Another week here in Coochabamba has again flown by, and I am doing, relatively speaking, fairly well. I say "relatively" since I shouldn't really be walking all the much right now. The reason for this is that, last Thursday, while playing soccer with the boys, I managed to injure my foot. So, because I couldn't really put any weight on the ball of my right foot on Friday, I spent the day resting at home. Saturday, however, since my foot was almost fine again, I basically spent the entire day on my feet. Followed up by a fair bit of movement on Sunday and Monday morning, my foot is now doing noticeably worse than it was on Saturday. Seeing as Thursday is a public holiday and John and I are planning on taking some boys from Nazareth up a mountain, I am now doing my best to keep off my foot.
Other than my injury, though, it has been a fairly good week. I enjoyed my time at CAT and Nazareth, and have been having a good time outside of volunteering. I did, however, have a few reminders over the past week that not all is "bright and sunny" here in Cochabamba, or even Bolivia for that matter.
The first reminder came on morning at CAT, while helping the children with their homework. One of the boys, Mario, was doing his homework, and had to complete a sort of family tree. He needed to put the names of his brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. The only problem: we don't actually know any of this information. The only thing we could fill in on the entire page was Mario's name. Since I am most often playing with the kids, they are usually happy and full of smiles, or at worst angry with me because I'm forcing them to do their homework. Because of this, I am not daily reminded of the harsher realities of their lives...
The second reminder came from a friend of mine who volunteers at a project here in Cochabamba. Apparently, last week, one of the women who used to be with the project hung herself. This was, of course, very hard for the other people in the project, and I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must now be for the children this woman left behind.
The final reminder came as I did my shopping on the weekend. There is now, in my house, enough food to last me almost a month. The reason for this is because, this coming Sunnday (May 4th), the department (what we in Canada would call a "province") of Santa Cruz will be holding a referendum on autonomy from the central government. I have no idea what degree this autonomy would theoretically take, but the referendum is a further step in the conflict between the central socialist government and the more right-wing regional governments (of which Santa Cruz seems to be the leader). I was warned about 2 weeks ago, by a few people, that it would be prudent to "stock up" on some extra food supplies before May 4th, just in case. The reason for this is because we don't know what the response to the outcome of the referendum will be. Of course, it is possible that nothing at all could happen. However, blockades, rioting, or possibly even civil war—depending on who you talk to—cannot be ruled out either. Even simple blockading, a relative certainty here in Bolivia (it seems to be the standard way to protest—or even support—anything), depending on where it occurs and how prolonged it is, could slow down (or at worst stop) the amount food making it into Cochabamba, thus further driving up prices. While the referendum is being held in Santa Cruz, this is certainly no guarantee that problems will not occur here. The difficult thing about Cochabamba is that it is divided between supporters of MAS (the political party that makes up the central government), and those opposed to it and thus supporters of Santa Cruz and the other regional governments that are demanding autonomy. In fact, the rioting here in Cochabamba last January (2008) was, I believe, due mainly to the Department of Cochabamba's Prefect ("governor") demanding autonomy, and the conflict that then insued between those supportive of and against those demands.
Should the best possible outcome (i.e. nothing) occur, then it just means than I won't need to do very much shopping over the coming weeks. Should, however, food prices rise due to blockades, or no food makes it in all due to worse, I will at least be prepared. For those of you reading this who pray, I ask that you would keep the country of Bolivia in your prayers this week. Furthermore, please pray for those who have been unable to afford purchasing a month's worth of food and, should some less-than-desireable outcome occur, will not be prepared.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Another Week
It has been a good week back in my regular routine here in Cochabamba. I am doing well, and well rested again. While last week was a little busy, I managed to get caught up with two afternoons siestas (naps) on Saturday and Sunday.
