Potosi, Sucre and Santa Cruz

Just a short blog entry today as I'm now home so will be seeing you all soon so 'can't be aaaaaaarsed' to do a long one :)

So, in Potosi there was a strike. Not an exciting strike, just a long, boring, dull, nothing-is-open-strike. So the buses weren't running either which meant the thermal baths just outside of Potosi were unaccesible. The strike was over by Tuesday which meant we were able to go down the mines. We'd heard that they were scary and dangerous but paid our money to go do them anyway! We bought gifts and things for the miners, got all dressed up in the mining gear (does my bum look big in it?) and then walked (more like crawled) 2km into this mountain. It went from 10 degrees max on the outside to probably about 35. It was haaaaaaaaawt! It was also very difficult, as Potosi is the highest city in the world (4090ms btw) so breathing in a hot, dusty mine was really crap!

From Potosi we went on to Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia. It's nicknamed 'la ciudad blanca' and you can totally see why. Every building in the centre is painted white and it's very pretty. Chilled out there and went to some museums and bars here. Had lunch one day at the highest point in Sucre so we could see the whole city.

Then came my fave bus journey of every trip in Bolivia. The road from Sucre to Santa Cruz was closed so we had to go a different way. A 17hr, non paved road way. Funtimes! We arrived in Santa Cruz with very numb bums, found a hotel (ooo posh!) then went out and about. Went to a zoo here with a random sloth just wandering around and there was aslo a chocolate festival RIGHT OPPOSITE OUR HOTEL! Lucky us. It was lush :L

Travelling over, I came back to Cbba for a few nights for my family goodbye, the final volunteer bbq and a last visit to Casablanca.

Good flights back, better movies and am now home!

See you all at some point :)

A x

Salar de Uyuni... I heart cubic lattices :)

After spending the day in Oruro, we got the 'semicama' bus to Uyuni. Semicama my arse and the roads were super bumpy so we didn't sleep for about 10 hours while we were there. Eventually arrived at 7am, Thursday morning, got off the bus and almost froze to death right there. It was freezing. Found our tour company who took us to get breakfast where there was a giant fire which was lush.

We met our driver at 10.30 and started the mammoth tour. First stop was the train cemetery where you could climb all over these 'dead' trains. It was like Thomas the Tank Engine gone wrong.

After that was the real Salar. Dazzling white everywhere which ma de for really good photos! We got to a point where all you could see was white salt, blue skies and mountains in the distance. It was really cool.

We had lunch in a salt hotel (I ate llama!) and then drove some more to the Isla de Pescados where we climbed to the top. Bloody windy which added to the freezingness. Also helped the 'fro grow a bit and my hair went horizontal more times than I can remember!

Once we'd done the Isla, we took some more photos with a dinosaur (I almost got eaten, truely) and then made our way to the salt hotel where we would stay the night. The whole place was made of salt; the walls, the floor, tables, chairs and even our beds - although we did have a mattress on top which made it slightly more comfy. It was freezing (again) there, but under the covers we were really warm and toasty... although this may have had something to do with me wearing 6 layers and anything llama I could possibly find. I'm the llama queen :)

The next day the itinery changed a bit so to fit everything in on the Friday we had to get up at 3.45 AM to be able to leave at 4.30. It was horrible. Getting out of the toasty bed onto the cold salt floor, to the freezing toilets and then outside into the wind (all in the dark btw... only electricity between 7 and 9 pm) was awful.

Our first stop on Friday was the volcanoes, which we reached at about 7am. This means we got to see the sunrise on them which was really cool. Still cold too! After that were the first few lagoons many of which were frozen over. And the ice was thick! Many more lagoons, volcanoes and barren orange sandy landscapes followed. Very beautiful.

In the middle of this desert we reached the 'arbol de piedra'... in the middle of a sandstorm. Winds can get up to 60mph here and the sand and pebbles were getting thrown in our faces. Completely covered when I got back in the car! But I got a photo with a stone tree so I'm super cool :)

After lunch (which we were told was flamingo but was probably chicken) we went to the Laguna Colorada. Browny red in colour because of mineral deposits but it was also frozen again. Flamingoes were just standing in it looking bloody freezing. Next were geysers where me and Annie almost fell into the 200 degree bubbling lava/hot mud. Could have warmed us up a bit!

One of the best bits of the whole 3 days was next. The hot thermal baths. It was LUSH! It was almost like a real bath which was amazing after 3 months of not being able to have one and you just lay there floating in hot water. Getting out wasn't so nice... freezing winds again and my hair actually froze it was so cold. Ridiccc! Also run out of pants so ended up going commando... surprisingly comfy if a little cold but I had to put up with it. Pants are being washed by some nice person now so soon I'll be able to wear them :)

Final stop after that was the Laguna Verde which was really pretty. Mint green and (yep you guessed it!) frozen as well. Here we could see Chile and Argentina, while standing in Bolvia. Drove all the way back to our hotel in the middle of nowhere where the wind blew though, blowing sand everywhere like a mini storm inside. The beds were super warm though as I had millions of layers and millions of covers too.

Next morning we had cake as it was another person on the tours birthday which was yummy :) Saturday was mainly a driving day to get back to Uyuni but we had a few stops on the way. My fave was this dinosaur canyon with frozen streams and rivers. Very beautiful.

Got back to Uyuni at 4ish, picked up our bus tickets and had pizza for dinner before making our way to Potosí. Arrived at 1 this morning and got the last bed in the hostal we wanted to stay in... the matrimonial suite. Haaaaaaa. It was great... we were so WARM which was nice after about 3 days of being permanantly cold!

