We are now almost adjusted to the jet lag here in Belgrade and I wanted to wrap up our holiday in Bolivia with one last blog post. Above are my three “angels” in last week’s family photo shoot.
It was great to see family and friends again. I would like to thank Popa, Aunt Silvia, Modesta, Horacio, and Alejandra for their hospitality for making our time in Santa Cruz so nice.
For example, Nadia is shown below getting measured for clothes. It is nice to have a relative who is a fashion designer! We both got tailored clothes for this year with Silvia’s label. It was like the tropical Savoy Road in London.
Bolivia is always an interesting place. The amazing growth (city doubles in population since we last lived there 10 years ago) and President Morales’s reign have certainly changed the city. I came to the conclusion that Santa Cruz is better off within Bolivia for the long run rather than going independent. I know that the Andean immigrants cause resentment, but it helps the Crucenos to have a bigger market to sell to and the diversity offered by the Andes, makes Bolivia a better nation. I don’t like the influence of the drug trafficking and I foresee more crime and violence coming to the city. Santa Cruz is a bit of a intellectual wasteland, but it has a beautiful countryside. Unfortunately, the way it looks, there is no planning with the development of Urubo across the river and what could have been a Coral Gables tropical bucolic paradise, will turn into a developing world garbage dump.
Despite the challenges, I still want to have retirement roots in the area however. Living is easy in Bolivia and it will serve our later years well to have a place there to call our own. Right now there is a “narco housing bubble” as I call it and we’ll have to wait to find a piece of land.
Last week our good friend Davicho of Foto Releive, took some family portraits. We did one session out in the new section of town, Urubo. It was a beautiful afternoon in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and the pictures came out great. We printed out a bunch for family. We are packing up today for the big trip back to Serbia.
We are in the final few days of our Bolivian holiday. The boys are pictured above digging into an ice cream. It is one of the many new restaurants here in Santa Cruz. The city has gained around 1 million people since we lived here, doubling in size. Amazing growth that the city is dealing with.
We’ve spent this week visiting friends. In the international teaching world, it is rare to see old friends, so it was good to see my former colleague Hudson T. He still teaches at the school here in Santa Cruz where I worked from 1997 to 1999. Hudson is doing very well with a nice family and beautiful home.
We also had a family photo shoot with our good friend David G. He is a professional photographer and owns three photo stores in the city. We went out to Urubo and took some outdoor shots. He wants to do more of these and is using us as a test case. I’ll be posting the photos and update the “About this blog” page with the updated family photo. “Davicho” also showed us his home in construction out there. Breathtakingly beautiful gated community and a stunning home! He has two children and is happily married and it is good to see him happy and successful. We had many good times together. We also went out last night with Nadia’s high school friend Gabriela and her husband and daughter for pasta.
That is a nice thing about Santa Cruz is that we have many friends and family here. I am mad that the narcotrafficking money in the city has raised real estate prices so much. It is not a good time to look for a retirement property, as I feel there is a huge market bubble. For example, I inquired about a new community out by David’s place in Urubo. For half an acre property, the land alone cost $132,000, which is totally out of whack in this developing nation. I think that with a change in government policy the flow of dollars will subside or there will be an economic crisis that will bring real estate prices back down to realistic levels. Prices for land and homes has doubled in the past few years.
One thing that hasn’t changed are the Mennonites are still in Bolivia. The photo above shows a Mennonite man with two women walking behind him on the far right of the picture. The Mennonites are a religious sect like the Amish, that believe in shunning modern technology and conveniences in order to concentrate on working on the farm and living according to the Bible. The Mennonites are originally Germans from coastal Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. They follow the teachings of Menno Simmons, whose big departure from the Catholic and Protestant Churches in the 1500’s was to believe in an adult baptism instead of child baptism. He believed that one should be able to choose his/her church when they reach an age of consent. There are about 1.5 million Mennonites worldwide and they have a wide range of living styles, but the colonies of up to 60,000 here in Bolivia live as “plain people” like the more famous Amish. The group originally came from Mexico via Canada and settled the fertile farmlands of the northern Santa Cruz Department. My father-in-law buys eggs from one of them. He speaks fluent Spanish as well as Old German. He was saying that the girls in the colony only get education up to grade 8 and the boys through to high school. I take the Christopher Hitchen’s approach to religion and feel sorry for them being brought up like that. If they are happy great, and I don’t know enough about their lifestyle to make a strong comment, but to have to walk around like that and not take advantage of humanity’s advances is so bad. I feel sorry for their limited life opportunities. They are fascinating however and I would love to get to learn more about them.
