Nails at Mimate- Cochabamba

There is a nice little salon/parlor on Av. Salamanca, casi Lanza called Mimate and offers all beauty, spa and personal care services for good quality and great prices. So a few of us decided it was time we had our pampering session of massages and nails!

They offer a wide range of massages and all kinds of unique and crazy nail art. What took us longest was just to choose how we'd like our nails. Phew! Decisions decisions #FirstWorldProblems 

https://www.facebook.com/mimatetb

Día de la Madre

Monday 27th of May is the Día de la Madre in Bolivia, but since it's a holiday at Proyecto, we had a wonderful festival at the day care grounds on Sunday that started at 1000hrs and ended around 1900hrs in the school up the hill.

The day comprised various acts put on by each class right from the babies at maternal and Inicial 1, 2 to the older kids and then the ones up at the school who had the more well choreographed acts.

It was absolutely amazing to see the turnout of teachers, parents, students, volunteers all there to help out, raise money and put up a fantastic day for the mother's and children. There was a variety of foods, drinks, activities, raffles and awareness programs on site to allow for maximum participation and enjoyment of all those present.

Was a fantastic day indeed.

Rain, Rain go away

After a very interesting week (to say the least), I was to FINALLY receive my money via Western Union and then the hunt began. Luckily, I had the wonderful support and company of a fellow volunteer Julia, who very kindly and rather patiently accompanied me to 3 locations until we finally found a Banco Union that gave us the money and not to miss- most of it in notes of 10 Bs. 

Of course once the money was safely tucked away (thank god for being a woman!), and making myself feel more curvy ;), we decided to go shopping. 

Of course, just about that time when the rain gods decided to bless us rather mercifully and present us with an almost torrential downpour. 

Considering Cochabamba winter is always dry, this was an interesting turn but hey- after the week I'd had this was just one small obstacle in the way of buying fabulous new boots. 

We managed to take shelter in the 25 de Mayo market and found some good bargains. The market is sort of a mini version of the rather massive market in 'La Cancha'. Some shopping and buckets of rain later, we make a dash towards Plaza Principal to basically get in a hot cuppa when I find the most glorious looking boots in the window display. We stop, try and after all the unsuccessful tries all afternoon, this pair is perfect. The right color, size, fit - it was meant to be :)

Chugging along a massive box (I bought boots), protecting it like a delicate child from the rain we take cover in Cafe Paris and I decide to have the famous Le Croque Monseiur. Once we're done again no sign of an available Trufi given the weather, so we take a taxi and head to our respective homes. 

Home- quick dry and change to head out for a fantastic evening which was to follow. Off to La Recoleta where we tried a fantastic Middle Eastern restaurant and then headed to Muela el Diablo for drinks. Super fun company, drinking games and trial of shots, cocktails, local Bolivian wine and we are at Escaramanga which is a Salsa club. Finished off the night with a rather co-erced but what I ended up really enjoying Salsa dance with Julia, Ellie and Sebastien. 

Back home at almost 0300hrs after a wonderful day and an even better night to get some rest and wake up to another day of fun, food and friends.

90 days in Bolivia- 300+ USD

I've travelled the world over and lived in 4 foreign countries but it's funny that I had to come to Bolivia all the way in South America to feel for the first time it was a disadvantage to have an Indian passport. Bad enough that I had to pay USD85 in New York for a visa, but I was told by the Embassy there that all I had to do after the 30 days was show up at local Immigration and they would extend the visa up to 90 days which is the maximum allowed for tourists.

Lo and behold- I decide to go in a few days earlier and get told there is no extension possible but I have to apply for a new visa (with a long list of documentation) every 30 days and pay approximately USD 100 each time.
Surprisingly I was not as upset as I should have been and was almost ready to leave until I decided to stay at least another month. Rightly so, my change of tickets would probably cost as much as the new visa charges. 

So, we get communicating and organizing to get reference letters, photographs, bank statements et al for Monday morning. The very kind gentleman Rafael (PH lawyer) accompanied me and helped me apply after much waiting and process and then I'm told hey wait! It's not over yet you have to come in tomorrow for a verification- no details given. 

All this to stay and help out in a developing country. Instead of being happily welcomed (people such as myself who come readily, spend money, and time to add value) irrespective of Nationality, it seems they have the list sorted out for which countries are allowed such liberties (90 day tourist visa) and which have to undergo what almost seems like a complete background check to let me stay and help their own people.

Funny this, but such is life.

P.S.- Great part is the fantastic support from the volunteers who were trying to provide solutions, find other people who might be able to help and eventually when there was no point worrying reminding me that a Cheesecake reward was well due for the duress :)

Hubble bubble, Toilet Trouble

'Twas a breezy Saturday morn when the birds were chirping and the sun just peeked from behind the clouds indicating it would be a glorious day when the shrill and unwelcome tra-la-la of my shiny new Samsung monochrome shook me out of my daydream to remind me of toilet cleaning duty at noon. 

We were tasked with the cleaning the girls and boys toilets up in the school at Ushpa and while it was not compulsory, it would be a great initiative and a wonderful day when spent together with fellow volunteers working towards helping others out. 

So, off Sebastien and I went, making our way up to Ushpa on the wonderful Sabado, we bumped into Emily and Marie at Km0 and then took a bus. Aishling had got supplies and was kind enough to lend us scarves which we didn't end up using. 

It was a long hard day, but felt great at the end. We celebrated by heading out to Paprika and enjoying a well deserved delicious albeit slightly expensive leisurely lunch.

Sharing is caring

Was back to working with the little babies today after a short break and realised just how much I've missed them.

It was really nice to be greeted by warm smiles from the usual suspects like Said, Wilbur, Caren, Jose Miguel and what's a warm welcome when not accompanied by some good old fashioned mischief.

What I really enjoy about these little ones is that even though they are so young, they have already imbibed the wonderful qualities of warmth, friendship and sharing.

Here's two of our babies sharing a little snack. 

Doh!

I had an interesting experience in my first week at Ushpa, I suppose you can call it an exceptionally steep learning curve.

Given, it was my first time interacting with babies, I had no clue that one of the kids in the day care was too little to walk and when it was time to take them out to the playground I wondered why Said was not able to walk without support and kept stumbling.

I kept nudging him along supportively and patiently while wondering "what's happening here!!". Soon, I noticed some understanding yet bemused and unapproving glances from the teachers when the realization dawned 'Maybe! Just maybe he's too little to walk just yet'

Goes to show, you truly can learn something new every day. Might leave your pride slightly bruised, but hey it's all good :)

Labour Day

Just had one day of work and today is May 1- yaay for labour day. Though not quite sure I deserve a break just yet :)

So, we have the opportunity to sleep in (yeah right, my idea of sleeping in is waking up at 0800). Then, all the volunteers are to meet at Eliza's at Calle La Paz to basically chill out, get to know who's new and figure out activities for the big team building day on Saturday.

It was a really great day, with most of us showing up, got to meet volunteers and realised that boy oh boy I am the oldest, isn't that just quaint. 

So we have people from Ireland (quite a few in fact), Germany, France, Israel, Australia and England. The 2 English girls are leaving soon and an English couple will be joining the brood the same weekend (Rachel and Toby).

Everyone is really great to get along with and after introductions and figuring out how to make the 'Game of Life' relevant to our workplace and get the various teams at Proyecto to bond, we settled in for some beer and giant pizzas.

All in all great day with some good laughs, fun activities, lazy lounging on the couch, coffee, food, chores and meeting new people. That's what it's all about.