Here we're going to go to some thermal baths (again) some mines and have a look around Potosí, as from what I've seen so far it looks like a really pretty city.

Shall update when I can next. Here until Tuesday then off to Sucre, the main capital of Bolivia.

A x

La Paz and Lake Titicaca

Friday night we set off at 11pm to La Paz on the overnight bus. Semicama, so got a bit of sleep and arrived into La Paz at about 6.30. It was bloody freezing! Went straight to the same hostal we always stay at and dumped our stuff, had some pancakes then went out to explore the La Paz we hadn't seen yet. We went everywhere! All the plazas, witches market, the zona sur (very posh) and then the coca museum where we were offered free coca leaves to chew. No taaaaaa!

On Sunday we wandered around La Paz a bit more and then in the afternoon headed to Copacabana to see Lake Titicaca. We got a bus just as it was leaving... began to be a bit of a pattern in the Lake Titicaca trip. Found a hostal pretty easily and then went to the worst restaurant in the whole world for dinner. Everything we asked for had 'no hay' as the answer so we ended up getting choclo soup which was pretty much cup a soup. So not worth my 5 Bolivianos!

Monday morning we got up early to get the boat to the Isla del Sol. Got to the isla at about 10.45 where we went to a tiny museum and then joined a group with a guide who took us around the north of the island. The views were amazing and there were so many beaches and you could see the mountains in the distance... really pretty. Once we'd reached the ruins at the north, we left the guide to do the (supposedly 2.5hr) walk to the south of the island to get the boat back to Copacabana.


This took longer than suggested. We started at 12.30 and walked and walked and walked. Mostly uphill. At about 4000m. It nearly killed me. The walk was beautiful though; we had views of the lake on both sides, one side Bolivia and the other Peru. We also built one of those little rock mountain things. Here's me with it :L We had to be at the dock for 3.10 so when we asked a cholita how much further it was and she said media hora at 2 we thought we had plenty of time. How wrong we were. At 3 we were still walking, at 3.10 too. We got to the south at 3.20 but still couldn't see the docks... at this point we started to run down the hill. We started to see our boat leaving and we shouting 'espera!'. We got to the jetty just in time; even so, the boat had to come back for us. The bonus of arriving so late, was that there was hardly any room on the boat so we had to sit right at the front... not even inside the boat. We basically held onto our bags and a rope and had an amazing view the whole way back. Here's me in (one of) my llama jumpers on the front of a boat. I'M ON A BOAT :L

The next morning we explored Copacabana a bit more. We'd heard there was an amazing viewpoint a half hour walk from the town so we decided to do that. Half an hour my arse. Walk my arse. We eventually reached the top after about an hour and a half vertical climb to see some amazing views. It was really pretty and after we'd caught our breath, we made our way back down to catch the bus back to La Paz for the night.So... this morning we got a bus from La Paz to Oruro to see Annie's host dad. He's a celeb chef and has cooked for Bill Clinton among others and gave us a free meal. Score!! I had lamb and it was lush :)

Getting yet another bus tonight to go to Uyuni to start our Salar tour. Salt flats, coloured lagoons and volcanoes wait for me there. And temps of minus thirty possibly. Will post up pictures if I can live through the cold!

A x

Goodbye Cochabamba!

Today I say bye to Cochabamba for the next two weeks as I start my travels with some other volunteers. I've packed hardly anything... just some hippy pants, my vests and a llama jumper. I bet you're all looking forward to the photos. I've also packed hair serum and nail polish... Priorities!

I'm off to La Paz, Copacobana and Lake Titicaca, Oruro, Salar de Uyuni, Potosí, Sucre, Samaipata and Santa Cruz (basically a massive circuit of Bolivia) before coming back here to get my flight home. Shall update and put photos up when I can.

Finished my medical placement on Wednesday night / Thursday morning. Yes... night shift! Celeste and I went to another health centre in Sacaba where we saw loads. We also got to give shots and suture to which was really cool. Here's me giving anaesthetic. You could feel his skull through the wound. Noicccce!

My host mum is also giving me a little party to say bye. I love her :)


See y'all soon!


A x

I survived the ROAD OF DEATH!

I have finally seen births! I'm seeing about three a day and learning a bit more so I'm more happy with work now. Only took a month :L Oh well... that is all I have to say on my placement.

So... this weekend we decided to go to La Paz. To do the Road of Death. It. Was. AMAZING! We went on the overnight bus to La Paz, getting there at about 5.30 in the morning. After getting breakfast, we were met by the guys from Vertigo Biking at 8ish to take us to the beginning of the road. This took us about an hour, climbing up from La Paz up to 4700m. It was really pretty; cloudless skies and a massive blue lake (some of which was iced over) and it was bloody freezing - even I was wearing four layers.
We left here at about 9.30 after we'd put on our hawwwt orange jackets, our elbow and knee pads and had our safety talk. The first hour and a half was easy; all downhill, on a paved road and you could just go as fast as you wanted. Once we'd reached the bottom of that section we got into the support vans to drive the only up bit of the ride. Lazy! We came through this valley above the clouds and they were like a blanket... absolutely beaultiful.Here was the beginning of the death road. The previously smooth, paved road had changed into a dusty, gravely, bumpy, pain in the ass (literally... my right bum cheek is still not the same!) road. It was all still downhill too so breathingwise it was fine, but the constant vibrations from all the bumps turned your arms to jelly. It killed.
There were alot of stops along the way for snacks, water and photo opportunities (one by a 600m drop). We finished the road at about 2.30 and after stripping off our gear (we'd descended down to 1700m into the rainforest and it was now pretty hot) we got back in the vans again to make our way to the hotel for the afternoon, where a buffet lunch, swimming pool and shower were waiting for us. It was a brilliant end to the day.We still had to make our way back to La Paz though... this time luckily along the new road that has been made. This took about four hours half of which we slept ans the other half singing all the songs we knew at the top of our voices (the Bolivian world cup song kicks ass on the UK's). When we reached La Paz again we got our free T-Shirt and our CD of all the photos and videos that had been taken on the day.

