Adiós amigos!

  It's fascinating how adaptive we human beings are. How fast we're able to get used to a new life and a new culture is as amazing as how fast we are able to forget all of it and return to our daily lives back home. In the end, everything is just temporary. Every moment, all the feelings, everything we experience will eventually pass and make room for new experiences. Feelings that have been unbearable and things that at one moment have felt hopeless, are gone the next. On the other hand it's also emptying to notice how quickly your eyes have become used to something that took your breath away the first time you saw it. You realize that things that you had a hard time adapting to in the beginning slowly have become a part of your everyday life, a part of you. Then there come's a moment when you start wondering how you'll be able to adapt back to your normal life, in a world that is so different from the one you've finally started to get used to.

In Bolivia you can never know for sure how your day is going to turn out. It sometimes feels like every day is an adventure. Maybe a tree has fallen during the night and blocked the road, or maybe there's a protest or roadblock that messes up the whole city or at least your plans. Or maybe you get lost because the bus that particular day chooses to drive a different route than normally. Or maybe a clown on the rush hour bus entertains you! 

It might take a while to get used to never knowing what will happen next, but once you accept it you start enjoying it. It's liberating to constantly let yourself be surprised and enjoy the chaos around you. I guess when you have so much chaos around you, you feel less chaotic yourself.  At least I somehow just couldn't get enough of all the absurd moments that spice up your day and leave you with a "what just happened?" face. And believe me, we've had more of those moments than we can count for. 

It's two days since we left Corazon Grande and we are now coming closer to the end of our journey. Here we are now at the airport of Amsterdam, confused, amazed and excited. It feels like I've been away from home for ages, in a world of it's own, on another planet. Being here where everything is so familiar already makes the world we are coming from feel so far away. 

I want to thank everyone who has encouraged and supported me to share this experience through this blog, it has been fun and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. And at last I want to mention Julia, who practically has been looking at my face 24/7 for the past three months. And trust me I'm not always the easiest person to deal with (and neither is Julia), but what matters is that we're returning home as friends, and maybe a bit tipsy as we have had five hours to kill at the airport haha :D

All in all this has been an absurd, exciting and mind blowing experience, and even though there still are so many things I can't understand about the world I've been a part of for the past three months, Bolivia will always have a place in my heart. And I can say for sure this is not the last Bolivia or South America has seen of me! 

Escape to the white desert

As soon as most the work with our project was over and we had published the letter of thanks we left on our last get-away to the southern Altiplano of Bolivia. Our destination was Salar de Uyuni, a.k.a the worlds largest salt flat. The salt flats cover and area of 10 582 square kilometers and are at an elevation of 3656m above sea level, so basically it's like a salt desert. We didn't know much about the Salar, only that it is one of the most amazing natural phenomenon in the world so we had to see it.

On Thursday we  jumped on the bus to Oruro which is a small city about 4-5 hours away from Cochabamba. We spent the night there and left towards Uyuni the next afternoon. For the first time we got to travel by train, and I have to say the seven hour ride was very dusty and bumpy at the same time as it provided us with breathtaking moments. Shortly after leaving Oruro the train goes through a lake which is a popular breeding place for the famous pink flamingos. The lake was so shallow that it looked like the flamingos were walking on the water. And when the train came closer to them the flamingos spread their wings and lifted towards the sky in huge flocks. The sight was amazing, but unfortunately impossible to catch on camera. Another very special creature we got to see during our trip was the vicuña. It is a relative of the llama and said to be the wild ancestor of alpacas. Our guide told us that as they only live in the wild and are endangered, they are protected both under the rule of Inca and the law and you get five years of prison for killing a vicuña. 

Vicuña on the rails

On the way to Oruro

In Bolivia every road is a death road.....

The train to Uyuni

A poor try to take a picture of the flamingos...through the window of the train.

