Blogs from Cochabamba Department, Bolivia, South America - page 24

I am living with the family Garrido in their lovely, homely 2nd storey house down by the Blanco Galindo about 4 kms outside of the city centre. It takes me about 20 minutes to get into town by thumbing down one of several buses or trufis (another type of bus, much more colourful but otherwise seems the same), simply by standing in the middle of the motorway. That´s transport bolivian style. It is always rammed on the bus - I love that office workers, tiny schoolkids and campesinos with their tall bowler hats and velvet skirts sit side by side - but they always stop for you anywhere on the road and there is always room for one more. They also play loud music on the bus, usually something cool. But there are pickpockets who try ... read more

Hallo allemaal, Ik zit één dag voor vertrek hier en wil jullie nog mijn laatste belevenissen vertellen. Ik zit in een internetcafé, dus het gaat wel een beetje rap. Op 21 april was ik jarig hier en Daniela had me verrast met een ¨surprise¨ party! Er was wat familie en uiteraard een barbecue! Ik had natuurlijk op niets gerekend en was erg blij verrast. Naast vlees waren er ook allemaal cadeautjes, en dan vooral traditionele Boliviaanse spulletjes! De dag erna gingen we naar het werk van Kirsten, mijn huisgenootje. Dit was dezelfde groep als waarmee we mee die berg beklommen hadden. Ze werkte als vrijwilliger bij een familie die heel veel kinderen had ¨geadopteerd¨ als het ware. Sommigen hebben geen ouders meer, of die kunnen niet voor ze zorgen. Sommigen wonen daar, anderen komen er ... read more

Thursday was Bolivia´s Día del Niño, or day of the child. They have a día de nearly everything here, not just fathers´and mothers´days! We had some special plans for the children, that we´d dress up a bit and hire them a clown for the afternoon. I dressed up as a school girl, with blouse, mini skirt, a school tie borrowed from Estrella and my hair in bunches. Felt daft. But the hospital had planned other stuff on a bigger scale, and the kids were inundated with all sorts of strangers bringing them goodie bags with sweets and little toys, playing guitar to them or dancing around in fancy dress costumes. The funny thing was, the children (remember my comments about Gladys´birthday, those who follow my blogs faithfully) are simply not used to so much stuff all ... read more

Everything is still amazing here in the Bolivian jungle... Simba was wonderful today, walked for at least an hour without stopping this morning. I love the excersize I'm getting. My muscles have almost gotten used to it by now, but my knees are starting to feel the strain of jungle trails. I also volunteered to do tours for the new volunteers, so I'm now working 9 hours a day, 7 days a week, and loving it. This morning I got to wake up an hour earlier than usual to carry rocks. hooray! Last night I had my first night watch duty. Recently, before I arrived though, a monkey or two has dissapeared and so every other night or so, two people are sent up to the monkey mirador (middle of the jungle, where the monkeys ... read more

Hello everyone So here is part two. On Thursday Marie Anne, a new English gap year volunteer called Ash and I got Alex out of his bed and into the walker I´d been able to buy in the market. He loved it. His little world is so dull, tied up in bed (he´s only one) and there are so many stimuli for him when he can go for a little wonder. I love him so much!! Thursday was incredibly tough, because when Gladys came in as an outpatient for her physio, she was very poorly. Allegedly something had bitten her on her poor little left hand, the one which has been ruined by the electric shock she had. This had made the arm, the bit where the skin graft is and what´s left of her ... read more