I’m loving the extra time I have to catch up on my pleasure reading. I love books and have been devouring them on my iPad. The iBook feature on my iPad is great. All of the NY Times list at my fingertips. I also love highlighting and adding notes to books. It has a nice feature of putting them all together at the end and it helps me reflect and consolidate my learning or opinions formed from my reading.
I really enjoy tennis – it is a great workout and good stress relief, plus it is a game I haven’t mastered yet. I enjoy the challenge of learning something new and hopefully with the new courts at our school, I play more next year. I read Patrick McEnroe’s book, “Hardcourt Confidential.” I won’t go into the details of the book. My big take-aways are a better appreciation for the Davis Cup and some thoughts on pushing my children into tennis. McEnroe was the Captain of the US Davis Cup team for a long time and Nadia and I saw him when the US played Serbia. For a long time I wanted the Davis Cup to change to a Major or World Cup format by making it a two-week tourney with all teams coming together every other year for the World Championship of Tennis. It could be hosted by rotating countries and have a variety of surfaces each round. Because I live in Serbia, home of the defending champions, I prefer the current format because we get games in Serbia. I can’t wait for the semifinals against Argentina in September. McEnroe gives a good description of what is good about the Davis Cup.
The second item was his thoughts on what it takes to make it big in tennis. The game has changed to award physical athleticism instead of technique.Most professionals today are incredibly strong, quick, and can hit the ball with huge force. Many are big and I also learned one must hit with a top spin to attain the top speeds like Nadal and Nole.
My taller doppleganger - Former Czech Tennis Player Daniel Vacek
He also referred his famous brother’s best season when John went 82-3 for the season, the best winning percentage (96%) ever. Roger Federer came close in 2005 with an 81-4 record (95%). Novak Djokovic is on pace with a 48-1 record this year to beat it. (98%). Also in the book he mentioned playing against my “twin” Daniel Vacek. I remember looking at the guy, especially from the side, and he was a dead ringer for me. Strange watching someone who looks very similar to oneself playing on TV. He is much taller than me, but the resemblance is striking.
In preparation for going to Vermont, I read Bill McKibben’s book, “Wandering Home.” He accurately described the lovely town of Burlington and the great state of Vermont. He highlighted all of the sustainable ways of living going on there. He is funny in observing that it is a “land of Saab-driving, goat-cheese eating Democrats.” My kind of place!
McKibben and also Deer Hunting With Jesus which I’ll blog about later, got me thinking about my choices and how we live. McKibben defined “hyperindividualism that thinks nothing of ruining everyone else’s view with a house four times too large for any conceivable purpose.”
He also thinks outside the box, like the idea of “why does my floor have to be all one type of wood. Why can’t it be like the forest that surrounds us, which is roughly equal parts birch, beech, and maple?”
“Instead of working to afford certain pleasures, many maintained, they would find their pleasure in their work.”
He referred to two great environmental organizations, Earth First! and the Foundation For Deep Ecology. My beliefs fit in quite well with the mission and philosophy of these groups.
“A world where we could take our pleasure more in the woods than in the mall.”
Saturday night Nadia and I went out with her father and aunt to the Chaplin Show here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The Chaplin Show is a live comedy theater. This weekend the “Chulupis del Caribe” (Cockroaches of the Caribbean) was playing. I was hoping for some smart, political and cultural satire, but what I got, was a show of inane, shallow, humor. The jokes were stale and vulgar. For example, “What makes a man happy? His four mistresses don’t meet each other.” The humor was definitely stupid, but the crowd was loving it. We left at the intermission. It was a fun night nonetheless, as we got to joke about how bad the comedy was. I would not recommend going to the Chaplin Show.
