More Turkey...

My sister likes my pictures...so here are a few more...

First we start off with the Blue Mosque...probably the most famous mosque in Turkey.

For sure it was beautiful inside...

...the entire interior was covered with hand-painted ceramic tiles.

It was huge and we had to take off our shoes

and carry them in a bag...

Interesting thing though...as much as I enjoyed the building itself, I didn't really feel moved in any way.  It was just kind of a cool building.  After the mosque, we walked across the park and went to a museum called "Hagai Sophia".  It was originally a church before the Muslims took over Turkey, at which point they converted it to a mosque.  In it's day, it was one of the largest and most important churches in the entire Mediterranean.  It was the sister church to this church before it was destroyed in an earthquake.

I loved this church.  It was one of my favourite experiences of the entire trip.  Of course I enjoyed the history and beauty of the building, but even more, I was moved what it represented. 

This is Hagai Sophia from the outside. 

The towers on the four corners were added by the Muslims when they converted the church. Interestingly, domes were originally a Christian invention. The Muslims had never seen them before they took over Turkey. They liked them so much that they began incorporating them into their mosques. Once they became associated with Muslims, Christians no longer used them...

 

The vestibule...

Inside the church it was kind of overwhelming.  It was over a hundred feet from the floor to the top of the dome above you.  Below is a little video of what it was like entering the church...

These are some more of my favourite pictures...

The Muslims tried to cover up all the emblems of Christianity

when they took over the building.  But it was interesting to see

how, over time,so many of the crosses that had been covered up,

reappeared through the paint.

Remember here, where I explained about the secret symbol of

Christ? How the "fish" wasn't really a fish?  Anyhow, you

could see this symbol throughout the church. 

The Muslims didn't recognize it, so they didn't try to destroy it. 

That's it there, the circle with the four lines through it. 

It existed the entire time this building was used as a mosque.  

Some more pictures...

Some of mosaics...

The mosaics are made of hundreds of tiny tiles...

The Grand Bazaar

We also went shopping at the Grand Bazaar...a huge complex of

stores and passage ways that will get you lost inside of

ten minutes if you're not careful...

But if you think you're going to get a deal here?  Not too likely.

You could drop a few thousand dollars here without really working at it...

Turkey is famous for it's glass lamps...

...and of course it's rugs...

The market was cool, but like I said, you needed to go with a pocket full of cash.  I was kind of used to thinking in Bolivianos and at the end of the day, when I figured out that I should have been thinking in Lyra...yea...it was a bit of a surprise.  But it was still lots of fun.

And that was Istanbul...

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Some prayer requests...

We had a meeting with the guys and our pastors this afternoon, about some things that happened while I was in Canada.  It wasn't anything that the guys did...in fact, it was something that one of the young guys in our church did to them.  He was kind of disrespectful to them in a rushed moment.  I know the guy and I know he feels bad.  But at the same time, the whole situation wasn't handled very well, and my guys ended up feeling pretty uncomfortable with what happened. 

Anyhow, we talked it out finally today, and I think it'll be okay.  We talked alot about the importance of forgiveness...something that's tough for some of the guys.  In their experiences it's always been easier to just leave and go somewhere else.  Which, actually, is what one of the guys has done (in terms of churches).  But Tonchi talked to him and asked him to give the church family another chance.  Hopefully he will.  In all honesty, what happened wasn't great or anything...but it wasn't that big of a deal either.  Certainly not worth changing churches over...

At any rate, now I'm off to get the results of my latest rounds of medical tests.  The other tests were to tell us what I don't have.  These are supposed to tell us what I do have.

Feel free to pray about any and/or all of this.  =)
   

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More pics of Turkey...

Well...the week continues.  I was at our Bible study at the church last night, and afterwards we all prayed together.  One of the guys prayed for us here at the house, and this morning it feels like things are improving.  There are still a few things that need to be dealt with, but I think that's starting to happen.  It seems some attitudes are better today anyhow.

A couple of people have been asking if I'm going to post anymore pictures from my trip to Turkey...so I figured I would.  I'll kind of scatter them here and there over the next few weeks.  These pictures are from Liz and my first night in Istanbul and then a few from the next couple of days...

A mosque around the corner from our hotel...

Guys washing their feet and hands before going in to pray...

