First Impressions

First impressions when I arrived at the hotel were of surprise. They have done up the entrance so it is now looking bright and airy. They have also rearranged the reception desk and seating area and it seems that there is more room somehow.

Along the way to the coffee shop to have a drink of fresh fruit juice, I noticed that there are several new businesses – pharmaceutical businesses – and new restaurants, so in this part of town at least things are not looking so bad. Another novelty was that I saw a few people out walking little dogs. Now that certainly is a new development!

Sitting beside me on the plane from Santa Cruz was a teenage girl. Her parents are from Quillacollo, a district outside Cochabamba where the shoe factory that I buy the children's shoes is located. When she was five, her father emigrated to Spain and found work in Seville. Two years later she and her mother moved there to join him so she has spent the last seven years of her life there. Now 16, her parents have sent her back to Bolivia for a year to finish her secondary education and get her “bachillerato”. She was in a turmoil: she did not want to come; she felt like she was being uprooted; she would miss her friends … but, on the other hand, she realised that her parents were doing what they thought was right for her because she did not want to stay at school in Seville and they had told her that in the long run it was in her best interests to get a qualification. She was going to spend the next eight months at her aunt and uncle's house in Quillacollo. Another reason her parents wanted her to spend some time here is so that she would realise just how fortunate she is to have everything she needs and more when so many have no choices.

She opened her heart and we had a long chat. She seems determined to really do her best to complete her studies so she can return to Seville before Christmas. Sometimes setting goals concentrates the mind and it certainly seems to have done so in her case.