La Concha & Kid Washing : )

Day 12- Saturday shopping & Washing

Whenever we go anywhere we must take a Trufi to Quillacollo, the bustling suburb nearest to Vinto. Here we can catch Trufi, Bus or Taxi into the city. Quillacollo's busy centre surrounds a park. On one side street venders sell peeled oranges, hotdogs, traditional bolivian dishes, nuts, toys, remote controls...you name it! The venders children play in the gutters filled with rubbish by the stalls. Baby's lie sleeping in the wheelbarrows of oranges. Young street boys help the trufi drivers in exchange for one boliviano by shouting advertisements of route's and available seats. On the other side is a busy market of fresh fruit and vegetables piled into great big sacks. The women selling the produce shout their best prices and shove the best of their produce in your path. 

This morning the park was full of the Bolivian military. In Bolivia, the police additionally are part of the military. They carry great big guns! Some are younger than me I am sure and there are a surprising number of women in the military here. They seemed to be fishing for recruitments and had a number of displays set up at the base of the statue of Bolivia's historical saviour Bolivar.


We piled onto a bus headed for the city. Half way through a journey a man jumped onto the bus in traditional costume and began serenading us with the mini guitar and pan flutes. He played with great enthusiasm and energy traditional Bolivian music. When he finished everyone on the bus clapped, the man took a collection, then jumped off the bus and went in search of his next audience. 

Some of Tiffany's La Concha Purchases

The bus weaved through smaller and smaller streets and the city began to rise around us. Many streets were so narrow that the bus only just evaded scraping along buildings and collecting parked cars. Eventually more light began to break through the canopy of buildings and the street broadened and opened out onto a expansive market- La Concha. 

La Concha is the biggest open air market in Cochabamba. It is busy with sights and sounds. Everything imaginable is for sale here at ridiculous prices. One US dollar is equal to 7 bolivianos. One long aisle is filled with tiny cubbyhole shops selling beautiful traditional fabrics, carved instruments, delicately detailed bags and journals. Another aisle is filled with fresh produce, grains and cereals. All over you can buy cheap clothing displayed by some of the most horrifying manequins I have ever seen. These dummys belong in a horror film. Each one is more frightening than the next. We stopped at a tiny cafe amidst all the stalls for a refreshing drink. Four gringas attracted the attention of a number of venders who would not take no for an answer. A young boy appeared at our side begging for food. We made a habit of taking food to give to beggars we encountered along our travels. Many crippled elderly and children wandered the market begging for money and food. It is overwhelming to see such suffering! You want to empty your pockets and give them everything you have but then what will you do for the next one, and the person after that and that little girl?



Hot and bothered after traipsing through countless aisles of clothing, toys, dvds and other assorted items...including a tarantula; we decided to retire to a nearby coffee shop. It was so sweet to have a clean, delicious coffee in the quiet cafe.

 

Our next stop was Cochabamba's main town square. The square is a beautiful park, an oasis in the dirty, bleak city. The park is filled with the purple flowering jacarandas. The garden beds adorned by blooming flowers and the cities seemingly only functioning water fountain creates the calming sound of flowing water. Elderly couples sit on the park benches reading the paper and having their shoes shined. Mum's try and organise their excited, squealing children. The park itself is surrounded by nineteenth century buildings that are supported by pillars, forming arched arcades.
This park was the setting for the afternoon's kid washing...yes kid washing.

Each Saturday afternoon the christian aid organisations join forces to complete one of the most difficult missions known to man...kid washing! Street children gather in the park ready to have their hair washed and to receive a new set of clothes. Warm clean water is trucked in and tents are set up for bathing stations. Children 8 years and under are bathed and the older kids just have their hair washed. Prepared for battles we armed ourselves with soap, shampoo and towels. However, these kids new the drill and within 30mins we had washed about 50 children. They sat patiently as we soaped, scrubbed, rinsed and dried. Dry and in a fresh set of clothes they were chattier and happier than ever. Little girls came in every direction to have you brush and style their hair and a little boy quietly sneaked onto my lap as I tended to his sister tangled matt of hair. 
This has been the highlight of my trip so far. So many beautiful kids stuck in terrible circumstances they cant control yet they giggle and play as if they don't have a care in the world. It was very humbling to be serving these kids in such a simple way. You often feel helpless when faced with poverty and homelessness. However, this was on simple act we could do that made these little kids lives just a bit more bearable.

Salpancho

 After kid washing we headed to a well-loved Bolivian franchise known as Dumbo's. There we ate our fill of Bolivian dishes-Salpancho and Pique Macho. Bolivian food is a truck drivers dream! Mostly deep fried and covered in gravy. Salpancho is an odd layering of rice, meat pattie, salsa and an egg. It is not my favourite to say the least! 

On the way to the restaurant, we passed a mother sitting on the footpath flanked by two sleeping toddlers and cradling a baby in her arms. She was begging for money...Here I was on my way to have a great big feed at a restaurant and she couldn't feed her three little ones. Ah back to feeling helpless and hypocritical!