listen to the Grateful Dead's Live Rec!!!

---

Let me start off by noting that the band "Grateful dead" is amazing (currently listening). Lets see...well woke up around 9am and remembered during the walk home with daniellea last night that she said that there was hot water in the shower I just had to give it time. So taking her advice turned the shower on and walked back to my room to play some guitar and wait for the water to become hot. About 15min later The water was still cold. Hmmm..Well I climbed in the shower and decided that it should become hot in no time considering alot of time had passed. I waited and waited and actually thought maybe it is getting warmer. No way to tell so about what I thought was at least a half hour later decided well might as well take a cold shower and not waste water considering where I was. Froze my ass off but was actually refreshed when I noticed that I had the water running for a little more than an hour. Uh oh hope Mirza wasnt upset. When I walked down at around 1015 or so Mirza was in the kitchen preparing me some tea that I had become extrememly fond of. We said our usual greetings and of course Daniellea
was still asleep like days before when I woke up. Having some bread and unusual cheese I hadnt had before I Depicted was called "Quesillo" not Queso like I remember but Was very filling and appetizing. I had to try and figure out what Mirza was trying to tell me when I remembered that it was Sunday and she was trying to ask me if I wanted to go to church. Great...I knew this was comming sooner or later and knew that I would have no idea What mass would be about but decided to go anyway. Really I just wanted to check out the church and make a Mental comparison with other churches that I was familiar with. Well I pulled out 1.50 Bolivianos and showed it to Mirza and she explained to me what bus to take to church. The church was actually Structurally built better than anything I had seen in the U.S. but was rather Empty inside. When we first entered Mass had already begun and I thought I noticed a familiar women but wasnt too sure. Sure enough it was Ariselle. we said our greetings softly and Fabio the little one started waving at me drawing lots of attention. The 2 boys were constantly Causing commotion during mass but didnt really bother anybody and kept me quite entertained. Frogot to mention Daniellea was Muslim so she didnt go to Mass with MIrza. Mass was about an hour like usual. Frogot to mention
too that before we left the house that morning I called John and asked what he was planning on doing for the game. He said he was planning on watching the game with Brooke in the next City Quincollo or something. "Well,...I met some americans who are planning on maybe heading down town to Burger King to watch the game but...I dont know what Im doing yet but would rather watch the game with you so...Ill call ya after church to see what Im doing.." I said. ---Well after church we took another Truffee home and Daniellea had arisen and was starting to cook up some Lunch. Excellent I had grown hungry and decided to call John in the meantime to figure out what was going down for el FUTBAL MUNDAL (world cup). He said he had talked to brooke and that he was going to meet up with her. I agreed that would probably be a good idea and I decided that exploring another city would be exhilirating. Problem arose when I figured out that I had made plans to meet up with Ken and Caroline at the institute at 2pm. I asked Mirza to call Ariselle for some how they were related but it was the first time I had done so, so wasnt entirely sure of the outcome. I guess Ariselle put Ben on the line who I had met earlier but I was really expecting Ken which brought minor confusion. Well I explained my mixup with Ken to Ben ha and he understood and said if Ken returned he would have him call me but he was with caroline. Great...hope they dont wait for me at the school I thought. Well no more than 10 min later Ken actually ended up calling me. "Hey Robert, wats up? Your not meeting up with us?" he said.."nah cant going to meet up with some friends in Quincollo ...I guess your..more than welcome to come with..?" I said but he replied that Him and Caroline had other plans and had actually met up with a bunch of people at some going away party for someone and were all heading somewhere to watch the game so...everything worked out excellent. No feelings were hurt and we planned on meeting up at the institute on monday somewhere considering that was our first day of orientation. Well Mirza took A while preparing lunch and I hope I wasnt going to have to leave in a hurry again but feared I was. I was to meet up with John at his house by foot at around 115pm and Brooke was going to be at his house at 1pm so they were going to be waiting for me. Well I explained the situation to Mirza the best I could and she wondered if I was going to be home for dinner and I replied that I probably wasnt. Well Mirza Prepared me a meal about as quickly as she could and I felt bad leaving a little early but it was neccessary. Finishing off some more delcious chilean juice and devouring my meal about as quickly as I could I left short after. Making my way down to the main street which is about 2 blocks I was texted a lost friend "lauren" and was wishing
