Lido Hotel Santa Cruz

... br>the Mennonites, they are (according to our book) German-speaking<br>Mennonites from Canada and Mexico, which would explain why a lot of<br>place names were of Canadian or Mexican origin. There was such an<br>economic boom here during the 50s and 60s that an open invitation was<br>issued to those looking for land to settle in Bolivia, the government<br>conveniently overlooking the fact that 'empty' land was in fact<br>occupied by indigenous tribes. In any case ...

... jump you - and you end up sweating like hell and knackered. When they jump, they are really just playing. Carlos never bit me hard and did not use his claws, but that does not detract from the scariness of the 1st few jumps and the desire to always stop them quickly. It´s how they play, a Puma attacking is a whole different matter - i`m sure you`d be totally screwed - but the playfulness escalates and so does the force, to the point where teeth and claws start getting used in ...

... man who enjoyed trying to break the world record of skidding near cliffs. I my self loved to bunny hop off every jump i could, and ride the concrete walling near the edges. The entire way our guide who spoke some English kept repeating "please be careful, please please be careful." He wasn't excited on how much we enjoyed tempting death. Finally after 4 hours we reached coroica or (something along that name) and enjoyed a nice buffet ...

... område som 3000 familier flyttet til etter at elvene de bodde ved ble oversvømmet for 20 år siden... idag er det vel 15000 familier der og de prøver å bygge opp et samfunn... <br> I løpet av dagen var vi innom to ulie kirker som har skole og matforsyning 3 ganger per dag for de barna som ikke kommer seg til offentlige skoler, unger som lider pga vold i hjemmet eller andre slike grunner... <br>Vi bes ...

... here for those reading from the USA. You can either apply at the Bolivian consulate or you can get the visa upon arrival. The cost is $135USD no matter where you get the visa from. If getting the visa on arrival, I suggest having an extra passport picture and already have the visa application form filled out. We had all of this, minus the cash, but our fun started when the immigration officers weren't expecting Americans to be ...

... plates of chicken and rice and trying to tempt us to buy some, we were cautious of this and therefore resigned ourselves to nibbling on a bit of carrot cake that we still had left over from our luxurious stay in Sao Paulo! The scenery through Bolivia is wonderful, albeit conducive to various bugs (Chris was getting very antsy and paranoid before he fell asleep) but i have come armed with my 50% DEET repellent! Next stop Uyuni x

Santa Cruz was only meant to be a night stop over, from where we would catch our night train into Brazil. However due to the current violent protests in Bolivia there were train blockades meaning we had to stay an extra night and then at our own expense catch a flight to the Bolivia/Brazil border. We didn't really do much in Santa Cruz as ...

... a porter for the day to carry our packs as even the guide said he was going to find it tough and he's been doing it for 3 years! Anyway, it was very reminiscent of Mt Kinabalu as you are greeted with relentless steps, slopes and barely any flats at all during the 10-12K days trek. We also hit the highest point during this day. 4,200m above sea level. We all stopped here for a while and enjoyed a few minutes of rest before we continued on our way ...

... had our books, so the train journey thankfully went faster than expected. The upside was, we saw absolutely breathtaking scenery along the way, including an awesome sunset. The sunflower fields were a huge expanse of bright yellow. Santa Cruz has been a lovely city with lots of cafes, shopping, parks in the centre, and laundry services!! Oh yes.

... was brilliant and really looked after me. There was a group meeting called to formally introduce me to the families 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. Any dontations you want to make are 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 ...