bolivia pt. V

So why did I go to Bolivia? There are a facet of answers I could give: I was asked to go, I am one to take opportunites to travel, I have friends there, etc.

Ah a combination of a lot of things is what it boils down to. But at the end of the day, or thought process, it was because God opened up a door. I think often we don't see the repercussions of our lives. From our viewpoint it is difficult to see the ripples that spread outward from ourselves. A friend of mine recently wrote about people who have affected her life and questioned whether those people actually have realised it. She mentioned that people are in your life for a reason and I agree. God places people in our lives, sometimes for a season, and sometimes for slightly longer term. Those people may or may not always know it, but God uses them for his purposes in our lives. Just as God places people in our lives, he places us in the lives of others. When ripples collide with something else they inevitably come back.

Hugo and Erika entered my life just over two years ago. I only knew them for two months. They were some of my first friends I made after coming to Spain. They took care of me, and treated me well. My Spanish was pretty limited and their English was non-existent, so our conversations didn't explore the depths. But there was a connection. Then after just two months they returned back to their home in Bolivia. They had come to Spain to work for a period, save money, and try to jump start their life in Bolivia (which by the way is likely the poorest country in South America). So after just two months they were no longer part of my life.

However ripples were set in motion and two years later, to the month, we met again, this time in Bolivia on the other side of the ocean. One of the last things we had talked about was how amazing it would be for me to see their home in Bolivia and know what life was like there.
This time was different, deeper, because while their English was still non-existent, my Spanish had vastly improved. This time conversations went deeper and language didn't limit so much. Thinking about it however, it wasn't language that either hindered or fostered the relationship, it was a connection on a different level that God brought about.

I don't know what will come of it all in the future. I do know that God has put them and Bolivia in my heart now. I am not the same person now who entered their country. What is clear is that there are ripples. Ripples that go both ways, ripples going out from me and ripples coming towards me.
God is doing something in Boliva. There is an openness in the people to hear about him. There is a desire to seek and know him. When you share about who God is, you can see him working in hearts. I went there to give and share, and like always, I recieved far more than I could have ever given.

So I went to Bolivia because God opened a door. And when God opens a door it is for a purpose. The purpose of God works both ways. It is to bring about things in us as well as to use us to bring about things. So I am excited to see where the ripples end up. I am excited to see what God is going to do through that friendship in the years to come. Whatever comes of it, no one will be unchanged by it all if God has anything to say.

native hunter/fisher

baures pt I (pt IV)

Baures is a village of about 4000 people. There is electricity supplied by a generator from 10.30 to 3.30 and 6.30 to 12.00 midnight each day. Unless you have your personal motor, you are limited to those hours. Note: next year they are implementing a bigger motor which will increase the number of hours of electricity each day. There are two main places where one can make phone calls. They operate as small businesses, to make a phone call you go there, enter a booth and make you call. A meter tells you your rate and how much your bill is. The same goes for internet. You go to the place, use the internet, and afterwards pay for your time. Note: shortly they hope to have internet available in housees for who are willing to pay the monthly fee. There is no cell phone/mobile phone coverage there, only in the larger cities.

The houses are very interesting. There are few if any glass windows, nearly everything is just a screen to keep out mosquitoes and other bugs and slightly larger carnivores. The temperature pretty much stayed between 70 and 90 degrees with high humidity. Blankets and jackets aren't really needed, not even in the mornings. Posted are a few pictures, portraying the diversity in housing.

The first picture is of Hugo and Erika's house, our friends with whom we stayed. Just beyond it is the jungle. Well jungle of a sorts. It was full of parrots, monkeys, all sorts of snakes, panthers, ants and other dangerous creatures along with a lot of water. Unfortunately during the wet season (which was just ending) one doesn't see as much wildlife as one does during the dry season. Note: next trip planned for the dry season. A trip there is not legitimate until one has to kill an animal with a pistol/rifle/machete while it is trying to take your life in a fit of rage. That's my opinion anyways. It makes you feel at one with the place. Note: the last bit was a bit melodramatic, it's not really that dangerous. But on the other hand, when one goes out to work in the jungle or country for the day, it is wise to carry some sort of firearm. Especially if you are gringo.

bolivia pt III

What followed the next day was a bit of walking around the city of Santa Cruz followed by a bus ride of 10 hours to Trinidad. Called a Flota, this particular bus was a "bus-cama" version. "Bus-bed" meaning the seats went back a good bit and a bit folded out from the seat in front for the legs. All that to say that I managed to sleep quite comfortably for about 7 of the 10 hours. No complaints here. We did stop once at 3 in the morning for a pee break in the middle of nowhere. Half the bus got up, shuffled behind some wooden shacks to some home-made port-a-jons. To flush, you had to pull your own water out of a tub outside with a bucket. I was just glad I didn't have to sit down.

