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Bolivia Update

Posted on: April 4, 2017
Holly and kid from Bolivia

Bolivia Update

(blog content submitted by Taylor High School student, Holly Wanek, for Days 2, 5, 8, and 11 of the trip)

Day 2

We ended our first day seeing the sun set out the airplane on our way to Miami.

Then, after the sun set, we circled around and then landed in Miami.

On our plane ride to La Paz Anna enjoyed the wonderful food we were served.

This was our view as we touched down in La Paz and then continued to our final destination, Santa Cruz. We made our way through customs and one of the directors of the orphanage, Julie, picked us up from the airport and drove us to the orphanage. We stopped at a small tienda and grabbed empanadas for breakfast- they were AMAZING. Julie took us on a tour around the children's home. They have classrooms all around for the kids, and the are even a couple of animals. The children's home has 2 cows, 2 pigs, 2 tortoises and lots of cats and dogs. In the afternoon we went out and explored downtown Santa Cruz. We visited the main plaza and climbed to the top of the bell tower of the plaza's church. We ate food in the square and then headed back to the children's home to wait for the Canadians to arrive.

Day 5

We started the day with a breakfast from the hotel at Samaipata. The hotel had toast, Dulce de Leche, ham, boiled eggs, and a strawberry banana smoothie to drink. Next, we loaded onto small buses and vans to drive to the starting point of our hike at Amboro Forest. The first part of the hike was easy, but eventually we were climbing up and down steep inclines. (My phone tracked it and said we climbed 100 flights-the equivalent of 1,000 feet)

Day 8

We had breakfast in the morning and hen went to work. We started sanding and then painting one of the buildings at the children's home. Around noon some of the kids from the daycare came out to the playset and we played with them for a while- lifting them up to the monkey bars and pushing them on the swings. I made friends with two of the older kids and they told me about their favorite sports and where they went to school, all in Spanish. After we ate lunch, we worked a little longer and then got ready to visit the sand dunes. The ride there was bumpy, and once we got closer the bus kept getting stuck.

Day 11

We began the day with breakfast and then went straight to work. We sanded the windows around three of the houses while others varnished them until lunch. Lunch consisted of rice, chicken, and vegetables. Then, we went back to work touching up the painting. The ladies in the kitchen made us cheese bread, and we passed that out to everyone working. We ate dinner after a long day of work, and then went to play with the kids.
Right after I finished dinner, two of the kids grabbed me and we started to play mancha (tag), and then pato, pato, ganso (duck, duck, goose).