Service
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Writings from Service and Training Experiences

The Great Bolivian River Trip
River trip taken by Tom Gale & Jim Wright from near their sites near Santa Cruz all the way to Trinidad.
Taken from journal kept by Jim Wright in 1969.

White Paper ............word .doc version
Issued from Group 29 Termination Conference in June 1969.
Statement calling for more responsiveness to Volunteer input and the internationalization of Peace Corps.
 

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Chronicle of PC Training and Service
Bolivia 29: Mines Group -- April 1967 to July 1969

  • Please check dates and events.
  • Add events and activities from training and service, make corrections.
  • Help correct and expand this chronicle.

** April 10, 1967 (Sat)............
April-May 1967
...........



** May 27, 1967
(Sat)...........
June 1967............


** June 1, 1967
(Thu)...........

** June 2, 1967
(Fri)...........
June 2, 1967 (Fri)...........
June 3, 1967 (Sat)............

June 3, 1967 (Sat)...........
June 3 to July 14, 1967..........







July 15, 1967
(Sat)...........
.July 15+...........


••15th of even months...........


October 7, 1967 (Sat)...........


January 1968
...........

April 14, 1968 (Sun)...........

April 16 – 20, 1968...........
June 6, 1968 (Thu)...........
July 31, 1968 (Wed)...........

August 1, 1968 (Thu)...........
August 23, 1968 (Fri)............
September 9, 1968 (Mon)...........
.............................................

October 15, 1968 payday............
December 15, 1968 payday...........

February 15, 1969
payday...........
March 10, 1969 (Mon)............
...........
** March 1969...........
** April, 1969...........
April 20, 1969...........
April 27, 1969 (Sun)...........
June 15, 1969 (Sun)...........
 ...................................
June 30, 1969 (Mon)...........

July 20, 1969 (Sun)........... .

Arrive Camp Armac. Bothell, WA for training
Classes: Mon-Sat, 6hr Spanish daily; Bolivian culture, history, TEFL;
Medical-dental evaluations, shots; Psych eval. -Dr. Katz.
Community excursion (gather-present info-make report);
Packing for 2yr trip: Shopping allowance, issued trunks, sleeping bags.
Finish training in WA; go to San Francisco as departure point
"State of Siege" declared by President Barrientos in response to miners' strike and widespread urban protests. Crisis eased by mid July.
State of siege lasted through Mines Group service
.

Meet at Spaghetti Factory for Dinner, SF

Lv from San Francisco for Bolivia
Delay in Panama; repair/change engine
Transfer planes in Lima (held plane for us, as we were a large group)

Arrive La Paz, El Alto Airport
In-Country Training:
• We took a bus trip to Tiahuanacu and Lake Titicaca.
• There was the Dia de San Juan, with fires at night all over and bottle
...rockets from the top of our hotel in La Paz.
• Some of us also went and visited a PCV at his site in the Yungas.
• We went into a mine and visited the southern mines.
• We returned from our training to La Paz in time for the 4th of July events
...at the ambassador's residence.
Sworn in as Volunteers (telegram sent to parents/relative)
PC office opened in Oruro, Al Ferraro as Mines Rep
Volunteers assigned and sent to locations, mainly southern mines
Huanuni, Siglo Viente turmoil still too great for placement.
Altiplano Paydays in La Paz
Cochabamba paydays in Coch ?

Che Guevarra killed in Bolivian jungle

Volunteers sent into Northern mines: Huanuni, Siglo Viente, etc.
Martin Luther King Jr assassination

Mines Group conference at Caroico
Robert Kennedy Assassinated
Close Oruro Office. Al Ferraro off to Philippines

Tarija Office opened; Wadman Daly new Area rep for Mines group
Pues organized. Bob Pruitt, Editor, to be printed by Oruro newspaper
Bolivian school teachers strike: Barrientos closes schools, fires teachers promotes students to next grade, next session to begin March 1969
Pues #1 distributed
Pues #2 distributed

Pues #3 distributed, with Ambassador Interview
Gino Baumann informs us Ambassador very angry, has called for
termination of PCVs responsible for Pues
Bob Pruitt resigns; goes to Washingotn to lobby for Pues situation
Robert White visits La Paz, mediates situation
Pues #4, [reviewed by Baumann before printing] distributed
President Barrientos dies in helicopter crash
End of service conference: Caroico? Mines Group issues White Paper
calling to internationalize Peace Corps idea under United Nations.
End of Service of Mines Group

Moon landing: First moon walk.

** dates approximate, need confirmation...

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PC Bolivia Trivial Pursuits

Please send in your suggestions for things you remember from your training and volunteer service.
Some suggestions to begin with follow.
1. "Words" you remember or that evoke memories from service
...... (such as "chicha", "tunta", "Hotel Sucre", "Lago Poopo", "locoto", "flota",
...... "pisco", "anofre", "calamina", ...)
2. A Movie you saw during service? In English? in Spanish?
3. Favorite food(s) from service years...
4. Submit some trivia questions for our group, such as "What was... "
...--Favorite Restaurant in La Paz? Coch? Santa Cruz?
...--The PC hotel in La Paz? Coch? in Rio?
...--The Chinese Restaurant in Coch run by a woman from California?
...--The shop in Coch that had Hot Fudge sauce? as learned from a PCV
...... from Fannie Farmer Cookbook?
5. Good places for a vacation, when you couldn't return to states...
6. ?? (send in more suggestions, topics, questions)