Day 6

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This is day 6 of my stay here at the Planeta de Luz (Planet of Light) Community, set high above the town of Quillacolla, a suburb of Cochabamba. Cocha is a large sprawling city that sits in a basin of mountains surrounding it on almost all sides. It is not a particularly attractive city, though I have as yet seen only a fraction of it. For us to get into the centre of Cocha we need first to catch a minibus near the Community (there are no bus stops here - one simply hitchhikes and shouts at the driver when you want to get off) and then a bus from the centre of Quilla.

The Community is currently only a dozen or so people - all from South America and all in their 20s and 30s except for one of 16 and a baby. Everyone is very open and friendly and already I feel welcome and at home. They are most patient with my poor but improving Spanish. Some speak a little English and many have requested an English class which will run every Wednesday evening, starting tomorrow.

Most of the work of the Community at the moment is caring for the 17 acre3s of gardens that have been beautifully designed with lovely little cottages interspersed, as well as lots of impromptu meeting or sitting places. It really is a work of genius. A strong mountain stream proves plenty of water for irrigation and other use.

We work 8 hours a day (6am & 2pm) 6 days a week. My main work at the moment is translating some of the material they give out to visitors. It is work I enjoy and greatly aids my learning of the language. I can also do it on the terrace outside my room with a marvellous view over the property and valley beyond.

The weather is quite extreme at the moment with frosts at night and hot sun in the day. As soon as the sun sets, the temperature drops rapidly.

Well, I think that´s enough for now. I hope to be able to keep this up every week, as much as possible.

Sending much love to you all

Eve

P.S. I´ve added a couple of more photos but they seem to have attached themselves to the blog from Wales, so you can find them there. I´ll get the hang of this soon....

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Photos

View of Mountains
This is the view from the terrace outside my room every morning