I got back to reading Charlie to the boys last week, and they were happy to be able to continue listening to it (and to get their chocolates, surprise surprise). I also continued coaching the boys in Ultimate Frisbee, something I started before heading off to Peru. It has been a lot of fun, and some of them are getting half-decent/good. They still have a long way to come, but I'm excited and have been enjoying coaching, and playing with, them. I'm working with someone from Niños Con Valor (Tyson's foundation) to see if we can get a donation of some proper (i.e. official size and weight) discs . If not, I'll be putting in an order anyway. We probably won't get them till mid/the end of May, but that just means that the boys will have had a chance to improve by then. The cool thing is that I have also been training John, another volunteer who is here indefinitely, so that he'll be able to keep training them after I leave in July.
At CAT, we ended up celebrating Dia Del Niño on Friday, and it was a lot of fun. There was a clown, some of the staff played songs and sang and others did traditional dances, we had special food for the occasion (fried salteñas—which I helped make!), and each kid got their own gooddie bag full of tasty treats. It was a really fun morning, and the kids and staff all enjoyed it.
Friday night, we had a despedida for Allie, who left Cochabamba to go back home to the States on Saturday evening. After catching a movie, Gone Baby Gone (it's really good by the way), we went to a restaurant in town for some dessert. It was a fun evening, and a good send-off. I'm going to miss Allie, as it's sad to see another friend head off, but she's glad to be able to go back home after being here for a year.
I actually got to see Allie again on Saturday, since we were both invited to Claudia and Boris's house to celebrate Claudia's birthday. It too was fun, and it was really nice to be invited. In fact, Allie and I were the only gringos there! The food was also really good, and I didn't have much room for dinner as a result. The funny thing was that Allie and I managed to arrive to the party late, even for Bolivian time! We got there over an hour late, which for a Bolivian party should have been right on time, but instead we found everyone waiting for us to arrive so they could start lunch! We felt a little bad, but I sort of can't help chuckling about it now.
Wishing everyone back home a wonderful week. To anyone at KSK who may be reading this, I wish you all the best in surviving the final few days up to April 30.
I got back to reading Charlie to the boys last week, and they were happy to be able to continue listening to it (and to get their chocolates, surprise surprise). I also continued coaching the boys in Ultimate Frisbee, something I started before heading off to Peru. It has been a lot of fun, and some of them are getting half-decent/good. They still have a long way to come, but I'm excited and have been enjoying coaching, and playing with, them. I'm working with someone from Niños Con Valor (Tyson's foundation) to see if we can get a donation of some proper (i.e. official size and weight) discs . If not, I'll be putting in an order anyway. We probably won't get them till mid/the end of May, but that just means that the boys will have had a chance to improve by then. The cool thing is that I have also been training John, another volunteer who is here indefinitely, so that he'll be able to keep training them after I leave in July.
At CAT, we ended up celebrating Dia Del Niño on Friday, and it was a lot of fun. There was a clown, some of the staff played songs and sang and others did traditional dances, we had special food for the occasion (fried salteñas—which I helped make!), and each kid got their own gooddie bag full of tasty treats. It was a really fun morning, and the kids and staff all enjoyed it.
Friday night, we had a despedida for Allie, who left Cochabamba to go back home to the States on Saturday evening. After catching a movie, Gone Baby Gone (it's really good by the way), we went to a restaurant in town for some dessert. It was a fun evening, and a good send-off. I'm going to miss Allie, as it's sad to see another friend head off, but she's glad to be able to go back home after being here for a year.
I actually got to see Allie again on Saturday, since we were both invited to Claudia and Boris's house to celebrate Claudia's birthday. It too was fun, and it was really nice to be invited. In fact, Allie and I were the only gringos there! The food was also really good, and I didn't have much room for dinner as a result. The funny thing was that Allie and I managed to arrive to the party late, even for Bolivian time! We got there over an hour late, which for a Bolivian party should have been right on time, but instead we found everyone waiting for us to arrive so they could start lunch! We felt a little bad, but I sort of can't help chuckling about it now.
Wishing everyone back home a wonderful week. To anyone at KSK who may be reading this, I wish you all the best in surviving the final few days up to April 30.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Wine? Of Course Not! Those Are EMPTY Bottles Hidden Under the Floorboard!
