tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242122685669092282024-03-13T01:57:23.173+00:00Adventures of BeefNext trip May - August 2017: U.K -> Utah -> Guatemala -> Ecuador -> U.K
Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-50183441991395955092017-04-08T12:49:00.002+01:002017-04-08T12:50:24.991+01:00Por fin! <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hi lovely followers,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It has been an extremely long time since I have posted so I have no idea how many of you will see this. Since my last post, I graduated with a 1st class honours degree from Brunel University London in Social Anthropology. I took a year out afterwards and ended up in Ecuador again where I volunteered as the Operations Coordinator for the <a href="http://arajunoroadproject.org/">Arajuno Road Project</a> (ARP) organisation for about 7 months. In February 2016, my (now) Ecuadorian fiance, Elder, (who I met back in 2012) got his first passport and we applied for a visa for him to visit my family here in the U.K - his visa got denied. It was the most stressful time I've had in a while - I was physically ill from start to finish and suffered from my first migraine thanks to the whole thing. We applied again and over 200 pages of documents later, his visa application got accepted!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So in April last year, we took the (long) bus journey from Ecuador to Colombia where we spent a relaxing 2 weeks together on the Colombian coast before we then ventured home to England for what would be a crazy busy 6 months exploring the U.K! In July, whilst we spent a beautiful sunny long weekend at St. Ives in Cornwall, Elder got down on one knee and proposed to me (in Spanish). Of course, I said yes, and despite not having any firm plans yet, we hope to get married next year - which country we will tie the knot it is yet to be determined!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, he has been back in Ecuador since the end of last October and I have been frantically working part-time and studying a full-time Master's degree in Social Anthropology. Lectures now finished and for the next part of my degree, I am to do another bout of research - I'll be heading to Guatemala next month for the summer and collaborating with an NGO called <a href="http://www.primerospasos.org/">Primeros Pasos</a> under their Nutrition Program. Can't wait! All going well, in September I will be submitting a 15,000 word dissertation on my research. Quite honestly, that seems impossible right now! But I WILL DO IT.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, I can never simply travel to one destination and back again. My plan is to stop off in Utah on the way and visit a great friend of mine who I met back in Ecuador in 2012 and who I haven't seen in almost 3 years where we met up in Tanzania when she came to volunteer with <a href="https://www.thesmallthings.org/">The Small Things</a>. And how could I travel all the way to Central America and not journey a bit further south to see Elder and his family in Ecuador? So fingers crossed, I'll make a visit for a couple of weeks to Ecuador for Elder and I's 5 year anniversary and partake in the community anniversary fiesta on 10th August. Then it will be home. Write. Write. Write. Write. Until I finish my dissertation and submit it on 15th September.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My brain hurts already.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll try and post soon with an update from Guatemala!</span>Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-52222296791481849292014-09-09T16:56:00.000+01:002014-09-09T16:57:11.738+01:00Where am I now?<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm currently home in Somerset, England and will be moving back to London next week to begin my final year of studying for my University degree in Anthropology! I'm sure the next eight months are going to fly by!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So, I'm now planning what to do and where I may end up afterwards. I have just completed my TEFL qualification so teaching English in Ecuador for some months is on the cards following my graduation next July. But as for the long term, we shall see! I'd love to put Anthropology, writing, and my skills acquired through my placements in both Ecuador and Bolivia into practice. I will continue my work with <a href="http://www.thesmallthings.org/">The Small Things</a> non-profit organisation to keep my connection with the children of Nkoaranga Orphanage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">South America is definitely where I would like to be. Maybe a human rights organisation? (But I will always hold onto my dream destination - Papua New Guinea - as somewhere I will visit one day!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Any ideas or suggestions? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Bethan </span>Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-74632362141212325592014-05-04T16:17:00.001+01:002014-09-09T16:58:32.985+01:00The salt flats of Uyuni<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Check out my published article on Pink Pangea to find out about my trip to the worlds largest salt flats in Bolivia, and tips for doing it yourself!</span></div>
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<a href="http://pinkpangea.com/2014/05/mesmerizing-site-salt-flats-bolivia/"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://pinkpangea.com/2014/05/mesmerizing-site-salt-flats-bolivia/</span></a></div>
Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com0Cochabamba Cochabamba-17.365365 -66.167238tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-72424259935413391162014-04-09T23:22:00.000+01:002014-04-10T12:19:19.641+01:00Bolivia: how exactly have I ended up here?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>Well, I think it's about time I wrote a blog to introduce you to Bolivs! I've been in Bolivia for a little over three weeks now, and so far it's going great. I will try and keep this as concise, yet informative as possible. Although three weeks doesn't sound like a long time, it's plenty of time to have gathered enough information to overload you all!</b></i></span><br>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So, how and why have I ended up here?</span></u></b><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">study anthropology at Brunel University and I will be starting my fourth and final year this September. It's a year extra because the course allowed for two terms worth of placement. The first, was during my second year which is why and how I needed up in Ecuador for six months in 2012, and here I am now in Bolivia for the second placement! I found and chose my placements myself. The course requires you undertake the placements, but as for where and what, that's up to you! This second placement is what I hope to write my 10,000 word dissertation on for my degree.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I first inquired to an organisation that I found online about a project working with street children. They emailed me with info and also told me about a prison children project which was also available. I immediately researched prison children in Bolivia and was hooked. It was different, shocking, intriguing and sounded like a challenge. I was up for it.</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Where do I work? </span></b></u><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So here I am! I'm in a lovely city called Cochabamba, working in a centre called La Casa de la Amistad (The House of Friendship). La casa provides support, health care, education and religious teachings to children and adolescents who live in prisons with their incarcerated parents, or who live with other family members due to having an incarcerated parent. Sounds crazy, right? I've just seen the arrival of three new children, which has taken the total up to 90 children, aged from four to around sixteen. The majority of the younger children live in the surrounding three prisons. I believe Cochabamba has four prisons in total. The fourth is a high security prison where children are not allowed to live, however, elsewhere in Bolivia, a high security prison doesn't stop children living in them. Opposite the centre is the San Sebastián prison for women and the San Sebastián prison for men. Around the corner is the San Antonio prison, also for men. Within both men's prisons, often whole families will live there. Therefore, it is not at all segregated to only containing men. Many of the young girls and mothers live inside the prisons where there is, unfortunately, sexual abuse, violence, awful language, overcrowded rooms, and of course, insufficient living, sleeping and studying environments for the children to thrive. The centre for them can often be an escape; somewhere to learn, receive help with homework, eat decent meals and be surrounded by good people who want to teach them a way of life that is very different to that of their parents, in order to encourage them not to go down the same route. </span><br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the weekend, I went on a hike to a lovely laguna, way up high above the city! This was a photo I took of the view over Cochabamba. The steep hike and exhaustion was worth it!</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What are the prisons here like?</span></u></b><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">They are pretty much like small cities. I haven't been inside one.....yet.....but from what I have read and from what I have been told by local people, they are unimaginable. Once convicted, you enter the prison where you have to then buy a room. If you don't have money, you sleep outside in the courtyard. Depending on how much money you have, you have the option of buying a room with a system equivalent more or less to one star rooms through to five star rooms. The prisoners have everything they need inside the prison to sustain themselves. There are restaurants and small shops, and most will work inside the prisons to earn money to buy the things they need. The prisons are run by the prisoners. There aren't really guards inside. The government is supposed to pay a small sum of money to each prisoner every day, but the day before I arrived here, I heard there had been a hunger strike as the government hadn't paid them for a few months. I walked past the men's prison the other day and saw a television in all the top rooms, with a few men just stood watching the world go round outside of their barred windows. Clothes hang outside the windows and in the courtyards. It's a whole new reality. </span><br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of San Sebastian mens prison from La Casa de la Amistad. The beds that you can see are made by the prisoners and sold.</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What do I do?</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am mainly a support for assisting with their homework. The children who attend school and college in the morning, will come to the centre in the afternoon, and the children who go to school and college in the afternoon, will come to the centre during the morning. I work with the middle group and the oldest group, so with children aged from about seven to sixteen. I've also had to take a few of the children to the dentist for their check ups, and have accompanied a group back to San Antonio prison at the end of the day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's tough seeing the reality here and how living in a prison is just a normal part of every day life. Many children are born in prison, and it's a very open thing to talk about. Too often, the children who are misbehaving will have to be threatened with the prospect of being suspended for a week, where they would have to stay in prison the whole time. Not only is that bad enough, but their parents would most probably hit them for this. Occassionally, a child will come in with a cut or a bruise on their face, or complain that they were hit by someone. The centre also tries to work with the parents to try and teach them alternative forms of discipline and anger management. Standard taunts from one child to another, will often consist of calling another a glue sniffer, which is a huge insult to the children. Two weeks ago, a father of three of the children at the centre was released from prison to the joy and happiness of his son and daughters. But the tone was lowered when I heard the son taunt another child, saying that the other child's father would never come out of prison. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On the whole, they are lovely children who are in a sense, suffering for the mistakes and crimes of their parent. Yes, they are quite violent towards each other at times, and yes they do say some awful things that they shouldn't even think of at that age, but growing up with criminals is exactly what is putting them at a disadvantage. They do listen and generally respect the staff at the centre, showing affection and willingness to take in new things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have been working quite closely with a boy of ten years who I only ever saw misbehaving during my first week, and was often having to tell him off. On one occasion I decided to take a different approach. After repeatedly telling him to stop messing around and do his work, I sat down next to him and his friend, and casually spoke to them about football. Him and his friend both live in San Sebastián men's prison. This Saturday, (12th April), it is the national day of the children. The boy told me how the boys from San Antonio prison are going to go to the San Sebastián prison to play a football match. The playing space at SS is a better shape and size for a match than in SA. I asked him what else he liked to do, and he said "to kill". My first thoughts were, what on earth is he learning in prison, or what on earth has his father done? He told me it was a joke, but still, it's not something that an average ten year old would say. I would hope not anyway! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, his tooth was about to fall out that night, so the next day when I saw him, I made a point of remembering and asking him if it had fallen out. (Yes, it had!) Since around this time, one of the other members of staff and myself, have begun to see big changes in him. I don't know what triggered it, but it is so great to see. He always says hello to me when he arrives at lunch time, he will ask me politely if I can help with his homework, he gets on with it by himself, and wishes me well before he leaves at the end of the day. I was playing with bottle tops and a little piece of paper with him the other day, where we took it in turns to guess which bottle top the paper was under; something silly perhaps, but he really seemed to appreciate the time I was taking to play, and when it was time to stop and listen, he did so immediately. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm beginning to build a rapport with many of the students, and over the next few weeks, I will begin trying to talk with them in a little bit more depth. They are great kids, trapped in a very disfunctional society where, despite the law stating certain things, not all of the laws are being carried out, and no one seems to be doing or saying anything about it. One example of this is the law that was put in place a couple of years ago which states that children are only allowed to live in prison up to the age of six. Well, I just told you a little bit about the boy who is ten and still resides in prison....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As well as prison children, I have also become very interested in the large amount of glue sniffers in the society, and the sad reality of street children and orphanages. But they are worth another blog! So watch this space!</span></div>
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Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com0Cochabamba Cochabamba-17.365386 -66.167177tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-40562621317949802352014-03-24T01:22:00.001+00:002014-03-24T01:49:01.942+00:00Coming soon......<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tomorrow marks a week since I arrived in Bolivia. I have started placement in La Casa de la Amistad (The House of Friendship), in Cochabamba, where I am working with children who live in the surrounding prisons with their incarcerated parent/s. In fact, I can see two of the prisons from La Casita's window! Already, I have started learning so much about the reality here, and I shall write a blog very soon for those of you who are interested in finding out the ins and outs of everyday life here. Also I will be going inside the prisons too within the next few weeks, in order to work with the parents. So keep a look out for Jungle Beef!</span></div>
Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com1Cochabamba Cochabamba-17.365391 -66.16716tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-78692106256074058872014-02-13T17:44:00.002+00:002014-02-13T17:49:34.722+00:00Vagina watching, you say?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;">Foreign language errors. We all make 'em. I still <i>am</i> making them! It's all a part of learning the lingo. Recently, I just cannot get it into my head to ask correctly for a pound of chicken (in weight). Instead, I ask for a <i>book </i>of chicken. (WHAT?!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br />As I very rapidly walk away from the chicken seller upon buying my book of chicken, I mean, <i>pound </i>of chicken, one memory keeps coming back; a particular ocassion that <i>continues </i>to be at the top of my list of language errors. Pretty embarassing, but here it is. <br /><br />(This conversation was in Spanish, but I will type it in English).<br /><br />I was talking to the guy who part runs the organisation in Ecuador who I first volunteered here with. A friendly, casual chat, about what I was planning to do with the rest of my time in Ecuador, whilst here in 2012. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /><b>Me:</b> <i>"I'm going to go to Puerto Lopez to go vagina watching."</i><br /><br /><b>Him: </b><i>"To do what?"</i><br /><br /><b>Me: </b><i>"Vagina watching."</i><br /><br /><b>Him: </b><i>*Very blank expression.*</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /><b>Me: </b><i>"I<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="es"><span class="hps"> have read and heard about the great vagina watching in Puerto Lopez and its almost the end of the season so I really want to get there in time to see the last of the vaginas. </span></span>*Hand action of a vagina* </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /><b>Him:</b> <i>Still nothing. "I dont know."