Mission Trip, Familia Feliz

Mrs. Jody McDaniel came to Quebrada Leon, asking forvolunteers to come help for a couple weeks at Familia Feliz.  It needs a lot of help, especially since theschool year is coming up.  We were giventhe okay from Dr. Kim to go and help. Jacques, Tabitha, Greg and I went from Quebrada Leon.  Another group will follow in a week orso.  All expenses incurred during thetrip are to come from our own pockets. 

Feb 5

We left Quebrada Leon before 7am.  Some of the people going out to shop for foodwere with us and that made it a bit tight: Bolivian style.  We went to the channel to meet up with theothers and to leave with them.  10 inall.  We also dropped off our bagsthere.  I met the man, Mr. WarrenMcDaniels.  He already knew who I was anda little about me.  Haha  I was lost for a bit there because I didn’teven know who he was.  I also met SamuelJimenez who was going with us.  The mainbuilding at the channel is very nice! Very American and clean.  It haspadded carpets!!  Lars had to go toimmigration to get his visa figured out. Me, Greg, and Warren went to Santa Cruz to buy the bus tickets and tolook around the city.  I wanted to get myphone unlocked for the trip.  Warrenshowed us around, especially the good food places.  We went to Irish Pub for lunch.  I ordered a nasty plate of spaghetti, got fruitdrinks, fries, and Greg had lasagna. Then, we went and got Warren’s favorite drink, chicha.  It’s a roasted corn drink; it reminds me of aKorean morning rice drink.  It’s veryvery close.  I got to see a cello at alocal music store.  It wasn’t a full size(probably a half size), not tuned, no bow, and missing the D string.  I played a C major scale on a upright Yamaha!  Again, out of tune but still, I got to play areal piano in Bolivia!  Haha  All day long, I kept my eyes open forsuperacidos candy but to no avail.  Westopped by a store selling canon dslrs! They had Canon 7D’s and 5D mark ii’s! The owner was Korean and so Greg and I started to talk to him about whatwe’re doing in Bolivia.  He gave usbusiness cards to the Korean restaurant! Win win!   We had amazing icecream at a place called vacafria.  We bought some snacks for our busride at a small HiperMaxi nearby.  Wewere walking back to find a taxi when one of our friends back at La Guardiashowed up!  He gave us a ride to ramadafor free!  Greg did give him some moneythough, which he refused at first.  J  At the bus terminal, we were able to purchasetickets to Trinidad for 70bs each with Bolivar! Cama too! (sleeping buses)  I didnot get to unlock my phone but we got everything else done and had fun in theprocess.  The cheapest place to unlock myphone was charging $50 US dollars. Anyways, we got back to the channel by 6pm.  Mr. Warren had hired a micro bus to take usand all our luggage to the terminal. Lars could not come with us due to additional papers needing to befilled out with immigrations.  Very sadthat he cannot come.  Jacques and Tabithawere going to meet us at the terminal. It was a tight squeeze in the micro. Bonnie and Nelly were going with us as well.  So it was Warren, Warren III, Greg, Samuel,me, Nelly, Bonnie, Jacques, and Tabitha in all. We made it to the terminal with 10 minutes to spare.  We had thought of trying to sell Lar’s ticketbut were not able to due to the time constraint.  I dropped the container containing cakesquares and some came in contact with the dirty floor.  Sad day.. We all got on the bus in one piece and ready for the night ride. 

Feb 6

                  Welcometo Trinidad!  It was 6am when we arrivedin the small, dusty town without much to look at.  We were attacked by people trying to sell usbus fares to any place that we wanted.  Ihate that.  We eventually found ticketsto Rurrenabaque for 100bs for each person. It was leaving around 10am so we had a few hours to beforeboarding.  We got a taxi to the cityplaza and looked around.  The plaza waspretty, but I wasn’t too impressed by the catholic church there.  Greg and Warren wanted to sight-see.  Samuel and I used the internet café until wehad to head back.  I uploaded somepictures on facebook and used the bathroom for free.  It was too early to skype anyone backhome.  The Durante’s bought some fruit atthe tiny Mercado.  I tried a cup ofpineapple juice.  On the taxi ride backto the terminal, our taxi driver told us that there are many anacondas in thewater surrounding the city.  I’m so gladI don’t live there!!  As expected, we goton a nasty bus.  The metal parts wererusty and many parts were just about to come apart.  I was so glad to be wearing shorts with theintense heat that we couldn’t escape from. Today was Warren’s birthday! Tabitha got a candle and stuck it on a bun.  XD  Weall sang happy birthday on the bus for him. Quite the memory for him I’m sure. Haha  I did not get to sleep muchdue to the heat.  Every time I woke upfrom a nap, I was drenched in sweat. Literally drenched.  The Durante’sbought some fans and Tabitha lent me hers. Phew!  Our bus broke down at oneplace because of a faulty pipe for the water. We were on the road with the intense midday sun for a couple solid hourswith swamps on either side.  A coupleherds of cattle came by and we saw plenty of wildlife including capybaras!(World’s largest rodents)  We made a stopfor lunch, but we all just ate snacks. We were way behind schedule and the bus driver was anxious to getgoing.  J  It was getting cooler in the evening andthere was lightning and thunder along the horizon.  One section of the road became very muddy andone of the buses in front of us got stuck in heavy mud.  A lady in the bus supposedly owns this entireroute and she couldn’t leave that bus behind. So our bus had to pull it out. Everyone in the other bus had to get out and the bus personnel wereworking with shovels and pick-axes.  Itstarted to rain heavily as well.  I feltbad for the people outside… they were in the rain more or less than an hour aswe tried to pull that other bus out.  Atone point, we got stuck as well. -___-;; In the end, we pulled the other busout and we were finally on our way again. 

Feb 7

                  Itwas past midnight when we had to get out of the bus.  We had to wait for the other bus toRurrenabaque.  They unloaded things fromunder and on top of the bus.  In the end,they told us they’ll take everyone heading to Rurrenabaque in the samebus.  I think the other bus wasn’t comingfor a long time.  We all got rows toourselves since the bus was quite empty. I woke up before 6am and we were stopped in the road, waiting for it toclear: again, in mud.  I was so tired andfelt incredibly filthy not having been able to shower or to brush in a fewdays.  We took showers in our ownsweat.  Familia Feliz was on the road toRurrenabaque and had the bus stop by the road. We have arrive, finally!  So sickof traveling~  As much as I wanted towash up, I waited until after supper/after working.  We got to settle in our respected homes forour stay here at Familia Feliz before starting work.  I got to see and meet Eric Morris and ChadMcLennan from Southern!  It’s weirdseeing people from our school so far away and in such a place as this!  But awesome at the same time.  ^^ After lunch, we got to start working by cleaning out the casagrande.   Filthy!  It seemed as if no one has paid any attentionfor years.  We brushed, mopped, white-washedthe walls, and combed the ceiling/corners or cobwebs.  We all wore flip-flops/sandals to do thejob.  We used lots of soap and Clorox andreally made the rooms much better.  I cutmy right arm by the end of a broken broom (metal).  At least I got it from working and notsomething dumb.   Haha!  Chad had a bandage for that.  First impressions: this place needs help,volunteers, and money.  Our house that weare staying in reeks of fungus, as do all the other buildings.  The water pressure is very low and theelectrical wiring is in terrible shape. The kids need basic necessities such as clothes, toiletries, schoolsupplies, etc… The place needs tiles as well. The babies crawl on cement floors with mosquitoes biting them.  The mosquitoes get in through windows withripped screens.  Mildew is every presentwith countless spiders lining the walls. Termites are eating away at the supports and their trail/tunnels areeverywhere.  Anyways, we have bunk bedswith suspended mosquito nets! Woohoo!  I got top and slept wellon a decent, hard mattress with most of the insects outside.  :D 

Feb 8

                  Wehad a meeting to discuss the work needing to be done.  With so much to do, we employed some of thekids here to help us.  Some were helpfuland obedient while some just had to talk too much and be obnoxious.  :D  Ihelped clean out the storeroom and the large storage bins of dry foods.  Greg and I spent most of the afternooncleaning the bins with soap and water. We killed plenty of spiders and cockroaches.  =/  Ihelped with cooking food for Sabbath before joining the others forvespers.  Stephen, the baker, was veryfussy about it because it was past sundown. True, but we can’t let the kids go hungry and waste food too.  It was our fault though.  Anyways, vespers was very nice.  It was outside and we were all in a circlesinging songs before a short worship talk. Then we went around saying happy Sabbath and giving/getting hugs.  J  I took a much needed shower afterwards. 

Feb 9

                  Thechurch here is very nice.  It{s on campusand is full of benches and tiled floors. We started off with 8-10 songs before Sabbath school: adults andchildren are separate.  Then mainservice.  Samuel led song service and Mr.Warren McDaniels gave a good sermon. Samuel has a good voice!  Afterchanging into cooler clothes, we had lunch. Jacques made some really good potato dish and I took the chance to takephotos of the kids and helped Warren record interviews for the video.  I visited a creek behind the casa grandewhere Eric was watching the kids play. The water was very nice and cool but the mosquitoes were terrible!  Now this is more like what I would envisionfor a rainforest.  Haha!  There are lots of undergrowth and vinestangling and connecting the trees.  Also,lots of birds, insects, lizards… humidity! It’s very very humid..  The kidshere have this bad smell…idk.  MelissaHarding, the former director, adopted 11 kids as a single person!  One of her girls, Graciana, is so cute!  She was born without a leg and is missing afew full fingers but is so bright and optimistic!  Really would adopt her if I could.  Melissa showed our group a video of what theplace looked like in the beginning.  Whata blessing~  Really amazing what God cando.  =) We went out with Chad and Eric to Rurrenabaque to play volleyball, aswith almost all the volunteers and adults. It is really a badminton indoor court but fun none-the-less.  I ended up using the internet the entiretime.  I don’t like volleyballanyways.  XD  I uploaded photos and skyped with myfamily.  Got back very late.

