The first day we volunteered coincided with a festival: dia del estudiantes (day of the students). So we pitched in with the other staff members and set up the hall ready for the kids to arrive. After a meal, a puppet show, and games they were sent home happy with a goody bag packed to the brim full of bikkies and lollies. Afterwards, everyone got busy cleaning up and before we knew it we were playing a friendly game of soccer. Belinda was very pleased to be on the winning team...... sorry about that Roland!
The next day and a half was set aside to give the 'Ejercito de Salvacion' logo on the front building a freshen up. Once again, we very skillfully managed to cover ourselves in paint but also completed the task with it not looking half bad. Inbetween painting we were fed to the max with local cuisine and were left not wanting anything. Thank you so much to the Captains, Victor, Exsalta, Carolina, Miguel, Veronica, Fernando, Emilio, Ruth, Brigida, and Marcos for making us feel welcome: you are doing a great job! Also, we would like to thank Major Gerd Dahlin Oberg for organising our visit to Tiahuanuco, Commander Miraflores and the staff in the Altiplano Headquarters of La Paz for being interested in our trip and volunteer work too.
Reality check
It's been a while since we last volunteered and along with the company of the brothers we haven't been using our Spanish so much. It's always a little bit of a knock back when we can't fully communicate our thoughts and brings us back to wishing we had learnt Spanish before we embarked on this trip. It's amazing what you can accomplish with so few words but it would be great to be able to share more indepthly and learn more about the people and services we are helping. Ahhh, we could go on with "should've, could've, would've" but we have to live in reality and make the best go of it we can. However in saying that, time and again we are so grateful that we have these unique opportunities and feel our cycling trip would not be quite so enriching without this volunteer work. It definately keeps us grounded, takes the focus off "me, me, me" and gives us a fuller picture of life in a country.