Another Road Trip - Destination Charagua

The weekend after we went to Moro Moro, we headed to another region, to the corner of the Chaco here in Bolivia, where Liz and Ramont are working. We hadn't been there before, and were excited about seeing their home and work.

We took a Trufi, which is a regularly scheduled taxi with a particular destination, and it worked out quite well. He got us there in 5 hours, with one stop for a snack and bathroom. I must say, the bathrooms out in this neck of the woods are a marked improvement over the ones coming back from Cochabamba!

Liz and Ramont were happy to see us, and the kids were thrilled with the triple bunkbed. Seriously, I wish I would have had something like that when I was a kid.

The following morning, it wasn't as hot as we expected. We got into the truck, some of us in the back, and headed to a colony. There, we had the privilege of seeing a local cheese factory. It was quite the sight and made us all a little hungry seeing the pounds and pounds of cheese. Kezia stumbled into the trough where all the whey was draining off and got her leg all wet. Thanks Ramont for washing it off and saving the day!

Next stop, colony store. To buy what? Cheese? No. Two slingshots. One for Joel and one for Kezia? No. Kezia didn't want one, Carl did. The rest of the morning was spent by the boys firing rocks into the field with their new slingshots.

We had naps, relaxed, read books, visited for the rest of the day. And of course, every time two or more people sat down for more than 10 minutes, we drank terrere. The kids played in the back of the pick up as if it was the most amazing jungle gym ever invented. Who would have thought? It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too windy, it wasn't too loud, it wasn't too quiet. Frankly, it was pretty perfect. I told Carl that I could live here.

On Sunday, we went to church with them and the kids went to Sunday school. Well, sort of. Asha kept walking back into the sanctuary, over the stage, past the pulpit, down the front, to announce loudly to me that she's in school. Then she would sit for 2 minutes, announce she was going back, walk straight towards the preacher, over the stage, past the pulpit and back outside to Sunday school. No shyness there.

After church, we went on a picnic down by the "river". It's pretty dry and the water by the dam was barely a trickle. It wouldn't have even covered your feet. But the kids played and ran in the water after we enjoyed our lunch. After, as we were getting ready to leave, after we had just commented how clean the water seemed, we noticed the huge cow patties in the water. GROSS! I guess we picked a spot that was also frequented by the local cattle. Note to self, scrub the kids vigorously, twice.

We went home and of course, all of us took an afternoon nap. How heavenly. Seriously, the best types of visits are the ones where you can feel free to sleep, or read, or sit and do nothing. In the evening, we played Bohnanza and shared some good laughs.

Our Trufi on the way back was slightly faster than the one we came in. See, we were about 350km from home, and about 1/3 of the road was gravel. We left at 9:15 on Monday and got back to Santa Cruz at 1 p.m. That included a 15 minute break. Can you do the math? 350km in 3.5 hours = 100km/hr. How is that average sanely possible?! Have you seen the roads here?! Gosh, are we really that used to insane driving that we didn't notice everything passing by in a blur? Well, if anything, it was nice to get home for lunch.

Carl and I were very encouraged by our time with Liz and Ramont. It was good, because lately, our work has been quite draining and we are feeling tired. So we needed a pick-me-up, an encouragement, and this trip (as well as our previous trip to Moro Moro) really helped us.

Now, I don't think we have any trips planned for a while. We are busy planning our annual staff retreat next week and then after that, Andy and Cassie are back to continue their orientation. Where has September gone?!

Joel's New Look

I said just smile and show me your crooked, loose tooth. Joel heard, Be a weirdo. Well, these kinds of pictures come in handy at grad parties or wedding receptions.





He told me that if I wanted, we could just do this "tooth fairy" thing and I could put the money under the pillow. Or we could just hand him the money right now. Well, we opted for the pillow thing just for the fun of it.



The new smile also has a new hair cut. Joel's ready for the uber heat now.

Orientationers

Just because of the nature of our team, international workers are always either coming or leaving. Three years seems like a long time, but really, it passes by quite quickly. With saying goodbye to some workers, we welcome new ones. And this past week, we had the opportunity to welcome and start the orientation of a new couple from Iowa.

Andy and Cassie came last Wednesday and we picked them up from the airport. We had arranged the first two days with them, slotting in times for them to be formally welcomed, to meet their coordinator, to speak with the directors, have supper with folks etc. We did a few sessions with them on health and safety and Bolivian customs as well. The first few days went quite smoothly, and they seemed like a great couple.

On Friday, we loaded up water and food and supplies and the kids and Andy and Cassie and headed to Moro Moro, where they will be stationed. The exiting workers will have the chance to overlap and orient them to the job for the next month. I haven't taken too many road trips in Bolivia, but this had to be the most adventurous that I've heard of in a long time.....

