Moving on...

Today is our last day in Sucre! Early tomorrow morning we leave for Potosi (about three hours from here) - it is the highest city in the world and is famous for the silver and other mineral mines that once made Bolivia an extremely rich country. One night there and then we are on a 7 hour bus ride to Uyuni, which is the starting part for a tour of the salt flats that will end for us in Chile. Internet availabilty will be sketchy past Potosi, so this will be the last update for a few days.

It is very bittersweet for us to be leaving tomorrow. We have been extremely overwhelmed by the hospitality and generosity of our new friends in Sucre! In the last few weeks we have been treated to home cooked meals, biking and hiking tours, extensive travel advice, CDs of new music, and today we are even being given a going-away bbq! While we will be sad to say goodbye, we are looking forward to when our paths will cross again!

*****

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

What a tremendous feeling it was for Pete and I to deliver such a large sum of cash to Ñanta on Friday. Thanks to our generous family and friends, we were able to give $1,100 US! We will soon be getting a specific breakdown of where the funds are going (that we will pass along to the donors), but we know that this money will help with birth certificates, nutrition and allowing 100 kids to enjoy something special at Christmas.

As usual, we are in awe of the generosity from the dearest people in our lives. The people at Ñanta were very excited as well, and each of the donors will be shortly getting a special gift in the mail made by the kids!

*****

We had a very busy last week getting ready for the next leg of our journey - replenishing some of our supplies while they are still cheap! I was very disappointed that I could not enjoy my last few days swimming with the kids (problems with the pool, it will be closed for awhile), but Pete and I had some really great English classes at the center. Most of the swimming kids joined in on the fun seeing as the pool was closed, which meant that we were overwhelmed with people and both days ran out of exercises and bingo cards. On Friday we bought some special prizes for the kids as it was our last day (yo yo´s!) and the kids went NUTS for those! We are very sad to see it all come to an end, but are super happy that another couple has started at Ñanta and will take over the classes. The director has told us that many people have attempted English classes before with the kids, but none have seen the success that we have! We really hope this success continues.

With a few of our English class regulars! Pete´s ¨gaggle of girls¨ were fighting over who got to stand closest to him for the picture!

*****

Last night we had quite the experience. All week we had heard many people talking about ¨Bolivia´s Best Band!¨ coming to town so we did decide to go and see what it was about. For $5 CDN, how can you go wrong?

Kjarkas are a 14 piece ensemble band that apparently have been around Bolivia for something like 40 years. They played all the traditional instruments - a bunch of different guitar type things that I can´t name, pan flutes, and drums.

Wow. Not ¨wow¨ because of the music...I mean, one minute they sounded absolutely brilliant, and then the very next minute it sounded like they waltzed out of the cheesiest cruise ship bar ever. ¨Wow¨ because of the reaction they got from the crowd! I have never seen anything like it - fans of all ages (4 - 80!) belting out all the words and dancing for two hours straight, until 1am! Most of the time, the 14 band members would just sing and play their instruments in one place, but as soon as one of them would do any slight movement resembling a dance move, everyone went nuts!

Kjarkas

It was UNBOLIVIABLE. No, I didn´t just make that word up - some people actually use it here!

Bolivian Politics

Last night after a late dinner out, Pete and I happened upon a campaign rally! Bolivia´s presidential election is scheduled for December, and the current President (Evo Morales) is predicted to win for his second term. His political rival in this election (Manfred) has been in Sucre since this weekend to try and gain support.

A couple of the main streets in Sucre were shut down to accommodate the large stage adorned with hundreds of red and yellow balloons. After a traditional Bolivian band entertained the crowd, the ¨proximo Presidente of Boliviaaaaaa...!¨ took the stage. Manfred and his entourage wore Formula One style jackets (symbolic of their extreme right-wing platform??) with the word ¨convergencia¨ emblazoned on the front and back. The usual display of fireworks lit the stage, and we had to endure the cheesy campaign song over and over and over.

Noticeably absent was his Vice Presidential running mate Leopoldo, who is doing his share of campaigning from jail! He is currently awaiting trail for charges related to a mass slaughter of opposition in his home departmento (province) of Pando. And we thought Sarah Palin was a bad choice!

