Heading Back, Again!

This past week has been full of wonderful memories and moments! Olivia, one of the residents of Corazon del Pastor, turned 15! She is the first girl to “become a woman!” I had the wonderful opportunity to take her to Pablo’s Peluqueria (hair salon) for her birthday haircut! She liked the cut, but hated that they put curls in her hair after. It was great to spend time with she and two other girls who came along for support. Last Saturday night, we celebrated her quincinera! I had so much fun dancing with the girls and the tias! The celebration turned out wonderfully! There is a tradtion where the birthday girl has 14 friends who walk in formally in gowns carrying roses and candles. Then, the birthday girl walks in with her dad and they dance and go around to each girl to collect roses and blow out the 14 candles. However, because Rosa does not have parents present in her life, her “sisters” and Tyson filled in. Fourteen of the younger girls put on their fancy dresses and walked in with purple candles and red roses. And, Tyson, executive director of Ninos con Valor, danced with Olivia and assisted her with the symbolic tradition. It was beautiful, and as I watched and took pictures, I thought about how lucky I am to be part of this amazing organization! The party went on past one in the morning--it was pretty happening! Also, some of the most popular boys in school came wearing ties and dress shirts. The older girls were very excited about this, and had a great time dancing with the boys!

Sunday was just as eventful with mass at 10 AM, an Indian lunch at Brooke and Tom's house (which was absolutely delicious!), and dinner with Juan Francisco and David! I am really enjoying my time in Bolivia, and am so thankful to have gotten to know and become friends with the tias whom I work with, David and Juan Francisco (two priests that live in front of us), and many others I have met along the way!

Monday I had a coloring session with a few of the young kids at Pedacito and it was so fun! They enjoyed scribbling, and were so proud when they showed me their work! These are the moments that have truly impacted me. I will never forget sitting there and encouraging them to color more and telling them how beautiful and amazing their pictures were as each kid held up his or her paper with pride!

Because of events like these, I have decided to return to Cochabamba in January of 2011! I will spend six weeks at the Maryknoll Language Institute refining my Spanish, and then about five months as a full-time volunteer again with Ninos con Valor! I am very excited about this decision, but it was a difficult one to commit to. I do miss my family and friends from home so much, but I know that returning to Bolivia is what I need to do right now. I am excited to return for a little bit to watch the little ones and the girls grow and mature, to celebrate birthdays and special occasions, to be and older sister and a confident to the older girls, to spend time reading and singing songs to the babies and toddlers. I only wish I could be in two places at once!

I know I have said this before, but I have to repeat it again, I cherish and appreciate each moment with these wonderful Bolivian kids, and could not imagine my time in Cochabamba without being part of their lives. The kids of Ninos con Valor have taught me and continue to teach me new lessons each day! I look fondly on past memories, enjoy the present moments, and look forward to what the future holds for me here in Cochabamba, Bolivia!

So Grateful!

This week I officially have 2 months or 8 weeks left here in Cochabamba--bitter sweet! I am excited to head home and see family and friends, and of course, indulge in the foods I have been craving--Thai and Indian, Italian and Mexican, Barney's and Genova's. But, I am sad to leave the amazing kids I work with. Each day has been a learning experience--learning a new word or a piece of Bolivian culture. I am so grateful for this amazing experience and opportunity! I have not changed, but I am a different person than when I left on June 11th. Because of the stories I have heard and because of the people I have encountered and gotten to know, because of the hours spent with the younger kids and the girls of Ninos con valor and the cultural experiences in South America, I will never be the same.

I came down to Bolivia, the poorest country in South America, to try and make an impact in the live of children who have been abandoned and neglected, abused and mistreated. However, they have impacted me more than I could ever have imagined. I treasure each moment spent with the girls and the young ones. I think of them as the little sisters and brotehrs I never had.

Each girl possesses a heart-breaking past full of trauma and sadness, but each girl smiles and laughs, loves and shows affection. These girls have learned that one cannot be broken by his or her past, but must learn from it, grow stronger, and move forward. These girls are my heroes! They have seen and experienced things young kids should never live through. In the words of Ms. Joss Stone, they are "bruised, but not broken."

The residents of Pedacito del Cielo have similar pasts of abandonment and abuse, but many of them probably, and hopefully, do not remember these experiences. However, the tias and staff of Ninos con Valor provide such love and support to each child to make a positive impact. Despite the painful pasts, I believe these young ones will grow up to know only love and respect because of the positive influence of the organization and staff.

Well, here's to two more absolutely amazing, absolutely beautiful, absolutely marvelous months in Cochabamba, Bolivia!

How is Faith Maintained in Destitution and Sadness?

Today during our volunteer meeting we discussed how God accompanies people and what the importance of prayer is in this relationship. Recently, I have been struggling with the issue of God's role in people's lives. Here in Bolivia, extreme poverty and destitution, sadness and heartbreak, abuse and neglect are seen daily. However, Bolivians, and Latin Americans in general, possess so much faith. Where does this undying, strong sense of faith come from? We talked about how Bolivians who live in such poverty and sadness still have this faith in the Kingdom of God, and many will tell you that prayer is the answer to everything.

During religious celebrations, people will buy miniature items of things they wish for--money and plane tickets, houses and babies, a wedding and a car. This seems very materialistic, but majority of the people who partake in this tradition are extremely impoverished. They will never be able to afford a house or a car or a plane ticket to visit family in the U.S. or Spain. However, each year they return to the celebration with their miniature wants. Why do they continue to return? Do they truly believe that God will grant them these things? Or, is it just our of tradition, habit, and practice?

