Our next stop was one slightly off the tourist trail; Tarija in Southern Bolivia. We arranged to do some volunteering here, at the home of a man named Mauricio who makes his own Italian Artisan products - from limoncello to pesto. We arrived in the city late one afternoon after a horrible bus ride (dangerous roads, and seats which luckily reclined...but unluckly did not lock in any position, so we were thrown about quite a lot) and booked in to a hostel quickly. After a quick nap and much needed showers, we went to explore the city. Within a matter of minutes it had become easily one of our favourites - the numerous plazas were decorated with beautiful lights, and even the government buildings had gone all out for Christmas! Even in the day time the city had a great buzz, vibrant colours, meditteranean weather - and one of the best things - no tourists!
The next day we arrived at Mauricio's house. He answered the door and led us to our room, and needless to say our hearts somewhat sank (we had foolishly been imagining a clean shaven gentlemen in a white linen suit, with a garden lined with lemon trees...). Not letting our spirits be damped, and quickly adjusting to the circumstances, we dumped our bags and settled in.
The schedule was that for two weeks we would work from 8am for four hours, and in return would be able to stay for free - a great way to keep our costs down, try something new, and keep ourselves active. Little did we realise quite how active! The garden we were faced with was a wilderness, and he set us to work with pick axes and rakes and one pair of gloves (with holes in) between us - a nightmare for tackling the undergrowth as the spiders were as big as my hands. But we worked hard, while Mauricio pottered around and occasionaly lifted the odd leaf off the floor, and by the end of week one the transformation in the garden was pretty impressive.
So on our first day off, Mauricio recommended we went to visit the wineries Tarija is famous for, and we didn't need telling twice. We hopped on a bus, and soon arrived in Valley de Conception. Here we went to one of Bolivia's most famous stops on the wine trail, a vineyard and restaurant called Doña Vitas, to try their reknowned dish of ´Chancho a la Cruz' - literally crucified pork. It was not only delicious, but I think we ate half a pig between us the portions were so big. Afterwards we were treated to a gratis wine tasting experience, and were both enticed by the semi-sweet red they offered, so proceeded to order a jug and sit overlooking the vineyard enjoying the live music offered.
We were rewarded for our labour of the first week by having a far more relaxing second week. This consisted of bottling and labelling various products, like the limoncello, pesto and lemoncream. Mauricio also made various salts - a lemon salt, and a smoked salt too. The salt was brought from the Salt Flats of Uyuni (see previous posts!) and he mixed it with magic and potions to make it taste delicious. I sent a package of the salts home to my Dad for his birthday - it only took 3 weeks to arrive!
On our afternoons off we amused ourselves doing various things around the town - playing 'mystery meal', which involved going to a restaurant and ordering something we couldn't translate (one particularly nice meal turned out to be tongue...glad that was Dave's!), visiting the local gardens and plazas, and one day we visited the zoo. The zoo was a mine of disney copyright fraud, which I loved! It was a great place for the angry looking geese, and monkeys, who were able to roam free, eating fruit and squabbling among each other, but our first sight of a condor was a tragic one, stuck in a cage too small for it to be able to fly, opening it's mighty wingspan against the bars.
One evening on our second week, Maurico's pretty and pregnant cat Chiquitita had kittens. They were gorgeous, tiny, and all different colours. He said we weren't allowed to name them as he was going to give them away, but secretly we named them: Mr Cinnamon, Twinkie and Bean. I wanted to take one with us, but Dave convinced me that the two waiting for me to return home would have been very jealous of the new arrival (and also there was no way it'd get through any borders).
On our final weekend, Mauricio and his friends took us out to a local town, San Lorenzo (where apparently there is a clan of born Bolivians who are white skinned, blue eyed and ginger!). We went out for lunch, where we sampled some delicious tomales - a corn based dough filled with meats, wrapped in a big leaf and steamed) and then were invited to Casa de Vino, literally translated as House of Wine, where we tasted a huge quanity and variety of fine wines, drinking in the traditional Tarijan way of sharing two glasses between the group, each raising a class in a '¡Salud!' to the person you want to drink next. Many hours were spent here, and the party continued back at Mauricio's - however Dave will have to tell you all about that, as in true drunk Dolls style, I was asleep by the time we got home.
(Mauricio is far right)
