La Paz y el Lago Titicaca 2

Scroll Down to read the rest of day 3, I added more!!!!!!!!!!

"Day 2, Copacabana, 12/17/2013, Tuesday"
Sisi and me had made plans the night before to get up rather early to leave for Copacabana (4000m above sea level), a small town on the shore of Lake Titicaca. We wanted to leave around 10, so we got up at 8:30. We ate breakfast and packed up our things.
"Great breakfast in a market hall similar to Los Pozos' Mercado Morderno - sandwich de palta (avocado) con cafe a 6 Bs."
Then we took a "mini bus" to the cemetery all the way at the top of the city. It took us ages to get there because of the traffic which gave me a chance to take some really nice pictures.
"Amazing view from the cemetery, just wow. Houses then mountains." (Everywhere).
The journey to Copacabana was rather long in a small bus; two and a half to three hours. But the things we saw along the way did make up for the fact that the bus was uncomfortable. As we drove away from the city, the landscape got a bit greener and more natural. Also, the sun started shining, which was a nice surprise, as we had left La Paz in a rainy mess.
"Cholitas (the women in the Altiplano are called Cholas, in the Oriente (Santa Cruz area) are called Cambas) herding llamas, sheep, goats, and pigs. In the middle of nowhere."
I will admit that the first view of Lake Titicaca that I go was rather...disappointing. I guess I am quite spoilt through Lake Michigan, so I was expecting more of the first view (see picture on right) but as we drove on, the lake just got more and more beautiful.
Once we arrived in Copacabana, we walked through the town for a bit before finding a cozy, cheap hotel and dropping off our luggage. We then went to explore the town some more.

One thing I really want to note here is that the church in Copacabana is THE most beautiful church I have ever visited. And I have been to relatively many churches, and I am not sure how religious I am.
The church is completely white from the outside, with just colored little caps on the church towers. On the inside, the church is also white with the exceptions of the ceilings, that are painted in bright colors; yellow, blue, turquoise. The front of the church (where the altar is) is completely covered in gold (and, although I usually don't like it when churches are so fancy) it just felt so special to stand in front of something so amazing.

 We continued our journey through Copacabana and decided to climb up a hill to the"Horca del Inca".
"Breathtaking (again, literally) hike up to the Horca del Inca in Copacabana; the view absolutly stunning."
We could see all of Copacabana from up there, the lake an endless blue without end, and mountains on either side of us. Also, the rocks on the hill itself were incredibly interesting.

 After climbing back down, Sissi and I decided to chill in the little harbor for a bit until the sun went down. Even though the atmosphere was more than amazing - the sound of the water relaxed me immediately - , we regretted our decision to not have taken another jacket and sweater with us from the hotel because the wind was unbelievably cold. 
"(...) A few freezing but relaxing minutes by the lake; the sound of the water just calming and reviving."
The rest of the evening was rather calm, we went to bed around 9, both exhausted and happy. 

"A sunset absolutely gorgeous."

"Dinner consisting of tomato soup and coca tea (against the altitude sickness) in a cozy little cafe."

"The best thing: bread from La Paz (Marraqueta) got us through the day."

"Day 3, Isla del Sol, 18/12/2013, Wednesday"
The plan for this day was to take a ship over to the Isla del Sol. Compared to everything I had seen before, the Isla del Sol was about 10 times more beautiful. I really enjoyed our hike from the north of the island to the south of the island. I wrote relatively much into my journal that day, so that I will only fill in details :)

"Oh my God, such good breakfast! Espresso, actual espresso (normally you only get instant coffee in Bolivia) and hot oatmeal with bananas; to die for. The evening was cold. The night, too. Now on our way to the Isla del Sol, a boat trip of ca. 2 h (from Copacabana). It's incredible how deep-blue the lake is and the sun isn't even shining. (Yet)."

Luckily, the sun did come out after a while so that, when Sissi and I climbed up onto the top of the boat on a shaky little ladder, we did not freeze sitting in the fresh morning air. Regardless, we kept our hats on.  The lake got even bluer as the sun came out. Indescribable, really. The pictures just about capture the beauty.

"The lake just got bluer and bluer, a big sheet of blue form one shore to the horizon."

 "On the island, the beach looked just like in a movie; blue water, white sand, and colorful boats."