It is so interesting to me in a place like Bolivia, where people experience poverty and injustices on a daily basis, God is "present" to them. God's name is plastered on the buses and the trufis, many people make the Sign of the Cross whenever passing a church, many constantly pray. Religion is deeply rooted in the culture of Latin America, despite the violence and the poverty, the abuse and the neglect, and the day-to-day struggle majority of the people experience. Maybe God and religion are the only things people have left to bring some kind of hope and relief. But, I just cannot understand how such a deep sense of faith can be held on to, while people go hungry, while babies die, while mother's beg for a Boliviano or two, while you can hear domestic violence across the street, etc.

I left my heart in Cusco!

Well, the trip to Cusco and Machu Picchu was a success, minus getting altitude sickness in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. But, the Peruvian adventure was quite amazing!

The adventure began last Wednesday with a quick flight to La Paz, where we stayed the night. We arrived at the La Paz airport at 7 AM on Thursday morning for our flight to Cusco! The flight was about an hour, but the scenery below was absolutely beautiful--Lake Titicaca and part of the Andes Mountains! Being in Cusco immediately felt like being in another country. The city is very different than any city I have visited in Bolivia.

The driver who picked us up from the airport accidentally took us to the wrong hotel, so we waited with coca mate while someone came to get us and take us to our hotel, Hotel Royal Inca! We showered and got ready and headed to Plaza de Armas, the main plaza, for some lunch. We went to this small, quaint restaurant on the second floor that had an amazing view of the plaza.

At 1:30, we had a tour of the city. We toured the main Cathedral in Plaza de Armas. The Spanish built this church where an important Incan palace once stood before it was destroyed during colonization. There were amazing carvings in the cathedral, and much of the decor was done with 24K gold! The Spanish had a painting done portraying the last supper. The painting portrays daily life in Cusco, but the Spanish insisted Judas wear brown, while all the other disciples wear other colors. Brown is the symbol of the Incas! The Incas always wore brown, and the Spanish did not. Just one way the colonizers tried to dominate and oppress the indigenous.

Next, we visited Qorikancha, which is now the Convent of Santo Domingo. This area used to have temples built by the Incas to worship the fertility gods. However, the Spanish blew the rock walls apart using gun powder and built the Dominican convent. After a huge earthquake in the 1950s, the walls of the convent crumbled to reveal the older walls built by the Incas. Then, we drove up to the hills around the city to see Sacsayhuman, a temple that was built to the god of thunder, Qenqo, temples dedicated to the jaguar and the Pachamama. Human sacrifices took place in the temple dedicated to the Pachamama, and over 30 mummies were found in a ravine behind the altar of sacrifices. Puka Pukara was next! Puka Pukara is a fort that was used to maintain communication with the Machu Picchu region, and to try and fight off the Spanish, who had far superior weaponry. Our last stop of the day was Tambo Machay, a tribute to the water god, who is very important because he fertilizes Pachamama. It is not known where the water comes from that flows from 3 different falls. However, the water has been flowing steadily since the time of the Incas.

Our second day we toured the Sacred Valley of the Incas. It was absolutely beautiful--snow-capped mountains and flowing rivers, green hills and quaint towns. No wonder the Incas chose to live in this area of Peru! Our first stop was the ruins in Pisac. This happened to be the beginning and the end of the Sacred Valley journey for me! I was feeling pretty bad, and ended up throwing up on the ruins...never a good thing. So, I did not get to see much of the valley or the other ruins because I slept in the bus. By the last stop I was feeling better. We hiked up through a small town to see the "most beautiful church in the Sacred Valley." The Spanish destroyed the home of a famous Incan king and built the church on that hill. Only Spanish and noble Incas could enter the church, so the lower classes would sit outside and listen. When we arrived back in Cusco I was so exhausted.

Our last day was the journey to MACHU PICCHU! We got up at 5:45, had a quick breakfast, and took a bus to the train station in Poroy, just outside of Cusco. The train ride to Aguascalientes was about 3 and a half hours, but it was so beautiful! We followed this beautiful river and were surrounded by tall, snow-covered mountians. When we arrived in Aguascalientes, we found our tour guide and headed to catch a bus to the ruins. We entered the area and took a steep path up! When we finally came upon the city it was absolutely breath-taking! We were looking down at the city from above! We saw the terraces that were used for growing corn, the temples to the gods of the sun and the water, and to the condor as well. We saw the famous temple of 3 windows, which represents the 3 worlds--the upper world, this world, and the lower/inner world. Each world is represented by an animal--the condor is the upper, the puma is this world, and the snake represents the lower world. The sacred rock, which marks the entrance to the Huayna Picchu, the famous mountain that has a very important temple at the top and only 400 people can climb this mountain a day, has the same shape as the mountain in the distance. The lower section of the city was houses, workshops, etc, while the upper section was made up of temples and important buildings.

The whole Machu Picchu experience was amazing--to see the work that was put into this city, and realize that no one knows what happened to the inhabitants! I learned so much about the culture and history of the Inca people. It is still alive today because Cusquenas carry on the religious practices, including worshiping Pachamama and other Incan gods. Although I only explored a small portion of Cusco, I feel in love with the city! The people of Cusco today still associate themselves with their Incan ancestors and are proud to have such strong, indigenous roots!