The road was great and I'd reccomend it to anyone who comes to Bolivia as one of the things to do. I can't think of another day where you begin it freezing cold and can see snow all around, to ending it in a swimming pool in the boiling rainforest. It was immense.

We still had another day in La Paz on the Sunday so we had a look around the markets and then went to this musical instrument museum where i found a piano that I was allowed to play (look how happy it made me!). I was crap... really need to practice before Chets this year otherwise it's going to be an epic fail of a week!
This weekend was easily the best weekend in Bolivia... but it may only hold that title until the next time I update as I start my travelling next week.

I also only have three weeks left. It's gone so fast and I'll see you all soon!

A x

Buscando... a good medical placement. If anyone has any idea where to find one contact me!

Started my new placement for real on Tuesday. Felt alot better after a relatively quiet weekend and was ready to help! Tuesday work was good... They taught me how to feel where the baby is in the tummy, listen to the heartbeat and finally feel how many centimetres dilated someone is. It was great and I went home finally feeling like I'd got something out of doing a medical placement here. However, the next 3 days were me sitting there and watching, as a new intern had come in and totally took over. Added to the fact that the doctors work 24 hour shifts so there were different doctors each day, and they had no idea that I was actually meant to be there doesn't make for an interesting placement! Very frustrating. In births this week... maybe this will finally be the medical placement I'm searching for?

I went and visited the orphanage this week as Annie is trying to sort out the garden there and some of us went over to help. All the kids greeted e with cries of Tia Sofie... then Tia Emily. Still no Tia Amy. There are no Amys in Bolivia I don't think! We chopped and raked stuff up ready to be burnt and once we have paint we're going to paint murals on the walls and possibly paint inside the casita. It's going to look so much better!

The volunteer group is dwindling... two people left last week, two are leaving this week... sad times! Thursday night was Catherine's leaving do so we went for sushi and then to Dumbos for the most amazing ice cream ever. I have photos, but can't upload them here. They were mega! Friday night was Jamies do and we went EVERYWHERE before finally ending up in Pimienta... possibly the best club in the whole world! Again, possibly not the best idea as we had to be up early the next morning for painting!

With my amazing 3 hours of sleep, I was out of the house by 8 and hopped on a bus back to Sarcobamba to get painting. I felt rough :L We set up scafolding, mixed the paint and did the whole waiting room, only stopping for sandwiches for lunch. I also managed to drop my camera in the massive pot of paint. It broke unsurprisingly! Or so I'd thought...

Sunday was football day. We went back to Dumbos to watch it. We failed miserably... the only bloody football game I watch and England sodding lose. Fail :( Had lunch there before going to La Cancha (again!). I love it. We need one in England. Went home after that to find my camera worked! Brilliant! Just needed to dry a bit :) Got so excited I managed to shut myself out of my room, with the keys inside and no spare. At 8 on a Sunday night. Balls. Ended up having to go back to La Cancha to find someone to open in for the extortionate cost of 7 pounds (you think I'm joking... he was literally there all of two minutes picking at the lock. That's like 210 pounds an hour!). So that finished off my week perfectly!

We also planned the travel route we get to do at the end of our placements. We'll be going to Lake Titicaca, Salar de Uyuni, Potosi, Sucre, Samaipata (to maybe see a little bit of the Che Trail), Santa Cruz and finally back to Cbba for my flight. Going to be amazingggg!

Road of Death next weekend (3rd of July, the padres bday, lets hope I don't die!) so get ready for some epic pictures of me in a florescent jacket :)

A x

I got sick... Will got robbed with an orange... Great weekend in Bolivia for the ones from the shire!

This week we gave our breastfeeding presentation to the waiting room at Chavez Rancho health centre. Two weeks of researching and writing in spanish, all to be over in about five minutes. It went ok (better than my student president presentation for anyone that saw that) but apparently I was talking too quietly and quickly... what's changed? We also made posters to stick on the wall at the health centre so they're up, with information to aid breastfeeding mothers.

Had a bit of a spendy week this week, with many visits to La Cancha to buy presents and warm stuff for when I go travelling. Also got a backpack for travelling (with two different makes on... I think this makes it double the quality personally) so am ready to go now! Planning our circuit this week around Bolivia which I'll start on the 9th July. Really excited!

Officially finished my crap work placement and moved to the new one too. Started on Friday and am at Centro de Sauld Cochabamba which is alot bigger than Sarcobamba and also has a hospital right behind it where I can go to watch operations and births next week. I'm working in the obstetric emergency unit and I can already tell it's going to be so much better. However, Friday was not so fun. I got up at 6.30 to be able to get to work for 8, arrived there, the director took me to where I was meant to work... everything went really well for something that had been organised in a short space of time. When I stood up to do something I promptly lost my hearing, almost fainted and had a repeat of La Paz again (without the vomming in the street... I was more classy this time and managed to hold it in). I called my project supervisor who told me to go buy some sweets and water and the wait for her to come get me.

