This week was quite the experience. I had the chance to
travel to Coroico with 13 of the boys from Casa de Paso along with 3 volunteers
(Jack, Marius, and Laurin). The trip started out getting the boys ready on a
beautiful La Paz morning. We got our own chauffeured bus down through the
mountains with some awesome views. Most people slept along the way but I took
in the nature the entire 3 hour ride down. It was amazing to see the landscape
change from rocky snow-peaked mountains to lush green jungle before my eyes. Heat
and humidity came with it too (of which I don’t really miss that much from back
home) but that was to be expected. The bus took us directly to the house where
we would stay. The house was chosen (by the coordinator of the project, Felix)
because it had a pool for the kids to play in. When we got there, there was
momentary shock that fell over all of us volunteers and no doubt each one of us
said to ourselves “there’s no way…”. It
was quite the sight to take in. I have added a picture or two so I don’t have
to describe exactly what it looked like; but when I was first telling the other
volunteers of what it was like I described it as a house you would find in a
horror film where you might find some people ghost hunting at night. The pool
(as can be seen below) was only filled with about 2.5 feet of water and was green. We were kind of shocked that the
foundation would let the kids stay in a place like this… but hey… this isn’t
America.
Needless to say the kids jumped right into the pool. This
actually showed me a great deal about being grateful for what you have and
making the most of what life throws your way. The kids had a great time. I
didn’t get in.
I took a self-guided tour of the house and found that it was
only slightly in better condition inside than it was outside. But at about that
time I decided that I was going to have a positive attitude about the whole
situation. This is after all my Bolivian adventure and this only made it that
much more adventuresome.
They owner of the house only let us use the downstairs of
the house- which meant only 4 beds for 20 people. Luckily I’ve learned many
lessons about Bolivia in my time here and I came prepared with my camping mat
and sleeping bag (and even my pillow)… so I didn’t have to get involved in the
bed choosing affairs. It was pretty comical to see the 3 other guys share a bed
together (as seen below). I think it’s experiences like these that bond people
together!
So most of the trip was spent with the kids in the pool or
us eating. We were lucky enough to not have to cook anything for the trip (I
guess we put the money we saved by staying in the house toward eating out every
meal). Each meal was a good hefty plate and for lunch and dinner there was a
big bowl of Bolivian soup to go with it. We ate well. We also took a 2 hour
hike to visit the popular waterfalls near Coroico which were beautiful to see
in the jungle. Us white guys got sunburned. My forehead is peeling off as I
write this. All day long while we were outside we had to battle bugs. There
were lots of them. I kept pants and my jacket on pretty much the entire time –
and it proved to my benefit. Everyone else seemed to get eaten up pretty good.
But still, the kids had fun (which was the point!) and kept swimming till their
hearts content (I, however, did no swimming at all). Overall a successful trip.
I did leave out the part of for the first day and a half my
eardrum was waiting to burst – which was a terribly painful waiting game as the
pressure was building up in my head. I think I have to attribute it to having
still been sick with a cold and having fluid in my ears as we descended a few
thousand feet. Eventually, however, my eardrum did rupture (which brought
relief) and since then I have been witness to a lot of gross yellow liquid
coming out of my ear. And you will be happy to know that today, just before I
decided to write this, that my other eardrum has ruptured (for other unknown
causes). So now both of my eardrums are ruptured… and hopefully this will be
the end of it and I will still have some hearing when I come out the other side
this.
