Fin de semaine perdu dans les Andes!!!

---

J-8: February 2, 2015

For my second week of classes, I got a new teacher. I went from Jorge ´´Grande´´ to Jorge ´´Pequeno´´, or Jorgetito. Two new students started this week: two 70+ years old Americans. They are nice, but ask some weird questions to the locals. For example, during lunch time (as they are eating in with ´´my family´´), they asked my host brothers: Why is your country so poor? Is this president also corrupted like the others? Etc. The rest of the day I didn´t do much. I studied at La Recoleta with the beautiful view of the city. At night, we went to eat with friends in the ´´Mercado Central´´. This time, I tried Tojori (a drink made of corn which has an interesting taste), banuelos (something similar to donuts) and a cheese ´´empanada´´.



J-9: February 3, 2015

In the morning, I met two young people from Hong Kong that came to Sucre to study Spanish (it reminded me of my exchange and how much I miss my friends from Hong Kong). In the afternoon, we went on the terrace of the ´´Gobernacion´´, which is the building of the government of the state of Chuquisaca. They view is pretty amazing and it´s free to do it! After, we went to eat a huge fruit salad in the market for just 1.20$. Also, we found a deal in a random agency for the Oruro Carnival (can´t wait for next weekend!!!). The rest of the time, I was studying Spanish in Condor Café, drinking my usual Americano Coffee.



J-10: February 4, 2015

I woke up at 6:00am to go for a run on the ´´Avenida de las Americas´´. It is interesting to note how people here don´t really do exercise, nor run in the morning. During my Spanish class, I was so into talking about economy and politics with my professor. This helped me to learn some new vocabulary in Spanish! In the afternoon, we finally booked our trip to Oruro!!! (going with Charles, Ebba and Soo-Jin, it will be amazing) Also, I finally tried Sucre chorizo. If you didn´t know, Sucre is known for its chorizo and I have to say it was amazing! For desert, we had again a fruit salad. At night, I went to play Wally (similar to volley-ball) with other students. It was actually cool. I don´t know how to describe this sport but you can imagine playing volley-ball in a squash court (with some weird rules). It was fun and I will probably play next Wednesday! FUN STORY: As it was the second time that we went to the fruit salad place, the server went to talk to us and asked what for our name and where we were from. So I said Andrej (with a Spanish accent), Charles said Carlos and Soo-Jin, well Soo-Jin. When the server left, she said: Bye Andrej, Bye Carlos, and Bye (silence) …. This is what happens when you don´t want to put a Spanish flavor to your name!



J-11: February 5, 2015

Spanish class in the morning and then studying (with a Tiramisu) in the afternoon. It was Conpadres, which is a day (the Thursday two weeks prior to the Carnival) where GUYS ONLY go out in the streets to drink and dance. Also, during the two weeks prior to the Carnival, kids (and sometimes older people) throw water balloon to each other in the streets. FUN STORY 1: A little girl tried to throw a balloon at me, but she missed me and hit the driver of another car. FUN STORY 2: While we were in Condor Coffee having drinks, my Australian friend saw someone fall outside! He said: Look, there is a young blond guy that felt and hit his head on the wall. I turned and said: Noooooo! That´s actually one of the two 70+ years old American that just started classes on Monday …… Funny and not so funny!



J-12: February 6, 2015

During half of the morning class, my professor put music and I was listening and analyzing Spanish songs, which was pretty cool! (Prefer this to grammar :p) In the afternoon, I tried a new coffee place called ´´El salon de te: Las Delicias´´, which I really liked. You can have a slice of cake for like 1$. (for sure, I’ll go back there) At night, we had our cooking class, where we cooked ´´Picante de pollo´´. After, we went for an ice cream (not drink) for my Australian´s friend last day in town. Poor guy, he is now going to Rio de Janeiro for the Carnival. FUN STORY: I went to buy a magazine (in Spanish) in a store so I can practice my Spanish. The most recent magazine they had was from February 2014. The most recent ´´National Geographics´´ was from 2012 …. Lolllll



J-13: February 7, 2015

This weekend I had my first real South American adventure. We wanted to go to Maragua, which was before millions of year a volcano and now just a crater. We were supposed to go with some locals but they chocked the day before. So, there was just Soo-Jin, another Korean friend (Julio) and I left. We still wanted to go and decided we will do a one-day trip and, for that reason, we DIDN’T´T BRING sleeping bags, food and clothes!



