AJENJO and CALLE BURGERS

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Lets see, so I read a book by Mitch Albom "the five people you meet in heaven" in like 2 days and literally read more than half of "Marching Powder" today considering I was feeling quite ill and didnt feel like attending class on a bolivian holiday. Marching Powder is really an amazing read and I thank Mary so much for showing me about it as it has many lessons in life that I have come to learn and also has shown me how valuable patience is. Its really weird considering
the fact that Ive been here for 3 months and havent talked to anyone but my Mom and Dad. Some say they are going to call me but never do, and Ill recieve texts and respond within minutes but on the other side the others just dont feel like texting me back for hours or sometimes not at all. Ive made it clear to people that I cant call anybody which is still an amazement to me why its only possible for people to call me. Makes me wonder who really cared about me at all
and looking back now when I get back Im not going to call anyone really. My U.S. phone which when I first got here I used to walk around with everyday has become something that sits in the corner of my room uncharged from time to time and now that I have purchased a Bolivian phone for about 30 american dollars my Us phone is rarely used or noticed and comming home to find no messages or anything Im not really suprised anymore. I guess a time away
from everything makes one realize what really matters and whos important. I do have important people in my life that I will keep in contact with when I return but when I do return I wont have to tell them Im back. The weekend kind of messed me up and Im starting to build trust in people that I hardly know. Kevin has become one of my best companions here and is probably the only one from the states who can out party me in a night of drinking and then go out the next day hung over and party till 3am. Not sure how he does it must be some sort of boston Gene he got
from his mother Laura. --It all started friday and hearing there was some intense event going down from a rave scene to a singer from puerto rico I tried to gather some peeps to go but only Kevin was interesting. At first John wanted to go with but after hearing there might be dancing or what not a possible salsa scene he changed his mind. Well I talked to Alex and she seemed a little short with me which was weird without her usual 'hey Honey where are you?". I called Jose luis and he said he said to meet us at the Ale's video store at 6pm. I told Kevin while I was at the school to meet me at the school at 530pm. I waited at the school from like 4pm to 5ish and met a new student named "Ester" who was a girl which seemed around my age from Oregon. I could already notice how different our life styles/experiences had been and I invited her to go with us. As she made her leave I told her if she wanted to go with us to meet us at the front gate at 530pm but as she left I knew she wasnt planning on going. WEll 530pm came around and Jose luis called me seeing if I could come sooner and I said it wasnt possible so I waited for Kevin at the gate. Kevin didnt show up so I waited some 15min and must have tried to call him a good 6 times trying to understand why it didnt go through. I tried to text, nothing, tried to call jose luis but nothing so without time to waste I didnt want Jose waiting to long so I took a cab to the cross streets Espana and Equator where Ale's video shop was located. Arriving with little words said to the taxi driver I found JOse LUis waiting for me talking to the next door Tatoo Lady. He saw me immediately and I explained that my phone had run out of minutes and we literally walked across the street and I bought some more. This was the first time it happened to me so I had no idea what to do to get more minutes or what number to call once I purchased some. Apparently for the month if you had a VIVA phone then every 10bolivianos you spent you got double the minutes so I purchased a good 20 bolivianos worth. I called Kevin and he told me he was on his way and was sorry for the delay. Jose and I conversed about pretty much everything
not wasted a minute for an awkward pause and Kevin showed up in no time. Jose luis explained to the both of us that we had VIP tickets waiting for us and Ale was already there so we had to get to quincollo the next town over as fast as possible. Quincollo is a part of cochabamba not like Cala Cala where I live and nothing like anywhere near the school. It is more of a forsaken kind of place that seems a little more dangerous at first sight but with Jose Luis Both of us felt safe. Cant really describe this place like renegade Tijuana Mexico. THe taxi cab dropped us off after getting somewhat lost by JOse's directions and we were greated by a fairly large crowd of people of all ages that were trying to get into some concert taking place at this place called "Bossa Nova". I was greeted by some beautiful women that somehow Jose Luis knew at first sight and he greeted them not introduced Kevin and I. He immediately kept walking and called Alex. After his conversation he said that the cops were here and were going to card everyone who