I have now been back in Cochabamba for 3 1/2 days, and enjoying the chance to rest up a bit from my journey. Our trip to Machu Picchu was a lot of fun, and despite the high cost, it was by far worth it. That being said, I must give a big THANK YOU to Mom, Judy and Chris for their bday presents to me which made this trip possible!
I left Cochabamba last Friday night (the 4th) on a bus semi-cama, with 5 other people bound for La Paz. In the bus with me were 3 girls from England named Philippa, Lois and Cate, a lady from Scotland by the name of Alison, and a man from Singapoor named Jerry. We arrived in La Paz around 6:30am, and immediately had to begin searching for a bus to Cuzco, Peru, since they all left around 8. Jerry went around and found a company that was willing to drop their price from 110 to 90Bs for us, so we decided to go with them. Jerry tried to get them to bring the price down a little more, and while they said they couldn't bring it down any farther, they did agree to help us bypass the 2B Terminal Tax, which usually must be paid for use of the terminal. While this should have been a clue to us that perhaps we wanted a company with slightly higher ethical standards, we weren't thinking that much at 7 in the morning and decided to go for it.
We made it from La Paz to the Bolivia/Peru border at the town of Desaguadero without incident. Getting through Bolivian Migration was a little more complicated than expected, since the officials there didn't seem entirely sure what to do about my tourist visa extensions, or about Philipa and Lois's 1-year missionary visas. However, since the office was very dark (the lights were off—I didn't ask why) which made reading the documents a little more difficult, Jerry loaned one of the officers his flashlight, "to smooth out the process," and once he was able to read what the visas said we got through no problem. We then had to cross a small bridge on foot to Peruvian Migration, and once through there got back on the bus to continue on. However, somewhere in between the border and the town of Puno, our bus was stopped by Peruvian Customs, SUNAT, who proceeded to do a search of the bus. About 2 rows behind me, they removed one of the floorboards to discover a rather large cache of Chilean wine. And by "large cache" I mean about 45-50 bottles-worth! There were also a few cases in the cargo hold of the bus as well! Surprisingly, once the wine was seized, the bus was allowed to continue on no problem. Someone apparently overheard the driver of the bus mention that "an agreement had been reached" with the SUNAT officials. Since I only saw them filming the removal of about 5 bottles, I have a feeling that the agreement reached involved most everyone from that office going home with a few bottles of wine for their families. That's South America for you.
Lake Titicaca (above), and Peruvian countryside (below), both taken from the bus.
Saturday night we stayed at a hostal in Cuzco, and got to spend Sunday morning exploring Cuzco. The main square of the town is very beautiful, and quite Old European in design, as are many of the streets surrounding it. The thing that I disliked about Cuzco, however, was that, being a very touristy town, it was very difficult to go 10 feet without having 5 people asking you to buy this, eat at this restaurant, etc, and all in English! I have decided that if I every return to Cuzco, I will have a tshirt made that reads: Hábleme en español por favor (Speak to me in Spanish, please). After lunch-time, we caught a bus (on which we were the only gringos) to a town called Orumbamba, from where we took a trufi to the town of Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a beautiful town, surrounded on all sides by large mountains, on some of which are Incan ruins. The town itself is actually very Incan, with all of the buildings still built upon the original Incan foundations! So it was neat to get a feel for how an Incan town was designed. Also, Ollantaytambo was significantly less touristy than Cuzco, and more relaxing, although there were still plenty of tourist shops and restaurants.
From right to left: Lois, Philippa, Cate, Alison, Jerry. Photo taken looking over Cuzco.
The view from the rooftop patio of our hostal in Ollantaytambo.
On Monday, we took the terribly over-priced backpackers' train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, the village nearest the Machu Picchu site. While it's surroundings (mountains) are very beautiful, the town of Aguas Calientes itself is very touristy, and actually a little bit ugly. It is filled with restaurants and bars serving mainly overpriced Western food aimed at tourists. That being said, Lois, Philippa and Cate did manage to find the area of town where the Peruvians live, and said that it was nicer (in that it felt more like home in Cochabamba, complete with cat-call whistles from the men who saw them walk past). Our hostal was actually pretty nice, a not-too-steep climb up to the outskirts of town on the bottom of a mountain, with lots of plants and trees surrounding it. I even made friends with the cat that lived in the hostal!
