Shit happens

Helped feed babies today. They're not literally babies, only the youngest age group in the school, the 2 year-olds. One of the girls pissed and shat herself. Nice! Apart from that, finished off the construction of the sandbox in the playground, which will soon be open. It should be a great place for the kids to vent their energy. The school only holds 150 students at the moment, but it's hard work looking after them with a limited number staff and (this week) only a handful of volunteers.

By the way, the reason I haven't been able to upload any photos is because Cat forgot her USB cable at home. She put some photos on CD recently (Cusco and Cochabamba), but I haven't had a chance to look at them yet. Once I get back to La Paz I'll try to sort it out. Man, it's a pain in the ass not having a digital camera of my own! The French-Canadian guy who's volunteering with us is keeping a blog as well, and he's managed to get some photos on there of us in action at the Foundation and Villa Tunari, so I'll definitely put a link up to his website within the next couple of days. Or you can check out the photo section on the Angels of Hope website (see previous entry) to give you an idea of what volunteering here involves.

The Fiesta

This past week has been manic, but one of the best yet. It's great to finally settle down somewhere and have a routine for a change. Backpacking is fun and all, but the constant stress of going new places every 2 or 3 days really got to me. This week was my first proper week of volunteering. I help out with all sorts of stuff: serving food at the school, cleaning the school and aiding various construction projects (at the moment we're building a new kitchen). Most of the time its madness, especially when school gets out. I don't envy the teachers! At the end of the day, all the children get dropped off at home by a schoolbus (run by the foundation). One of the jobs is to supervise the children on the bus, basically to tell them not to hit each other or stick their heads out the windows, but I haven't had the privilege of doing that yet. Maybe next week. The staff are all incredibly friendly and it's good attempting to speak Spanish with them. That's one of the bonuses of working for AoH - we get free Spanish lessons, 3 hours a day, so I'm picking up a lot of new phrases quickly. Plus, it really encourages you to integrate with the local community. The people have been surprisingly welcoming to us. The main technician/construction worker invited me and a few other volunteers to play football with him and some kids from his pueblo the other day. We got our asses kicked but it was still a lot of fun! All the volunteers stay at the Castillo (litteral translation: The Castle), which has a kitchen and common room we can use as well as some workshops which we use for building stuff (eg. shelves for the classrooms). Funny thing is, the main cocaine checkpoint for the area (Chapare) is right next to the Castillo, and there's quite a bit of traffic coming through. It's not a threat really, most people know to take other routes to transport the stuff. The Castillo has a great vibe to it. The founder of the foundation also lives there - a ridiculously friendly, but slightly eccentric, Texan who tells a lot of interesting stories about his philosophy and motives behind starting the project.

On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening there was a huge festival on (San Antonio). Bolivians sure know how to party! Lots of free booze, dancing all night long and a brilliant atmosphere. Monday night was definitely the craziest. The girls and guys were wearing really ornate and colourful costumes, performing some local dances to the beat of a brass band that was marching behind them. People set off a lot of fireworks. Very impressive stuff for such a small town. Most of the time the streets and plazas are relatively desolate but the whole place came alive for the fiesta. An amazing thing to experience. I've met so many cool volunteers as well. For the majority it's Israelis that pass through Villa Tunari, but there were a few French-Canadians this week, an French-Belgian couple, and an English couple. Shame that most of them left on Friday: we're down to 5 volunteers now (from 12), so that means we're gonna have to do a lot of jobs at the same time this coming week. Probably because of the World Cup that more people aren't coming to volunteer. I've been following it avidly at lunchtimes and get to see at least one match a day. No interesting results as yet, apart from the 2-0 win for Ghana over Czech Republic and today's 1-1 draw between France and South Korea.

In short: I'm having an amazing time.

Angels of Hope

Now I know this may come as a surprise ot some of you, but I decided against working at the animal sanctuary. Instead, I'm volunteering at the Angels of Hope Foundation - a school for children in the Chapare area (essentially one of the poorest regions in all of Bolivia). The project seemed so much more worthwhile than the animal park and contributes a lot more to the community. Inti Wara Yassi is basically a glorified zoo. Check out the website; this region has a lot of history. In fact, Evo Morales, the current president of Bolivia, comes from one of the pueblos a few kilometres from the school. I'm having a brilliant time so far. Cat and me are definitely doing two weeks of volunteering, maybe even three.

Just one of those days...

...when everything goes wrong. Arrived in Cochabamba this morning and have had a nightmare of a time. Got a hostel recommendation from people we met in La Paz, but it's pretty grotty. Running water between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. only and the rooms are incredibly basic. After a bit of sleep, we attempted to find a laundrette but only found one in the whole city centre (remember: Cochabamba is the 3rd biggest city in Bolivia). And this afternoon I tried to find the bus station for buses going to Villa Tunari but got hopelessly lost and ended up at the other end of the city in an insanely busy market. Ahwell, it's all part of the adventure.

Football Mania

Anyone else excited about the World Cup? I'll be following it from a distance at Villa Tunari (the conservation place).

Alan for Peru

Alan Garcia convincingly won the election. Let's hope he doesn't make the same mistakes. Humala Ollanta was campaigning in Cusco just under a week ago, and a friend who I met on the trek witnessed the whole thing. Apparently there were riot police everywhere. Would have been cool to see.

Bedtime Reading

Two interesting and relevant articles I came across: one on how travelling has lost its magic, the other on Che Guevara as an icon.

The downhill mountain bike ride was brilliant. One of the highlights of the trip so far. Believe it or not, I do actually have some photos! Will post them soon.

Kokain

La Paz is definitely growing on me. It is still overwhelming, but the chaos has become almost comforting. The area where I am is literally one big market - stalls selling handicrafts (mainly Alpaca goods) are everywhere. About one block away are the Witches' Markets - which sell unusual, and slightly disturbing things, like llama foetuses (no joke), talismans and strange potions. What kind of present is a llama foetus? I can imagine it being quite difficult to sneak through customs... Also checked out the Coca Museum today. The Coca plant forms such an essential part of Bolivian life that it's difficult not to take an interest. The museum covered everything: from it's domestication nearly 5000 years ago and it's use in pre-Incan rituals, to the biological effects the alkaloids in the Coca leaves have on the human body, to the politics of the cocaine industry and it's beneficial use as an anaesthetic in modern day medicine. Fascinating stuff. One of my favourite facts involves the Catholic church: when the Spanish invaded Bolivia they claimed that Coca leaves were a diabolical substance, one that interfered with the Christian belief (or something like that), but when the King of Spain realised that it made slaves more tolerant to working longer hours in the gold and silver mines, he quickly removed his doubts and called for access to the drug (obtained by chewing the leaves). Typical. I could list a whole bunch of facts, but that would just be boring. I'm planning to do a bit of shopping tomorrow as well as book myself in for the 'World's Most Dangerous Road' bike ride. It looks insane - more on that soon.