Subject: where in the world?
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 15:52:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Evelyn Dean <evdean@yahoo.com>


Two apologies: one for being so scarce these past
weeks and the other for not being able to provide the
same caliber of newsy update in this message.  So that
youĞll at least know what the heck I've been doing,
I'll give a quick cronology of my life the past month.

Second week of April:
Hauled all my stuff to Colcapirhua, a town just
outside of Cochabamba but worlds away, to do my
independent study project.  Recent floods had left 38
families living in 20 tents, and I was there to make
them stars of my first documentary film.  At first I
lived in the house/store of a lovely older couple
close to where the tents were, but after five days I
got really anthropological and moved into a tent.
(Still did reading, data logs, a lot of eating inside.
All higeine activities were performed outside with a
low adobe wall separating me from the pigs).

Basically I just followed the people of the community
around for two and a half weeks, filming their work,
play, meetings with the mayor and prefect, you name
it.  A lot of interesting dramas were going on -
deciding who were to be the recipients of 10 new
houses the Prefect says they will build, disputes over
which of the community leaders is legit.   And a lot
of beautiful scenes of people just toughing it out and
living out of a tent.

After my field work time, the real work began in the
editing room.  6 of the most intense days of my life,
didn't sleep the last two.  The result: a very
satisfying, if not perfect, final product.  I'm
planning on adding english subtitles later so you all
can enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Last weekend, we all retreated to a lovely conference
center to relax and present our projects.  After some
teary goodbyes, all of us gringo students dispersed to
wherever the wind may take us.  My wind is blowing me
to Cuzco, where I will meet up with Cousin Jenny and
Uncle Mike to take Machu Pichu by storm.  After my
travels, I'm planning on staying in Cochabamba until
July sometime, doing volunteer work or senior thesis
research or something otherwise interesting.  Just
trying to maximize my time in this great continent.

So to end, I will leave you with the following
addition to my list of "things you will never hear on
a public tour bus when everyone is asleep, in the
united states:"

"Excuse me...EXCUSE ME...WHO'S DOG IS THIS?!"

Hoping you are all having your own bizarre
experiences,

Evie