When she eventually arrived, I felt better (who wouldn't after sweets?) but still wanted to go to the doctors just to be checked out. Got all the general things done; OBS, he checked my tummy and listened to it, they took some blood and diagnosed me with gastroentiritus. It's not nice. Then they shoved me on a drip for two hours. This hurt and I never ever want to have one ever again. I also had to spend a bunch on all my exciting tablets that you can see in the photo. I don't have a parasite though. GET IN! Still had the most boring diet in the world for three days - bread, rice, potatoes, chicken and jelly!

We had a long weekend (Aymara new year on Monday) and I was planning on doing the Che trail to follow the last footsteps of Che Guvara and see where he was laid out once he's been killed but my crappy health situation stopped that. Instead, I had a quiet weekend.

Saturday I went to the Palacio Portales de Simon Patiño. This is a big european style house that Simon Patiño (once the richest man in the world) built but never got to live in because he left Bolivia and died before he could ever return. It's absolutely beautiful and has amazing grounds as well. We had a tour around the house and grounds (unfortunatly not allowed to take photos inside the house) but it was amazing. There was silk all over the walls, really ornate carvings, scultpures, pictures and paintings all over the place and he also had a piano for each of his three daughters in the house (which I got majorly excited about as it was maybe the second piano I'd seen in all of Bolivia). Our tour was also done with some stereotypical Americans - my favourite question they asked was 'did he introduce spanish to Bolivia?' when they found out Simon Patiño was from Spain originally. Will went to La Cancha in the afternoon but I had to go get more results so couldn't :( He did get robbed though so maybe it was best that I didn't! He's the third person to have been robbed since I've been here - one with a gun, another with a knife and Will... he got hit in the face with an orange. Could only have been him!

Sunday I had a lie in (until 9... the latest I've ever slept here!) then went to buy stuff from the supermarket for a picnic in the park. I had bread, jelly and was naughty and had crisps too. SHOCKING! Had another La Cancha trip (my third of the week :S) to buy more presents and some jewellery for me.

Monday we decided to go to Tarata, a little town about an hour away from Cochabamba. We'd planned to spend the whole day there but when we got there most stuff was shut (apart from the tourist centre which was open but empty). We managed to see a pretty church and a monastery (both pictures) before coming back to Cochabamba in time to see the Spain V Honduras game. We settled down in Dumbo's, this amazing icecream store with a wide screan where I had cake AND icecream to make up for my three days of dull food. I got bored of the football once I realised that Torres had cut all his hair off (WHY DID HE DO IT!) so after half time we walked into the plaza to sunbathe. We'd been there all of ten minutes when this woman came screaming into the plaza shouting stuff like 'te voy a matar' (I'm going to kill you) and other crazy things. She sat down on a bench near us, still screaming, and just as I thought it couldn't get any stranger, this old man on a crutch came over, they started arguing, and then he smacked her hard on the leg with his crutches. As appealing as watching two seventy pluses have a fight, we left to have a wander, as despite him being old, he had an amazing swing!

That was my week... not done the most exciting things, but hopefully I shall have many stories about my new placement to tell you next time.

A x

Shit week, Awesome weekend...

Just a suggestion, but if you don't want to read my moanings, skip the next few paragraphs and go to the ones about the epic weekend I had.

I was ridiculously excited to go to the Sarcobamba health clinic. I'd been looking forward to it since coming and thought I was finally going to learn some new stuff and be able to help out doing alot. I first went to the clinic on Monday (after I'd bought the biggest pair of scrubs I've ever seen in my life... it took us ages to find some and they only had a giant size so we got thoses and I look like a giant snowman with a stethescope - no joke, but I could be 9 months pregnant and they'd still be too big for me) for my orientation and to meet who I'd be working with. It's quite a small place but it looked quite busy so I thought I'd be a big help. How wrong I was...

Tuesday morning I set my alarm for the delightful time of 6.30 so I could get to work for 8 and have time for getting lost. I left the house at 7.30 and managed to get there for 7.45 (without getting lost). There were queues of people waiting outside, but no one inside. I was the first there. Eventually people starting rolling in after 8 and went straight into a meeting (supposedly, but there was alot of laughing and shouting coming from in there and none of these patients are that funny!) until about 9. Then I started to get to see patients. There were about 20 that day. All with coughs. Exciting times!

Throughout the week it didn't really get any better. I have sat in on the gynacologists consultations (many many many pap smears... nice) and have been taught how to feel where a baby is inside the uterus and to find its heartbeat (and the difference between that and the placenta's) but apart from that I've not really learnt anything, been allowed to do anything or been interested in what goes on there.

Another thing we did at the health centre was have a meal with all the staff there. Celeste (another med volunteer) says they do this quite often and she was really glad that I was there. I was soon about to find out why. The food was great, the conversation not so. I have no idea what is wrong with the three main doctors - middle aged, supposedly intelligent men but they were like 5 year olds. Viagra was hilarious (apparently they need it... I didn't really want to know to be honest!) but my personal favourite was when I mentioned that I was going away at the weekend they said that there was this banana flower that only comes out once every 10 years and that now was the time to go see it. I was like great! But apparently it wasn't that... note to self - if any middle aged, sexually minded man says anything about a banana in a foreign language DO NOT say ok. El Tío (the uncle - no idea why they call him that) had actually asked if I wanted to see a florescent banana and that he could show me it. Aka his florescent banana. How they laughed. I also managed to get ustedes (the polite form of you) and ellos (them) mixed up so ended up inviting the three guys out. Trust me to try and be polite!