Julia and our "matrimonial bed"

We got to Uyuni close to midnight, found ourselves a hostel where we had a short and very noisy night. As the hostel was almost full they offered us a matrimonial room to the price of 60 bolivianos (about 6 euros) so we even got to share the bed that night. Somehow it felt convenient as I'm actually starting to feel like I would be married to Julia... After all we have stayed together all this time through better and worse, in sickness and health. And we have spent 3 months sleeping in the same room, or bed for that matter.

Starting the tour

Anyways, the next day we left on a one day tour to the Salar together with a company called Huracán. During the day we traveled about 300 kilometers over the Salar, saw how the salt is processed, visited a salt hotel, did a little hike around Incahuasi island and at last got to see the famous train cemetery in Uyuni.

Afterwards we also found out some facts about the Salar. Apparently more or less 30 000 to 40 000 years ago the area was a part of the prehistorical lake Minchin. About 15 000 to 10 000 years ago the lake started to diminish until only a few small lakes were left. When even the last of the water evaporated one thing led to another (it has something to do with limestone, rock salt and gypsum :D), and the bottom of the lake was formed to a few meter thick white layer - the Salar. Unfortunately I won't get any smarter within this matter so I'll just leave it there. I personally prefer the other "theory" about how the Salar was formed, and that is the love triangle between three people-mountains. The Ayamara legend tells that the mountains surrounding the Salar; Tunupa, Kusku and Kusina were giant people. Tunupa marriend Kusku, but Kusku ran away with Kusina. The grieving Tunupa cried while breast-feeding her son, and her tears that mixed with milk formed the Salar. Bujaa!

Salt in process...

"Eyes of the salar" - water bubbling up to the surface from over a 150 meters depth.

Necessary tourist-picture

Lapsi on terve kun se leikkii. (Picture by Julia)

Former hotel made of salt. It is reconstructed to a museum.

Our guide preparing lunch at the desert.

In the middle of the Salar

Nowadays the area is said to have about 10 milliard tons of salt, and in addition to rock salt and gypsum the desert also contains more than half of the lithium resources in the world. There are also more than 30 small mountain islands at the Salar, which are the remains of volcanoes that submerged during the era of Lake Minchin. The most famous one is the Incahuasi island (also known as "Isla del pescado") which we visited during our trip at the Salar. The Island is covered with huge cactuses and the volcanic terrain gives a coral-like structure the rock-formations. 

Incahuasi island

FLAFS? :D

Me hyping (picture by Julia)

Llamas!!

Llamas taking a walk...

Train cemetery

 By the time of sunset we got back to Uyuni, sunburned and exhausted. The day had been long but amazing, and it still wasn't over. As the train only goes twice a week we had to take the train back already the same night, so we hanged out in Uyuni until midnight when we jumped on the train back to Oruro. Due to the "car-free" day in Cochabamba on Sunday we had to wait five hours in Oruro... until we eventually got to take the bus back to Cochabamba, which once again got stuck on the way so we didn't get back before late in the evening. Never take the bus in Bolivia if you have a schedule to keep... Well, safe and sound we ended our second last week in Bolivia, after enjoying another awesome adventure.

Killing time at a bar in Uyuni. (Picture by Julia)

Early morning view from the train

And back to Cochabamba...

Muchas gracias!

The moment you all have been waiting for is finally here; time to reveal how our fundraising-project turned out and how much money we raised!

Thanks to all of you who supported us our project has been a great success, much greater than we could expect. Within two weeks we got more than 40 donations from families, friends and acquaintances. In total we got 1943 euros worth of donations, which is about 18 200 bolivianos. 

Since the beginning it was clear that we would use 1000 euros (40€/girl) for one year worth of school materials and school uniforms. We personally took part in the shopping, at one of South Americas biggest markets, which is located here in Cochabamba. Shopping in Bolivia is always an adventure, as everything is located in different areas and it's not always so easy to find what you are looking for. Oh how easy it would have been if all the parts for the school uniforms would have been in one place, instead of being spread around the market which practically covers the area of a small city. Buying the the school uniforms also became a little adventure itself as a couple of the girls from the home joined us so they could give their opinions and help us to pick the right sizes. 



