A Bolivian Day
When I visited Bolivia in the summer two years ago, I walked into my cousins’ man cave, a room outside the house which harbors all our mischievous acts. With my morning coffee in my hand ready to enjoy the first cigarette of the day, only to see Tim passed out with a black eye and a bloody nose running down his white shirt. With many frightening scenarios running through my head, I notice an orange pill bottle prescribed to an unknown person and Tim’s old high school ID with a faded line of a white powder. “Ah man are you Xanned out again?” I yelled but with no response. A couple of shoves and slaps in the face, Tim wakes up. “Stop man! I just need to rest for a little bit” he replied with an annoyed and tired tone. “Not until you tell me what the hell happened! And clean yourself up man”
I really hated Tim’s abuse of drugs, especially Xanax. We usually do it together but only for a couple of months, until I started not remembering what I have done the day before. Tim is the kind of person who would do anything to get what he desires. Even if it means taking money from my wallet or pawning my electronic stuff. What made it even worse is that he is a natural born liar, who would bend words and commit to his lies no matter how bad or stupid it can sound and eventually get away with it. “Can’t I say I just fell? I really don’t want to talk about it” We always tell each other everything, no matter how bad it is. However, this time Tim may have crossed the line.
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Ever since fourth grade, one of my best friends have been Taylor Elam. Over the years that we’ve been friends we’ve had some jokes. My mom loves Mexican food; Taylor used to not like mexican food very much. Whenever our families would go out to eat, my mom would suggest something mexican. Whenever mexican was suggested by my mom, Taylor would respond “of course Hope wants mexican,” and whenever someone would ask where we were going to eat Taylor would say, “Hope wants mexican!” which we would always laugh about.
Colombia was one of the three original countries along with Ecuador and Venezuela that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Over the last 40 years, there has been a campaign to overthrow the government partially because of the drug trades throughout Colombia. The movement does however lack support from military and support from the necessary influences. In recent years, there have been challenges for control of the territories throughout Colombia and also for the drug trade.
Central America Central America, just south of Mexico and North of Panama, consists of just six countries; Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Of those six, all share a distinct common history except for Belize. Belize for one is incredibly small, and while Spanish is the official language of other Central American countries, in Belize English is spoken. So throughout this paper as I carelessly say 'Central American' I am not including Belize whose history and development was far different than the others. Although Central America is located close to the United States in relation to the Eastern Hemisphere, our ways of life are indescribably different.
I am going to tell you about a famous, yet kinda eerie celebration that takes place in mexico. This is a tradition celebrated by the Mexican Natives, most Mexican Americans (including myself) don’t even acknowledge this day, unless they happen to be visiting mexico at the time of this event.
Unfortunately, that situation didn’t go as planned and living further away from my job with no car caused me to lose my job. Losing my job put an extreme amount of stress on my family, due to not having money to pay the bills or to support my pill habit. At this point in time I knew I had a problem with narcotics and needed help. I put it off when Tim got a job thinking that I could support my habit again. Things got better for a while until Tim started using painkillers with me. Tim had gone so long trying to encourage me to stop, that he started using them with me. It was fun using together for a few months; until I found out we were going to have a baby. Now, we were both addicted to narcotics, had no vehicle, struggling just to get by financially, with a seven year old girl and a two year old girl. I knew something had to change because we were both too weak to help each other get clean. Due to this, we decided it was best to move in with my father. When I made the call to my father to confess my addiction, tears started running down my face. Admitting to my dad my struggle with narcotics was hard because I didn’t want to be a disappointment to him however, I needed to get help and the first step was to be honest and admit I had a problem.
Colombia, republic in South America, situated in the northwestern part of the continent, and bounded on the north by Panama and the Caribbean Sea, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, on the south by Peru and Ecuador, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the only country of South America with coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The total land area of the country is 1,141,748 sq km (440,831 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Bogotá.
Peru is located in western South America and it shares borders with Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador and the South Pacific Ocean. Peru is about 1.28 million square kilometers. There are three major regions in Peru: a narrow coastal belt, the wide Andean mountains and the Amazon Basin. The coast is mostly a desert, but contains Peru's major cities. The Andes has two main ranges - Cordillera Occidental and Oriental. Oriental includes Peru's highest mountain called Huascaran, it a peaks out at 22,200ft. On the east side is the Amazon Basin, a region of tropical lowland, the water there is carried out by the Maranon and Ucayali rivers.
Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. It is not an independence day for Mexico like most unknowledgeable people think. Mexican Independence Day is celebrated on the 15th of September. Mexico declared independence from Spain on the 24th of August 1821. Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday either. Mexico and the United States savor this holiday because it is the day where Mexican peasants/ commoners defeated the French and Mexican traitor army that double them in size in Puebla, Mexico one hundred miles away from Mexico city on the 5th of May, 1862.
The American Revolution did much more than any of our founding fathers had ever imagined, it started a movement that would threaten the very roots of colonialism across the globe. Setting an example of how a David could overcome a Goliath, the United States inspired regions such as Latin America to fight for their rights and liberties as well. One such region that embraced the message was Upper Peru, which would later be known as Bolivia. With some key tipping points that caused the war, the leaders of the soon to be formed nation rallied its troops and won several major battles, but even they couldn’t prevent the tough times that lay in the early years of the nation. From the year 1809, Upper Peru was engaged in a
Like many other countries in Latin America and across the globe, Peru is no stranger to the economic and social impacts of illicit drug trade. However, unlike most other countries in the region like Colombia, Peru does not experience a high rate or organized crime or violence surrounding the drug trade. Although violence is minimal, the growth of cocoa and the production of cocaine is a massive industry within the country, creating an interesting dynamic between the people of Peru, those involved in the drug trade, and the Peruvian Government. The drug trade in Peru has been fueled by the geography, structure of the criminal groups involved, perceived corruption of the military and police forces, and an ineffective and overcrowded prison system.
Violence in modern Colombia takes place in many forms. The three major categories are crime, guerrilla activities, and attacks committed by drug traffickers. Violence has become so widespread and common in Colombia that many people have now become numb to it. The Colombian economy has also benefited from the illicit drug trade; however violent it may be. During the 1970s, Colombia became well known, as one of the world’s most important drug processing, production, and distribution centers for marijuana and cocaine.
In 1863 Colombia was given its name. The name was chosen in honor of Christopher Columbus, even though Columbus never visited Colombia. Alonso de Ojeda, was the first European to set foot on Colombia in 1499, Alonso de Ojeda explored Sierra Navada de Santa Marie and was very surprised by the wealth of the Indians and their stories. These stories gave birth to the legend of El Dorado.
Painting the warm tangerine Indian sky, the sun retreats for the day. A swirling mist envelopes the cacophony of the city, ushers in a soothing touch to a highly humid atmosphere. The zephyrs simultaneously clear the bituminous asphalt by stealing away decayed leaves and wilted petals. They whirl around, lingering as if caught in a vicious catfight, to finally disappear into the vast unknown. The silhouette of the sinking sun descends faultlessly into the almost placid lake, its waters stirred only by the symmetrical synchronization of paddling ducks.
I wake up and realize it’s a bright and sunny Saturday. As I casually walk to the kitchen still in my one-piece onesie, I find my 2 friends Wren and Zhee, whom she is the goddess of beauty and I am the goddess of problems. They share a few laughs as I panic and run back to my room to change into something more normal. After I change, I casually walk back to the kitchen where I was before, when I was shocked by my friends appearance. As I chew my rice crispy cereals they begin to brainstorm ideas of how to spend our Saturday together. Then, they mentioned the beach and it immediately caught my attention. I cheerfully wrap up my breakfast, then reply with a quick, “ definitely the beach."
It was a hot summer night on July 5th I remember it was a day after the fourth of July. Arianna sent me a text asking to come over because she was bored and she complained how she hasn’t seen me in two days. Meanwhile i asked my mom if she could come over and stay the night. My mom was concerned because it was about eight fifty at night, but she didn't ask any questions she just picked up her keys and hooked the dog to her leash and told me to tell Arianna we were on our way. Arianna only lives two blocks away from me, and my mom didn’t mind her coming over because its not a long drive. When we pulled up to Arianna’s house she was sitting on her porch. Her hair was in a messy bun while she was wearing a baggy shirt and sweatpants. All i could do was laugh at her and think to myself “Thats my best friend alright”.