After spending my first eight nights in a hotel, I moved into my host family’s house last Wednesday (Sept.10) and began my work at FONCRESOL the following morning. Although I have only been at the Pinto family’s house for five nights, the family has made me feel extremely welcome. It is a great relief to me to have a warm environment to wake up in and come home to. In addition to the wonderful atmosphere in the household, it seems as though I will not be cooking a single meal, washing a single plate or even making my own bed anytime in the near future.
The family owns a four-storey building that has two apartments on each floor and a store on the ground floor that they rent out. Two of my Bolivian brothers, Marcelo (27 years old) and Carlos (25), live in an apartment on the first floor while the other brother, Christian (21), lives on the fourth floor with his parents, his sister, Jimena (10), and their four dogs. The apartment that my room is in is on the third floor and this is also where the family eats their meals together and socializes with company. The grandmother lives in the apartment across the hall from me and an uncle lives in an apartment on the second floor. It´s really quite amazing how close all of their family members live to one another.
To get to work I take what is called a micro-bus. Although it is the cheapest and most direct option for me, I cannot say that it is the most comfortable. Usually when I get on it the mornings, all the seats are taken by young school children so this means that for the first 10-15 minutes of the trip I have to stand. Now this wouldn´t be so bad except that the height of the bus ceiling is probably a good six inches too low for me. So in addition to already standing out in this land, I have to suffer through the humiliation of being laughed at first thing in the morning while I contort my body just to fit in the micro-bus. 
Then, once a seat becomes available I have to start to devise a plan on how to fit my femora into the space provided. I´ve also noticed that I am always the last one that anyone wants to sit beside on the bus, but I can´t really say that this is any different than when I´m in Canada.
Over the past few weeks, political tension has been on the rise in Bolivia, with most of the action taking place in the eastern provinces of the country. People in the east are angry with Evo Morales’ government for wanting to redistribute gas taxes and land to some of the poorest people in the country. To show their disapproval, they have taken over government-owned businesses and threatened to cut off gas supplies to Argentina and Brazil. In total, there have been around 30 deaths – mostly peasants supporting the government’s plans – caused by civilian clashes.
Last week, Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador from the country, claiming that he was conspiring with anti-Morales prefects from the east to oust him from his presidency. In response, the U.S. gave the Bolivian ambassador 72 hours to leave the U.S. Then, in an act of solidarity, Hugo Chaves decided to kick out the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela and ordered the Venezuelan ambassador to return home from Washington. Chaves also said that he would send his army into Bolivia should Morales be ousted or killed.
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