It started off pretty uneventful for the first 2 hours. The kids chattered, we visited, enjoyed the scenery. Then we came across a long line of vehicles on the road.

Carl pulled up and those in front gave us the hand signal that we couldn't get through. There was some type of road block. Oh great. We might be here for 20 minutes or all day waiting. Carl noticed that a truck pulled off the road and went down a gravel road. Hmmmm.......wonder where he's going? Then we noticed that the bus from Vallegrande was headed after him. Well, the bus to Vallegrande has to get through, so if he's going, then we are too.

We followed the bus until we came to the river. The bus drove along the bank of the river for some time before it headed back up towards the road. Andy and Cassie were very excited for the detour. As we approached the road, we found out that the road was still blocked where we came up to. Okay, so we turned around and headed back to the riverbank.

Well, the bus came to the river. The bus paused. The bus crossed the river. Carl looked at Andy. Carl smiled at Kathy. Carl followed the bus through the river.

At that point, Andy and Cassie were giddy and pulling out their camera and snapping like crazy tourists. Oooo....what an adventure! We crossed the river with no problem and continued along the riverbank for a while. Then, we crossed back over the river again. Andy thought it was so cool and asked Carl how many times he's done that before. Carl chuckled uneasily and said, "I've never done that before".

As we came up to the road, we were feeling pretty good about sneaking around that road block. And what a great way to see the country side!

Unfortunately, within 10 minutes, we happened across a serious accident. It must have happened just moments before we drove up. A few vehicles had stopped and a number of people were yelling on the side of the road. Here in Bolivia, there are always lots of pedestrians on the side of the road, and we have heard some tragic stories of people being struck by passing vehicles. But we have been spared the trauma of actually witnessing anything, until today.

The first thing I saw was the darkened road and the small purple flip flops. They were just a bit bigger than Joel's. Carl and Andy saw the small crumpled legs on the side before I did, but Cassie saw the whole little girl and immediately started to cry. It was such a shock for us all. Thankfully the kids were too small to see out of the vehicle, but we adults saw the whole horrible thing. It was so upsetting and we were silent and teary eyed for a while. I just couldn't believe it. Someone's child, walking home from school, gone. In an instant.

I wished I could have spared Cassie and Andy that experience. Everything was so new, they just got off the plane. The food and the toilets and the dust and the smells are all so overwhelming, and then to witness something so tragic. My heart just ached for them, and broke for that little girl and her family.

The remainder of the trip went smoothly and we talked a little bit about every day things to distract us. The last leg of the trip, the road was quite foggy, and it seemed that we would n-e-v-e-r get there. With all those switchbacks and crawling at 30km/hr, those last 30 km seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r. We asked Andy and Cassie, "Do you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere?" and they kind of laughed.

But once we got there, they were thrilled and excited and so happy to meet Brian and Krista. They got settled in their host family, we had coffee and cake with them all, and then headed off to bed.

The next morning, we did a bit of inventory of the house to prepare it for Andy and Cassie once Brian and Krista move back to the States in a month. Then we all decided to go on a hike.

Well, we thought the hike would be about an hour, an hour and a half tops with kids. We pulled on a few layers, thinking it would be cooler, lathered on the sunscreen, pulled on the hiking boots and headed out.

The hike wasn't an hour and a half tops.

The hike wasn't even on level ground.

We trudged up hills in the thin oxygen for about 2/3 of the way for over 2 hours. One way. About 4 km. Joel and Kezia walked the entire way. Asha of course, because of her chronic broken leg syndrome (and c'mon, it was 4km) was carried most of the way. Layer after layer of clothing came off as sweat poured down our faces. I was beginning to wonder if I would make it. Maybe if I just collapsed on the side of the dirt road, they would leave me behind. This wasn't fun and adventurous anymore.

Okay, so we survived the grueling hike to the most beautiful rock formations I've ever seen. One rock, the famous rock, the rock which inspired the death hike, was in the shape of a turtle. It was pretty cool. We made sure we posed for some pictures (because I made a promise to myself never to hike here again) ate a nice picnic lunch and then rested for a while.

I couldn't quite understand why the kids kept running around and around and around. Didn't they just hike 4 km? Don't they realize that we have to hike another 4 to get home?

And to top it all off, I could feel some pretty big blisters forming on my feet.

The hike back wasn't as excruciating as the hike up. It was mostly downhill, which gave us more momentum to keep going. Unfortunately, it only made it worse for my blisters and I was wondering if my socks would be stained with blood once we got home.

