Calle Larga and its Municipalidad

(El Portillo is a ski/snowboard resort behind Los Andes. We were awed by the daily views of the snow-capped moutains)

Wednesday

We arrived at “home base” which was the municipalidad that we have gotten to know very well. It is where we wait for Roman to be brought by the mayor in the morning and for the superintendent, Maria Theresa, as well as any volunteer drivers (employees at the municipalidad) that are willing to take us to our school and home. It is the place that we wait and wait and wait in the mayor’s or superintendent office to find out what is next and who will drive us. We have found everyone to be very nice, but were unsure about how much we liked the idea of living in Calle Larga considering most people who worked for the municipalidad lived in Los Andes which is like a suburb. Calle Larga has only a few small convenience stores/markets, a few small eateries and bars, and a men’s night club. There is no bank, clothing stores, school supply stores, and internet cafes.



We walked down the street to look for something to eat with Hugo at 4pm. Many stores take a siesta from 2-4pm, but everything was still CLOSED! We started to walk back and a bakery opened so we bought some foods. As soon as we walked out they closed their doors. They had only been open for 30 minutes!!! We later found out that people in town do indeed holler to each other to open their doors if they wanted something since many store owners live in the back of their stores. Oigh! I’m not sure if I will do the same.

All of us may be teaching out 2 schools with 1 being close to the center of Calle Larga and 1 much farther away as Calle Larga is spread out. Hugo suggested that perhaps we should get bicycles for transportation, but we did not think this was a good idea as some cars drive very fast on the narrow dirt roads and there is a ditch next to the road. Plus, it doesn’t look like we will get our own classrooms to teach in so we may have to bring our school supplies and definitely lunch with us which would make cycling difficult. We were also told that the micros (mini buses) were few during the day so we are worried that we might not get to class on time. I definitely don’t want to be out on the streets of Calle Larga at night as it is very dark with its few street lights.