A random conversation...

Larry was at my house for breakfast on Monday.  We do a discipleship thing every week.  After we were done, we were just kind of shooting the breeze.  He was wearing shorts and I noticed a scar on his leg behind his knee so I asked him how he got it.  He said that he got tangled up in some barbed wire when he was a kid and instead of trying to get out slowly, he just ripped it loose and gave himself a pretty good scar.

Then he pointed to a scar on his other leg and said that he got that one when a monkey bit him. 

I was like, "A monkey?  How did that happen?  Was it a wild monkey?" 

"No, it was a pet."

"Why did it bite you? 

He got kind of a sheepish look on his face.

"Well...I kind of bugged it a lot."

Then he showed me a scar on his stomach and said he got it in a fight...the guy stabbed him.  Then he showed me another scar on his back, "Here too."

Then he pointed to the scar on his cheek.  That one was from the motorbike accident in September. 

Then he started laughing...the one on his forehead?  Well, he had a bracelet on his wrist and a dog jumped up and bit onto it with it's mouth and wouldn't let go.  So Larry was trying to get rid of the dog by cutting the bracelet off with a knife.  When the knife finally cut through the string and the dog and braclet fell off his wrist, the knife arm jerked upwards and he stabbed himself in the forehead. 

I laughed very hard.

I love these conversations...

Continue

"Bolivia: Treasures Within"

As some of you know, my friend Jacqueline was down here filming a travel show about Bolivia this past year.  I had a ton of fun driving her around and being the entertainment while she did her filming.

Well...okay...she was pretty entertaining all by herself.  I think we may have egged each other on a little.

If you want a little better idea of what Bolivia is like and where I live, take a look at the 90 sec trailer she posted.  It's a lot of fun!  There are a couple of money shots of my truck that I'm proud of.  And Andres got a speaking part...




If you come visit me we'll have an adventure! 

Continue

Taxi cab confessions...

Yimy had the truck today helping someone, so I was briefly forced to take a taxi. 

Public transportation never ceases to amuse and entertain me.  When I'm in it.  When I'm following it in my truck it makes me want to ram it and drive over it.

Anyhow...here's my conversation with my driver.

Driver: "That's our casino."  (as we drive past a casino that's been closed for a couple of years)  "It's closed."

Then he says with disgust..."Evo."

Evo is our president of whom many (most) lowlanders are not a fan of.  He's to blame for all of the ills that befall us. Including, it seems, the closing of the casino (which didn't pay it's taxes and was therefore shut down).

The conversation continues.

"Where are you from?  The United States or Europe?"

"I'm from Canada."

"Canada?!" he says approvingly.  "CanaDA.  CanaDA.  CanaDA" 

He just kept saying it every couple of seconds as we drove.  Then he asked, "Is that close to Holland?"

"No.  But it's close to the United States."

"Ah..."

We drove in silence for a time.

"How long have you been in Bolivia?"

"About seven years."

"SEVEN YEARS?!"  He seemed impressed by this.

"Are you going to marry a Bolivian girl?"  'Cause you know...that's the next obvious question.

Laughing a little I replied, "I don't know.  I dated a Bolivian girl a couple of years ago."  Why I volunteered this information I have no idea.  It just encouraged him.

"You did?  But you're not with her now?"

"No."

"Why?  Was it because she wanted to get married and you you didn't?"

"Uh...no not exactly."

"Was it because you wanted to get married but she didn't?"

"Uh...no not exactly."  At this point I really want out of this weirdly personal and awkward conversation with my total stranger taxi driver so I start tapping my fingers on the door in time to the music.

"Ah you like this music?!"  He's sufficiently distracted.

"Of course.  It's clasic rock!"  It was some song in English from the 1970's.

"Yes!  It's my favourite!  How old are you?"  Again with the weirdly personal questions.

"45."

"Then you understand about this music!"  Yes...because I was 4 when this song came out.

"There's a bar where only single people go to meet other single people who like this music too.  People who are 40 or 45 or 50." 

Uh...

Not sure how to respond to that.

As I'm contemplating my answer he says, "So you're Catholic." 

Seriously I can't keep up.

"Uh no...I'm evangelical."  Thinking this conversation is moving in a more serious, spiritual direction I add, "I work here with a Baptist group."

