Home Again

I am home once more! Home and sick that is. *sigh* I hate being sick! Fever, pluged nose, irritated eyes, stiff joints... It just sucks! Well, the good news is yesterday I got my learner's permit. Maybe a few of you think that is bad news, but its good to me. ;) Lets see, what else is new in my life. Besides from being bombarded with "home," my cousin and his father (not really my cousin, just the son of a Boy Scout friend of my father, so close 'nough) are coming here to work at camp. They arrive around Thursday night and camp subsequently starts Saturday. So anyone wanting to see me better do it soon. :P I've missed all you guys extremely, but "The Smallman" is baaaaack!

StarWars and Genetics

After watching Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith with Jorge and his family last night, (for the second time I might add) his father brought up a very interesting point. He wanted to know just how Anakin (aka Darth Vader) was born. Well in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, his mother explains to Qui-Quon that there was no father, immaculate conecption. Taking the further point that Anakin's midiclorians are off the scale and that midiclorians are the creators of life (Qui-Quon states so in Episode I), we can assume that the midiclorians caused the birth of Anakin. Having no father cells to work with, the midiclorians would have had to cause a clone fetus to grow. They would have stimulated the production of an ovum, but during meiosis stopped the chromosomes from halving themselves, thereby producing a 2n ovum, a fetus. Now here is where Jorge's father comes in, a female's sex chromosomes are YY and a male's are XY, so if the midiclorians were working only with Anakin's mother's cells (therefore only YY) how is it that he is a male (XY)? At the time I had no answer for him, but now as I'm writing this and thinking about it, if the midiclorians (according to Qui-Quon) created life and they had the ability to stimulate immaculate conception, wouldn't it stand to reason that they could change a Y to a X?

Any thoughts? Did I miss an important point? Is my biology wrong? Do you know more about StarWars than I? Please post comments!!!

Sad Ramblings of a Lovesick Traveler

OMG! I am such a BAD blogger!!! I haven't posted in forever! Forever I tell you! I didn't even finish posting my Easter Break Vaccation. Well, the "incredibly awesome good news" (and at the same time "horrendously awfull bad news") is that I leave Bolivia for home in just 6 days! My how time has flown. I feel like I have been here less time than the time I have really been here. (Here is where the ramblings begin.) And now that I am getting down to the wire, the question remains, "Do I really want to leave?" "Does the joy of going home to my family outweigh the sorrow of leaving my Bolivian friends?" Not to mention the good food here!!! Or the most awesome-ist, w00t-tacular girl the world has ever seen... But, in the immortal words of John Durkee, "That's life, shit happens." My stay in Bolivia has been as far from "shit" as can be, but the exodous... that is the real pain. Now my grandpa says that every AFS student he has ever had that enjoyed their stay, said the exact same things that I am saying. And that it really was best for them (and me) to leave and go home... My brain agrees with his knowledge, experience, and wisdom, but my heart screams out in opposition.

I am leaving my heart in Cochabamba...

Oruro, The Folkloric Capital of Bolivia

Two weeks ago was Spring/Easter Vacation for AIS/B, so naturaly we traveled! After school on Thursday (being in a Catholic country, we also got Good Friday off) we jumped aboard a bus heading for Oruro. Four and a half-hours later we arrived and stayed at the International Park Hotel in the Oruro Bus Terminal. The next morning we got up early, ate a nice continental breakfast, and headed down to La Plaza Principal (the main plaza). After seeing the Cathedral, cruising around the plaza, and feeding the pidgeons, we decided to see a little more of the city, so we jumped on the first trufi (public bus) we found. After ridding on the bus for its entire route (putting us back in the Plaza) and seeing most of the south of the city, we got on a second trufi. This bus took us along Circum Valacion, the road that goes around the entire outside of the city (Cochabamba has one too, but it isn't finished yet).

Oruro isn't called the folkloric capital of Bolivia for nothing. There is a really cool ledgend about the city. It is said, that durring the early days of the city, a giant snake, a rather large toad, and an army of ants attacked and laid siege to the city. The Virgin Maria then came and turned the snake and toad into stone and the ants into sand. Oruro, as a city, is nestled next to some mountains and along these mountains (which Circum Valacion runs) is a large stone vein in the shape of a snake. Obviously, this vein of stone is made of a harder stone than that the mountain. Over time, the mountain erroded more than the vein, leaving it in the shape of a snake. Also, on one side of the city is a hill that looks kinda like a toad and there are some extensive sand dunes nearby. Most interesting.

