Our Home in La Paz

2324 Calle Capitan Ravelo, La Paz

I had a request a while back to post pictures that show more about the house where we're living and I'm finally getting around to it. Although it's late, (you will be getting this as we're on our plane home!) in a way it's appropriate to show you the house as we say goodbye, cause in all likelihood we are saying goodbye to this house, too.

The house was built in the 1940's by Javier's father, and at that time it was at the edges of the city. There are three adjoining houses, each with an upstairs and downstairs apartment: the orange one, the blue one, and another blue one around the corner. These houses are where Javier was born and raised with his family and his cousins' families. Susan and Javier moved into the orange house where we are today when they got married, 42 years ago.
The neighborhood is now filled with tall buildings and offices and interesting (!) nightclubs instead of homes, and only Tia Angelita and Tio Celo are left next door. The other homes have been converted into offices, and Angelita and Celo will be moving in June themselves. It is very likely that Susan and Javier will move in the next year or two--to a smaller home and one closer to their kids in the southern part of the city.

Which means this may be our last stay here.

If you combine my 9 trips to La Paz, I've spent close to 1 1/2 years living with the Gisberts. This home has been in my life now for more years (24) than my own grandparents' homes (23). Larry is only 5 months behind me in time spent here (our first trip here together was our honeymoon) and Elliott has spent 6 months here with us. We certainly have MANY fond memories and this home feels like home.

Of course it's not the house but the people in it. I know we will come back to Bolivia to see the family, and it will be great not to spend so much time in the car going up and down the hill...but I for one will miss this house.

I made a video walk-thru of the house, and although it uploaded, it won't seem to display. In case it works for you: try http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2Y0xQjWVZ-QczjsFu49VHQ?feat=directlink

If it says "try again later", you can look instead at the picture album at http://picasaweb.google.com/krchildress/2324CapitanRavelo?feat=directlink

So we leave for our US home tomorrow, and Susan and Javier are coming with us for the occasion of Marcelo's graduation from ETSU. It will be a nice transition to have them with us for a while (hopefully it will get us off to a good start speaking Spanish at home!)

Our three months in Bolivia have flown by. Thanks for following our adventure! Its been fun to share and hear back from you. There may be one more post yet, as Elliott had an amazing send-off from school today that he might write about...but we'll see.

For now, signing off from La Paz!
Karen

Happy Birthday to Foster & a language sample

Foster celebrated his 4th birthday on Monday.
His day started out by going to school. I was there for a visit to take pictures of the kids & their classes, but I arrived in time to witness an elaborate birthday circle time... and have lots of kids ask me when the cake was coming. Mrs. Vicki, one of Foster's two teachers in his multi-age (3-5 yr old) class.
Home at lunchtime, Foster found the creative train cake Abu Sue created for him.
We sang, blew out candles...the kids played all afternoon at the house, and then we celebrated again in the evening by taking all the kids to "Dinos"...a very kid friendly restaurant in the super mega center with the biggest slide/play structure I've ever seen.

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On a side note, today I convinced Elliott and Foster to let me film them "reading" a picture story in Spanish. The story is "A boy, a dog and a frog" and is just a series of illustrations, so Foster and Elliott are telling the story as they see it. (Susana did not want to participate, although she is equally capable of this if she had been in the mood!)

If you'd like to hear them, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VUqLZ7zFaCNYixu3J7selQ?feat=directlink
After you click, just wait a minute for the video to load.

More family

There's another family that is part of this household: Petrona, her sister, Julia and two nieces Megan and Jimena-- who all work as housekeepers.
This is Petrona and her 5 year old son Marcelo (dressed up to attend a school ceremony). Petrona has worked for the family for 11 years. She and Marcelo live here at the house and also have their own apartment for days off.

Marcelito and Foster have been fast friends since they first met--they play together constantly. Here they are now and a few years back. Marcelo calls me "Tia Karen" (Aunt Karen)--so much so that Foster often calls me "Tia" too! And Susan is Marcelito's "Abu" (grandmother) Sue.

Petrona's sister Julia with her daughters Megan and Lady. Megan is a high school senior this year and has started working two half-days a week at the house to help pay school expenses. Although uniforms are technically illegal, all schools-- public and private-- seem to require special gym clothes and one or more dress suits for the older students, plus school supplies and fees for special events and ceremonies...really adds up.
Jimena is Petrona and Julia's niece. While looking for full-time work (she has a degree to teach English) she has been coming on Sundays and has a particular talent for hair braiding that is popular with the girls!
Julia in 2007 with Susana and Marcelito in awayo
Playing with cars on the dining room table.