I had heard that some shows had a biting political satire. It would have been great to have a parody of the Morales government and the struggle of Bolivia to keep the Andean and Media Luna departments together. Instead, we got some old, tired, jokes about plastic surgery, infidelity, and sex. The show was named after their opening number. It was a video of end-of-the-world news coverage and the only survivors were the cockroaches. They did a couple of lame dance routines and then went to several skits. The skits were a nun and priest giving sex education class, a couple in a hotel room, etc. Dumb… The only good thing was it was great for my Spanish.
Friday night we went out to dinner at Michaelangelo’s Restaurant here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We had dinner here 14 years ago! It was the site of our first date in September of 1997. The restaurant is pretty much the same and Nadia is as beautiful as she was that night 14 years ago. I am a very lucky guy! I love her as much as I did then. The food was average but I didn’t care, it was fun to relive our courtship.
We also had a nice visit from our good friend, Dr. Kim Winter. She was living in Bolivia when we were here in 1997-1999 and we had many good times together. Kim was completing her doctoral biologcial research in a small village in the Bolivian Amazaon and she would come to the city for some R&R. She was also here for the birth of Owen and we also stayed at her house in Washington when I was taking a course there in 2005. She is doing very well with a new marriage and job with US Department of Forestry. Her husband Ronald is from Cochabomba (far left) and lives in Washington DC area. There is a big population of Bolivians in the DC area.
I am finally back from my trip to the USA. It was great to see my family (Dad, brothers, aunts, uncles, and nephews) and get a chance to help around the house a bit. But 10 days away from my nuclear family was a bit too much. I learned a lot in the Vermont course and it will make me a better school leader.
Above is a photo of Owen. We spent my last day before I left at the BioCenter Guembe. It was a perfect day and I just can’t get over how fast the kids are growing. Owen looks like a “dude” now.
On a side note, while I was waiting in Miami for the night flight to Bolivia, across the street from the hotel was a Venezuelan restaurant/bar. I went over for the afternoon to enjoy an arepa and a chicha. Best of all, I met the Polar Beer Distributor who was there preparing for the big Venezuela versus Paraguay Copa America semifinal game. We drank a few beers and he gave me some Polar soccer souvenirs to give to my kids. I lived a long time in Venezuela and have fond memories of my time there. It was good to reconnect with the country.
I end this post with a photo of the incredible sunset I experienced in Michigan. It was just after a thunderstorm and it was the brightest orange I’ve ever seen. Absolutely breath-taking and this photo is untouched by photoshop!
I will be posting some of my learning from the Institute for Global Sustainability at the University of Vermont. I earned a Professional Certificate in Campus Sustainability Leadership. The posts on this blog will be about aspects of the course not related to education directly.
Vermont, and the city of Burlington really impressed me. It is a great university town and they are on the cutting edge of global society with their commitment to sustainabilty. It reminded me of Portland and Seattle, in this regard. The city is an ultra-liberal, “green” state that resonated with my own political and social philosophy. They are way ahead of the game and like California, I feel that they are one of the drivers of where our society is headed. It is much like my favorite university town, Marquette, Michigan, but with a bit more money and New England influence. Many people making political statements all over place and plenty of Volvos and Subarus.
Burlington’s Environmental Specialist, Jennifer Green, came and presented the projects the city is doing. My notes are below. If you don’t want to read the whole post, I will summarize. I was impressed with all of the projects the city does to promote sustainability. Not only regarding fossil fuels reduction, recycling, etc., but what they have done in the human part of sustainability.
Lake Champlain - City Beach
Jennifer Green’s Bio:
Jennifer Green is Burlington’s environmental specialist. She has over 20 years of community development experience, including work on gender equity, national planning, and environmental management with the Peace Corps, CARE International, Chemonics, and the World Resources Institute. Shortly after moving to Burlington in 1999, she consulted with the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation and later Efficiency Vermont. In addition to working for the City, Jennifer has taught several environmental and sustainable development courses at the University of Vermont. She has a masters in public adminstration from Columbia University and earned her PhD in environmental sociology from American University in 2005.
My notes from her presentation.
