Taking advantage of ze bees

Good evening from Santa Cruz, the autonomista capital of Bolivia. Im here on my way to Cochabamba for my three month reconnect meeting, where Ill see all the kids from my group for the first time in, you guessed it, three months. Itll be a chance for the remaining members of Bolivia 44 (four of our original twenty-nine early terminated in their first few weeks) to present on their sites and generally decompress after what most consider the hardest period in ones service. I for one, am really looking forward to seeing all of the folks I grew close to during training, my Coch host family, as well as a STRAIGHT WEEK of cleanliness, hot showers, delicious restaurants and all those worldly desires.

As for Chimeo, Ive been really busy and really happy during the past month. The cold returned to such an extent that, for the first time that my friends in Chimeo could remember, there was snow on the peak of the mountain that overlooks our village. In the past couple of weeks, however, its been relatively mild, and the strong winds that are typical of August in the area have arrived. Im REALLY looking forward to the return of the heat and bee season. Ive been working more with a fellow named Juan, a beekeeping expert and counterpart of a volunteer from a nearby community(Taiguati). Hes extremely extremely motivated and I plan to spend about one day a week in his community learning the nuances of beekeeping in the Chaco. From there Ill be able to better train the folks in Chimeo, who generally have a strong tradition of beekeeping but lack some basic knowledge that will help them produce more, better quality honey and other bee products. A neat technique Juan taught me about last week, for example, is called ¨taking advantage¨ of the bees. When the spring floration comes with the heat in about a week, the bees will all head out, start to collect pollen and nectar to get their colonies going again. It takes 21 days for each generation of bees to hatch, so in order to build up the number of workers who will then be able to make more honey, a good beekeeper tricks the colony. You give them a ton of that sugar water mixture to make them think its spring and go on building up their colony about 40-50 days (2 generations) before the floration. This way you have a full colony and you dont lose 50 days of summer and have a bigger harvest! I really enjoy learning these tidbits about apiculture. It all makes so much sense but I wonder how long it would have taken me to put it together without Juans help. Hes a great guy to work with and I look forward to the bike rides to Taiguati where, as an added bonus, I get to bike through a river. MOST EXCELLENT.

Aside from the bees, I have been spending my time teaching computer classes and moving into my new house. Ill be living alone, but next to two families I know well. The new place will have a BIG porch and two rooms, one for sleepin and one for cookin. This will be a vast improvement. I feel like the family Im moving away from feels slightly insulted, but to be honest, theyre never around, I dont really like them, and I think theyre all crazy. So thats that. Everyone in town, it seems, feels the same way. Countless kids and old ladies have told me they are excited for me to live apart so that they can visit and drink yerba mate and read books (that have arrived thanks to the kind donations of a few of my you all-thank you all so very much) and watch movies at my place. Im also looking forward to having my own land to work. Ive already planned a veggie garden and some sugar cane crops and maybe even some grape vines. It feels really good to have a role in the construction of a home. I am building it with the help of my wonderful counterpart and dear friend, Enrique. Were making it out of adobe and cement, and Ive really come to admire how just about everyone in Chimeo has built there own home. To have the self-sufficiency of something so basic as building ones own home is really something to be admired I think, no matter what Adam Smith might say. Another perk is that my home has become a source of income for the few members of the community who are working on it. In Chimeo it seems it really does take a village to raise a child, and maybe even a village to raise a bathroom.

As for the gushy emotional stuff, Chimeo just feels like home now. No longer do I feel the need to fill every moment with an activity to keep away the lonliness. The once foreign faces in Chimeo have turned into friends, and it feels great. They know all about my family, friends, likes, dislikes, and all the rest. They know how many nieces I have and that my cortaje is going to Africa. It really is a bit like being a rockstar, and it can be exhausting. For example, last night as I cleaned my room, six kids sat outside my window, just WATCHING. I tried to use subtlety, but in the end they wouldnt leave until I told them it was late and they needed to leave and go home to their mothers. As I walk down the street, timy voices yell YAKELYYYYYYN! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? WHY ARE YOU GOING THERE? WHEN WILL YOU BE BACK!?!? every time I pass. I pass about 6 times a day. It never gets old, for them at least.

As usual, theres so much more to write about but my fingers are tired, so Ill hope to get to it all in the next entry. Tomorrow I will be in Coch for meetings, then Ill be back in Santa Cruz on the 2nd to pick up the one and only Steve Wood. Hell be here for two excellent weeks before he shoves off to work as an agriculture volunteer with the Peace Corps in Senegal (read his blog at www.stephenawood.wordpress.com) . I fear it might take some readjusting once he goes again, but so it goes. I hope you are all doing well and I certainly miss you all dearly.