A bit of Bolivia!

Leaving Cusco was one of the hardest things we have had to do so far on this journey, saying goodbye to the kids who had filled our heads and our hearts for the last four months, our beautiful friends who had become our family and a city we had grown to love. Knowing we would return really didn’t make it any easier. The kids, staff and volunteers at WaaW threw us a big going away party with music and dancing, party games, cake, good food and home-made chicha morada (a delicious drink made from purple corn). It became fashionable that day to wear sun glasses inside to prevent the kids from seeing our red eyes, though there was no hiding our tears when it came time to say goodbye. It was hard to stop them, the tears that is, when beautiful Liseth was clinging to us for over half an hour after the other kids left, sobbing and asking us not to go. It made me wonder if it was fair on these kids, staying for such a long time, being such a huge part of their lives and then tearing ourselves out of it… But, that is not an easily answered question, nor is it a question I am willing to dwell on.

After our sad goodbyes we had to hang around in Cusco for a few more days while James was recovering from the removal of his wisdom teeth, not something that is super fun on an overseas trip, but travel insurance made it about one tenth of the price it would have been in Australia. We took an overnight bus to La Paz, Bolivia, forgetting Lonely Planet’s advice to dress decently during a border crossing we were taken in by the police for questioning, do we have drugs, do we take drugs, and are we bringing drugs to Bolivia? No, no, no. Poor James was frisk searched by a policeman who then gave him his business card at the end of the ordeal, ironically having an ‘Import, Export’ business on the side. 

James got there late as he was recovering from his
wisdom teeth removal the day before, the kids were
so excited that he came.

The boys organised a dance of 'Thriller' for us 

And I forgot to mention the commiseration drinks with Hannah and Hannah
after the going away party...

La Paz - 12th to the 14th of September

La Paz is a huge, busy city. In actual fact it has half the population of Melbourne, but after being in the quiet little Cusco for so long where you can walk anywhere in half an hour, La Paz is overwhelming, situated in a valley high in the mountains, every available space is taken up with buildings, climbing the mountains of the valley and all. We met up with our friends Hannah and Becca, who had arrived the day before, and hung out at a coffee shop before going to an arcade and the movies. We all found La Paz so overwhelming that we headed to the cinemas on our second day here as well. It would be an interesting city to live in, to get to know from the inside out, but being here a couple of days I think doesn’t quite do the city justice. 

Hannah and James playing arcade games before we went to the cinemas

Cochabamba - 15th to the 18th of September

From La Paz we took an overnight bus to Cochabamba, where Hannahs friend is volunteering at _____ an orphanage on the outskirts of town. We took a taxi to the orphanage in the morning and were lucky enough to be able to play with the 14 babies currently living there. While they were so happy and loved, they had a peculiar independence that I have never seen in babies before, they clung to us to cuddle and to play, but were also more than happy to play all alone. While an orphanage isn’t an ideal place for any little one, it would have been hard to make this lovely place any more inviting. We were picked up by Elena, long term volunteer at the orphanage, who has since moved to Cochabamba, married the man of dreams and has opened a guest house on the outskirts of town, a beautiful homely place with an amazing view. If anyone is heading there I would highly recommend it. We relaxed and napped for the afternoon before meeting up with Hannah and her friend Camilla for dinner. They invited us to head out with the founder of the orphanage, an American lady, Jennifer, to meet and hang out with a group of street kids living on a hill up above the main bus terminal. We took up the chance willingly, not quite sure what to expect. Jennifer has been working with the street kids for around 3 years, after gaining their trust she has become a mentor and an advocate, providing first aide, taking them to hospitals, protecting them from the police who frequently harass them, providing them with someone to call on in times of need. As we drove up towards the hill, already 7 of us in the 5 seater 4WD, a group of 4 local teenagers jumped in the car when we were stopped at a red light, we were overwhelmed by the smell of the glue that they were all sniffing. It was loud and frenzied, but we didn’t feel unsafe. When we got to the top of the dry hill we were led down a path through desert scrub and cactus’ to a makeshift shelter, a few tarps hung up from a crumbling wall, some logs around as a makeshift lounge area, the only light came from the moon and candles that Jennifer had asked some of the kids to go and buy. There were around 15 people living there, the youngest 14 and the oldest 28, the majority of whom were sniffing glue. They were friendly, happy for us to be there and willing to tell us their stories. Many of them had homes they could go to, though as Jennifer explained it often the violence of the streets hurts less than the violence of the home, it is less personal, easier to deal with, easier to forgive. There were three girls, the oldest was 26, with three children who had all passed through Jennifers orphanage, she could barely walk because of the damage to her nervous system done by the glue… The other two, one 24 and one no more than 16, were both pregnant. One of the young men was weeping for the whole time we were there, as his girlfriend had had a miscarriage the day before. The majority earned money by pickpocketing at the market and bus terminal, though a few earned a more honest wage by washing windscreens at traffic lights. The whole time we were there not once did we feel threatened or intimidated, more so we felt as though these people wanted to share their stories, show us how they lived and possibly gain some understanding. It was tough, really tough, to see, to hear, and to leave. It almost felt as though these ‘kids’ were too far gone to be helped. And as much as you ‘know’ it is out there, how can you go on living your normal life when you have actually seen it, met these people face to face? It is a question that I know will be hard to answer when we get home… But it also made me realise the importance of the work we were doing in Cusco, we were catching kids in very similar situations but before they became so far removed from a functioning life, aiming to prevent them falling into the life of the street kid. It was really an unforgettable, life changing day.

