Hotel La Quinta Santa Cruz

... det lykkedes og vi moedte en meget soed ispige i bussen som hjalp os med at komme af det rette sted. Parken saa ikke ud af meget da vi ankom, men de 25 dage har vaeret nogle af de bedste i vores liv. Vi blevet taget imod af Laura, som er en af parkens kordinatorer, og hun fortalte os om stedet og hvordan det fungerede. Inti Wara Yassi, som det hedder, bestaar af 5 parker. Ambue Ari, som den park vi var i hed, har 25 katte altsaa pumaer ...

... jungle (and mosquitoes) with machetes, worked 10 hours a day, drunk from a bore hole and walked jaguars....<br><br>...which is why i was a little surprised to be sat in a bar (one of 5 nearby) next to a blaring jukebox with 40 gringos in fancy dress for company (ranging from tipsy to absolutely paralytic) within a few hours of finally getting there.<br><br>My destination was Inti Wara Yassi´s Ambue Ari parkbetween Santa Cruz and Trinidad. It´s a volunteer run animal ...

... it was amazing. This is why i love taking the local buses.<br><br>I wake early in the morning and like usual take the inexpensive bus into la paz. The unique part was having to step off the bus and take a boat to the other side of lake Titicaca while watching our bus slowly reach the other side in a flat liner. The boarder of Bolivia was a little hectic, since everything that could go wrong did. I did not have my Peruvian ticket which ...

... host parents, cousins, aunts and uncles have all been amazing and spending lots of time with me! Tonight i´m going to go to the traditional mcc potluck and visit with some people that i used to work with. i´m looking forward to it. It´ll be really nice to visit with them again and to learn about how things have changed as well.<br><br>What have I been doing... well visiting with people and ...

... or stop signs, so people (pedestrians and drivers) kinda just go when they feel like it, which is a little nerve-wracking.<br><br>The one really enjoyable experience I had was going to the Guembe Biocentre. They had a butterfly dome and a bird exhibit, complete with toucans, macaws, sloths, and squirrel monkeys, as well as pools, for swimming and for paddling, and an island full of monkeys. Plus the people there are friendly and they have English speaking tour guides ...

... Lots of nice new looking cars and even a Clarks shoe shop! From Santa Cruz we took a bus to La Paz, a mere 16 hours. Fortunately we found a company with a loo (hurrah). To be fair it wasn´t as bad as we had anticipated but arrived in La Paz realising that we have a lot of time to kill before our friend arrives at the end of May.

... you move out of the centre it is just a grid of drab streets, although you do find the odd designer shop sprinkled about, such as Cartier and Diesel. We stayed at Hotel Globetrotter, which is fairly central and run by the most kind and gentle old chap I think I have ever met. Esobar speaks numerous langages and is a wealth of knowledge on the area and the whole of Bolivia. I spent a fair but of time asking him about the place. Seems the poorest areas of the ...

... me..... Jacques then led me up a staircase and into an attic room where we were greeted by George, a very well dressed convicted Colombian that rents the attic to Stuart so he can conduct his Q and A sessions with tourists like myself. I never quite imagined how I was going to feel or what to expect but when I met Stuart, a 50 something year old South African I was put at ease. He was quite a character and rather bedraggled. This guy had ...

... window and I dozed off, and was surprised to be awoken at 3.30 yesterday and told that we were in Santa Cruz (I had been expecting to arrive at about 1.30am this morning). I decided to risk the 1.5 kilometre walk into the town centre without asking directions (even if I can ask questions, I never understand the answers) and, for once, my instincts proved correct. On the way to the centre, I passed the amusing sight of an old man riding a horse and cart (full of tyres) on a dual ...

... where i had to say a few words. Accomodation and food was all supplied, unlike other volunteer organisations you didn´t have to pay a cent for anything! No administartion fee´s, no accomodation costs, no food costs, nothing. Any dontations you want to make are greatly accepted but NOT required. I gave my host family who put me up and fed me some meals a lot of fruit as the kids needed the nourishment. I also gave the foundation money so that next month ...