Springtime, What am I doing? Urkupiña, Pedestrian Day

Happy October to you all! While October in my mind is a time of gradual leave changing, pumpkin picking, cinnamon, going for walks wearing vests to provide the extra bit of warmth now needed…that is not at all my experience of October here in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It’s springtime now baby! My window basil plant and spider plants seemed to instinctively know when September 21st came because that very week, they just decided to start growing after months of simply “being”. Just last night I went to the main plaza to listen to some free music and noticed how beautiful all the flowers were and how comfortable the air was. It’s very pleasant here, but I have to admit that I miss Virginia October.

I owe you all an apology for not corresponding before this when I’d said I would. As I mentioned last time, my plans and reality hardly ever match up. It’s really a constant lesson to me how not in control I am. Just this week for example I found out I have amoebas and an infection in my intestines. I didn’t plan for that! How dare those little bugs have the nerve to intrude my body without my permission? On Thursday I finally had a day that I was in the city and able to get tested and then the doctor here at the social center where I live gave me medicine yesterday…I hope it starts working soon.

So, let’s get right to the stories I promised to share. When I talk to some of you, it seems like there is a general question of what I do and where I’m living. Just to clarify, I live in the city of Cochabamba, in a former convent that was donated in order to be used as a social center, housing many services that didn’t have a physical place before. Within the building I share an apartment with one other Franciscan missioner. We have our own kitchen, bathroom and each have our own bedrooms. We shop, cook and clean for ourselves. Also living in the center are anywhere from 10-15 kids who are recovering from very serious burns, so it’s hardly ever quiet and there are always opportunities and requests to play.

What do I do every day? That’s a wonderful question that changes each day. While I sort of officially am involved in three organizations/areas, I’m actually involved in much more than that, which has its advantages and disadvantages. I spend part of my week working on efforts for Franciscans International-Bolivia, which has goals around promoting caring for creation/the environment, human rights, peace and reducing poverty. Projects currently include collaborating in recycling efforts here in Bolivia, planning eco-theological retreats (visit http://www.ecobolivia.org/en/videos-madidi.php to see the place where we hope to have a retreat next year 2011 for foreign English speakers to come visit), and a weekly radio show about ecology issues with a Franciscan perspective. The radio show has come to dominate my time, and with my friend Renee, we’ve had 6 shows so far, talking about topics such as the ozone layer, planting an urban organic garden, Animal Day, Peace Day, the 350.org campaign, climate change, Bolivian Women’s Day and much more. This Monday we’ll be talking about World Food Day, which is TODAY October 16th, and the theme this year is United against Hunger. I really enjoy the content and the opportunity to share with the public, but I hope to be transitioning out of it within the next couple months so that more Bolivians better suited than me can take over.

I spend other parts of my week with a parish called San Carlos. Sometimes I go to the afterschool program and assist kids with homework, which often involves English homework or them asking me how to say names in English or translating songs, ranging from the ABC song to Justin Beiber and Black Eyed Peas. Other times I’m researching and meeting people in other organizations or the university to prepare for the garden and raising guinea pigs that I’m supposed to be leading in one of the 6 centers of the parish. It’s a real challenge for me because there’s no water. All the water is trucked in and the water we do have is not only coveted but doesn’t have a way to get down to the “yard”, at least not yet, but I’m working on it. I’m also trying to figure out how to best communicate with my bosses, the parents, the teachers and the kids, and it’s a struggle. I’ve been reminded more of how sensitive I need to be about HOW I say things because my directness has gotten me in trouble. Below are pictures of the land before and after the first clean-up to prepare for the garden.

 

 

 

Other times of the week I’m working with my friend Renee, whose thesis project revolves around home composting and gardening in order to reduce/reuse waste and be more self-sustaining when it comes to food, in a neighborhood of the southern zone, which is the poorer area of Cochabamba, where the water is trucked in. Since I last wrote, we’ve made lots of contacts, started a little experiment garden at the university to learn more, and this past Tuesday we used the compost started several months ago at an afterschool program in the neighborhood to plant a garden. The kids loved it and while it was hectic, it was a good experience, especially for me leading up to the preparing and planting of the garden for San Carlos.

Speaking of gardens, I’m also spending time in the garden here at the social center where I live…pulling weeds, trimming trees and plants, watering, cutting the little bits of grass, and receiving lots of advice on how I should or should not be doing things. Last week the kids who live here got really excited about the idea of having their own plants so we took a bunch of babies off the spider plants and planted them in plastic bottles cut in half with drainage holes poked in the bottom. Spider plant in Spanish is called “mala madre” or bad mother, because she kicks all her children out of the house, so we rescued the abandoned and we’ll see how they survive…

There’s a lot more that comes across my plate each week, but I think that’s sufficient for now, because I want to tell you all about the festival of the “Virgen de Urkupiña” which means “Virgin Mary of Urkupiña” and was celebrated on the weekend of August 14-16. The story goes that a little shepherd girl was tending her flock in the hills nearby the town of Quillacollo, a province of Cochabamba. She kept seeing a woman and baby and told her family about it. When they asked the little girl where she was, she said in Quechwa "urqupiña" which roughly means, “she’s already on the hill”. One day, on August 15th, some of her family and neighbors went to the spot where the little girl shepherded her flock and also saw the woman and baby. An image of the woman appeared at the spot, and for hundreds of years Bolivians have been coming to Quillacollo and the hill a few kilometers away around Aug 15th to celebrate and honor the Virgin Mary of Urkupiña.

