So after a very rushed Thursday (31 October) with a visit to the gym, taking my last Spanish lesson in the house with Maria, and then a visit into the centre of town, I decided 2 hours before Maria and Lilly were catching the bus to Monteagudo that I wanted to go. Michelle and I had other plans in mind but having spoken to the Dutch lady in Cafe Flavour and then to my parents, I decided to go with Maria to experience a true Bolivian weekend. This weekend happens every year, where the families come together to remember those who have died. The weekend is about celebrating their lives, so for the entire weekend you spend time with your family and visit your friends nearby to pay respect. You eat tons of food, way too much in fact, drink some disgusting alcoholic drink called Chicha, and visit the cemetery nearby. Most people here in Bolivia are buried as they are all catholic and they are only cremated if something terrible has happened to their body. This "fiesta" as they call it is called "Todo Santos." It has been a very interesting weekend...

After a 10 hour bumpy bus journey from Sucre, we arrive in Maria's hometown at 5am in the morning. We get to meet all her family who are at the house, sleep for a couple of hours, and then we wonder the streets, going into every other house we pass by to meet Marias friends and pay respect to the family member that has died. In the house they have a table full of offerings of all the things that the person liked. The table is decorated with candles, flowers, colourful paper decorations and a brightly coloured table sheet. At the top of the table is a photograph of the person who has died and then they lay out all kinds of food from bread (yes that dreaded stale bread again), a spicy chicken and rice dish and lots of alcoholic drink. Other things I saw placed on the table were cigarettes and coca leaves, obviously these were things that the person used to love. It was lovely to see so much effort put into celebrating someone's life and it occurred to me that in England, once a person has died we have a funeral for them a week later but nothing more. It is nice to take one weekend out of the year to remember those who we loved.

After entering the first house, greeting the family and seeing the well decorated table, we were told to sit down. We were then given a spicy chicken dish with rice and potatoes and pasta (yes, can you believe it, all 3 CARBS and NO VEGETABLES!) They then brought out a plate full of empanadas, that flippin' stale bread (they call it 'pan' here) and shortbread type things (gallettas)...yes more bread, more carbs, oh my goodness my belly was in so much pain after this visit. And it didn't stop their either, the lady then enters the room with a green coloured drink which tasted like mouthwash with alcohol, but worse. That's the only way I can describe it, and it was a bit of a shock when I drank it as my reflexes told me not too, so very disrespectfully I spat some out as I was trying to knock it back. Luckily the family just stood there laughing at me and didn't take offence to my reaction. OPS!

Anyway, after that we said a quick prayer around the table, thanked the family for their kindness and left. What an experience. Maria then takes us to another house...and guess what? The same happens again! We get offered their food (and it's rude to say no), more bread, more rice and more chicken. What is Maria doing to us? Does she really think we need feeding up this much? Normally as a backpacker you take anything you are given that is free, and free food is a bonus - but this weekend has changed me for sure! We return to the house, chill a little and then head off to the cemetery which was a 5 minute walk down the road on the top of a hill looking over the town. When we arrived at 5pm the cemetery was full of people. And until we left at 9.30pm the three of us tourists felt like the Royals. I felt like I was Kate Middleton and whoever you walked past they would simply stop and stare at you. You would also get men making some kind of joke with their mates and many would whistle at you as you walked me. You could not look anywhere without noticing that everyone around was staring at you. For the first hour I could deal with it, but after that we were getting a little frustrated. We did stick out like sore thumbs, all blonde, tall and pale skin, so yes, ok we were rather interested but we are human beings after all and apart from appearances we were not much different that evening. Despite that, the atmosphere in the cemetery was lovely, very relaxed and happy...it wasn't like you felt you were in a cemetery. The people weren't grieving; they were celebrating. And hey, why not turn a negative into a positive.

Maria seemed to know everyone there as it is a small village, so we walked around the cemetery meeting and greeting her friends and their families. This part was fine, but then it got crazy. Every time we met a new friend, they were in the middle of praying for them and when they pay, they offer everyone 'pan'. Not just one piece, but 4 or 5 pieces...of pan. After visiting several graves and collecting pan, we couldn't eat any more, so we ended up stuffing Lilly's bag with our offerings. By the end of the evening her bag was overflowing, I am kidding you not. What a crazy thing to do! Not only was I sick at the sight of pan, but we also got offered Chicha, which is the most disgusting drink ever (although I think rice wine in Asia beats it). We tried not to drink too much of it as Maria warned us that it was not good for our stomach (that was after a few cups had been given to us!)...so after her warning, we copied the locals and poured the drinks around the graves as a suggested act of kindness to the dead. We arrived back at half 9 completely exhausted, so headed straight to bed.

The following day, I was up at 7am vomiting in the toilet. That bloody Chicha and pan! I felt so weak that day too so when Maria took us to another house where they offered food again, I just had to refuse and I say I was ill. I even had to run to the toilet during the prayer to vomit. Now I can't even look at 'pan' any more without feeling ill. Please, I hope Peru doesn't have this stuff! Maria took us around the Centre of town and we said a quick hello to her mum and aunties who were working in the markets selling vegetables. In the evening we chilled in the house before spending the afternoon playing football in the field with all the family. It was such a laugh, everyone was up for playing even if they couldn't even kick the ball, but we all had so many giggles and ended up playing together for 3 hours! During the game I came to realise that when doing something like this, you completely forget about all your differences, where you are, or how little you have...you are simply totally enjoying this moment you have to spend with your close family and friends, a time full of laughter and happiness. It was wonderful. Hey, take a look at the football photo too, I just love this! Notice, Maria's mother and another family member are wearing the traditional clothes.

Before it got dark, we returned to the house exhausted, so just chilled outside on the steps before heading to bed.

Sunday I was feeling great, my stomach was better, I was full of energy and didn't even have a headache, yippee! But then Lilly was ill. Poor old Lilly, her skin was covered in a red rash. We think it was because she took her malaria tablets whilst being on antibiotics too, so her body reacted badly to this. We took her to the doctors; he gave her an injection in her bum and gave her more tablets to take to calm the rash. She was very weak and looked really ill bless her, but in the evening we headed to the river and took with us a picnic. Luckily by late evening she had gained a bit more energy and was more like the Lilly we knew J. The picnic by the river was awesome, as was the journey! We ended up getting a lift in the cousins green lorry (see the pictures!) and took with us a load of chicken, rice, potatoes and yes, a lettuce leaf J. With my help, we managed to make a fire on the beach and cook the chicken. I feel proud I now know how to start a fire after much practise in Australia and New Zealand. I played in the sand with the two little kids too, they were SO cute! It was a lovely end to the weekend, and so great to experience the life of a Bolivian. Content, we caught the 7pm bus back to Sucre and arrived at 4.30am. It's now Monday 4th November and I am back in Maria's house, back in my bedroom, I can help myself in the kitchen...it's great - I really am going to miss this life when I leave tomorrow. My main job today was to update my blog as it has been on my list for a very long time now, but at long last I have accomplished my mission! It has taken all morning but I have enjoyed writing this one J I best get on with the rest of my jobs for today...

I hope I can speak to some of you soon before I'm back on the road tomorrow. Missing you tons and I think about you lots J

ps. how could I forget viewing the slaughter of 3 chickens for our dinner the following day (see the main photo!)! It was a brutal death - first they cut the chickens necks, then let the blood drain out of them and then plucked them before they stuck them in the fridge! I must admit they were delicious the other day, but it did make me feel rather ill watching it all in their courtyard! yukkkyyy. This entire weekend was an experience I will never forget!

XXXXX