Right, I think this is the longest I've left this so I've come to the cheapest internet cafe I can find and am going to settle down here for a while. Last time I wrote, we did exactly what I'd said and went to the swimming pool for a while and then watched the champions league final with A LOT of Israeli's, all supporting Chelsea because of their Israeli manager. I was supporting Man U, as was Hannah, but we got more into it because of the annoying "Chelsea" fans. That evening we did nothing much except decide our next destination, which was Trinidad. However, because the bus to Trini came from hundreds of miles away, along dodgy roads, once a day, it was impossible for the terminal to have a set time for it, so we were told any time between 12am and 5am. We decided to get 2 mini buses there. The first, supposed to take 3 hours, took 6 and a half, and we arrived in a town which didn't look like it had much to offer, San Borja, about 1am and managed to find a DISGUSTING hotel where we stayed for around 6 hours before heading opff for the second minibus. This took the whole of the next day, in the boiling heat and like the first one, had about 20 people in a 15 person minibus. Neither was a pleasant experience to say the least. Eventually we arrived in Trinidad and got a taxi to a Lonely Planet recommendation, then checked into our room which had a huge TV, so Hannah settled down to a few hours of CSI. We went for a nice dinner and then crashed out. The next day we went for an odd breakfast, odd because we got served by possibly the stupidest person in the world - a girl who just didn't understand anything. Usually when people here don't understand something we assumme it's our bad spanish, but this was things as simple as saying with bacon, without ham, or orange juice, and pointing at the menu to express these things. Anyway, we spent much f the day trying to find out about what there was to do in Trini before later heading out for dinner where we met a French guy who was doing some work for a company which i think is called Save the Children, but I'm not sure, but it sounded amazing and was really interesting talking to him about his work. We did nothing else apart from watch the people of Trinidad enjoy a Friday night out, during which all they do is drive round and round the central plaza on their flashy bikes and cars. We had immediately noticed the huge contrast to the west of Bolivia - there was obviously a lot more money here and a lot less poverty.

The next day we found out about a nearby lake, hired a moped and drove out there. We spent the afternoon there swimming and sitting around doing not very much. We stayed there quite late before returning the moped and heading back to the hotel, where the lure of our cable TV was too much so we just watched that. The next day we went back to the lake, but to another part where there was a huge slide into the water so spent the day entertaining ourselves with that. We decided to leave Trinidad (where, I forgot to mention, is open drained!) that night and head to Santa Cruz, and then on to Samaipata straight away. We got an overnight bus, arrived at around 7am and got a bus at 9am to Samaipata - a town recommended by Lonely Planet as somewhere which is going to become one of the top places to go in Bolivia. It is a very nice town surrounded by beautiful views and hills and a national park so we spent a while there. The day we arrived there though, we got nothing sorted for the next day so had to spend the next day trying to decide what to do. We found an agency run by some Germen men who were really really helpful, just like tourist information, not really trying to sell us anything, and so found out about all there is to do. It turned out the national park was almost completely inaccessible without a tour company, which we didn't want, and we'd met people who had said it wasn't THAT good, so we decided to miss it out. We went to the animal refuge, where when we got there, some huge howler monkeys were in the kitchen and they told us they might climb on us. One of them quickly took a shine to me and so I had him on me the whole time we walked around the refuge - I have some good pictures of that! Hannah had a smaller monkey climb onto her and later wee on her which was hilarious, but she was wearing my T-shirt so not that hilarious. Then we went up the hill to El Fuerte, an archaeological site which was interesting but we went round it quite quickly before heading back. We got a taxi with an old couple from Santa Cruz who gave me their address and phone number and told me to call them during my volunteering there. I am going to call tomorrow. The next day we hired camping equipment and bought a lot of food and headed off early the next day to a place called La Pajcha. This was only 43km away from Samaipata, but on really bad roads so it took over 2 hours and an expensive taxi. When we got there though it was obvious it was worth it. There was a small area to set up camp, and only 10 metres away, a huge 20m high waterfall with a white sandy beach next to it. We unloaded our things next to some others who were there and set up camp. Then, when the taxi didn't leave we asked him why not. He said it was too far top bother going back and coming to pick us up again tomorrow so he was going to stay. While this was fine by us if he wanted to do this it was slightly weird because we felt like we had to include him in everything we did, like having a campfire and toasting marshmellows, so we did and it was OK but not what we were paying him for! We had a really nice time relaxing by the falls and had a fire with the other campers down on the beach. That night it rained quite hard though so the taxi driver said we should leave soon because too much rain might make the road impossible to drive on. We did that and headed back to Samaipata. We grabbed some lunch and then got a packed (6 people!) taxi to Santa Cruz where we soon found out everything was a bit more expensive. The room we got cost us 2 and a half times more than the one in Samaipata and it wasn't even that nice. It was very central though. We had a wonder round and got our bearing of the city centre and then onto a market where I bought some nice flip flops for next to nothing, but it was absolutely freezing cold - someone has since told me it was 5 degrees plus there was a bitter wind - so we just went to get some food and a drink. I had a 250ml bottle of beer which cost over a pound (??!?!!!) and went to bed unhappy. The next day we did a lot of practical things, like Hannah spoke to someone about her volunteering on the phone, booked her bus ticket to La Paz and I went and reserved a place at the hostel I needed to go to for my volunteering. I ment a couple of the volunteers there who told me a bit more about it. Apparently there were too many volunteers at the moment for such a small cause so I might not be needed which really really annoyed me. Also, something which the people I'd been emailed forgot to tell me was that it was only 4 days a week and for 3 hours on those 4 days. I felt as though if there was a chance I wasn't needed that the measly 12 hours a week I'd be contributing for only 3 weeks would be pointless, so I have since been looking for something else. Me and Hannah went out to a Cuban Salsa club that evening and danced the night away with some of the most hilarious, bum-shaking men ever. It was fun but tired us out unbelievably.