Petrona has always showered affection on all the kids. She and Julia also love talking to Elliott and Larry...and grilling me for health care information (?!)

The housekeepers--especially Petrona and Marcelito—are very much a part of our daily lives here. It is thanks to their employment at the house that I have had the absolute luxury of NOT having to wash clothes, wash dishes, make beds, or tidy up (too much), etc. for the last 3 months! Plus they can be here to meet the school bus if I'm out for the morning and running late. Combine that with a built-in playmate in Marcelito, and you already know that Susan does all the shopping and cooking for us...well you can see I'm at a full-service, 5-star, kid-friendly resort!

I happened to read the book The Help shortly after arriving here, and it was rather uncanny to be reading about 1960's housekeepers in Mississippi at the start of the civil rights movement while being part of a household with full-time "help" in 2010. There are a number of similarities--particularly in the way housekeepers and nannies become central in the lives of the children they raise. (This is in general--in this house it happens to be the opposite—as Abu Sue is central to the raising of Marcelito, but that is unusual). And certainly in Bolivia civil rights are secure, now more so than ever. The indigenous President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, keeps the rights of the indigenous front and center at all times.

It's the major economic disparity that is the challenge—it is precisely because wages are very low that housekeepers can be afforded. This has been the case for a long time; live-in or full-time housekeepers are such an institution in Bolivia that the floorplan for many homes (and even some small apartments) often includes a "maid’s room."

I am not going to try to offer a more in-depth analysis of the socio-economic divide here. The main thing I wanted to do was introduce these folks that are part of our daily lives and that have helped to take care of us. They are empleadas, but they are a family within a family that have been a wonderful part of our experience here!

More Misc

Some random things that didn't make the first "Misc" installment...
Like the inside of a minibus...note the windshield fringies.

And the padded dashboard cover...required
equipment!

Construction Bolivian-style. Poles or timbers to support concrete and brick everything. This is the start of an addition to Rosi's house.



Bolivian bricks

Empedrado. I don't like riding or walking on it, but I love the artistry involved in paving a road with cobblestone.

Also, in the last misc I only showed the most improvised of street vendors. This is the much more common style of street kiosk. These are everywhere.

And what it looks like when the shop is closed.


Pankara Ave--Susan calls this her Wal-Mart. You can get everything from toys to kids clothes, housewares, greeting cards and gift wrap, pharmacy items...it's all here in 3 blocks of wall-to-wall kiosks

In case I left you with the idea there were no supermarkets here--this is Ketal, one of the biggest, complete with an aisle of imported Kellog's breakfast cereals (about $5 a piece for the smallest box).

Fashion (and lack thereof as you'll see below). This is standard footwear for Rosi, and most other women in my approximate age bracket.

And then there's me--here I am at a gathering with a bunch of Mom's from Susana's class. There were 6 women, and all but yours truly sported heels.

Sagarnaga and Linares Streets are where the tourists do their shopping. In my time here I have not run into another US traveller--lots of French, English, Israelis. There is uniform surprise when I say I'm from the US.

And I'll leave you for today with this one: a troupe of dancing cholitas...apparently they practice on this walkway every Saturday morning.

Karen and Elliott's Rainforest Adventure

Elliott and I ventured into the world of backpacker travel with a weekend trip to Rurrenabaque, in the Bolivian lowlands where the mountains meet the amazon basin. We had an awesome time!
A little table of contents for this entry: you will first find our top ten lists, then Elliott's commentary, and last links to the full photo album and a zipline video.

Top 10 highlights:

1. Riding ziplines through the forest canopy

2. Hiking through a narrow canyon with bats flying overhead, tarantulas underfoot

3. Taking part in pressing sugarcane through a hand-turned mill and drinking the juice

4. Swimming in a pool at the foot of a waterfall

5. Stars! For Karen--this meant seeing the milky way & the southern cross in an amazing night sky from San Miguel; for Elliott, discovering “Star Wars” could be rented and watched at the internet café in Rurrenabaque
6. Boat rides on the Beni river

7. The thrilling ride on a motorcycle "taxi"...the only kind of taxi there is in Rurre, which means you hang on the back and hope for the best!

