Week 2

I think I'm getting used to this.  Again, there are many things that we don't have that was just there in the U.S.  Basic necessities.  Carry your own toilet paper!!

We've been giving bible studies everyday here.  We have breakfast, some classes (Espanol), lunch, then out for bible studies.  A small supper, usually of fruit, bread, and leftovers are up for grabs.  It's very hot and humid, though it's cooled off a bit lately.  Extremely dusty and lots of buses and motortaxis.  We walk by many mango trees which we hit ripe mangoes off with branches and rocks.  Haha!  In US, most people don't care about the Word.. especially since life is so comfortable and just don't feel the need.  Here, it's like they just drink it!  We've had studies with 1 to 7 people at a time.  We gave bibles to those that do not own one and pamplets for the studies.  Absolutely amazing.. I myself have been learning way too much.  I'm able to understand much much more spanish!  I feel like on a happy drug, if there is such a thing.  :D  I think this is something that one must experience to realize.  So, moving on~

Vegan food is really good here, unlike nasty cafeteria vegan food served at Southern.  I had the best best lentils ever!  I never liked lentils until here.. haha  It's mostly Columbian food, since the cooks are from Columbia.  All the foods are made from scratch (fresh organic foods) and takes much more time to prepare.  Especially for 28 people.  Most of the food, it's a first for me and a very good first to put it simply.  As Jose always says, "It's amazing!"  We went mango picking!  Fun but very tiring.  Must've picked around 50 mangoes. 

I did some garden work or "clearing the jungle".  I feel so bad as a biologist.. but it was fun deforesting a bit.  ;)  So many interesting bugs!  Gigantic moths and beetles!  Spiders... yeah, hate those.  So far, a different bug everyday that I see.. especially after a rain.  I got my share of mosquito bites.. maybe 20 or so in a day?  My leg looks all red and lumpy.  Mosquitoes here are tiny and there are also biting flies: very tiny as well (piqueno).  There is a massive frog that visits every night.. might not be the same one but you have to keep your luggage and tents closed.. just an fyi. 

Ben has a panflute, which I got to try playing.  Props to woodwind players, I was out of breath so quickly!  Not as easy as it seemed on Youtube.. XD  I wish there is a cello here!  I've asked the Bolivians here.. they don't think it exists in Santa Cruz.. -______-;;  Oh well~  People love to sing here and I've been playing the keyboard that they have here.  Even in large churches, there is no piano.  They are all imported and so it's very expensive.  Actually, keyboards are rare too. 

I've been getting to know people better.  I know all the guys here but not so much the girls.  Mainly because they do not speak english.  There are a couple other people from the US, a family from Jamaica, Panama, few from Columbia and of course Bolivia.  There are 3 toyotas that we ride..  Very fun to hang outside the car: bumpy and lots of wind that just rushes by.  Nice during a hot day.  One of the cars kept having problems so we did have to walk a bit and push the car too.  I forgot to wear sunscreen.. think I got a shade or two darker.  We went to Quebrada Leon for a couple days: that was fun!  We didn't work much in the garden since the weeds just grow right back.  We went to a waterfall/national park.  We saw two waterfalls.. 86m and 120m high!  We swam and dove at the bottom.  Also played some soccer on the sand.  I hope I didn't step on one of the many small frogs.  lol  We took a large watertank on top of the land cruiser to sell.  We drove far out in the country.. saw people that probably never saw an asian.  lol  They could've all made pictures for national geographic or something.  So cultural and native.  Houses are made of palm branches, canes, and basic boards of wood.  The road was insane.. practically unusable after a rain.  Gave a couple random people rides to Calera.  Approximately 3 hours to walk to and 45 mins by car.  It's only 11km too!  Besides tamarin trees, I found out that there are grapefruit and different types of mango trees!  Can't wait until those are ready.  ^^  We played soccer with the people building the mens dorm at the school.  I wore my crocs to play but the rest of the people played barefoot.  Have to watch for the cow poop!  ;) 

Again, no pictures..  I'll try to upload them asap!  til then, hasta luego! 

Nov 18-22

Week 1

Bolivia!!  I'm here at last!  It is quite the transition from the states to here.. Everything, and I mean literally everything is so so different and more downgraded.  Honestly, I don't know exactly where to begin, but here I go!

