City of Eternal Spring

After the previous post, I vowed to make my postings here after coherent, and also more informative. The last one was more of a rant. (But hey, can you blame me? I lost a suitcase!)

So today, let me tell you about the city i`m in for the next 6 months!
Its called Cochabamba, and its the 3rd biggest city in Bolivia.
Its 2600m above sea level (about 8000 feet), and a lot of people get headaches or find that they are short of breath when they get here, because of the high altitude. I`ve been ok, haven`t noticed any difference, but my internship coordinator who came with Tiana (the other intern) and I got a big headache the first day, and Tiana felt a little dizzy.
I guess i`m invincible. haha.

As some of you probably know, Bolivia is the 3rd biggest producer of coca leaves, which are used to make cocain. I`m sure i^ll write about that whole issue some other time, but coca leaves are really a part of the culture here.
To treat altitute sickness, they always serve coca tea.
My host family served me some the first day i got here, and its ok. Kinda tastes like hay, but with a little suger, is pretty drinkable!

Cochabamba has been dubbed "The city of eternal spring" because i enjoyes a sunny, spring-like climate year round. The morning and night get pretty chilly, but it definately is gorgeous. A teacher at my language school said that there was a time when it was cloudy for 2 whole days straight..and everyone was so depressed because of it! And he was DEAD serious.
That`s how sunny it is here.

But the UV rays are also especially strong, so no sunbathing!

The population is about 1/2 million here.

Acutally, Cochabamba has a pretty interesting history.
Its the "commercial hub of the country`s richest agricultural region", says my guidebook.

While Bolivia was a colony of Spain, the Spaniards implemented a system of labour service called MITA.
There was a mining city called Potosi, which is southwest of Cochabamba, and in order to productively extract silver from there, they made all villages send 1/7 of their male population to work in these mines.
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But, the people of Cochabamba village were exempted from this system of forced labour because their agricultural work was so important to the colonial economy.
That`s how central Cochabamba is in the agricultural sector of Bolivia.

As a true represetation of such a status, there is a famous market in the city, where they sell everything you can possibly imagine.
But i have yet to go there! Will write about it when i do.

In the city, there are people of Spainsh descent, as well as 2 indigenous groups, called the Quechuas and Aymaras.
The buildings have a touch of Spanish colour to them, and you can see buildings that look like they`ve been there for centuries, as well as incredibly modern looking buildings too.
And some parts of Cochabamba, the smell reminds me of Chinatown, if you know what I mean!!

Its really interesting here, because the gap between the rich and poor is so obvious. I knew there was a big gap, but I think I was expecting there to be a rich side of the city, and a poor side. But actually, its blended.
On one street corner, you`ll see a mother and her two children begging, and on the other corner of the street, you`ll see brand new toyota SUV.

I wish i had a digital camera and could upload pictures, so you`d all have a better idea of what its like here.... but i^ll take lots of pictures!

I`ll write more again soon.