was entering because too many minors (under 18) were in the area. Also to note Bossa Nova was literally right next door to a Hospital. Alex didnt have her Id and was already in the venue and couldnt leave otherwise she would for sure get arrested. Instead of waiting in line like the others we just made our way to another party that Jose Luis knew of. We first took a cab deeper into Quincollo about 15minutes more and got off at what looked like downtown but kept on walking. I observed my surroundings taking mental note of all the differences between here and
where I was used to and almost felt like I was in another country. There were many people in the streets and from what I learned later everyone was preparing for the celebrations of tommorow which was the anniversary of QUincollo. Tuesday is the 200th celebration of Cochabamba. We came up to a plaza where a giant bird statue was in the center and we made comfort there as Jose Luis called his friend. I observed the statue and said something like 'whats with the big rooster?" Kevin found this hilarious and I was half joking but didnt think it was that funny
untill he told me 'Its a condor man the COuntries Bird!" we laughed for a good 5 minutes. we waited some more and Jose Luis's friend made an appearance and now I have no idea what his name was but at the time I did. He was just a normal man if you ask me and we made our way a couple blocks to a party he knew of. Arriving through nooks and crannies we came to what appeared to be a birthday party. It was like someones little girl or boy's 5th year old birthday party and Immediately some woman came up and greeted us who must have been with jose luis's friend. ITs weird how Guys shake hands and woman dont at all just kiss us and eachother which is fun. AFter sitting for about 5 minutes we had 2 liter bottles of Taquinas in front of us and we all made our saluds and commenced drinking. That was the start of the night and I recall taking the first sip of beer and contemplating where the night was going. AFter about 5 liters being split between the four 3 of us we started talking about everything. From whats up in Bolivia to woman to music and somehow I mentioned the band Oil and Jose Luis recalled something about them playing tonight and then said we were going. Awesome I love concerts so I was fairly stoked at this idea and we got another like 2 liters of beer. I was started to buzz pretty nicely and preparing for our exit a bottle of SINGHANI arrived. Singhani and sprite was the drink of choice here and was made especially in bolivia. It was not vodka, not Tequilla, not Rum, and
was actually like nothing I had ever tasted before. I am definatelly bringing some of this drink home. We just sat down drank beer and finished the bottle of Singhani and I for a while forgot about the Oil concert or maybe just didnt think it was happening anymore. AFter some discussion after our drinks I left 20 bolivianos down and we made our departure via taxi. The taxi I guess took us to cant remember where but was like a small little sit down bar/club area. We immediately were greeted by a full table of people and ordered some Huaris. Jose LUis explained to me a drink
called "AJENJO". IT was supposedly like the most powerful drink found around and would instantly make one feeble. Kevin and I became extremely curious about this drink and it was in reach. WE contemplated whether to try it before OIL took the stage or after and we decided after we drank our beers we were going to order one. OIL took the stage and considering my drunken stage I thought they were awesome. I get pumped up during live shows and all of a sudden I had a second wind of energy and told Jose luis to order us the AJENJO's and a sandwhich. well...actually
we ordered our sandwhiches before Oil took the stage and then left and walked down the street to eat some street burgers for the same price. this could be how I got sick. Eating street food in bolivia is like asking someone to give you a parasite. Well Oil took the stage and our Ajenjos came which was a shot of something that looked like jaigermaister which came with a glass of water as a chaser. A glass of water was kind of rediculous and Kevin and I couldnt believe that that was what we had to chase this drink with. "SAlUD! everyone" and we took the drinks down.
Powerful burn I thought and didnt really think of the drink much and we actually ordered another. OiL was intense rock but I enjoyed it and want to purchase a CD somewhere. AFter the second Ajenjo I was feeling quite interesting not drunk but like uplifted from all that I had drank up to that point of the night. I didnt even notice some of the others leave our table maybe not enjoying OIL but Kevin and I thought it was great. AFter Oil dont really remember where we went but we went to another club. I think we took a taxi to some place near Cochabamba. I recall getting