Feb 10

                  I got up past ten.. Woah!  I actually got some breakfast beforeworking.  I helped to watch the kids,feed them, clean some more, and learn how to make bread from Steve.  Found out that Steve sure loves to talk.  Not just bread but everything.  Juan and his wife lives with 9 boys, theirdaughter and Chad and Eric in one house. I really like to observe them at meal times.  Very cool how they sing before meals and areso quiet.  J  We cleaned the last couple places in casagrande for the day.  In a storage room,Chad found some really cool dental supplies. The lidocaine was all expired but I got a few simple dental tools!  Way too awesome.  Anyways, we cleaned out the rooms…scrubbedthe walls with soap.  It is veryrewarding to work at Familia Feliz because you’re helping all these kids.  Some of the kids randomly run up to you for abig hug.  Something that I didn’t expectbut I don’t mind.  ;)  The Clorox stings your hands.  We need rubber gloves.  I really like the bread here.  It’s so fresh and tasty, even though it’svegan.  Eric is a funny guy…what acharacter.  I wish I knew Chad at Southern!  Really cool guy and we share a lot in common(dental school).  ^^

Feb 11

                  It’s Monday and Chad and Eric get their free daytoday.  Warren, Greg, Aly, Mr. Warren,Stephen, and I went along as well.  Wewent to a French-bakery for breakfast..best pastries ever!  It was so good that Greg had 4 pastries.  Haha! We had banana smoothies that weren’t too exciting.  Satisfied, we went to use the internet.  I had to use the restroom while I wasuploading a bunch of photos on facebook. That guy wasn’t going to let me use it at first, the public restroom.  -_____-;; Flushed with a bucket of water and was a much happier man.  =)  Iended up paying 13.5bs for internet, the most I’ve ever paided/used theinternet in Bolivia.  I got to seevideos  from the CKSDA banquet.  I laughed so much~  We went to Flippers to get some of Chad’sfavorite tamarindo juice.  I think it’smy favorite now; I had two glasses.  Wehad lunch down the street where I ordered a nasty spaghetti dish.  They had free wifi so that was nice.  Worst server ever.  Eric had problems with the guy before and hejust doesn’t like us.  Anyways, we boughtsnacks, fruit, and a hammock for Aly afterwards.  I bought 3 grapefruits for 10bs from theMercado and Oreos at a supermarket.  9bsper package.  I still can’t find thesuperacidos..  Around 2pm, people werestarting to come out with water ballons and water guns.  We got so wet as we were riding in the backof the pickup.  Greg got it bad with blueand red dye water on his shirt.  I waspegged hard by this one kid as Chad was picking up a package.  Man, I wish I had water ballons to throwback.  =P The people there were using slings made from socks or something.  Anyhow, with those, they could throw theballons a good block away!  Quiteamazing. 

Feb 12

                  I worked behind casa grande with Chad and a coupleof the older boys.  We didn’t do a wholelot but Chad and I got to talk about school and future schooling.  LLU! The boys were throwing small fragments of wood into the brick oven fireand almost killed the flame.  I had tofix that problem..  Juan, his wife,Tabitha, Jacques, Mr. Warren, and others went out to town.  It was rather quiet on campus.  For lunch, we had foccasia* bread withvegetables inside the bread!  That wasEXTREMELY good.  After lunch, I took anap and helped the others clean the classrooms for school.  I was sweeping the floors in all theclassrooms.  The last room didn’t haveany chairs or desks set up, and for a good reason.  There was a wasp nest in an old mattress inone corner of the room.  I swept half theroom before I was attacked and stung on both feet and my right elbow.  Ouch!! It felt like I had small embers on my skin.  It got swollen pretty big in an hour.  I rubbed salt on it to ease the pain, and eventually,Samuel helped put on charcoal and salt bandages on my bee stings.  The one on my elbow was the worst.  I actually had a difficult time gettingsleep.  There was also a firefly insidemy mosquito net, flashing its butt. -____-  Samuel had some Venezuelancurrency which he gave to me.  A singlepeso and a hundred peso.  I did pay himin bolivianos later.  J  It’s around 18 Venezuelan pesos to adollar.  Oh Chavez.

Feb 13

                  I woke up to the sounds of children arriving forschool.  I only had screen and nocurtains.  Grrr  Why am I getting up so late.. =/  Juan put up a large pole with the Bolivianflag on it.  Melissa, Samuel, Eric, andMr. Warren were teaching.  All grades upto 8^th.  I watched the littlekids until lunch time while the others were working.  Bismark is such a cry baby.  We also got a few new girls stayinghere.  I watched Jeanette for most of thetime.  Everytime I took my camera out totake photos, a mass of kids would be all around me in a matter of shorttime.  Couldn’t really take too manyphotos, unfortunately.  In the afternoon,I worked with Chad again in the back of casa grande.  We cleaned up the rest of the wood and burnedtrash in barrels.  We burned a few oldmattresses as well.  Chad had a lightermalfunction on him and partially melt on his hands.  Ouch! He ran cold water on it for a good while.  All the kids seems very excited to haveschool.  They need school suppliesthough…donations!!

Feb 14

                  It’s Aly’s last day at Familia Feliz; she’s goingback to Australia in time for school.  Ihelped move bed frames and watched the kids. I got my gloves too so I could handle things without getting cut or toodirty.  I did cut my foot from a veryrusty old shelf we were moving.  Yay forNeosporin!  ><  Thank goodness I got my tetanus booster.  I helped around in the back of casa grandewith cleaning and cooking.  The backlooks so much better!  Me, Chad, Eric,Ali, Jacques, and Tabitha went out around 4:30pm.  We had to drop off Ali at a hotel afterhaving supper, buying stuff, and getting her checked in for her flight.  The airstrip is a cut grass field… Amazonasis the name of the airline.  Howappropriate!  Anyways, I got absolutelysoaked on the ride to Rurrenabaque. Getting the full experience of the rainy season.  Haha  Iwent to call LLU but the power was out in the whole city due to the rain.  I had to wait for 45 minutes before callingLLU.  I got to check my stuff online fora couple minutes before heading to the restaurant to eat with the other 3.  It was 16bs for a 3 minute call and 2 bs for15 minutes of internet.  :/  Jacques and Tabitha ate and did their stuffon their own.  Eric’s parents were buyingdinner.  Besides the 3 appetizer dishes,we all ordered pasta dishes.  ThisItalian restaurant served us quickly and the portions were large!  Ali basically nibbled on her food: at leastit seemed so.  We had 4L of lemonadew/mint and strawberry lemonade.  Wedropped Ali off at a hotel and said our goodbyes.  Probably my first Aussie friend.  ^^  Wegot back 10:30pm and got to sleep around 11pm. No shower for me.  Greg wasalready sleeping. 

Feb 15

                  Well, I got up at 6:30am!  Turned out that we didn’t have worship.  I fed Jeanette before going back to myplace.  I was working with Chad again andwe decided to meet up at 9am to clean some trash by the toolshop.  I got my gloves that I brought fromQuebrada.  We picked up lots of scrapmetal and loaded them in the back of the pickup.  It sprinkled a little, making work a bit moremiserable.  We made a short visit to theback where they have their refuse dump…horrendous!  It’s just a long trail of old mattresses,plastic waste, kitchen waste, diapers, and you name the rest.  It’s right by the banana plantation.  All that needs to be burnt ASAP.  The campus looks much nicer with the grasshaving been cut.  Chad, the two Warrens,and I went out to town to run errands with them.  We couldn’t dump the garbage at the dump…such a disappointment!  We ended up goingto Narguila’s to use the internet for a major part of the day because of thedownpour and shops being closed.  I gotto Skype again with my family.  I’mgetting spoiled: internet too often!  Wegot back to campus as vespers was commencing. We unloaded all the food items, gas, etc before joining them.  Melissa Harding was giving the worship.  Thank goodness my clothes did not getwet.  Greg got mine with his off thefence right before the downpour.  =D  My towel suffered but I’m notcomplaining.  I took a much needed showerand dried off with a shirt.  I sleptaround 11pm. 

Feb 16

                  I woke up early but did not have breakfast.  The second group of volunteers are here!  Mrs. Jody, Lars, Elijah, Michael, Alana, andher two friends.  :D  I wore the same and only shirt I haveappropriate for church service as last week, but thankfully today wasn’t toohot.  After singing many hymns and ashort mission story, we had Sabbath school led out by Chad.  It was on children and how we need to helpraise them with Biblical principles.  Itwas very interactive~  Brother Jacquesgave the sermon about how we are filthy rags. Don’t judge others!  A very simpleyet important reminder on who we are.  Wehad a very delicious lunch… pasta, bread, potatoes, and salad.  Warren, Alana, and her two friends weretalking in Creole.  Oh my!  Can’t understand 98% of what they weresaying, though they claim it is mostly English. -_____-;;  I changed into coolerclothes and spent most of my afternoon in our room.  I was starting to get homesick so I went tofind Eric so that I could give him the photos that I took at Familia Feliz thusfar.  We had Sabbath evening worship atsundown.  Feliz semana!  =)  Oneof the older boys, Jorge, wanted to wrestle with me, then Elijah, andSamuel.  He kept saying that its not overand that he won’t give up.  Haha!  I think its good for boys to wrestlearound.  Good way to use that E.  I got to take pictures with Graciana and afew others!!  Yay!  After a shower, I packed up most of mybelongings.  We’re leaving tomorrow!