I left Cochabamba last Friday night (the 4th) on a bus semi-cama, with 5 other people bound for La Paz. In the bus with me were 3 girls from England named Philippa, Lois and Cate, a lady from Scotland by the name of Alison, and a man from Singapoor named Jerry. We arrived in La Paz around 6:30am, and immediately had to begin searching for a bus to Cuzco, Peru, since they all left around 8. Jerry went around and found a company that was willing to drop their price from 110 to 90Bs for us, so we decided to go with them. Jerry tried to get them to bring the price down a little more, and while they said they couldn't bring it down any farther, they did agree to help us bypass the 2B Terminal Tax, which usually must be paid for use of the terminal. While this should have been a clue to us that perhaps we wanted a company with slightly higher ethical standards, we weren't thinking that much at 7 in the morning and decided to go for it.
We made it from La Paz to the Bolivia/Peru border at the town of Desaguadero without incident. Getting through Bolivian Migration was a little more complicated than expected, since the officials there didn't seem entirely sure what to do about my tourist visa extensions, or about Philipa and Lois's 1-year missionary visas. However, since the office was very dark (the lights were off—I didn't ask why) which made reading the documents a little more difficult, Jerry loaned one of the officers his flashlight, "to smooth out the process," and once he was able to read what the visas said we got through no problem. We then had to cross a small bridge on foot to Peruvian Migration, and once through there got back on the bus to continue on. However, somewhere in between the border and the town of Puno, our bus was stopped by Peruvian Customs, SUNAT, who proceeded to do a search of the bus. About 2 rows behind me, they removed one of the floorboards to discover a rather large cache of Chilean wine. And by "large cache" I mean about 45-50 bottles-worth! There were also a few cases in the cargo hold of the bus as well! Surprisingly, once the wine was seized, the bus was allowed to continue on no problem. Someone apparently overheard the driver of the bus mention that "an agreement had been reached" with the SUNAT officials. Since I only saw them filming the removal of about 5 bottles, I have a feeling that the agreement reached involved most everyone from that office going home with a few bottles of wine for their families. That's South America for you.
Lake Titicaca (above), and Peruvian countryside (below), both taken from the bus.Saturday night we stayed at a hostal in Cuzco, and got to spend Sunday morning exploring Cuzco. The main square of the town is very beautiful, and quite Old European in design, as are many of the streets surrounding it. The thing that I disliked about Cuzco, however, was that, being a very touristy town, it was very difficult to go 10 feet without having 5 people asking you to buy this, eat at this restaurant, etc, and all in English! I have decided that if I every return to Cuzco, I will have a tshirt made that reads: Hábleme en español por favor (Speak to me in Spanish, please). After lunch-time, we caught a bus (on which we were the only gringos) to a town called Orumbamba, from where we took a trufi to the town of Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a beautiful town, surrounded on all sides by large mountains, on some of which are Incan ruins. The town itself is actually very Incan, with all of the buildings still built upon the original Incan foundations! So it was neat to get a feel for how an Incan town was designed. Also, Ollantaytambo was significantly less touristy than Cuzco, and more relaxing, although there were still plenty of tourist shops and restaurants.
From right to left: Lois, Philippa, Cate, Alison, Jerry. Photo taken looking over Cuzco.The view from the rooftop patio of our hostal in Ollantaytambo.On Monday, we took the terribly over-priced backpackers' train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, the village nearest the Machu Picchu site. While it's surroundings (mountains) are very beautiful, the town of Aguas Calientes itself is very touristy, and actually a little bit ugly. It is filled with restaurants and bars serving mainly overpriced Western food aimed at tourists. That being said, Lois, Philippa and Cate did manage to find the area of town where the Peruvians live, and said that it was nicer (in that it felt more like home in Cochabamba, complete with cat-call whistles from the men who saw them walk past). Our hostal was actually pretty nice, a not-too-steep climb up to the outskirts of town on the bottom of a mountain, with lots of plants and trees surrounding it. I even made friends with the cat that lived in the hostal!