The best part of the whole display was the fact that the rally was ill timed, it seems. How dare Manfred schedule a rally when an important soccer game was on TV? Not to worry, loyal fans. A projector stationed near the stage and pointed at a large building next to it ensured that supporters could watch both shows. Now THAT´S a good campaign strategy.

I think I´d be tempted to vote for this dude based on his super stylin´ molestache alone!

All I Want For Christmas...Part II!

Thanks to everyone that has pledged to help!

Here is some more information on what is needed, or some examples of what your donations can do...

- Birth certificates cost 37 Bs (about $6) each - unless there are issues which require further investigation, then they can cost up to 400 Bs. There are currently about 40-50 kids that are in need of birth certificates. Some kids have no idea what their birthday is or even how old they are - can you even imagine??
- Ñanta tries to provide milk for the kids twice a week with their afternoon tea. This costs roughly 80 Bs ($13) a week
- Each Christmas, Ñanta tries to provide a clothing allowance of 100 Bs for each kid. There are currently about 250 kids supported by Ñanta

All of these projects are essential and in need of funds. If everyone reading this blog even gave just $20, imagine the good we could all do together!

There is one other option for anyone who wants to take it a step further - you can support an individual child for $50 a month. This money will cover everything required for school (books, bus tickets, etc) plus food, clothing and other essentials. Hmmm...I believe our ¨favourite¨kid Rene (pictured below) may have found a sponsor in us!!

THANK YOU!! Please remember to make your pledge by Friday! Contact either Pete or I for more details.


And in other news...

- GRRRR!! We have encountered our first major issue with our travels - our laptop has died. Gone is our entertainment system, our iPod charger, my writing tableau and our photo storage (luckily, we backed up our pictures last week! Phew!) After some rough diagnostics and research we have discovered that our hard drive has failed. Given our remote location, we will be forced to go without until we at least get to Santiago, Chile, where we can find a Mac service center. Looks like we will have to resort to some more primitive forms of entertainment - like reading books! How are we going to survive??

So, unfortunately, until such time as our laptop can be fixed, updates may be less frequent and probably shorter (at least Uncle Ken will be happy). Mass uploads of pictures may not happen at all. Skype sessions may resume when we are in Chile as we expect internet cafe´s should have much faster connections.

- That really ruined our Saturday. And our weekend had been off to such a good start thanks to an awesome dinner Friday night in the home of a fellow Canucklehead! Brendan is from Ontario and currently working down here on a water project for the University of Calgary. We had an awesome evening of good food, good wine and conversation!

- Sunday was an equally awesome day, which we needed after Saturday´s crapfest. While Pete took to the bike with Albert again (Pete is apparently a masochist!), I went on a 15km hike with Albert´s wife Randi from Sucre to a small town named Yotala. It wasn´t too difficult a hike, but provided for some amazing changing scenery as well as a view into some small villages along the way. When we got to Yotala, we met up with the boys and their bikes for a late lunch before hopping onto a bus to take us back into Sucre.

Randi entering ¨main street¨of a small village!

- Our last week in Sucre is here! It is very hard to believe that 2 months has flown by this fast, and we are preparing to leave for a new destination. Our subsequent hostels have been booked, and we will just spend this week in our last volunteering sessions, stocking up on supplies (while they are still cheap!) and saying goodbye to the many friends we have made. Pete and I have both commented that it feels like we are leaving home again - we have gotten so comfortable here. It is a scary prospect to once again be on the road to unknown destinations, but we are also very excited to do it!

Technical difficulties

I had a blog update already to go...and then this morning our Macbook started acting up so I can´t get to it - grr!

Hopefully we get it resolved very soon and I can update...

We hope that you all had a fabulous Canadian Thanksgiving! We have seen nary a turkey in any stores, restaurants or in the market, so Pete made his best attempt at a complete dinner for us on Friday night – teriyaki chicken, mashed potatoes and various vegetables. One of his best meals yet!

After dinner on Friday we went to Musef Sucre, a museum that served as the location for a Ñanta fundraiser. The reception included live music by a director of Ñanta and many boys who frequent there, as well as a photographic display of various kids in their work environment in Sucre – everything from shoe shiners to car washers to venders (selling chicklets, newspapers, etc.) A very moving display for a very good cause (as we have seen first hand)!