So the day started like this. I got late at our meeting point, which made us miss the 7:00am bus. Still, the taxi driver brought us somewhere where there was a truck leaving at 9:30am to a place near Maragua (we didn´t really know where and how long it will take). At 9:30, the truck left and it was full of local people, with just us and 4 other tourists, including 2 Germans. We started to talk with the German and they told us it was impossible to do this trip in one day as buses (meaning trucks) that go back to Sucre from Maragua leave only in early afternoon, which means that we will have to come back on Sunday (this was VERY unexpected as we didn´t have anything, no food, little water, etc.). The road to the starting point of our hike was probably the crazy in my life, as we could easily fall down the road, as it was very narrow!



When we got to our starting point, the German guys told us we were 18 km away from Maragua. We did this walk in about 6 hours, with a few stops. On our way, there was only one place where we could by water and biscuits. Moreover, we had to cross a rive (also very unexpected). At 6:00pm (and after getting a pretty bad sunburn) we finally got to Maragua. It is actually a beautiful village (where we only met one family). We had no problems finding accommodation as the whole family came to us and offered us accommodation. We paid 9$ each for supper, accommodation and breakfast, which we initially thought it was a pretty good deal! However, it really wasn´t as for supper, we only got plain rice (no sauce) and a few potatoes fries! A good thing that the Germans had brought all their camping stuff, including food, as they cooked some kind of tomato sauce that we could put on the rice! Luckily we had some cookies for desert! We also had to go to bed quite early as there was no light in the accommodation and the sun goes down at around 7:00pm. Also, we realized that everything functions with solar energy. Therefore, the light was only working when the sun was out (very very uselesssss). It was an amazing day of hiking, so I couldn´t wait to see what will happen Sunday!



J-14: February 8, 2015

We got up a 7:00am and had each 2 little donuts for breakfast! The sad thing is that there was nowhere we could buy food!!!! We asked the owners at what time is the truck supposed to come pick us up and he said: the truck will arrive at around 10:00am but ONLY LEAVE AT 2:00pm!! So we had 5-6 hours to do nothing ….. Also, they said that if it rains, it will be delayed (or even no truck) as the road are muddy and cars can´t pass there when it rains! As we had time and as my Korean friend needed to make a phone call and that the only possible way to get signal is to go up a mountain, we did a like hike and, at the same time, discovered some beautiful views and a nice waterfall! (Yup, like in the old times where you need to go up a mountain to get signal!) At 2:00pm, (the weather was nice) we got on the truck. However, it didn´t leave before 3:00pm as the driver had to change a tire. At 3:00, we finally left and the road was painful (as much as when we were going to Maragua) and we literally stopped every 5 minutes to pick up someone. FUN STORY: Actually, we were not only picking up people. We also picked up some goats. A guy jumped on the truck with 3 goats, tied them up and gave me the rope. He then left the truck and the truck continued his road: I WAS ON A TRUCK, IN BOLIVIA, LOST IN THE ANDES, HOLDING 3 GOATS!!!! I thing I will never forget this. Even funnier, the goats started to pie and ´´you know what´´, so it was going on people bags …..



Four hours later, we finally arrived to Sucre. Just before entering the city, some kids started to throw water balloons at us saying ´´Gringoss´´. So we were all wet and it was so cold! Finally, when we got to Sucre, we went to have a proper meal: BBQ Hamburger and nachos at the Trip Advisor´s best restaurant in town and it was delicious! We also had an ice cream after that. BUT, when I got home (I think I was dreaming to finally take a shower) my host mom told me there was no light so I had to take a shower in the dark …… WHAT A WEEKEND. BTW, I JUST WROTE A PART OF IT, IMAGINE THE REST …..





Now, I can´t wait for the festival in Oruro that is happening next week!!

---