A Christmas message

As of yesterday, my girlfriend is an aunt!
Depuis hier, ma copine est une tante!
¡Desde ayer, mi novia es una tia!

Just a quick message to wish everyone a merry christmas, happy chanukah and best wishes for 2006. We are celebrating a new addition to the Lopez family, Marioly's sister in law gave birth to a baby girl yesterday afternoon. Christmas in this household will not be a quiet affair.

It's a big week, and it is nothing to do with Christmas. On sunday, we have the long awaited presidential elections (see previous postings for more information). It seems really quiet but you would not believe it reading the papers or listening to the warnings issued by the US Embassy. This could be a very historic occasion as Bolivia may have its first indigenous President, Evo Morales, who is the ex-leader of coca movement and winning according to all the polls. However it is much more complicated as he is unlikely to gain 51% required to become president and it is questionable whether Congress will appoint him. The US Embassy has kept unusually quiet about the election possibly learning from last time, when they told people NOT to vote for Evo (lesson for developing nations: democracy is very good.. as long as you do what the American Administration wants), which had the opposite effect and significantly boosted his support. They have still managed to enrage the Bolivian Government by telling their citizens to stock up on food and water and warned of violence.

Elections in Latin America are pretty different from back home. As of midnight on thursday, alcohol was banned for THREE AND A HALF DAYS! As of midnight on saturday, there is essentially a ban on driving for 24 hours so apart from voting, there is very little to do on election day. I will make use of the time to do a bit of cycling, normally it is far to dangerous to venture out on a bike in Cochabamba.

As for 2006, I have a holiday in Chile and will then share my time between Tecnologias en Desarrollo (the Achacachi project by Lake Titicaca), working for another NGO, studying a course in water management and preparing for some visitors. I plan to be home in May which means I will not be back in time to see Arsenal v Real Madrid!

Feliz navidad y bueno año a todos

un beso

Julian