April 13th: Yuri, Day 2 Part One - walking, walking, walking

Exhausted tonight. This is hard work. The strike is on and therefore there are no moto-taxis and even individuals have to have a "pass" to use their vehicles, therefore even Susan can't drive her truck (which we typically load into the back of). The city really DOES shut down. We saw a few blockades today but so far no violence. Our hostel is about a 20-30 minute walk to the Hogar. I don't mind the walk, although about 10 minutes into it the shower I had in the morning is long forgotten! Sweat, sweat, sweat. One benefit to walking is you get to see more of the town! Below are a few pics from our walking route:

There was a beautiful garden behind that gate. This was definitely one of the nice homes!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but if you double click on it you might see better...this was a real juxtaposition with these two homes beside each other. The blue one was very run down, whereas the yellow one was in incredible shape.

A view down one of the side streets.

The first blockade we saw.

One of the girls from the Hogar team having an interesting conversation with the bird! She even matched it!

Almond trees lined the streets (although not in season).

Our destination: The Hogar!