Sugar, Gasoline and Taxis.

 When we are no longer able to change a situation,

we are challenged to change ourselves.

~ Viktor Frankl - from Man's Search For Meaning ~

From my broken/sprained ankle to a week long transportation/worker's strike that has shut the country down, our character has truly been tested here in Bolivia. Last Monday, about five days after arriving in Cochabamba, just when we were due to start working at our much awaited internships, a newspaper article came out that changed everything. The transportation union had decided to raise fares on public transit, run by TRUFIs, or "Taxi RUta con FIja" - fixed route taxis, and Micro Buses. While the fare raise was only from $0.25 to $0.33, it was proposed in a volatile environment as gasoline prices and sugar prices are double or triple what they typically are here due to national and international shortages. 

Naturally, people have blamed the government for these price increases despite the fact that they are tied to international commodities. Bolivia is a country with a rich history of community organization and protest. On Tuesday, the primary workers union, which organizes all of the other unions, took to the streets, blocking the entire center of all major cities in the country. Tuesday was the only day I was able to go to work (Aaron still hasn't been able to get to work). People were throwing rocks through the windows of buildings in the Plaza Mayor and even at TRUFIs and Micros that were still on the roads trying to bypass the blockage. 

Photo of the Tuesday protest that I cautiously snapped from a distance. 

Due to the violence, all public transportation went on strike on Wednesday and Thursday. Because may people rely heavily on these shared taxis to get to work, most businesses and restaurants were closed and people were confined to their homes. On Friday, the worker's union used old tires and boulders to block every major bridge to get into the city, protesting the transportation strikes and demanding increases in their salaries to match the fee increases. It should be noted that they demanded more than a 100% increase in their salaries and refused to meet with the government unless that demand could be met. To give you and idea of the salaries for different professions here, teachers in Bolivia make between $175 and $300 per month, Doctor's make about $350 to $800 per month. You can buy a cup of coffee for about $0.30 and an entire meal out at a restaurant for about $2.00. It should also be noted that in 2006, all government employees received a 13.6% salary increase and a 12% raise in 2009. While the current president, Evo Morales, "laughed" at the request for a 100% increase, we are hopeful that some sort of government/union meeting will occur tomorrow, allowing us to get to work (and allowing offices to open for the day). 

Throughout these strikes and protests, we've quickly come to understand that the pace here in Bolivia is the polar opposite of what we've known in the states. While we've felt cooped up at "home", growing tired of the same five english books and our deck of cards, our Bolivian family (and others that we've observed) seem content to spend the day "doing nothing". Our host family has openly shared with us that Bolivians don't work a lot, usually from 8 to noon or from three to seven. Bolivians enjoy a healthy amount of "descanso" or relaxation. I imagine this might feel different if you are in your own house surrounded by your own community of friends and family. Having only arrived here two weeks ago, this has been a difficult adjustment for us.

We live on the outskirts of town with a nice lower-middle class family - a mother and her daughter who's about our age. In the afternoons, the mother's two grandchildren come over while their mother is at work. Their three-room apartment is on the third story of an older building. About twenty bags of cement mix and an old TV obstruct the entryway as you walk in and some neighborhood dogs are usually roaming the street outside. The apartment building next to us is being renovated by hand and we wake up at 6 in the morning to the sound of a hand operated metal cutter contraption. We'll have to do another post on the construction processes here in Bolivia. The country is in an "industrial revolution" phase, with many multi-story buildings going up. However, they seem to lack many basic building materials and any safety procedures. We've noticed that they use small logs to prop up levels of cement (see photo) and men walk around on top of ten story buildings without hardhats or security scaffolds.

Metal Cutter Contraption next to our apartment building.

 One of the high-rise buildings going up in our neighborhood.

 Example of the wood beams they use to support the cement layers of buildings.

It's been such a valuable experience to learn first hand about the politics and lifestyle here in Bolivia and our "host sister" has been kind enough to introduce us to some of her friends. While I know we will eventually settle in, it has been a challenging couple weeks between the city shut-down, my mobility problems, and such a different style of life. We continue to remind ourselves that life's challenges are supposed to help us discover who we are and what we are capable of, not hold us down.