Feb 17

                  We got up really early to leave and packed up therest of our belongings.  Al my clothessmell…really bad.  =/   We went to town after saying many goodbyes.  Almost all the volunteers were going out withus.  A very fun truckload!  Jacques and Tabitha bought tickets toGuayara-Merin leaving around 9am.  Webought our bus tickets for 7pm.  We tooka group photo before heading off to Narguila’s for breakfast and internet.  They weren’t open yet and so we all went tothe market.  It was a very small marketwith few choices, but Greg bought a large bacai to eat.  Haha! It wasn’t too good or sweet though. We bought some snacks for the trip at local stores before heading backto Narguila’s.  We had a continentalbreakfast served by our “favorite” waiter… -______-  I took a photo of him to remember just howbad a server he was.  My orange juicecame after the pancake, bread, and tea. Haha!  Only in Bolivia,Rurrenabaque, and at Narguila’s.  XD  We stayed at the restaurant using theinternet til lunch time.  We did go fortamarindo juice at Flippers.  Yay!  I had vegetarian lasagna for lunch.  Too much nasty cheese.  Used more internet and went to Flippers againbefore supper with Greg.  Some of theguys went to play volleyball in the meantime. Michael and Lars were so serious to play.  Greg and I ordered spaghetti to-go fromJuliano’s, the French-Italian restaurant. Food was ready in 5 minutes, all packed and good to go.  We walked to the bus terminal after sayinggoodbye to all our wonderful friends. They went back to Familia Feliz. Bus was present when we got there at 6:30pm but did not leave until past8pm.  Jacques and Tabitha were stillthere!!  Their bus arrived shortly afterpast 6:45pm.  So late!  We ate our supper before boarding: verydelicious and filling~  We took the 18hour bus ride through the death road to La Paz! One more thing off my bucket list is I don’t die.  =D Hopefully, we’ll get to buy “I survived the Death Road” shirts aftermaking it though. 

Feb 18

                  I wasn’t able to sleep much and awoke aroundmidnight.  I could not see much out but Iknew that the road was very treacherous and rocky.  Death road? One thing for sure was that I wanted to see it, and not sleep throughit!  I saw many signs saying peligrosoand etc… Parts of the asphalt road were crumbling near the edge and somesections were narrow and very muddy.  Ifell asleep after a while and woke up again around 5am.  We were going on a narrowish road with thecliff to the right.  We were slowly goinghigher and higher.  Once there was enoughsunlight, I started taking photos and videos. I couldn’t take very many though due to the rain.  When we stopped for breakfast/restroom break,it was pouring.  I got soaked justrunning to the bathroom, which wasn’t too far away.  I had Oreos for breakfast…><  I found out later that the floor was verywet… the rain got in through small cracks in the windows.  It got Greg’s backpack and my camera bagquite wet.  My passport got wet!!  Oh well. Once we passed the Death road, I crashed.  Parts of the road were very scary, almostunreal.  Crazy that people drive on itand that there are many semi’s and buses like ours.  Many times, I could not see the road underour bus out the window.  Yikes!  I woke up when we arrived in La Paz.  Kind of chilly but refreshing.  I changed my fliflops for sneakers and thenwe caught a taxi to the Korean restaurant. Same place.  =)  I had daen-jang soup again and Greg hadbibimbap.  We shared a tangsooyook.  175bs poorer and we headed to the busterminal in another taxi.  We were ableto get a bus to Santa Cruz directo with Bolivar for 150bs.  Sweet! Leaving 4pm and arriving next day at 10am.  We had a couple hours and found free wifi inthe terminal!  Fast too!  Amazing~ Greg and I used the internet until we had to go.  XD  Thebus was very nice, though it did not have a functioning bathroom.  We stopped in El Alto to pick up a few morepeople.  Again, a bunch of people came inasking for money or were selling items. This time, I did not fall asleep: too much on my mind.  My future!! Anyhow, they played an old American Western Movie, in Spanish.  Terrible story line and a waste of mylife.  We stopped for supper around8pm.  I was dying to use therestroom.  Haha!  I ate a grapefruit that I still had fromRurrenabaque for supper.  I crashed inthe bus after that. 

Feb 19

                  Cochabamba! It was 12:30am and Greg was sound asleep.  I could again see the large statue and thecity lights reflecting off the lake.  Thebus driver was going slow and ignoring all the red lights.  lol  Idid not sleep until past 1:20am or so.  Iwoke up around 6am and in time for a potty break and breakfast.  We didn’t eat but we drank the yogurt thatGreg bought.  Thankfully, the day was nottoo hot, it was actually nice.  Wearrived at the terminal a minute early, 9:59am. We got a taxi to HiperMaxi for 15bs. There, we bought some snacks and necessities while waiting until 12pm.  Greg wanted to go eat at the Koreanrestaurant.  We took another taxi, givingthe driver the restaurant business card as it had the address.  We were the first customers as the restaurantwas still closed until the Korean owner came to open the door for us.  We got a table in a private room with woodenfloors. (we took off our shoes) It so reminded me of home!  And Korean culture~  We had bibimbap, dukbokgee, andsoondoboo.  The side dishes were verysimple and not numberous but tasty nonetheless. I love the Korean metal spoons! And the tea cups.  They’re so niceand pretty: perfecto!  Greg wanted to goto vaca fria for icecream but we didn’t go. I was already content and very full. Greg was disappointed.  lol  We got a couple taxis back to El Torno andwaited to get on a bus to Quebrada Leon. We were waiting for 30 minutes or so when we saw the red truck go by uson the main highway.  Greg chased afterit for they didn’t go too far.  PTL  We took all our belongings to the truck.  Phew! Victor and Pastor Marc were out on errands.  Sad part, we ended up waiting with them untilalmost 6pm before heading back. -____-  When we got back toQuebrada, all I could say is that I felt so happy and relieved!  After saying hello to the missed friends, wegot a piece of cake.  Delicious!  Oh and we found out that Justin M. decided tostay at Quebrada Leon now.  We droppedoff our bags up in our dorm room before joining the others for worship.  The only person missing was Andres.  He’s in Santa Cruz.  I played the piano again!  I missed it.  

Well, that’s the end of ourshort mission trip within our mission trip in Bolivia.  Thank you Familia Feliz for theexperience! And it was nice to see you, Chad and Eric!  God bless!!

Feb 5-19th

Week 12

How about that!  12 weeks in Bolivia!  Well, it’s back to the normal routine of weeks at Quebrada Leon~ Vacation is over officially and time to get back to hard work.  (: 

I slept in until 7am. I was very tired from our trip. There is a change: no bible studies in La Guardia after church service.  Instead, we are visiting our neighbors in Calera, a town 15 minutes away by car and an hour walking.  Edward preached at San Jose and I played the piano during service.  Oh how I missed playing hymns, let alone the piano.  I am always playing so many songs that I have never heard of.  Four flats aren’t too daunting now; I’ve improved!  Christina and Alana taught Sabbath school for the children. Alexandria, one of our guests, brought her violin and played along for song service and did special music. Seeing and hearing a string instrument was great.  Ah home and my cello~  As we visited Calera, we saw a mango mansana tree loaded with large mangos! Awesome!  The people are very welcoming and friendly.  Some said that it’s about time that we get to know each other. XD Franz Cruz came back and he’s staying with us in our room.  So when Edwin gets back, it’ll be him, Franz, Greg, and me.  :D 

Our bible studies were a little interesting.  I felt bad in some way because we were gone for such a long time.  I did not pray for them during the trip and I believe that really made it more difficult to reach them.  One family separated/divorced around New Years and other families were very busy with other things and did not have time to study.  We met another fellow whom we spoke to for a good while. He said that he would come to the Wednesday night meetings.  He did not show up. 

Cece asked Greg and I to accompany her to Calera when there wasn’t anyone but us on campus.  I didn’t want to go.  It’s about an hour walking in the heat (~3pm).  Well, I was playing piano before and as I was about to say that I didn’t want to go, I looked at the title of the hymn that it was open to: Living for Jesus.  K.O. Okay, thank you God.  I ended up learning a lot and really enjoying the visits. If I stayed back, I would have probably been napping or writing my blog.  We received gifts of peanuts and mangoes from the grateful neighbors.  It was very nice to walk in nature as well. (:

Our room is very hot all the time.. well, Bolivia is very hot.  When Bolivians are sweating, you know it’s hot.  J  We are in the back room of the dorm, facing the forest and we have poor air flow.  It gets difficult to fall asleep at night besides the mosquitoes with our faulty net.  The floor is quite dirty as well because of all the dirt that comes in.  We also get plenty of insects like cockroaches, ants, flies, and of course mosquitoes. 

We went to the waterfalls again!  I rode in the trailer (chata) and that was quite the bumpy, dusty, and uncomfortable ride. I cannot lean on the sides because that just hurts when we go over a bump…which is the whole way there.  The dust from the car in front of us covers everything behind in a nice coat.  I did not take any pictures.  ;)  The red truck had way too many people on the top, around 8 people.  It nearly tipped over and then some went down.  Haha  We crossed about 15 streams and it made for a muddy ride.  At one point, we all had to get out and walk.  The road was way too steep for the truck to pull us and the trailer. That was from a recommendation made by a local.  It was about 30 people total, us people from Quebrada Leon and the visitors.  We had 2 guides with us.  I took many pictures before going in the water and got many good ones.  That was a lot of fun and quite relaxing!  There were many beautiful butterflies floating around and I was able to catch one too.  I thought it was dead until it suddenly flew away..  I was tricked by a butterfly.  HAHA  Some people made a raft of logs and tree bark: that was really neat.  Jose threw me in the water later, when I didn’t have my camera.  I tried to get him back but he’s too fast.  Mango papaya, popcorn, and dried bananas for some simple foods before we left. We also played some soccer on the sand besides the water.  I got a bruise on my shin and Victor got a cut on his heel, but it was too fun.  Itwas the South Americans versus other continents. 

Justin was having some issues with the leaders here and he decided to leave Quebrada.  I really didn’t feel like stopping him or getting involved for the most part.  It’s quite complicated.  It’s called internal strife. 

