It has only just begun

I know you're all eager to hear about the project - how much money we raised and how we are going to spend it. Well, you're going to have to wait still for a while as we want to have all the money properly sorted our before revealing what a great success the project has been! But I promise you that we'll tell you everything within a few days, and as we said before, give honor and glory to everyone who supported us. At the moment I can only reveal that the shopping has begun.....

While working with the project we've experienced a few, not to say bad but challenging days here at the house and outside. Our long awaited trip to the jungle was a total fiasco and the following day we experienced our first car accident in Bolivia, which though considering the amount of accidents here isn't that exceptional. Luckily no one was hurt and our space miracle didn't suffer as badly as the other car which had to be towed away. We've also had problems with some of the girls, but I don't want to put anyone in a bad light so I'm not gonna say more. Therefore, back to our trip to the jungle...

So our plan was to do an overnight trip to Villa Tunari, which is located in Chapare, in the northern region of Cochabamba. Chapare is a historical area for growing coca, but was due to a new law no longer permitted to legally grow it. This resulted in ongoing, messy confrontations between the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), the Bolivian government and the cocaleros (coca growers). Therefore the law has been changed by a deal between the current Bolivian president Evo Morales and the former president Carlos Mesa - so now the law permits the Chapare area to grow only a limited amount of coca every year.... what can I say, it just keeps on amazing me how this country works. After all, the troubles in Chapare aren't gone and there's a lot of crimes and murders committed because of the coca business.

Even though it is (if you are lucky) only a three to four hour drive from Cochabamba to Chapare, the climate is totally different. After crossing the mountains and descending more than 1000m down, the climate changes in a second. The heat and the humidity of the rainforest hits you in the face, but the scenery is amazing! The blossoming nature with all it's rivers and all it's life is a total opposite to the wastelands all around the country. The downside with this beauty is of course the mosquitoes and other tropical insects that quickly gets on your nerves. Well unfortunately we only got to enjoy the rainforest from the bus, as our journey due to several "traffic jams" took about nine hours instead of four. typical Bolivia... The road toll was closed so we had to sit in the bus and wait for three hours  - which isn't that much, but you can imagine what happens when about 100 frustrated drivers are let through the gate after having to wait... I can say that the following few hours were the scariest I have experienced in Bolivia so far, speeding down the roads among impatient drivers - on a mountain road that reminded a bit too much of the death road. But well, we survived the it and we even stopped on the way to help a man who had driven off the road - luckily not over the edge. When we at last arrived to Villa Tunari it was already getting dark. So we had dinner, enjoyed a beer with a traveler from Argentina and went to bed, only to wake up at 6am the next morning to head back to Cochabamba. That's how much we saw of the jungle.

Furthermore the life here at the house continues as normal and we are day by day getting more closer to the girls. I don't know if it has to do with time or the fact the we're leaving soon, but somehow some of the girls and tías seem to appreciate us more than before. I could say that the sadness of leaving is getting to me too, at the same time as I can't wait to begin my next journey, somewhere else. The funny thing is that even though we've been here for more than two months I somehow feel like it has only just begun. We're leaving in less than three weeks, now when I feel that I'm finally getting along with the language, starting to adapt to the culture and beginning to feel like home here. Our days are filled with Christmas preparations - practicing instruments for the Lucia-event, and when the girls are not around Julia and I are working on our secret project - which is making a Christmas calender for the girls and small gifts for the tías. And of course every week we are celebrating someones birthday... Oh and I almost forgot to mention that yesterday also was an exciting day as we again got a new girl to the house, Juanita. She is the 10-year old sister to Julia and Patty, our little ballet dancers. And so Corazon Grande, a foster home with capacity for 24 girls is now a home for 26 girls. 

Discovering new ways to teach children to play the piano