Sorry for the lack of blog entries... I am still alive for anyone that was wondering!
Since Toro Toro, we've been to a farm with the kiddies. For many of them it was the first time they'd ever been outside of the orphanage and after inicial cries of BUS BUS BUS! we got into the country area and there were more cries of VACA VACA VACA for every cow they saw. I would have enjoyed this journey had it not been for me being on the edge of my seat making sure they all sat down and didn't jump up everytime they saw something exciting (no seat belts means tiny kids can fly miles if we have to brake suddenly... especially in Bolivian traffic!). Now I know exactly how the teachers felt at school when they made sure we were wearing seat belts! We made it to the farm without too many scares where there were even more cows (more scary this time as they weren't on a bus) but the braves ones went to feed them while the younger ones lept into anyones arms to get them away from the giant animals making loud noises. After that we saw rabbits, ducks, chickens and then got to play in the sandpits before going home, where most of them fell asleep on the bus. Result!
We also had our mothers day party where all their dancing practice payed off. We made them wigs out of wool so the girls had longer hair and Ana made them all outfits. The dance was brilliant and they all remembered everything to do with massive grins on their faces. After the mothers day celebrations, my two favourites, Alicia and Javier, were taken away with their older sister to be adopted. Their new parents had apparently been waiting 5 years to adopt these kids. Crazy! And now they've gone!
I finished at the Guardería this week and I've been gearing up to going to the medical placment this week. So excited! On Friday we had a little workshop on injecting so we learnt about the different types (intramuscular, subcutaneous and intravenous for anyone interested) and had a few practices on a mandarin. Julia's was called Ana (after naranja) and mine was Mandy the mandarin. Mature future med students we are! Anyway, after giving a few shots on poor Mandy it was time to find a real person to practice on. Will just happened to be in the office so after a little bit of persuading (we offered to buy him a drink... easily done) I jabbed him with a vitamin B shot. Now he feels zingyzangyzongy! Most of the medical volunteers are going out in the Sarcobamba district to vaccinate the area and now I can do it, I get to join them. Exciting times!Shall let you know how it all goes.
Last weekend we went to La Paz for the Gran Poder festival. We left Friday night on the overnight bus in a semi cama bus. The seats recline a fair way so I got an ok amount of sleep (except for when some english loser elbowed me in the face as he was turning... thanks Dowling!) and we arrived in La Paz at the fantastic time of 6.30am. Joy! Despite my host mum telling me it would be cold, I managed in just a jumper for the morning and we walked from the bus terminal to our hostel where we dumped our stuff and went to go get breakfast. After a massive plate of bread, jam, scrambled eggs, tea and juice - all for the bargain price of 2 pounds - we went and found some seats for the festival. Gran Poder is the biggest festival in La Paz and it's easy to see why. Thousands of dancers, drummers and brass players parade around the city from about 9 in the morning until at least midnight. In 2008 it was 16 hours long so if you're not a fan of trumpets, it's not a great time to go. We sat watching for 3 hours, occasionally being interviewed for the local news (exciting times... no, really...) and some getting pulled up to join the parade. We dumped some of our stuff back at the hostel, including those jumpers that were apparently needed here with the sun blazing down and head off for some lunch and to do some shopping at little stalls.
Once we'd finished there, we had a quick rest back at the hostel and then it was out to the hostel bar for our free beer and some dinner. We were planning on buying a bottle of something and going back to our room for a mini party but after searching practically the whole of La Paz and finding no booze we had to resign ourselves to a crate of beer... would have been fantastic had I liked beer but as it was, I had to stick with water all night. After a game of ring of fire (fantastic to play sober as you see people getting more and more stupid *cough Lauren cough*) some of us headed to bed, while others headed out for more beer. I was just drifting off when I heard a CRASH and saw Lauren on the floor moaning 'I think I broke my arm'. Apparently she had slipped on the floor while because of her socks. A likely story.
The next morning we had been planning to go to the witches market, a short walk away. But when I woke up it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. After waking up early and not being very well before leaving for breakfast, I managed to walk to where we ate and stomach some tea. Once I'd finished that, it was important for me to leave as fast as I could and get back to my bed but I wasn't quite fast enough and vommed at a crossroads. And you know when Bolivians look away in disgust that you aren't looking so pretty. I collapsed into bed and slept for the rest of the morning, only getting up to be ill again and once everyone else came back from the market I had an 8 hour bus ride to look forward to while feeling like that. Good times! Managed to get back to my home in Cocha and slept. And slept and slept. I skipped work and slept more. I actually slept 30 hours out of 40. I was TIRED! Mostly better now which is great :)
We stayed in Cochabamba this weekend. Friday night we went out to various bars, before ending up in this futuristic 80's decor right out of Hong Kong kareoke bar. It was insane... silver ceilings and walls, mirrors everywhere and flashing lights too. It was like Santas Grotto with awful singers. After an amazing version of New York by Alex and Celeste, Will got up to do Thriller (in the style of Vic Reeve's club remix's) and me and Julia did Big Spender (Julia almost knocking me over twice with her hip shaking).
The next morning I joined some of the others and we went to a host families restaurant which had a pool and we just chilled... great after a night out! We then went to the Gringo isle in La Cancha where we bought super cool trousers and jewellery for when we go travelling so we can look like complete hippies. Exciting! Out for a bite to eat in the evening and then to sleep again! I'm loving trying to sleep here but the latest I've slept in is 8.15 this morning. Not loving the constant traffic and the rabid dogs barking all the time!
Today we went to a couple of little towns near the city. The first, Quillacollo had another market so we had a look around there before squeezing the 12 of us into a tiny trufi (designed for maybe 8) to go to Sipe Sipe. It was quiet and we had a wander around before finding a little place for lunch where for 13Bs (1.30) we had salad, chorizo, bread and choclo (giant corn/maizy type thing). It was yummy but the place was a bit suspect so who knows if I'll be well tomorrow! Fingers crossed!
So... a quick summary of the past 2 weeks... will try and keep more up to date with it now!
No photos today either... Sorry!
A x
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