 

On Saturday the all-day parades started. I got really lucky and through a Maryknoll friend was able to bypass paying money for a seat, being crowded in the street etc. to watch the parade and instead got to comfortably stand on the 2nd floor balcony of this old historic house directly next to the main church in the square of Quillacollo where the parade ended. I really enjoyed watching all the dance troupes because their costumes, dancing and the music are all so impressive, entertaining and authentic. There were over 70 groups and moved along without too much waiting time, which I hear is very uncommon because for the first time ever alcohol was banned to be sold because there’s been a lot of trouble in past years with drunkenness and abuse.

 

 

On Sunday night I joined thousands of people in a pilgrimage walk from the main plaza of Cochabamba to the main square of Quillacollo (same place I had a spot to watch the parade the day before). It’s custom to walk through the night starting around midnight and arriving sometime between 5 and 7am in Quillacollo. I’ve heard that it’s between 13 and 16 km, which is between 8 and 10 miles that we walked. I really enjoyed the walk more than the parts to follow, because it’s a different experience being outside in the middle of the night with all these people who share their city with me and yet I don’t know them, and there we were doing something together—walking. I was able to have some really good conversation with a friend and also reflect, as walking for long periods of time always gives me a chance to do. In a daily life cycle that doesn’t give much room to pause and notice my interdependence on my neighbor, I really appreciated being a part of such a large group coming together to do something so simple as walk from one town to another, aiding me in remembering that I’m part of a community with faces, stories and gifts to share with the rest of us.

 

 

In the main plaza of Quillacollo, there are masses said every hour starting at 5am in the main square and if people want, they keep walking on to the “hill”. Many people don’t walk through the night but visit the hill on the 16th. Now before I give you the impression that this experience was all simple, solemn and kum-bay-ya-ish, it was not. Once I reached Quillacollo, I walked past lots and lots of people selling things (food and non-food items), carnival games, teenagers and kids playing around, and more selling before I ever reached the main plaza. From there to the “hill” it was worse. The ENTIRE way (several km more) was packed with people selling stuff on either side of the street. The custom is to buy miniatures of the things you want in the coming year, like a house, car, baby, money etc.

 

Now, I’ve never been one that enjoys shopping, so this was not at all my cup of tea. I’ve tried to be open to understanding what it is that attracts so many to have such devotion to going to this place, and I understand part of it but not all by any means. This is only my experience, which is not truth, and there’s a lot more than what I observed, but I can share with you what my impressions were. I think it’s a distraction to have so much focus on THINGS. Granted, many people really are poor and need more things to have their basic needs met more fully. However, while walking past kilometers of objects that I was supposed to buy because I’m supposed to want more things, I did not feel encouraged to focus on, say, the non-material, more spiritual aspects of life. I felt pressured to buy, buy, buy and to want, want, want. It reminded me a lot pressures I feel on a daily basis in the United States.

Whether or not you believe in a God or Jesus, I think it’s reasonable to say that the values promoted in the world’s major religions are similar in their focus on love, peace, justice and goodness. Well, since Mary was the mother of Jesus, believed by many to be God, I also think it’s reasonable to say that Mary would be a figure of similar values; at least that is my understanding and belief of her. Therefore, for me, it was difficult to have the understanding of Mary being a figure of love and focus on service to each other, and yet being surrounded by messages whose focus was on asking Mary to give us things, favors and protection. People also dig for rocks and the size of the rock hit off corresponds with the money or fortune one will receive in the following year. I personally don’t agree with this idea of Mary. I must repeat that I don’t have a full understanding of this tradition and the meanings behind it, so I could very well be mistaken on my interpretation…at least I hope I will come to see more in the future. I’m constantly learning and I make thousands of mistakes every week so if you have more information that can better explain it to me, please share! I’m glad I went and experienced the parade, the overnight walk, so many people praying, the ceremonies, the selling and buying, the conglomeration of so many people and the other customs.

 

 

Another tradition I participated in was Pedestrian Day, which takes place here in Cochabamba (not Bolivia nationwide) in September. Starting at 6am and lasting until 5pm or so, NO CARS are allowed to drive so the streets are left free to all the walkers, runners, strollers, bikes, skateboards, soccer games and more. Lots of organizations that have a focus on something related to the environment came out that day and set up tents with information, games, artwork, and give-aways in exchange for batteries of plastic bags. It was a good day and just like with the walk to Quillacollo, I enjoyed being out with so many of my neighbors, when so often we’re separated by buses and other forms of transportation. I even saw hang-gliders, gymnasts and martial arts students performing on the street, and lots of kids having a ball riding their bikes.

 

 

I hope that this day, October 16, is a good day for you, in which you have enough to eat, and also think about those who don’t; those who face rising food prices due to droughts (like here in Bolivia), floods (like in Pakistan); or lowering food prices when multinationals enter a new place and bring new competition to local farmers and what those effects are. As my sociology professor used to say in our globalization class, “the interconnections in our world are getting quicker and thicker”. We need each other. Happy World Food Day!

5 things I’m thankful for today: a less-busy morning; the little bit of rain we got this past week; my health is not as bad as is has been in the past; my family; I am given enough resources to eat healthily and completely each and every day

For more pictures, please go to http://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/SeptemberBlog#