OVERSEAS BRIEFING

Author: KELLY BLYNN

BOLIVIA - I've been in Bolivia for almost a month now, making my way through the challenges and excitements of being in a new culture, relearning and improving my Spanish and meeting new people. My program is based in Cochabamba, a city of 800,000 people or so, nestled in a valley with the Andes towering above to the north and west. The city boasts an eternal spring, and indeed the weather is nearly perfect, 70s in the day, 60s at night, typically sunny - certainly a difference from rainy, snowy, chilly, but of course lovely Vermont.

Bolivia today is South America's poorest country, with 70 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The poverty is extreme, but the culture, society and political movements here are incredibly vibrant and active. Bolivia is also South America's most indigenous country, and walking along the streets each day, I see everything from your modern businessman and woman to women and children in traditional Aymara and Quechua dress, with kids and possessions wrapped up and carried in brightly-colored weavings on their backs. Also, not a day goes by when I don't see people gathering in the plazas, giving speeches or hanging political slogans from their windows. All the graffiti I have seen is not hateful, like at home, but instead focused on the important hot political issues of the moment - gas nationalization and coca.

In December, Bolivia elected the first indigenous president in South American history, Evo Morales, by one of the largest margins in the country's history. Critics say he is incompetent as a leader, and laugh at the red sweater he dons in place of a fancy suit, but it will be interesting to watch and see if he knows more about how to lead his country than his U.S.-educated predecessors who were supposedly more competent, but have done little to help the Bolivian people or economy. It is truly fascinating to be here in the midst of the strong forces of both modernization and globalization, and also indigenous movements.

In terms of Cochabamba, the city is best known for the Guerra del Agua in 2000 when city residents and campesinos from miles around ousted one of the world's largest corporations, Bechtel, from their city. Bechtel won a contract (well, it was the only bidder) in the 1990s for the privatization of Cochabamba's water system, and residents immediately saw several hundred percent rate increases. For many Cochabambinos living on Bolivia's minimum wage, $60 a month, their water rates were now a quarter or more of their monthly income. Residents of the city and surrounding areas organized and protested in the central plaza, and after strikes, blockades and many rounds of tear gas, which later turned to live rounds and the death of a protester, company executives fled and the government cancelled the contract.

On a lighter note, the city is involved in a different kind of water war. It's Carnaval, and for the month of February, the city becomes an all out war zone, with every little kid you see hoarding water balloons and water guns. I was riding a micro a few days ago, when a women riding with the window open got hit right in the face as we were driving along. These kids know what they're doing. And as a little blonde gringita, I am about as prime a target as you can get. As I sit here, I'm squishing in my shoes, as I had not just water balloons thrown at me, but five buckets of water dumped on me on my way here. I'm thinking about investing in one of those backpack water guns - I have to defend myself in some way.