each other safe travels as she had moved from Cali to Texas and was what seemed to be still adapting. Looking around I noticed some Natives observing me on my phone. I felt no threat but considered putting my phone away as to try and not draw attention to myself. Making my way past the 2 carwashes and stumbling on rock after crooked pavement I actually came across where the fire the night before was. It was a small burnt lot and seemed like it had spread a great deal before someone probably put it out but there was evidence considering alot of scarred tainted brush. The walk actually took about 25 min and when I turned the corner off the main street and stood at Johns front gate. I rang the door bell twice and was greeted by the black dog at first. An unfamiliar man came out and I anounced I was a Friend of Johns and he opened the gate slowly. There was 3 cars parked in the front yard and I observed that there was going to be company. Marta was no where to be found at first but came from down stairs in no time. John was in conversation with Brooke when I arrived and I asked for some water for I had actually traveled quite a distance before arriving at Johns house. There was like little kids running around and a bunch of people at the house I had never seen before. Not before long we left and Brooke led us a new way to the institute I had never been before. We didnt exactly go to the institute but continued south along some river that had a couple benches next to it. Brooke explained that we had to walk some
distance before finding a bus to QUincollo. Apparently JOhn hadn't eaten anything today and was traveling a fair distance on an empty stomache. We went inside some small restaurant to purchase some drinks. I got a Orange Fanta and Brooke bought a sprite. Apparently it was 5 bolivianos if we drank it there but if we left with the glass bottle it was 7. After purchasing mine I noticed I only had 2.50 bolivianos in change and showed Brooke and she reassured me that I had been short changed. THATS MESSED UP!. I walked back into the store where I purchased my Fanta and showed the guy my change and totally butchered the conversation and butchered the name of the 50 cent coins (Centavos?). The man was quite timid at this and actually probably made a mistake on accident but I was pretty sure it was intentional. O well I got my money back thats all that mattered at the moment maybe he wont rip the next American off that comes by. well We continued walking and came to the corner where we were supposed to take a Bus. Waiting about 5 min or so conversing with each other, we flagged down
the 2nd bus to Quincollo for the first one was full and I took note that we were the only ones on at first.
Having no idea where we were going I found what I thought at the time was the best place to sit for if people were to get on and Bus were to become full I would be comfortable. (Apparently they dont wear seatbelts here it is looked upon as UNmanly). After a few stops the Bus had become so packed with about 9 passengers and one guy didnt even have room to sit he just closed the sliding door to the van/buss and leaned against it. This is crazy I thought this would never pass back home its definately a Hazard of some sort. After travelling on Bus for about 30 min and crossing what appeared to be a toll both welcoming those entering Quincollo we were reaching our destination. We didnt even stop just blew right through toll booth on the Truffee. Finally we had come to what seemed like nothingland outskirts of BFE I thought. This is probably where...I dont want to live haha I thought to myself. We got off at the nearest corner and continued down a street that was surrounded by fairly high walls. Making a Left then a right then a left in what seemed like a mini complex John and I joked some. "Yo man this is like Texas Chainsaw!" We even observed some sort of watch tower? "Its for SNIPERS! haha" we chuckled but Brooke kept leading the way at a steady pace. "Brooke this is intense you have to travel so far for class at 8am, id be on the next plane home if this were the case for me" John said with humor and we
all laughed. We reached some sort of Huge Gate. We rang the door bell and no response. I looked through where we had to reach through the gate to push the button on the side and noticed a couple cows. HAHA "Brooke! you live on a farm!" I said thats intense. Rang the doorbell more but no one answered. About 5 minutes of confusion went by when a Truck started to approach with like 3 People standing up in the truck bed. John even made some joke "dude thats like what those guerilla soldiers ride up one except with AK'S!" haha we laughed and the Truck stopped in front of the gate. HONK! HONKKKKKK! HONK HONK HONK!!!!!!!! jeez there was a little kid on board dont want to make him deaf now but I guess there all grown up hearing that sound so it had no effect on them. Another car wanted to pass the Truck just sitting at the gate and actually honked a great deal and I thought there was going to be a problem with no one around but us as witnesses but they were actually friends of the Truck so all was well. Some small kids no older than 15 opened the gate for us and I was struck with awe. What is this place some sort of Ranch? modernized Village? Brooke Led the way past some beautiful Garden
and we came to a Main large room that I can to learn Connected 4 different houses recently with a new Steel Roof. The game had just started about 3 min ago and there was about 30 Bolivian Boys all hurdled around a small T.V. There were seats but they were all taken And I was approached by an older Gentleman Named "TOM". Very similar to Brookes Husbands age who was also named TOM. This man said he had been living on this plantation or what not for 5 years. Wow thats intense I thought wonder whats the situation with all these kids and Kind of sucks for them because theres no Girls. Well John sat down to start watching the game but I followed Brooke up to her room past some sort of botanical Garden, because I had to use the restroom. At first Brookes husband Tom was no where to be found and she kept yelling and searching for him but there was no response. I was worried at first but then he revealed himself. "oh glad you can make it" Tom replied. " what are you doing arent you watchin
