While the last post was necessary, let us return to why we have this blog: to keep you up to date with the daily happenings of our lives here. Even more important to me, I have not been able to articulate some of the ongoing theological issues running through my brain concerning the first month of development work, but as the thoughts form in my head I will pass them along to you, and hopefully soon. :)
However, let us go back to the sharing of our daily lives here in Bolivia to bring us back to a little lighter subject matter. Let's talk about our favorite day in Cochabamba... Saturday, AKA El Dia del Mercado!
This past weekend was overall pretty enjoyable and busy, particularly Saturday. While Saturdays in a way have turned into our busiest, longest days here, they are normally always worth it. First, we awoke early like always to go to the market. Waking up before 7 on a Saturday morning in the States for us was almost unheard of, and I would lie if I said we rolled out of bed without any struggle. Why so early do you ask? Well one reason is to avoid the large crowds in the market after 9 AM. Ever go into a Philly Trader Joes on a Sunday afternoon? With a million people all with carts running into each other and even the programmed to smile employees are finding it hard to do so through their ridiculous shirts due to their pay not nearly being worth the chaos in front of them? Well for similar reasons, going to the market after 9 would be a chaos I would not like to be part of. Another reason is when you go early and are with a relaxed crowd, you get to know the vendors a little bit better. They have a little more patience for your broken Spanish, asking them how much every single thing costs, and getting them to run to the stands around them to see if they can break your 200 Boliviano bill for 43 Bolivianos worth of fruit (refer to Rachel's Whhhaaa? post). Also, this way you can do a little pricing experiment. While prices for food at the market is supposed to be regulated, things vary from stand to stand, and while it is hard to prove, one could suspect that certain sellers (taking the view that everyone with white skin is rich) will purposely overcharge you. The more we get to know the sellers that are friendly with us and give us good deals, the more we will continue to get such deals in the future.
While above are all good reasons, nothing motivates us more then the sweet and savory delight that awaits for us once we depart from the taxi-truffi: pastel de queso. So simple in its construction, a very thin layer of dough with some salty mennonita cheese put in the middle, thrown into a large bowl of frying oil and then sprinkled with powder sugar creates what you see below:
If every human ate one of these for breakfast, all wars would cease and poverty abolished due to pure generosity. They really are that good. They are paired with a hot corn drink named "api". An odd concoction but it is hot, semi-thick, and a little sweet; and for a cold Bolivian morning it is exactly what we need to perk us up and make us feel better about life at 8 AM. I wish I could send you all this breakfast. Did I mention it is less than $1 per person?
From there we purchase all of our food for the week. We have made some friends with a few of the sellers and here are some pictures of there stands!
Our favorite vegetable stand. The teenage boy selling to us won my heart over when he sold us heads of broccoli at 2B less than the competitors around him. The veggies are cheap, to die for, and he remembers us every week...which I imagine is not that hard for him with our skin color and blonde hair bright blue eyes Rachel, but still...
Just to give you an idea of the some of the other sellers and the nice variety. Definitely worth the early commute.
Our spice lady friend has pretty much everything we would need and more. You can buy the local herbs/spices by the weight and I get a new one each week to try. This week some local dried oregano. It reminds me of sage, and smells amazing!
On to the fruit! Bananas anyone? Such a variety, and they always ask if you want the fruit for right now or for in a few days, so you eat it at the right time. The fruit sellers have all been very nice, and how could they not be? They are surrounded by amazing colorful fruit!
And here is me with our normal fruit seller, finding out about why some apples cost more than others, trying to see if we could get the price lower for getting more. The mangoes and pineapples are probably the best I have ever had. We have not got strawberries yet but they look great, maybe the next thing to try. If you cannot tell, I get pretty excited over my fruits and veggies. :)
After the market this past Saturday, we met a friend named Juan. He was on our flight from Miami to La Paz and we became friends. He promised to take us out for some saltenas and finally we took him up on such offer for lunch. Saltenas are essentially an empanada with much sweeter dough and filled with something similar to what you might find in chicken-pot-pie, but spicier. They are somewhat the fastfood food of Bolivia, but taste wayyyy better than any Bigmac or Whopper. The combination of flavors are amazing. They are very rich though and quite unhealthy, so I do not think they will be a weekly endeavor but for the days we need something awesomely delicious and unhealthy, they will be there.
One thing cool about Juan is that he has been living in Upstate New York for many years, so not only does he speak English, but his Spanish is very clear and easy to understand. I can practice my Spanish with him and when I get stuck I can switch to Spanglish. On the other hand, Juan's generosity and willingness to show the best of what Cochabamba has to offer can backfire when you are a vegetarian.
For example, we are supposed to meet Juan at the market this Saturday morning and he boasts that they have the best spicy chorizo sandwiches ever, and he thinks I would love them. The problem is one I knew I would come across here... I have not eaten any form of red meat in many years. I have eaten a little bit of chicken roughly every week here so that I have a little animal protein in me to prepare for such situations, but sausage? If I was invited over for dinner, it would be one thing. I would suck it up and deal with it. But this situation is slightly different. It's not like he is making the meal, he just wants to buy me one. At the same time, he is incredibly generous and I am unsure if turning him down might be misunderstood. Hmmmm... decisions decisions. Well I will let you know what happens.
I hope you enjoyed my rant about Saturdays in the city. Even on the "fun" days there is still so much to learn and experience, almost as much on the days at the school and with MAP. Hopefully soon we will blog more about our experiences here with MAP day-in day-out, but for now we leave you with a view we see daily as it is right out of our bedroom window. The way the sun hits the mountains at sunrise (and sunset on the opposing mountains of the valley) is simply breathtaking. The beauty of the mountains here is beyond words. Enjoy...
Peace,
Daniel
