Last days in Cochabama

We had an awesome, but very busy, weekend! On Friday there was a fiesta at the school with lots of dancing (seems to be a requirement of any type of Bolivian fiesta). After that we went out into the city with one of the teachers and her husband. About 9 of us piled into his van, and we went to a karaoke bar (where a group ¨sang¨ Killing me softly) and to a discoteca.

On Saturday we got up very early and traveled to the Inca ruins about 4 hours away from Cochabama. Its the largest ruins in Bolivia and one of the teachers from the school gave a really interesting tour (which I could understand most of!). We learned about their sun festivals, why the windows were built at an angle, and a lot about plants that were/are used as medicine for various things. We also saw a water fall which the Incas called the princess bath and had a picnic by the river.

On Sunday we got up early again and went to the largest Christ statue in the world (by about 40 centimeters). It sits above the city on a hill and there are awesome views. Granted, it had nothing on the views from the mountain, but it was much easier to get to. The statue is also hollow with holes, and on Sunday´s you can walk up inside of it, which we did. We had been told the teleferico (ski lift) to the Christo was broken, but as we began our walk down the hill we saw it moving; we quickly ran over to the building, and after discovering the door was lock (maybe should have been a hint) we yelled through the window if they had room for four more. The guy ended up letting us on for free (our second hint) and we soon discovered we were on the first ride since it had been fixed and were riding down with all the guys who had been working on it. We made it safely to the bottom though with great views of the city, but I think the guys at the bottom were a bit surprised to see four gringos getting off.

On Sunday evening, we went to a soccer game with some other students and one of the teachers and her family (same teacher from Friday night). This time we managed to get 13 people in his van (two were ninas though). The game was awesome and really intense. The final score was 1-0 with the home team winning! The fans on both ends of the stadium were nuts. We appeared to be in a quieter section in the middle of the stadium. On the ends, and alternate side of the stadium where the away fans were, the people chanted constantly, set off fire crackers, lit fires in the stands, and threw bottles onto the field (and campus coppers in the US think college kids act rambunctiously in the stands!?!). One section of the stands even got tear-gassed, and while the game had to stop for a bit when the gas drifted into the field (and into our section), it did seem to calm them down. They also don´t serve alcohol at the games, which after attending one, seems like a very good idea.

Today we had our last day of classes and are leaving Cochabamba tomorrow. Do I know Castillano (Spanish)? Sort of, I know enough to get around by myself and carry on a very slow, very basic conversation, but I definitely have a good foundation for learning more in the future. I think we are all a little sad to be leaving; we´ve loved the city, had an awesome time, met great people and even managed to learn a little, but we´re on to new adventures!