Next on our shopping list became kitchen supplies. Various problems which make eating interesting, so as eating chicken wings with a spoon or having the ketchup running to the table through the plate, made the decision to invest in new kitchen supplies easy. Due to problems with our car we haven't been able to buy the supplies yet, but we hope we'll get to do it next week before we leave!

 
As the home doesn’t always have volunteers to drive the car during the weekends, there is a big need for someone with a driver’s license among the staff. When we leave back to Finland it would quickly become too expensive to take the girls from one place to another by taxis, so we decided to invest 1000 bolivianos (about 120€) for the driving school and license for one of the tías. In the long term, it’s in ever way a big benefit for the home. Well, we all know there’s no use for a driver if the car doesn’t work, and as our space miracle is acting irregularly from day to day we also decided to invest a small amount to the maintenance of the car.

During our time here we have noticed that the girls love to play all sorts of games but unfortunately both the basketballs and the board games are in bad shape. So we got a few new board games and the long desired new UNO-cards, which by the way have been in big use since the girls got their hands on them. We'll be buying basketballs later.

In the beginning of December we’re also taking all the girls and staff members from Corazon Grande to enjoy a ballet show, in which our little ballerinas Julia and Patty are performing.

Visiting the foster home of Gladys

At last we decided to invest some of the money to another foster home, founded by our spanish language teacher Gladys and Norwegian Hanne. There are almost 40 boys and girls in different ages living at the home, which nowadays consists of three houses. During our time here Gladys has become more than a teacher for us and she has been an irreplaceable support on behalf of our work here. Both Gladys and her foster home has become important to us, so we want to help them as well now when we have the chance. 

All in all everything we have been able to buy and invest on have been an incredible help for the girls home, and the joy is going to last for a long time. We couldn’t have done this without help, so the thanks belong to you.

We want to thank everyone who supported our project and helped us to share information about it. The girls and staff at Corazon Grande are very grateful and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2014 !

  

And as we promised, honor and glory to all our supporters. Here they come!

Susanne Halmén-Björkestam

Aija Mandell

Betty-Maj Forsman

Sanni Isoviita

Hanna Hyvärinen

Ida-Sofie Asplund

Familjen Nylund

Katja Laitila

Jules Dittmann

Krister Widenius

Max Widenius

Carola Sevelius

Paul Ingram

My Widenius

Mimma, Fifi & Mats

Leena & Björn Finne

Saga Finne

Anu Koskenkari

Stella Kanerva

Elma & Marjo Ekblad

Anniina Salo

Mary-Ann Alanne

Karo Mikkonen

Maija Mikkonen

Bencin

Tättä

Mikke & Leena Soini

Anna Hedenborg

Barbara Karstén

Mommo Karstén & Mamma Lindén

Joni

Valontalon yhteisö

Arcada studerandekår ASK

Team Spark, YH Novia

Familjen Simpson

Sara & Fredrik

Gustav Juslin

Jan & Liisa Halmén

Santtu & Uffe Halmén

Annika Halmén

Mia Halmén

Ira Turunen

Salla Paananen

Misa Pihlaniemi

Tuhannet kiitokset!

Vihdoinkin se on täällä, hetki jota me kaikki olemme odottaneet. Kuinka meidän rahankeruu-projektin kävi, ja mikä on lopputulos?

Kaikkien lahjoittaneiden ansiosta projektimme on ollut suuri menestys, suurempi kuin osasimme odottaa. Kahden viikon aikana saimme yli 40 lahjoitusta perheiltä, ystäviltä ja tutuilta. Lahjoituksia kerääntyi yhteensä 1943 euroa, joka vastaa noin 18 200 bolivianoa. 