At sunset...

The Istanbul skyline...

There were lots of guys fishing off the bridge we were on. 

I was happy with this picture...it kind of caught the moment...

Another mosque...they're pretty much everywhere...

So...at this point there's a bit of a funny story to share.  Liz and I decided to try and walk to a famous mosque called the Blue Mosque to see it at night.  Of course we had no real idea how to do that...ie. where it was.  Liz had a vague idea, and on that firm foundation, we headed off in the general direction.  And of course it was up the hill from where we were, so we started huffin' and puffin' it up the street.  Suddenly we looked around, and realized that we were no longer in what one would exactly call a safe, touristy area.  The atmosphere had gotten a little dicey. 

Now granted, in the light of day, the area probably wasn't all that bad.  But in the darkness of night?  It felt like there were bad people around every corner.  I did my normal "I live in a third world country where people want to do bad things to gringos" thing and started watching every person within 100 metres to see if anyone was looking at us funny.  And by the way, I define "funny" as even a cursory glance in our direction for more than three and a half seconds.  I was ready for anything...which mostly meant running away and hoping Liz could keep up. 

It's funny how your perspective changes.  All the nice, friendly people from an hour ago?  No where to be seen.  Now they were all potential threats to be wary of.  In my head I knew the odd person we saw wasn't likely to do damage to us...but the rest of me wasn't so sure.  On a dark, twisty street in the middle of nowhere, no part of you wants to listen to the rational part of your brain.

In the end, after our big hike up the mountainous (more or less) streets of Istanbul, we never did find the Blue Mosque.  We were just happy to find our way home.  When we finally saw something we recognized, it was a good moment.  As it turned out, we were no where near the Blue Mosque.  So it was just as well we abandoned our quest.

Finally...a street we recognized...and with streetlights!

The street to our hotel.  Which, by the way, was in the

old part of the city and was still really cheap...

Walking around the next day...

The Blue Mosque by light of day...

A guy selling ice cream.  I don't really get the significance of

the outfit but all the ice cream guys had the same one...

The view up one of the hillsides...

On another of "Ken and Liz's adventure tours of Istanbul" we

walked through some cool neighbourhoods.  We won't

admit that we were lost again...at least this time it was

during the day.  And downhill...

A muslim lady returning home from shopping.  I shot

this picture from the hip, so it's not the best quality.  But

I thought it was interesting...

And finally...a guys selling fresh cucumber juice

out of a cart...

I'll be back soon with more pictures and stories...
   

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A quick prayer request...

If you have a moment today or tomorrow, I have something you can pray about.  I was laughing with Maribel on Thursday that I'm going have a big celebration when the day comes that everyone in the house is happy at the same time.  =)  She laughed and said that she'd celebrate right alongside me.  Right now, most of the guys are doing well.  Moods have been good...everyone's been helpful (they even scrubbed down the kitchen on Friday without being asked!)...things are happy.  All except for one guy.  He kind of cycles through these rough moments, and every few weeks or so, we kind of have to suffer along with him.  I try to have patience, but there are definitely moments when I hit the end of my rope.  Right now I'm kind of hanging on with one hand.

I know there's a lot happening inside him.  I know he's struggling still with a lot of pain from his past.  I want to be able to help him, but he's pretty closed off most days.  So I just keep praying.  But yea...it still gets frustrating.

So if you could pray for him and for the rest of us...that'd be great.  Pray for peace and healing for him, and wisdom and (definitely) patience for me.  Thanks for praying guys!

PS  And in case you were wondering, it's sunny and nice today.  I guess winter's finished with us...hopefully anyhow.  But now the winds have started.  The next month or so will be dry, hot and incredibly windy.  But then the rains will start and we'll be flooded out...and after that the heat will come back and scorch us to within an inch of our lives...and after that...  =)

I wouldn't be a Saskatchewan farm boy if I didn't keep you updated on the weather...
  

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David playing futbol...

Well...the game was a bit of a heartbreaker.  But it could have been worse.  It almost was.  David's team was mostly asleep in the first half.  The only reason the other team didn't trounce them was that they were playing into hurricane winds.  When the other guys got a goal early in the second half, I figured it was all over.  Then David and the guys woke up, realized they were in the middle of a game, and actually started playing soccer.  They got one goal, and then another and pulled into the lead.  Then...with less than a minute left in the game, the other team got a penalty shot.  Those are next to impossible to block, and the other team tied it up.  And that's where it ended...2 - 2. 

