When I first arrived in Bolivia, I literally knew no one - I had sent some emails to the volunteer coordinator, but had never met or even talked on the phone to anyone in the entire country. For the first two weeks, I was worried that this was a huge mistake. I had no friends and was worried that this would be the loneliest year of my life. It turns out, though, that Cochabamba is full of approachable, friendly, and interesting people. Bolivians seemed a little quiet at first, but almost everyone I've met has turned out to be super welcoming and warm, and it hasn't been too hard to make friends. I also started randomly chatting with a girl I heard talking on the phone in English before a concert, and through her have met a bunch of international volunteers from England, Australia, North America, and all over Europe - all nice and interesting people doing cool things with children, micro-financing, journalism, people with disabilities, and more. Plus, over the past two weeks, I've gotten two awesome new roommates to explore, do errands, and play German pirate-themed dice games with!
2. Beautiful Parks
In addition to being surrounded on all sides by picturesque mountains, Cochabamba is full of amazing parks and gardens. Every few blocks, there's a plaza or square filled with flowers, trees, pathways, fountains, and playgrounds for kids. The parks are always filled with families, couples, and groups of teenagers, and the bigger ones have kiosks with food and plastic tables set up for people to have lunch at. Wandering through the parks here reminds me a little of summer in Minneapolis, when everyone is outside walking around the lakes - only here, park season lasts all year long and is full of beautiful tropical trees and flowers.
3. Great for Spanish
Cochabamba is a wonderful place to study Spanish. For one thing, Bolivian Spanish is pretty neutral - it doesn't have a strong accent or a lot of slang that's used only here - so it's fairly easy for foreigners to understand and useful for talking to people all over Latin America. It's also a great place to go to be immersed in Spanish. There aren't many foreigners, and not a lot of people speak English. In the Dominican Republic, everyone spoke English and, especially when I would travel to touristy areas, tons of people would use that with me. Here, that has never happened. Besides talking to the other international volunteers (and sometimes to one Bolivian friend who wants to practice English), every conversation I have is en español - which is awesome!
4. Perfect Size
With almost a million people in and around Cochabamba, it has plenty to do - museums, restaurants, parks, concerts, open-air markets, hiking trails, soccer games, places to dance - as well as important practical things like good doctors and an airport. But at the same time, it's not so big that it's overwhelming. Almost everything important is downtown (only about a 20 min walk from my apartment), and even though I've only been here a month, I rarely have trouble finding my way around. Except for one unfortunate bus trip that accidentally took me two cities over, I haven't been lost once - impressive, as that happened all the time when I first moved to Pensacola.
 |
| This sign says "We'll make of Cochabamba an eternal spring" - a little ironic given how cloudy it was that day, but usually true! |
Cochabamba is nicknamed "the City of Eternal Spring" - a name it totally deserves. Every day here is like a perfect spring day in Minnesota: temperatures in the high 70s or low 80s during the day, and in the high 40s or low 50s at night. You can leave your windows open all the time, and, while I've learned to take a sweater with me everywhere (it gets chilly in the shade even during the day!), you never need more than that.
6. Los Gatitos
 |
| Cariño |
 |
| Amorcita |
So, overall, Cochabamba is wonderful, but stay tuned for the next post, when we explore its less-charming side.
No comments:
Post a Comment