"We started climbing up the mountain, (or hill, rather, that felt like a mountain through the altitude - 4028m above sea level) Once we got to the main Inca (I think) temple, our guide told us (a story) (something along the lines of this:

"Fíjense en los dos huecos en ese piedra o muro. Hay dos. El hueco mas abajo esta cerrado, no hay salida. El hueco mas arriba si tiene salida al cielo. Hay una leyenda antigua que en la época oscura el sol nació en el hueco mas arriba. De allá, el sol salio del hueco y ilumino todo el mundo. Se dice, que la luna se quedara en el hueco mas abajo y por eso no recibió tanta luz del sol. Por esa razón la luna no brilla tan fuerte."

"Take a good look at the stone wall (picture above with the red circle that says "hueco" or hole"). There are two holes one above and one below. The upper hole is open on top (although you can't see it well on the photo; therefore the circle), the bottom hole is closed, like a normal hole. An old legend says that the sun was born in the upper hole. from there it escaped through the tunnel into the sky and illuminated the whole world. The old legend says that the moon was born in the bottom hole and stayed there. Therefore the light of the sun did not reach the moon and today the moon only shines dimly at night."

"After the tour of the ruins we had a bit of time to explore. Sissi and I decided to take a minute and let the atmosphere of the place sink in. We looked at the lake and beyond the stonewall; just a white beach and the sound of the waves. Beautiful."
 
"Before I forget: on the Isla del Sol we received a special herb against the altitude sickness  called coa." 

"There were eucalyptus trees on the island. How did they get there? I have not the slightest idea"
"Without a bit of chaos there's no adventure, right?"

When we booked our boat tickets, the lady in the ticket office told us that we could either stay on the north half of the island where the boat would drop us off or walk 11 km (about 7 miles) to the south 
of the island and then catch a boat from the company to take us back to Copacabana.
Because Sissi and me wanted to see the island and do some exercise (hehehehe), we decided to walk. The captain of the first boat scribbled something on out ticket - the harbor we had to go to - in the middle of the island, or rather in between the southern and northern harbor. Of course, we dismissed what he had written and just followed our fellow boat companions that were also walking to the south of the island. It was beautiful to walk on the crest of the mountains of the island, seeing the lake at times on one side, at times on the other, and often on both sides. Anyway, we did not know that we had to pay tax to be on the island and for a tour guide. In the end we did not have enough money to pay the tax. Luckily, we had met a super nice American girl who had also been volunteering in Bolivia. She covered for us without even asking.
But the real trouble came later. When we got to the south of the island with about 20 minutes left before our boat should have left, we were told that we were first of all in the wrong place and second of all that our boat had already left. Luckily, we saw a boat from our company in the harbor - or so we thought. Our companions had arrived a bit earlier than we had. They told us that the Capitan of the boat wanted  10 Bs on top of what we had already payed. And Sissi and I had no money.
In the end we debated with him and with the lady in the box office. She also said that it was not right to pay extra. Since we were 9 people, all with the same problem, we ended up not paying.

Once we got back to Copacabana exhausted but happy, we payed back our American friend.
 And then...........

"We went swimming in the highest lake in the world. The Titicaca Lake. Not too many people can say that."

"We ended our Copacabana trip with a nice and delicious dinner - trout and a slice of lemon pie. The sunset was again, beautiful, we missed the actual thing but did see the last few minutes of light. It seemed like the sky were on fire."

La Paz and Lake Titicaca 1

After an amazing week traveling I am more than happy to be back home in Santa Cruz with my family, in the warmth, and in the middle of Christmas preparations. Although it still does not quite feel like Christmas, they played Christmas music in one of the cafes where I ate breakfast (more below) and it hit me that it is, indeed almost the 24th of December. I have been listening to Christmas music ever since I got home yesterday so that now I feel a bit more of the Christmas mood.
But first things first: during my travels I did not have Internet nor my computer, so that I noted down everything important in the lovely journal that Lauren made for me. I will recount my adventures as is, and will mark all comments jotted down in my journal in italics.

"Ida (Journey to La Paz), 12/15/2013, Sunday"
I had booked our bus tickets a day earlier, with the Bolivian relaxedness that does not permit worries or rushing and lives off of spontaneity. Our "bus cama" or "bed bus" would leave at 2:00pm. I would travel with Vero and with Sissi, both fellow volunteers. Because I had booked our tickets so early, we had gotten the best seats: three seats in the very front and top of the bus with a panorama window.
We left Santa Cruz in an incredible heat and, to our dismay, the AC in the bus didn't work or didn't exist and the sun was shining in our faces. The big windows were well worth it although we were boiling. We had the most incredible view on the landscapes that passed by.