Alusta asti oli selvää että käyttäisimme 40€/tyttö, eli 1000€ tulevan lukuvuoden koulutarvikkeisiin ja koulupukuihin. Olimme itse mukana tekemässä hankintoja Etelä-Amerikan suurimmilla markkinoilla, joilla ostosten tekeminen on aina yhtä seikkailua. Koulupukuja ostaessa myös pari nuorta lastenkodilta olivat mukana makutuomareina ja sovitusapuna. Koska markkinat ovat kooltaan kuin pieni kaupunki, ei tavaroiden löytäminen aina ole kovin yksinkertaista. Olisikin ollut liian helppoa jos koulupuvut olisivat löytyneet yhtenä kappaleena samasta paikasta, sen sijaan että pukujen kaikki osat olivat ripoteltuna ympäri markkinoita. 

Tytöt auttoivat kirjaamaan jokaisen tavaran

Muutaman tunnin jälkeen samalla kojulla.

Seuraavana hankintalistalla oli keittiötarvikkeet. Vaihtelevat ongelmat jotka tekevät ruokailuhetkistä välillä haastavia, esimerkiksi kanankoipien syöminen lusikalla tai ketsupin valuminen lautasen läpi pöydälle, saivat keittiötarvikkeisiin sijoittamisen tuntumaan luontevalta päätökseltä.Vaitettavasti emme ole vielä päässeet ostamaan tavaroita, sillä auto on ollut rikki. Toivomme kuitenkin että kerkeisimme ostoksille vielä ensi viikolla ennen kotiinlähtöämme.

Koska lastenkodilla ei aina ole vapaaehtoisia ajamassa autoa viikonloppuisin, on toiselle ajokortilliselle työntekijälle suuri tarve. Lähtömme jälkeen tulisi matkanteko pidemmän päälle kalliiksi taksilla, joten päätimme sijoittaa 1000 bolivianoa (noin 120€) yhden työntekijän autokouluun ja ajokorttiin sillä siitä on kaikin puolin pitkäaikainen hyöty lastenkodille. Kuskista ei kuitenkaan ole hyötyä ilman toimivaa autoa, ja koska tilaihmeemme reistailee päivästä toiseen päätimme myös sijoittaa pienen summan auton huoltokuluihin.

Olemme täällä ollessamme huomanneet että tytöt pitävät kaikennäköisten pelien pelaamisesta, mutta valitettavasti sekä koripallot että lautapelit ovat huonossa kunnossa. Tyttöjen iloksi hankimme siis muutaman uuden lautapelin sekä pitkään toivotut uudet UNO-kortit. Koripallot hankimme myöhemmin. Viemme myös joulukuun alussa kaikki tytöt ja työntekijät nauttimaan balettiesityksestä, jossa pienet balleriinamme Julia ja Patty esiintyvät.

Lopuksi päätimme että lahjoitamme osan rahoista lastenkotiin, jonka perustajat ovat espanjankielen opettajamme Gladys ja norjalainen Hanne. Lastenkodissa asuu melkein 40 eri-ikäistä poikaa ja tyttöä, kolmessa eri talossa. Täällä ollesamme Gladys on ollut meille enemmän kuin opettaja ja hän tukenut meitä paljon työmme puolesta. Sekä Gladyksesta että hänen lastenkodista on tullut meille tärkeitä, joten haluamme autttaa myös heitä kun meillä nyt on siihen mahdollisuus.

Kaiken kaikkiaan nämä hankinnat ja sijoitukset ovat olleet uskomattoman suuri apu lastenkodille ja niistä tulee olemaan iloa ja hyötyä pitkäksi aikaa. Emme olisi voineet toteuttaa projektia ilman teidän apua, joten kiitos kuuluu teille.