8. The saving grace of Rurrenabaque: the refreshing mirador swimming pool

9. The yummy yucca treats for breakfast at the San Miguel de Bala Ecolodge

10. Hanging out in hammocks, singing with Santiago

Top ten not-so-good things

1. Walking around tarantulas, and under flying bats less than 1 ft from your head.


2. Ravenous "marihui" biting sand flies. Ouch.


3. Incredible heat and humidity: I have not sweated so much, ever.


4. Motorcycle taxis: not only could I imagine the worst, they were expensive.


5. Traveling by plane that only holds 19 passengers, and on an airline that has had 2 crashes involving a member of Sergio’s family!


6. Discovering that what makes a town charming to backpackers maybe has very little to do with us (late-night places to hang out, internet and phone amenities, ultra cheap lodging). The trusty Lonely Planet guidebook made Rurrenabaque sound like Shangri la; I would skip the town entirely next time around!!


7. Remembering that the reason backpacker “hotels” only cost $13 is because they don’t offer towels or soap or quiet, and the included breakfast of bread and coffee isn't such a bonus!


8. When you have talked up and anticipated the ziplines for months, and your guide isn’t finding the drop-off spot along the river…and of course this is not cell phone country…worrying about the unspeakable disappointment to your son if it all just falls through.


9. Our casita at the San Miguel de Bala ecolodge was lovely, but a hefty hike, 65 steps up from the dining hall/central area. Worst part…that meant working up a sweat, no matter what!


10. Right before bedtime, having our guide point out what to look for in an insect i.e. how to keep an eye out for scorpions!

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Here's Elliott’s commentary on select topics, (as dictated to me):

Bat canyon hike: when we were going to the bat canyon, I had no idea what we were going to experience. First we had to walk a bit and then at one point before we were going to enter the canyon we had to roll up our pants so we wouldn’t get wet. When we first entered the canyon I wondered how much water had to go through to make the canyon look so smooth on the sides. And then when we got to the half point, there were bats flying above us, very close to touching our heads. At one point we saw a small little spider and then we saw a TARANTULA! I was a bit scared of the tarantula. There were some lizards in there too and Eduardo found a fresh water crab too. When we got out of the canyon, I didn’t know we had to go back through it. I was a little nervous if you ask me. But it seemed must faster on the way out. All that was missing was a boulder to chase us out past the tarantula and all (like Indiana Jones).

Rurrenabaque, what it was like
In the town of Rurrenabaque it was H-O-T. I could almost not resist it. The hotel was way too basic, they didn’t even give us towels. The shower was pretty much the whole bathroom, and there was only a fan for air conditioning. When we saw the hotel, I thought what would we do all afternoon. Gratefully, there was a super, super nice swimming pool outside of town. And we got to go on a MOTORCYCLE there since those were the only taxis in town. At the swimming pool, there were turtles and trampolines and a giant see-saw too. Last but not least a nice cool swimming pool. We stayed all afternoon. It was very nice. Then we got to ride MOTORCYCLES back to town. That night a dinner I ate a huge plate of spaghetti with pesto which was declicios. Then my mom went upstairs to write an email and one guy gave me movies to look through and guess what I found….STAR WARS (the Empire strikes Back). So I had to watch it for $3.50 which let our stomach digest. And then we went back to the hotel and I slept in my underwear with the fan on high. The next morning I had some coffee and it made me hyper on the way to San Miguel de Bala.

How to make cana juice
To make cana juice [sugar cane juice] there was a special machine that you had to turn a big piece of wood in a circle while someone puts the stalk of sugar cane through the machine and it smushes and tons of cana juice comes out. And we tried some fresh from the machine. It was really good. When we added lemon it was even better.

The Swimming hole
Another hike we did in San Miguel de Bala was hike to a little water hole. First we got in the boat as always to get to the staring point. In the boat there is always a breeze on your face. It was a 40 minute hike at least and it was super hot again. They even had ladders there to climb up some of the rocks. And when we got there I surely jumped in the water with my clothes on (exaggerated!). I got in and felt the nice coolness of water and played in the waterfall. I swam back and forth over the whole of blackness (dun, dun, dun, dun) I even made my mom come in.

