Check out some of my photography

You can check out some of my work in photography by following that link to my new website. I hope you can take a second to enjoy it! Many of the pictures are from Bolivia or from my excursions across the states.

Thanks!

Disctracted

We are so easily distracted. We so easily forget. There are so many things that keep us from living a life that we are meant to live. Living a life of love. Living a life where people matter and things don’t. Where today matters and tomorrow doesn’t keep us from doing what our hearts tell us is right. My wish is to live each day to the full – is that crazy? Is that just a wish of twenty-something-year-old who hasn’t really experienced life yet? I don’t think so. I think I have experienced life and I am experiencing it still every day. I want to look at life as an accumulation of experiences – an adventure. An adventure where people matter and relationships help give life meaning. I don’t know why it’s so easy to be distracted from this, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is - even when we are aware of it. People are worth fighting for. Relationships are worth fighting for. If I haven’t learned anything else in this adventure I will take that with me.

Just a thought.

Dia del Padre

I love it when I get the chance to see these kids smile. Today was “Dia del padre” (Father’s Day) here in Bolivia. Apparently fathers go to their children’s schools to be honored or just to eat a little something with their kids. The coolest thing happened though; Felix, Marius and I got to go to the school where 3 of kids from the home go. We each got to visit one of the kids and be their “dad” for a little while. I got to go hang out with my buddy Victor (who is my favorite, even though I shouldn’t have favorites…). To see his face light up when I walked in the room was beyond priceless. I’m close to tears in writing this – I don’t know if me leaving soon has anything to do with it – but they’re the kind of tears that matter. For me to be able to fill the role of a dad for him in that moment I will never forget it. For all I know he was worried that he would be one of the few kids in the class who wouldn’t have a father come and sit next to him. He would have had to just sit there and see what the other kids had. Instead he got to be one of the kids who had someone come specifically for him and sit down next to him and joke around a little bit. He got to laugh and he got to smile. And he didn’t have to be left out. I’ll never forget it.

Trip to Coroico with the Boys

This week was quite the experience. I had the chance to travel to Coroico with 13 of the boys from Casa de Paso along with 3 volunteers (Jack, Marius, and Laurin). The trip started out getting the boys ready on a beautiful La Paz morning. We got our own chauffeured bus down through the mountains with some awesome views. Most people slept along the way but I took in the nature the entire 3 hour ride down. It was amazing to see the landscape change from rocky snow-peaked mountains to lush green jungle before my eyes. Heat and humidity came with it too (of which I don’t really miss that much from back home) but that was to be expected. The bus took us directly to the house where we would stay. The house was chosen (by the coordinator of the project, Felix) because it had a pool for the kids to play in. When we got there, there was momentary shock that fell over all of us volunteers and no doubt each one of us said to ourselves “there’s no way…”.  It was quite the sight to take in. I have added a picture or two so I don’t have to describe exactly what it looked like; but when I was first telling the other volunteers of what it was like I described it as a house you would find in a horror film where you might find some people ghost hunting at night. The pool (as can be seen below) was only filled with about 2.5 feet of water and was green. We were kind of shocked that the foundation would let the kids stay in a place like this… but hey… this isn’t America.

Needless to say the kids jumped right into the pool. This actually showed me a great deal about being grateful for what you have and making the most of what life throws your way. The kids had a great time. I didn’t get in.

I took a self-guided tour of the house and found that it was only slightly in better condition inside than it was outside. But at about that time I decided that I was going to have a positive attitude about the whole situation. This is after all my Bolivian adventure and this only made it that much more adventuresome. 

They owner of the house only let us use the downstairs of the house- which meant only 4 beds for 20 people. Luckily I’ve learned many lessons about Bolivia in my time here and I came prepared with my camping mat and sleeping bag (and even my pillow)… so I didn’t have to get involved in the bed choosing affairs. It was pretty comical to see the 3 other guys share a bed together (as seen below). I think it’s experiences like these that bond people together!

So most of the trip was spent with the kids in the pool or us eating. We were lucky enough to not have to cook anything for the trip (I guess we put the money we saved by staying in the house toward eating out every meal). Each meal was a good hefty plate and for lunch and dinner there was a big bowl of Bolivian soup to go with it. We ate well. We also took a 2 hour hike to visit the popular waterfalls near Coroico which were beautiful to see in the jungle. Us white guys got sunburned. My forehead is peeling off as I write this. All day long while we were outside we had to battle bugs. There were lots of them. I kept pants and my jacket on pretty much the entire time – and it proved to my benefit. Everyone else seemed to get eaten up pretty good. But still, the kids had fun (which was the point!) and kept swimming till their hearts content (I, however, did no swimming at all). Overall a successful trip.

I did leave out the part of for the first day and a half my eardrum was waiting to burst – which was a terribly painful waiting game as the pressure was building up in my head. I think I have to attribute it to having still been sick with a cold and having fluid in my ears as we descended a few thousand feet. Eventually, however, my eardrum did rupture (which brought relief) and since then I have been witness to a lot of gross yellow liquid coming out of my ear. And you will be happy to know that today, just before I decided to write this, that my other eardrum has ruptured (for other unknown causes). So now both of my eardrums are ruptured… and hopefully this will be the end of it and I will still have some hearing when I come out the other side this. 

Thanks to all who have been keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming because I think it’s obvious that I need them.