Bolivia

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It's been a while since we wrote... but here's from leaving Arequipa at the start of January and going into Bolivia.

Copacabana

We stopped off for a few days in Copacabana. It's a lovely little town on the lake and the closest thing to a beach town that there is in Bolivia (although it's best not to mention that as it's a sensitive subject). We went to the famous Isla del Sol which was of course beautiful and we spent a good day and a bit hiking across it and visiting various sites of interest like an old Inca palace and a fountain of eternal life. One night on the island was enough - mainly due to the fact that the freaky children frightened us! They were confident, business-like and everywhere you looked. They ran the island whilst meek parents smiled and hovered in the background. Apparently it's a much more relaxing place to be during term-time. Having said that our crisp sandwich overlooking the lake from the island was one of the best picnics we've ever had, although it was before we got to the part of the island where the children were.

Mark in La Paz

After a day in La Paz I waved off Christina as she got the bus to Cochabamba. I was spending a month learning spanish before heading to my project in Cochabamba. 3 hours a day, monday to friday one-on-one lessons. They were pretty hard work, but really useful! Add to that, I was only really speaking spanish, and also managed to study a lot in my spare time. So I came away from the month much improved at spanish - whcih was to prove very, very important in Cochabamba! (See below..)

But I´m not one to just study, so my weekends were pretty action packed. I went rock climbing in La Paz, climbed the mountain Huayna Potosi, and cycled the "death road" from La Paz to Coroico. Oh - and I also got pickpocketed, which was a little bit stupid of me, but I didnt lose very much so not too bad!

Huayna Potosi was an amazing experience - although unfortunately I didnt reach the summit. The conditions were not ideal, and my guide wasnt the most experienced, so we had to turn back a few hundred meters shy of the top. But I got 2 days climbing, including ice climbing, using crampons and ice axes, and also we started our summit attempt at 1.30 am so got to climb at night with the most amazing stars, and then watch a great sunrise from above the clouds!

Christina in Cochabamba

I went on to spend three months in Cochabamba and I was really sad to leave. At first I wasn't sure about it. We were in the run-up to Carnival and during this time the young men have an endearing tradition of throwing water balloons at every breathing female. It's not as fun as it sounds (not for the victims anyway); it REALLY hurts and many women (who for the 2 months before Carnival do not leave their houses on foot if they can help it) told me about times when they'd had black eyes, bruises covering their thighs, received a knock on the wind-pipe that left them breathless, narrowly avoided been thrown off their bicycles. As for me apart from several times when I was irritatingly wet (luckily it's usually quite sunny) I only got whacked painfully in the face a few times and got my notebook wet once.

Thankfully, Carnival came and went and I was able to walk around without throwing myself behind a tree or breaking into a run everytime a bird flew past, and actually take in my surroundings. Carnival itself was lovely and the dancing and costumes were beautiful. It was slightly tamer than I expected and there was much less crowd participation than I expected. This was because we ended up sitting in the family zone rather than standing on the party stands, and that was because Bolivians have a tendancy to be over-protective. Every time you leave their sight they anxiously wish you good luck, and after many warnings I ended up practically expecting to meet my end on the day of Carnival. As it was we were opposite one of the 'wild' sections and it didn't look very scary..!

My lifestyle in Cochabamba was ideal. I was taking dance classes and improving my Spanish, and I really liked writing for the magazine. We got to do every aspect from the research to the interviews, the writing, editing, designing the layout, photography which was really interesting to experience. Now I'm just trying to work out a way of getting more experience of the same thing. Generally the lifestyle is quite relaxed, and it's common to take a three hour lunch break and go home for a proper meal with the family followed by a sleep.

One of the best things about the town itself was the colour. Everywhere you looked were huge bright flowers growing wild or tame, on bushes and trees. In the markets were fruits and vegetables that were big and colourful and perfect, and there was every type you can imagine and thousands you can't. They even had about 50 types of banana, about ten of those are commonly eaten (including one that was red like a tomato).

