Much can happen in a week!

Wow – I’m busy. So what’s happened since I’ve gotten back from the jungle? The hospital. Now it’s not as bad as it sounds, but it was the hospital nonetheless. It seems I had a good case of food poisoning as I threw up a few times through the night and really didn’t sleep at all. They have been taking precautions with the volunteers which was why they sent me and another volunteer - who had the same symptoms - to the hospital. Luckily I got to go to the best hospital in the country – Hospital Arco Iris. This was actually my first experience at the hospital for myself. I stayed overnight, had an IV and I was alone. Not the best first time experience one could have but I don’t really think that you could ever really have a ‘good’ experience at the hospital either. Needless to say it was a difficult 28 hours. A lot of doubts about being here in Bolivia began flying through my head. I just wanted to be home in my own bed – not in a ward with 5 other people who had their own problems to deal with. Thanks to some very encouraging words from my father, I really saw how I was getting distracted from my purpose here in Bolivia. In my view, satan was trying to drive a wedge between me and the reason why I’m here. He knows I have the potential to do something great here and he doesn’t want to see that happen. To be honest, I’m not really cool with that. I have an objective and I aim to complete it and hopefully I will be able to stay fit and healthy so that I can do just that.

Side note: I have internet now in the flat! I had to buy two wifi routers to get the signal strong enough in our apartment, but now I should be able to update my blog a little more often. Hopefully providing better details of what’s going on here!

Although I’ve had to deal with a little fatigue and some random stomach pains this has been a great week. The other HOPE volunteers (from the US) have arrived here and I already feel as though we are a big happy family. To have people here who I have so much in common with definitely makes living in another country a little easier. I really look forward to being able to spend time with them and build some ‘happy memories’. I think that God will continue to bless this group as we try to help the poor in La Paz.

We actually got to have a great ‘American’ dinner with Cristobal – who is one of the directors at Arco Iris – which was a baked potato bar. We had bacon, cheese, sour cream… you know… all the good stuff to put on there. It was great to spend time with Cristobal’s family (he has a son and daughter as well as a nephew here in La Paz) and laugh at Brie and Jordyn - who are definitely fun to be around! The Broyles’ (HOPE mission team leaders) apartment is definitely a nice place – much different than the other places I have experienced in La Paz. For one, it has carpet, which automatically makes you feel warm and at home in a place that tends to be very cold. I hope they won’t mind if I share a picture two.

Broyles' Living Room

So I have experienced some changes with my project this week. My coordinator tends to be missing a lot (this is the first year he’s had a volunteer with him) and I end up by myself with the kids… with a language barrier! Not always the most awesome thing, but of course I’m trying to learn quickly. My schedule has changed so that I will be working with Casa de Paso on Mondays and Fridays and I will be in Talleres Tuesday through Thursday. I’m excited about the change because it means I will have an even more direct involvement with the kids (boys 8 – 17). I felt like I’ve had a break through with many of them as we now can joke and talk regularly… even if I have to ask them to repeat themselves every time. It also helps that I hand out some American gum to them every other day. God has really blessed me with my project because I get to be around a wide variety of people and not only that, but I get to be a part of 2 projects… no one else gets to do that!

Casa de Paso boys

Oh, and I have peanut butter now! This may seem like a miniscule thing but it’s really exciting! A little expensive, but well worth it! I love it with the ritz crackers I found…

Long time no blog...

Wow what an eventful week and some change! Sorry I haven’t been able to write for any of my faithful blog followers out there. One of the reasons I haven’t been able to write is because I was able to take a 5 day trip to the jungle of South America! I took the trip with Father Jose (the founder and president of Arco Iris), Don Willy and 3 other volunteers – Sebi, Lena, and Vicky. 

The trip started with us taking a plane ride from the TAM airport in El Alto to Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. The sights from the plane window were pretty spectacular. Flying over the Andes was definitely the best part because as you  come from La Paz it’s very dirty and desert-like and as you come over the snow-capped mountains everything just turns green. The climate totally changes. When we landed the humidity and heat pretty much took our breath away! It was just like being back home in the Carolinas during the summer! I must say that I didn’t really mind it – oddly enough. But I’ve found that anything that reminds me of home is something I like to enjoy while I’m here.

