Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Bolivian-Style

In reflecting on the last week, I’ve noticed a trend and it relates to one of my favorite parts of the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In case you haven’t seen it, the two main characters decide to have a Day of Firsts, in which they spend the whole day doing things they’ve never done before. While I did not go into any costume stores and try on different masks, I have experienced a variety of things from drinking a hot purple drink at breakfast to getting hit by multiple water balloons while walking down the street.

#1 First: The Cancha
This is an area in the city of Cochabamba that spreads for many acres and is filled with vendors selling anything from food to ovens for your kitchen. Some roads are wider and cars can drive (very slowly due to all the people) on them and some pathways are very narrow and only for pedestrians. I went with a list: tape, paper, notebook, envelopes, mouthwash. On the way to find these items, I walked past lots of clothing, both used and new; canteens; guns; produce; little carts of random items like toothpaste and locks; stereo systems; farm equipment; mattresses and beds etc. I didn’t see even half of it! At one point I felt just like I was in the rabbit’s hole of Alice and Wonderland, except instead of being surrounded by dirt, I was surrounded by a never-ending tunnel of clothes…ahhhh, it was frightening.

#2 First: Pre-Carnival in Cochabamba
One day last week I am walking to the institute from my house (about a mile away) and I feel something hard and then suddenly cold and wet hit my back. I let out a little yelp and once I realize it’s a water balloon, I start smiling…this is all part of my enculturation into Cochabamba. Despite the fact that my jeans were wet for the remainder of the day, I was happy to be that much more included in the normal pre-Carnival-life of a Cochabambina. It’s the custom here to throw water balloons and squirt people with water guns beginning in mid-January through Fat Tuesday (Carnival) and even a couple weeks beyond. Apparently, young women are the prime targets—lucky me! Actually I am lucky because I’ve had several balloons just miss me and once my back was skimmed by a poor-shot from a water gun, so to make it till late January to be really hit, I consider quite lucky.

#3 First: Cleaning the bathroom & Vacuuming
Just when I think there are agreed-upon ways to do a given task, I am very quickly put in my place. I’ve never seen or imagined cleaning a bathroom like my host-mother cleaned mine. I wish I could re-enact the scene for you, but I’ll do my best to use words. The bathroom is tiled on the floor and the walls with no separation between the area where one showers and the rest of the room—just all open, not even a shower curtain. My host-mom sprinkled soap on the floor, the toilet and the sink and then filled up a recycled coffee tin with water and starts throwing it on everything—the walls, the toilet, the floor. I wanted to sweep beforehand to get the dust and dirt out but NO, “this way is much better and easier,” which I found out to be true. She used the broom to scrub the wet floor and then used a very large squeegee to push the water towards the end of the bathroom with the shower drain. Fascinating.

Afterwards, I used a little vacuum with just the hose to vacuum my industrial-carpeted bedroom. I had to laugh while I was tediously trying to cover this large area with a mechanism that only had a 2” diameter. I have to admit, at this moment, I did think “Wow, if only I were at home, I could get a simple attachment that would make this process so much easier.” I’m sure they exist here, we just don’t have one.

#4 First: Food and Drink
I learned that “tunas” are the same as prickly pears. The same day we picked and ate the tunas, we also made fresh coconut juice. It was delicious! Also, I’m not very good at spelling in Spanish and the corn-mush dish I made with my family is actually called “humintas”. This morning for breakfast I had “api” which is a drink made from purple corn, sugar, cinnamon and another unknown spice. It was a little too sweet for me at breakfast but had a good flavor. Never drank anything purple beside a slurpee before!

#5 First: Creatures
I rolled over this morning to look at my alarm clock and for some reason happened to also look down at the floor. Directly beneath my head was a scorpion. I try to take the Buddhist approach of respecting all life, but I failed this morning because I didn’t want to risk picking it up. So, I killed my first scorpion.

Yesterday as I was walking down the road, two dogs started coming at me growling, so I bent down to the ground and the turned away in fright—it worked!

I can’t picture Audrey Hepburn in any of the situations I was in, but I love the concept so much that I just had to borrow it. Here’s hoping you too find some “firsts” of your own this week. Life is full of them!

5 Things I’m thankful for today: sun coming out after days and days of rain; drinkable water; going out to eat really good food with new friends; being able to run; the grace of not being sick.