We headed to the bus station on a crazy minivan and found the bus to Alegria. It didn´t leave for about an hour so we were treated to the usual parade of vendors of everything coming thru the bus. We bought a couple of coconuts (shell off but still intact with water inside) and a couple of meals which had salad and some sort of fried root vegetable chips, really yummy. We took what we thought would be a 2 hour journey to Alegria but it was more like nearly 4. The bus wound down one range, across a valley floor and up another range. The scenery was amazing and it was a journey full of ruidos (noise, not bad noise but busy noise), the bus, the radio, people talking away, all sorts of sounds from outside the bus. Then at some stops more venders would get on and rush down the aisle trying to sell things. At one time I counted 20 sellers all trying to go thru the bus, lots of them are selling the same thing too.
At Alegria we looked for accommodation but unfortunately the only one we could afford was full so we were stuck. It was late in the day and we weren´t sure if we could get back or on to another village. We talked to a man in the square and he went off to talk to someone else and that was how we met Walter. Walter is the local area guide, there is a laguna nearby and he takes tourists on walks around this (approx 4 hours). Walter was happy to have us come and stay at his home with his family.
At his house we met his wife Yaneth and children Walter (jr) 4yrs and Julissa 8yrs and Pollito (a baby chicken). They live in a newly cnstructed two room home and the children were ousted from their bed to sleep with their parents so that we could sleep in their bed. Walter & Yaneth´s home is part of a community project which has been sponsored by Canada. 22 homes have been completed and 10 are under construction with a further 5 to go, making 37 homes in total. The materials are provided by the project but the homes are built by the community. Walter said he and Yaneth were helped by another man and spent many days working from 6am to 7pm building their home. The project also includes a new tank for water which has been built at the bottom of the hill their home is on and about half way to the place that the water tap is now. The tank is finished but the pipe to get the water to it is yet to be installed, they think it will be another 2 or 3 months.
We spent the night and half of the next day with them and it was a really magic time for us. When we got up in the morning Yaneth, who was on a day off from her work in a local restaurant, had already been up and gone to do the washing, she arrived back (up the steep hill) with a huge load of wet clothes in a big bowl on her head. During the morning Carol went with her down to the main road to get water to put in their 44 gallon drum storage. Carol had a smaller container than Yaneth and only managed 2 trips, Yaneth made many more. We had lunch with them and then bid them a very fond adios and caught the bus north.