Kezia got carried for about 2 km and Joel for about 1/2 km. I thought Brian was crazy to carry Joel on his shoulders, but I think they felt bad that the leisurely stroll had really turned out to be this iron man marathon. Asha fell asleep on Carl's shoulders and ended up being carried like a sack of potatoes. It was kind of funny, only until we realized that Carl had no sunscreen on the undersides of his milky white arms that were facing the high altitude sun. Needless to say, he was glowing like a radioactive tomato once we got back home.

And we finally made it. I was hobbling by this point and wondering why my children hadn't dropped from exhaustion. Oh no. They ran up the hill at the end of the way, jumped around in the plaza and raced each other back to the house. Whatever they have, I should seriously work on bottling it.

That evening was quiet and still. My blisters were not bloody or oozing like I had convinced myself. But they were pretty sweet and in some weird way, I was proud of them. Not proud enough to try and get them again, mind you.

The next day was Sunday and Krista's birthday. We went to church, then had a special lunch and cake for her. The kids had made cards and a birthday banner. In the afternoon, Asha slept while I read and the rest of the gang went to a soccer game. The evening was spent visiting, and we went to bed early.

Monday morning came quickly and we packed up the vehicle and were heading back to Santa Cruz by 9:00. We wished Andy and Cassie well as they spend a month getting oriented to their job. They will come back in Oct. for a month of language training and program/city orientation. That will be a busy, but exciting time for us.

It felt good to be a part of welcoming someone else to the country and the team. It was very life giving for us to be in the campo, being reminded of why we do the work we do. Certainly it was a weekend that won't be forgotten anytime soon.

Pictures from Moro Moro

Switchin' it Around

A few weeks ago, it became pretty apparent that we needed to switch around some sleeping arrangements in our house. Kezia and Joel were fighting more because they didn't seem to have enough space from each other. Asha was constantly asking to go to play in Kezia's room.

So since the kids had days off from school, we decided to do the switch in the middle of the week.
Here's a shot of Asha's room before the big move.




Joel was more than thrilled to start moving his stuff into the smaller bedroom. He was finally going to have a space to himself; free from Barbies, clothes on the floor, shoes, Polly Pocket, and hair accessories.



Kezia felt a bit left out of the process, just for a moment, because she wasn't changing rooms. But then we told her that she was moving to the top bunk, and that brought on a big smile. Joel moved into the smaller room, with a double bed, his own little desk and a bookshelf for his books. He loved organizing the space for his lego and deciding where to put his t-shirts. For the first few days, he was super protective of his space. You could hear him bellowing to anyone that passed by the door, "Make sure you ask permission to enter my space, this is my room now!". Joel was, as you can see, thrilled with the new set up.



We moved the crib into the other bedroom in order to introduce change slowly for Asha. She had never shared a room before and thought she might get a bit overwhelmed. Well.....that didn't quite happen like we thought it would. She decided the first night that she wasn't staying in the crib and kept climbing out. In fact, she attempted to climb up to the top bunk and bug Kezia. We finally got her to stay in the crib, on the third night, only to have her yell over to Kezia, "Hey, Kezia! Play?". Poor Kezia had no chance of getting any sleep.

Okay, fine, we dismantled the crib and had Asha in the bed. Well, the calling up to Kezia and the late night climbs didn't cease. So we decided to send Kezia to bed first, so she'd at least have a chance to fall asleep before Asha bothered her. Asha stayed on a little chair in the living room, reading books, or nattering to herself.

It's been a few weeks, and for the most part, things have ironed out quite nicely. Joel loves his space and invites the occasional visitor in his room. Kezia and Asha enjoy sharing toys, clothes, shoes, and general mess in their own room. And Asha is learning the art of staying and sleeping in a big girl bed.

And the Theme from Year Number One Is.....

I Left on a Jet Plane

I haven't flown anywhere and I'm not sitting in some airport. I'm just thinking back to exactly a year ago, sitting in Miami airport eating greasy pizza and feeling somewhat like that myself.

I don't really know what to say about leaving.

I miss my family and my neighbours.
I miss VJ's burgers and the lights on Broadway.
I miss snow and I miss camping.
I miss homegroup and Simonian Farms and corn tortillas.

I knew that when we got on the plane. I already had begun to miss a lot of those things, I was aware of that, just not fully.

I mean, I had to leave La Crete in order to miss La Crete. I had to leave Steinbach to appreciate all it has to offer. I had to leave Winnipeg to be reminded how blessed I was, I had to move away from Fresno to fully comprehend the impact it had on my life.

Leaving, leaving, leaving....

In exchange for blessings, I see that in hindsight.

But right now, because I miss home (okay, and so where exactly is that?) I just think about the leaving.