Aprovecho

"Aprovecho" is a colloquial saying in the Spanish language which is usually used after meals. It´s good manners, and it functions along the lines of ¨bon appetit¨or something similar. It comes from the verb aprovechar, which has no equivalent in English that I can think of. Its meaning runs somewhere along the lines of "to make good use of," or "to make the most of." It also has a negative connotation in the sense of taking advantage of something or someone, but I like the sense in which it´s used after meals much better. There´s a certain wisdom in it. Make the most of your meal. Incidentally, the leading think tank on ecological cookers of all types is named the Aprovecho Reseach Center for precisely that reason.



Aprovecho has been a sort of mantra I´ve been trying to live by while here in Bolivia. It´s about the halfway point of my time in Bolivia (5ish weeks gone, 4 more coming) and I thought I´d reflect a little on my experiences here and how I´m doing. As Charlie says in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, "I´m happy and sad at the same time and I don´t really know why."



Truth be told, this time has not been easy for me at all. I´ve been on my own away from home lots of times before. But I´ve never been truly homesick until now. At least, there are times when I very much wish I was home, because something about me just doesn´t seem to succeed here. At times, I thank God for all those years of cross-country and track running, because I think that trains in you a certain reserve of sheer will you can fall back on.


Part of it is that there are some very strong personalities around here of a kind I´m just not used to dealing with. I guess now´s as good a time as ever to learn, because it won´t be the last time in my life that strong personalities enter. Learn to deal now, or have to learn later. That´s the way of things.

Actually, as hard as it is right now this is still a good experience, having to learn to cope with situations which are not optimal and make whatever you can out of it. That skill is indispensable for an engineer, and I´ll be better for it. Also, one thing I´m trying to learn is to go into a job knowing next to nothing about what you´re supposed to be doing. Which begins a short list of crazy things I´ve done in Bolivia so far that I could never do in the states, which I hope is at least mildly entertaining.

• Eat goat. This was my first demonstration, a while back around week 2 or 3. We were in a town called Bombeo and the townspeople literally set out a feast. There were chunks of a tough meat that was really heavily spiced and not really too bad. I found out later from Dave when he asked me how the goat was.
• Fish a bird out of a vat of congealed sugarcane juice. This was in Saipina at a sugar mill. My colleague Darling and I saw the bird, and she grabbed a big spoon they use to stir the cane syrup with and lifted the bird out, because the bird was covered in syrup and couldn´t fly. Incidentally, the vat was this big cast-iron bowl and very hot, so the bird was suffering. We found some water to wash the bird off with and Darling set it in the bed of a truck so the dogs wouldn´t get it. I hope that bird´s OK.
• Dig a hole through an adobe wall with a pickaxe without a handle and a machete. At the same sugar mill. The wall was 6 inches thick and ridiculously hard.
• Tow a Toyota Land Cruiser with a Ford Expedition, without a trailer hitch and using a rope instead of a chain. We were trying to get the Toyota to start.

Incidentally, I saw Prince Caspian with my host family and maybe it was the fact that I haven´t seen the states in over a month and have little to no news (though I think I heard that Obama got the Democratic nomination,) I thought it was pretty damn good. It was a subtitle movie and not dubbed so I got to hear all the actual voices, British accents and all, which was nice.

Today I got a little break from grantwriting and got to go to the workshop and help manufacture solar box cookers. So all day I was working with tools in my hands planing, sanding, and putting on primer coats. So I was glad for that. Tomorrow morning we visit the El Abra prison where some of the inmates have a business doing final assembly for rocket stoves. That should be cool I hope.

Four weeks to go, and sometimes it seems that my flight home can´t come fast enough. But then again, my host family is wonderful and there are still a lot of great experiences here. I´m still praying for the humility to hear whatever lessons are out there for me, and to make the best use of the time I´ve got left. I will miss this place a little when I leave it, especially Andrea and her family. I really have become attached to them.

Thanks to the family at home and all my friends, Stateside and abroad, whom I´ve talked to. You´ve given me words of inspiration and support that have come just when I needed them. Just knowing that people listen is enough. I came here and I won´t let you down. You can be sure of it.

Provecho,

Drew