Last day in Bolivia (30-31/3/2007)

We returned from Peru early Wednesday (29th) morning to find we'd just missed the start of more blockades in Cochabamba, this time all public transport was stopped. We said goodbye to everyone onThursday, visiting the Orphanage. We had a nice last meal with the Timmer family, appreciating all their care and work in having us. This photo is infront of 'the Hacienda', the guesthouse where we stayed, and the two girls with us, Ayla and Julia who we really enjoyed spending time with.

We then flew to Santa Cruz, another part of Bolivia, to visit a great project working with street children. We only spent a day there and then left early Saturday morning for Ecuador.

Reed Islands, Peru (27/3/2007)

We took another coach to Peru, and had some interesting incidents at the border with our friends’ visas. After holding the coach up for about an hour we set off and arrived in Peru. The part we visited, Puno, looked pretty similar to Bolivia, they had a different mode of transportation though. These taxi bikes were everywhere and were good fun, a cheap and easy way of getting around.

We went to visit the ‘Reed Islands’ of Lake Titicaca which were amazing. Everything was made of reeds, including the actual floor that we were walking on. People still live there, but now mainly for tourism. It is listed in the ‘things to see before you die’ book, and was definitely worth seeing.

Lake Titicaca (25/3/2007)

We had an amazing opportunity to go on a short trip to Peru. Our friends had to get their visas stamped so we gladly accompanied them. We took a coach during night for 8 hours to La Paz, which is the capital of Bolivia. It is also the highest capital in the world set in the mountains, it was very beautiful. Like the rest of Bolivia the road systems are crazy and we saw some more blockades.

We then took another coach to Lake Titicaca which is a huge lake, part of it is in Peru and half in Bolivia. Part of the coach journey involved a boat ride across the lake. It was a long journey so we were so glad when we arrived.

We spent a couple of nights first on the Bolivia side in a back-packers type hotel, it was really nice but freezing as it’s so high up. It is apparently the highest navigable lake in the world. The scenery was stunning wherever we were on the lake, but especially when we went to visit the ‘Isla del Sol’. The combination of mountains surrounding water while standing on a beautiful little Island was amazing. There were also lots of lamas and donkeys, and the local people had leant how to make a good wage off the tourists by posing for photos and then holding out their hands.

Happy Mother's Day! (18/3/2007)

We want to send a message to our lovely mums to say Happy Mother's Day. We´re sorry we can´t be with you and hope you enjoy the your day. Thank you for being the best mums in the world and for all you do for us. Thank you for the love and support you always give us, we are truly blessed to have mums like you. We miss you and love you very much xx

Taking the children to the park (15/3/2007)

We had a nice time taking the youngest children from the orphanage to the park while the older ones were at school. It was incredible seeing how excited they were, Ariel (about 4 years old) in particular talking to us none stop on the journey. We were already finding it pretty hard to understand what he was talking about when we kept hearing random words like ´singing dragon' and ´racoon´ and it finally dawned on us that he was telling us a story. The other children who came were Normando and Alberto who are about 2 and Maria who is about 1. They have to guess their ages as they are mostly abandoned children, with no birth certificate etc. We really enjoy being with them-they are so beautiful and it´s good pratise for our Spanish. It took all of our energy (all 10 of us) to watch them on the playground, there is certainly no 'health and safety´here and the kids are so adventurous (Josiah Coleman would fit right in).

In the afternoon we helped with what is called a 'bread run' which is a project in the community of people who live on a rubbish dump. We took nice warm bread and bananas and gave them out to the people who live there. They have small brick houses about the size of one room, where a family of about 6 live. We also gave out shampoo of which the people seemed really grateful. It´s a very difficult experience, and really affects you to see the people hunting through the rubbish to find valuable items which they sell. To Timothy´s delight football is popular everywhere it seems in Latin America, so we played a game with the young people before we left.

