The Comparison of Appropriate Immunization Practices in Bolivia and a Bolivian Orphanage: May 26, 2016

Anyways, my day starts as usual. I begrudgingly wake up at 6:15 and then get ready for breakfast. This time however, when I left my room to go downstairs and to the kitchen for breakfast I felt that something was off. There were no girls crying, playing, or even talking. The silence was deafening. When I went up to the kitchen building and noticed all the doors were still locked it hit me. Today was Corpus Christi and the girls didn’t have school so they didn’t need to get up early. “Ok no big deal” I thought to myself as I started to walk back to my room. While walking back to my room I noticed the door to the part of the Hogar where the dogs are kept was open. When I noticed this I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. The dogs were still out… I picked up my pace. As soon as I started walking up the stairs one of the dogs came running around a corner of a building about 30 yards behind me. I ran like I stole something. I went up the stairs, ran down the outdoor hallway, took out my keys, put them into the door, opened the door, and closed the door before the dog got to the hallway. I couldn’t fall back to sleep after that… I am not making this up or falsifying any of the details. It was horrible haha.

After that scenario I laid in my bed for a little and then analyzed some of my notes for my project when I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I wrote some paragraphs for the final project about myself and then decided the coast was clear when I heard the sounds of girls crying, playing, and talking. I proceeded to have my usual breakfast and then asked Mother Superior what I could do to help out around the Hogar. She directed me to the back of the Hogar (where the dogs are kept) and then I helped the girls work in the large garden/small field. I assisted in moving rocks and tree trunks and also moving some soil around (sidenote: while I was typing that sentence I heard a buzzing coming from the bedside table. I just killed what looked like a black beetle that was a little smaller than my thumb. No joke. I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight). While I was working, Carina and Elena invited me to eat lunch at the Convent with them and some nuns. I agreed and we walked there immediately. The lunch consisted of a meat (not exactly sure what kind), mashed potatoes, fried plantains, rice with eggs, and a soup that reminded me of wedding soup, except it wasn’t wedding soup. The nuns were asking me questions about my stay and I was batting around .500 until a really quiet nun started asking me questions. It’s not that I didn’t understand the questions that she was asking, but I couldn’t hear the questions she was asking. Both parties ended up frustrated and so we continued our meals after a valid attempt for conversation.

During lunch I was told that because today was Corpus Christ there would be mass tonight. I didn’t think anything of it and got ready for mass as I normally would. (Note: The nuns said something about this being a big mass with a lot of people but I really didn’t catch everything). After getting ready, Carina, Elena, two nuns, 7-10 girls, and I rolled out in the typical fashion of in the pickup truck. When we arrived at our destination I was surprised to see a huge futbol (soccer) stadium. When I asked what we were doing here I was told that the mass was held inside and it would be a four hour long mass. FOUR HOURS!!! I survived. I will use the pictures to help describe it below but what I can tell you is that it was very different. It was kind of like a normal mass but with dances in between prayers and many shows on the field. Pictures will help you visualize this weird occasion.

Anyways, after the mass concluded, everyone began to leave the stadium at once. It was becoming dark now and outside the stadium there looked like a parade was beginning to form. It was actually a huge group of people following a cross to the central plaza and church of Montero. While walking through the crowd with the girls and my German friends, I noticed that everyone was looking at me again. It was probably because I was the tallest person in the crowd of 5,000+. I could literally see down the whole street over everyone’s heads! When we stopped in the plaza after a half of mile walk, girls started coming up to me asking for me to take pictures with them. I obliged for the first several photo requests but then the girls (orphans) told me not take anymore picture with anyone. They said that they wanted me for themselves and to make the next people have to pay to take a picture with me. I was also holding us back from moving so that could also be a reason they wanted me to stop. So that I was not be rude to the next people that asked for a picture I just pretended to not know Spanish (“WHAT DO YOU WANT?”). This got a lot of the girls laughing including my German friends! After we watched some fireworks in the plaza, I went to eat some food with Carina and Elena. I guess I should give you some background information of them. They are both 20 years old and came to the Hogar as a part of a volunteer organization in Germany. They have stayed eight months and will leave in August. Anyways, we went to a Chinese place that was actually really good! I got noodles with chicken and a Coca Cola. When we finished our meals we took a motorcycle taxi back to the Hogar. All in all, it was a great day and I had some very interesting experiences! Keep sending me those emails because I really do enjoy them and they mean a lot to me! Chao!

This is the best picture that I could find that shows where the dog came from. The dog came from behind that red building. I am standing in this picture on top of the staircase that I ran up.