I worked on building a concrete wall, picking corn at the chaco, moving furniture and clothes, putting together closets, fixing toilets,planting seeds (94 papayas, 50 maracuyas, and 40 others), digging irrigation ditches, watering plants, cooking in the kitchen, playing piano, picking plums by climbing a tree, and many other things. Well, it was my first time building a concrete wall, picking corn,planting tropical plants, and climbing a tree for fruit.  ^^  Monkeys destroyed a lot of the rice as they were going after the corn in the chaco.  As an asian, seeing all the rice on the ground was painful.  Why people in Bolivia plants rice, corn, bananas, and papayas together, I don’t know.  :P 

January 31^st. The last day of the month.  Well,I know I shouldn’t be thinking like this but it’s just getting closer to going back home!  I barely have time to write my journal and transferring some of that for the blog (this thing).  I haven’t been taking many pictures either due to the heat or work schedule.  It’s very repetitive from working every day, all day.  But honestly, I can’t wait to go back home butthen I am really liking Bolivia more and more. I will miss Bolivia, that’s for sure. I could really eat some Korean food right now though.  Haha! Anyways, it’s the rainy season, supposedly, and I really have not seen too much rain.  As a matter of fact, it’s very dry here.  So dry and hot that some of my shirts dried in the shade in an hour. Haha  Still getting bit up by mosquitoes though.  I really need to properly hang my mosquito net.  XD  Such a fail considering that I’ve been here for about 3 months now. 

I thought Koreans were terrible at keeping on schedule/time,but people here are just as bad.  And it’s Americans, Jamaicans, Columbians, Bolivians, Jamaicans, etc.  Haha! I’ve been doing many things that I have never done or would do before coming here.  Hanging on the outside of acar, looking over a cliff, climbing trees with church clothes, playing soccer barefoot, etc.  Time to go outside my boundaries, so to speak of. 

I decided to add February 4^th here since I want to compile all the mission trip stuff together, like I did with our vacation.  This blog is not really week 12: more like week 12 plus a few days. =)

I got to “command” the kitchen today, Feb 4^th.  Boy, I was nervous but very excited.  I have never cooked before, especially for almost 30 people.  Eeek!  Well, I made a Korean soup called Soojaebee.  It’s basically a potato soup with simple handcut pieces of dough in the soup.  I added some thin sliced green peppers for color. Very simple but everyone loved it! I had the ladies cut and wash the potatoes while I prepared the peppers and watched the stove.  The Chambers’kids liked the “dumplings” a lot.  We made two large pots of it but only a bowlful was leftover at the end!  There were many 2nds, 3rds, and even some 4ths.  I have to admit, I added a packet of maruchan mushroom powder to add some flavor. Not that it did a whole lot, but I think it helped.  XD  Well, after a successful breakfast, we went straight to work on lunch.  I had the rice going in a large pot on the stove before working on the stir-fry and salad. Just the cutting and washing took a very long time.  I kept checking on the rice.  It was very frustrating because I did not know how much water to add, being on a stove with a flimsy lid.  The top part of the rice wasn’t cooking and I was worried that it would cause indigestion. Good thing I was going to fry them. Anyways, I asked Brenda and Christina to make tofu to use for the stir-fry.  That took until 11am.  I cooked the various vegetables separate before missing them in a large bowl for the stir-fry.  The wok was not large enough.  For the fried rice, I had chopped carrots and onions with peas.  I had to fry 5 separate times for the rice.  The stir-fry took a long time to finish. Again, I had to cook all the vegetables and tofu separately.  I used a sauce made from mixing soy sauce,garlic, sugar, water, and sesame oil.  I wish I had more vegetables to work with. I had broccoli, green and red peppers, onions, string beans, garlic, and tofu.  I used high heat/short time for the vegetables with some of the sauce. This helped keep the vegetables fresh but cooked.  Christina fried the tofu before adding it to the stir-fry.  Lars and Brenda made the salad.  We finished on time!  It was actually fun to cook.  Adrenaline. :D  I had to make additional sauce but it was very popular and had nothing left at the end.  First time cooking full meals and of course, I wouldn’t have been able to make it without the help of my friends.  ^^

Jan 26- Feb4

Vacation

I decided to make a separate post for our trip.  I think that would be easier for me to organize and for those reading.  Heads up, it’s alot.  J  People on the trip: Edward, Brenda, Greg, and I.  Edward and Brenda are from Columbia, volunteering at Quebrada Leon for a year.  1 US dollar is approximately 6.94 bolivianos and 1 US dollar is about 2.52 soles (Peru).

Jan 6

                We were planning on leaving for the bus terminal at 6am from the place we were staying at in Santa Cruz.  Our driver, however, arrived around 7 and had breakfast before taking us at 730am.  Compared to the quiet and empty-ish airport, the bus terminal is jammed packed.  Chaotic would be a good description of the place and you have to watch all your belongings at all times.  Unfortunately, we had arrived too late to purchase tickets from Trans Copacabana.. no more seats.  Edward looked for and found another bus fare to Cochabamba from Express Santa Cruz (I’ll never forget).  Well, we had to wait for a while and we saw many buses coming and going.  We were looking for our bus and kept saying, “thank goodness that one isn’t our bus!”  Some looked like you would contract a disease.. okay, maybe that’s too much.  But you get the point.  Well, our bus might be 3^rd or 4^th from the worst that we saw.  Overall, not good: especially for a 9 hour bus ride.  Our bus came and left quite late and meanwhile, I purchased a bag of bread.  Later, I found them to be some type of cheese bread.  Mostly cheese.  -______-;;;  I slept more most of the trip.  It was super hot and muggy inside besides the stench.  I was glad to be wearing long pants because the seats weren’t exactly clean.  We left the windows open unless it started to rain, which it did throughout our journey.  There was no A/C and thankfully, I did not have to use the bathroom, if there was one in service.  Greg and I got seats at the very front left and so we had more leg room.  They made a stop for lunch but there wasn’t much too eat.  We had crackers and drinks.  Later, we almost missed the bus but were able to flag it down.  As we neared Cochabamba, the scenery became very jungle like and beautiful.  We kept going up the road and by a national park with clear/cold mountain rivers and streams.  Cliffs and large boulders were a constant sight throughout the rest of the trip besides the villages covered in a cool, dense fog.  There were pine trees as we came onto a plateau type of landscape.  I could not see too well at night, but we saw a large statue illuminated by lights at the top of a mountain.  By the amount of lights, we could tell that this was a large city.  Instead of the 9 hour trip, it became into a 12.5 hour trip.  There were so many angry customers on the bus, I didn’t have to say anything to anyone.  In Cochabamba, we could not find a bus leaving for La Paz since we arrived so late.  After supper, we contemplated whether to stay in a hostel, at the bus terminal, or to call Boris to find us a place to stay.  Well, the hostel was closing in 5 mins and the bus terminal closes at 11:30pm.  Fortunately, we got in touch with Boris and he gave us an address and name for us to stay at for the night.  Cochabamba is known for being dangerous at night, especially for tourists.  A bus and a taxi got us to where a lady greeted us into her home.  It was the nicest places that I’ve stayed at since arriving in Bolivia.  Greg and I slept on the floor with plenty of blankets.  Supposedly, it gets cold here at night.  Bolivia, cold?  I charged by camera before heading to bed.  We have a bus to buy tickets for and to get on at 7am. 

Jan 7

                We all woke up way past 7am.. Chilly in the morning but it felt wonderful to be in a cool place.  So we ended up having breakfast prepared by hermana Miriam, our host.  We had a nice view from where we were, a 2^nd story home overviewing Cochabamba.  The high mountains envelope the city with greenery and craggy peaks.  Although it is around 8,000ft high, there was no snow on the mountains.  Well, the bus is gone and they do not depart until at night.  We took some of Greg’s saved information on Cochabamba on his computer as well as local info about the area.  First, we went to visit an Adventist university (U.A.B).  The campus was tiny but beautiful with all the foliage and flora.  Seeing much of Bolivia the way it is, what a difference!  No classes were running as it is summer vacation but there were quite a few people participating in soccer, swimming, racquetball, and a seminar.  Afterwards, we took buses to reach the statue that we saw the day before.  I really appreciate the cleanliness of Cochabamba with the sewer system, well paved roads, and even beds of flowers and cut grass.  We took a taxi to the top of the hill/small mountain leading up to the statue.  It was either that or walking up more than 1250 steps one way.  20 bolivianos and we got to see a spectacular view of the city.  Absolutely beautiful!  I was not excited to visit the statue but once I got there, change of attitude!  We could get a 360 degree view, but even better was the cost of 1.50 bolivianos up the statue.  Inside, it was very narrow and dank but the view you can get from the peak holes is worth it all.  They say that this statue is higher than the famous statue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.  It is 33 meters and some more to reflect the age of Jesus on earth.  Of course we took a bunch of photos before heading back down in another taxi.  The view coming up and down was exhilarating as was the ride.  I do not ever recall being in a complacent taxi and feeling safe.  Haha!  It is cool in the morning, but it gets progressively hotter throughout the day.  After getting back to the house, we walked back out to purchase our bus fares.   We were very fortunate to be able to buy them for 43 bolivianos per person.  Other places were charging 70 and up.  Our hosts then wanted to show us a statue near the city plaza before going to the Mercado.  Again, I heard many stories involving thieves.  I had my camera in a bag and in front of me in my hands.  :D  I was craving fruits so much that I ended up buying mangoes, grapes, and ciduelas (type of plums).  Once we got back, I shared with everyone at the house.  One thing that kind of shocked me was to see mosquitoes.  I thought there were none in Cochabamba!  :/  Time to go to La Paz!  The host lady, Miriam, actually has a son interested in attending Quebrada Leon.  We gave her a brochure to look at what the school offers.  I hadn’t taken a shower in 3 days now, since leaving Quebrada Leon Friday.  At least I don’t smell and I look great.  XD  We said our goodbyes and left for our bus leaving at 9:30pm.  I got ripped off for a 2L bottle of water for 10bs.  It’s usually 6 or even 5 bolivianos.  :/  Greg and I shared a blanket to sleep with on the way to La Paz.  It was quite chilly.  