Anyway, good thing is I change tomorrow to a new place with more OBGYN stuff so I'll be able to get more involved in baby stuff. Good times. Hopefully :S

This week I've also been preparing for a presentation about breastfeeding that Celeste, Alice and I all need to do at another health centre. I have learnt quite alot from doing that. Did you know that there are four different types of breast milk? Fact for you there! All the medical volunteers had a suturing workshop too so hopefully I'll be able to try that in my next placement.

After such a crappy week, I needed a good weekend. And it definitely made up for it! Friday night was Katherines 19th and Alex's leaving do, so we all went out. Firstly we went to this posh italian (expensive by Bolivian standards but 4 pounds for a lasagne and 2 for a daiquiri seems ok to me!) so we all dressed up, before moving onto Cafe Fusion for more cocktails and then to Pimienta for dancing. The whole night was great, and I eventually got home at about 4.30ish.

This would have been ok had we not been going to Chapare the next day. We were planning on meeting at the bus station at 9 the next morning so we could get to Villa Tunari for lunchtime. However, at 5 in the morning, I still wasn't packed. It was a manic packing effort (and why I put in 4 pairs of trousers for 2 days) before what I'd call a quick nap and then I left the house at 8.30. A few had had a bit too much the night before and so didn't arrive at the bus terminal until past 10. I so could have done with that extra hour of sleep!

We got on the bus at 10.15 and were told it would leave in about half an hour. At 11.45 we were still there! His timings were a bit optomistic as the buses won't leave until they're full so we were sat there while random people came on trying to sell us stuff. My personal favourite was the woman who came on saying 'no hay manzanas en Chapare' and trying to get us to buy her apples. It was a complete lie though as there were many apples there!

We eventually set off but the supposedly 3 or 4 hour journey ride was typically bolivian and we didn't arrive there until 5.30. It would have been ok, had I not sat in possibly the worst seat ever. Right at the back by the window that wouldn't open. I was hot. Very hot. We also drove right through Villa Tunari where we were meant to be staying becuase apparently the bus doesn't actually make a stop there. Everyone on the bus was saying 'Villa Tunari' to us and we were like 'yeh how did you guess' little knowing that we'd passed right through.

Once we'd got a taxi back to the town, we tried to check into the hostel from the guide book. Unfortunately it was fully booked, but the woman there directed us to the hotel version of the hostel for only 50Bs a night. If we were impressed that we were going to be in a hotel, we were corrected when Lauren and I entered our room. We were greeted by two dead cockroaches, there were no sheets and the best bot was the random animal poo on the floor which Will kindly cleared up for us (but only after he's stepped in it). Bonus was that we had a fan so we weren't hot during the night... and it was definitely needed. It was crazily hot, and as you can probably tell from my hair, quite humid too!

The next morning we headed straight for the monkey park opposite the hotel. It's a centre to look after abused monkeys and was 6Bs to get in plus an extra 15 to take your camera. I made use of that extra 1.50 I had to pay and took millions of photos! We went to the monkeys first but were a bit disappointed by them, as there only seemed to be four and they were all tied up! So we decided to go for a walk up in the jungle to the river viewpoint and some waterfalls (where I got bitten to pieces - my legs look as if I have chicken pox). This is me on the pretty scary bridge over to the waterfalls. Anyone else thinking of 'Charlie the Unicorn'?



On our way back down we decided o go back to the monkeys again and I'm so glad we did. There were so many more all jumping about and swinging from trees. Some were super curious, coming up and jumping on us (or down Jessica's top) and trying to steal cameras and bracelets. Well worth going back for!

As we left the park, we saw a big poster for white water rafting so Annie called the number and we booked in for 3 (later changed to 3.30 when lunch took ages to come) and it was amazing. We drove about 30 minutes out of Villa Tunari, upriver to where we'd get to raft. After a quick lesson of forward, back, stop and GET DOWN we set off. The river was only a grade two as it isn't the rainy season but we were all pretty crap so it was a good job it wasn't any harder. We'd all be paddling and then the guy would tell us to stop, while he righted our course.

Halfway along the river, we got out of the boat to jump off the rocks at the edge of the river. It was really good.. a bit scary at the top but fun when you jump in. The harder bit was getting back into the boat. We had to hold onto the side of the boat and be dragged up by our lifejackets, but I had a crap landing and fell into the mans crotch. Needless to say, we had a special relationship :L

When we'd eventually dried off back at the hotel, we went off to the bus terminal to get a trufi back. We knew buses stopped at 6 and thought that trufis stopped at 8 so 7ish was a good time to get there. But when we got there and asked, there were no buses or trufis going at all. Lauren and I were all for getting a fruit truck back but luckily a driver had heard us and offered to give us a lift for a little extra money. Thank god otherwise we'd have been stuck there! Most of the drive was spent on the left of the road (here we drive on the right) and he must have been knackered but we got home safe.

Chapare was amazing and we have a long weekend next week so I'm hoping to go to either La Paz or the Salar de Uyuni to make the most of the extra day. Will update again soon

A x

Photos from last time!

Here are some from the last entry that I didn't put in... La Paz (what I saw), Injection Workshop (us before we'd injected an orange and me after injecting Will - you see the look of happiness at inflicting pain... sorry about the red eye but no way to remove it!) and a group one of all the people who went to Sipe Sipe, etc...

