After much too much delay, you are all being welcomed into my living room...or rather, the city of my life. I´ve always known that I would love cities...it was something inate about me, but if I love cities...and Los Angeles the city of contridictions and oxymorons was the first to capture my heart, then it is appropriate that Cochabamba, Bolivia would be the second to begin the journey of seeping in under my skin.
And so now, i will have miniture tour for you, since i do not have many pictures for the moment, be these will definately begin the lengthy introduction that is necessary for such a overwhelming city. Cochabamba is expansive. It has stretched and spread its arms and legs wide into the countryside, slowly pulling outer cities into its own boundaries. During the winter (the approx. months of our north american summer) the Cochabambinos say that there is this layer of smoke and fog, that does not exist during their summer (begins in november). This is obviously dependent on several different factors, but for the most part, it still a lovely change from the Inland Valley in California
Here is the Christo! El Christo de la Concordilla is an imposing and lasting image of the city. It is a source of pride (Everyone in Bolivia knows that Cochabamba´s Christ is taller than Brazil´s.) And the city´s reference point for directions. The towering stone Christ is in the east of the city, facing towards the north. The humor of the situation does not escape me that good ol´ Christ helps me get home all the time.
And here are a few tidbits from our most recent excursion to the foothills for San Juan Here is the Christo! We went to the home of a friend of our director here in Cochabamba, Mauricio. He apparently has connections with everyone in the city, and it became apparent that this particular connection was one of great wealth. We stayed at an absolutely incredible home of unique architecture, multitudes of rooms, horses and huge dogs, a babbling brook and a forest, to simplify it all. On one of the walks we took in the surrounding areas we had a few interesting encounters....including this...which is, believe it or not, an incredibly large bull that we watched saunter into the neighbors yard and start frolicking...yes prancing in a dust heap. Confused and filled with joy at this unexpected treat we stopped and watched until its caretaker, now named `the bull-whisperer´, came and whistled at it like a perturbed parent until it sulked out of the dirt pile and returned to the street. Realizing we were now walking beside this very large bull, which was roaming free, and its counterpart bull friend which had just been watching its antics, we decided it was best to move on. However, they were not done playing yet and as we tried to keep a convincingly even pace they continued to speed up behind us and eventually prance around us into the nearest intersection...causing some motorists to look on with alarm. However have no fear! The non-chalant bull whisperer whistled several more times and they rounded the turn as we dashed away. And to think our friends laughed when we told them we were chased by bulls on the way home.
We had an incredible night hanging out around the fire and well, roasting the living daylights out of what used to be a lamb. The vegan inside of my cowered a bit, but after 8 hours of watching that sucker i was ready for a bite, if only to prove that it had been worth it. It was indeed, actually kind of good...but 2 bites was enough and we sauntered off to bed having conquored the opposition around.. 1 or 2 in the morning.
