Bienvenidos!

Hola, friends, family, and LFS students!

As many of you know, I'll be leaving for Bolivia in just a few days!  I don't have my own pictures or stories yet, but here is a little background information with some pictures I borrowed from the internet.

It's hard for me to give a really good description of the country now.  Even though I've been reading a lot, I have a lot left to learn about it!  Bolivia has a really unique culture and is different from much of Latin America.  For one thing, it has the highest percentage of indigenous people in South America, and it was the first South American country to elect an indigenous president.  About 40% of the people there speak languages that have been spoken there since before Europeans arrived (such as Quecha, the language spoken by the Incans).

Most of Bolivia is either high in the Andes mountains or low in the Amazon rainforest, which gives it really diverse landscapes and animals (everything from llamas to pink dolphins).  It also, though, makes it difficult to get to and from the country - and even to travel from one place to another's within the country.  Because of this, Bolivia has always been a little isolated from other countries, and has maintained a lot of the unique things about it.  Today, for example, Bolivia is one of the only countries in Latin America without a McDonald's!

 

Llamas in the Andes

A pink dolphin in the Amazon

I'll be staying in Cochabamba, which is one of the biggest cities in the country.  Cochabamba is located in the middle of Bolivia, still in the mountains but not as high or as cold as most of the cities in the Andes.  I don't know a whole lot about it, but it sounds great - it's known for having nice people, a mild climate, and good food.  What more could you want?

Here's a picture of Cochabamba at night.  On the hill on the right, you can see it's most famous landmark - a Christ statue even taller than the one in Rio de Janeiro.  Supposedly, the one in Rio is 33 meters tall because Jesus was 33 years old, but this one is a little taller because, technically, Jesus was 33 years and then some when he died.

In Cochabamba, I'll be working with a non-profit organization called Amanecer, which was founded in the 1980s by a group of nuns to help children who were abandoned, abused, and living on the streets.  Today, they run several different orphanages and schools throughout the city.  I won't know which program I'll be working with until I get there, but all of them sound amazing.  Here is Amanecer's website: http://70.33.246.80/~amane514/.

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this, but I'll post pictures and stories when I have them and internet access.  I'd love to hear from you all when I'm gone - please send emails and Facebook messages about your lives!

LFS students, I miss you all and hope you're having a great school year!  If you have any questions or comments for me, you can post them below here and I'll respond as soon as I can (but please check with your parents first).