Parade strips, Field trips, orange drips and curiosity #17 and almost #18...

Now this is curious. It seems the only Beta Blocker not available on the market in Bolivia is Sotalol. Of course this is the one I need to keep the Atrial Fibrillation and his nasty cousin Ventricular Tachycardia at bay. Other beta blockers just don't have what it takes (the "have what it takes" phrase is directly from last night's long explanation of it to my students *always writes studnets by accident, which is certainly not the case since he changed classes...*).

So, does Peru have the medication? And if so, will the Marfan Syndrome Support Group in Peru a) understand my typed Spanish request? b) willingly fulfull that request? and c) be able to fulfull the request even if willing?

Of course I can ask Fiona to travel the entire planet with some tucked away in her bag. So, options abound.

Well, another curiosity struck me on the way here, and it has something to do with the poverty of the country, but now can't for the life of me...

Photos!

a) I've never been on a fieldtrip with my students before. This is primarily because there's too much to do in class, what with the word power and the listening and the grammar focus, and stuff. But this is one field trip I was able to be present for, even if it wasn't my class. It was "let's have a festival outside the CineCenter because it's there" day. Just down the road at my work, I had three students (normal for a Friday night) all of whom didn't want to be there because of a migraine, mother's birthday party, and just plain knackered. So they went home and I joined Emily's class at the CineCenter. Well, there we all are in a classic abomination of Western cultural colonisation, two teachers and one student in the food court of the CineCenter (let me again take this opportunity to point out that this was my old class where people used to attend all the time...). Emily is also my housemate from Wyoming, U.S.A. The latter fact is unfortunate, but she's a great housemate nonetheless, although I now say "sure" in a very distasteful accent...

b) There you go. The first picture of me completely unaware of the camera. And how naturally I seem to be haggling with the fine fruitjuice fancier! I think I was saying something like "It better be bloody good for $5B!" 'cos I know how to say that in Spanish... It's my new local Saturday market, where a few vendors are getting used to my height and presence, enough for a familiar hello.

c) This festival on Saturday was unusual, not in the way it was presented - a parade of thousands of bears, cueca dancers, devils, caperales dancers, junglefever women, drums, Tinku dancers (one of my favourites) and lots and lots of very long legs, various tapas stalls, lots of alcohol, and these spectator stands that eventually turn into miniature Great Southern Stands with hundreds of drunken young people yelling at you as you walk along, mostly imploring you to come and talk, and stuff, so very much the norm. It was unusual in that this time nobody really knew what the festival was for. There were no saints, or virgins or ... well, it's really usually about a saint or a virgin. It had something to do with the San Simón University. We think...

Well, off to teach English in the sweltering heat of Cochabamba's November afternoon sun. I hate afternoon lessons... I been saying "I hate..." alot lately... hm... best stop that.

Love to you all, and missing you more by the day (when's Fiona getting here??!),

Michael.

p.s. oh, it's 35 days.