The next day we spent doing absolutely nothing before Hannah got her bus to La Paz. It was sad to say bye to her of course but I think we were both looking forward to a bit of a change from normal travelling and settling down a little in the cities we were doing our volunteering in. I headed to my hostel, where I was given a phone number by one of the other volunteers of someone who was sort of in charge of things there, and invited out for the evening with them. However I don't think I'd really got out of sleep mode that day so I just sat around and chatted to some people in the hostel, ordered a chicken cesar wrap to be delivered to the hostel so I didn't have to move anywhere, and then went to bed. The next day, there was a meeting for the volunteers which I went along to and met the other people who were all very friendly and made me feel very welcome. We then all went and got something to eat, including some of the best ice cream I've ever tried, and then went to a market where we spent far too long waiting for one of the guys looking for a present for his girlfriend. After that we went, now wait for it... GO KARTING!! It took us a while to get there, and then when we did we had to wait for over an hour to get our 20 minutes but it was completely worth it. It was so so so fun. Maybe not very cultural, but still. There was us 9 and the one Bolivian boy (who beat us all), but other than him I won which I was chuffed with. We went and got something to eat, and I had to go to 4 different restaurants to find some water, and then headed back to the hostel. I went on the internet to look for volunteer things a bit more, but then decided to see what Luz Del Mundo was like the next morning.

I got up early for it the next morning and was waiting around for the others for a while before we headed off by bus to the foundation. It was in a pretty poor part of Santa Cruz and this was very noticable. The organisation is basically this woman Gabriella's house and she opens it up 4 mornings a week for the street kids around the area so they have something producative to do. The volunteers play with the kids, teach them English, or whatever else, and generally look after them. It is obviously a very worthwhile cause but I didn't feel at all needed - I'm positive if I wasn't there there would still be a couple too many helping out, but I got involved anyway and had some fun playing football with the boys. I feel as though if I'd been emailing someone more involved in the organsation I might have been able to set up some football coaching, but the whole thing is is just complete mayhem - which is very Bolivian so quite nice in a way - but there isn't much structure to it. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I can see now that the companies where you pay money to volunteer, like Hannah's, will make the effort to get things for you to do and that is very important and what I am looking for. I am therefore on the lookout for something else, but in the meantime, until I find anything else I shall stay here in Santa Cruz and continue with Luz Del Mundo, do some Spanish lessons, and try and make the most of my time here. I am in particular looking for something else in SC that I might be able to juggle with Luz Del Mundo, but who knows. Anyway, I forgot to mention that while all of this was going on I was in email contact with Allon who has now stopped off in SC and I have spent today with him. He is only here for a couple of days but it is cool to see him again.

Anyway, that is a long and now just about complete update to my blog.