After the reception Pete and I wandered around central Sucre, taking in a local benefit rock concert in the main plaza (bad, baaaad music) and then met up with our friends for a send-off – in the last week many of the good friends that we have made in Sucre now are off on other travels. We feel quite deserted and abandoned – being left to take on Little Hollandia (or the Dutch mafia, as we affectionately call them) all on our own!

It was a late night for us, but Pete and I were still up bright and early on Saturday to help again with the swim club at 8am. We drug our tired, sorry asses downtown after that in order to indulge in what Pete believes to be the best hangover food yet – salteñas! Salteñas are essentially empenadas made with beef or chicken swimming in a sweet/sour gravy. ¡Son muy ricas! They are very delicious! (But I am still dreaming of Tim Hortons breakfast sandwiches).

After our hangovers were cured with the salteñas and a nice long nap, Pete and I ventured on a long walk across town to visit the cemetery. I know, it’s not a place where we would normally go to “hang” at home, but it is heralded as a tourist spot in Sucre (you can even get a guided tour). And as soon as we crossed the massive arched threshold, we could see why!

It was enormous, but shaded throughout with large evergreens and palms. The noise of the city could not be heard – many benches lined the sidewalks and it was easy to just sit and admire the meticulously manicured surroundings. It did not even feel creepy, as we both thought it would. It was just a very peaceful place to relax (apparently University students go there to study).

The “class” system still very much exists even in death, with the poorer residents occupying the large, communal mausoleums all along the outside, and the richer families in their own private mausoleums inside the grounds.

Our Saturday evening was a quiet one, still catching up on sleep and enjoying some TV on our laptop. (Thank you Kylee, for loading us up with episodes of The Office. I can’t believe we didn’t bring any of our own!)
Pete needed a good night’s rest for Sunday morning. He was up and at ‘em early – to meet with Albert (one of the main supporters of Ñanta and organizer of swimming) for a bike ride through the mountains.

I waited anxiously all day Sunday. Pete is in pretty good shape, but Albert is one of those crazy athletes who does this sort of thing as often as we watch The Office. While I had a leisurely start to my day – slept in late, sauntered over to our favourite café for lunch and my regularly scheduled Skype session - Pete endured a 60km bike ride in the Andes. I was very glad to finally see his face at about 2:30 in the afternoon, to know that he survived it.

Pete will readily admit that he got his ass kicked by a 63 year old man (Albert), but he loved every minute of it. I joined Pete, Albert and Randi (Albert’s wife) at another restaurant for the post-ride drinks. Pete put on a brave face while we chatted for a few hours – but as soon as they left, his first words to me were: “My God, I’m in so much pain! I need food! I need a shower! I need to LAY DOWN!” Needless to say, Sunday night was another VERY quiet one for us!

Monday is now officially our errand day seeing as we are done with Spanish classes and have volunteering activities every other day. Laundry, grocery shopping, etc. I had even finally worked up enough nerve to head into one of the beauty salons near our hostel (I need a haircut!), but it was closed. Tried it again this morning, and...success!! So glad. I made sure that I had all the key Spanish words in my arsenal in order to prevent a perm or head shaving. I think the cut is okay, although I sure had a Farrah Fawcett thing going on after she styled it.

At least I have a ¨style¨for a change! Especially as we go out tonight to celebrate....

¡¡OCHO AÑOS!!

If you told me on our wedding day, 8 years ago TODAY, what I thought I would be doing in 8 years, let me tell you what I would NOT have said…

I would never have guessed that we would be sitting in the middle of an obscure city in the middle of South America. I would never have guessed that we would be homeless vagabonds – having only months before sold most of our worldly possessions and peaced out of the North American lifestyle that we had grown so accustomed to.

I could never have imagined any of it.

But now, right at this moment, I don’t think that either of us can imagine doing anything BUT this!

Somehow the stars aligned and we both developed the right mix of crazy in order to make this happen. Perhaps our only regret in the 8 years that we have been together is that we didn’t start this journey much earlier!

Whenever we meet new people and tell them that we have been married for 8 years, the typical reaction is “Holy shit, really?” While I am sure this reaction is largely because they don’t peg me for being a day over 25 (ha!), we do also get the odd person asking: “How have you managed to stay so in love?”

Each day is a new adventure - on this journey, and in our marriage. And I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else...