After viewing the snake, we headed for Cathedral Socovon. Oruro started out as a mining town and naturaly had a "main" mine, Socovon. However, the entrance to the mine was lost. In more recent times, the construction of a church found the entrance. The church now leads tours into the mine and has a nice museum (only on Sunday, so we had to go back). The interesting thing about Bolivian mines and miners is "El Tio de la Mina" or The Uncle of the Mine. Bolivian miners believe that mines and caves are the dominion of the devil. So they pray to the devil and ask for protection. Every mine has an Uncle or an idol of the devil. They leave alcohol, cigarettes, money, and coca leaves for him in exchange for protection in the mine.

That evening was Good Friday and all the churchs were holding processions. We went and watched the one led by the Cathedral in the Plaza. First off, it was late. Bolivians either a) don't have watches, b) don't know how to read watches, or c) don't care. The only group that was on time was the military, big surprise (really!). There was a ceremony going on inside the Cathedral in preparation for the procesion and all the military officers in the city slowly trickled into the Cathedral all the way up to the beginning of the procesion. The procesion consited of five statures (Christ on the wipping post, Christ on the cross, Christ laid to rest, Weeping Mary, and a Saint) carried by various organizations, the army's band, two companies, the police's band, a troupe of officers, the students from a Catholic school, and half the city. Alot of pomp and circumstance for Bolivia.

On Saturday, we went and saw the costume shops. As I mentioned in a previous post, Oruro is the capital of Carnival in Bolivia. So, obviously, they have the most (and best) costume shops in the country. I wish I had a scanner so I could post the pictures we took. They are absolutely amazing and expensive! $200+ to purchase or 200+ Bolivianos to rent. Sunday we went to the tour of the mine and then caught a train to Uyuni.

El Corso de Corsos! El Mejor Doce Horas de su Vida!

El Corso de Corsos. The mother of all parades. I am sure you have all watched the Rose Parade. Two hours of floats, bands, dancers, and marchers. The Corso de Corsos doesn’t have all the pomp or the parades of the Rose Parade, but it is much, much bigger culturally. Twelve hours of dancing girls, brass bands, native bands, and native dancers. Twelve hours of screaming Bolivians filling the stands. Twelve hours of kids (and their parents) throwing water balloons at any passerby. Twelve hours of food, beer, and fun. The best twelve hours of your life.

Take any street you know, Main Street for example. Fill the sidewalk with bleachers, from building front to street edge. Then fill the bleachers with teenagers itching to bombard the other side of bleachers with their dozen water balloons that they just purchased for 1 Boliviano (12 cents). Fill them with parents, beer in one hand and water balloon in the other. Fill them with cholitas in traditional dress. Fill them with wide eyed children.

It is 10 in the morning and the parade is about to start. Soldiers in gorilla costumes come shrieking down the street. Following them is a large brass band playing your favorite cumbias song. The crowd begins to stomp to the beat and the bleaches shake. Next comes a troupe of dancing girls. Short skirts twirling and painted faces smiling. The crowd stomps loader (and the bleachers shake harder) and begins to chant. “Eso! Beso! Eso! Beso!” “That’s it! Kiss! That’s it. Kiss!” The next act is of men and women on stilts in costumes. Whistles in mouth, jumping and turning, they excite the crowd even more. Going from side to side, shaking hands, blowing kisses. Police are every where. Every corner, every building, every crossing. They come in swarms. The most you have seen since last year’s Corso de Corsos. Then the war begins. Lado a lado. Side to side. It doesn’t matter who started it. The entire other side is at fault. “To arms! Throw those balloons! Get ‘em good!“ Boys, men, girls, women. Everybody joins in the fun. Bolivians never seem to outgrow it. Then not only is the side the enemy, but any person who walks by. Buckets of water thrown from the top of the stand or the second story window. The ever persistant water balloons. Cans of shaving cream. If you are unlucky, ballons full of ink. If you are really unlucky, fozen water balloons (illegal). Several people are arrested for too much aggression, for picking on kids or the elderly. The rest of the parade is a blur, maks, costumes, stilts, dancers, bands, water balloons, food, beer, on and on and on. This will continue hour after hour, till 10 that night.