You may be wondering why it took ten hours. It wasn't that it was that far, just that there were a lot of holes in the road that would have put the bus out of action for a while if hit at speed. So for the second half of the journey, in a sort of weaving motion, alternating back and forth and occasionally leaving the actual road, the driver navigated us to our destination.

Trinidad was as far as the bus could go. Next up, a small two seater plane. Due to the flooding of the plains around Trinidad and beyond, it would be by air that we would arrive. You can see both the airplane and the state of the earth below in several pictures and videos. As I've already mentioned the plane I won't recount that particular part.

So with that we pick up in Baures, the ultimate destination of this particular trip. A place that has now taken hold of something deep inside of me, and so far, hasn't let go.

bolivia pt II

I left Badajoz on a Tuesday night on a bus at 12:30am and arrived in Madrid at 5:30am. After an hours waiting in the bus station, I hopped on the Metro (subway/underground/whatever they are called these days) and road it around for a good hour and 40. Now it normally takes 40 minutes to get to the airport but I had time to kill. So I rode the line backwards and thought about what it would be like to live in a big city and ride the Tube to work everyday at 6am with several other hundred thousand people.
So at nearly 8am I pulled into Barajas Airport Madrid, with supposedly 5 hours to spare. Check in wasn't difficult and I waived goodbye to my main bit of luggage. 5 hours turned into 7 hours and I found myself being envious of the man in the photo. Years of practice have left him able to sleep in conditions I wasn't able to succeed in over the previous 10 hours.

The flight finally took off and it was a party on board. You see most of the people had been living in Spain for a good amount of time, often having left husbands or wives and children back in Bolivia while they attempted to earn money over a couple of years to send it back home. This flight, leaving Madrid and heading to Bolivia signified going back to everything they loved but the money. A fair amount of free food and alcohol was consumed on the flight. It was a happy 11 hours in the air, and an even happier landing for some.

They opened the doors of the plane and the humidity hit like the plague. Next was immigration. I went and stood in the short line labeled "tourists" till I figured out there was no one at the front to stamp my passport. So I went and stood in the long line labeled "Bolivians". Nothing like standing in a long line, sweating, looking like a white fish out of brown water, waiting to be let into a country where their leader isn't getting along with your leader. So I tried to look as Canadian as possible.

45 minutes later I handed over my passport to the one guy who was looking at all 200some passports.
"Are you American?"
"My passport seems to say I am."
"Do you have a visa?"
"I didn't think I needed a visa."
"You need a visa."
"I don't have a visa."
(And so on. Short phone conversation: "I have an American here without a visa. Do they need visas? Okay, okay. Alright then. Gracias.")
"Wait here, there is another man coming to talk to you."
(That particular man and I repeated the conversation quoted above.)
However at the exact end of the conversation, from over the loudspeakers came a woman's voice asking for a certain Señor Antonio Flora to report to the information desk. The man looked up at me, looked down at my passport, then back up at me. I puffed out my chest and tried to look important.
"Is that you they are calling?"
"Yes it is."
"Do you know why they are calling you?"
"No but it's probably important, I'm a very important individual you know. Denying me entry into your country could cause some serious international problems and not to mention, it would probably cost you your job."
(At this point you have probably figured out that my responses are the one thing I have been making up so far. The rest however is truth. Curiosity finally got the better of the man once they called my name again over the loudspeaker and with a stamp in my passport, let me know I had 30 days in Bolivia. However he was going to accompany me to the information desk to see why they were calling some American who had just flown in from Spain. When we found no one there, and the lady at the desk knew nothing about me, he asked to see my passport.)
"It's not false is it."
(I paused as I considered the stupidity of his question. Briefly considered pointing out that if I was to have a false passport, one, I would not tell him that it was false, and two, I would put in it a slightly better picture of myself. Considering the fact that I was in the country with my luggage and had a couple of weeks of adventure in front of me, decided to not be a jerk and simply replied that no, it was in fact a legitimate document and that I was just a humble law abiding foreigner who wanted to see a bit of Bolivia. After a long suspicious glance he disappeared off into the distance.