My first sight of Bolivia was 4:48am on the plane descending down to La Paz, Bolivia.  The night before, I kept imagining all the sights that I was flying over.. Thought about the Caribbean and the Islands, Amazon Jungle, Native people, Peru, the Andes, and etc... I woke to the most incredible sunrise I have ever seen.  The sun was just visible over the clouds and the streaking rays of light hit a large mountain with snow and glaciers.  La Paz is around 13,000ft, so we didn't have much of a descent.  One runway and one poor looking capital.  Absolutely no trees and bunch of fenced in homes made of clay or something reddish.  After about an hour of transferring, plane took off for my final destination: Santa Cruz, Bolivia!  Arrived 9:30am and took about an hour to go through security and customs.  I felt almost helpless as I fumbled my way through explaining that I was going to be a missionary.  Honestly, I think they only cared about the 135 US dollars that they charge for tourist visa (90 days).  Dr. Kim, Greg, and Andres came to the airport about another 30mins later.  I was soooooooo happy to see Greg!  The airport had many soldiers and taxi drivers.  The heat was tremendous.. I left Montana when it was snowing, and Bolivia was 73F in the morning.  I gave Greg some snacks I stuffed in my camera bag for him.  Haha!  He was ecstatic.  We actually ended up staying at the airport until 4pm due to a blockade/riot.  Greg bought subway to eat for us.  Rather skimpy on the toppings and definitely tasted different.  On the way out, we got to see the aftermath of the riot.  Burning grass along the side of the highway and SWAT teams along the roads.  Welcome to Bolivia.

The drivers here in Bolivia, including Dr. Kim, are extremely crazy and good drivers.  I was very surprised that I didn't see any accidents.  Really.  Absolutely hectic and lots of honking.  Most of the roads are dirt and cobblestone.  The country roads are full of potholes and bumps.. even crossing rivers.  I was so so excited to see and eat mangoes!  By the next day, I knew that I really shouldn't be that excited.  There are so many that most of them rot.  And they are plentiful along the roads.  The jungle is alive with bugs... at night, its like having a personal orchestra of sound.  haha!  There are a few papaya trees in front of my tent as well as many different kinds of flowers.  You need to drink lots and lots of water.  It's really hot and you sweat alot.. or I should say I sweat alot.  ;)

Bolivians are pretty short bunch of people.  They are extremely hard workers and are very strongy.  I feel like a girl compared to Bolivian boys.  Santa Cruz is where we buy our weekly supply of food.  It reeks in the city center and the market.  I forget who, but someone told me to where sneakers instead of flip-flops.  Thank God!!  I can't and won't describe the filth in much detail, because I don't know what it is!  I'm pretty sure that it is a mixture of sewer and garbage.  Rotting vegetables and fruit everywhere and people digging out of the trash for the leftovers.  I was like a sore thumb in the market.  I am taller than most people (by a head or more) and besides, I'm asian.  :)  -I cannot concentrate because of a girl that always cries here.. oh my goodness- Anyways, trying to speak spanish the other day, I ended up using German... lol

Meals here have been very good: best vegan food I've had.  I'm starting to just accept the fact that there will be bugs in the food, and EAT IT.  Ah.  Definitely more bugs than I have ever seen  in my life in one place.. I already killed a tarantula and many other spiders.  They're huge!  I also shared the shower with a praying mantis, giant cockroach, and many beetles.  -______-;;  Lots of walking sticks, beetles, butterflies, wasps, flies, ticks, and so many that I cannot name or categorize.  Also there are these frogs in the toilet/bathroom and even in open luggage.. make sure you close your bags and tents!  Amazing diversity for sure!  I went to Quebrada Leon (the school) for the first time last Friday.  It took about an hour and a half and we passed a toll (for road maintanence), ~9 streams, and 2 villages.  We made 70 loaves of bread, communion bread, and peanut butter.  Bread was to sell in the market for approximately $1.50.  I basically helped out with the bread making.  It was extremely hot and required lots of hard work and patience.  Boy, making all that bread was quite the experience.  All vegan too!  I ate a couple of green mangoes as the tree is right on top of the "bakery". (I'll have to post the pictures sometime)  I thought the mangoes were good, especially with a little salt.  ;)  There are construction workers on the site building a new dormitory for the boys.  They work 8 hour days getting 15 US dollars a day.

So, it's very very hot here.  Humidity makes it that much worse.  I take at least 2 showers a day and maybe a rinse or two.  I am learning more spanish as the days go by.  I cannot understand church service but I can understand simpler language much much better!  Can't wait to be able to understand and converse with the people here.  Amazing place and always learning!  I can't upload the pictures now.. I'll have to make the files much smaller to upload with paint or photoshop.  I've been taking alot of pictures though and can't wait to upload them.

First picture is when the plane was approaching La Paz, Bolivia.  Beautiful, isn't it?  I think that was a pineapple popsicle.  About 20 cents in U.S. money.  :)

Nov 13-17