Day 21: June 7th, 2016 -- Bye Best Friend

Woke up, gym, meeting

with Procasha. Really rude individuals… they requested the meeting and I showed up 10 minutes late because the taxi driver got lost twice and they were like “oh the meeting was at 11am not 11:10am.” I hate it when people talk to me like I’m a child or in general criticize me… So that did not start well.

Then they came in and asked “what can we help you with” well that was it, no time for games I just said “ I’m here as a favor to you, you called 3 times to set up this meeting, what can I help you with? We don’t need any help we’re totally fine.” Yeah definitely ruder than I needed to be but oh well, I don’t do well with criticism. Ultimately we worked it out: they are trying to train female masons to build toilets and want us to hire them. Well of course! Any organization that supports female empowerment is perfect with me. They tried to play the game of “oh well only if the women want to” but I made it pretty clear that we didn’t have to hire them and would not bend over backwards to do so. In the end it seemed like a decent meeting and it would be cool to work with the women they trained in January. Especially because finding masons is always so hard.

Then I had a meeting with Maria Eugenia to film her testimonial for the ford grant video ($25,000 please pray for us if anyone vaguely religious is reading this). We did it in spanish and english and I thought the english one was better. Let’s hope Ford does too….

Afterwards, I went to go buy a large amount of fruit for no reason since I’m literally leaving tomorrow. Then I made lunch: another winner, chicken tacos with avocado, tomato, onions, and black beans. And for dessert oranges with honey and cinnamon. I don’t know why but I love my fake homemade tacos they are just so good. The black beans made a difference today for sure. Then I studied for the MCAT of course -- in case anyone’s wondering I’ve made it through gen chem and am currently on social sciences. Which is actually interesting/ making me learn some cool stuff… although it’s debatable how much I should really be learning at this point.

Then Rodrigo came to pick me up and we went to see Bolivian movie about this heroine during the Liberation of many South American countries. I had seen a Bolivian movie before so the ridiculously low quality camera work, acting, effects and scenery didn’t get to me as much --- but it still got to me how it was so clear there was a human person holding the camera, like come on Bolivia can’t you buy a camera stand and not have the camera move every .01 seconds. The movie was interesting enough but lacked historical accuracy and general decent film making. And all the actors were under 5’6 and not attractive but that’s really a personal thing. Oh but the fact that they made Simon Bolivar look short, fat and ugly --that’s not personal. He is literally the most important figure in South America, the Great Liberator, they could have made him look decent. The movie in general has to do with a woman who defied all odds and became a commander in the Bolivian independence movement. She had 4 kids all of which died, and a husband who also died. She ended up dying alone and poor at the age of 82 because even though she fought for freedom her political views were too much for men to handle #classicmen. She reminded me of Manuela Saenz -- of Quito Ecuador (my place!) who was the mistress of Simon Bolivar. She too was an amazing woman, and is credited for just how long Bolivar lived since he in fact was pretty dumb. For example, one time she warned him: this is a set up not a real dinner party people want to kill you “oh Manuela so paranoid, just chill out and let me be free,” then just as a man was about to literally shoot Bolivar Manuela came out in a nightgown (scandalous!) to provoke attention and the man ended up missing Bolivar. Thanks Manuela. Oh wait he didn’t actually say thanks because #men. Just kidding. But in general, its good to hear that there were many women heroine during this time! Especially in this continent where men continue to dominate every sphere of life (not saying it doesn’t happen elsewhere, just saying that it definitely happens here and I have lived with it my whole life).

Rodrigo left his wallet in the theater so we had to go back and get it. Then I gave him his gift! Which was a silver bracelet that had Refresh Bolivia and Domestic Operations engraved on it -- yes I am in fact a great gift giver. Take note anyone reading this, I like presents and expect a decent one when I leave next year. Well saying goodbye was tough, he almost cried, I felt some sort of sad emotions. He’s honestly one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my whole entire life. He makes me remember why I love Latin America and its people so much. They are so open and warm and caring and I wish I was more like that but am so thankful that he came into my life and warmed it up for a month. But like I said I suck at goodbyes so none of that was actually expressed in real life. Oh well. I guess we have to appreciate the time we have with people and then just keep on moving to the next day. I’ll see him again yeah sure, but people change and times change so you can never really know how the next encounter will go. But yeah, I’m sad right now, saying goodbye sucks, can’t even begin to imagine what I will feel like in 6 months when I say goodbye to Bolivia for a long time. So I’m going to ignore that. Also get ready for a stupidly emotional post in 48 hours because I feel it coming and am just trying to keep it together for these next two days.