Sunday 29th and Monday 30th :-)

So I had meant to post this last night but the computer here was not letting me and so here is an overview of Yesterday:
Yesterday was an odd day for Bolivia´s dry season in that it rained all
day. From where Hotel Esmerelda is situated, you can look down over
all of Coroico and in the mornings most of the clouds are usually
resting over the town. The old saying is that the clouds are still
sleeping early in the morning until the wind picks them up and wakes
them for the day. Yesterday however, they lingered all day and at some
points the hotel itself was inside of a white cloud.

An old friend of Carol´s stayed with us this passed weekend and into the
 morning. His name is Ron Davis and was quite possibly one of the most
interesting people I have ever met. Born in the States, he left in the
late 60´s and ended up living in Bolivia since the 1970´s. He is a
water engineer and also owns a textile business with his wife in La
Paz. He rocks a happy beard and carried three Frisbees with him in
case any of us were ever up for tossing the disc. On sunday we
traveled to a place about an hour´s drive from Coroico to an area that
was once a community of about 45 Jewish families. All refugees that
came from urban Germany. In the early 40´s, only Bolivia and the
Dominican Republic were excepting Jewish refugees and so a large
number of them escaped to La Paz. However, many were unemployable in
the Bolivian setting and were also discriminated against. Around 45
families left for the countryside to start an agricultural community.
After our history lesson we all tossed the Frisbees with Ron, what a
character!

We also learned about the history of many hostels that escaped to
Bolivia after the war and ended up helping the ditatorships in Bolivia
throughout the 60´s,70´s and 80´s. All a little disturbing but
nonetheless an awesome history lesson. It´s been crazy realizing how
all of this was not that long ago.

Yesterday morning we had a real talk about the war on drugs and watched a movie
named ¨Shoveling Water¨. This film pertained specifically to the
eradication of the coca plant in Colombia via aerial fumigation but it
allowed our class to compare the situation to that of Bolivia´s. After
spending time with people who have cultivated coca for generations,
picked some ourselves and after seeing how it is a major agricultural
component to their society, not to mention witnessing how it is
utilized to practice their religion, it is hard to see the war on
drugs (specifically the war on coca leaf) the same way. This class has
opened each of our eyes to so many new things, like coca cultivation
and cultural traditions, I don´t think any of us will look at a lot of
things the same way.

The rain lifted around 4 this afternoon and once again we were able to
watch the clouds lift through the valleys that surround Coroico. We
all said good bye to Ron and were able to enjoy a nice little hike
outside of town. The plan had been to take a field trip to visit some
Bee Keepers, but it ended up being too late in the day. Nonetheless
another awesome outing. We were able to catch some sun and share some
laughs, which are not too hard to come by in our crazy group. It was a
heavy morning for some people I think. Heavy topics and heavy
questions that we are starting to ask ourselves about what we are
going to do with the knowledge we obtain from here.

  Today (7/30) we visited the rural college. We were all pumped to meet
some fellow students and were able to get their perspective on the many
questions we have.
Loads of love from everyone here in Bolivia. Adios!