"I trade my spoon-full of adventure  in Santa Cruz against a bucket full of adventures in La Paz; the first adventure is to travel in a "bus cama" with a panorama window and beautiful view despite the heat caused by the sun!"

What first looked like the familiar Santa Cruz landscapes with palm trees and a lot of green, changed after a while. As we looked out the window, we saw  
                                    more rivers, and, far in the distance, mountains.  
                  
" A church tower against the setting sun hiding in a foggy cloud. Absolutely stunning."      
"A house without doors, with just pieces of cloths hung in the open spaces to keep out the cold."


After a while I fell asleep, exhausted from looking out at the landscape rushing by. I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering from the cold. My host mom had told me that it was going to be very cold in La Paz but I did not think that it would be that cold, after all, it is summer here. I looked out and saw the moon rising above mountains and reflecting in the valley river, our bus climbing up an incline.

"The moonlight reflected in the river below, the clouds below me shining white in the moonlight, and the forest on the mountains black as if it wants to swallow everything that only takes one step too close. Magical."

We kept driving and I fell back asleep.

 "Day 1, 16/12/2013, La Paz, Monday"
In the morning I woke up and saw: rain and a plain, barren field with just one or two occasional "houses", or what used to be houses.
The view that we got of La Paz afterr about two more hours of driving through the outskirts of the gigantic city was amazing. La Paz is not just a city, it is a monster that seems to lie sleeping in a valley, leaving no space untouched or unoccupied. There are brick houses in even the smallest space, they seem piled on top of each other, to be stumbling over each other. Also, it looks like half of the houses have yet to be finished.
"It's weird how gigantic La Paz seems, even compared to SC; probably because SC is so spread out and La Paz so compact,, so squished into a small valley surrounded by beautiful mountains."

After 17 hours of sitting/sleeping in a bus, we finally arrived at our destination. The first thing we did arriving in La Paz was to drink a cup of hot coffee and eat a sandwich. Next we went to the Immigration to pick up our passports with Visa-the real reason we had traveled to La Paz.

In the afternoon we strolled through the little streets filled with artesian shops for tourists and later ate dinner in a little restaurant. Vero returned to SC that same evening, and Sissi and I set out to find a hostal. We ended up spending 30 Bs each for one night-about 3 Euros  or 5 Dollars :D
"It's breathtaking-literally, to walk through La Paz. the streets are super narrow, a bit like in Amsterdam but there is either a mountain going up or going down wherever you look. Breathtaking."

"I am in love with all the little shops that we passed by and through; so many beautiful, handcrafted items that I wish I could take home."

At night we met up with three of the Paceño volunteers, good friends of ours from our seminar in the summer (the other summer :D).
"At night, La Paz glows like the stars in the sky that's how many lights there are in the city."

Observations

Sight: 

The clouds here seem so much closer; almost close enough to touch. Especially after a gray, rainy day when the sun comes out and half of the sky is filled with orange, yellowy light, the clouds that then almost seem black glow. The depth of the clouds is incredible, almost as if, with just an outstretched arm, you could feel the soft fog. 

When the sun goes down – or the 15 minutes before the sun goes down - , the houses, streets, people, cars, glow in a shimmer of yellow and orange. Every little detail appears more vivid, livelier, and just incredibly beautiful.

The stars shine brighter and the constellations appear much bigger than in Chicago. While walking hime the other day, I looked up at the sky and saw the big dipper like a huge, comforting image hoovering in the east of the sky. It made me happy and left me amazed that a change in location on the earth changes the view on such far away things as stars.

 

Hearing: 

There is a constant buzzing of cars in the air. At the moment it is raining and the steady drumming of the raindrops on the aluminum roof of the Taller is very calming.

 

Touch/Feeling:

The heat here feels like a heavy blanket, the sun like sitting too close to a bonfire. The wind, in return, feels like a cold splash of water of overheated skin. and a splash of water on overheated skin (for example in the face *VERO*) is the best thing ever, even though surprising. (My college Vero started a water fight by pouring a big glass of water over my head :D). And the cold....the cold is cold even when the thermometer says that the temperature is about 70 Degrees. It´s cold.

Scratching one of the one thousand mosquito bites is very satisfactoring. 

