Wow! So here we go! All raring to go- woken up, breakfast is had, and Sebastian and I are waiting for Trufi 101. After a relatively long wait we get into one and a 10-15 minute ride later we make a stop at the crossing of Avenida Heroinas y Ayacucho. There we wait for the Trufi 123 and make our 30 minute journey up to Ushpa.
Oh btw, a Trufi is an 8 seater taxi/car which is public transportation in Cochabamba run by private operators. How it works is that there are different routes that Trufi drivers can apply for with a syndicate and then ply that route every day. So each journey on a Trufi costs 1.8Bs (roughly 0.25 USD cents), basically on a daily basis one spends USD1 for the entire travel. If we do get late/there's a strike or there are no available trufi's and we take a taxi, it's still only 8-10Bs for a journey within the city limits (approx USD1.4).
Once we reach Proyecto at Ushpa, Sebastian introduces me to everyone including Mabel, Eliza, some other volunteers and shows me around the day care, and the school uphill. He then gets to his class and let's me explore on my own.
Eliza (the local head of Proyecto), helps answer all my questions, sets me up with a Spanish teacher who will come to my homestay twice a week for 2 hours each and helps me figure out what I'd like to do at PH. The day is easy enough and I get introduced to the staff I will work with starting tomorrow and they seem super friendly. Its noon and basketball game time between volunteers and the staff, its fun.
A bunch of us hang out later and then head into the city towards Plaza Colon on the 123 Trufi and have some lunch after which we all head off in our respective directions. There I get to bump into other volunteers who were not on site today.
Buenos Noches!
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