Two things that are
fascinating about living in the cloud forest of Bolivia are the colors and the
smells. The colors are hard to describe, being that I am a man, and therefore
only able to see a limited number of colors. Those married men in our circle of
readers will understand this statement without explanation. For those that are
unmarried, men see red, blue, green, etc, while women see dusty
rose/pink/fuschia/magenta/red, vibrant midnight/teal/baby/royal/electric/blues,
chartreuse/forest/sage/pea/greens, and the list continues into oblivion. That
being explained, I will begin my description! Looking out the window of our
apartment, or the window of a bus to Coroico, one can see 300 different shades
of green. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it seems as if each
different plant you see is actually a different shade than the identical plant
sitting right next to it. One can also see incredible reds, yellows, oranges,
blues, and any other color that you can imagine. This is all before going to
the market. If you go to the market in La Paz, you see flower markets with
every color of the rainbow, and a whole lot more. The fruit and vegetable market is a smear of
colors that the human eye has trouble has trouble interpreting and
differentiating. My words fall well short of the mark in trying to describe
this to you all, so please look at the pictures that Susan posts to our
Photobucket account. I have taken a bunch, and will continue to while we are
here.
The next items to fail
at describing are the smells. The smells here are also of a wide spectrum, like
the colors. Some smells are intoxicating, some are revolting. I will start on
the revolting end first. Even though this country has changed so much in the
past 13 years, it is still developing. Some homes here still don’t have indoor
plumbing. Walking by can be a minefield. The nose cannot sidestep around the
odor as the feet can miss the cause. Next in line would be the animals. Dogs,
goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, cows, etc. add to the aroma as you walk through
the countryside. The market place has the aromas of different meats and
sometimes over ripe vegetables left out to the elements as the vendors hawk
their wares. Dried beef, dried fish, beef, chicken, fish, pork, llama, papayas,
mangoes, pineapples, bananas all mix into an aroma that sometimes smells like
an exotic salsa, sometimes a smell that would have you leaving the market early
to get some fresh air! The exhaust smells mingle with all of this to create an
environment that keep you light-headed, and not just because of elevation. From
here on out, the descriptions won’t be noxious! Walking around, you smell
wonderful flowers. The trees here take turns blossoming. I say this because it
is unusual to see identical trees waiting until the tree next to it blooms, and
then fade before starting the process for itself. The coffee and orange trees
are probably the most intoxicating. Simply walking through them
can lift spirits, and make you crave the fruit, or the beverage! There is a
section of the road to lower campus and the village that smells like there
should be millions of bees in the air. The 20-foot section of roadside smells
like honey. The smell is so strong, that Delaney and I investigated to see if
they had hives behind the bushes. There is just something about the way that
the different hedge flowers mingle that creates the intoxicating aroma of honey
mead!
The sights and smells
of this country are incredible. I know that my descriptions are weak compared
to the original, but I have given it my best shot. Next time, I will talk about
the children around the campus.
Benedicion y la Paz!
Jeff
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