In these pictures you will see a couple of friends Daniel is wearing a green jacket and a hat. Phillip is wearing a orange jacket and has long blonde hair both of them are from autria. Two of the girls you will see are from Germany Simona and Mirrium. These are all pictures from Tunari except for the one of me washing clothes with my host mom.

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!

Last days in Cochabamba

As our departure date is drawing near we have been trying to do as much as possible in a little amount of time. I will start with my favorite activity of this past week.

Saturday we went to a ¨soccer game¨ by soccer game i really mean a huge party with no alcohol (thank god), guns, tear gas, and lots and lots of whistling. We went to a very important game in which the team from Cochabamba ¨Whilsterman¨ was going to be relegated if they did not win, they were playing the team from Orurro. They did in fact win in a very even matched 1-0 game. We saw a blocked pk and lots of close chances. Though the game was the not the most exciting part. The atmostphere was incredible! The entire stadium was wearing red except for the part of the stadium whos fans were for Orurro and this was the part that was in the sun. Which must have been unbearable because we were in the shade and it was super hot. The ends behind the stadium were filled with the ¨crazies¨ it was hard to see how they could possibly pay attention to the game because they were so busy lighting fires in the stands and fighting wth the riot police, and dancing wildly while slowing removing lots of clothing. At one point the police had to tear gas the section because they were getting out of control. Tear gas slowly filled the enitre stadium and even the players had to stop playing for a few minutes because it was so bad we all looked as if we were at a funeral and not a soccer game. We saw a few fans dragged out and beaten. Apprently there is a limit on how big you can build you fire and how many bottles you can throw during the other teams corner kicks. Upon entering the stadium you are not searched so one could hypothetically bring in anything one wanted though there were signs that said bottles were not allowed to be brought into the stadium. Two rows infront of us there were two 12 year olds that were setting off quite large fire works. No one thought much of it except for one grandmother but that did not even slow them down. Overall it was an experience I will never forget and was some of the most fun I have ever had.

We had a party at the school for four of our friends who were leaving (Uls, Camille, Marc, and Francesca). All were from Switzerland and were all a lot of fun. We went out many nights with Camille and Uls and watched them dance some incredible salsa. They even persuaded Maya and I to take a salsa class which was very interesting but fun. We left the school and all piled into a van driven by a teachers husband. By pile in i mean 13 people in óne van. We went to a karoke bar and a disco techa and had lots of fun. I even managed to introduce Camille to country (just doing my part spreading the southern culture).It was great to make new friends from other places.

The next day we went the Inca ruins which was a loooong four hours away but was a whole lot of fun an very interesting. The ruins are quite incredible we also learned a lot about their culture. After, some people played in the river while others slept in the shade. It was overall a very peaceful and fun day.

Sunday we went to the biggest statue of Jesus in the world. It was incredible. ¨El Cristo¨ stands about 32 meters tall with a head of over five meters tall. It is similar to a light house in the aspect that you can walk up the 154 stairs to the almost top and look out little wholes throughout its whole body. Maya said ¨It kind of looks like someone shot up Jesus¨ I thought that was a fair description. From all the wholes you can see the entire city and it is quite and incredible view.

We are sad to be leaving Cochabamba tomorrow but are excited about our next adventures in Montero and where ever else we may end up.

Pancha Mama

Last Friday we attended a Pancha Mama (mother earth) celebration. From what I have gathered from talking with various people, Pancha Mama is part of the indigenous religion here. This religion has also be accepted, in various ways, by the Catholic church in Bolivia, and in some places there are even churches that practice a mix of both religions. According to my teacher, the Catholic church has been the only church in Bolivia to tolerate this religion.

Most of the people at the celebration did not, however, appear to be indigenous Bolivians. While there were Bolivians there, I think ¨hippies from Spain¨ was the most accurate description I heard of the majority of the people in attendance. There was lots of music, dancing and chicha (a local drink that tastes sort of like soured beer).

The actual ceremony itself consisted of burning an alter of various things and pouring out chicha. The alter was food for Pancha Mama and the chicha was drink. Four people (2 men and 2 women) were picked from the crowd to burn the alter and drink the chicha. They poured the chicha in all four directions (north, south, east, and west) around the fire and then drank the remaining chicha. Not to offend the hardcore Christians out there, but the ritual sort of reminded me of communion. I find it very interesting the many similarities that exist between religions; perhaps if people were willing to recognize these similarities there would be less need to prove that one has found the ¨right¨ religion, but I digress.

After the ceremony was completed, there was more dancing and chicha for all! A band consisting of wooden pipes and drums played while everyone (including us) did an interesting circle dance around the fire. It was a lot of fun, but we didn´t stay too late because we had to climb the mountain the next morning. Good thing we called it an early night, because we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into the next morning.

School has been good this week; still learning a lot. On Tuesday we attended a party at a preschool where our friend, Jessica, works. It was not a large party (just a group from our school and the teachers at the preschool), but it was a lot of fun! We learned traditional Bolivian dances and taught them a few of our own. Though I think the meaning of the Y-M-C-A motions was completely lost in translation.

This weekend we are looking forward to a party at the school, a soccer game (where we have been warned not to wear white), and a visit to the Inca ruins near the city.