Zip line: The zip lines were the coolest things. But it took a LONNNG time to get there. We were sweating and it was hard walking uphill but we saw some of the coolest things along the way. Like a caterpillar that was gigantic and leaf-cutter ants. But when we got up to the zipline part it was worth it. Because after all the sweating we did, we got to feel the breeze going down the zip line. The first zip line, I wanted my mom to go first, I was nervous. It was because we were just going connected to a big string from one tree to another going over the canopies of all the trees. We had to put on a harness and special things to connect you to the zipline. We also had a leash to connect us to the platform so we didn’t fall off. And we also had a helmet for safety. We had a glove kind of like a baseball glove that we used on the cable to brake. After the first one, I wanted to go first every time. Because when I went on the first one and I felt how fun it was I had to go first on every one. It was fun because you were up high, going fast, breeze in your face, and looking at the view below. There were 8 different ziplines, some were long, some were fast, some were short, all were totally EXTRAORDINARY!!!!!

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For a 10 second video of Elliott on one of the zip lines, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/437iBEXDSUISmq8CwRcANA?feat=directlink

For the complete picture album, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/krchildress/Rurrenabaque?feat=directlink

Family, continued

Susan and Javier, June 15, 1968

Now, to bring the family story up to present day, and focus on the folks we are living with:

Javier went to undergraduate school at the University of Detroit, then moved to Nashville to do graduate work (economics) at Vanderbilt. Susan was working in Nashville at the time and next thing you know...she was on a plane back to Bolivia with Javier! Susan has a book's worth of material about coming to Bolivia in 1968, not having a lick of Spanish, joining a huge extended family (18 of which met her at the "airport" when she arrived and also paid her a visit on her honeymoon....) I hope she'll write her story some day!

Susan and Javier have three kids: Pablo, Rosi and Marcelo.
Here they are lots of years ago:

and not so many years ago.

And somewhere inbetween is where I come in to the family story. I first met Susan in 1981--when she came to the US and visited her foster sister Phyllis, who had recently become my stepmother. Whatever relation that makes us, Susan quickly became my dear Tia Susan.

A few years later, as a sophomore in college, I invited myself to spend a semester living with their family, and that visit in 1986 became the first of many. This trip is my 9th stay--most of which have been extended stays--at their home in Bolivia.

Right now Rosi, her husband Sergio and their 4 kids (Gabriel, Nicol, Alexia, and Lucas) are living in the downstairs part of Susan and Javier's house because they are doing a major remodeling of their own home (not the least of which involves raising their roof to add an attic rec room). Pablo and Dani live in the southern part of the city near Pablo's auto repair and body shop in Achumani, and Marcelo and his wife live in Jonesborough with us!

For those of you who don't know them, here's a picture of Francis and Marcelo from their wedding in 2004.

And here's some assorted family pictures from a picnic in the country we had on Good Friday, plus a few random others. A remarkable thing to me about this family is how often they spend time together: we have lunch (which is the main meal of the day here) with the entire family REGULARLY 3 times a week (that's 12 of us, including me, E, S & F), plus we also have Sunday lunch with Pablo and Dani and Dani's family (while Rosi, Sergio and family go to his mom's house). It is a schedule that is well respected and only changes some on holidays/special occasions.
What the Gisberts (and Childresses!) do best...gather to eat!

Susana, Foster, Alexia, Elliott and Lucas
Susan and Javier take it easy
Rosi and Sergio
Pablo and Dani

Gabriel (17) and Nicol (almost 15)--we don't see so much of them these days! Ga is either training for futbol or with his girlfriend; Nicol is at dance practice or out with her friends. When we do have the pleasure of their company, it is truly a pleasure: I can only hope my kids turn into teens like these!
Our picnic site at Achocalla



You could see Huayna Potosi from our picnic. That's the mountain Larry, Sergio and I climbed a few weeks ago!

A few assorted photos of other frequently-seen members of the family: Here are the Fornos--they come for lunch every Thursday. Eduardo is Javier's nephew.


These are the folks we usually see on Sundays. Pablo, Dani and Dani's family:

her mom Pati, sister Gabriela holding niece Maria Pia, and sister Cris with husband Alejandro
Maricarmen and her daugher Luciana playing with us at Toca Todo--the "Hands-on" playplace. Maricarmen is the oldest daughter of Javier's sister Carmen, and closest to me in age. I spent a lot of time with her on my first visit to La Paz.

Antonio's daughter Sara displaying the jewelry that she makes to sell to captive visiting relatives :) Antonio is Carmen's son, who is an avid mountain climber (whose guide and equipment we used for our Huayna Potosi adventure).