This was my most recent experience in Bolivia. It is was so much fun. A memory I will carry to the grave. At one point we were walking behind the bleachers heading to Burger King for a well deserved meal. Then was a narrow crossing coming up, bleachers on the left, bar on the right. It seemed like all of Cochabamba was coming, and all of La Paz was going. It began to get dangerous, tripping, falling, pushing, pulling, etc. So we jumped into the bar and left through the back door. It ended up taking us 2 whole hours to walk 5 blocks to get to BK. We all agreed it was worth it! On a side note, Cochabamba’s Corso de Corsos is not the only one. Every major city in Bolivia has one. Oruro, the capital of Bolivia’s Carnaval, lasts from 8 in the morning until 4 the next!

More Poetry

Since I recieved a record of two, COUNT 'EM, two coments on my last poetry post, I decided to post a second poem of mine. This poem can viewed at Poetry.com

Lover's Lament

I curse the day that man did invent the kiss!
For though there be such passion in one,
To stir a man to unearthly deeds,
It may be easily stolen;
And in that brief instant,
A man doth feel his heart bursting in his chest;
And when the lips do part,
He knows that it shall never be again,
For it was stolen, not given.

-Ian Thompson

Diminet

Diminet. The very name of this most fine institution brings a smie to my face. Diminet is an interne cafe on Avenida America, Cochabamba. For only 3.50 Bs (43 cents) an hour you can entertain yourself on ay of Diminet's excellent games. Now you must remember that this is Bolivia, so it doesn't have Half-Life 2 or Halo 2, but it does sport both Warcraft III and both Starcraft games, clasics in their own rights. I recently (last Sunday) spent over 10 hours at Diminet with a small group of friends. I can't think of a better way to waste my weekends! We ate Oreos, drank lots of Coke, and had hotdogs for lunch. Fun fun! Just to give you guys a taste of Bolivia!

Poetry

Upon realizing that I have been neglecting my blog I was at a loss as to what to post. So here is what I came up with, a poem that I once wrote. You can also read this poem at Poetry.com.

Love is You

Woe the man that does not love,
For the man that does not love, does not live.

Love is the rain that nurtures the rose,
Love is the sun that strengthens the oak.

Love is the cloud that lifts my soul,
Love is the wine that fills my cup.

Love is the bird that sings in the tree,
Love is the hart that sleeps in the wood.

Love is my heart fit to burst,
O my love, Love is you.

La Paz, City in the Mountains

I recently visited La Cuidad de Nuestra Dama de Paz (The City of Our Lady of Peace), more commonly known as La Paz, the de facto capitol of Bolivia. Las conquistadores thought it would be a capital idea to build a city in a canyon, due to the river that ran through the canyon. So, to get a picture of La Paz picture a bowl, with houses and streets running all up and down the bowl. That pretty much is La Paz, its kinda like San Fransisco on steriods. There even is a large bridge, though it spans from one side of the bowl to the other, instead of water.

If you ever decide to visit La Paz you simply must go see Cathedral San Fransisco and Cathedral La Paz. They are the two best cathedrals of many in La Paz. Near Cathedral La Paz is the Congressional Palace, Goverment Palace, and Art Museum, more must sees. Hotel España, were I stayed, is a very nice hotel that comes recomended.

Also, if you find yourself in La Paz, go and visit Tiawanaku. Tiawanaku is a pre-Incan city and culture. There are guided tours, just talk to a travel agency in La Paz. The 1-1/2 hour ride to the site is well worth the goods. There are two very good museums, and the city itself is spectacular.

My First Real Blog

Hello to all my devoted fans, friends, and family. lol devoted Anywho, here I am in Bolivia typing on my grandpa's crappy iMac (I mooned a cow). I have to use Internet Explorerer to post, but can't do anything else with IE because the Script doesn't all load. I have to use Mozilla to edit my profile or change my settings. However, Mozilla won't let me post. I can't select the text box to type in. O well, I've suffered worse.

I hope more is to come, and that I don't abandon this online project like I have so many others. I hope the future shall bring great blogs on life, the world, Christianity, D&D, BSA, camping, friends, family, tennis, skiing, etc., etc., ect.

Love Ian Joseph Thompson