Monday 22 March 2010

bolivia part four - volunteering

after some successful fund raising and planning, david (cedesol founder/director) and i fly to trinidad (...bolivia) in the amazon basin to implement our project. here 14 rocket stoves and one solar cooker are loaded up and ready to be delivered.

we drive to ibiato county (2 hours from trinidad) and visit 3 communities. heres village number 1.

the traditional cooking methods involve an open fire indoors...which leads to many health complications and deaths.

black soot covers surfaces around the kitchen area.

interested villagers listen to david explain the solar cooker. thankfully we had a sunny day.

plantains and chicken on the rocket stove.

village kids cooling off.

the rocket stoves in village number 3.

keen villagers helping with the construction of a rocket stove.

hugo, director of environmental issues of counties surrounding trinidad on my left, village leader on my right.

we take a boat trip with local officials to asses aid and requirements for families displaced by the flooding. here are temporary shelters along the highway.

one family's shelter deep in the jungle, only accessible by boat.

speeding through flooded rainforest.

the main square in trinidad.

as i sit on a park bench, a sloth makes its way down the tree opposite me and starts to venture across the busy street. i walk with it (as it crawls slowly) so no cars hit it. one car stops...guy gets out and simply picks it up and puts it back in the tree...where it climbs back up. ???


kids armed and ready with their water balloons...waiting for passing motorbikes and cars.


an overall success. the 14 rocket stoves and 1 solar cooker were distributed amongst families in the 3 villages. below is our amateur video of the days events. thanks again to all the generous people who helped out and donated. cheers!!!


Monday 15 March 2010

bolivia part three - cochabamba

the 'city of eternal spring'...cochabamba. here we'll settle for one month and get involved in some volunteering.


up the hill not far from our house sits 'cristo de la concordia', bigger than the one in rio.

our house as seen from the cristo.

our spacious and comfy abode (which we found through the sustainable bolivia organization), complete with fantastic flatmates.

we start volunteering at cedesol which makes and distributes low carbon emission stove and solar cookers. here the solar cooker cooking some chicken and plantains.

a gathering to celebrate the closing of the kyoto twist urban project in which 100 families took part in the solar cooker trial. all that food was cooked in solar cookers. tasty.

flatmate brid (centre) make us all lasagna to celebrate her 21st.

solar cookers under construction in the cedesol workshop.

helping freddy and miguel with some construction...as i will be building one for us to use in australia.

all done.

jenny cooking for 13 at our fund raising dinner...many thanks to those who attended and helped out!

the dinner went great.

erik (founder of sustainable bolivia), me, mirka, and corrine out to celebrate rachel's 30th.

birthday girl rachel and steff.

cochabamba's wilstermann vs. la paz's 'the strongest'.

riot police create a shelter so that the visiting team can take corners without getting showered by projectiles. hilarious.

getting down to an afro-bolivian beat.

dalphine and brid.

jazz band at the irish pub.

out on a late night stencil mission with mirka and local artist 'matte arte'.

mirka goes to work...

matte arte's finished piece...

my mark.

mirka's spaceman...

rosia and jenny prepare cake mixture...

...for solar cake baking.

la cancha market, maybe the biggest market in south america. anything you need, you'll find there...but you will also get lost.

our cedesol farewell lunch...

...so long rosia, lupe, christine, and david (founder).

the build up to carnaval...the thursday before is 'comadres' (womens night out)...virtually all restaurants, bars, clubs are filled only with women. similarly, the thurday before comadres in 'compadres' for all the men.

jenny with flatmates brid and rafaela.

julia and dalphine shoot...


and off we go to carnaval in oruro. 36 hours of madness.

sustainable bolivia legend gary.

the party is on...

on the saturday before ash wednesday each year, los carnavales de oruro's main event and celebrations is held in the streets. the parade of incredible costumes and marching bands winds around the city starting at 8am and continuing until early the following day.



all ages participate...







i should mention that as we admire and cheer all the passing groups, we engage in water fights with the people in the stands opposite. fun...but water balloons can also be quite painful.


about 30 of us slept here...in 2 rooms...well not everybody slept.

back in cochabamba...a farewell party for mirka.


brid, oscar, jenny, and mirka!

the waterfights continue in cochabamba.



our last dinner...so long...