Jan 8

                It was 5:30am when I woke up.  People were being dropped off at various locations on our way to the bus terminal.  The city was still illuminated with the lights since the sun was still a ways away from coming up.  We arrived at the terminal 15 mins early to be exact.  Amazing!  It is freezing here and the bus terminal is not closed space, meaning that the cold air just comes right in.  L  We went to a café to get something warm to drink as well as to eat something.  We had leftover crackers from Greg’s backpack and tea.  Many beggars came to ask for money or to sell items.  I still had bread from a few days ago in my bag.  Gross!  Threw that away!  We took a taxi to an address where Inesita and Ceci were staying at.  The roads are mostly cobblestone and reminds me a lot of San Francisco in relation to the steepness of the roads.  I took a video.  The roads are narrow but clean, like Cochabamba.  Maybe cleaner.  And yes, they do have a sewer system.  :D  The home is very small but has a family of 4 including 2 children, one infant boy and the other a 1 year old girl.  A small kitchen, a very small bathroom, and a common room leading to the master bedroom made up the house.  It was what I would consider a tight space for 2 college students, but now there were 10 people in the house.  We crashed for a few hours before having food cooked by Inesita.  Yumm!  We then ventured out and saw 3 catholic churches/basilicas.  The basilica was impressive but the other two smaller catholic churches were ugly and cluttered.  There were many beggars in front of the churches.  The catholics are very faithful here in worshipping in prayer and devotion.  I only felt disgusted and frustrated by the pagan idols lining the walls inside the building.  We walked in the rain for the majority of the time, but besides that, we were in shops and a museum.  I was on the lookout for alpaca clothing and souvenirs for family and friends.  I bought a bread for 0.50 bolivianos.  White bread!  Haha~  It was amazing.  Most people here dress nicely with suits and drive imported cars from the US and Europe.  There are quite a few Korean Kias and Hyundai being used here.  Restaurants with wooden and metal chairs with silverware and glass cups are common, and many military and police personnel maintain organization on the streets and by the stores.  One of the streets had policemen with riot shields.  Supposedly, the president of Bolivia was out shopping in that street earlier.  I wanted to take pictures of them, but that might not have been a good idea anyways.  Greg and I got in trouble though in one of the catholic churches for taking photos.  They made Greg delete the photos. Then, I got in trouble in a mall for taking pictures.. I was taking selfs through the mirror.  -____-;;  I get a little excited when I see a mirror since they are so rare here.  Up tight for no reason?  Oh well.  Bolivia is heavily influenced by European culture as seen evident in infrastructure, ideals, and social gatherings.  Bolivians really like Korean things: especially music!  Psy’s Gangnam style is played in Korean, Spanish, and in remixes.  Stairway to Heaven is aired on TV in Spanish daily.  American music is common place at restaurants and cafés.  I purchased my first alpaca clothing: a large scarf and a pair of gloves for 220 bolivianos.  It is cheap by US standards but a lot of money considering bolivian standards.  We walked by some vendors selling items for voodoo and witchcraft.  Very weird.  We stopped by a type of HiperMaxi and I resisted buying pringles.  J  We ended up sleeping at a different place due to the space at Inesita’s grandson’s house.  Greg, Edward, and I walked several blocks to a Inesita’s grandson’s wife’s mother’s sister’s house to sleep.    

Jan 9

                The night proved to be very cold even with all of our clothes and blankets.  My back was sore from the very soft mattress that Greg and I shared.  We went back to the “house” (Inesita’s grandson’s house) and had breakfast before deciding what to do in La Paz.  Greg was not feeling well and he got up several times during the night to use the bathroom.  We all had some coca tea as an altitude sickness remedy.  Interesting.  It’s bad if you chew on the leaves with alcohol.  That’ll make you high.  Anyways, Greg slept for most of the day, and I watched soccer on TV.  I always said that I wanted 4 kids.  Well, we were baby sitting 2 kids and they really got me thinking that 4 is way too much.  Especially with the constant crying and constant watching that was needed.  After lunch, we everyone went out to La Paz, except for Greg.  We took a taxi to a different part of La Paz, almost 20 minutes away.  There was a new large mall complete with movie theaters, food court, band name stores, indoor sport venues, ice-skating, laser-tag, fancy restaurants, arcade, and bowling.  Right outside one of the windows, I saw a poor bolivian home with the basic necessities.  What a contrast!  Quite ridiculous actually.  We had some butter and color sugared popcorn.  Tasty.  Afterwards, we split up and us three (Brenda, Edward, and I) headed back to downtown La Paz to meet up with Miriam’s son (Cochabamba host) for he was interested in attending Quebrada Leon.  We were kicked out of one café (because we weren’t ordering food food) and then we walked for a while to another café.  I had earl grey tea (12bs) and just listened to Edward and Brenda talk to our potential attendee.  The alpaca gloves that I bought are coming in handy here.  They aren’t super warm but enough to keep the blood circulating.  Afterwards, we were planning on getting some dinner but all the places were closing; it was past ten at night.  I should have bought some potatoes from the street vendors.  -____-;;  We got to bed around 11pm after taking the bus back to our place (1bs per person).

Jan 10

                Greg is feeling much better today, though he did use the bathroom at night (once?).  Breakfast was colada… one thing that is so difficult to get used to eat.  We basically eat breakfast and lunch.  Dinner is very simple and nothing like you would have for dinner in the states.  This time, we traveled up to El Alto (the higher plateau part of La Paz) to see the Mercado.  It was super chilly with the wind, but we were able to see some of the Mercado and to buy some souvenirs.  We called up Boris, one of the students at Quebrada last school year, to see if we could meet up.  We could not spot them for a long time and decided to leave.  Greg somehow spotted him with several others in the mass chaos of people.  We got to see not only Boris but Romina and Lucia.  J  Boris tried to convince us very strongly about staying to help them run the health fairs: for 2 weeks!  I met a little girl named Gracia, so cute!  After saying goodbye, we walked a very long ways to find and get on a micro back to the house.  My back was bothering me a lot and the walk did not help since I had my backpack as well.  It was hurting to the point of me wondering how many more steps I could take without it breaking.  We found a bus much later and finally got to downtown La Paz.  We decided to eat at a place called Tomato café, a vegetarian restaurant.  It was good and cheap by American standards. I paided about $2.70 for a soya burger and Greg spent $2.50 for a Panini.  Que rico!  Service was very slow but the total bill was about 15 dollars.  Not bad for a decent restaurant with a nice interior.  Brenda was borrowing my alpaca gloves and she almost lost them at one point.  We found it thankfully, much to Brenda’s relief.  We walked back to the house and I felt like I was going to throw up all the food we just had.  It’s very steep and long.  I could laugh about it now~  Pa Laz looks very pretty at night from all the lights illuminating from the homes and street lights.  I slept on the floor this time and hopefully that’ll be good for my back.  

Jan 11

                Edward left early for a morning run before we got up.  By the time we got back to the house, Edward was already there and waiting for us.  Fail!  I guess we got up quite late.  :D  I took a shower couple days ago but it was cold.  From some advice, I turned the water on very low… my first hot shower since arriving in Bolivia!!  I did not want to come out.. It was so amazing.  I won’t forget that feeling.  XD  After breakfast, we decided to go see the ancient capital of the Incas.  It cost 15bs for each person one way to get to the site by microbus.  I thought it was expensive until I found out that the ride was an hour and a half one way.  What a deal.  Haha!  However, they charged us foreigners 80bs per person to enter the site.  It was not anything amazing or close to what we might have expected.  A little after we arrived, it started to pour rain and hail for more than an hour.  We visited 2 museums as we waited out the storm.  The lack of sun with the rain and wind contributed to the discomfort of coldness.  I contemplated  buying a scarf just for the cold.  The museum was leaking rain water in various places.  :/  The rain stopped and we bought some potato chips before heading out to see the ruins.  Obviously it was very wet and muddy.. Glad to be wearing hiking boots.  The rocks are cut and fitted absolutely perfectly.  It looks as if some modern machine cut and put them together.  I kind of enjoyed the site but the other 3 couldn’t be any more disappointed.  I stopped with my enthusiasm later, I felt bad.  Haha  I had to admit that it was boring overall.  A person working at the place told us that there was another site to see.  We ended up walking far to it to find it closed.  No one was working there.  -______-;;  We did some shopping at the tourist vendors where I bought an alpaca scarf for 30bs, alpaca socks for 10bs, and strange stone carvings for 10 bs, and I also received some free gifts with my purchases.  One of the people riding in the microbus back to La Paz with us shared candy with everyone.  Best candy ever!  I saved the wrapper to find it later.  ^^  Some others had coca tea being passed around.  Our driver was very friendly and stopped at the edge of the “bowl” at La Paz for pictures.  Before catching another bus back to the house, I bought 5 bread for 2bs.  Has to be the worst bread purchase that I ever made and hopefully one that I will not repeat.  The market here is disgusting, especially the fish and meat section.  We ended up sleeping at Inesita’s grandson’s place because our other hosts were not present at their house.  Us guys slept on a mattress sideways with a bunch of blankets to keep warm.  