</i><br /><br />I was just as confused as he was. Why could he not understand that I was going to Puerto Lopez to watch the vaginas? That's just the thing to do in Puerto Lopez during vagina season. It's in all the guide books, the internet, YouTube. Why did a native Ecuadorian not understand? Had he never gone vagina watching himself, in Puerto Lopez?<br /><br />Ah. <br /><br />That would be why.. <br /><br />"Vagina" and "whale" are pronounced very <i>similarly</i>, but, of course, they are two <i>very </i>different words. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br />Vagina in Spanish is pronounced bahina. Whale, in Spanish, is pronounced <span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="es"><span class="hps">bajena. <br /><br />They say that you often need to make the mistake in order to learn from it. Boy, did I learn from this one! It wasnt until I was <i>in</i> Puerto Lopez the following week that it clicked what I had actually been saying to the poor man. Elder still continues to laugh and tease me about this incident. Its just one more memory of my first Ecuadorian adventure. Ive come a long way from speaking absolutely <i>no</i> Spanish upon arrival in June 2012, to now being able to speak pretty fluently. A rookie error, a blip, a learning curve? An embarassing moment!</span></span></span></div>
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Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-90932987139983463722014-02-04T19:01:00.002+00:002014-02-04T19:11:42.111+00:00An angry lookin' Volcán Tungurahua <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, this weekend was a bit of a scare, but, so far all is okay. Not a scratch, nor a speckle of molten lava in eyesight and, so far, no earthquakes too close to where I am currently staying. But that doesnt mean that I didnt have a thousand overly-dramatic thoughts of what <i>might </i>happen. Roads splitting open, rivers of lava spewing all over the place, gigantic rocks crashing down on the bus that I was traveling in.......Yes, very dramatic. I blame the films.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">It all started on Saturday. Well, not really, as Tungurahua has been bubbling away for years and even more so since October 2013. Saturday is when something really pushed its buttons and it decided to explode. Literally. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Elder and I were about to get on the bus from Riobamba to go to Puyo for Elders birthday, where we would stay with one of his sisters, two of his brothers, an auntie, a few of his cousins, a nephew and his parents. (Elder is one of ten siblings so, yeah, a pretty big family.......)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, so there I was, buying salchipapas (sausage and chips) to keep my stomach content for the journey, when all of a sudden, Elder came over and asked if I had seen Tungurahua. I looked over to see that a crowd had formed in the road and were looking up at something. I wondered over, munching away, and saw this beast......</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I had never seen anything like that before, so I wasnt really sure what what going to happen, if anything. Elder was ridiculously calm, which is a good thing, but my stress levels were rising due to the cloud expanding so damn quickly! We got on the bus and left the terminal. 15 minutes later, this is the photo I took of the same cloud, from the back of the bus......</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0qaCNXD6Vs/UvEYw9bOzjI/AAAAAAAAA1s/iH0kb1KH5Jo/s1600/DSCN8033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0qaCNXD6Vs/UvEYw9bOzjI/AAAAAAAAA1s/iH0kb1KH5Jo/s1600/DSCN8033.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Elder was laughing at my worriedness but I had a bad feeling and really wanted to turn back. About 10 minutes after taking this photo, the bus stopped and said we couldnt go any further. I was so happy. But then all the passengers started complaining that they had stuff to do so "vamos!" Uhhhh.....excuse me, have you seen that angry volcanic cloud of ash, acid and who knows what else, that is following us?! I think your washing can wait love!.....(is what I wanted to say).....but before I knew it, the bus was back in motion. Great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">So we carried on going for about an hour, until the police stopped us and told us we had to go back, for real this time. Now it was serious. Yet again, the passengers continued to request that we at least continue on to the next town. NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOO. My chest was hurting by this point which Elder said was due to worrying, and I am sure he was right. But I was convinced my body was slowly filling with volcanic acid.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Finally, we turned back. The passengers wanted $10 compensation. It cost $1 to get to where we were. I was so happy to get off the bus and what I thought was away from the volcano and back to safety. Elder and I got back to the house, listened to the radio to hear that the cloud was actually headed in our direction and that earthquakes were a possiblity. Bloody brilliant. I planned my route of action. Under the bed. I awoke in the night struggling to breath. I knew it was just a cold but no, at that moment in time, it was the volcano coming to get me. I awoke the next morning. I had made it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sunday. We set off again to catch the bus. Everywhere was covered in thick grey ash. Brand new cars in the garages were filthy, the crops in the fields were no longer green. You could see every foot step clearly on the pavements from where people were walking through the ash.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The base of Tungurahua</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ash covering the slopes of Tungurahua</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Moral of the story: we finally made it to Puyo, despite having to drive around Tungurahua. I shall complete this blog with a few photos I took yesterday on our way back to Riobamba. Heres to hoping my remaining weeks here will be lava free!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26019046">BBC News: Ecuadors Tungurahua volcano spews ash and lava</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In other news, my next destination, Cochabamba in Bolivia is not looking too great at the moment. Thoughts go out to all the families who are currently suffering and hoping that the remaining people will be found safe and well. Fingers crossed the situation improves very soon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26029248">Bolivia: 29 killed in torrential rains so far this year</a></span></div>
Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-84655642386303852882013-11-26T15:25:00.002+00:002013-11-26T17:01:01.101+00:00'Prisons' and 'Children' - would you put these two words together? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>I've been procrastinating a lot recently between essay writing and attempting to start exam revision! I've been looking further into the concept and the <i>reality </i>of prison children in Bolivia, considering this is the main reason I am heading off to South America in a few weeks. It's pretty interesting/shocking stuff and I thought I'd share it in a short blog with you. </b></span><br />
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These prisons are not at all like British prisons. There are no guards, uniforms or metal bars on the cell windows. Inmates have to pay for their cells and will usually work inside the jail in order to do so, by spending their days selling groceries, hairdressing or shoe-shining, for example. </b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fffcdf; text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>"I can't afford to buy it, so I rent it for 80 bolivianos<br /> ($10; £6) a month."</b></span></i></span></td></tr>
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Children suffer discrimination <i>outside </i>the jail, and face sexual abuse <i>within</i>. Usually, there is nowhere else for them to go and they have no other family members with the financial means to take care of them. Some are born in the cells and do not know any other way of life other than their prison life. Check out this <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/americas_inside_a_bolivian_jail/html/8.stm">BBC Photo Journal: inside a Bolivian jail</a> article to find out more and to read short quotes from prison inmates. </span></b><br />
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I'm going to be going to a central region of Cochabamba where, according to another article, living conditions are no better. Children often witness violence and prostitution in the cells. According to the Bolivian authorities, the number of children living in prisons has increased since the 1980's, when the government took a tougher line against drug-trafficking. This article on <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4415294.stm">Bolivia's prison children</a> reveals more. </b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The Palmasola prison holds entire families</b></span></i></td></tr>
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When I go to Bolivia, I will be working in a day care center outside of a jail where prison children attend each day. The children range from 0-16 years old. I hope to speak in depth with some of the older children and to try and understand their viewpoints, feelings and opinions, and to attempt to grasp a small part of this reality of Bolivian life. We all know it's not as simple as always trusting media sources, so I'll continue to report back to you through my blog with my own research! </b></span><br />
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Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124212268566909228.post-46164930880419609302013-11-05T11:10:00.002+00:002013-11-05T14:51:09.410+00:006 and a half weeks until take off!<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Hello everyone!</b></span><br />
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I have made this blog page so that some of my friends and family who don't have Facebook, will be able to keep up with where I am and what I'm doing on my next trip.</b></span><br />
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As you can see, I am going to South America from 19th December 2013 until 29th July 2014. The main reason for this is to undertake my second (and final!) work placement as part of my Anthropology degree.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>I have chosen to go to Bolivia for between 3 and 5 months, depending on how things go once I'm out there where I will be working as part of a Prison Children Program - more info on the left of the page. I plan to begin my placement in March, which means I will be spending the first couple of months including Christmas and New Year, back in Ecuador in Shiwakucha and the Amazon! For those of you who don't know, Shiwakucha is where I spent the majority of my time for my first placement.......and where I 'went native' and got myself a boyfriend......</b></span><br />
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I will travel from Ecuador to Bolivia via Peru for a couple of weeks. After Bolivia, my plan was to go to Brazil via Paraguay, however, I will be right in the middle of the World Cup at that time! Two words - expensive and chaotic! The World Cup is scheduled to take place in Brazil from 12th June to 13th July. So, I have decided that I am going to take some time to go to Argentina instead (a country I have always wanted to go to!) and perhaps try and Au-Pair for a few weeks if possible and replenish some funds!</b></span><br />
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Then, I will be heading back up to Brazil via Paraguay or Uruguay where I plan to stay for the closing few days of the World Cup and then explore a bit of Brazil! All of my travel between countries will be done using the public bus services over the border crossings.</b></span><br />
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6 and half weeks to go and I am bricking it about flying.....as per usual! The definite drawback of my passion of travelling. Can barely sleep a wink on flights!</b></span>Bethan http://www.blogger.com/profile/10945923024499143727noreply@blogger.com0