Happy Thanksgiving!

Now all I need is a football.

Alpaca Land

I bet you don't have one of those signs where you live. When I get to the truck stop town where we are drilling wells--which are going much better-- the road is paved. It's the international highway and it is always a huge relief to my nalgas to get to the paved part
I recently found myself surrounded by a bunch of alpacas on my way back to Corque from drilling a well. This is an alpaca baby, probably only a few weeks old.
They are really curious and have these giant bugged out eyes that seem to be wondering what the heck I'm doing there.
So fluffy and soft, but...
their meat is kind of tough. Those big black things in there are chuño. They are not good. This is a pretty typical lunch in the campo.

An attempt to show what it feels like

This is one of my favorite pictures ever. The kids here remind me why I'm here, and bring extra joy to my life.

Feeling: hope and happiness

This is the big mountain outside of La Paz from the air plane when we arrived in May

Feeling: Fianlly Real

This is a salty lake bed outside of Huari, another altiplano site, which is starting to fill in now that the rainy season has arrived.

Feeling: Awe

One of the hardest things about Peace Corps is constantly saying good bye to all of the great people you meet while you're here.

Feeling: Sad, awww

Kids and !&$%#

All Bolivian babies are this adorable. I'm not kidding

I'm happier to be here than they are

Do you smell the shit that I'm shovelin'? Me neither because it was a properly maintained ecological dry latrine and it is now fertilizer in a garden. I knew I would eventually be dealing with poop in the Peace Corps, but at least not as frequently as I thought.

Talkin' trash to little kids

During training we gave a "charla" to kids about not littering, recycling and reduction of waste.
In one of the classes a little girl stood up and sang a song for us. It was pretty incredible. So then they wanted us to sing a song so we sang "I'm a little tea pot."
We gave little candies out for people who would answer questions, unfortunately a lot of the wrappers ended up as litter, but it was still a great experience.

Sorry these pictures are lame, but at least they're new

Swanking away the blooze at a fancy place in Cochabamba for my friend Jamel's birthday
Unfortunately you can't see the title, but if you could it would say Phony Baloney, the Counterfiet Kid, starring MR. T

You can find some crazy stuff in the markets of Bolivia, but not what I need... besides rice
This is my best friend in Corque, a plant I named Frank. If there is ever another picture of this or my other plants on my blog I will delete it and you will never have to come here again.
That's all for now. I'll try to improve, faithful reader.