Lots and Lots

I just don't where to start on this one really, there's so much I want to put in. I guess a good place to start is last weekend. I took advantage of the civic strike on Friday (no transport, no shops open, road blocks everywhere - therefore no work) to visit Lake Titicaca, since it's quite a long way from Cochabamba and takes two buses and a good 13 hours to get there.


I was torn about what do do on Thursday night. I seriously contemplated sticking around, going in to Los Tiempos (the Bolivian newspaper I'm working with in the mornings, very highly rated nationally, I might add) and persuading the photographers to let me go with them to take photos. I had a little daydream of making my name as a journalist with my story and pictures of international-headline-worthy riots and violence, as there were in January (and as some people had been predicting). In the end, I decided: (a) it would be a bit risky to put myself in the middle of such things, since there's a fair amount of hostility to gringos at the moment given the tension with the US over coca (as well as other factors); (b) it would probably blow over peacefully and barely make national news, and if it was bigger, I could always get in on the act when I got back; and (c), it was too good an opportunity to miss to travel to Titicaca, since I wouldn't have another opportunity.

That night (I called them at about 7pm) I managed to persuade two other volunteers to pack their bags and head to the bus station at 9pm for an overnight bus to La Paz. Eleanor and Jack are both pre-uni gappers, from posh schools, and bonded well over rowing chat. We had a bit of time to spare before our bus at 10.30 so we went for a wander round the area, and came across a funfairn that looked like the attractions were built in the 1930s. We had a few games of table football (for the cost of 20 centavos, less than 2p) on a delapidated table before spotting a great big slide. The climb up the rickety stairs was almost as nerve-wracking as the descent. After a few goes and a lot of laughs, we headed over to the park's biggest attraction, the "rollercoaster". Even without loop-the-loops it was one of the scariest rides I've been on. It was so noisy and old, but actually quite fast. A very entertaining hour, for the cost of about 50p in total.

The bus journey was less fun. Turned out Eleanor hadn't quite recovered from some uncategorised illness she'd been suffering, and on top of that gets quite car sick, so had a very uncomfortable journey. So did I, sitting next to the poor thing whinging away whilst trying to sleep, but I did feel very sorry for her. Was quite funny when she got uncontrollable hiccups though. We had to change at La Paz at about 7am in the morning, and finally arrived in Copacabana (not the Copacabana of the song, but that didn't stop Barry Manilow getting stuck in my head for the entire journey - very frustrating when all I knew was that one word) at about 12.30. The bus was quite an adventure. We had to cross the lake half way through, which involved us all getting out to take a little boat over the channel whilst the bus (presumably too heavy and dangerous with us all on board) was ferried across on another. At the other side, next to the headquarters of the Bolivian Navy no less, we had to pass through "migration" (despite being a long way from any border), where Eleanor and Jack had to pay 150Bs each to bribe the official to let them pass, having both forgotten their passports. Apparently a copy was not enough. For once in my life I was the only one to have remembered to bring something!

Although perhaps not for poor Eleanor, who never felt well for the entire duration, for me it was a great weekend. Titicaca is just stunning. But what makes it all the more impressive is remembering that such a huge lake, which stretches as far as the eye can see, is located at an altitude of 3,800m. And of the altitude you cannot forget, thanks to the scarcity of oxygen that makes climbing even a single flight of stairs a superhuman effort. The first day we took a swan-shaped pedalo onto the lake (bloody hard work, we didn't get very far) and wandered round the little town. It's very touristy, with gringos in gringo trousers and alpaca jumpers (me now included) everywhere, but it's also really cute. The cathedral is very impressive for such a small place. Towards the evening we hiked up a little hill (yes it was a hike at that alitude; we had to do a lot of persuading to get Eleanor to the top) for some famously lovely views of the sunset over the lake. The colours were beautiful. The next day, we took a boat over to the Isla del Sol. It's a beautiful yet somehow bleak little island, affording some amazing views across the lake to the snow-capped mountains beyond. We hiked (poor Eleanor) from the north to the south of the island. When away from the ports at either end, it feels very remote, and despite the brilliant sunshine still felt chilly with the altitude. According to legend, this is where the sun was born, and it certainly is strong. It's also supposedly the birthplace of the Incas. There are correspondingly some very impressive Inca ruins, as well as a couple of rocks that, according to legend (we failed to see it) are shaped like a puma and a frog. The island is a hotspot for tourists too: we were entertained along some of the way by a multicoloured gringo playing his Andean flute, and bought water from some little entrepreneureal kiosks dotted along the route. Out of sympathy for Eleanor, who was desperate for some sleep, we took the bus back during the day on Sunday and spent a couple of hours in La Paz, taking in the lovely old centre and the amusing coca museum again. The journey back wasn't so bad, there were a few films to entertain us and Eleanor coped much better. The toilets were gross though - but so was the Ladies in the bus terminal, which, no joke, is called the mingitorio.