Next blog entry is coming tomorrow... nothing planned for the night so I'm going to sit down and do it at some point :)

A x

La Paz, Gran Poder, No More Guarderia, New Placement, Let's Inject People, Sipe Sipe, Quillacollo... I think I need to update!

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

Torotoro... Wheezy, Weeble and We-ers walking weekend!

Going to skim over the past week as it has pretty much been the same, and talk about an amazing weekend! This week Will arrived and that is basically all that has changed.

This weekend a couple of other volunteers and I decided to go to Torotoro. So at four on Friday afternoon (actually 4.30 due to Bolivian time) we set off on our epic journey through the mountains on cobbled roads (whoever invented them should be shot) into northern Potosi, four hours south of Cochabamba. After a few hairy moments, one in the dark where we almost hit a bus, we arrived at our hotel at 8.30 and after checking in, we unpacked and went straight to bed!
The next morning, we had an amazing breakfast where we stuffed ourselves as there is nowhere to have lunch on the moutains. We then set off with our driver Vicente to the tourist information office to pick up our guide for the weekend. Justino took us to the caves on Saturday. The first caves were more open and light and were used by ancent civilizations as temples. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of them and have lost my map so can't see their name. To get to them, we drove 21km away from the village up more bad roads (we got stuck once and had to push the car up the hill) with amazing views from every direcction. We then walked (and walked and walked) up and down the hills through mini caverns alongs dusty paths, occasionally having to get out a rope and pull ourselves up sheer cliffs. We walked pretty much non stop here, up and down (impressed mother?) in a giant circle until we reached the car again.

After these caverns we drove 10km back down the mountain to an underground cave called Humujalanta. This cave is massive - approximatly 7km in total - with 8 rooms and an underground lake, and to walk (or crawl it) you need to make sure you have a head torch, a hard hat and clothes than you really don't mind getting dirty. We had everything except the clothes, as despite the guide saying in the morning that the clothes would be fine, they really weren't. Even so, we got down and saw 3 rooms. We descended into darkness down a ridiculously slippery bit of rock (using that same rope that we pulled ourselves up the cliffs on) into the first room. This one was big, with many stalagmites and tites, but nowhere near as impressive as the next room, nicknamed the concert hall because of the rock formation (photo is of us giving our own concert here). The third room was enormous, with a giant pile of vampire bat poo in the middle, which was the first thing the guide pointed out to us. Priority! After this room we made our way back up to the surface and walked back to the car which took us back to our hotel. After a massive bowel of spag bol, which I ate in my pjs in the restaurant, we collapsed into bed.

The next morning we rose at 6 to fit in everything we wanted to do. We met the guide at 7 and drove a couple of km to the spot where we'd begin our walking for the day. We walked down a dry river where we saw velociraptor and brontosaurous footprints, both amazingly preserved. After about 20 more minutes we reached the canyon viewpoint. It was like stepping into Land Before Time. It was amazing. All the different rock layers and the difference between the dry top and leafy bottom was beautiful. From here, we walked a bit more to where we could go down into the canyon and see a waterfall. It was about 1km away, down 800 steps (which we had to walk back up, more on that later) and over hundreds of boulders in the river at the bottom. The waterfall was pretty, and also freezing, but as I'll probably only ever go there once in my life it was on with the swimming cossie and into the water... just like I'm A Celebrity :L

When I'd dried off, we had to make our way back up 'the devil stairs' (as named by Julia). At 3000m this is no easy feat! Up we went, huffing and puffing as if we smoked 40 a day, Julia saying every so often 'necesito un momento para respirar' which earnt her the nickname 'Wheezy'. Surprisingly to me, I made it up the stairs without needing too many stops but every so often swaying a little from lack of oxygen so I was christened 'Weeble'. Lauren was named 'We-er' for her constant need to use the 'baño natural'.

At the top, and after a big rest, we walked along the top of the canyon to see more dinosaur footprints and paintings in a slightly smaller canyon. We ended up walking back to Torotoro town, had a quick change at the hotel (into pjs again for me) before starting the mammoth drive back to Cochabamba.

It was an amazing weekend and I'm looking foward to even more travel at the weekends now!

Cochabamba Week Two

The theme in the Guardería this week is family... which is quite hard for the kids to do, seeing as some of them don't have mums or dads, or if they do, they have trouble remembering them. On Monday they had to draw all their family (the hardest task of the week), Tuesday do a family tree and Wednesday a flower of family with what family means to them. Thursday was my day to think up a task so we drew houses and made a collage of a casita, and then they drew who they lived with at the orphanage. On Friday, Laura (another volunteer) thought up an idea for a mobile, so we made a 'family is...' mobile with houses hanging down saying 'love' and 'security' and things like that. Tomorrow we start 'mama' week in preparation for mothers day so any ideas for things we could do would be great!

Monday night I decided to be cultured so Luke, Emmy and I all went out to a short film festival. What a load of bull. The films were awful! The best one was about a man who had a relationship with a corpse (only to shove her back in her grave when she mentioned having kids) so you can imagine how bad the others were! But look on the brightside... I understood all the spanish in the films so my listening must be improving loads!

Wednesday night we went to another volunteers leaving do at a place called cafe fusion. It serves Italian food and is really good. People were surpirsed to see me though, as before then I'd been known as 'the english girl who never comes out'. Now people know my name. SHOCKER!