"AND YOU LIKE THIS MUSIC?!?"  he yells at me and starts killing himself laughing.

I start laughing too.  "Of course!  And lots of my friends like it too!"

"Truthfully?!"

"Yes!"

At this point we've arrived at my destination and I pay him.  As I get out of the car and he drives away I hear one more, "CanaDA" and him still laughing. 

Ah public transportation...

Continue

Why won't it stop raining?!

For those of you who aren't on Facebook...let me recap briefly...

I wanted to do something a bit different with this class from SCS, so Tuesday we took the group up into the jungle to our favourite waterfalls.  Yimy and I checked the road out the day before and it was fine...nice and dry and no major issues. 

We had a fun (if a little rough) trip in and then the kids had the chance to enjoy one of the prettiest places I know.  One of the girls said she was speechless for three minutes before she could do anything.  =)

While we were swimming and enjoying lunch, it started to rain.  I figured it was just a little shower like we've been having off and on for the past couple of weeks.  Usually the sun is out again after a few minutes.

Except this time it didn't happen.  It just kept raining.

So we decided to take off early and head back into the city before the road got too bad. 

Yea...missed that one by a bit. 

I was in the first truck and I knew right away we were in trouble.  My truck handled the mud well enough (okay...there was a little sliding around but nothing too major), but I knew the bus was going to have problems.  I sent Americo hiking back to tell the bus not to try to go anywhere (he ran for 45 minutes), while I drove my group of kids out.  I figured we could ferry the kids out in the two trucks...I had no idea what we were going to do with the bus.

We waited out at the river and after a bit, Yimy arrived with the other truck and the rest of the kids.  We hired another bus to drive the kids back into the city and I went with them while Yimy headed back to where the bus was stuck.  He and a couple of the guys got the bus unstuck and tried to convince the driver to park the bus at someone's house and leave with them until it was dry enough to drive out.  He didn't want to leave, so Yimy and the guys headed back to the city (at 4 AM).

The SCS group got away fine the next morning and in the afternoon (after sleeping) Yimy, Roberto and Larry tried to get back to the bus via another road that didn't have to cross the river.  By now the news was reporting that low-lying areas along the river were being evacuated (by helicopter) and that the river was expected to rise by two metres overnight.

The guys didn't make it either.  I was waiting for updates and at 2 AM they called and said they were stuck.  At 4 AM they said they were going to sleep in the truck and try to find a tractor in the morning.

The next day Americo and I borrowed a friend's truck and went looking for them. 

I took pictures...

Roberto sleeping in the park of a little village

after walking out of the jungle with Yimy for six hours...

 

 

We parked my friend's truck and walked in the last mile or so...

 

 

The truck was in the middle of that mudhole at 4 AM...

 

 

By the time we got there Larry had found someone with

a tractor to pull the truck out...

 

 

The guys all happy that the truck is out of the mud...

 

 

10 minutes later...

 

 

Words fail...

 

 

Yimy tried to dig for awhile and then he and Larry went

after the tractor guys while I, Roberto and Americo kept at it.

 

My back is feelin' it today...

 

 

The guys shovelled sand into the box to try

and weigh it down a little...

 

 

Ohhh...the cab of my truck...

 

 

Yimy had to take the truck to three different places today

before he found someone willing to wash it...

 

 

Roberto's sandals...

 

Well...technically they're mine since he borrowed them from me.

 

I got the car wash guy to power wash my shoes when

I had my friend's truck washed...

 

 

Finally the tractor showed up...

 

 

The tractor guys made a killing off me.  But I had no option...and they knew that.  Oh well...they were nice enough guys otherwise. 

We eventually made it out of the jungle (I've never been that far back into the middle of nowhere) and after one other dicey spot we were on our way home.

The bus driver is still waiting with his bus.  I heard today that the rain is supposed to let up by Sunday but I'm sure it'll be a day or two after that before he can drive out. 

I imagine he'll be grumpy.

We will be paying him for his time, so hopefully that will help.  But I don't imagine he'll be driving for us next year.  =) 

Anyhow...thanks for praying for us and please keep praying for the driver.  I feel bad about what's happened, even though it wasn't really anyone's fault and we've tried hard to get to him.  I'm sure it'll be fine eventually but I'll be glad when it's over.

So...another day in South America...

Continue