Life was quite busy and I actually didn't get round to doing many touristy things, and also didn't see much of Bolivia apart from Cochabamba. The idea is to go back and sort this out after Argentina (where we are now).

Mark in Cochabamba

I arrived in Cochabamba, and wasnt very impressed at first. This may have been because I arrived at night, and in the taxi ride from the bus station to my house, 2 people tried to rob the taxi!! Luckily the boot was locked so my bag remained safe, but it wasnt the best start!

I was working for an organisation called Fe y Alegría, who run 42 colleges near Cochabamba, as well as inclusion and outreach programs. They are very active in 18 countries, mostly in latin america. On my first day they told me about the project they wanted me to do - running workshops for the Physics teachers on how to do experiments in their classrooms! Now, teaching teachers, in spanish, was a very frightening prospect. But since it´s me, I agreed to do it! I had to visit schools and speak to teachers to work out what materials were available (more or less none!) and to work out the levels of the workshops. Then I had to find equipment, and work out a structure for the course. I ended up doing 3 workshops for each group, on mechanics, electronics, and finally waves and optics. Then I had to get the equipment to work, and figure out how to say what I wanted in spanish!! Needless to say, I was a very stressed little boy. But I was just about ready for my first group, and improved rapidly, as I got to practise the workshops several times, and after the first week, they were running really well. I ended up having over 80 teachers attending my workshops over 3 weeks.

The best part of it was how eager they all were to learn. Also, Fe y Alegría were really helpful supporting me. I got accepted into the science teachers community of Cochabamba, being invited to teachers meetings, and finally I was invited to give a lecture on astronomy at the University, for the students training to be physics teachers! So, on my last friday, I gave an hours lecture on astronomy to the students! It was another big challenge for my spanish - talking solidly to a group of 40-50 students for an hour and explaining complicated ideas like the big bang, galaxy formation, and the diferent deaths of stars. But it must have gone well, as they all wanted photos with me afterwards, and then invited me to appear on a television show the following day! So the next morning I found myself being mic-ed up in the studio, with 30 seconds to go, when they told me it was going to be live!! I have a dvd copy of the following 10 minutes too!

In the end, Cochabamba was a great experience, that really pushed me beyond my comfort zone, and although I was incredibly stressed, and remembersaying to Christina at one point that I would never do it again! But I would do it again, as I enjoyed it, learnt a lot from it, and feel like I contributed something worthwhile.

Once I was finished in Cochabamba, I figured I deserved to be a bit spoilt and relax a bit. To this end, I spent almpost 3 days on a variety of buses making my was from Cochabamba, to Oruro, to Villazon, crossing the boarder to Argentina, and finishing up with the delight of another bus, this one for a mere 28 hours, to take me to Buenos Aires to meet my Dad!! I definitely know how to treat myself!

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Photos

First night in Bolivia
Although I was beaten to the best spot for photos (as we were enjoying a nice beer!), it was still an amazing sunset over Copacabana bay to welcome us to Bolivia

Hiking on Isla del Sol
We hiked from the north to the south of the Isla del Sol, on Lake Titicaca, on a nice and hot, sunny day

Salteñas
A great morning snack. Along with the tradition al drink (coca-cola), and champagne of course as Christina is a classy lady

Cochabamba´s Cristo
This statue of Cristo overlooking Cochabamba is slightly higher than the famous statue in Rio 33 and a little bit, rather than 33m, since Christ lived 33 and a little bit years!)

Fruit
One of the great things about living in Bolivia is the variety of fruit you can easily buy for very little money

Astronomy Lecture
A bit dark, but you can just make me out starting my lecture!

After the lecture
Me posing with a few of the students after the lecture

Copacabana Cathedral
The cathedral in Copacabana had definite Moor-ish influences. Strangely enough, the place to light candles was in a seperate (incredibly dark and gothic) little chapel to the side of the cathedral

Day hiking from Cochabamba
Never ones to slack on anything, for our days hike in National Park Tunari, overlooking Cochabamba, we cooked pasta, raisons, hot coffee et al. We´re good at roughing it!

Incan Ruins
The incan ruins on Isla del Sol