The next day, though still exhausted, James and I headed out to do some more pleasant, touristy things. We caught the teleferico (cable car) to the second tallest Jesus statue in the wall, yes even taller than the iconic Jesus in Rio De Janero, Brazil! We were able to climb up to his armpits, but from there the internal staircase was closed. How many people can say they have spent time in the second tallest Jesus’ armpits?!

The 17^th was James’ birthday! Elena made us a breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup, before we (James, Becca and I) went and met Hannah and Camilla at a local fast food store where we had coffees, went on a small expedition to find cake (where we also found silly string!) Went silly buying chocolates and sadly had to say our goodbyes to Hannah and Camilla. James, Becca and I headed to the market, we wandered for 3 hours and I’m sure didn’t even see half of it. James treated himself to some new clothes and Becca and I got our nails painted! A fun, relaxing day, before we retired to a dinner of nachos while introducing Becca to the sanctity that is ‘The Castle’. A wonderful day.

James and Jesus.

It is prohibited to urinate inside Christ.... just to let you know!

James enjoying a fancy coffee on his birthday morning!

And playing with his police lego toy!

Silly String!

Chocolates!

Becca sharing a laugh with the lady doing our nails

The night view from Elenas house, that is Christ glowing on top of the hill!

And the view in the day!

Sucre - 18th to the 19th of September

Rather than taking a 9 hour overnight bus ride to Sucre, on a bus with non-reclining seats and no toilets, we decided to splurge a whole $50 each and fly! In Sucre we ate well, stayed in a dodgy little hostel, visited the dinosaur park which is a vantage point for the largest amount of preserved dinosaur footprints anywhere in the world, on a vertical sandstone cliff face next to the park. It was really amazing but unfortunately rapidly deteriorating due to a lack of funding and an inability to stop the erosion of the sandstone.

Potosi - 19th to the 21st of September

After Sucre we headed on to Potosi, where James and Becca went on a tour of the mines, I wasn’t well enough to go, suffering from stomach troubles, nothing new there, but from all accounts it was a mind blowing experience, the miners were working in terrible conditions without safety precautions, the general life of a miner is about 10 years from when he starts working in the mines. I will let James tell you more about it. 

The beautiful plaza in Potosi where I spent much time
reading and drinking orange juice from that little cart.

Uyuni - 21st to the 27th of September

From Potosi we took a 4 hour bus ride to Uyuni, a small town on the outskirts of the worlds largest salt flats. We did a 3 day tour of the salt flats and the southern tip of Bolivia that is much better shown in pictures than in words, what an amazing experience…

We returned to Uyuni to find that the roads out were blocked due to miners strikes, the road transport system for the whole country had been shut down and flights were booked solid. Becca managed to get a flight out 2 nights after we got back, but we had to wait another night before we could get a bus. It wasn’t a very exciting time in Uyuni, but we met some lovely people, killed time by eating well, drinking well and going to the hairdressers! And after that an overnight bus back to La Paz.

La Paz - 28th of September to now!

Arriving in La Paz we found a super fancy expensive hotel to stay in for a couple of nights. One of these nights happened to be the night of the AFL grand final, after a little searching we found a hostel who was showing the game, though their big screen didn't work so we ended up sitting around with a group of other Australians watching the game on a laptop until half time, when the free shots of metho… sorry vodka… caught up on us and we headed back to the hotel. Mind you it was very late as well!

We spent a couple of days relaxing, walking through the city and seeing the sights. We biked down the ‘death road’ on the 2nd of October, an amazing, adrenalin fueled experience even for me, who went the slowest out of the whole group. It was an amazing day! At the end of the bike ride we were able to have our first swim in a river since leaving home, had a great lunch and visited the Senda Verde animal sanctuary, it was really beautiful and somewhere we are considering spending a couple of weeks and volunteering. 

Currently I am lying in bed recovering from my latest stomach bug, something I will not miss when we come home, and James is off climbing Hyayna Potosi, a giant volcano not far from here!

So… I think we are up to date with our adventures so far! 

Just a little bit of city life from our window...