for the poor quality
photos! I have not been hauling my big camera around town lately, and have
mostly been using my cheap camera phone to take pictures.
It’s been a very different experience being in Cochabamba in
comparison to the rest of my travels so far in South America. I guess the main
explanation for that is that I’ve been in the same city for the last four
weeks. Thus, I’ve been able to get to know some other travelers/volunteers and several
local Bolivians pretty well. I’ve also gotten to know the city of Cochabamba,
although I would not consider myself a local just yet.
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| Cafe Paris: Jamon, queso, huevos crepe with a side of verduras (24 Bolivianos = $3.25) |
After having been on the move from city to city since early
July, being now in the same place for a while has kind of given me a temporary
“settled down” mentality. I’ve kind of developed a routine especially because
of my Monday-Friday volunteer work. There have been lots of advantages to
having a routine lifestyle such as eating healthier and being able to exercise more
than before. Since I have been living in an actual house for the last month,
I’ve been able to do a lot more cooking, rather than eating out all the
time. I wouldn’t say doing my own
cooking has saved me money, since restaurants in Bolivia are so cheap, but I’ve
been able to have more flexibility in terms of food and portion sizes. In terms
of exercising, in my last month I’ve scoped out some good running trails. Also
not having to take a 10 hour bus every other day has given me more time to go
on runs several times a week.
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| Friday night beef skewers street vendor |
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| Typical bus stop in Bolivia, stopping just outside of a round about (on the left)...wonder why there is a major traffic problem in this city?! |
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The weather here has a Mediterranean feel: hot (30C, 86F)
and dry during the day. At night the temperatures are a bit cooler (14C, 57F)
so it’s rather comfortable. Cochabamba is at 8,400 ft (2,600m) so I was
definitely feeling the altitude during my runs the first few days. Now that
I’ve gotten used to the altitude, running here feels almost like running at sea
level now.
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| Fundraiser concert in Cochabamba |
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| End of the night 1/2 destroyed Halloween costumes. I was a Truffi (Bolivian 9 person shared taxi) and Carsten (another volunteer) was a Micro (Bolivian bus). See photos below for a real Truffi and Micro! |
As I had mentioned above, another advantage of being in the
same place for a while is really getting to know some of the other
travelers/volunteers. As I mentioned in a past blog entry, in lots of hostels the
main conversation you have with another traveler is “Where are you from? Where
are you going to? How long are you here for?” and then 24 hours after meeting
them, you each go in different directions. Here in Cochabamba, I’ve really
gotten to know some people outside of a basic 10 minute conversation. Also
having to live in a house with 6-7 other people, share the kitchen, living
room, bathroom, shower, etc… makes it feel like having house/room mates again.
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| Typical street food vendor |
The volunteer work has been my main reason for my extended
period of time here. I have been volunteering with an organization called
CECAM: http://www.cecambolivia.org/web/en/
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| My morning commute Truffi....my Halloween costume inspiration |
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| Part of my morning commute to my volunteer work |
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| Carsten's Halloween costume inspiration...the Micro bus! |
Taken straight from the CECAM website:
“CECAM Bolivia’s mission is to create and implement
environmentally sustainable technologies that contribute to improving the
quality of life of the Bolivian people. Our efforts mainly take place within
small, rural communities. We focus on simple training and education workshops
for children as well as healthy and sustainable lifestyle improvements for
communities with poor access to water, sanitation, and safe cooking
technology.”
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| Typical scene at my volunteer work |
My main focus for this project has been building a solar
oven. In other words an oven that only uses sunlight for baking/cooking food or
heating/boiling water or liquids. This type of oven is especially beneficial in
countries like Bolivia where the altitude is very high (and thus the sun rays
are more intense) and where it is very sunny most of the year. In addition to
the abundant sunlight, a large portion of the country has little vegetation or
trees, and thus wood is expensive and can be difficult to find. The solar oven
takes both of these aspects into consideration making it an ideal location to
be used.
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| Solar oven almost finished....... |
After doing some extensive research to figure out the most
cost effective and efficient (from a heating perspective) design, I settled on
a design that uses ½ a 55 gallon drum, has a wooden frame, and an aluminum
interior. There were two other Canadian
volunteers (Carsten and Hayley) working at CECAM as well, but they were working on building a rocket
stove. It’s essentially a really efficient wooden stove oven. On their last
day, we got to test their oven out by cooking some pizzas in it….turned out to
be a success! Another thing I may mention is how many animals there are at the
volunteer place (about 6 dogs/puppies and 10 cats/kittens). It seems like it’s
more an animal shelter than an actual construction/engineering workshop!
