Arenal Santa Cruz

Having been in La Paz for too long, and done too little (i never even went out properly...and that`s pretty much all there is to do!), i moved on from La Paz.

The next destination was quiet the opposite of the mountains, and would well and truly torpedo the 4 months of acclimatisation iīd built up at altitude. It was time to hit the jungle. Whilst at the farm in Ecuador i`d heard about a remote animal rescue center, deep in the jungle, where volunteers fought their way ...

... better. America is the greatest country on this planet. My nationalism has tripled since this trip and i highly support the war in (who ever we are bombing at the moment) and I have only been able to find one decent thing about these other countries, and that is their officers. Why is it that every American official, either it be a police officer, BOARDER patrol or anyone with a badge has the largest stick shoved up there ass on that side ...

... and speak in Portenol (Portuguese and Spanish mixed up).

Coming from Paraguay it was great to enter a city where there were really nice people, great food and all seemed relatively safe. We ate well, wandered around the main square (all Bolivian towns - no matter how small - have fantastically well ...

Success feels so good. Like I've said in a few of the past blog updates, Jacqui and I needed to reset our Brasilian visas. We're only allowed to be here for 90 days at a time on the visas we currently have. And we were getting up to the 87 day mark and still need to be here for another 2 weeks. Flying from Campo Grande, Brasil to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia was the fastest, easier way to go to another country from Brasil ...

... are on the outskirts, but Santa Cruz is probably the most affluent place in the whole country. You do regularly see beggars and he told me that there it is much worse in Sucre and La Paz. We were only due to spend a day and a nght in Santa Cruz but our local flight to Sucre, which stands at 2,750 metres, was cancelled while we were in the departure hall due to the weather over the city. There was heavy rain and at that altitude it makes it too dangerous to ...

After a more pleasant trip back to Sta Cruz (we had a woman driver this time!), I relaxed and returned to my favorite restaurant. The day following, I went to the train station to check out the train situation and try to buy my ticket. Well, I found out I had to go to the statation the day of departure to buy the ticket, so the next day I trekked to the station about 6:30 AM for a ticket as far south as I can go, a little town called Yucaiba???? Oh well.

... seen a lot of life, as well as a lot of other prisons. (he'd spent time in prison in Pakistan (on death row) as well as the US.) As well as Stuart and myself there were also a lot of other tourists in the room. Stuart started off by telling us about the foundation that he has set up to help the foreign wives and children that also live in the prison. He then allowed us to ask him whatever questions we so wished. One thing to note is that every ...

... otherwise jammed with mostly quite modern cars. Priceless! The centre itself is quite nice - the city spreads around Plaza 24 Septiembre which is an attractive, tree filled square and was literally rammed despite it being about 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon when I arrived there. A large red-brick cathedral dominates one end of the plaza, and it was the obcious gathering point for the obligatory South Amercian protest. I have no idea what this one was about, but they had nice green ...

Santa Cruz is Boliviaīs richest city so god help us for the rest of the country becasue itīs a hole! Had a good time here though. Stayed in a hostel called Jodanga which was an Oasis in the midst of the roughest coucil estate you can think of. They had a 2 year old party while were there and we met our new travelling partners, who we are still with to ...

... of work, you decide how much or little you want to do.
A strong will to want to help and make a difference in a community that needs it.

If you Austrian and are interested in finding out more here are the contact details:

1st point of contact in English, Spanish or German:
Anna
email - bolivien_famundi@gmx.at

2nd point of contact in Spanish only:
Ruthy
email: famundi_bolivia@hotmail.com

I highly recommed the ...