Welcome

If you're reading this, either I or a friend have probably invited you to read it. Even if you looked for this particular blog yourself, or just happened to stumble upon this particular alleyway in the endless metropolis of cyberspace, welcome. Welcome to a project I'll call, for lack of a better name, "Drew's Bolivia Blog," which will be the shared record of my reflections and experiences for the nine weeks of this summer I spend in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I hope that what I have to say here interests you, entertains you, or enlightens you. But I have to make the disclaimer that none of what is to follow is guaranteed to do any of these things. There is a well-worn proverb which says that "you get what you pay for." This blog is delivered to you entirely free of charge.

I don't have entirely altruistic motives for writing this, truth be told: I am required by the good folks at ETHOS University of Dayton back home to write weekly status reports so they know that I'm OK. This blog is one way in which I'm going to fulfill that requirement: in essence, this is a way to let you know that I'm still breathing. This means that in theory, these blog posts should come along at least once a week, maybe more frequently. Some of you know, however, that I'm extraordinarily bad at returning calls, emails, letters, or just about any form of communication known to man including the spoken word. It's a failing of mine. Hopefully, though, the required status reports will keep me on the level. Another note: while this will probably my main form of communication, it certainly won't be the only one. Some of you whom I'm in the habit of keeping in regular postal contact with will receive letters, emails, postcards, etc.

While we're on the subject of status reports, I'll talk a little about the content of this blog: it's still to be determined. The status reports themselves will probably include somewhat technical accounts of the work being done with the CEDESOL foundation, which I'll most likely email to Bro. Aaron, Dr. Pinnell & Co. and post in duplicate here. However, this kind of technical stuff won't be the main part of this blog. Instead, the blog will be an online journal of my experiences in Cochabamba and my reflections on them. Hopefully by reading it once it takes shape you'll get to borrow my eyes and ears to experience Cochabamba. Hopefully by borrowing my experience of Cochabamba, you'll come to understand a bit of the experience and life of its people as well. In the spirit of that, I'll leave you with a traditional salutation for a Spanish-speaking country.

Saludos (regards),

Drew