Meeting the family today!

It's a windy day in Santa Cruz. We arrived in Santa Cruz yesterday morning after a long 10 hour bus ride! The bus that we rode on was a double decker bus, and we were on the top level. During the night it was SO hot on the bus. For some reason the heater was on the entire night, so along with that the humidity was terrible! The whole night I had my window open but was asked a couple times to close it. Overall a long sleepless night but I am glad to be back in Santa Cruz. Our overall trip in Cochabamba was so great. We met a lot of great people from around the world at the Spanish school we were at. About 3 nights ago we went Salsa dancing!! It was probably the funniest thing ever! So I'm hope that through the next few months I can find a place to take Salsa lessons! It is so great! 

I've realized that I need to update on what we did this past weekend in Cochabamba. Our MCC reps (Lynn & Laurie and their three kids) came from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba and we went to different organizations, the first called "Fundicion Ghandhi". This organization works on peace building and education in schools etc. We got there and learned a lot of Bolivia's history. We watched a video on the conflict in La Paz in February 2003, where there were taxes on salaries which led to confrontation between the Military & People against the Police. The video was very graphic and hard to take all in. In the end 35 dead and 200 injured in 2 days. There was also another conflict in September 2003 where there were protests in gas sales to Chile and through this there was conflict that resulted in dozens of deaths. We were told briefly that the President at the time was willing to kill humans because it involved the topic of Neoliberalism. There are four pillars that follow the topic of NeoLiberalism. 

Pillar 1 - Economic Monopoly 

This economic monopoly was a consequence of Neoliberalism. This was not just between the rich and the poor. Those who controlled the vote didn't create work for other parts of the population. So therefore, the control of money didn't create work. So the money actually was not given to the people but instead sent out of the country. Bolivia is one of the biggest producers of gas and because of the exports and money sent out of the country a majority of the population was dying of hunger. 

Pillar 2- Land Monopoly 

The land monopoly in Bolivia was one of the most unjust land situation in the world. 32 million hectares of land was good for agriculture. But 96% of the land was owned by 13 families which produced only 13% of the food. On the other side the rest 4% of the land was producing 80% of the food to sustain the country. Neoliberalism increased the size of the gap. 

Pillar 3- Monopoly of Gas 

In Bolivia there is 54 trillion cubic feet of gas. This is the biggest natural gas producer in Latin America. 18% of the wealth stayed in Bolivia. The rest 82% was exported. 

Pillar 4- Political Monopoly 

This political monopoly had the ability to make public decisions that effect people. The congress decided who was going to be president. in 1989 the person was became president placed 3rd in the votes. A plurality required for the win. In NeoLiberalism, 23% was most votes won. According to the constitution, congress would elect. Laws were made without public vote. Democracy was understood as the ability to vote every 5 years. 

In 2000 there was the "Water War". Since 2000 Bolivia has been living in tension. So there is now talk about bringing out a new model- which is unnamed. The Right side supports the old model, which was to continue to support the four pillars. And now the Left side supports the New Model which involved transformation. This New Model is trying to Democratize those who have historically excluded, to have a stronger say in the decisions made. So now there is an election in December 2009 to elect a new President. There is a man named Evo  (I don't know his last name)who is running in the election that is for this new change in the system. It is very interesting to see who is for Evo being president and who isn't. 

So there in a nut shell is a little bit of the history in Bolivia. I am missing a lot of different bits and pieces, but I hope this makes sense of what has happened and what might happen in the future. 

After going to Fundacion Ghandhi I definitely have a better sense of what Bolivia is going through and what they went through. We also managed to go to another place in Cochabamba called The Democracy Centre. Here we also learned more about the history and where able to get some questions answered. 

So here we are back in Santa Cruz. This morning we had brunch at our MCC reps house. Pancakes and fruit! So wonderful! This afternoon we are meeting with our host families. Right now I am filled with excitement and fear! My host family names are Mary and Walter. I think they have one daughter named Cecillia. I will update as soon as I can when I have time! I won't be able to update this week.. our schedules are packed with visiting our work places and getting to know the city. But I hope this gives a bit of information about Bolivia and about how things are going with me. I will try and post pictures on here.. hopefully I can figure that out! I hope you are all doing well! 

Much love!