Horse Hunting

So you want to know what it’s like to go Horse Hunting ?

I understand – who hasn’t dreamed of having their own horse? Ok, so you might be thinking Mom and I watched too many John Wayne movies while I was growing up – and you’d be right, but the Duke sure made life away from civilization look pretty awesome . . . and well, here I am in the Peace Corps:).

Lest most of you think I don’t know the first thing about horses and thus what am I doing horse hunting – I know enough to befriend a five time jumping and dressage champion who lives a few towns away from me !! Hah, I say to you doubting Thomas, Hah. Elke Smid is a wonderful German lady who has lived here in Bolivia for 30 some odd years. She’s married to a Bolivian (Arend) whose parents were both German and they’ve retired down here to lovely Tarija. Elke & Arend own a beautiful alfalfa farm (read: caviar for horses) about 40 minutes drive from San Lorenzo and 15 minutes from the city of Tarija.

Elke is no longer competing and is moving into breeding and training her horses. Luckily for yours truly Elke is either lonely or finds me amusing because she’s agreed to teach me dressage and jumping for free!! Anywayz, Elke was nice enough to help me horse hunt – and she couldn’t have been more of a sweetheart !!

We went from farm to farm, Elke found some gorgeous Paso Peruano horses – which are highly valued down here for their special gate. As you know most horses walk on a diagonal, the left foreleg and right hind leg moving forward at the same time and so on, moving with two legs in the air at any given time – literally giving them the ‘amble’ we’re so used to seeing. Paso horses however, are genetically predisposed to move forward with each side at once – that is right foreleg and right hind leg at the same time. What is this truly amazing is that only one leg is ever off the ground at one time – creating a ‘softer’ ride.

In any case, after Elke found some Paso’s that she was looking for – off we went to find my dream boy. After 3 days, 5 farms, and some VERY sore legs – we found him. He was originally named Para Atacar which means For Attacking… rather foreboding no? He’s been re-christened Sweet Dreams. He is a stunning dark chocolate brown with a black mane and a white diamond on his forehead. He’s only 5, but incredibly well trained and he’s castrado (castrated) – if only all men were so well trained, ahhhh. Well Sweet Dreams is amazing. He is a pureblood quarter horse. His mother was a racehorse and his father was a famous stallion. He runs like the wind, loves to jump, and is very smart – he’s infamous for opening every door he comes across.

The trip was a resounding success – I really have always dreamed of having my own horse & riding off into the sunset with John . . . and now at least Sweet Dreams and I can ride off into the sunset together.

On a side note – I’ve been visiting outlying communities with the Nunnettes. It’s been extremely sad, I haven’t met a single adult who can read - the mothers aren’t sure how their kids are doing in school because they can’t read the reports – let alone help them with their homework. But hopefully, Sweet Dreams can help me get to these places a little more frequently and I can read them newspapers and have mini-health education sessions – a few families at a time.

We’ll see.

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I’m writing this on the Wednesday beforehand. I am extremely grateful to have all of you in my life – I’m sorry that I can’t write to you each personally – but please know that I am thinking of you and praying for all of you.

All my love,
Sarah (Catherine, Kate, SC, SP. . . the works)

These Marvelous Nuns

So, the other night these marvelous nuns and their accompanying Nunnettes brought me to Tarija’s ExpoSur – a county fair – type of event. All sorts of businesses and organizations come to chow off their projects/products – from Argentina or Paraguay to Bolivia. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to who or why one sets up a tent – few are actually selling their products – but it certainly makes for a lively ½ mile walk!!

Dona Hilda, one of my English students and the head of the vocational school. She has a stand (check out the picture) where she promotes the products her students & folks from a community over the rainbow and if she’s lucky – sells a bit. And on the other hand, few of you will be surprised that my beloved Mob is involved.

Petero, the youngest Antelo son (my amazing host family), has clearly inherited his share of the family’s impressive entrepreneurial spirit. Oh yes, that’s right, Petoro and a few of his friends have set up a Discotheque at ExpoSur. This festival continues for about 3 weeks and is the best thing going in town; the young, the old, and the even the Nuns don’t want to miss out. If you want to dance & drink you only have to pay Petoro and his friends to into their tent and party!!

And why on earth not? Unfortunately, the creative industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit we take so for granted at home is truly a diamond in the rough down here. It’s actually pretty refreshing to see people trying to creatively make some money – that’s extremely rare down here. I’m afraid that’s one of the many setbacks of this crawling economy. Sure in principle this economy is based on capitalism – but the incentives we’re all used to – namely monetary – don’t really work the way we’re used to. The majority of folks that become affluent do so through political corruption – it’s not really a pretty sight.

In anycase, one of the biggest “draws” to Expo Sur is the music. All sorts of famous Bolivian artists are invited. As the nun-wagon pulled up last night, we were greeted by none other than the eternal classic “I want to rock you all night long” by ______.

Oh, & just so you know, you’ve really never truly partied if you’ve never lived it up with Bolivian Nuns!! They were still dancing and clapping away at 2:30 in the morning!! The Nun-wagon dropped us off in San Lorenzo about 3AM and I was honestly all partied out – so much for all that training in college!! . . . You know it’s bad when you can’t even keep up with the Nuns!

Obviously partying with the nuns is NOT an experience you should be passing up – but luckily for you – I’m here for another 20 months to offer you just such an exclusive opportunity!

Only for a limited time !! Hurry !!

Besos,
La Sarita