Here are the rest of the answers y'all have been wairing for!

7. How are you viewed by the people you encounter?

I wish I knew. I don’t think they know what to think. Very often I hear shouts/greetings of “¡Gringita!” as I walk down the street. A mixture of fascination and amusement, I think. A few weeks ago I was going down to the Friday market to do the weekly shopping and a man with his two small children stopped them and said, “Look, a gringa.” The tone of his voice was not the usual tone of having seen a novelty like a tall, fair, blonde woman in their little town, but rather one of genuine education. It was as if the father had said to his children “That there is a sheep. This is a cow. That is a burro. Oh, and look, over there, a gringa.” The children stared only a minute during their lesson of new things, then moved right along. I couldn’t help but chuckle. It seems I am an educator even in the unlikeliest of moments.

The people here accept me, and only occasionally question my presence. I think that is because most of the people here assume I am a nun. They call me “Hermanita,” or Sister. I guess it is the only thing that makes sense to them. If I weren’t a nun, why would I be here? They have experience with nuns and religious. There have always been missionaries here, the nice white people who run the church and do nice things. They have the utmost respect for priests and nuns. And the priests and nuns are pretty much the only white/blonde people that ever come here. So it makes sense to assume that I am one, too. And if they thought I weren’t, confusion would be the dominant sentiment. Again, why would I leave the prosperity which I obviously have (because I am white), and come to this poor, little, rural town in the poorest country in South America? It just doesn’t make sense to them. And, to be honest, it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people I know back home, either. And, to be even more honest, sometimes I question it myself. If wealth and prosperity were important to me, then I wouldn’t be here. I came because I recognize that there are things in life that have more value than things, and sharing my gifts with others, and allowing them the opportunity to share their gifts with me is something God has called me to. But it is hard to explain to them. How do I tell the poor that I came to serve the poor without patronizing them, without drawing to their attention the all-too-obvious differences between us? They don’t understand why we go to the local street market instead of the upscale supermarket down in the city. They don’t understand why we take buses places instead of flying. They don’t understand why we would give up the wealth and prosperity that we have in order to live like them, while they are trying so desperately not to live like that.

8. How are Americans thought of?

We are all rich, have big houses with green yards, swimming pools, big SUVs, or two or three. And we all live in Hollywood. They know very little of our country beyond what Hollywood teaches them. My students have no concept of the size or diversity of the USA. Sometimes on really cold days, they ask me “Is it cold in your country?” They ask if it is far away. About 7 hours from La Paz to Miami I tell them. “By land?” they ask. Is it farther than Spain, they ask. They know more about Spain. They know about the conquerors/colonists that came and changed the course of their history. They know that it is far and expensive, but countless fathers and older brothers disappear there. It is rather easy for Bolivians to get tourist visas to Spain, so they save all their money for a plane ticket, and never return, but they give Western Union money transfer plenty of business. The immigration laws coming to the States are much more stringent, so they don’t bother trying.

They know Coca-cola (of course….coca is their native crop!), Oreos, and most electronics like TVs and stereos have all the buttons in English. In the market all the stands sell American goods, mostly second hand, or perhaps factory rejects, because they seem brand new. Nike shoes, Tommy Hillfiger, you name it, it is here. I bought a pair of Adidas warmup pants for $2. I see people walking down the street sporting Tarheels ball caps, and t-shirts that have trendy phrases in English, like “sassy.” I have seen “Gallon Donor” blood donor t-shirts, and guys wearing shirts with sorority Greek letters across the chest. I flinch when I see this, knowing they have no idea what it means, only that it is a warm shirt, and I cringe at the thought of how important the writing on our t-shirts is to us at home. And sometimes I am embarrassed at a fleeting feeling of superiority that comes with the thought that I know what it means and they don’t.

But they don’t care. They have other priorities.

9. What is the weather like there?

Right now it is summertime, and it is chilly. In the Bolivian mountains there are two seasons: rainy and dry. The rainy season is December through February when the land comes alive taking advantage of every drop of moisture that falls, temporarily thriving, growing, producing fruit, dispersing seeds. The other nine months it is like a desert, and the vegetation turns brown and falls dormant, conserving just enough energy to survive until the rains return the following year.

Today it is pouring rain, like it has been doing for several days now. The dirt streets turn to mud, the thatched roofs of some houses allow the rain to settle the dust inside as well as out. Last night the wall between our patio and the neighbor's garden completely collapsed, breaking the water pipes and some of the electrical connections. The rain this week is good news because, for a rainy season, it has been relatively dry. They say it is because it is an El Niño year, but regardless, they are already predicting high prices for produce in the coming winter because yields are down. When it is rainy and damp like today, or if it is overcast the temperature is in the 50s and 60s, even though it is summertime and we are in the Tropics. On days when there is no cloud cover to block the sun, though, the power of the sun is well-known to all, beating down in the 80s, but with the altitude, and therefore thinner atmosphere, skin becomes dryer, and even the cheeks of the brown-skinned natives turn rosy red and peel.

I arrived towards the end of winter last year, so I didn’t experience the depths of it, June and July. I hear that they close school for a week or two during this time due to the cold. I don’t know how cold it gets, but I think it is in the 30s. To me, after living in Idaho and spending Christmases in Michigan, this doesn’t seem like it is that cold. But altitude can affect things, and there is no heat here other than piling on the blankets, so I imagine the nights can be really cold.

10. The landscape? Agriculture?

Beautiful. Despite the fact that we are at over 11,000 feet in the eastern range of the Andes, the land is rolling hills, almost completely covered with cultivated fields of corn, potatoes, peas, and fava beans. In the summer they are green, purple, yellow, and white, with lush flowers blooming, and teeming with birds (see photo above). The idea I had had of jagged peaks of the Andes can only be seen if we climb up towards the peak of Juno (see previous entry), which is over 14,000 ft, and has condors and llamas, and surprisingly, they grow potatoes up there, too.

In the winter, the land is completely brown, the rivers completely dry (photo to the right) , and the dust that blows down the street can be suffocating. During this time the land rests, recovers.

I hope the answers to these questions satisfies your curiosity a bit. I have now been here over 6 months, a quarter of my time here, and while I am settled in and comfortable, I still have lots to learn, and there is so much I still don’t understand. And I realize that I myself have many questions that I may not be able to answer. But I am grateful for the opportunity to be here, and I especially thank all those of you who have supported me and made it possible to be here. I miss you all very much, but if how fast these first 6 months have passed is any indication, I will be back home in my beloved southern Appalachians in the blink of an eye, after having had yet another privilege of getting to know these faces of Christ, which will stay with me forever.

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Correspondence is always welcome, though my access to email is limited, I love hearing how you and your families are doing. And, any time there are specific questions, let me know, and I will answer them the best that I can. Sharing this mission with those back home is just as important as the work I do here. Perhaps more.

kcpanek@yahoo.com