Tuhannet kiitokset kaikille lahjoittaneille, sekä kaikille ystäville ja tutuille jotka pistivät sanan kiertämään projektistamme. Corazon Granden tytöt ja henkilökunta  kiittää ja kumartaa, sekä toivottaa kaikille erittäin Hyvää Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta 2014 !

Tusen tack!


Äntligen är stunden som vi alla väntat på här. Hur gick det med penginsamlingsprojektet, vad blev resultatet?

Tack vare alla som donerat har projektet varit en stor succé, större än vi kunde förvänta oss. Under två veckors tid fick vi över 40 donationer från familjer, vänner och bekanta. Allt som allt fick vi insamlat 1943 euro, vilket motsvarar 18 2000 bolivianos.

Från första början var det klart för oss att använda 40€/flicka, alltså sammanlagt 1000€  för att skaffa skolmaterial och skoluniformer inför nästa läsår. Allt skaffades på en av Sydamerikas största marknad, där vi själva var med då inköpen gjordes. Då vi var och handla skoluniformerna fick vi hjälp av två av våra flickor, med att pröva storlekar och säga sina åsikter. Som ni kan tänka er är det inte alltid det lättaste att göra stora inköp på marknaden, och det tar sin tid. Det skulle ju vara alldeles för lätt ifall t.ex. skoluniformerna hittades på ett och samma ställe, istället för att söka varje del skilt på en marknad som är nästan lika stor som en liten stad...

 

Som näst på inköpslistan kom köksredskapen. Matstunderna i huset känns ibland mer eller mindre utmanande, då t.ex. hönslår försöks äta med sked eller då ketchupen rinner genom tallriken. Att investera i nya köksredskap kändes således som ett naturligt beslut. På grund av att bilen för tillfället är på reparation har vi inte kunna göra uppköpen ännu, men vi hoppas att vi hinner med detta nästa vecka innan vi åker hem.

Eftersom barnhemmet inte alltid har volontärer som kör bilen under veckosluten, finns ett stort behov för en till i personalen med körkort. Efter att vi åkt hem till Finland, skulle bilresorna snabbt bli dyra med taxi, vilket fick oss att investera 1000 bolivianos (ca.120€) i att en av personalen går bilskolan och skaffar körkort. Detta kommer i långa loppet att vara en stor nytta för verksamheten i hemmet. Att ha en kusk är ändå till ingen nytta ifall bilen inte fungerar, och eftersom vår mirakelbil med jämna mellanrum har ett eller annat problem bestämde vi oss för att ge en liten summa till bilens reparationskostnader.

Under vår tid på hemmet har vi märkt att flickorna tycker om att spela alla sorters spel, men tyvärr är både bordsspelen och korgbollarna i dåligt skick. För att glädja flickorna skaffade vi således några nya bordsspel, nya bollar och de länge efterlängtade UNO-korten. Dessutom för vi flickorna och personalen till en balettföreställning där två av våra flickor, Julia och Patty, dansar.

Till slut beslöt vi oss att donera en del av pengarna till ett annat barnhem, vilket är grundat av vår spanskalärare Gladys och den norske Hanne. Barnhemmet bosätter nästan 40 pojkar och flickor i olika åldrar. Under vår tid i Bolivia har Gladys varit mer än enbart en lärare för oss, hon har varit ett stort stöd i frågor om arbetet på hemmet. Både Gladys och hennes barnhem har blivit betydelsefulla för oss, och nu när chansen finns att även kunna hjälpa dem vill vi gärna göra det.

Allt som allt har dessa inskaffningar och investeringar varit till otroligt stor hjälp för barnhemmet, och kommer att vara till både nytta och glädje för en lång tid. Vi kunde inte ha förverkligat projektet utan er hjälp, och således hör tacket till er.

Tusen tack till alla som donerat, samt alla som delat informationen om projektet framåt. Flickorna och personalen på Corazon Grande bugar, tackar och bockar, samt önskar alla en riktigt God Jul och ett Gott Nytt År 2014 !