Saturday:
Visited the girls orphanage of the Fundacion Arco Iris, Niñaes Obrajes, in the district Obrajes in the Zona Sul. Got a second breakfast with wonderful baked goods from their own bakery, and watched a film about the Fundacion, together with three other German-ish (two were actually Swiss) tourists.
The Niñas Obrajes houses street children and puts them through school; it also offers (at least some of them, I don't know the numbers) a training position. We were shown the bakery, where the master baker teaches Bolivian street children, of whom he was once also one, to bake German bread, an art he learned in Germany. The pride of their bakery is real German Mehrkornbrot (multi-grain bread), but the breakfast table was laden with chocolate croissants, Puddingstueckchen and Nussecken.
Afterwards, we toured the [tailory/sewing room?] where mainly Alpaca wool is turned into cothes for export, and orphans from the Fundacion are trained at the machines.
As it was the day after mother's day, of course a sad day for the children, but unavoidable in Bolivia -- decorations where everywhere -- there was a volleyball tournament going on, and after the tour, we sat down next to the field and practised our Spanish with some of the girls there. Note to self: Clothes donations are most appreciated, and both writing material and games were also recieved well.
On the way back, we ran into a large group of musicians and dancers in traditional dress of all age groups (curse the fact we currently can't upload pictures, this would be much easier to describe) . All of them seemd to have much fun, the youngest showing off their dance moves, the older ones drinking beer on the by, holding up the traffic. We never found out what the dance was about, the next big festival is in mid-June, not now.
Sunday:
Went to Tiwanaku, the major archaeological site of Bolivia, which was quite nice, although reconstructions there seem quite... freely interpreted. The site was much better organized and explained than El Fuerte, especially the museo ceramico, which included historical explanations and informed me that western South America was indeed in the bronze age when the Spaniards arrived, not the stone age.
On the way back, we ran into a large group of musicians and dancers in traditional dress of all age groups (curse the fact we currently can't upload pictures, this would be much easier to describe) . All of them seemd to have much fun, the youngest showing off their dance moves, the older ones drinking beer on the by, holding up the traffic. We never found out what the dance was about, the next big festival is in mid-June, not now.
Sunday:
Went to Tiwanaku, the major archaeological site of Bolivia, which was quite nice, although reconstructions there seem quite... freely interpreted. The site was much better organized and explained than El Fuerte, especially the museo ceramico, which included historical explanations and informed me that western South America was indeed in the bronze age when the Spaniards arrived, not the stone age.
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