Ok so I need to bring you all up to speed on the last 2 weeks of Bolivia and my travels to the Middle East. I went to Santa Cruz and bought 28 cows at an auction, which were then transported to the jungle, where we vaccinated and tagged them. Everything went fairly smoothly until one of the cows escaped and we had to chase her down. Two of the men jumped on horses while the third grabbed a rope to lasso her. In the process I got charged by an angry bull, which just about gave everyone else a heart attack. My advice? Jump behind a tree....cows never were too good at playing hide-and-go-seek. I finally went and visited el cristo, so here's a picture of him up close and personal, along with the beautiful view from the top of the mountain.

For my last weekend in Cochabamba we all went to Mandarina, a popular club. Apparently if you accept a drink from a guy, or dance with a guy, or talk to a guy...heck if you even look at a guy, it means you want to go home with him. One thing I don't understand about the Latin culture is the jealousy. Here's me with my girlfriends before heading out!

Sitting by the pool with some friends after a night of dancing.

I left Cochabamba October 1st and finally made it to Baku October 3rd via the following route: Cochabamba > Santa Cruz > Miami > Philadelphia > London > Baku

Piece of cake right? Right. After bribing the government with $131 I finally made it to my parents house and will be here for the next 2 weeks.

Feliz Cumpleaños

Janaina´s youngest child, Stefania, turned 2 on Tuesday and we had a family celebration at our house. The table was beautifully laid with all types of pastries one could desire. We had one vanilla cake for Stefi and a chocolate one for Janaina, whose birthday was on Sunday.

Me with Juan Ramon...he looooves taking pictures, I have about 25 of his nose :)

Jani and the birthday girl!

Ramon, Jani, Berni, me and Tia Roxanna.

Everyone singing Happy Birthday :)

Just to let you all know I will be in the jungle and Santa Cruz for a week, so my next posts should contain some interesting stories. Missing you all!

El Chapare

I´m not sure how I went from sipping wine on a Houston rooftop to trekking through the jungle with a machete, but it sure happened! Rodrigo and I drove 4 hours through the mountains to arrive in El Chapare. It´s surprising how much the climate changes in such a short distance, because here in Cochabamba it´s dry and temperate, while in El Chapare it´s humid and hot like any other rain forest. Here´s a picture from the drive: breathtaking.

Rodrigo´s family owns 40 acres of land in El Chapare where they plan to raise cattle for meat. During our 3 days we cut through the rain forest to define the perimeter with barbed wire and picked the leaves of the coca plant, which is used to make the cheap cocaine that is exported to the US. No, I did not try any :) While trekking we came across beautiful flowers, bananas, and monkeys.

One of the workers went hunting and killed a pig-like animal called "jochi."

Here´s Rodrigo gearing up.

Here´s me with my huge boots and machete.

Un dia sin autos

I´ve started my volunteering position at an orphanage, where I work two days a week. I help take care of 35 infants, all under one year old. They are really sweet, but it´s hard to see the living conditions of abandoned children. The full time employees take care of the basic food and cleanliness needs, which I help out with, but what I really try to do is make the kids smile. They seem to enjoy music, so after eating lunch we all listen to music and I dance around to make them laugh. I´m sure I could make anyone laugh, since I look like a complete fool prancing around the orphanage....but the babies smile so it´s all good :)

This past weekend we had a party at my friend Rodrigo´s house that consisted of playing the guitar, singing songs, barbecuing meat, watching futbol, and all in all having a fantastic time. Here are a couple pictures of my friends and me at his house. No pictures of Rodri yet, but we´re going to be exploring the jungle Wednesday-Friday so I´ll have some soon.

Left to Right we have Paola, Denis, Alberto and Frani

Yesterday, Sunday, was an environmental cleansing day and no cars were allowed on the roads of Cochabamba. It was really cool, Bernardo, Alberto, Frani and I all walked into town to shop and grab some food. The streets were packed with pedestrians and bicyclists. Here´s all of us on our day´s adventure.

The manly men (Los hombres hombres)

Me with Tio Berno, it´s very rare to see him smile in a picture....next to impossible!

Las chicas at Tuesday (a restaurant that looks suspiciously like Fridays)

Frani with her bike, getting ready to hit the road.

Cochabamba

Hola a todos!

After trying to board the wrong plane...twice...I finally made it to Cochabamba, Bolivia. The weather is very temperate: hot afternoons and cold nights. I am staying with the Daza family. They have 3 connected houses in a quiet part of town. Let me introduce you all to the family.

This is Janaina and Ramon, the parents.

Here is me with two of the kids, Carlos and Estefania.

Again Estefania and the middle child, Juan.

And here´s me in the room I´m staying in. I´ve got a sweet bedspread with Tinkerbell on it :)

The other day we took a tour of the home of one of the richest families in the world; in the top 10. They control all of the major gold mines here in Bolivia. Bolivia is well known for its high quality gold and silver. The house has an extensive garden, a pool, huge rooms and an outdoor theater. It was absolutely beautiful.

Contact Information

I have bought a prepaid cell phone to use in Cochabamba. Unfortunately it would cost a ridiculous amount to call all of my favorite people, but I will give you my number in case you need (or really really want) to talk with me. For a cheaper option download skype and look for Victoria McArdle.

Country code (591) - Cellular (60769688)

Houston

After packing up my house and saying goodbye to friends in Seattle, I flew down to Houston to stay with my good friend Ryan at the Cooksley residence. I love this house, second only to my own in Alaska, and they have the most comfortable guest bed. In case you´re thinking that I must have flown down there to enjoy the amenities of the guestroom, let me assure you it´s the people inside the house that made my visit so much fun. To say thanks to Ryan´s parents for putting up with me, we made them dinner Friday night. Spicy Italian sausage pasta!

The weather was actually fairly pleasant during my visit. We got to witness a couple thunder storms where we sat out on the patio and watched the lightning. On one of the hotter days, Ryan and I washed his car (now you know why I was invited to visit!).

Much physically strenuous activity was involved like a pilates class that killed our abs, tennis (thought I was going to die of heat stroke), and the hardest of all: soaking up the sun.

The night life is pretty fantastic in Houston, always things to do. Friday night was spent mostly at a winebar called Crush, were you could breath the open air while sipping (or gulping) wine. I would like to draw special attention to the gentleman on Ryan´s right, my new friend Jason, who makes the most hilariously awkward faces whenever a camera is around.

Saturday night we went clubbing at an extremely busy bar called the 8. When Ryan and I showed up there was a huge line all the way out the door and around the corner. We figured why not try to get in more quickly using the VIP line. Apparently we looked like we belonged with the ¨in" crowd :)