Jan 12

                Church was only 4 blocks away from the house.  This has to be one of the first times that I get to walk to church (besides at school).  I had a difficult time understanding so I just had my own bible study.  During divine service, we had 3 young boys sit with us.  The mom brought them to us for some reason.  Idk  After a little while, we decided to split them put between Greg, Brenda, and I.  They were way too loud and distracting together.  Well, the one sitting between Greg and I had some serious ADD or something.  Anyways, he didn’t want to sit between us and just kept kicking my leg (not hard).  I gave his leg a little squeeze for him to stop, and he started to cry.  -_______________________-  Inesita, who was sitting behind us, said to me in Spanish, “and you’re the one who wants 4 kids”.  Double K.O.  Even candy wouldn’t placate the kid crying, though he did take the candy.  His mom came like 2 hours later and took him, still crying.  The rest of service was great.  During the course of the morning, we stood up about 3 times as visitors.  Greg and I got plenty of attention since we’re asian.  Eh, not surprised.  They had 4 baptisms at the end of service: that was very nice to see.  A person wanted to take a picture of us before we left.  Okay.  I kept thinking of the kid during the service… craziness, I wonder if I can even be a father someday.  Haha  That just sounds weird too.  We spent the afternoon relaxing and just talking to each other.  Inesita’s grandson, Arbe, is a professional soccer goalie and we got to talking about soccer.  We gave Greg and I shirts from his club.  J  His house has so many soccer trophies, awards, balls, gloves, etc..  We went out to eat some supper at Tomato café again.  Edward and Brenda really likes that place.  Haha!  We found it closed for some odd reason.  Hotel Gloria’s restaurant was closed as well.  Fortunately, we found and ate at a 2^nd story Italian restaurant (bolivianized).  We ordered a large vegetarian pizza (85bs) and I ordered a pasta.  The pizza was great but the pasta was just something that I guess you would expect in Bolivia.  It wasn’t even close to what the picture depicted in the menu and what I was imagining.  20bs wasted.  We walked back up to the house and again, I felt like throwing up.  XD  

Jan 13

                I got to see premier league soccer live on TV at Arbe’s place after breakfast.  So fun to watch, but0 Brenda didn’t think so.  Arsenal lost but it was fun to watch.  Us 4 went to use the internet down a few blocks around 1pm.  Greg and I ended up staying until 4pm.  I got to skype with my mom and noemi (webcam wasn’t working..), chat with Kaley and Hyein on facebook, read Isaac’s hilarious email, as well as respond to other emails.  The computer wouldn’t recognize my external harddrive and so I could not upload any photos.   Greg uploaded a few with his USB before we headed back.  7-8 bs for each of us.  I seriously hate walking up to the house.  Why so steep!  We had a delicious lunch saved for us back at the house.  After a couple hours, Edward and Brenda wanted to go eat at Tomato café.  So, we walked back down, all the way to downtown La Paz.  Everytime we walk down, I think about the way back up and how difficult it is.  Haha!  Greg and I went to another internet café hosted by Entel, one of the cellphone service providers in Bolivia.  A little more expensive but much faster.  This time, I had transferred some of my photos onto my USB earlier so that I could upload.  :D  Edward and Brenda went for a walk around the city for an hour before meeting back up with us to eat.  I got a chance to upload 150 photos, update my blog, check my email again, facebook, etc…  Nothing is happening much with canon.  I want to see a 7D mark ii!  Edward and Brenda came back to tell us that tomato café and all the other vegetarian restaurants were closed again.  We ate at a place called Eli’s pizza.  There, we ordered a large vege pizza.  Not bad at all.  85bs for all of us.  I wanted icecream afterwards but Greg convinced me otherwise.  Well, let’s say that I resisted the temptation.  Haha!  We took a microbus up to the house.  We had coca tea before going to sleep.

Jan 14

                Edward went for his morning exercise/visit to immigration office to find out if he and Brenda could go to Peru. The plan was for all of us to go to immigration and get Greg’s fines paid and to have our money converted into soles (Peru currency).  We ran into a massive demonstration downtown La Paz.  The roads were blocked off and instead of cars, there were masses of people walking through the city with banners, posters, flags, music, and firecrackers.  The demonstration had to do something with coca..  I’m not too sure.  I was able to retrieve money at Western Union after Greg was finished paying his fine.  We tried many banks to change our money into soles, but it seemed as if no place had soles.  Some told us to come back in the afternoon.  Then, we walked to the bus terminal (15 mins away) to purchase tickets to Cusco, Peru.  We found a place with the best price, but the office was closed.  We wrote down the phone number before leaving.  We took another bus back the house and had an amazing lunch.  Brenda and I stayed back while Greg and Edward went out again to change the money and to buy the bus fares.  I worked on writing my blog (this thing) on Greg’s computer.  I was able to type up 5 pages.  ^^  Edward and Greg got back with the tickets and went right back out to buy groceries for the trip.  They were sweating a lot.  Before leaving, I gave Arbe’s family a photoshoot and then edited them on photoshop.  That’s the least that I could do for them.  =)  

Jan 15

                Greg really snores: didn’t know that until recently.  Haha!  The alarm went off at 6:45am and our bus was leaving at 8am.  We prepared and packed the rest of the necessities for the trip before saying our goodbyes.  We were leaving some of our things at the house.  I know I am going to buy stuff in Peru.  :D  Vamos!  I am so glad that Edward and Brenda could come and join us.  It will be much easier with the language issue and just for companions.  We found a taxi for 18bs total to get to the bus terminal.  With the traffic, we got there just in time.  8bs for terminal usage, for all of us, and we finally got on our bus!  It was our first time in a double decker bus and we’re on top!  For 140bs (~20dollars), considering a 12 hour trip, not bad at all.  It is fairly clean and so much better than our previous rides.  Yogurt and bread for breakfast.  We ran into heavy traffic at El Alto; we waited at one intersection for about an hour.  I won’t be able to accurately describe the chaos.  Pictures will do the work.  ;)  Thankfully, the bus did not stop to pick up any more people, though the bus was fairly empty.  When I woke from my nap, behold Lake Titicaca!!  Wow!  It looks more like an ocean, since you cannot see the shore of the opposite side.  So blue and it seems very clean.  A bus personnel came through and handed us documents to fill for entering Peru.  We stopped at a few checkpoints: a couple in Bolivia and then the border.  I realized that an American passport is not exactly looked well upon and they will look over everything several times to make sure.  Greg had to pay a little bit more money with his fees.  Apparently, the immigration in La Paz counted the days wrong.  Six more dollars and then we were off.  Once we entered Peru, there was a marked difference.  You could tell that the country is much richer than Bolivia.  The roads, general infrastructure, and lifestyle is more upscale.  The land is very spacious and flat with many sheep and cows.  Rolling mountains dot the landscape with intermittent rain blocking out the sun for minutes at a time.  The bus made a stop in Puno and a bunch of travelers got off there.  The front seat were empty for the rest of the trip, so Greg sat there and took a bunch of photos.  We were supposed to arrive in Cusco by 8pm, since we left at 8am.  However, we were 250km from Cusco at 6pm.  We started to see high craggy mountains with snow.  We opened a bag of potato chips and some frutilla wafers for supper.  We devoured them; not healthy but somewhat satisfied our hunger.  I fell asleep until we arrived in Cusco.  I had a nasty headache.  A lady confronted us with many pamphlets containing information on hostels.  We picked one for 20 soles a night, got on a taxi, and finally got to rest for the night.  Complete with amenities minus a TV.  I can live with that no problem.  Hot shower and wifi!  I brought my water filter so I filtered water from the sink.  Plugged in my accessories to charge and call it a night!  

Jan 16

                We ate bread and jam that we brought from La Paz for breakfast before heading out to see Cusco.   I did take another shower… felt amazing.  We walked a ways before stopping to see a monument with water fountains.  There, we ran into a lady selling alpaca clothing.  Looking closer, we noticed an SDA insignia on her jacket.  Hermana!  She gave us some good deals, the only really good deals we found in the city.  Greg bought a couple hats, Brenda a sweater, and I also purchased a sweater for 30 soles, and Edward bought something.  We got a picture with her before saying goodbye.  Ah, how nice to meet another SDA.  ^^  We were looking for tour packages to Machu Picchu and started to ask and compare prices amongst the many places we stopped by.  After much walking and deliberation, we settled with 81 dollars each for the Columbians and 150 dollars for us Americans.  Again, they really eat out of American wallets.  No me gusta!  Oh well, at least our friends got a good deal.  We found a vegetarian restaurant to eat at afterwards.  Now this place KNOWS how to cook period.  I ordered a huge burger that was amazing!  They also had fast and free wifi.  We then looked for and found a decent hostel for 25 soles per person.  The place isn’t as nice as some of the ones we saw, but decent enough for traveling missionaries.  Haha  I had NO money whatsoever.  It had to be one of the more depressing stages of the trip.  Greg paid the meals for me.  I was able to change 40 dollars to 100.4 soles later that evening.  It’s very annoying that currency exchange places or even banks do not take wrinkled or slightly ripped bills.  They only want and take crisp bills.  Greg could not change one of his 100 bills for the longest time.  He finally changed it for a little loss.  Brenda and I stayed at the hostel while Greg and Edward went to get the rest of our luggage back at our previous hostel.  I was on my iphone the entire time, with internet!  After they got back, we went to the same restaurant and had a light supper.  I got to skype with mom.  J  We also went and picked up our tickets to machu picchu.  I like Cusco a lot.  It’s very clean, European like, and beautiful.  It has a hint of artistry.  Greg went to bed very late; he was on his computer looking at pictures, I believe.  

Jan 17

                I slept great!  The bed was firm so that was very nice.  We had breakfast in the lobby: tea, bread, banana, jam, butter, sugar, etc..  A very simple but enough to last us until the next meal.  Again, we left some of our luggage at the hostel and we left for our bus to Machu picchu!  The lady in charge of getting us on our bus was crazy.  Obviously, it hadn’t been properly booked and we all were squished in rather uncomfortably.  Almost everyone in the bus were Argentines and boy, they talk a lot!  Us four amigos got the very back row.  I did sleep for most of the trip, but I did take many photos when we were going through the steep mountains and besides hairy cliffs.  We went through a pass so high that my water bottle was leaking.  At the top, we couldn’t see much of anything since we were driving through the clouds.  It was chilly too.  We stopped at Santa Teresa to eat a late lunch (3pm).  We took the vegetarian option, spaghetti, which was very plain and not too satisfying.  That’s part of our tour package.  Haha!  Then, we left for Hidroelectrica, where we would start our 2 hour hike into augas calientes.  There was plenty of construction going on as the name implies, a dam.  There were large waterfalls coming out from the sides of mountains!  That was amazing.  There was 16 of us walking to agua calientes.  It was quite the experience, walking along the train tracks for more or less than 8km.  It took us barely more than 2 hours at a fast rate to reach agua caliente and our hostel.  It rained a bit on us as we crossed many small bridges and one large bridge.  It was hot, muggy, and wet but the view was gorgeous.  There was a large and crazy river flowing beside the tracks and the noise is deafening.  I took some pictures of the scenery with my phone, since it was raining.  We met a Korean “noona” that is working with the U.N. in Santiago, Chile.  That was nice to meet someone Korean.  =)  The walk was super long…  Unfortunately, our hostel was less than what we had expected, especially for the amount that we paid in total.  It did not have hot water at times and the place itself is just not too good.  No phone, lamp, 2 power outlets (including the one for the TV), bad wifi, etc… The TV has 4 channels.  Haha!  At least they gave us towels, nothing good but eh.  Supper was at a different hostel with a restaurant.  We got spaghetti again but it had meat sauce.  Brenda gave hers away and us guys picked at it.  Some guide came later to explain about Machu Picchu and what to prepare for it.  First buses leave at 5:30am.  We walked back in the rain to our hostel.  No shower for me: no hot water.  