into this interesting bar place and sitting next to a table with some dude and like 4 girls who appeared fairly attractive. Next thing I know KEvin and I are drinking a Cuba LIbre (coke and Whisky this time) and also a cup of straight whisky. UNknown why we had two drinks still to this day. I even offered my drink to the girl next to me but she refused. Then I asked her to dance and she refused politely which was probably for the best considering I probably would have thrown up on her. I was upset that she didnt want any of my drink though. I chatted with Kevin some and then he asked the girl next to him to dance and she said yes. Then he held out his hand and she pretended like she didnt notice. Then got up and ignored kevin completely and danced with her friends. I told kevin something like THis is messed up lets bail. Jose luis met up with us shortly during our discussion about these miserable woman we were dealing with. Jose LUis said something like I know I was dancing and they didnt want to dance with me. I was ready to go home and literally couldnt do much more in my current state and Kevin at first was going with me but when I caught a cab he was all pumped to continue the night. It was like between 3-4am and I was no longer interested in continuing the night. Kevin was so pumped up that night because during the day from what he was telling me, he is volunteering with some surgeons and today they actually invited him into some surgeries and he was an assistant. Then the doctor told him to cut this, and hold that and he was actually doing his first surgery. Congrats I kept telling him the whole night and we kept discussing how illegal it was for him to do surgery on someone. I rode the cab home holding my stomache inside pretty much not wanting at all to throw up in his cab and when I arrived at my house the feeling passed. I was completely wasted and although I drank much more than at last weekends rave I was way drunker last week. Considering how much I drank there was no way this was going to stay in my stomache and walking up the stairs I just vomited my heart out and then passed out not brushing my teeth or anything. I was just
extremely tired thats all. Someone texted me that morning and it said something like from ELISE-then there was some message in spanish. What the hell I thought and after noticing the extreme pain in my head I put my phone down and refused to try and text. About an hour later she texted me again and said something like lets meet at the prado at 330pm. I was so hung over it took me a while to remember I had let Kevin use my phone to text his friend who was a woman that we climbed Tunari with. I immediately texted kevin "hey man text yo girl she texting me wants you to meet her at 330pm". I continued to sleep off my horrible headache. I even arose and threw up a bunch of water that I chugged before I went to bed. I made my way downstairs after to fill up on water. I ate some for breakfast took a shower ate some lunch then slept for a good 2 more hours. Kevin texted me saying he was at the school and asked if I wanted to go with him to meet up with this girl he knew Elise. We confirmed that we were going to be meeting each other at the school at around 3pm. It was currently 1 or so and I was laying in my bed trying to fall asleep but was finding it difficult to do so considering I had drank a bunch of coke. lying in my bed Ale called me and said that I should really go to some rave that was going on at 4pm and that Jose Luis was going to be there as well. I just decided to sleep off my problems considering I was still way hung over and my stomache like literally hated me. I told Kevin there was some sort of concert and he said Elise had invited us to one as well and maybe it was the same one. well 3pm came around and I made my way to the school and Kevin was like sprawled out everywhere in the student center. He had said that he had woken up at 10am after getting home at 5am and instead of going to the baptism he was supposed to go to that morning he said that a doctor called him and he needed to assist. He then had made his way down to the school and passed out there for a good amount of time. Really funny story and chatting I packed my stuff and we were off to the prado to meet up with ELISE. Elise is a girl who has grown up in cochabamba and was almost
like a local and was one of the members we climbed Tunari with. When we got to the prado we were chewing on sunflower seeds and tried to find somewhere to get some food. Jose Luis texted me something like "DAM AJENJO! mi head is going to blow!" haha. Well we found some place cant recall what it was and I ordered the same thing kevin ordered which was a Grilled hAM AND cheese. So delicious and half way through I noticed some pretty girl crossing traffic comming towards us but thought nothing of it. We actually sat outside about a sidewalk away from traffic
which is always nice. I like eating and drinking outside. The girl approached me and I recognized her instantly as Elise. Apparently she only remembered me as the one throwing up after we climbed tunari which is quite funny to me. Well we conversed some and tried contacting Jose luis but with 4pm arising the idea of a rave with my pounding headache seemed somewhat of a stretch. A classical concert seemed like a much more calm idea to do with my day and it didnt start until 5pm. I recall Elise saying something like "The president might be there?" Neither Kevin or I believed her at the time and we finished our sandwhiches and cokes and walked some of the prado as I shared my sunflower seeds. I told them that I hoped I wasnt intruding I just didnt feel like going to a rave after such an intense night of drinking and comming later it was a wise decision. Well as 5pm approached she told both of us we were underdressed but everything should be ok. We took a taxi where she knew the place was almost in the outskirts of Cochabamba and literally climbed over rubble just to get a better view of everything. Apparently it was an invite only
