No Toilet Paper?

Morning seems a good time to write.  This morning I was up extra early because the trash truck came by to pick up garbage.  Every Monday and Thursday morning a truck full of garbage parks at the end of the street and rings a bell.  Everyone from inside their houses comes out with their garbage cans and walks it up to the truck and hands it to the men standing at the top of the garbage truck.  Smells rank - as you can imagine.  I'm starting to put together that this kind of bad smell that is everywhere - has to do with sanitation. LACK of sanitation.

Two days ago I visited a school where kids stay after school to be tutored and do their homework.  Many of the kids are raised in a household where the parents speak quechua and schooling is in Spanish.  The kids were real cute and I ended up tutoring a girl one on one.  She was in 1st grade and I tried to help her understand multiplication tables by drawing little marks on paper multiple times for example...
 2 * 4 =
11
11
11
11
=8
Overtime she got it but didn't enjoy all the work involved in writing marks - especially when we got to the 3s.  Anyways.  I had just eaten lunch and my stomach was feeling pretty bad...you know...painful.  So I told the girl I had to go to the bathroom and she decided to go with me.  We walked to this bathroom with toilets without covering and no toilet paper!  I walked back out of the stall and asked her "donde esta tu papelito de bano?" (where is your toliet paper) and in her cute...high pitched voice she said "no tenemos" (we don't have any)  Me (I'm just going to stick with English but imagine it in spanish) "What!? What do you use!?"  She stood there and thought for a while, "ohhh sometimes we use paper" I said ok and went back in the stall to check the trash can and sure enough - straight up school paper was in there with writing and everything.  So she did her thing and I did not do my thing and we walked out of the bathroom without washing hands because - aside from having no toilet paper - the water is turned off in the afternoon which means no flushing as well - and she grabbed my hand and we went back up to the bathroom.  Did you catch that? She grabbed my hand?  Needless to say - I am always washing my hands.  We went back to the classroom and I sat there taking it in.  So few resources for these kids here.  The education they are receiving is so far behind and it only perpetuates this cycle of poverty.  Oh my goodness - sinking in - these crazy injustices.  So, I was physically sick for the first time and we came back and I just layed low that night.

Last night myself, Lindsey and Jessica, all went to see a movie in the Bolivian theater - it was half price night. We were the only white people and the movie we wanted to see with subtitles doesn't come out till next week. So instead we bought Happy Feet 2 for a dollar and watched it on a computer screen last night. HILarious, laughed a lot.

Jessica and Lindsey researching.  We are spending time researching orphanages and businesses across South America this week.  Today  - hopefully - we will be calling some.

Here are some pictures.  Tomorrow is a holiday - its the winter solstice and everyone celebrates for the entire weekend.

This song has been on repeat this morning Hands and Feet - Brilliance  I hope everyone is doing well.  Please pray for the team here in Cochabamba.  Thank you!  :)

Cochabamba from a nicer neighborhood.  We have to go up this hill to work at one of the team members house almost everyday.

What some of Cochabamba looks like - it is so diverse. 

MONKEY!!

Mustering guts to take a photo in a trufi - hence - it's blurry.  Just had to put this up for proof that I am trying and in time more amazing photos will follow.  One of the missionaries here got her camera stolen from her purse in one of these when a guy cut the bottom of her purse with a can top.  They crowd these things like insannnne.

Alison Garza