the game??!!" I responded and we laughed and he actually led the way to the main corridor where everyone was watching the game. He explained that they lived with a couple man was from Argentina and Woman was from Spain. Well Tom(Brookes wife) call him TOM B. actually had never met John before and fell into conversation as I sat next to the other Tom on a portable wooden bench. The T.v. was small but didnt really matter for the game was still quite visible. the score was 0-0 for the first 45 min and at the break Tom not brookes husband invited me on a mini tour of the mini village. "I asked where are all the girls?" He explained that this was a small place for the boys because they were the ones who were always getting in trouble at early ages in Bolivia and often came from corrupt circumstances such as Prostitute mothers. I also met some Lady who was from finland, talk about an outsider she barely spoke any english or spanish haha someone worse off than John and I was actually quite conforting. Tom showed me around the showers the kids had to use, the rooms they had, the school classroom they were using then showed me some of the wild life. SIdenote----they dont have white eggs here they are all brown. There were ducks of a bread I have never seen before looked similar to a Geese. Tom suprised me by saying take a guess whats in here. All I could hear was a bunch of critters running rapidly around. GUINEAPIG! haha so many of them and Tom explained to me that thats what they ate down here but not at this place because the kids often became attached. There was also chickens, other wildlife and plants I learned to appreciate. I saw 3 cows in the distance and Tom said that there should have been 4 and he hoped one wasnt dead. Well the 4th one became visible in no time and then we returned to the game. Tom Brookes husband And John both helped explaining the rules of the game to me and John shouted like a crazy person when netherlands almost scored and everyone looked at him. "hey man, u shouldnt do that your gonna get jumped rooting for netherlands here haha" I told him. Spain ended up winning and a little unsure of what to do and how I was getting home I was introduced to Juan from Argentina (who had been filming with a fairly expensive video camera the game and his girl friend) and also to Irene' who was from Spain who kissed me which was kind of weird and something Im not used to when first meeting someome random. We were all led up to Brookes house and I could smell a familiar Smell of lasangua when it was cooking at home. We had a Feast with Lasangua without meat because
Tom Brookes husband was a vegetarian, avocado, bread and oil, wine that other Tom brought, and some brocolli and other vegetables. With 7 of us at the table and conversing about various topics I learned alot about where to go, where not to go, not to carry comp. around, not to carry Bank card around, and many other lessons of value that are not mentioned for survival in my current location. After dinner had some tea and was feeling great possibly due to consumption of wine. Brooke left the dinner table early and had also not watched the whole game with us because was not feeling well. Tom not brookes wife informed me that within the next 6-8 weeks I was going to be sick too it was just a matter of time. Brook and her husband had actually climbed some mountain peaks the day priar up to 16,000ft and was required to chew on coca leafs and eat coca pills but still had difficulty with there ascend. I hope to climb the same peak sometime soon. This new Tom character I have met has been a great help (not brookes wife) and has informed me a great deal and seems to have valuable advice up his sleeve. Some quotes on the ride home noted by Tom since he drove me, John, and the finland lady home during the night.
"remember where you are, you are not in the U.S., There is no law here, for people get mugged and no body cares" "watch for drivers for pedestrians do not have the right of way" "Bolivia is not better or worse than the U.s. it is Different". If there is one thing on the ride home that I learned is that when going over a speed bump in argentina they say "Policia Muertos"/Dead policeman haha Awesome. We passed a couple night clubs and huge parties that were illumated with lights and large crowds of people and Tom repeated while driving that there were alot of drunk drivers at a time like this and especially on this particular road. He said some drunk people would often run across traffic without care and could be easily hit if not careful and consequence would be jail time which was a worste case scenario. Still not knowing exactly where my house Tom (driving johh, and finland lady) remembered the main street. Tom claimed he had to make his next right to get to the street I would find familiar and I actuall said just keep going straight my house is up there. When arriving back at my house I said my goodbyes and entered my house. Mirza came out of hiding and greeted me and seemed minorly offended when I said that I was very full and couldnt eat dinner. It was 8pmish so Didnt think that was a problem or think she was expecting me to eat anything so everything was well. I have to arise at 7am tommorow so I have to stop short as no other significant events occured throughout my day and Orientation begins tommorow..

---