Trip to the Jungle (9-12/3/2007)

We set out for a 4 day trip to visit the 3rd Orphanage which is in a jungle region called Chapare. First we we're to pick up a team arriving at Santa Cruz airport from Chichago. This would normally take around 6-7 hours in a car. We we're in a bus and after 45minutes of driving we we're told the road was closed so we had to turn around and use the old road to Santa Cruz. So our journey took around 17 hours and we finally arrived at a nice hotel that we spent Saturday night at. The journey had some incredible scenery as the road followed a river for along time. There has been alot of flooding in Bolivia and has been one of the worst years for landslides which we saw alot of on our journey.

Trying to stay awake, we spent Saturday afternoon in Santa Cruz city for lunch and then afterwards we went quad biking. It was quad biking as it should be, you could basically go any where, including a river which Helen managed to lead us nicely into only to find we couldn't get out. The bike sunk and after some funny attempts with some local boys to help us out, we abandoned it and caught a round back on their quad bikes which we're probably the smallest things with engines I'd sat on, in fact I lay on him and Helen sat on me.
After picking up the team Sunday morning, we headed for the jungle,about 3-4 hours away. On the way we visited a monkey sanctuary which we have to say we didn't enjoy a great deal as these filthy little things kept jumping and crawling all over you, trying to rob your camera and money. The 3rd orphanage stopped being built due to the rain but the flooding had now gone down and so we could help start again. We visited the Church who is supporting it and also the builder with his family, Sunday night was spent at a hostel 40 minutes away. Monday morning we started work by hauling cut planks of wood from the jungle to use for building.

The team had also brought alot of clothes for the kids, so a meeting was arranged with all the kids in the village to come that afternoon. Unfortunatly our time was cut short at the jungle as Mike had heard rumours our route home was closed. So we left pretty quickly and headed back where we found a long line of trucks lining the main road.

(A tricky 3point turn for our driver)

After a bit of discussion Mike came back with the news that our road back was closed. After a further bit of investigation Mike came back with two options. We can either go back to Santa Cruz and back on the old road (which was also rumoured to now be closed) a total of around 24 hours of driving or we can take a taxi up to near where the road is closed, walk 300 metres across the closed part then catch another taxi to Cochabamba. It was decided that 300 metres was easy enough with our luggage so the guys from America repacked their bags with essentials and left the rest on the bus (which would hopefully return to Cochabamba the next day). We squeezed into 2 taxis and drove around 40 minutes, 20 of which was lined with trucks by the side of the road. The taxis stopped where they couldn't go any further and there we got out, keen to see what the problem was.

Well as we've come to realise in Bolivia, nothing is easy. We soon found our little walk was actually a little longer than quoted, in fact 300 metres became 3000 (3km). We finally reached where the problem which was an enormous land/mudslide. It was like half the mountain had given way. It was an incredible sight everything was gone in it's path. Bulldozers and trucks had been working the night previous to create the road again but still had a few days more. We then were told we had to walk around where the work is, up the mountain a little, through the landslide and down the other side. After acres of mud, awesome scenery, alot of rain and drenched luggage we arrived on the other side where the road appeared back again. It wasn't too far until we reached where we finally caught our taxi to Cochabamba ( a 2 hr drive). It was an unforgetable experience and something we may never see again.

La Cancha (13/3/2007)

While the group was with us we went to 'La Cancha' which means 'the field', and is the largest outdoor market in the world. It really is a cultural experience and I (Helen) love it because there´s loads of absolute bargains! You could buy a whole outfit for about 8 pounds. You can literally buy anything there, from wellies to lama fetus´s (which apparently bring you good luck if you bury one in the foundation of your house). The smells are very interesting, especially when you walk past wheelbarrows overflowing with raw meat.

Back at Orpahange Israel (5/3/2007)

A group came from America for the week and we spent a little time with them. Back at the 2nd Orphanage we did a little more painting outside and the team did a puppet show in Spanish for the kids in a nearby school.

'The Cristo' (4/3/2007)

Overlooking the city of Cochabamba is the worlds largest statue of it's kind (33metres). We we're able to climb inside and Emily (Mikes 10 year old daughter) pointed out that we took photos out of Jesus' armpit. The view over the city was amazing.