Tiahuanaco and the Banquete de Migajas

A 'Wall'

This week has bee pretty busy,  on monday all the volunteers went to Tiahuanaco - 'once home to one of the most important civilisations in the Americas which mysteriously collapsed in 1200 AD'.   It was a 2 hour journey to get there and then we had a tour of the ruins - there isn't alot left as the spanish ransacked it for gold when they came to south america and the English archeologists took pretty much all the interesting stuff that was left in the 19th century.  The main attraction is a sun gate which is built so that the sun shines directly through it on the 21st June (Bolivian winter solstice) and there are quiet a few funky statues.

The 'Sun Gate'

A 'statue'

After spending most of the day there we went back to eat pizza with the Padre (head of the fundacion Arco Iris) at his house and ate soo much.  He is like 70 but is very switched on and witty,  next month he is going back to tour germany for 3 months fundraising - the fundacion cost over 1 million dollars a year to run and most of that money comes from the germans.  However, some of that money does come from people here in Bolivia and one of the biggest events of the organisation happened on wednesday - el Banquete de Migajas (the banquet of bread crumbs).  This takes place in the Radisson hotel which is pretty posh - one of the best in Bolivia.  About 600 people turn up, most of whom are rich ambassadors or businessmen and have a 'feast of breadcrumbs' and listen to stories about the work the foundation does.  Unlike most of the others I had no suit or smart trousers and was probably the most underdressed - along with a skinhead, it wasn't the best look. (Although my hair is growing back pretty quick!)  However, the breadcrumb feast turned out to be better than expected and we ate a ridiculous amount of cheese and bread, drank expensive wine... it was a good evening and I think it was a success for the foundation.  Last Saturday I also went to a music practice at a church me and Su have started going to  - my sister knows the pastor and his family as they were in oxford for a year.  Elias - his son, is in his early twenties and is really cool - I get on well with him - leads the worship. All the musicians are really talented, they have pretty much taught themselves!  Anyway I went to the practice on saturday and played drums and then was asked to play on sunday in the service which was quite exciting.  After the practice I went back to Elias' house for tea and had a really good evening with his family - he is getting married in December - (the reception will also be at the Radisson hotel!) and they were sorting out the guestlist - me and su have also got ourselves an invite!
This week has been really good at work and we are getting to know the boys more and more - we've been going to Trabajo Social ( social work that deals with the families of the boys) more recently and reading files about their backgrounds.  All the stories are pretty tragic but some are very shocking.  Many of the lads actually have parents but have left home because of their parents abusing them or because their family simply does not have enough money to keep them.  They have ended up in La Paz from all over Bolivia and Trabajo Social often makes visits to try and find their families all over the country .  We will probably decide in which area we want to work soon,  and a new woman called Nancy has started working and has  big ideas so I think a lot will change.

Wow it's been a while since iv'e come back to this!  Last Sunday we went to church again and I up playing the bongo drums which was cool.  On the Saturday I also went to a youth group at the church after a music practice, and played lots of games and got some pretty tasty food. It was a really funny evening with really friendly and welcoming people.  There is an ice cream parlour that me, su and niko have become regular customers of , and we stuff ourselves with ice cream every Sunday, it is so good and I am slowly eating my way through every ice cream.   That afternoon I went with my German buddies Niko and Lukas to a dodgy quad bike hire place and rented out some quad bikes for 2 hours for about £16.  We then set off to tour the countryside around La Paz with the guy's  little sons sitting on the back to make sure we didn't try to steal them.  The highlight of the trip was definitely driving through the 'river' of La Paz, which i'm pretty sure by the colour and smell of the water is like diluted raw sewage, we got absolutely drenched and Niko almost stuck but it was soo fun and the views were amazing!  This week went soo quickly - it's scary how fast the time passes here,  One of the highlights was the 5th birthday of Casa Esperanza and there was a little service outside which the big man 'Padre Jose' attended, he always has an unlimited supply of Chocolate which he gives the kids or the volunteers - which makes him very popular with everyone!  He then embarked on his Germany tour straight after so it will be the last we see of him and his chocolate for a while.  So I still have to write about this weekend but I'll do that tomorrow (I hope), take care, Tim.

The hairy bikers