Turns out, my contact in Santa Cruz had called info an hour or so earlier asking for me. Why they chose that moment to announce me, I don't know. But God seems to have pretty good timing. One 35 minute taxi ride and 5 euros later, I was hooked up with Iván my first night's host.

the Beni

A couple of vidoes taken. The quality seems to have deteriorated, but you get the picture. All the water you see in the longer one is the flooding they have had in the Beni, particularly near Trinidad. Water, lots of water.

transportation

To get to the village of Baures... The wooden bench leaning against the wheel under the wing was my seat. Along with two other people. That was set on top of luggage right behind the only two seats in the plane: the pilot's and the co-pilot. Who was simply the passenger who weighed the most. I didn't get to sit there either time. To give you an idea of the space, I could have reached around the pilot at anytime with my arms and taken the plane's controls in my hands- without leaning forward too much. But with all the lack of personal space, I felt as one with the machine.

welcome to baures

Personally I like the color scheme and I should mention that the ventilation is excellent. What more can one ask for from the local airport? Which by the way, is the only get to the pueblo during this part the of the year. The rainy season takes out all the mud roads. Well one can take a boat, but that's a good few days on the river with blood sucking mosquitos. So we opted for the one hour plane journey. See plane above. What you can't see is the air-traffic control center, but there is one. It was empty when we landed... and when we took off. A couple of cows were grazing at the base though. I don't know what they do if they wander onto the runway. The odds can't be that low as it is made of sweet, juicy grass.

bolivia pt I

So I am home again after more than two weeks of time spent in Bolivia. Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Baures were all on the itinerary. I find myself questioning where to begin, how to relate the experiences I had there, and what is more, what to say about the aftereffects that are still rippling through me at this moment.

It was an experience unlike any other. But then again, when one is relatively young it isn't the most difficult thing to partake in something new. I shall put up photos and then explain them, that helps. I shall try to describe experiences and what it was like experiencing them. Perhaps even throw in a few statistics. But what remains is this: For the writer I am, good or bad, for the photographer, better or worse, the experience shall remain only fully mine. I will not be able to convey it in its entirety, nor even a large percentage. I can only throw out pieces. And I will not apologize, for that is simply the nature of what it is like in other parts of the world. Until one enters their borders, eats their food, and speaks with them, those young, those old and those in-between, one will not have actually tasted, seen, nor heard what is, in this case, Bolivia.

From my journal...
"It is always a one time experience- entering a country foreign to your own for the first time. One does not know what it will be like, though perhaps he tries to expect and imagine. Perhaps he has seen pictures, movies or even documentaries, yet it does not change a thing, for those mediums are like watching the world through a telescope. Entering a country for the first time is like being dropped naked into the ocean. It hits every sense in a way words cannot describe. So open your senses, because the next time will not be the first time."

back from...

ahh what a life - more to come...

de viaje

I'm going to be gone for the next couple of weeks. Off to Bolivia. If you didn't know about, I will tell you about it when I get back. So things might be a bit slow around here till the middle of April. But then I suppose there might be quite a bit to tell after that!

Pray for me, I don't want to bring and bugs back, and I can't afford to lose any weight. Plus that God would do some amazing things there! Hasta pronto!

by George MacDonald

Our old age is the scorching of the bush
By life's indwelling, incorruptible blaze.
O life, burn at this feeble shell of me,
Till I the sore singed garment off shall push,
Flap out my Psyche wings, and to thee rush.

a little bit of sun,
a little bit of cloud,
...

a bit of beauty,
a bit of controversy,
amidst high-rise living.

nearly spring now.

A good Indian.

Ironically Indian food is the most popular food in Britain. Maybe it's the influx of Indians over the last while or perhaps it's an attempt to break away from centuries of bland food. Or perhaps it's both. Centuries of bland food creating an amazing business opportunity for immigrating* Indians. Whatever you do, don't get huffy with me, I'm just stating accepted stereotypes. *I never know if it's immigrate or emmigrate.

