La Comida con Colegas en Colosa

I love food. My friends know this and make fun of me for it (ahem Sony, Suze, Michelle, etc.). Honestly, anyone who doesn’t share this passion may as well be an alien to me. Different types of food can be nourishing, entertaining, unpredictable, and above all, delicious.

More specifically, I love trying new dishes, encountering new flavors and styles of cooking, and stumbling upon an unfamiliar food that will ultimately become a new favorite.

My coworkers have been very helpful in introducing me to typical Bolivian foods. As a mid-morning snack last Thursday, they ordered Salteñas, which look a lot like empanadas, consisting of a similar yellow dough crust surrounding a delicious mix of meat, potatoes, veggies and spices. They told me that once you can eat a salteña without spilling any of the juices inside, you are a true paceña. My response? Challenge. Accepted. Holding it vertically and taking small bites, I accomplished the task on the first try. 

It may not look like much on the outside, but trust me, it's good!

Salteña de pollo - chicken, vegetables, spices, and deliciousness

The next day we had Tucumanas, which are like Salteñas but a bit larger and with more spices. Again, delicious, and again, I passed the test with flying colors.

So, here is a very warm shout-out to Alex, Jamie, Andrew, Charlie, and René for introducing me to delicious Bolivian cuisine and helping me familiarize myself with all things Bolivian. I’m excited to see what’s next on the menu!

Adios chicos,

Emi

Estoy Establecida!

I’ve officially been in La Paz for a little over a week and so far I’m loving it! Everyone here has been so friendly and helpful, from my homestay family to my coworkers. They’ve taken me out to lunch, shown me around the city, pointed out the good restaurants and stores, and have generally made me feel very welcome.

The apartment I’m staying at is really nice! It’s in a relatively new apartment building called Torre de las Américas. I’m on the 21^st floor and the view is gorgeous. From the living room you can see the whole landscape – the snowy Illimani mountain in the distance, to its right is a peak in the mountains called la Muela del Diablo (the Devil’s tooth), and the rest of the mountainous terrain in the background, with the many multicolored, clustered buildings in the foreground. Having lived in an apartment on the 4^th floor for all my life, I’m fascinated by this view and often catch myself staring at it for minutes at a time.

It doesn't look real! The view from the living room, with the snowy Illimani towards the left corner and the Muela del Diablo above the chair on the right, right next to the middle window pane

View from my room on a particularly beautiful morning (7:30am)!

As for my work, the first week went pretty well. Had some meetings here and there, learned about the software products that Colosa sells called ProcessMaker and ProcessMapper, and completed a 10-hour training course on how to use ProcessMaker. I won’t say that it was the most entertaining thing I’ve done, but it was definitely useful in getting to know the product in-depth.

I can’t wait to travel and share more exciting updates!

Hasta luego,

Emi (my Spanish nickname)

El Principio

As some of you may know, I will be in La Paz, Bolivia for 7 weeks (May 19th-July 6th) completing a summer marketing internship at a software company called Colosa Inc. After my first experience in Latin America, an 8-week summer civic engagement program in Guatemala through Duke University called DukeEngage, I came to deeply appreciate everything about Spanish culture - the language, food, music, friendly people, etc.

I knew I wanted to return after graduating from Duke, since this is my last opportunity to travel before starting a full-time marketing job in July. So, when I received an email about this internship from the Duke study abroad email listserv, I jumped on the opportunity, and here I am! Getting here certainly wasn’t easy – I didn’t know that US citizens must buy a visa upon arrival to Bolivia, and must bring a passport-sized photo with them for it (along with $135), so I wasn’t allowed to board the plane in Miami and had to stay overnight until the next flight out the next day. Woops! Then after getting here, I was told that one of my suitcases was sent to Santa Cruz, Bolivia instead of La Paz. Get it together, people! So let’s hope my suitcase turns up, I improve my rusty Spanish, and my internship gets off to a good start!

I’ll try my best to keep these posts short and to post every now and then (even though there’s no wifi in the apartment), so bear with me. And in case you’re wondering, the title of this blog is “Emilia in Bolivia – Finding Peace in La Paz”.

Buenas noches,

Emilia