PPBBs, or, How I Got My Ass Groped By A Fourteen Year Old Bolivian Boy

so! much has happened since I last wrote (sorry, but lack of internet kind of puts a damper on your blog.) Here are some things in a nutshell:

1) We saw Harry Potter at midnight (hells yes). Not a very good movie, and dumbledore's death sequence was somewhat ruined by the fact that the girl next to us was loudly on her phone talking about her bedroom door.

2) I got super sick two nights ago, wound up in a bolivian hospital (lovely) where I got an IV because I was throwing up water. Moral of the story: hospitals suck no matter where you are, but I feel much better now.

3) We're currently in the rainforest! And it's awesome. and on the way here, I SAW A LLAMA. HA.

So here's the story of how I got my ass groped:

The day after Harry Potter, two of the other girls in the program and I had just walked out of a restaurant after lunch when we ran into a kid we know from the barrio. He works shining shoes, and we felt bad for him, so when he asked if we could buy him food, I told him yes. we sat him down, and he ordered a plate of food. I was feeling really sick (pre-sick to whatever made me go to the hospital), so I wound up leaving early, and a few moments later, Patricia had to go to class. so it was just Jovanna with this kid.

I took the bus all of two blocks, but felt so guilty about leaving her alone with the kid, that I got off and walked all the way back. On my way, I called her. "You're going to hate me," she said. "Why?" I asked. "Because there's more of them." As it turned out, three other kids had wandered by, and Jovanna, feeling sorry for them, had let them order food too. The bill wound up being almost 150 bolivianos (divide by seven for dollars), but a random guy next to us (who turned out to be from PA) thought it was so nice, that he picked up the tab. Yay, random acts of kindness! So Jovanna and I bought them ice cream.

Now, here's what you need to know about bolivians. In my personal experience, they are much more touchy feely than americans. Especially the pre-pubescent ones (who, for the record, are much nicer than their German counterparts). For example, the kids at the orphanage will throw an arm around you for no reason, climb in your, lap, etc etc etc. so when the shoe-shine boy next to me put a hand on my knee, I wasn't entirely bothered. We were all having a conversation and talking about how much money they make a day (30 bolivianos--divide by 7), and so on and so forth. So I wasn't really paying attention, and he was very sweet, and again, I wasn't really bothered when he ran a hand down my leg. I was, however, more than bothered when he said to another boy "And this one's name is Tina," and grabbed my ass.

The worst part was that I couldn't say anything about it, because I didn't want to offend anyone (I realize that logic is faulty. I was buying a street kid ice cream, he grabbed my ass, and I didn't want to make him sad by saying anything about it. I know that's retarded. I KNOW. But that's the way it is). Anyway, he got ice cream and a bit more, but if it made him happy, whatever I guess.