Taking a catnap with the cat in our hostal.
(Sorry, I know that was horrible but I just couldn't help it.)
Tuesday morning, we got up bright and early in order to catch the first bus of the day, at 5:30am, up to Machu Picchu. Despite our 5am breakfast runing overtime and having to run (downhill thankfully) to the bus, we still made it. When we got up to the site, we quickly entered and made our way up to the Guard's Hut, an area that overlooks the main portion of the site. When we got to the top, it became clear to me that the early wakeup had been fully worth it. The site, shrouded in fog and mist that moved in and out across the ruins, was absolutely spectacular. Lois, Philippa and Cate took a seat and began sketching different parts of the surroundings, while I just sat back, enjoyed the outstanding view, and took a few (well, actually a ton) of pictures. Seeing the mist move in and out, at times hiding almost all of the ruins, I really did have the impression of being in the "lost city of the Incas." After close to an hour and a half of sitting and looking out over the ruins, we decided to explore them a bit and make our way towards Wayna Picchu, a mountain overlooking the site (it's the "nose" on the face, 2nd photo down) that can be hiked up, although they only allow 400 people to do so each day.
From top to bottom: (1) What I saw as I entered Machu Picchu, (2) The view from the Guard's Hut, (3) The mist begins to clear, and (4) The rising sun hits the ruins.
Wayna Picchu was a tiring hike, up steep stairs along the side of the mountain, but well worth it. Along with further Incan ruins at the top, the view of the main site and surrounding mountains was amazing. I have to admit that I don't see a lot of wisdom in building ones cities on the tops of mountains, except that it is an incredible place from which to witness the beauty of God's creation. On the way back down, I took a detour in order to visit the Temple of The Moon, a small location basically dug into the side of the mountain. Although I was quite tired and thirsty from all the hiking, it was well worth it. Since it was already past midday when I got back to the main site, I made my way fairly quickly through the ruins to the exit. Given that I was thirsty, the sun was then shining in full force, and the site was now much more filled with tourists, I decided that it was time to head back in to town. Outside the entrance, I paid way too much for a cup of juice, which I drank before hiking back down the mountain and into Aguas Calientes. (I decided not to take the bus in order to save the $6 I would have spent on the ticket.)
From top to bottom: (1) The view of Machu Picchu from the top of Wayna Picchu, (2) Looking through an Incan doorway.
Tuesday night, we ate in a cheap restaurant that Jerry had found the prior night where the locals eat. The food was quite good, similar to Bolivian food, and we were happy to pay 2/3rds less than we would have eating in a tourist restaurant. We took the backpackers' train to Ollantaytambo Wednesday morning, a bus to Cuzco, and from there made our way to La Paz and then to Cochabamba. We even got across the Bolivia/Peru border without a search revealling wine hidden under the floor of the bus! We actually got back home late Thursday night instead of Friday morning, which was nice because it meant that I got to sleep in my own bed and not on a bus. I rested up on Friday, not doing much, and Saturday I went to Nasareth to celebrate Dia del Niño, or Kid's Day, with them. It was good to see the boys again, and I was greeted excitedly when I arrived with many hugs and questions of how my trip had been (a few even asked why I hadn't read Charlie to them this past week, lol). We're due to celebrate Dia del Niño at CAT on Thursday, and I am looking forward to it.
So all in all, despite being on 7 different buses and 2 trains over the short period of 7 days, it was a wonderful trip that I am very glad to have gone on. That being said, I am also glad to be back in Cochabamba, and back to work tomorrow morning.
(P.S. If you're interested in seeing more photos, you can visit my Picasa where I have uploaded plenty more. Clicking on the "My Bolivia Pictures" link under the Links menu, or clicking on the Photo Slideshow, both to left of the page, will take you there.)
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