One of the places we have recently heard about here in Santa Cruz is a place called Parque Regional Lomas de Arena
(Sand Dunes Regional Park). Donya, who came for
the CLA English program and stayed an extra 3 weeks, was getting ready to leave that night, so we
decided to have one last adventure before she left.
It
was an adventure just finding the place. Although it is on the map and I
had my Garmin GPS, it is on the southern edge of the city and you have
to go through some very under-developed barrios to get there. We finally got to the park and paid $6.50 for all of us to get in.
Then the fun started.
The sign at the gate said "4x4 and 4-wheelers Only" and it was no joke. We spent half an hour going 4.3 miles on a sandy track with lots of mud holes and we still didn't know where we were going. Here's a short summary video (720p) of the drive in, complete with music (from Christian parody band Apologetix) and charming conversation:
As I said, it was the most fun I've had in a long time. Even better than going to the store.
We had the place entirely to ourselves. Unfortunately, it was super windy (welcome to Santa Cruz) and it was too late in the day to stay long, but we had fun anyway. Here are a sampling of photos (see the rest by clicking here).
I took some more video on the way out, with the GoPro on the hood, where it got a good soaking (1080p this time!):
I left Santa Cruz on Monday, with Emilio. He had come out to share at a church and have a meeting with his pastor. We made it in one piece with no problems, and all the stuff arrived safely!
What's more, I have internet here. I'm currently sitting on my borrowed bed with the laptop on a toilet box, because I didn't bring any furniture.
This is what the house looks like on the outside:
This is the kitchen:
Looking the other way. This is the living/dining room:
Me, with all my stuff in the living room! We were thankful to find out that there is a 4th room that they are willing to rent us for an extra $35/month, that we will mostly use for storage and maybe office space. That brings our little house up to almost 850 square feet!
The big plan is to get this place painted and put in a bathroom. Emilio has been helping me. Here he is scraping the ceiling, knocking down the dirt and nastiness that has collected there, as well as the old plaster that someone put there to try to control it. We are just going to staple up plastic sheeting to cover it.
Yesterday, a funeral procession went by. My internal language/culture learner wanted to rush after it with a camera and notebook, but I was hot, sweaty, tired, and very dirty.
This morning, Emilio and I drove out to Ascencion, our "big town." It's about 25 miles away, but it takes almost an hour to get there on a dry road. He took me to his regular hardware store and I was amazed at how much stuff they have. I really should be able to get whatever I need there. I bought plaster, drain pipe, portland cement, and chicken wire. Then we went to a sawmill and bought wood for building the bathroom.
Kaylee already posted about her thoughts and feeling regarding our trip to Urubichá, but we decided that we should also write about the trip itself, as it was very stressful (especially returning!).
We set out from Cochabamba on the 15th of February, headed for Santa Cruz. It was an uneventful trip and we felt quite comfortable on the road, since we had been over the same 300 miles just five weeks earlier.
On the morning of the 17th, Kaylee and I said goodbye to our girls and my parents and got on the road to Urubichá. The first 185 miles to Ascención de Guarayos is on one of Bolivia's major highways and is paved pretty well all the way. Then you turn off the main road and go another 25 miles on dirt.
I recently purchased a GoPro camera and have had a lot of fun filming our latest driving adventures (more about that in this post, including the video of me getting the Patrol very stuck in a big mud hole). Take a drive-through look at the town that is going to be our shopping headquarters and the first part of the drive to our future home:
There is a gas station in Ascención, but it didn't have any gasoline! We had filled up in San Ramón, 150km back, but thanks to a wonky gas gauge, I thought we had less than a quarter tank left. By the time we actually got out to Urubichá, it was reading empty. According to our coworkers and the people in the village, the fuel truck would come on Tuesday (the day we planned to leave), but there would be a huge line of cars waiting and not all would get gas. So we purchased 50 liters from a friend, enough to get us back to San Ramón.
Here's a video of Urubichá, taken as we left town:
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, other than never being sure about how much fuel we had and a couple of problems due to my international driver's license.
Uneventful, that is, until we reached Villa Tunari and were on the last leg of our trip home to Cochabamba. We got about halfway up the very steep climb out of the lowlands and ran into a huge line of trucks, buses, and cars. We weren't sure what was going on, so we decided to stay wait and see what happened.