Smell: 

There are nice smells here. for example the smell of Majo oil while it soaks into my hair, a mixture of something sweet and earthy and a bit like olive oil, the smell of some blosseming treas is sweet and full. Fresh empanadas smell like heaven, especially when I'm hungry. The same goes for everything that Mamá Yoyi cooks. And the rain smells good. fresh. ut that´s like anywhere else.

What does not smell quite as nice is the garbage in the streets, the meat in the markets, that smells like something sour, something alive, and the old paint in the taller.

 

Taste: 

Will be added. I can not think of  specific taste right now.

 

The Moment: I don’t know what’s going on right now I am way too over stimulated, I react to every little thing, bad and good. I feel needy. I can’t let go, I can’t leave things be, just let them slip by. I guess I’m feeling homesick. Thinking about Christmas makes me feel lonely even though this should be the time of taking time with friends and family; cherishing all the beautiful little things in life. For some reason I have a hard time being grateful, being at peace with myself. Maybe my expectations of what I can achieve are too high, but even when I am working with the kids they frustrate me and I myself feel demotivated when I should be the over motivated one. Today, for example, I raised my voice with one of the boys because They had been playing and broke some of the materials that we had given them. I know that it was not on purpose, but still I had to say something. Then another girl broke a mirror (as I thought, on accident, but apparently on purpose) by throwing a brick against it. Her Dad walked in a few minutes later and I said nothing. I did not know how to react because I thought it had been an accident and I did not want to call her out on something she had mistakenly done. But, as it wasn’t an accident, I now have to talk to the dad because it can’t be that our student’s go around intentionally breaking things. I’m just not sure how to react in situations like that; I don’t have any kind of training to work with kids. I do have experience and that helps me a lot, but often I have no idea if I am reacting too strictly with them or too lenient. I just really want to find my inner peace again so that I can calm down a bit when working with them. There is just so incredibly much that will be happening, I AM TRAVELING TO LA PAZ ON SUNDAY, then there is Christmas, New Years Eve, and then I'll be off to Chicago for a couple of days!!!!! I can't wait to see everyone!!!

Art Classes

After almost 14 hours of sleep (that I really needed), a very filling lunch, doing my laundry (like every Sunday, cleaning my room, and trying desperately to watch an episode of "The Walking Dead" with little success because of the slow Internet connection - Ricardo, Dani, me and our two friends Amarillo and Toño always watch the newest episode on Mondays and I didn't know the show before, so I'm trying to catch up- I finally have given up waiting for the episode to load and can write down what has happened the last few weeks.

As I mentioned in my last entry, we have finally started out arts classes for kids in the Taller. It is crazy how time flies by when there is a lot to do, because we now only have one more week with the kids.
We have seven kids that come to our class from 9am to 12pm, Monday through Friday, for a totally of one month. The youngest of the kids is six-year-old Maria Cristina, the oldest is Camila with twelve years. Melanie just turned 7, Luana (or Lulu) is 9, Siomara is 10 as well, and Sofia is 10 or 11, I'm not quite sure. We only have one boy who comes to the class, Emilio, age 10, but from what I have picked up, he has found his place in the group and feels comfortable.
Overall, I am really enjoying the work with the kids. We try not only to do the projects that we planed, but to play with the kids as well and correct them a little in their attitude towards each other. Sometimes, it is hard to find a balance between the ages, but for the most parts, the kids work together well.
I have set up a loose system of my "no comment rule" - that means that we try not to comment the artwork of the others, positively nor negatively. It is hard for the kids to not say "Ohhh how nice", and even for Vero and me it is hard.
Towards me and Vero. the kids are very respectful and listen up most of the time.
The projects that we have done so fare turned out well with an exception of two projects.
Here's a recap of all the projects we have done so far:

We experimented with watercolor to show the effect of mixing colors; using little water or a lot of water...etc. We used straws to spread the watercolors on the paper and had a lot of fun.

The next two days we painted two abstract paintings - one with warm colors and one with cool colors to then weave them together. In the beginning, it was hard for the kids to understand, what the outcome of the project would be, but they were happy with the result.

Our next project was to make sculptures from clay, but sadly it was too warm in the Taller so that the clay dried up rather quickly and the sculptures were very brittle once they dried. Most of them fell apart after a few days. We repeated the project the next week, and this time it worked a little better. Because I have almost no experience with sculpturing, it was hard for me to actually teach them techniques of how to make a specific thing. Nevertheless, the kids had fun using their hands and playing around.