Turns out that on Friday there were roadblocks and some demonstrations, but generally it was fairly peaceful. It didn't make international news, that I'm aware of. It would have been exciting to have been with the journalists covering it, but I think I did the right thing. There are always demos going on of some form or another, Bolivians are great at organising themselves. Guess it helps that there are loads of peasants without permanent jobs and therefore with time on their hands to demonstrate. It seems to work too, especially with such a lefty man-of-the-people president, Evo Morales, in power at the moment. Last week there were loads of disabled campesinos demanding more help and support from the government - and on Wednesday the government agreed to help them. Sounds great from a social perspective, but surely this kind of approach only encourages more groups to strike...? Ah well, makes things more interesting for tourists like me!

I feel bad about complaining about gappers. They're all very lovely. There are also now much fewer of us - in the week after I arrived about half of them all left. Besides Eleanor and Jack, there are perhaps 8 other volunteers with TAPA, and a few extras that the volunteers have got to know, most of whom I met last Tuesday night. I met one really cool guy my age, Alexis, but he's gone off to a little town in the jungle for his project. A good excuse to visit one weekend though! There are two others on the same project as me: Lamin, a crazy 25 year old drifter, and Melanie, a 27 year old professional economic journalist. Lamin doesn't have much Spanish, so it's just me and Melanie at Los Tiempos. At first I was a bit disappointed that Melanie's getting to write articles and do interviews for Los Tiempos (thanks to her professional experience) whilst I've been sent to the photography department, but now I'm actually quite glad. The photographers are great fun, always making jokes, and I've been out to various press conferences (including one held by the key opposition party Podemos, immediately before which I made the fatal mistake of failing to kiss the speaker on the cheek when introduced; very embarrasing) and the site of a road accident. Today one of the photographers took me to an event in the central plaza which unfortunately had all finished when we got there, so instead we wandered round some artesan markets and an art exhibitionhe gave me some coaching in taking photos, which was very cool.

Meanwhile, for the English Cochabanner, besides making sense of articles comically badly translated from Spanish, I've conducted my first ever interview. I met with the American (North American, that is) director of a charity MedioAmbiente Bolivia to chat about their work and their new radio show. It was great fun, and really interesting, especially given my interest in environmental issues. She even claimed to be impressed with me. I'm working on the article at the moment for next month's issue. I've got another interview tomorrow with the director of a charity that works with people with AIDS. Unfortunately this woman is pure Bolivian I think, so entirely in Spanish. I am scared. I'm not sure whether my Spanish is up to it! I found this charity through a girl called Jen who works here teaching English as well as volunteering with this charity every Monday to give Reiki to the AIDS sufferers. She's a former TAPA volunteer (4 years ago in her gap year, when she had crazy dreadlocks) who loved it so much she had to come back. She comes to my family's house for lunch every day, which is really nice.

It also turns out that there are in fact decent gyms in Cochabamba, so, as I promised myself I would, I joined. It's very modern and really big (it's even got fingerprint recognition instead of membership cards for entry!), but unfortunately, like the rest of Bolivian society, it's very male-oriented. The weights room is huge, but there are only about 10 cardio machines, and it gets very busy. But it does the job, and for about 10 English pounds for a months unlimited membership it's not bad. The only thing is that with working in the mornings and the afternoons, my Spanish classes till 6, AND going to the gym afterwards, I just have no time! But then that's the way I like it I guess!