and im stuck in santa cruz

Well Im writing from a wonderful wireless internet coffee slash food place in Santa Cruz, where I have been for a few days now. The other new Santa Cruz volunteers as well as some older volunteers spent a couple days buying things for our sites and generally getting to know the city. I have to admit, Im pretty excited to have Santa Cruz as my regional city. It has everything a homesick gringo could want- tofu, good coffee, go karts, and a waterpark. I dont plan to come here very often in my service, but its good to know that it is an option for when Im missing home. I think that when I go to a city Ill go to Yacuiba, which is smaller and closer and they sell everything a gal could want, like cheddar cheese.

In other news, some of you may have heard about the events going on in the Chaco. I feel pretty lucky right now to be in Santa Cruz because there is a lot going on in Villa Montes and Yacuiba. Heres the general story as far as I understand it from the Deber I picked up this morning. The Chaco is in a very unique position. It is part of the department of Tarija, but the roads leading from the capital of Tarija to the Chaco are very poor (so poor that PCVs are prohibited from traveling on them.) Just as the geographic connection between the region and its representative government is poor, so are the political relations. Chaquenos are very proud of their strong work ethic, indigenous Guarani communities, tradition of cattle raising, and awesome local song and dance. Many in the region feel as though the national and departmental governments ignore them, so on monday the cities of the Chaco declared a general strike because they feel that the aid they receive is not proportionate to the amount of income their gas reserves provide the rest of the country. Then yesterday groups of Chaquenos in Villa Montes and Yacuiba tried to take the gas plants to shut off the valves to Argentina and Tarija and further express their power and auntonomy. They were fought off by the Bolivian military and in all about 50 were injured and one man was killed in Villa Montes from a shot to the leg. They expect things to continue the same way today because the mayor of Villa Montes has cut off his dialogue with the national government. I hope that things will settle down there soon so I can get to my site and get to work. I believe it will because most Bolivians recognize that the best way to get things done is via democratic means. Furthermore, its just too stinkin hot in the Chaco to spend all that much time protesting in the hot sun-its a mild 90* F there today.

We peace corps volunteers have been fortunate because only one Chaco volunteer happens to be in his site right now. The rest are in other cities for meetings and doctors apointments, so theres not too much to worry about on that front. Im not worried about returning to my site when this all settles down because all of the violence was at the gas plants and therefore I would not be in any sort of danger. Just as the tragic events in January in Coch were very localized, so have been these events in the Chaco. Ill be sure to keep you all apprised of updates as they become available.

Cuidense,
Yak