My first day

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My first day at Alalay has been really really hard. My lack of Spanish is one cause of this and there is a certain difficulty on my part to follow through with my wanting to help. I really want to help but it is actually really hard to put all thoughts aside, all doubts, all preconceptions and just hangout with these kids. You feel extremely vulnerable which is funny, the roles are almost reversed. Just being at the orphanage strips you of all your comforts and ideals and your left with who you REALY are in all its flawed detail.

It’s scary and it’s very hard to allow these kids to get close to you when you know you’re not going to be here long. It’s even harder when you see how starved for affection some of the younger ones are. I have never been hugged as much as I have in the last 24 hours. The first thing some of these kids do is hug you. Whenever they see you, it’s more hugs. Each one reminds you of the hugs you feely and abundantly received growing up and the difference in your life and theirs.

They just crave contact with someone, anyone. You can see that the older kids have built up some protective walls to help with this feast or famine of affection as volunteers come and go. But you can still tell that they love having someone around, even if they can’t speak Spanish and their soccer skills are questionable.

It’s hard to stay at the orphanage; it’s uncomfortable to stay at the orphanage. For those reasons alone I will try and stay at the orphanage. Being stripped down to the foundation of who you are may mean that with the help of these kids and this place you may be re-built as a better person. I know who I want to be. Maybe Ryan V 2.0 will be a closer match then previously.

Anway…. Moving on…

I have caught a taxi back into town in search of food, the kids at Alalay pretty much live on bread and tee alone. In the last 24 hours I have eaten 7 rolls and drank only water. The bread they bake themselves for obvious cost reasons. This diet would be kind of strange if you were out side of Bolivia but here it’s pretty normal. Depending on where you go people could be living solely of just potatoes, just rice, or just bread…

So Julie has saved me by making me a normal breakfast. Thanks Julie. After this it’s into town to get food supplies and to book a climb up Mt Huayani Potossi. If everything goes to plan J and J and I will be standing on the summit as the sun rises on my birthday standing a mere 20,000 feet above the sea or just under 8,000 feet higher then Mt Cook.

For the rest of the day Julie and I will be helping the kids at one of the central city refuges make Christmas cards to sell to raise funds for Alalay. After a couple days I hope to have a better idea about how Alalay works and operates so I can share their story with you guys.

Hasta luego

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Photos

The kids
Why people do what they do.

Alalay
In the middle of nowhere the white walls and red tile roof are hard to miss.

Huayna Potosi
A view from the Altiplano at about 4,500 mts looking up at Huayna Potosi, summit 6,088 mts.