Working girl

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Since I last wrote I now have two jobs on the go! I am working three mornings a week (at the moment mon, tues and wed) in a project that works with children aged around 11-19 who go to the nearby school in the afternoons so in the mornings they come to this centre and have a place to do their homework, have breakfast and lunch and do an organised activity. The children have families but the point is that they are very poor and therefore their parents are not at home as they are working all day long. The centre gives the kids somewhere to go during this time that they would otherwise be at home alone and with not much structure to their day.
The project is interesting and the kids are really lovely and talkative. I almost convinced them I was the queens grandaughter and have a private jet....! I have done a couple of activities with them including collage and I am hoping to discuss the theme of drugs and alcohol tomorrow-all in espanol-great! Actually that is the good thing about this project is that no-one, not even the woman that runs the place speaks english so I really am forced to learn spanish. I am the only volunteer and at the moment I like it like that as the other project I work with has a lot of volunteers.

At 12.30 I have lunch with the children which is all freshly prepared by three women who sit in a very compact kitchen and cook the whole morning. At about 1.30 I then catch a minibus back into town. The area where the first project is is called Kupini and is two bus rides away from my house so about 45min journey in the morning which means getting up at 7am, leaving the house at 8.15 and getting to work by 9. Once I am in town at about 2 I then have to make my way to my next project which starts around 2.30. I say ´around´ because I am in a country where time really has not much of a meaning! The second project works with children who are a lot younger, aged about 6-15. The children are either orphans, have been abused by their families or have simply been ´lost.´There are quite a few volunteers as the children need constant attention when they are in our care as there have been cases of them trying and some managing to escape.

I work in the art workshop along with the other volunteers and the idea is that each week on monday we decide on an activity for the week. For example last week we got the children to make animals out of plastic bottles. Each day we have two groups. One group of about 7 or 8 girls then the boys. Each group has about an hour and if they finish their activity then they are allowed time to play. The place we work is called the ´Taller´which means workshop. This is next to the home where otherwise the children live. Each morning they go to school which is why we can only start work at 2.30 and finish around 6.30 because inbetween the groups they also have their tea. The children are really lovely and often very excited to see us and really love to come to the taller. It sometimes gets a bit confusing as they often lie about their names to get to do the activity-but I´m slowly learning!!

All in all I am enjoying the projects and so far have had a lot to do. Next week is easter week so I think we will organise an egg hunt and also another volunteer and I really want to organise a disco for the children! In fact, being friends with Bolivian Michael Jackson maybe he will come and perform...?! This is not a joke. I have actually met him three times now and he is actually known-well sort of known....!

Lake titicaca has been my main trip since I last wrote but it seems so far away now. One sunday we went with the family just for a drive and a boat trip and some fresh trout in a restaurant they often go to. Then the next weekend me and some of the volunteers from my project and Stefanie who I live with went to copacabana. Took a bus at about 5am on saturday and arrived at a short crossing at about 8 where we got off the bus and were transported 5 mins across the lake whilst watching our boat on-literally a plank of wood-also being transported! At the other side we all got back on the bus and it was another hour until we reached Copacabana. A four hour journey in total. Very short. In bolivian terms! I was with Stefanie and a girl called Paloma from Holland and we met a couple of others, Sonia from France and Suzanne from N. Ireland in Copacabana as they had managed to get there the night before.

At 1.30 we took a boat journey, 1 1/2 hours across to one of the main islands called ´Isla del Sol´- Island of the Sun. It was incredible. We arrived and the weather was perfect. Not too hot but the sun was coming through. We trekked up what we discovered later to be the Inca steps! We were following a young boy of about 11 who was taking us up hill to a hostel. After about a 20 minute trek all the way up a massive hill, passing llamas and donkeys we finally made it to our hostel. The view was absolutly stunning and we all sat in a cafe just looking at the amazing view. The part of the island we had arrived on was the north part and had quite a few hostels where we were. The island has no cars and no roads, only small paths and llamas! Along with my new hat I had bought in Copacabana I looked a bit like a llama herder-well that´s what I like to think anyway!

That evening we had trout and experienced a torrential thunderstorm! With nothing open passed about 10.30 and us having emptied the restaurant we were in of their two bottles of wine we made our way back in the pitch black with only one small torch to guide us and...went to bed.
The next day we spent walking the 3 hours to the other end of the island called the south side. I am not trying to be annoying but everywhere you looked was just breathtaking and it was not long before we reached the inca ruins at the other end of the island. A labyrinth built by the incas which could have been a temple. We all just sat for about an hour taking in the views then walked up to the very top of a high mountain and sat there for about an hour also. The lake just looks like the sea and is absolutly huge with many islands scattered all over. Island of the sun is one of the most important as it is supposed to have been where the sun was actually born.

We stayed in a hostel literally on a beach with sand for our second night. It was totally idillic but being the highest lake in the world too cold to swim-even had my bikini with me! Had another share of fresh trout and fish that evening and just sat on the ´beach´with a bottle of wine watching the stars and a thunderstorm that was taking place somewhere else but we could see the lightening very clearly. The next morning when I woke up I really felt like I could live on that Island for a bit. It was just so georgous, think I have now used all my descriptive words!! But honestly it is a place where you just feel so happy!

We came home on the monday. Only a couple of boats visit and leave from the island each day so we had some time to visit the very small museum with bones lying out on tables for people to touch and no explanations... bit rubbish really! We took a boat back to Copacabana and the last bus at 6 to La Paz. After 6 the boat which takes you that 5mins is too dangerous to take as the water becomes very wavey so the last crossing is at about 7pm. It was a fantastic weekend and the girls were all so lovely but now Sonia and Suzanne have left which is such a shame as we all got on really well. Oh well, have to get used to that when you´re travelling.

Have visited the National Gallery of Art and today went to the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore which was really good. Have been out of the house a lot recently with the other volunteers going out and visiting the delights and bright lights of La Paz at night! Have definitly been enjoying La Paz a lot more and really feel like I know my way around a lot better. Plus the language barrier is sort of lifting and I don´t get so worried anymore about having to talk to people anymore.

I have discovered some really lovely quirky places to go out and eat at night and the city is definitly opeing up. Yesterday I went with Stefanie and Paloma to the witches market and bought my first piece of Alpaca!!! A georgous jumper! Woohoo! I´m so Bolivian.
Oh, and got chatting to a shoeshiner who was 19 and showed us pictures of him when he was younger. He´s been working as a shoe shiner for 9years now. Three of his friends who were a lot younger came over too and after about half an hour of talking they asked us to invite them for something to eat! Which we did! Bought them some chicken and chips which they ate within seconds. Was really interesting to talk to them and really wasn´t a problem spending the equivalent of 2pounds on some food for them. They were really grateful. Have a feeling I´ll see them again! Went to the cinema also. The film was in english with spanish subtitles so good for me!!

Right, I think that´s all for now! Hopefully be going to Cochabamba next weekend as my host brother has just got a job there for two weeks, so that´s a bit of an excuse!
All my love! xxx 😊

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