Falling in love with a new city

I have lived in a small town outside of Sweden’s capital Stockholm for longer than I can remember. To not only move to a new town for 6 months, but to a new country on a new continent felt like a huge change. Needless to say I was pretty nervous about how I would feel about my new home.

I am now four months in and absolutely love it! Hopefully I’ll be able to prolong my stay here in Cochabamba. I want to continue to enjoy the wonderful weather, eat at the heavenly restaurants and wander around the gigantic street market in the center. Cochabamba has a feeling about it that is energizing and it is both a cosy small town and a buzzing place with lots to do.

Every day I have to travel through Cochabamba, from north to south, for about 45 min to get to my volunteer work with Proyecto Horizonte in Ushpa-Ushpa. Doing this, I get to see a lot of things and wake up with the rest of the city. I get to see the ladies selling donkeys at the “donkey roundabout”, the beggars waking up on the streets and the people drinking coffee on their way to work in their gigantic SUVs. Cochabamba truly is a divided city with the north being where people have water every day, big cars and snazzy degrees. In the south, Ushpa Ushpa being a prime example, the inhabitants may in many cases not have a toilet of any kind. Or a steady income.

This makes me think of how very unequal our whole world is. How the richest 2 percent accounts for more than half of the wealth in the world. How Cochabamba’s morning traffic can be filled with both people in incredibly expensive cars and children begging to get breakfast. And how I can afford to come here for half a year whilst the people in the community where I volunteer can’t pay for new clothes for their children.

Every day I have to travel through Cochabamba to get to my volunteer work with Proyecto Horizonte. Doing this, I get to see a lot of things and wake up with the rest of the city. I get to hear the latino rhythms from the car speakers, see all the flowers and trees and notice the inequality and diversity of this wonderful city. It makes me think how incredibly lucky I am to have the opportunity to work and live here. And how much I love my life here in my new city.

Hedvig Schylander