The Projects abroad social was on Thursday night so we had a barbeque and I met a load of other volunteers. However, I was a bit late as a bridge is closed so my bus had to go a different way. After driving along for 20 minutes and thinking 'this doesn't look right but hopefully it'll end up close to the office soon' I asked the driver if we were close. He says 'yeh of course, it's 2 blocks that way'. About 30 blocks later I arrive at the BBQ. At least all that walking burnt off the calories of the giant steak I had!

This weekend has been great. Friday night we went to Casablanca, a bar with quotes and misquotes from the film on the walls which serves food too. Saturday we went to an arcological museum which had a tour in english from the sweetest guy who kept thanking us for coming so that he could practise his english on us. We went to Casablanca again for lunch where I had the biggest pizza of my life (not joking, I had to leave a third and you all know how much I can eat) and then went to La Cancha where I got a typical Bolivian bag to shove all my junk in. My host mum also announced that she's preggers so Valentina is going to get a little brother or sister! Sunday we went to the cristo again to go up inside on the most unsafe and steep steps I think I've ever seen (we're standing on them in the photo which expains the slight ahhhh look). We then got a taxi back to the centre that was making a quite unsettling rattling noise in the boot. He pulled over halfway to this food stall, pulled out a gigantic lump of ice and shoved it on a chair. Remind me NEVER to get anything with ice from a street stall. Enough people here have parasites (one person has four) and I don't really fancy getting one too!

Week over and I'm knackered! Hopefully an early night tonight before starting another crazy week :) Photos on here are for the Grandparents to show them what the city is like. It's very sunken with mountains surrounding it (where one girl decided to walk, get lost and had to sleep on the mountain... sound familiar mummy?) and these photos are what can be seen from the living room and the cristo.

A x

Manos arriba!

The past week has gone so fast! From starting at the Guarderia and finally knowing where to get off the trufis/micros and meeting other volunteers I'm starting to settle in really well. And for those of you that haven't heard, if the C**tservat**ts get into power (even if it is with the LibDems) I'm staying put, so it's a good job I'm getting settled.

Mothers Day today... So happy mothers day mummy! It's not mothers day for another week or so in Cochabamba so the kiddies are learning a load of songs to sing for the 'Mamas' in the Guarderia and also a dance. The dance will be great once they all practice and focus, but what 5 year old wants to focus on a dance with sticks for more than 5 minutes? Because of this they're all dancing like John Sergeant of Strictly fame (except for Alicia who is loving it and is like a mini Shakira) and bumping into eachother or giving up halfway through to pick their nose or have a mini fight with eachother. As you can hear, they're quite hard work but it's so fun and the time passes so quickly that I wouldn't have it any other way. To carry on learning about fruit, and also to blend it in with learning right from wrong we did 'Las Frutas de la Amistad' (fruits of freindship) with sayings like 'don't fight' or 'share'. Hopefully it'll teach them to stop fighting in the middle of dancing and they'll be like mini Alesha Dixons and Tom Chambers :)

I have also got a new Bolivian phone! Exciting times. It's about the size of a brick and you can play snake on it. And space impact too. Haaaaa :L

Yesterday Luke (another guy staying in the house for a couple of weeks from Philladelphia) made traditional American macaroni cheese which was soooo good. And he made American biscuits which are basically savoury scones which were really nice too. After that I had a little siesta before going out in the night.

A couple of other volunteers and I went out to the Feria last night. Luke said that during the day there were quite a few industrial things and it was a bit weird and boring. Granted, they were selling dentists chairs, lorries and giant women made out of terracotta but they also had 2 stages with a load of bands playing. Plan B were playing on Friday night but I missed out on that! We went over to the main stage where the first band playing were amazing! They're called Los Rabanes and you need to check them out Max. They're a mixture of Rammstein, 3OH!3, rock, samba, reggae and ska. All I can remember from their set was them shouting 'Manos Arriba' and the whole crowd waving they're arms in the air. Soooo good.

The next two bands weren't so good. The second was playing covers of English and American songs really out of tune... I think the worst was Sweet Child of Mine which he didn't really know the tune to so was practically rapping the words. Totally bizzare. And the next band had this woman on the stage going totally crazy. So we left the feria after that at about 1ish and got a cab straight away which charged 30Bs (3 pounds) for the three of us to take a 30 minute journey. I love how cheap everything is here!

Today we went to have Chicharrón, a typical Bolivian lunch that Cochabambinos have on a Sunday. It consists of boiled pork and fried pork rinds (I never said it was healthy!) and a potato on a bed of maize, which looks like giant sweetcorn with a picante sauce. I don't think I've ever seen such a big pile of food in my life. They cook it in giant pans (as you can see in the photo... for some reason my shoulders have decided to rise uncontrolably and it's so bright I have to wear my super giant sunnies that I love :L) and it tastes amazing! While we were there, a guy kept coming over trying to shake our hands, talking to us in crazy english and offering us Chicha (a fermented maize alcoholic drink). Me thinks he'd had too much!

So that's my busy weekend! Shall tell you all how the dancing goes and see if I can video it.

Adios!

A x

I'm completely sane, but I like to get off buses early :)

Started work yesterday! I'm working in the Guardería which is the school in the orphange. The kids I get to work with are all 3-6 years old and every one of them is gorge. There are 9 of them and at the moment they're all learning about fruit and veg. They get to colour them in and do collages of fruit too. They have a 'Mama' and a 'Tía' in each of their casitas (where they live) and I'm an extra tía. They all call me Tía Emily because that's what I was introduced as and it has stuck. So... for the next month I'm Emily! Could be worse...

