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So Monday at Luz Del Mundo was my first without any other volunteers, and it was really difficult trying to get control of the kids, especially the boys when we went to play football, and with my limited Spanish, but as usual enjoyable. I also told Limbert about the trial at Tahuichi the next day which pleased him, and then I made arrangements for meeting him, before we went to the market and I bought him some cheap trainers to play in as he didn't have any. That afternoon I met a couple of Aussies and an American (who thought that Trinidad and Tobago is in Africa!) and we went into town for some food. Got an early night.
Woke up at 6.30 the noext morning to make it to the trial for Limbert. Met him and his dad, then introduced them to Milton, the coach I'd met, before Limbert joined in an older age group than he is. He did well, but as Milton pointed out, it was clear he didn't have quite the same technique as a lot of the other boys. They were older, but clearly had had the coaching that I thought Limbert should get. Anyway, he did really well, and Milton said he could go back on a regular basis - 3 times a week - so I was really happy about that, more so than he or his dad seemed! Then I got a lift back to the hostel with them and got some practical things sorted, like buying some things and money for Gabriella, before returning knackered to the hostel. Ordered a take away that evening and again, early night - was starting to feel quite run down after the weekend and 2 early starts so was good to sleep well.
Next day was my last at Luz del Mundo, and before I went, I went to the bus station to buy my ticket to La Paz for that night. All went smoothly and then LDM was great. The kids were really sad that I was leaving and we had a lot of fun. Football was as fun as ever, and the girls were still obsessed with shouting monkey at me and making me pick them up. I got a few pictures from the kids and then when Limbert left he gave me an envelope containing a photo of him and letter he'd written to me. Marlene translated it for me and, having thought I'd be fine with leaving, it brought more than a tear to my eye, as well as Marlene and Gabriella! It was just thanking me for helping him with the football and saying he promises to be a good footballer. Then Gabriella took me to the classroom and showed me a wall of hands printed on with paint. She said it's for the 'special' volunteers and got me to do it which I thought was undeserved but made me feel really really proud. I then gave Gabriella some money (big thank you from her to my mum!) and a Gun's and Roses CD and Harry Potter DVD because she said she loved the two! Anyway, so I had a drawn out and emotional goodbye with Luz Del Mundo before more practial boring things and then back to the hostel to wait for my bus. Got the bus at 7pm overnight to La Paz.
Went straight to the hostel we'd agreed to meet at in La Paz, only to find noone there. I booked Mesh and Joel in, and waited around for them to arrive, which they eventually did just after I'd got out the shower, so Mesh's first comment was "urrgh you're all wet!" before stepping on my bare toe in his walking boots. So we spent the morning catching up with all kinds of stories from Mesh's time in Chile, my travels, and Joel in France. We later met Hannah for dinner but the 3 of us were knackered having all caught night buses the previous night. Thought I was going back for a good night's sleep, but the altitude really really got to me quite badly, and I had a night of lying in bed, thinking the whole of La Paz was spinning and not really being able to think rationally about anything, such as dropping my phone off my bed, which seemed like a lot bigger deal than it was - not nice at all.
Woke up very early and tired the next day, and we checked out because that night we were planning on going to the Winter Solstice celebrations an hours drive away. This involved a party in the evening (and basically through the night) before a ceremony at dawn. we spent the day trying to make ourselves feel up for doing this, and left at around 10pm to get a bus there. We did this and arrived in a tiny town with nothing much there or to see apart from on this special day and we saw live music and danced and met Bolivians before heading to the nearby ruins for the ceremony. As the sun came up, a helicopter, apparently containing the Bolivian president arrived and we watched as the sun shone through a 'gate' onto this pillar at a certain time for the only time in the whole year. It was cool to watch but we were all so tired by this point we just wanted to get home. We got a bus back to La Paz, arriving back there at around 11am, and checked straight back into our hostel and slept all day. We got up at around 6pm, not feeling great, before meeting Hannah later on to go for a drink in a really nice bar, which was in the middle of nowhere, and we didn't really understand how it made any money, but some Bolivians Hannah had met had shown her it, and we sat there, chatted and played cards before deciding we were all way too tired to carry on.
And that was last night, and today we have spent the day waiting for Allon to arrive. We've just received contact that he'll be getting to La Paz around 10.30 but he's not very confident because his 10 hour bus from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba took 17 hours! Joel today went to the area of La Paz where his dad lived when he was around 8 years old (which I didn't know about) whilst Mesh, Hannah and I went to a market 20 minutes outside La Paz. It was one of the markets which hasn't been "gringo-ified" and was full of locals and incredibly cheap. I don't think any of us really needed what we bought apart from Hannah's socks, but we bought things anyway for ridiculously cheap prices. Hannah bought a load of vintage stuff for around 1 pound, and has decided, the entrepeneur that she is, to buy it all and send it home before selling it in Portobello market or something simliar for extortionate prices. An ambitious but really good idea we all decided. I bought a jumper, which I've been wanting one more of for a while, for 30p, mesh bought sunglasses, trousers, a scarf and some boxers for a combined total of 1.40 pounds, and Hannah bought absolutely loads of stuff for just about nothing too. The kind of market that we like. And since then we've sat in our dorm singing along to Joel playing the guitar before me and Mesh decided to update our blogs because the longer we leave it the worse it gets and the more there is to update! So hopefully Allon will arrive tomorrow, and we'll have a chat about where to go, before heading there tomorrow. We all want to do some sort of longish trek for at least a few days, but then Mesh needs to head north quickly, and I shall probably go somewhere with Joel, while who knows about Allon! That's all.
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