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| One of many pizzas we cooked in Carsten and Hayley's rocket stove oven. |
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| 37 Bolivianos for 1 kg of Argentinean steak. That's $5 for 2.2 pounds!! |
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| Llama beef jerkey |
Another big thing I’ve really realized during my trip and
especially my time here in Cochabamba is how life is all about balance. I guess
the next few paragraphs are more about things I’ve been able to think about a
lot in the last few weeks, and may be beneficial to some of the blog readers
out there!
Anyways, if one aspect of life gets focused on too much, and another
aspect gets “left out” then life starts to feel disorganized or off its axis. In
my opinion, I’ve realized life is separated into 5 aspects (no particular
order): Work/profession, religion/spiritual, exercise and health, personal
goals, and relationships/social life. I'll go into detail about them below....
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| The restaurant owner sometimes uses his restaurant as a parking garage |
The “work/profession” one is pretty self explanatory; being
at a job that has meaning or feels like your purpose and is fulfilling. If your work is currently not your passion,
then really trying to find a job that you’re passionate about would fit in that
category as well.
“Religion/spiritual” would be focusing on your faith,
whatever it maybe and setting aside time in your life on that. If you are not
religious, then finding something that puts you in a peaceful mind/state that
is still healthy for you (nature, meditation, etc…)
Exercise and health is about being active from a physical
perspective as well as trying to have healthy eating habits. I have noticed how
good I feel after a run or some other physical exercise. It’s a really
exhilarating feeling that clears my mind when I've got a lot of thoughts or things to think about.
Personal goals would be trying to achieve or learn something outside
of work. For example, trying to learn photography, working on a hands on
building project, or training for and running a marathon. It could also be
projects or events to look forward to such as a vacation or a big event coming
up. Having goals to pursue, working hard, and achieving them make you more
confident about yourself. This in turn gives you a more positive attitude and
motivation to achieve even bigger goals.
Last but not least is relationships and social life. I think
this pillar balances out some of the other pillars, especially the work aspect.
Sometimes we get so caught up in our personal lives and habits that we forget
that social interactions and relationships with other humans are so important!
We are humans, not robots, and all of us need a certain dose of contact with
others from our species on a routinely basis! This is a pretty open ended
pillar since it can range from hanging out with friends once a week to how you
interact with your significant other, kids, or immediate family on a daily
basis. Everyone of us has been lonely before, and sometimes it can suck! On the contrary, I think the pillar of
“spiritual/religion” actually benefits from when you are by yourself since you
have fewer distractions. But it’s also just as important to spend time with
family and friends, so it’s about finding that balance.
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| Rush hour traffic and sidecar motorcycles |
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| Typical Bolivian almuerzo (lunch): Beets, brocolli, carrots, potatoes, chicken, platanos, sauerkraut, and salsa |
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| Lazy horse riding sundays |
I have noticed with my life, when I spend too much time one
of these traits, usually another one of the traits kind of falls off my plate.
Thus, it is all about balancing these 5 pillars so that all of them fit on the
plate that is life. It is very hard to go 100% with all 5 of these aspects
since the plate will overflow after a while. Kind of like going to an all you
can eat buffet and eating steak, pasta, seafood, salad, Mexican food, Chinese
food, and a massive dessert. I guess if you weigh 600 lbs then maybe you could fit it on your extra extra extra large plate, but for
most of us, that food just won’t fit on our plates (no offense to any 600 lbs readers of my blog out there!). I think it’s better to
average out those pillars so that they all fit on the plate rather than
going 100% with 2 things and letting the other 3 fall of the plate. But it is
hard to average them out evenly; since there are certain pillars you will
naturally enjoy or be more interested in than others. But I think if you strive
to improve on balancing those different pieces then life will be more well rounded
and fulfilling. Again this is all my opinion. I am consistently trying to
follow this philosophy although I am far from perfect at it. One thing I am
looking forward to once I finish my trip in the end of December, is to get a
fresh start/plate to be able to put all those things to practice and try to balance them as evenly as I can!
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| Friday afternoon band playing in the main plaza |
That’s it for now, stayed tuned for the next blog post
wherever I may be!
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