The Forgotten List

After what was quite a hard day (hiking Tunari) I forgot to I needed to add my list of what all I did a top the mountain so here it goes.
List of things:
I ate (we had chicken sandwhiches and salted tomato)
I burped ( we had been drinking lots of water)
I slept (no explanation needed)
I took a million photos
I almost lost my hat the the unrelenting wind
I did lose a our lunch bag to the wind
I celebrated (because we did finally make it to the top)
I listened to lots of German
I pondered whether or not it was possible the wind could pick my up of the top of the mountain (I decided it was possible)

These past few days have been quite we have been studying a lot and going to school. We did have one very interesting night in which we contributed to the local community by buying all the left over beer from a school for young kinds and partying with all the teachers. We got word from a friend at a different language school that one of the places she was voluntering had a party for the parents and had bought to much beer and were afraid they were going to lose money. So we did what every other stand up citizens would do...we drank it. We learned some traditional dances from all the teachers who were quite old but new how to have a good time. So I guess you could say we have been learning and giving back to the community lots of great photos from this night which will be posted later.

This afternoon and tonight is going to be a lot of fun. The Bolivian National team plays Ecuador so we are going into the city to watch that and right after that game Argentina plays Paraquay in a huge matchup which ultimatly could decide whether or not Argetina makes it to the world cup. Also this weekend we will be going to a live game in the city which apparently is going to wild. The teachers we are going with gave us certain colors to wear that were nuetral so we would not be seen as supporting one side or the other. I do think however that the teachers are being some what over catious but better safe than sorry. More later

On Top of the World

Today we went to the top of the world; or at least the top of Bolivia; that might also be an exaggeration but it was really really high!

The trip started with a bus ride (please see previous description of a road, but think more cobblestone, less pavement). We rode the bus from Cochabamba up to about 4,000 meters where our hike of Tunari mountain (about 5,300 meters) began.

Immediately I knew we were in for trouble when I ran up a small hill to use the bathroom and was very out of breath. Since we were so high the air is very thin and it makes it hard to breathe (No, I´m not just that out of shape). You have to go up and down the mountain slowly or take pauses to allow your body to adjust just the changes in altitude; not that we could have gone up the mountain any way but slowly. The people at the school also recommended bringing coca tea, which apparently helps fight against altitude sickness. Maya, Mans and I, however, decided to do what the locals do and chewed on coca leaves during the trip. (For some reason, the lady at the market found it extremely funny that three Americans were looking for coca leaves, but they worked).

The hike was pretty much straight up and definitely the hardest hike I´ve ever done. It was also probably the hardest physical thing I´ve ever done too. As Mansfield so eloquently put it ¨just keep putting one foot in front of the other.¨ By the time we got to the last 200 meters, we were all (including the guide) stopping about every 50 feet to try and catch our breath. One girl ended up not making it up at all because the altitude was really getting to her.

Though when we reached the summit, all of that hard work was totally worth it! We had some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen, including other snow capped mountains and a view of Cochabamba (the city we are currently staying in). The guide also told us we were higher than La Paz (the highest capital city in the world), and we could see the mountain where it was located. At the top (which was very cold) we ate lunch, took pictures, and took a siesta. It was awesome! We´ll post pictures when we get back to Montero, but I´m not sure they could do the view justice.

On the way down, all I could think was ¨holy crap, we hiked up this!?!¨




We also had a very interesting experience at an indigenous religious celebration; but that will have to wait for another post. Hope all is well at home!

Just one more ridge..

[Just one more ridge] Thats what i found myself thinking continuously as we walked/climbed/scrammbled up the side of a mountain and over numerous massive ridges. Today we climbed the largest mountain in Cochabamba. Tunari as it is called is quite the monster we had heard and today we realized monster was a strong understatement. We left early this morning at six am for a two hour bus ride that would take us the first 4000 meters and then the last 1200 meters was for us to try and hike. Tunari is a massive 5230 meters tall (over three miles high) which overlooks the entire city of Cochabamba.

After three and a half grueling hours of climbing, chewing coca leafs(which apperently helps with altitude sickness), listening to the rest of our group speak in German (which we understood none of), drinking lots of water and eating whatever our host mothers had packed for us we reached the top! It was honestly the most incredible view I have ever seen. We were literally in the clouds and could see the entire city. After much picture taking and finishing of our lunches we all proceded to take a nap on the the top of the mountain. I say nap meaning we shut our eyes while the wind houled around us while we tried to take cover behind whatever rocks we could find. The walk down was much simpler. It was simply sliding down a massive sheet of rock on all fours and only took two hours. Hands down the hardest hike I have ever done and hopefully the hardest one I will ever do. We saw many llamas an even encountered a local who was apparently looking for his llama. One interesting fact was that we learned was that llamas all poop in the same place. There would be one huge pile of poop. This was to mark their territory our guide said and also as Philip one of the Austrian guys pointed out was [very clean]. It has been one of the most amazing/miserable days of my life.

Last night (the night before our hike) we went to the a celebration of mother earth aka Panchamama. It was very interesting and the cermony that took place was quit inredible. Also the most famous drink Chicha was flowing throughout the night as it is tradition to chew Coca leaves all night and drink this quite interesting drink that tastes mostly like old, hot beer. We did not stay all night and leftabout eleven knowing we had a pretty hard hike the next day.

We were originally planning to stay at the language school for two weeks which would be up tuesday but since we are having so much fun and learning a lot we are goin to stay another week. Once we are back in Montero I will be able to post a lot of pictures.