Settling In Sucre

Hello one and all (more likely one - love you Mom),

In my last post I tried to give you a taste of the non-stop insanity-driven travel blitz that was the second half of my July. August has been a bit more relaxed for me. I am settling in to this little city: gaining comfort with my volunteer duties, arranging some Spanish classes, and making friends.

I am living in a house the Condortrekkers rents out to its volunteers. It has gone through various states of crowding (eight people at its peak), but its beginning to calm down. My humble abode is also our gear/dry food storage room, but I´ve managed to cozy it up a little (pictures of Lisa can to wonders to a little corner!).

My responsibilities are primarily the treks - all the organization (food, gear, etc.) is done by the volunteers. We take turns helping on the actual treks, getting out about once a week. I´ve got some new trekking pictures since my last post, so I hope you enjoy.

Neat rock formations at sunrise

Maragua Crater from the Inca Trail

The red cliffs

View over the Cordillera

Layering and weathering

Another vista

The hustle-and-bustle metropolis of Maragua...

Donkeys doing Donkey business

Lush pastures

The road home

Cactus action

A few days ago I visted another local attraction: Parque Cretacico de Cal Ork'o: the worlds largest collection of dinosaur footprints! This was really cool, and of course all the mega-cheesy features of Latin American tourist parks, most notably in this case, life-sized dinosaur models with sound effects.

A big highlight for me this past week was a visit we (some of the volunteers) took last week to one of the communities we support. With some of the profits from the last few treks, we filled our packs with school supplies and toothbrushes for children at the school in a remote Village called Chaunaca. Starting early we hiked into Chaunaca, passing pre-Inca rock paintings (no pictures, sorry), and arrived in the village mid-afternoon.

Activities included a brief geography lesson (via introductions), and oragami workshop, a silly song, a group-tooth brush session, and, of course, school yard football (soccer).

Two little cowboys who were unlucky enough to get me as their oragami instructor!

Paper bird madness

Test-driving the new toothbrushes

In full run on the football "field"

My teams goaltending... I don't know how you beat that

The afternoon was an absolute blast for me. It was incredible playing with these bright little people who are so happy and so content to do, well, kidstuff, despite the hardships they face in their daily lives (the people of the Bolivian highlands are among the poorest on the continent). It was also hands-on exposure to the kind of things Condortrekkers does, and the things our client´s money goes towards.

After spending the night in Chaunaca we caught the crowded and uncomfortable (as extreme understatements) transport back to Sucre.

Aside from the wonderful opportunity with Condortrekkers, there are several things I am aching to see here in Bolivia - the Nepal of the western hemisphere. An opportunity to see one of South America´s highlights has come up, and it seems a short holiday is in order.

Next week one of the volunteers is leaving, and plans to travel for a month or so before his flight home. I´ve decided to accompany him for the first few days, and see a little of southern Bolivia. From Sucre we will travel up (literally) to Potosi, the highest city on Earth and the most important source of silver for the Spanish Empire. From there we head west into the heart of the Andes to the Salaar de Uuyni - the worlds largest, highest, and most famous salt flats. The three day tour of the desert and the surrounding geological marvels is legendary among backpackers, and I figure it will be a blast to go with a friend. After the tour I´ll head back to Sucre, where I´ll rush straight to a computer and tell you all about it.... or something like that.

Short and sweet this time folks,

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Tor