Daily Archives: November 12, 2014


Meeting Maria Teresa

I rarely drive to a community alone. If I am heading somewhere with a road that leads to it, I almost always end up picking up people needing a ride up to their community. Yesterday, when I was driving back from Patacancha, one of those people I picked up happened to be Maria Teresa. Maria […]


Alan’s October Trip Notes

Ver abajo texto original en Español. I just returned from two weeks criss-crossing Peru and Bolivia, visiting 12 of our projects. The physical strain of nine flights, one 14 hour bus ride, close to 100 hours driving up and down mountain “roads” going from the heat and humidity of the jungle one day to below zero […]


The Shoe Shine Boys of La Paz

In several areas of the centre of La Paz in Bolivia one can find boys and men shining shoes on the roadside, usually in groups of 2-4. They almost always wear woollen masks over their faces that gives them a frightening appearance. One of the first times a masked shoe shine boy confronted Ian in […]