So me, my British mate Ben, my dad and four non-english speakers poured into an empty Indian restaurante at about 7 in the evening, feeling rather hungry. Instantly everyone felt at home due to the welcome in broken english. Nothing like common ground over a language no one spoke particularly well. (With the exception of my mate Ben, none of us there were born and bred on the Island.) So in the middle of English England in an Indian Indian restaurante we were: two Americans from the States, two Spaniards, one Colombian, one Dominican, and a whole host of Indians from India. And Ben, the sole representative of the host country.

We were sat around a table in the middle of the room were asked what we wanted. Indian beer and lots of water for the heat was the concensus pick to drink. And a lot of blank faces as to what the heck these Indian names were that described Indian foods. And which were the ones that blow the top of your mouth off? Well many thanks to the one native present, Ben sorted us out with his vast knowledge of Indian culture, food and the occassional word that was supposedly English that I didn't seem to catch.

15 minutes later we has 7 bowls of seriously nice looking bits of meat soaking in sauces of varying colors and an hambre big enough to eat a horse. (That's not me saying it was horse meat btw, just that we were hungry.) Being the wimps that we are and coming from the land of non-spicy food (Spain) we had avoided roof blowing dishes and elected normal to medium. And some none/nom/nam/nan bread beside our steaming dishes of Indian rice.

And one heck of a feast later we had polished it all off. Including an extra round of chocolate mints on the house! We had been invited back, we had invited to Spain, we had agreed to meet up for holidays by the beach, and perhaps take a group pilgrimage with our new friends to their little pueblo in India. Signs of good times.

So Indian food holds a high place in my memory. The Indians even higher and perhaps once day we will all meet up on our side of the channel. To share a similar experience over a good paella and pig.

De todos modos, we could sure use a good Indian here in Badajoz...

Back in Spain now after a brief respite of a few days in England. Will write more on that after I catch up on sleep. Just occurred to me that I used the word respite without being 100 percent sure of its meaning. Funny, it's a normal occurrence for me in Spanish, I say it if it sounds right. In English I tend to be a bit more hesitant to use a word I'm not completely sure about.

So shortly I will tell of my Indian meal and friendly British customs agents. Here's to both and a good night's rest...

It's raining but it doesn't matter.

Sunday started promising, sunny, warming up with only a light breeze. That was walking to church.
Walking back it was barely sunny with definate winds kicking up and more than a few clouds barreling along.
The post-lunch forecast was suddenly threatening. Grey was the word with no hint of sun.
The hour arrive and as I stepped out of the house the sky started lightly spitting.

Now the importance of the weather on Sunday is that Sunday afternoon is my futbol afternoon. There are a couple of hardcourts about 10 minutes away that have constant games a happening. And Sunday is when I join them. Now *football wasn't my first game. (*soccer that is. Call me a traitor but I think America should join the rest of the world in calling it as it is, soccer nothing.) Basketball would probably claim that. Growing up in heartland Indiana it wouldn't be anything else. But man I enjoy a good game of football sala, as it's called. Now difference between futbol and futbol sala is that futbol sala is played with only 5 on each side, one in goal and 4 playing the pitch. And instead of being played on grass it's played on a surface pretty much the same as a tennis court.

So needless to say I like my Sunday afternoon kickarounds. And today it starting raining just at the hour of kickoff. But the game kicked off anyway. We continued playing as it turned into a steady drizzle and then a steady rain. And pretty soon it didn't matter. Of course there was no turning on a dime, but you adjust. Such is the game of sport. And the moral of the story is that. Sport is sport. Futbol is futbol in rain or sun. It might have been raining today but it didn't matter.

miracle

For what we need to know, of course, is not just that God exists, not just that beyond the steely brightness of the stars there is a cosmic intelligence of some kind that keeps the whole show going, but that there is a God right here in the thick of our everyday lives who may not be writing messages about himself in the stars but in one way or another is trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee-deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world.
It is not objective proof of God's existence that we want but the experience of God's presence. That is the miracle we are really after, and that is also, I think, the miracle we are really get.

Frederick Buechner (The Magnificent Defeat)