Blogs from Bolivia, South America - page 5

I am writing this post as I sip on some wine made just down the street from us and listening to Bolivian top 100 which apparently includes a song from Taylor Swift. I had my first full day here! Last night I arrived around 7:30pm so I had time to get unpacked, showered, and into bed to catch up on some sleep. I was feeling really good about my progress: I had local currency (if you remember from Uganda I had a very hard time getting money), a local SIM card, and a bottle of water in the freezer. But I awoke with one eye almost completely swollen shut. The best I can guess is that something bit me in the night on my forehead causing one eye to almost completely swell shut and the other ... read more

The organization I am going to be working with is called “EDUCACIÓN Y FUTURO” (Roughly translated to Educate for the Future). They were founded in 1994. Their objective is to help disadvantaged families who live on the outskirts of Tarija. They have two main programs: La Linelula (Dragon-fly) Center is an alternative education center for children who are victims of serious abuse, school exclusion, and extreme violence. Most of the children come from migrant families where education is not always a priority. They have services that include school support programs, mentorship, and legal aid. The center also has a shelter for the victims of serious violence. The Amanecer (Sunrise) Center focuses on supporting the entire family. Many families have migrated from the countryside looking for work. However, opportunities are limited if they do not have adequate ... read more

A fabulous collaboration of tours from the lowest and highest lakes on the globe. Mark in Amsterdam, Netherlands & Renan Lake Titicaca, Bolivia In Amsterdam we learnt how The Ijsselmeer an artificial lake had been developed with the aid of maps showing how the land had been reclaimed and dammed from the sea & ensuring that Amsterdam and the surrounding areas are protected from flooding. We also visited an area of floating villages, individual floating houses moored around slender jetties like house boats. These floating neighbourhoods are a solution to the problem of rising sea level and housing shortage in the dense metropolitan areas. In Titicaca Renan introduced us to his friend who was a craftsman at making reed boats using Totora. Renan also explained the background of Thor Heyerdahl's experimental archaeology and how Heyerdahl had ... read more

A lady blogger suggested adding this to a list of potential places to go. As adventurous as I think I am, I wonder, in times of this pandemic, highly skeptical about going somewhere I have never heard of. And worse, what is their vaccination status, and quality of health care? I like the idea of going someplace new and different. But to point to some country I have never heard of seems to tempt fate. Let me just illustrate the folly of this idea. At random, I found Central African Republic, a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, DR Congo to the south, Republic of Condo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. CAR was a French colony, with ... read more

30th April - Isla del Sol (Sun Island) - Colombia Revered as the most important site within Inca mythology. According to Inca history, Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) is both the birthplace of their revered Sun God and the world’s first two Incas. The story goes that following a great flood, the province of Lake Titicaca was plunged into a long period of darkness. After many days, the bearded god Viracocha rose from the depths of Lake Titicaca, traveling to Isla del Sol where he not only commanded the sun to rise, but created the world’s first two Incas; Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo (the Adam and Eve of the Andes). While the story is indeed dramatic, it’s fair to say that the Incas didn’t actually originate on the shores of Lake Titicaca. A ... read more