end of malcorancho, return to la paz

Malcorancho was a wonderful experience. The last two days we finished cementing the walls on the insides of the classrooms, and we got a big chunk of the sidewalk done. And the most embarrassing moment...dancing in front of all the kids at the school in traditional dance clothing. Despite the snickering and laughing, we did pretty well. But the heat plus the dresses got to be a bit much. On the last night we had a fiesta. Everyone ad their families came and we danced and ate. Dancing with the little kids was so much fun. And the food, as always, never fails to be delicious. Sarah and I had a long goodbye with our host sister Andrea. She was such a sweetheart. She gave me her bracelet and told me in a letter not to forget her. Such a sweet person. We have know been in La Paz for three nights. It has been a blast. I actually started to do some shopping, which is so hard to resist when all the colorful clothing and alpaca is screaming, buy me! O and a few of us also visited the coca museum. That was very interesting. They had the whole history of the coca leaf in this little shop that you could barely walk around in. The information was very informative though. The coca leaf is very nutritious for you, especially at high altitudes. I want to take some back home because that would be the perfect remedy for all the intense hiking trips my family and I go on. But, alas, its illegal...hmmm....well see. Today we visited Tiahuanacu. The tour was pretty boring, but the ruins were cool. It´s amazing to think that people in that age were able to accomplish that much. Like make arrowheads and designs in pottery. That´s pretty advanced. O and i quick fact. The Tiwanaku people were believed to be pacified, but in fact they sacrificed many people. At one point they even sacrificed several children. So that was pretty interesting. The ruins weren´t that great. It was mostly a mound of dirt where they used to be becuase the Amarya destroyed them when they came through. And now were off to Rurrenabaque!! Time for some jungle!