I originally stopped posting because things got really busy. Then when things simmered down, with the end of the climate change conference and an adaption to a new volunteer placement, I went through a phase where I didn't want to post; I wanted to save my experiences, and the things I was seeing, for short stories that I could enter into contests, so I could win money that to get be back to Bolivia, or to a different country. It began turning into winter (haha), and it was cold, and I fell into a homesick-y spell, and was frustrated with my spanish, and didn't want to be writing in english to a bunch of people back home. I believe it was partly subconsciously that I didn't write any entries at the end. I didn't feel finished with Bolivia and I kept finding myself not taking the pictures of the things I experienced everyday, subconsciously knowing that I would need to come back to get the photo, or see the site, or etc. If I didn't write the blog, well, I would need to come back and try again...

I was able to see and experience many things, but I am still not able to express what I would like to. I have yet to understand and feel so much more.

There are still several posts I would like to make, things that I would really like to share, but for now I will do a quick sentence or two for each month.

February-March: refer to previous entries... I guess. I was in Cochabamba these months too, if you are new to my blog.

April: Did an amazing, amazing, hike with other CEDESOL volunteers. The El Choro trail. It starts at nearly 5000m and works its way down to 1300m of altitude. Altiplano to Jungle in three days. Represented CEDESOL at the World People's Conference on Climate Change. Joined a capoeira group.

May: As planned, moved out of my host family's apartment into one of Sustainable Bolivia's volunteer houses. Also, as planned, left CEDESOL for CAICC, a support centre for children that live in the prisons with their incarcerated parents.

June: Really started to "feel" volunteer turnover. I make friends, they leave. I get use to the routines in the house, they change. I understood this before coming, but I felt it especially as I got close to the six-month homesick mark. I took many many kids to the dentist this month, which deserves several blog entries on it's own.

July: Winter! Snow in the mountains around Cochabamba. 2 weeks of school vacation led to some fun activities at CAICC. I was also getting tired of being in Bolivia, and was finding it hard to do much of anything...

August: Trip to Brazil for the Rio de Janeiro half marathon!!!!! Awesome!!! I love Rio!!! I was there 10 days, and it was just the vacation I needed. It was also kind of sad though, as I reflected on the value of money, development, and children. Another entry on it's own...

September- October: These months are kind of blended together in my memory. Rather than changing placements after my trip to Brazil, I had decided to stick with CAICC the full 7 months. It was a good decision, though I did start to get a little frustrated with them at this point. Not only had I been seeing a constant turnover in volunteers, I had also seen a turnover in staff, and now we were moving to a different house. Kids I had felt important to stopped coming, and I wasn't finding the time, energy, nor support to do the math and science with the kids that I could see they needed. I have much to write about the education these kids get in their crowded schools. There is no critical thinking, analyzing, or problem solving taught. Everything is done by memorization; many kids can't even connect multiplication to division because they have memorized the table on different days. I strongly feel that an improvement in the primary and secondary education in Bolivia... well, I will get into this in another blog post...  In October my capoeira group traveled to La Paz, where I was "baptized" into the group and  I received the first cord, from Mestre Xandao!!!

November: We stared to get used to the new house at CAICC, I encouraged the staff to get back to having their weekly staff meetings, and I really felt sad that I would have to leave the children. I also felt sad that I would have to leave Bolivia and my friends there without ever knowing if I would ever be back. Some friends didn't even have email, let alone facebook, and all they could give me were street directions to find them if I ever came back.

December: I took the bus from Cochabamba, to Potosi (beautiful town, but I was only there the morning and didn't go into the mine), to Sucre (where all I saw was the bus station before being hurried onto a milk crate in the back of a leaving bus), to Sumypata (a hippie town having a honey fair. I spent a couple days and went to el fruete), to Santa Cruz (again where I didn't stop, I just saw the bus terminal), to Quijarro (a dusty place where I ate my last bolivian meal and juice) to Corumba (unfortunately I left for the pantenal before getting to eat at the icecream buffet) to a camp in the Pantenal (I went on a hike!) to Campo Grande (where I was the sickest I have ever been, and spent an extra day lying in my hotel bed fevery and dying making zillions of trips to the bathroom) to Sao Paulo (where I ran into a friend from uni!!! ahhh!!! everything is very concrete and expensive in SP) and then took a plane back to Canada to get home just in time for Christmas

January-