event and arriving there were people videotaping from the news stations and all the seats were full and many standed in the back. "Where are we?" kevin and I joked and judging by both of us being hung over, unshaven, in a t-shirt and me with a whole in my shoe we were not ready for what was about to go down. There was a choir and an orchestra and a bunch of important people sat down and faced the crowd. "Thats the president!' Elise told us under her breath and we made our way across the back of the crowd to get a better look. First the embassador of Japan introduced
himself and presented a speech and then EVAN MORALES himself. EVO! people shouted. His speech was flawless from what I understood and Kevin and I didnt say much but were more of blown away by what was happening. "IS this really happening" "how did this happen?" WHere are we?" we kept joking around and our actions and our appearances were very inappropriate. The choir played some songs and I told kevin something like "This is what heaven sounds like man!" he started laughing uncontrollably. After all the important people had spoken Elise said we might have a chance to meet him. NO way Kevin and I thought and we were still blown away by the fact that we were actually at some sort of event where the president was present. Well they made their way up to the second
story via stairs and observing where they went we somewhat stalked him. NOt sure how we got past the guards and police but when I was touching distance from the president he all of a sudden bailed out really quickly then was stopped again. Police were making a circle around him and kept looking at Kevin and I with suspicion but when they say the Bolivian girl we were with somehow they let us pass. Kevin ran up to the president on the right and I went up to his left and asked Elise to take a quick picture. All of a suddent there was an elderly woman beneath us who got
in our picture and when it was done Elise ran up to the president and he had to take a picture with her. Before he left I caught his attention somehow and shook his hand looked him straight in the eye and said "Mucho Gusto!". For a second the world stood still and being caught in his eye for what seemed like eternity he departed and didnt take anymore pictures. Some server then gave us some champaign which was the last thing I really wanted and after drinking it didnt feel so well. I drank some Mineragua which is like Bolivian sprite and I told Kevin 'Someone spiked
the Mineragua!" he laughed. We ate some saltenas and shishcabobs and hung around a bit and then found some seats and there was more live bands and acts. Towards the end of the night I was becomming drastically cold and shivering uncontrollably with chills running up and down my spine and I blamed Kevin who told me not to bring a jacket. I was then overtaken by an uncontrollable thirst for water which there was none. We made our way after the violins played to find something to quench our thirst and I came up to the backstage band members and Elise asked if I could have some of their drinks and they just pointed at the almost empty bottle of lime soda. I said gracias and drank
the whole thing and felt a whole lot better. "Sorry I didnt share man Im dying here" I told Kevin but he just laughed. Even Elise thinks Im a riot of laughter which is odd because I dont think Im really that funny maybe its the way I speak spanish. I recall the elderly woman following us around and she actually didnt know anyone which was like the opposite with Elise who knew like everyone and would greet all her friends and introduce us sometimes. We were probably an embarassement to the event considering how we were dressed. Well some japanese dude took the stage towards the end of the night and blew my mind with his Charango skills literally shredding on the charango.
The charango is like a ukelele sized guitar instrument and with a second player playing guitar the combination was magical. What an interesting instrument that I am now going to buy. while he was shredding in key more band memebers appeared and a japanese woman with an accordian was melting away my troubles. I think somewhere between that and the last charango jam session I was nearly crying by how beautiful it was. When it was all over I told Kevin I was done for the night no longer needed to accomplish anything and that the night was his. He knew this already which was really neat and him and Elise were going to meet up with some people at a place called Hooligans.
HOoligans just sounded like too much for me and getting into the taxi after it dropped them off near the prado for their quest for food I continued via taxi and went home. Getting home I was shivering in the cold and no one was at my house at like 10pm so I took a hot shower to warm up. My head felt drastically different like I never fully recovered from the hang over early and I almost wanted to pass out. THe next day I woke up at like eleven ate some and slept for like another 2 hours. I layed around and didnt do anything for like the whole day and KEvin texted me something like " I woke up at 4!" haha. I went to the school to recover my backpack and computer and Kevin somehow met me there. We decided since it was sunday night to try and find somewhere that had the American Football game on. I recall getting into an umarked taxi that had 2 people in it which was text book what your never supposed to do. And then we ended up near LA cancha at night which your never supposed to do. After a good amount of trial and errors someone took taxi took us to a place that had futball but not american football what are the odds.