Cities and municipalities now have Sustainability Directors which is just behind the university sector in leading society’s charge towards sustainability. The Sustainability Director for the city of Burlington, Jennifer Greene, came and spoke to us. The first city (over 20 years ago) to have a Director was Portland, and they were way ahead of other cities. This is a growing field and she has 70 colleagues in her network. She is also has strong ties to the economic development office. Burlington is unique in that they have a strong Progressive Party that in the 1980’s, made the Church Street a walking street. The mayor, Peter Clavelle, was a visionary and he is the one responsible for the walking street. He also started the Burlington Legacy Project in 1999. This was the first comprehensive sustainability legacy plan. The key to the success was that he called in many different sectors like the business community, city government, and the universities.
When the plan was formed, they were concerned about the “big box” stores in Williston as well as trying to keep housing affordable. The city is divided into 7 wards and they have monthly meetings. For example, the big issue in the ward 1 meeting last night, Ms. Greene said, was noise. There is a $500 noise ordinance that now the students collect money at the door for the fine to get around it. The Steering Committee consists of reps from all of the organizations. UVM, K-12 local school district, Fletcher Health (hospital), Main Street Landing (developer), United Way (NGO), etc. with 24 members.
The housing issue is huge. With a 1% vacancy rate, and a median house price of $260,000. There is a high poverty rate and they are a refugee center. The city embraces this because they appreciate diversity but there are challenges in the schools and social services. The idea is to get the anchor institutions to fund the process of getting citizens into planning. One of the nicest things the city has done is to put affordable housing on prime lake view property. They view the lake views and beach access as a public good and so poor people should have the right for this because they are a “public good.”
When they lost the Price Shopper grocery store, there was a lot of angst because people would have to go on the highway to a big chain grocery store and this would also mean that the dollars going out of town. They decided to move a community-owned Cooperative with locally purchased food and it is now the largest and most profitable coop in the USA. The population of Burlington is steady at 42,000, which is about a gain of 2,000 people in 50 years. There is a debate on growth and some want to keep it as it is and others feel they need to grow to keep the economy vital.
When using student interns, it is important to tie it to a grade. Also, the ones that come in with a complaint are a great source of work. They also have a town meeting each year, the big takeaway was the poor quality food in local schools. It went to 50,000 pounds of local food, salads bars, composts in all schools and the food director is a nationally wanted speaker. The city has remained steady in electricity use from the 1980’s despite computers, microwaves, televisions in every room, etc.
The city also has a Climate Action Plan. With the severe flooding this year, the bike path and 700 homes were lost. This is part of the “climate adaptation” plan they are doing.
It was great to see my family in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last weekend. It was a short trip. I joked that I was “relatively” close to Michigan while taking a summer course at the University of Vermont. I decided to fly to Michigan for the weekend. Above is the ceiling tile that my brother Andy arranged to get painted. My Dad belongs to the American Legion Post in Stambaugh, Michigan. The American Legion is an organization that supports veterans who served in the US Military.
My Dad was a member of the 9,000 troop strong Ninth Infantry Division. He was in the army of occupation in Germany in 1956-57. He was stationed at a base outside of Stuttgart. He was part of the forces that they were defending West Germany from the Soviet Red Army stationed just across the border in East Germany. The Soviets has many more troops and weapons and so he joked that in case of an invasion, their instructions were to get in trucks and head to the Rhine!
My Dad enjoyed his time in Germany. By that time, Germany was on the road to recovery with the Marshall Plan. Next time I’m in Caspian I’ll post some photos of him in his army uniform from that time.
I would like to thank my brother Andy and the American Legion for honoring his service to our country.
During the Sustainability Course we visited the the Intervale Center here in Burlington. Pictured above is Dr. Tom Hudspeth, a professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. The university is supporting the work of the Intervale Center. Intervale basically trains and financially helps people get into organic farming. Many UVM students have moved into organic farming as a career. They also are into river habitat restoration and they also have a community gardening.
Nadia and I were very influenced by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and he featured the farm and farms like that in his book. It is part of a larger movement to bring back small farms and move away from the large agro-business model of fruits and veggies that supply the big supermarket chains. When Burlington’s big supermarket left a few years ago, they were able to form a cooperative market that is now the envy of the high-end supermarkets, all Burlington-owned and operated.
Menu for the Community Farmers' Market
I loved the idea of the community garden where people can buy shares or rent plots to use. They then have access to the weekly market. It is a slow food movement which of knowing where your food comes from. We had some long discussions on the viability of farming as a career. I like to see small farming coming back.
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