During rainy season, that particular road is fraught with landslides and unstable areas. When there is a problem, the truck traffic starts to get backed up and the little cars and even the coaches start to pass them, often packing up 3 lanes wide! Even after the roadway is passable again, it takes forever to get the traffic mess untangled!
We waited for 2 hours and, since it was already 4pm, decided to turn around and find a place to spend the night in Villa Tunari. The idea of spending the night on a mountain, in the car, with 3 little girls and limited food and water did not appeal to us. This is what happened when we turned around:
Thankfully, I was able to get through to my brother on the cell and find out where they have stayed in the past. We ended up in a very nice bungalow-style hotel with a great pool, a good restaurant, and nice rooms with AC.
The next day we tried again in the morning. This time, we took a chance and followed some other cars up the wrong lane as far as we could. We didn't even get to the same spot as the day before! Kaylee asked a trucker how long he'd been there and he replied, "Since 3am!" A police officer was coming through the traffic on his motorcycle, informing everyone what was going on and it didn't look promising, so we turned back, checked back into the hotel, and enjoyed another afternoon in the pool!
On Sunday morning, I went down to the roadside restaurants near the
hotel and talked to several truckers about how the road was. They all
said that the problem was fixed for the time being and traffic was
slowly making its way through. Sure enough, we made it home, with no trouble!
We didn't know until later, but when we turned around on the second day, we were 14km (8.7 miles) from the actual problem!! That's a lot of trucks! This is what the situation looked like (click photo to enlarge):
This week Nathan and I took a trip out to the village where we hope to work in the future. We are so thankful that Nathan's parents were willing to watch the girls for us in the city while we traveled, especially so I could see everything without the additional stress of taking care of the girls in a situation that was really out of my control.
We left on Sunday morning and were able to stay two nights. My first reaction was very discouraging. I was overwhelmed and couldn't imagine myself making that move with our little family. When you arrive it is just so real. The pictures, the training, nothing could have prepared me for what really hit me that first night. The heat was almost unbearable, the bugs (mosquitos, chiggers, beetles, among others) were everywhere and everything is so different from anything I've ever known. Our training really did prepare us, don't get me wrong, but it's just so different in real life.
The "Laundry Room"
Me in the "Laundry Room" :)
This trip was really for me, to see and experience the village for the first time. (I didn't take very many new photos with how overwhelmed I was. . .and trying to take it in as it was, not through a lens.) We spent a lot of time talking with our future coworkers, a Bolivian couple with three children (one is now in the city at the university). They are pleasant people with a heart for their countrymen. It was good (and hard) to hear their stories from the past three years of living in the village. It has been quite difficult for them. The village is mostly Catholic (in an "old world" way) and most are not excited to see evangelical missionaries in the area, especially the nuns and priest.
The Catholic Church and grounds
We asked questions about housing and found that there really is nothing available, mostly land for building. We asked about groceries and found that we will be able to purchase dry goods in town but will have to travel an hour (on bad roads, see below) to get dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt) unless we want to purchase from the lady in town who sells fresh milk from her cow. :) We would also need to make our own bread or purchase in the same town as the dairy products. All fresh fruits and vegetables are purchased in a town about 3 hours away (on our way in and out from Santa Cruz). We learned that the soil is good but because the fruits and vegetables are not natural to the area the people do not grow them. They do have grapefruit trees, mango trees, some lemon trees and a couple of different fruits (native to Bolivia that I don't know the name of!). They also grow corn and rice and fish in the local rivers (but the fish population is dwindling).
One of the fruit trees. The fruit grows on the bark.
The road to the village. It was full of washboards and potholes.
You can see a bit more depth to the potholes in this photo.
We walked around town, visited the music school, and stopped in at the nun's shop where she sells the work that the locals create (with materials provided by the Catholic church). The nun pays the locals for the work they did and then she sells the items with the profits going to the church. Their handwork is very well done. The men have wood working specialties that include making violins. The women specialize in weaving hammocks but also crochet, knit and embroider. There are classes available to learn the wood working and hand crafts for a very affordable price, about $3.00 a year. (You can read more and see examples of the handwork here.)
Lord willing, we would like to join our coworkers in this village. After a lot of time talking, praying constantly through out the day and getting past the initial shock I was able to get past my initial discouragement. I know that we can do it. It's going to be the hardest thing I have ever done but I know it's possible if I trust in our great God!