The airport we landed at was something out of a movie. There was a concrete runway but that was pretty much it. Only one building (really something more like a large shack) made up the actual airport with a separate smaller building as a bathroom. There were cows and dogs that seemed to live right there at the airport… wild. As we drove into town we got a good glimpse of how the life there is so much different from La Paz - almost everyone drives a motorcycle (very few cars) and wears flip flops. The way people live is different too. Many of the houses had roofs made from the leaves of trees carefully woven together. Chickens, pigs, dogs, cats and other animals just wander around – I don’t know how people know which animal belongs to whom!

The main idea of the trip was to go fishing in the River Beni with some guides so we met up with them by the river (after a while of waiting). We had 3 guides with us. Their names were Rigo (main guide), Jorge (boat driver), and Edwin (cook). Yes we even had our own cook - which was awesome because it’s always good to have someone who really knows how to cook when you go camping. Oh yea, did I forget to mention we were camping in the jungle?? No huts and no mosquito nets, just tents and tarps!

As we were going to bed the first night it looked like a nice night so naturally we thought we were set for a good few days of fishing. But of course a big storm comes through at about 3am and lasted until around 7am – and because of the nice night earlier we didn’t put our rainflys on our tents. We just had a tarp with holes in it over us. Needless to say we got pretty wet that night. But what else would you really expect to get when you’re in the rainforest??

We spent most of the next day drying out our things with only a couple hours of fishing as the temperature had dropped drastically. The fish just weren’t biting. The good thing was that there were almost no bugs to deal with since the temperature change which was good because we ended up around the fire eating and waiting. Oddly enough I never had a negative attitude toward the trip even though the circumstances we were faced with would have made the average person just want to be cozy at home. I was just happy to be there.

The next day was dry but the fish still weren’t biting. The day was almost a wash until Don Willy pulled in a 36kg catfish. Needless to say that made everyone’s day. It was definitely the biggest I have ever seen someone catch… but that might not be saying much. That night we had some of the best fish (it was catfish, but not Willy’s) I have ever eaten as the cook and guide made it inside bamboo that they put in the fire. It was super tender and delicious. What made things even better was that Padre Jose kept bringing our German chocolates and German Wine every night. We ate really well out there in the rainforest!

Skipping over some things – we made our way back to Rurrenabaque where we got to stay for two nights in a hotel. It wasn’t anything fancy for sure as they didn’t even have hot water but it was a step up from sleeping in a tent in the jungle. After one night of staying in the hotel we took a trip (without Padre Jose who had a thorn in this foot) to view some Bolivian wildlife. This would normally sound like a great idea but the thing was that we had to drive 3 hours on a bumpy dirt road to get there (never going past 45mph)… and 3 hours back. The actual tour was about 2 hours in a boat where we got to view caymans, crazy looking birds, capibaras and even a couple monkeys - one of which came on to the boat and stole one of my cookies. It was worth getting a couple of good camera shots though. We even got to see a cayman chomp on – what seemed to be – an anaconda. Not only did we see the wildlife there but on the car ride we really got see how many Bolivians live in the jungle. It’s nothing like how people live in La Paz. Many people have houses made out of whatever materials they could find with leaf roofs. It was amazing to see that people lived like this and it was definitely a reminder that I am worlds away from home. A great experience nonetheless. 

When we got back we had dinner with the Padre at a restaurant in Rurrenabaque. It was another great meal that we actually got to have by candle light because power to the entire town was cut for about an hour. What topped it off even more was that Padre brought one more bottle of German wine.

The following day was our return trip back to La Paz, which we were actually somewhat looking forward to as it is now what we have to consider ‘home’. But it was a great trip – definitely an adventure – and one I will never forget. I feel so fortunate to have been able to go and experience the world in an new way!

Internet connection isn't very good so you only get one pic this go around...