'Traffic lights are more of a suggestion in Bolivia'

The past two weeks have absolutely flown by. We have settled into our apartment and are loving everything about Bolivia so far. Cochabamba is known as ‘the city of eternal spring’ and it has been clear skies and warms days since we arrived; a welcome change from the chilly UK!

The first few days of the placement were spent becoming acquainted with the city, culture and our new home to get a better idea of where we will be working over the next few weeks. We were struck by the dramatic contrast between the richer northern and poorer southern areas of the city. Poverty in the south is a real problem with hundreds of children and adults living on the streets.

On Saturday we visited the Christo de la Concordia, the monumental statue of Jesus set to the east of Cochabamba. Built by the Bolivians to compete with the famous statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro it stands at 40m making it the tallest statue in South America (if you include the pedestal). We caught one of three cable cars up to the Christo, and as we rose the scenery got more and more spectacular. Those brave enough to tackle the steps inside the statue enjoyed breath taking views of the city through the statue’s many peep holes.

Christo de la Concordia

Sunday was Pedestrian Day and between 9am and 6pm cars were banned from the streets of Cochabamba creating a tranquil oasis. In Bolivia, church is cancelled for any big holiday (including Christmas and Easter) so we spent the day exploring beautiful ‘Parque Lincoln’ in the sunshine.

Our first full week has been spent in Spanish, culture and orientation classes. It has been incredible to see how everyone’s Spanish has improved in the space of a week in a country where very few people speak English. The Bolivian culture classes have been crucial in teaching us to adjust our behaviour accordingly to local cultural norms. As a particularly lively and loud group, we have had to reduce excessive noise or flamboyant behaviour when out in public as this is seen as arrogant and rude. During the training we have also learnt more about the projects we will be working with.

We are itching to get started with the projects now. This next week we will be visiting the project sites and getting to know the staff before we start our voluntary work full time next week.