she would never say where she came from
Yesterday dont matter if its gone
while the sun is bright
or in the darkest night
no one knows
She comes and goes

Dont question why she needs to be so free
Shell tell you its the only way to be
She just cant be chained
to a life where nothings gained and nothings lost
at such a cost

Theres no time to loose I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams and you will loose your mind
In life unkind

Wild horses coudnt Drag Me away...

Faith has been broken
Tears have been cried
Lets do some living
After we die

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Photos

EVOOOOOOOOOO!
Kevin and I with the president of BOLIVIA EVO Morales!

Comments

[Dad]

Amoebas???
Amoebas, different from parasites, which come in the form of worms, are tiny microscopic organisms that live in the intestines, causing diarrhea with blood and other intestinal problems. Symptoms: Often involve fever and diarrhea, which are frequently accompanied with blood and/or mucous, with a discharge and an urge to have a bowel movement, as well as intestinal inflammation. Sometimes pains occur in the form of colic and stomach cramps with the constant need to go to the bathroom. Causes:Direct contact and transmission of the microorganisms through contaminated water and food. Website says to take a lot of vitamins such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E and a multi-vitamin. I am glad you went to the doctor and I hope they gave you some medications. I am sure the "Calle" burgers did you in! The problem is you can't see these micro-organism, so it is best not to eat anything off the street. It is for that reason you never saw me eat any street tacos in Mexico! It presume that would be the last food item you would eat off the street. And yes, I 'm glad it is not malaria. Great picture of you and president! There must be a way to "airbrush" that older woman out of the picture! That would be something I would hang on the wall and you don't hear me say that very often. I fear that you are sending your body into trauma by mixing drinks, overindulging in alcohol, hangovers, ecoli viruses, and now amoebas, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headaches, altitude, wanting to pass out, etc. Start taking better care of yourself. Loved what you said about the presidential party and the music. Not sure how you "shred" on a charango, but by the way you described it, it sounded wonderful. And your right, after meeting the country's president there was nothing else you could do to top that, so call it a day, a great day and turn in. Loved your Rolling Stones references, their music and lyrics have stood the test of time and have bridged generations, although anytime I hear the song "Wild Horses" I think of Uncle Ronny who always interjects that that is his least favorite "Stones" song. I actually had a a dream the other night that you were back from your trip and I was talking to you upstairs about music and was saddened when I realized it was only a dream. Miss you a lot and we still worry about your safety, because it seems you are taking more risks lately than usual. Maybe because you are feeling more comfortable with your surroundings. Be wise, be safe and trust no one. - Dad