I have to get a bus to work. The same as before... stick your hand out, get into a bus fit to burst with people and then get off where you like. Unless you're me, and then you get off 2 km early and have to walk the rest of the way. How silly.

Yesterday I had to have a physcological exam to make sure I'm not criminally minded and can work with children (I can by the way, the test said I was completely sane... HA!). I had to draw a man in the rain and give him a name (Bob... seemed like a good name to me) and an age. Then I had to look at those weird pictures and say what I saw. This whole thing was in spanish as well... I had no idea I knew so many bizare words.

After the test we went to El Cristo de la Concordia. I thought it was quite little as we were walking up to it and was like 'What's the fuss?' Then Vicky took a photo of me by it (should be somewhere on this page if everything has gone right) and I was like :O It's MAHOOSIVE! We were going to go up into it but you can only do that on Sundays. DOWLING! Vamos a ir :)

That's about it so far... shall keep you all updated :)

x

¡Estoy Aquí!

Got lost in Sao Paulo airport (wrong terminal... fun rush to the right one!) but apart from that everything went smoothly. Got picked up and taken to my host family's house (actually a flat but it's GIGANTIC and has two floors which I'm childeshly amazed by) and got to unpack all my things (in the two wardrobes I was given and a load of drawers... good job... I've filled them all up already) and just chill out. Met the family and the 'helper' who both have gorgeous daughters. BABIES! Love it :) No one in the house speaks very much english which means I've spoken at most 5% english. Are you proud Sra Amoah?

So that's the house... Now for the city. Cochabamba is massive but everything is really easy to get to becuase of the crazy transport sytem they have. You basically stand on the side of the road and stick your hand out and get on, pay 15p and it takes you where you need to go. Then when you want to get off you shout 'A la esquina' (at the corner) and it stops wherever you want. Even on the highway, but I've not tried that yet! If you don't want a bus and would prefer a taxi you walk about 2 steps and one beeps at you and then you walk another 2 steps and another one beeps at you. So there is no excuse for missing the bus or saying you have no way of getting to a place! It's also really hot... I'm currently using factor 60 suncream so I don't burn (which I'm sure you'll be glad to hear Heidi!).

I've been to La Cancha... a masive market selling everything you can possibly think of! There were chicken feet (yuck) and even cows feet I think (which was an even bigger yuck!) and I dont think I've ever seen so much fruit in one place. So colourful! Today I went on a little walk around the area I'm in and am currently sat in a little internet cafe out of the sun for a bit that costs 20p an hour. Everything is so cheap here! Me and the fam went out for a meal yesterday for lunch (3 courses for 3 people and a baby) and it cost 76 Bolivianos which is about 8 pounds. BARGAIN! A litre of beer is also 40p but unfortunatly the drinking age here is 21... which is a mega FAIL!

Anyway... that's about it for now. I start my placement on Tuesday so I'll let you all know how it goes!

A x

I'm Off!

After one erupting volcano, one cancelled flight, six new flights given and countless numbers of packing and repacking attempts I'll finally be leaving in less than an hour! Exciting times! So glad of the extra 9 days to organise everything though... would have forgotten my yellow fever certificate (apparently that's quite important!) and a load of clothes and shoes (equally as important).

Off to 7a first for my final-final-final pesto chicken panini and a brownie before I go :) and then no more brownies for 3 whole months. HOW AM I GOING TO COPE!

Speak to you all soon!

A x

What I'm Doing

A few people have asked what I'll be doing while I'm in Bolivia... this is just to let you all know :)

I'll arrive in Cochabamba on the 29th April and go to stay with my host family. They live on the one of the main streets in Cochabamba.

For the first month I'll be working at an orphanage which houses boys and girls from 0 - 16, on the outskirts of Cochabamba. Many are orphans, or come from underprivileged backgrounds and come to the centre to live and go to school. I'll be an extra pair of hands and will be able to help with basic maths or english lessons and extra curricular activities.

For the next two months I'll be at a health centre, where they treat any minor injuries or illnesses. I'll work as an intern and will shadow the doctors. I'll also take part in the teen leadership program the centre has set up, who meet once a week for educational or recreational purposes.

I'll then come home and will arrive back on the 28th.

In both placements they have very limited english so it will be up to me to use the epic spanish skills Mo-Mo and Tay-Tay taught me to communicate :S Before you know it, I'll be speaking spanish fluently... or that's the general idea.

I'm also going to be travelling around with the other volunteers out there to places like La Paz and Santa Cruz and will look around Cochabamba (which has the biggest market place in the world, selling anything from scarves to jewellery to TVs... AMAZING!) and the Cristo de la Concordia statue - the biggest statue of christ in the world (like the one in Rio de Janiero but slightly taller and better cos I'm going to go see it).

That's the basic gist... I'll post photos and videos on here when I can!

A x

Hellooo!

So, to make it easier to stay in touch with everyone and let you know what I'm getting up to I've decided to set up this blog. Will try to email and facebook as well! I should (hopefully) be able to post pictures of stuff I've done and let you know what I'm going to do... so the mother can say 'Driving the road of death? Riding on a wild lama? I DON'T THINK SO!' And then I can do them anyway and she has to take a 24 hour journey to attempt to stop me. HA!

My new flight is the 28th April, which means I'll be coming back a little bit later in July so will see you all then if I don't see you beforehand!

A x