When I was in Bolivia this April, I spent Easter weekend with a Bolivian friend and her family. They were very gracious and kind to me, sharing what they had. We went north for the weekend, up into a remote village where my Bolivian friend's parents are from. It was here that I spent a rather chilly (altitude 12,000 feet) weekend eating Llama steak for breakfast and also camping under a llama skin that they kindly offered me. It really was an experience I'll never forget.
But the thing was, we spent most of the weekend with everyone else in the village watching friendly football against Argentinians and Peruvians.
My friend's family is rather extensive, and the Bolivians are very close knit in this way : the family is priority. I remember heading up in a packed car to the north of the country and being reminded of when I was a child going on holiday. My family is rather large (by western standards) so I felt right at home. I was perhaps the oldest child in the car, being 41.
Anyway, here's a picture of one of my Bolivian friend's cousins. Everyone eventually got used to me just hanging around; the stranger from out of country with the camera permanently attached to his hand and this is rather a candid shot of her. There's recognition in her face as to who I am, which only goes to show that building up a relationship with your subject can really count.
The image of the little boy with the football came about because he befriended me. Curious as to who I was, he came up to me, offered lots of sweets and I was quickly accepted as his new friend for the rest of the day.
On a technical side, these images were shot (again) with my new love : a Contax 645 camera with standard lens. Film was Kodak Portra 160NC.