Jan 18

                I set the alarm for 4:15 and 4:30am.  I turned both off and was awoken with a knock on our door: 4:47am.  Yikes!  We got to the bus place and purchased our tickets.  Then we had breakfast before getting in line for the buses.  Unfortunately, Greg purchased 5 tickets worth but got 4 with no receipt.  I fell asleep in the bus ride up (25min), because I only had about 5 hours of sleep.  We were still tired from the excursion the day before.  At the top, we got off and showed our passports and tickets before they allowed us entry into Machu Picchu.  I’m here at last!  I thought about when I was a geography nerd.  Who knew that I’d be seeing Machu Picchu in real life someday.  It area was thick with clouds but we could make out the buildings and other rock formations.  We joined a tour group, but we soon decided to go off on our own.  They were moving too slow.  Plus, it was boring.  We all got maps and started hiking up the mountain, Machu Picchu.  It is the highest peak on site.  It was very demanding with the large uneven rock steps and steepness of ascension.  Brenda couldn’t make it and Edward went on ahead of us.  Greg and I eventually made it to the top!  It was still very cloudy but rewarding.  Between breaks in the clouds, we saw aguas calientes, hidroelectrica, the railroad tracks, the river, and beyond the mountains.  We could hear the roaring rapids even at the top.  I ate some of my granola bars (from home!) and met a few ladies from Germany volunteering in Cochabamba for kindergarten children.  =)  I was very surprised to see hummingbirds at the top!  So high but they were there eating the nectar from interesting flowers.  After pictures, we headed back down and this time, not sweating!  I took many pictures with my camera while walking down of the scenery, wildlife, and flora.  The walk down was taxing on my knees.  I had a few close calls: not fun.  Greg’s knee was actually shaking visibly.  We were able to see Machu Picchu on the way down!  Very beautiful from a different angle.  There were many Korean tourists there and it was nice to hear and speak some of the mother tongue again with other people like us.  Just us guys went to see the Incan bridge.  Brenda was just done with walking.  Haha!  It wasn’t much to see but the walk was easy.  I’m just glad that I wasn’t an Incan living at that time.. The mountain paths look like where mountain goats might walk on.  Greg and Edward decided to go see the temple of the sun.  I walked with them in the beginning but I just needed some rest.  I waited for them behind the rocky path for a good while.  I wanted enough energy to walk through the actual ruins of Machu Picchu.  During the course of time, I saw and took pictures of a giant millipede, birds, hummingbirds, and the beautiful scenery of the mountains, sky, clouds, and the valleys down below. Once I reunited with the other 2 guys, we went to look for Brenda.  We couldn’t find her so we proceeded to start our tour of the ruins.  Within a few minutes, we spotted her on the other side of the ruins.  She was almost done with seeing everything.  Oh well.  The really neat part of the ruins was the originality and absolutely amazing masonry work.  I am not too sure how much of the homes that they might have rebuild, but overall, very original.  The rocks that they could not figure how to put back together, they left them in a large pile.  There were llamas feeding on the grass inside the ruins!  They function as the “lawn mowers” of Machu Picchu.  Environmentally friendly.  :D  Not too much to say about the ruins.  The pictures and videos do more justice than words.  We met up with Brenda at the end and we took last photos before saying goodbye.  What a day!  I fell asleep on the ride back down… I woke up when my head went too far to the right and almost/hit the lady sitting next to me.  Oops!  I slapped myself didn’t fall asleep after that.  ><  My feet were hurting sooooo much.  We got to the hostel to rest for a bit (it was pouring rain outside as soon as we got in).  We had supper at a restaurant for 15 soles per person (package meal for tourists) and then we had supper at the restaurant that comes with our package trip.  I was stuffed.  I also ate a small melon and a peach.  Fatty.  ^^

Jan 19

                Breakfast was served at our hostel at 6:00am.  I did get up for that but went back to sleep afterwards.  Haha  Checkout was at 9:30am.  I skyped with my family before leaving.  Edward went to get his money from Western Union.  We left around 10:30am; our bus departs at 2:00pm.  This time, we walked slowly.  (:  My backpack straps were hurting my shoulders quite a bit.  The walk did not seem as long and it wasn’t too hot and raining either.  We arrived in hidroelectrica around 1:30pm.  We found out later that none of the buses were going to leave until the train arrived at 5:00pm.  We waited and waited… it was very disorganized to say the least.  We snacked a little bit but we did not eat lunch or dinner.  There were extremely irritated and angry people who were waiting like us.  Needless to say, we did not have to do much.  Those people expressed everyone’s feelings.  Haha  We were assigned to a much larger and cleaner bus than before.  Us 4 got on the right side with one seat per row.  Very nice and comfortable.  I fell asleep after passing the “mini” death road.  We made a bathroom stop, but the funny thing was that there were no bathrooms.  The side of the road was used by most everyone.  I bought a pack of wafers and a bag of lays chips.  Interesting thing is that the bag of lays had a packet of mustard.  It was very interesting and actually good with the mustard!  I slept until we reached Cusco.  I believe we arrived around or past 10pm.  We moved to a different hostel.  This time, we’re all in one room.  We’ll get our bags from the other hostel tomorrow.  

Jan 20

                Greg took up most of the bed space but it was an excellent night of rest nonetheless.  I took a good long shower and enjoyed a buffet continental breakfast afterwards.  I had 3 cups of juice(watermelon and pineapple), 5 or 6 bread with jam, butter, and sugar, and cereal.  Yumm!  We signed out and left our excess bags at the hostel once again.  We took our dirty clothes to the Laundromat and to find a bus fare to Puno, Peru.  We did find a bus fare but it was leaving at 10:15pm.  So much free time for people with no money in a tourist city.  Haha  Anyways, I really like Cusco; it’s beautiful, clean, fun, and has lots things to see.  We went up a monument dedicated to some Incan hero/heroine…I can’t remember.  Haha!  There are 3 catholic churches in the same square.  Overkill.  We saw a billboard for McDonalds earlier and Greg and I decided that we had to find it.  First, we found that the vegetarian restaurant was closed yet again.  We ate at a restaurant next door: not too good and 10 soles per person.  We then went and found McDonalds!  There, I bought sundaes, a mcflurry, cone, and fries for us to eat.  So unhealthy but oh so good!  On a side note, the wifi at McDonalds was very slow.  We then went to a Mercado to shop!  I was so excited, but Greg couldn’t have been more disappointed.  ;)  The place is just full of goodies~  I bought a white scarf, a hand painted cup, a green sweater for dad, and a couple alpaca key chains.  Greg bought a couple alpaca ponchos for his family.  It was so nice!  I wanted to buy one as well, but they did not have a white one.  L  As we were leaving, I bought a keychain for 2 soles.  I knew I was getting ripped off but I still wanted it.  Again, even during dinner hours, our favorite vegetarian restaurant was closed.  So sad!  So we went next next door to another restaurant.  I used my credit card for the first time in South America.  The food was okay.   There’s nothing like an amazing vegetarian restaurant.  En serio!  We collected our luggage and laundry before we went to a café, waiting for the time to leave for the bus terminal.  I had a strawberry milkshake and watched the under 20 Columbian soccer team beat the Ecuadorian team.  =)  We then took a taxi to the bus terminal.  We had way too much luggage to walk to the terminal, especially at night.  The bus departed only 15 minutes late.  We knocked out for the night ride.  

