Sunday, October 14, 2007

Things you see walking down the street in Bolivia:
• Dogs
• Cows
• Dogs
• Flowers
• Cholita’s (see below)
• Dogs
• Beautiful views of the county
• Sheep
• Taxi’s (trufi’s) with 50 people in them driving 58 mph
• Dogs
• Cute, cute kids (little ones speaking spanish is just awesome)
• Dogs

What is a Cholita?
A Cholita is a traditional indigenous woman. The dress is a sombrero, a lacy short sleeved shirt with a sweater, a felt knee length skirt with a puffy slip underneath and sandals. They speak Quechua, Castillano (Spanish) and possibly other indigenous languages. The life of a Cholita is hard. She cares for her children, the housework, and the land. We have seen 80 year old Cholita’s caring 50lbs of potatoes on her back running uphill to catch to next trufi. These women are tough. We have a saying down here among our group, “its Cholita strong”. You will also hear us say, “Where’s the Cholita” when we have a physically tough task to do. We have only spent 2 months here, but in that time all I have to say is “you go Cholita!”

Snacks in Bolivia
When hunger strikes in Bolivia, what do you?. Well, if it’s after 8pm, you out of luck. Tienda’s close around 6 ish. Snack time down here in non-existent. When we get hunger pangs, usually we will grab wafer cookies (which has become its own food group for us), crackers, cookies similar to Oreo’s called ¨"cremocito’s", fruit, chocolate milk or juice in a single serving bag (you bite the corner off the bag and suck) or saltena’s. Saltena’s are original to Bolivia. They are like an Irish pasty but smaller. The outside is dough and the inside is potatoes, chicken, awesome gravy and at the bottom is an olive. These are tasty little treats that are sold everywhere.

No comments: