http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Bolivia , Cochabamba Department , Cochabamba en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:42:02 BST Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:42:02 BST Hospital og Boernehjem http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-332671.html Dage i Cochabamba La Paz og Foerste dag i Villa Tunari.Dag 1 i Cochabamba. Vi har nu en hel dag i byen og har planlagt at vi vil op i bjergene og se Inkaruiner.En lille byen ca. 20 km fra Cochabamba vi tog en bus som koerte os til Sipe Sipe dvs vi kom til at koere for langt og maatte staa af in the midle of no where. Puha hvad skulle vi goere. En af de der private taxere kom og vi hoppede i http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-332340.html This past weekend my friend Sebastian and I took off to a smaller town about four hours from Cochabamba. After a bit of a harrowing drive in a micro bus mini van whose driver courageously passed slower cars and trucks while going around very tight turns with little vision of oncoming traffic we arrived in the sleepy town of Oruro. It was late and we hadnt really made a plan for a hotel so i http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-319748.html As part of my homestay costs I recieve breakfast lunch and dinner each day. Althought strange to be served my meals everyday I have had the chance to try some interesting cuisine. The Grandmother of the house Dido usually prepares the lunches since she is retired and spends her days at the house. The other day I came home from work ready for a big meal. As an aside many families here hav http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-314296.html This week there is a huge festival in a town outside of the city called Quillacollo. It is the Festival of the Virgin Urkupia The legend is that a shepherd girl from a poor family was out on the Orkupia hillsides one day and an image of a celestial woman appeared in front of her. The woman told her to pick up some stones at her feet and take them home to her family. When the girl arrived a http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-312492.html Yesterday the Bolivian people voted in a referendum for or against the current president Evo Morales. Things are pretty heated right now as there is a very strong divide between Bolivians. My host family invited me to go with them to vote. Another volunteer came over to the house to join us and around 11 we walked to the nearby school where they vote. The law states that no cars are permitted http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-310932.html Hi allSo much has happend since the last blog entry from the nazca we got on the nicest bus to arequipa and woke up quite fresh. We stayed at the point hostal again however this one wasnt as lively as the lima one. We met up whith a couple of ppl in the hostal and had a little look around the town that day there was a protest on about something or other but it was interesting to see. Then went http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-309597.html Last weekend I was invited by three other volunteers to travel to a small town south of Cochabamba called Toro Toro. While a fairly ambigous little town it is surrounded by some of the most beautiful and historic parts of the country. I had little knowledge of what Toro Toro was all about or really what I was getting into. I had thought maybe it would be better to stick around the city to get http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-309425.html Well after a long and exhausting two day trip I have safely and succesfully made it to Cochabamba. For those who hadn't heard I missed both AM flights in La Paz and the afternoon flights were totally booked. That meant I had to sit around the airport the entire day until 730 pm when the next flight left. That was pretty awful. Anyways I arrived last night around 8 pm. One of the Sustaina http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-306830.html Our next sojourn out of La Paz was to head for Lake Titicaca and Isla Del Sol Island of the sun the birthplace of the Sun according to the Incas. We were trying to decide whether to go to Lake Titicaca from Peru or Bolivia. After talking with people and reading up a bit about it all we decided on going from Copacabana in Bolivia. Apparently there is a lot of tension between the locals and the http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-303315.html Buenos NochesI finally have some downtime in Lima. Liz left tonight and I look forward to a rest after 2 weeks of constant travel I will be staying in Lima at Loki Hostel once again for tonight and Saturday night. I plan on getting some Laundry done tomorrow as well as making some progress on the planning of the second leg of my trip.So the past few days have been nonstop. After spending 2 ni http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-301657.html During this last week in Bolivia I decided to change locations and started working at an orphanage by the name of Cuidadera. Come to find out there are over 200 orphanages in Cochabamba alone. Most of the kids at Cuidadera are evidence of the lack of birth control education in Bolivia and unfortunately many of them are also the products of drug abusing parents. There are seventysome kids at t http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-297076.html Im working on writing about the last couple of weekends... hopefully Ill have it posted by tomorrow. I just recently started working on a documentary about life in Cochabamba that is taking up a lot of my time... the group Im working with is very talented and Im learning a lot about filmmakingMore on all that later...Love and Miss you allKatie http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-294608.html My first weekend adventure had left me anxious to travel more...The second weekend I ended up traveling with a group of friends to La Paz one of the biggest cities in Bolivia that I had mentioned before. We took a bus after work at 2 and didnt arrive until 10. Its actually really cheap to travel in Bolivia. 40 bolivianos or about 5 U.S. dollars for a oneway trip. Gorgeous ride through the mo http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-293710.html Whether or not to visit Torotoro National Park was probably our toughest 'where to go' decision yet but in the end we decided that there are only a few places in the world where you can see dinosaur footprints so we sucked it up and paid for a private tour as the only practical way we could visit the Park. The Park is actually in Potosi department but it can only be accessed via Cochambamba. It http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-292812.html Its all in the little things. For example...Toby the dog that has made the clinic his home greets me every morning as if Ive known him for a lifetime.Even though in general the service can be lacking and unbearably slow the people here respond by being that much more patient and understanding.On nearly every major street corner you can find a child juggling for spare change.Whenever a bus s http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-292076.html So we've gone down in the world literally. Cochabamba is only at a height of 2558m so only just at high altitude. Its the lowest we've been since San Pedro and its so warm The shorts are back out 1st time since Puerto Igazua and only the 2nd time this trip it doesn't even go cold at night.Cochambamba sits in a 'bowl' surrounded by big mountains and the views on the way here were amazing ve http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-292073.html Last week was filled with work fiestas and dancing... Projects Abroad had a social for all the volunteers where we grilled out and watched a local group perform the native dances of Cochabamba. They were decked out in crazy costumes that once again only pictures can describe working on that. Last Wednesday a group of us went to the Cine Centre movie theater and saw Narnjia. I was assuming http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-291592.html My work.As stimulating as it is to explore a new world and culture so completely different from my own working in Cochabamba is definitely my favorite thing to do. Ive been working for a week and half now at the Centre de Salud Sarcobamba a small health center in Cochabamba. It consists of a small onestory building that provides service for mainly pregnant women and children from the ages of http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-290808.html Dont worry Dad Im alive and well... just dont have time to write right now... http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-289046.html Alright so more on Toro Toro...I completely forgot to mention that the reason we went to this desolate town in the first place was because its known for its caves canyons and dinosaur footprints. Crazy When we arrived on Saturday we met our guide Luis and immediately headed for the caves. It was about a 20 minute walk to get to the entrance and once we did I knew I was in for a great time http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-289028.html My trip to Toro Toro...Within 24 hours of getting here I was already leaving. At 5 in the morning Francizka and I woke up and took a taxi to the center of the city where we negotiated prices for a driver to take us to Torro Torro a small city about 6 hours away. A couple of the people that I had met earlier went with us along with some new faces. There was Sarah another girl from Germany Tenek http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-288576.html I made it And what a wild ride it was. After a solid 24 hours three flights and enough terrible airplane food to last me a lifetime I finally landed in Cochabamba on Friday at 8 in the morning. For some reason I was three hours earlier than when I was supposed to land so I had to use a phone in the airport to call the Projects Abroad Office so they could pick me up. My phone had long ago http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-288189.html hola from Copacobana ... Bolivia we have hopped the border for the weekend for a couple o reasons. the hippocrocapig that stamped mine and petes passports only gave us 30 days instead of the 50 we asked 4. so we left peru to bolivia and we we go back we willget another 30 days hopefully to carry on traveling. also we are going tospent a day on Ilsa del sol ... or the sun island.its the supposed http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-285812.html Viajamos durante toda a noite 430 Km e 9 horas de viagem. O onibus era um semi leito do Brasil vendido como leito na Bolivia. A estrada tinha partes com asfalto partes com somente cascalho em dois dias ja deu pra perceber que os bolivianos sao completamente loucos no transito nao ha lei alguma eh um salvese quem puder assim as ultrapassagens da madrugada nao me causaram medo algum. A compan http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-280168.html So Im in Cochabamba fabulous.My host family was really glad I made it alive They are very sweet. Alfredo the dad Yolanda the mom and three kids Gabriela really mature and kind 12 Diego 10 and Daniela adorable 6. Yesterday was a holiday Corpus Christi so there was a huge family bbq And in accordance to custom we played a sort of drinking game. One bucket one wooden cup you pick http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-279468.html So when i last wrote I was in Cafayate and since then i did indeed head straight up to Cochabamba and although it doesnt look that far on a map it took me 3 days to get there. I left Cafayate at 9am last friday and then hung out around the bus station in Salta for 11 hours. I knew there was only one bus a day from Salta to the border but i didnt know what time it left so i took the early http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-279449.html CochabambaDay 26We were set to take an overnight bus from Uyuni via Osorno to Cochabamba changing in Osorno at 430am. We watched the bus pull up outside the office and were instantly dismayed. It was our first bus trip in Bolivia and was already set to be a very different experience to that of the Argentinian buses. One of the large windows was shattered and held in place with cellotape.....we p http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-277323.html Just a wee note to let you all know Im on the mend....got to be strong to be a dad so would have to be pretty good to knock me out....hehe oh and Mother its not those worms in you brain but thanks for the suggestion.... and yup Jamie i started feeling sorry for all those sheep too...hehe like minds... There was some pritty cool dreams and visual fuzzieness at times poor Kate sleeping in the http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-275586.html Weve been in Bolivia umm 6 days I think Its been a bit stressful Gavs come down with something scarey hes over the road in the hospital getting some through tests this time when he first got sick we thought it was probably altitude sickness we were up at about 2800mtrs in Tupiza but the doctor at the hospital there thought it was simonella posioning due to drinking the tap water. He gav http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Cochabamba-Department/Cochabamba/blog-274811.html