Jan 21

                 Around 6am, we arrived in Puno, Peru.  It’s basically the Peru city on Lake Titicaca.  I felt like sleep-walking as we got out of the bus.  It was quite chilly.  After we used the restroom for .50 soles each, we had breakfast in the terminal (7 soles).  It’s not a type of breakfast you would expect.  I learned to “water” down every expectation you have and you’ll be close.  It’s better just not to expect anything too.  XD  We found a deal that included a boat tour out the Uros, the floating islands, and a bus ride to Copacabana (Bolivia) for 30 soles a person.  It was still early but we walked to a pier that extended out to Lake Titicaca.  There, Greg and I turned into nerd mode and we had our own ornithology lab.  In reality, it was fun.  There were so many birds there that we took photos of and that we tried to categorize.  We couldn’t identify any of the precisely, but we were able to generalize them pretty well.  Edward and Brenda started walking back to the city and we had to walk fast/jog to catch up with them after pulling ourselves away from the birds.  I had 400 waiting for me at a Western Union in Peru!  I needed that badly.  It was 8:30am and it was closed!!  -_____-;;  Back at the bus terminal, a bunch of people (and us), were loaded up in vans to another pier where we would ride the boats out to the floating islands!  A local musician came on board the boat and starting playing his ukulele looking thing, a pan flute, and also sang.  He was pretty good!  He asked for money before he left.  It was a 30 minute ride out to the site and our guide gave us some info on Titicaca.  Skipping to the island part…  The floating islands were all that I had ever imagined.  Absolutely amazing!  They explained how they constructed the islands…stunning that we were on 15m of water while they were talking.  I shifted through some reeds beside me and I found water.  I quickly replaced the reeds.  Don’t want to swim with my camera.  I found out that you could eat the white tender bottom part of the reeds.  It didn’t taste like anything but still very interesting.  We had 15 minutes to look around on the island and take pictures.  The ladies there were cooking and some were displaying their items to sell.  Edward spotted an SDA church across the channel from where we were.  We later found out that the entire islands that we were on are all Adventists!  What?!  When we pray, we ask that we might meet people.  PTL  We talked and shared with them for a while (I was still so fascinated to be on a floating reed thing and not getting wet).  They sang a couple songs for us and we followed along to some of the hymns that we knew.  They speak another tongue…I forget the name of it.  They even sang a couple songs in Korean!  They learned from a group of Korean missionaries stationed in Puno.  We did buy a few items, but they gave us all a gift!  Handmade pillow cover.  The other three received white ones but a lady gave me a red one!  My favorite color!  What a great day it’s been already.  ^^  We took a another boat ride in a traditional Incan boat across the channel to the SDA church.  Us 4 were the only ones who wanted to pay 5 soles each to ride the boat, so we got to choose where we wanted to go.  :D  This is the first church that I’ve been to that’s floating on water period.  There were 2 small schools as well beside the church.  All this was still on 15m of water.  The church and schools were on floats however.  The water goes from 15m to 150m in a hundred feet or so.  Drastic change in depth.  The whole area has 35 members and 30 students.  We need to keep them in prayers as it is difficult there.  We then went to another island, that had a restaurant on it.  We didn’t eat though, too expensive.  What a great experience!  One of my dream come true!  J  We knocked out on the 30 minute ride back.  After sorting out details back tat the bus terminal, we got a taxi back to the plaza.  We had 4.4 soles total between us 4 and that’s what we paid for the taxi.  So poor!  I got a picture with a police officer and finally retrieved my money from a bank!  We found a vegan restaurant to have lunch at.  It was super vegan, so vegan that it was just difficult to eat.  Greg barely finished and I finished just placating my hunger.  Taxi back to the terminal and then off to Copacabana.  The bus left on time!  We stopped at the border for customs and immigration.  We had approximately 15 minutes before the bus departs again.  For some reason, Edward and Brenda got in a motorcabtaxi thing and went back the way our bus came.  Hmmmm.  We waited and waited.  I crossed the border line while Greg kept waiting.  I got to the bus before it started to leave.  In the end, they took out our luggage and left it with me besides the dusty road.  Who knew that I would be on the side of the road in Bolivia.  I felt kinda bad at first and had to laugh at the situation.  I’ll never forget some of these things.  XD  Edward and Brenda came back not too long after.  Fortunately, we were only 8km away from Copacabana from our location.  I was glad to have everyone back together again.  We found a taxi for 20bs to Copacabana.  There, we booked into a decent hotel for 50bs per person.  Yay for wifi that isn’t working.  I already miss Peru; more precisely, Cusco.  It doesn’t look much like a tourist city.  We had supper at a decent restaurant before having tea and donuts at a café.  Greg and I got to bed past 12.  We were looking at pictures and videos of friends and family back home.  What fun!  

Jan 22

                  Greg asked me to set the alarm for 7am.. that guy never gets up.  We had breakfast provided at the hotel before heading out to the lake.  We got to the site a little late and the boat had already left.. :/  There were no more planned boats going out for the day, but because there were many other people wanting a ride as well, we purchased ones for 30bs each.  We loaded up at 10am but did not leave until the boat was full.  Typical bolivian system.  Haha  It was a 2 hour boat ride to isla del sol, and we (Greg and I) worked on our shopping list for La Paz.  I wanted to throw up since the waves were so choppy.  We stopped working on our seemingly endless list and took a nap.  Why are there so many Argentines??  Everywhere we go, Argentines.  :P  The island was very pretty, but from a distance.  The place was trashed pretty badly for a tourist attraction.  We had lunch there and had the rest of the 2 hours to sight-see on the island before we departed.  I found a vacant dock to sit on for a while and to enjoy the lake.  It was very relaxing…  reminded me of home.  Got some nice shots with my camera and iPhone.  We went to another place with floating islands.  Ha!  What a joke…  We were all so glad that we had already seen the real thing back at Puno, Peru.  They had docks put together and strewn with reeds.  Amazing, huh.  There was a restaurant selling trout dishes with a trout farm right next to it.  As fresh as it gets!  The trout was brought from Canada: that’s what I heard.  Interesting.  We visited a rock island right by the restaurant and climbed up to the top.  What a view!  More pictures.  :D  It was a short 15 minute ride back to Copacabana.  We had an hour to spare to buy our bus tickets and to make a quick visit to a cathedral.  Sick of cathedrals at this point.  I bought a thing of healthy crackers for supper and got on a 3 hour bus to La Paz.  Slept very little before we were told we had to get out.  The bus was going in a ferry across a potion of lake Titicaca!  Greg and I quickly grabbed some food (more snacks than food) before crossing in another boat.  That small boat must have had about 40 people in it.  No lights on the boat either.  We passed another boat going the opposite way at a good speed.  How we didn’t crash, it’s amazing.  We were back on the bus and I woke up when we arrived in chilly La Paz!  Cold!  We got a micro back to Arbe’s place to find out that Inesita and Cece had already gone back to Quebrada Leon a couple days prior.  We crashed and slept very well.  =)

Jan 23 (Shopping day)

Greg and I traveled down to downtown La Paz to attend to business.  First, we went to immigration to get our 90 days.  We went to find that our 90 days started January 1^st… Even though my visa was supposed to be from Nov. 13 to Feb. 13.  So I lost a good month and 13 days and left not a very happy camper.  We have to pay about 75 dollars when we leave.  =/  Then, we chaged our money and proceeded to buy stuff for our family and friends.  What a ridiculously long list we have!  Just buying hats took us until noon.  Then the gloves and scarves.  To put most of the day in a sentence, we were sick of shopping.  XD  We bargained and compared prices with other stores to get the best deals.  Some places, we bought all of their stuff (hats or gloves).  We bought a cheap bag used by Bolivians to put our purchases in.  We should have bought a larger one.  Haha!  Mission accomplished by 6pm and oh so poor.  We took a bus back to the house.  We kept saying to each other how crazy we were to have bought so much.  Kkkkkkk  Greg wished he was a wangdah* so he didn’t have to buy stuff for so many people.  lol  I ran out of money, so I had to buy some things with my credit card.  We took refuge in a restaurant because there was no one at the house.  More or less than 2 hours.  Slept like a baby.  Greg wants me to wake him up… 

Jan 24

                  I tried to wake Greg up many times.  He stayed in bed way after breakfast, and after having some breakfast.  We watched TV for a while… waste of my life.  Us guys went to buy our bus tickets back to Santa Cruz.  Long walk but we bought them from Copacabana, cama (semi beds) seats, non-stop for 170bs.  Sweet!  It leaves at 8pm and arrives in Santa Cruz 1pm the next day.  We then went to buy gifts for our guy friends back at Quebrada Leon.  I also bought a couple more scarves and Greg finally found a sweater for his dad.  And get this!  I found 800bs more in my backpack!  PTL!  I did not see it before, even after searching through a couple times.  We went back to pack up our belongings.  We said our goodbyes and thanked our wonderful hosts before taking a taxi to a Korean restaurant!  What a great way to end our vacation with good food!  I had bean paste soup, and Greg had jajangmyun.  There were only five side dishes but the kimchee was just great!  We finished everything, including an extra bowl of rice(10bs).  We ate quickly since we had a bus to catch.  Extremely satisfied and 250bs poorer (I paid), we hailed a taxi and had 15 minutes to spare before our bus departed.  Greg bought some drinks and cups at the terminal for our last leg of our trip back “home”.  Our bus departed ON TIME.  Our cleaner seats came with a blanket to sleep with.  We had good leg room as well!  We put our bags up and my camera bag under my seat before calling it a day.  We stopped at another place to pick up more people before departing La Paz.  That took a while and many beggars and street musicians came in to ask for money. 

Jan 25

                  I woke up at 4am.  Cochabamba!  I could tell by the large white statue lit at night with all the lights illuminating the stairs leading up the mountain.  The personnel on the bus were trying to be as quiet as possible.  They took a short break before departing again.  I woke up again when we were headed down to lower elevation.  At one place, a semi went and crashed on its side.  Considering that the people here do not wear seatbelts, game over.  We had yogurt (strawberry flavor) and granola.  Greg somehow drank an entire bottle of yogurt (has to be around a liter).  I only had a few small cups of that before I felt kind of sick.  Greg gave another bottle of yogurt to Edward and Brenda for breakfast.  It got ridiculously hot inside the bus as we neared Santa Cruz.  Well, we still had several hours to go.  All of the windows were opened and it was loud and smelly.  Greg and I switched seats and I did not sweat as much.  We had to get out a couple times for security check and for gas.  I still don’t understand the thing with weight and gas.  You would never have people getting out of cars/buses to fill up more gas back in the US.  Haha  We finally arrived in Santa Cruz at 2pm!  Vacation, over!  We got on two taxis to get to El Torno.  Very uncomfortable and hot, but glad to be heading back to Quebrada Leon.  From there, the bus into Quebrada Leon cost us 10bs each.  It’s really hot in Santa Cruz: no me gusta!  On the way into Quebrada, we saw Andres and another person (new) coming out in the red truck.  So happy to see him!  Once we arrived at Quebrada, we got to see the rest of our friends.  We saw Justin first, mowing the lawn.  There were many visitors and a couple arrived on motorcycle right behind us as we arrived.  They were part of a large group visiting from Guayara-marin.  Edwin is STILL not here.  Haha!  That guy..  We got cleaned up and dressed in time for vespers.  Phew, it’s nice to be back!  Bathrooms now have doors and screens!  PTL!  It’s so weird not having mosquitoes in the bathroom.  I’m not complaining at all by the way.  =)  I realized again how many things we bought… it’ll be worth it back home.  The atmosphere is different though.  A couple new guys, Lars and Victor from Europe, and lots of guests.  End of our vacation!!