La Caminata

SO...I wrote a little bit about what the Caminata is previously and I have a bit more info...

Don Roberto is from the USA and he and his Guatamalan wife do this walk. This Caminata is 16 months and they´ve been walking from Guatamala down to South America, 12 countries in all where he has his organization is in place. Their program helps children and elderly, including us.
Different groups that he works with take turns walking, so that´s why we participated.

To sum up my experience (for you lazies out there haha)
   1) 2 sisters in truck with me and Ang. 3-4 hours turned into 11 hours on road due to road damage
   2) Stress, last minute changes, but all worked out
   3) 9 older girls from hogar came Monday to walk with us
   4) Swimming in river !! women washing clothes on one end
   5) 40K Tuesday!
   6) Various roadkill and rivers along way
   7) One more dip in river, with hermana G in full habit!!
   8) Yum fruit! and fish dinner at Hermana Guada´s to celebrate
   9) Bridge out made our journey home long and involved a caminata part 2 haha

Now in more detail, les cuento de esta caminata....
     Sunday Angela and I left with Hermana Anna (she drove) and Hermana Guadaloupe for about a 3-4 hour drive to Sacta in Chapare (tropical area). Nine of our girls joined us Monday and we walked the 40 K on Tuesday and stayed at the hogar out there. Started out great, more time to chat with Hermanas and we also played the Alphabet game to pass the time. Felt like a family vacation, Hermana Anna drives like my dad, fast but smart and usually safe haha. We also prayed the rosary all together later on, things were great, UNTIL...Road Blockage...
  Well, it is the rainy season and a large part of this journey is on the windy mountainous roads, which also means landslide and part of the road messed up bc of it and accident the previous day
7 hours we were in stop and go traffic, more stopping than going I´d say.
After my 1st attempt to pee on the side of the road while Angela held my blanket and those behind us looked on in full smiles, we found a better spot and by some rocks a little further up and it was a success. whew!
   Only one lane could go at a time, which meant big trucks skimming by us, hermana was a littl nervous to say the least, and we ended up spending the last part of our journey in darkness. We were all very tired, but happy to finally make it to the convent to sleep by midnight, only to get up at 6am for Mass, which was actually very nice.
    So, Monday after Mass and breakfast we set up mattresses for the walkers in the hogar there and got settled into our tiny room, cleaned, then did some visits before lunch only to find out that plans had changed and we knew nothing about it, PLUS a silly dumbo hit us from behind, but all things worked out...no damage either...girls from the hogar made it okay (though one of the bridges was now messed up and they had to walk across it and find another van to take them the rest of the way) and altho not one walker was going to stay where we had prepared, the girls were able to stay there together. Really stressful for sisters, but when things did move into place all was well.
    We got fresh Chirimoya, my favorite fruit by far, and had yummy Pique Machu for lunch with the sisters that work over there. Then we met our girls and got settled in. We went swimming in the river. Ladies washing clothes and a couple cars on one side and us plus others playing around. It was nice, there were 5 tunnels that went to the other side of river, felt like i was in a music video. Then ang and I just sat and chatted and watched the girls interact, it was cute.
    After showers, Erika and I played a little soccer with girls at the hogar there and chatted a bit with them, ate dinner and got ready for our 2am wake up! to walk. We left for the meeting spot in our lovely orange and red ponchos, even the sisters put them on over their habits that was a site! haha. So the climate is hot, kinda buggy, but it rained almost our whole walk,  which helped.
Our sites on the walk: quite the variety of roadkill (butterflies, snakes, and even a dog, skeletal), tons of rivers, and trees upon trees not super exciting but something. A couple adults from US were there too for a few days so we talked with them a bit. I started out walking a little stumbly from being so tired but then I finally woke up and had some energy when the sun came up and the food began. We took a break every 6K and lunch was after 30K.
   After our walk, we said our goodbyes, got some wise words from Don Roberto and off to another river. HRMNA. GUADA WENT IN FULL HABIT. HILARIOUS! Then off to Hermana Guada´s house for some yummy fish, rice and yucca. Her house is amongst a banana plantation that her family runs with some workers from another bolivian region that live above their garage. That´s their main job and it was cool to see that and meet her parents and sis. She served us a HUGE plate, but delicious!!
     So, after a nice restful sleep, we got up Wednesday, cleaned up, relaxed and left before lunch. We ended up leaving together. It took us 2 truffi´s and 1 bus to get us home because of the bridge situation and turned into caminata part 2 a little haha, Ang has some GREAT pics!! It was quite the scene with big trucks waiting on the roads til they can pass, which the sign said 15 days. oh my! good for venders on those roads i guess haha. So there were taxis and truffis (little vans) and a few buses on each side of the bridge willing to take people for a higher price of course, but we found a good deal and all made it home safely! in time for dinner at the hogar. We went to bed as soon as we were done with the little ones and got to sleep in a little, since there was no school Thursday for the girls.
       It was really fun to be with some of the older girls outside the hogar, it was great to be a part of something so big and really feel what it´s like for those who walk miles and miles to school or for clean water, and too see this tropical region I´ve heard so much about. Angela got her legs bitten up pretty bad, but I was okay just a few bites, but our clothes reeeked from the rivers and the walk, but all taken care of now. Looking forward to our day off tomorrow (Saturday). Got a lot to write about in my journal and need some time to dance and chill in the city.