The next day we made lamps from scraps of paper, balloons, and homemade glue from flour and water. it took a lot of patience for the kids to finish their lamps; to cover their balloons completely with paper and glue. Sadly, Lulu and Siomara did not manage time wise to cover their balloon with enough paper so that the hardened paper shriveled up when we let the air out of the balloon the next day. they were both sad but I hope they got over it.

Next, we made dream catchers with the kids. I never imagined that they would turn out so beautifully, that the kids would work so quietly, with so much concentration...I was really, really proud of them that day. I made dream catchers with the art camp at the Open Studio Project but the kids there were older, so I was sceptical whether the kids could do it.
I did a bit of yoga with the kids before starting the project and then put on calm music and explained to them that dream catchers were first made by the Native Americans and that their purpose was to trap the bad dreams and let the good dreams slip through the net and down the feathers.
It seemed to me that they had a lot of fun. A few of the kids wanted to make dream catchers again.

Because we had mixed up the order of our original plan a bit, we decided to do a more simple
 project. We did a body tracing exercise with them. They formed pairs and one of them laid down on huge pieces of paper. they traced each other's bodies and then colored their own. They turned out really nicely. I was amazed at the creativity the kids had in coloring the silhouettes.

The next two days we made stencils and sprayed graffiti on pieces of papers and on the walls. the next day, we used the stencils to design T-shirts. Adolfo helped us teach the kids how to make the stencils because neither Vero nor me knew exactly how to make them.

Our next project was a creative project of photography. We painted little Styrofoam balls like eyes. Then we went to a park near by and told the kids to tape their eyes to any object in the park and then take pictures of the eyes. They had a lot of fun and we had a picnic in the park after they were all done.

Because the paper-glue-lamps had not worked out so well, we reexplained the project with a different objective. We made Insects and animals from paper and glue covered balloons. This time, the kids covered the balloons thoroughly and none of them broke. This two day project was a bit rough for some of the kids, because it took a lot of patience to cover the balloon entirely and then paint and decorate it the next day. Nevertheless, all balloon animals turned out very creatively.

The following day we made 3D pop up cards with the kids. After a bit of experimentation, we figured out the right size of the pop up drawing. Luckily, we had more than enough paper so that the kids made multiple cards. Because it was Melanie's birthday, I had made brownies and she had brought a few snacks so that we had a birthday party for her as well.

On Friday it rained so much that the buses were overfilled and I arrived to work late. My college had kept an eye on the four kids that had arrived before me. Because of the rain and because not all the kids showed up for class, we decided to repeat our dream catcher project. I also lead a few improvisation skits where two people would start a scene and when someone from the audience had an idea, he/she would tap an actor on the shoulder and continue the scene. Even though they did not understand the "taking shifts" part, the kids had an amazing time, laughing and joking around. Not all of them understood the objective of impro theater so I will repeat the exercises when the other kids are present as well.

There we go.

Now to the complications that have come up, because not everything is all great.
It is hard to keep the kids all focused throughout a project. And that makes sense, because after all they are kids, but I forget that sometimes. What is hard for me is keeping myself together when some of the kids pretend to understand the project when they obviously have not understood it and then get upset when their artwork turns out differently than everyone else's. But that's OK, I just have to breath and keep calm.
One day we had a fight between two girls in the class, because one of them had called the other names. I tried to talk to both of them separately and explained that I was not going to favor one of them, believe one of them and not the other, but that I, instead, would like the girl that apparently had insulted the other girl to apologize, not because of what she said, but because of the way the other girl felt. I told the sad girl that the other girl had not wanted to make her feel bad. They ended up playing happily together. Score!!
Another day one of the girls started to cry and wouldn't talk to me or stop crying. I did not know what to do so I got her a tissue and petted her back. after a while I asked her if she wanted to go back to the others and she nodded. She was fine after a while but i was worried because she wouldn't tell me what was wrong.

Apart from work I have been going to a lot of parties and dancing a lot. I also found my first real Bolivian friend, Lesshy :)

And also, there are the Photo classes that I'm co-teaching, but I'm tired of writing so I'll leave it at that.

I hope everyone has a relaxing, joyful pre-Christmas time. I, for my part, do not feel at all like it's almost Christmas :D It's just way too warm here.

Kisses to everyone,
Lena