Breathless Beauty: Share the secret of undiscovered Bolivia
by Jacqueline McEwan
If I’m unlucky my day starts with the electronic beep-beep I loathe. The 6 a.m. alarm ready for a 7 a.m. class. Yes, 7 a.m….the most popular time for classes here, though often it’s only the teacher who actually makes it on time. Possessing the Bolivian work ethic and a desperate need to get ahead of the pack, our students are busy people. Typically 20-somethings still trying to complete their degrees while holding down full-time jobs and improving their English.
But I’m only ever a day away from sleeping in on Tuesdays and Thursdays I can wake naturally and go to the gym, a block and a half away from my apartment. I live in Sopocachi in the capital, La Paz, which I like because it’s close to where I work and it’s where the bars and restaurants are found.
La Paz is perfect for the pedestrian. It’s compact, so most things are within walking distance, although this often feels like a hike. The city lies in a bowl so you’re either going up or down, rarely along. Add to that high altitude (we live at 4,000m [12,000 feet] above sea level) and you’re soon gasping for breath. Fortunately, public transport is a Bolivian speciality, so I just step out of my apartment and into a passing taxi. It’s estimated only one in 10 vehicles on the road is private, the rest are buses and taxis. There are three types of taxi and the cheapest charge three bolivianos (40 cents) to go anywhere in the city.
The standard of living is generally good. Although my monthly salary wouldn’t last a week in New York, here I have a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with a terrace to myself, for which I pay $250 per month. My cleaner comes once a week ($7 for the whole day) and I always ask her to buy me fresh flowers as they’re beautiful and cheap.
We often eat at one of La Paz’s selection of excellent restaurants…Mexican, Japanese, Korean, Spanish…great food for a reasonable price. There’s not much that isn’t cheap here. A local match at the national soccer stadium costs 10 bolivianos (or 15 bolivianos if you pay a surcharge to avoid standing in the ticket line). Even when Brazil came the tickets were only 30 bolivianos.
I’ve been in this country a year and a half now and still readily drink in the sight of the indigenous women with plaits under their bowlers selling fruit on the pavement. Bolivia is unspoiled, undiscovered. A secret we’re privileged to share.
Once at work, it takes about an hour to check e-mails, and then there will be a meeting or professional development session, which I love since there’s always something new to learn.
Since becoming a senior teacher, I’ve enjoyed the chance to become more involved in the life of the center while still keeping both feet firmly planted in the classroom. I like having a say in what goes on, having my ideas implemented and helping colleagues to get theirs heard.
The story of my time here makes good reading for those who want to give new things a try. La Paz is one of those teaching centers that is a breeding ground for opportunities. Having arrived with no teacher trainer or examiner experience, I’ve now delivered several teacher training workshops both to peers and to groups of local English teachers, and loved every minute.
After lunch I work on one of our projects. At the moment we’re preparing ourselves for a “code of practice” visit, making sure everything that comes out of the staffroom, including the teachers, meets the required standards. We’re also setting up an intensive teacher training program for 30 teachers in one of La Paz’s bilingual schools. And then there’s our pedagogical review, which looks at how we can improve things in the classroom, such as giving students more practice of natural English.
About an hour before the 7 p.m. class starts, I begin planning a lesson for my advanced group. Recently, it has been a classroom play, an interview with a Dutch girl who has been staying with me about her work in a local children’s home and how to write a good horror story.
My class over, I collapse exhausted into the return taxi while others head for a bar. I can do no more than open a bottle of wine and bed down for the night, watching cable TV.
Rather than stay out until the small hours, my “me time” comes at the weekends when I escape the city. Bolivia’s a climber’s paradise and people here get excited at the prospect of going up Huayna or Illimani at 2 a.m. But I’m a bit too sedentary for all that. and my favorite retreat is the little jungle town of Coroico where you can just sit gazing at lush green mountains and free your mind. Heaven.
If you’re looking for adventure and think you could live up here in the mountains without an oxygen mask, some of the best views in the world await you.