David showing off his moves...

Cows coming to visit...

Everyone has time to stop and watch...

Like I said, it could have been worse.  It almost was.  =)  But they did well in the end...

 

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Everyone thinks they're a commedian...

This is what happens when I leave my room unlocked...

Then one of the other guys comes in and, without missing a beat, says "Hermano Ken!  It's time to get up!  Let's go!"

Yea, the guys think they're pretty funny.  All the time.  Every day.  All ten of them.  David has started, everytime someone annoys him or mocks him (which is alot it seems), looking up at the heavens, pointing to the offending guy, and making a "Really?  Are you sure?  I could get rid of him right now..." kind of a look.  So far it's been keeping me fairly entertained.

The sun is shining today and we're off to David's soccer game.  He plays for his university, so it should be a good game.  The university is happy with me...they couldn't win a game to save their lives before, but I brought along three good players (some of my guys who aren't studying there but wanted to play on a team).  David is probably going to get a full scholarship next year (he's at 50% right now), so that's a happy thing too.  It's the Christian university in town, and it's a quality education, so...everyone's pleased.

We'll see how they do today.

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Yes, this is Ken's Blog...

 
As you can see, the blog looks a little different.  I was having problems with the last template, so I decided to change things up a bit.  Hope it looks okay.  I think it's maybe a little more user friendly.  Guess we'll see...

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This is what I mean...

I really feel like I'm beating this motorbike thing to death...

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Back home...

...

Obviously (since I'm posting about it) Yimy and I made it home safe and sound.  Only a day later than the most recent plan, and four days later than the original plan.  As I only packed for three days and we ended up being in Trinidad for basically a week...my clothes are smelly.  I did in fact shower while I was there, but you wouldn't know it by how I smell right now...

That may have been too much information.  Sorry about that.  But I am pleased to announce that Yimy is the proud owner of a shiny new Bolivian Driver's License.  He's happy (as you can imagine).  He got 99 % on his exam, so I guess he was in fact, ready.  I made him drive half of the trip home...and then nagged him about a bunch of stuff along the way.  Just like my Dad used to do to me.  =)  I think that was the first time I've ever done a road trip in Bolivia where I wasn't driving.  It was a nice change.

But anyhow...here we are, back in Santa Cruz.  Winter is thankfully over (it lasted a full two weeks this year), and it's been sunny the past few days.  It actually went down to 3 C on Sunday, and before all you Canadians mock that, imagine living in a tent in 3 degree tempuratures.  It's cold!  There's no place to ever feel warm...

I figured I'd throw up a few more pictures of our trip.  Somehow it felt longer coming back than going, even though I didn't drive all of it.  I think I was just ready to be home. 

Transito (the Transit Police) where we spent most of our time...

Just as a side note before I go on.  I'm not sure I really painted a clear enough picture in my last post, about just how many motorcycles there are in Trinidad.  And they all (ALL) drive like they're the only person on the road.  It's like driving through a swarm of bees (and it sounds about the same too) and trying not to smash any of them against your windshield.  It's ridiculous...

See...I wasn't kidding...

Random scenery shot on the drive home...

Yimy the proud driver...

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ROADTRIP...

...

Thursday afternoon I found myself in the middle of the Bolivian bush, 138 km from the nearest gas station, with the needle on my truck’s gage quickly sliding towards the big “E”.

Sounds about right, doesn’t it?

How did I manage to...ahem...once again get myself into this kind of situation? Well...it certainly wasn’t my fault. As any good Saskatchewan boy would, when Yimy suggested a road trip this week, I thought, “Sure, why not!? I’m always up for a good road trip.” Sadly, there are very few opportunities here in Bolivia for a good road trip. Where would our road trip take us, you ask? Beautiful downtown Trinidad. That’s a city in Bolivia, by the way...not the tropical island off the coast of South America. I figured I should probably mention that...you know, ‘cause there was bound to be someone who wondered why the heck I was travelling to the Caribbean (Hi Mom!).

For those of you who don’t know, Trinidad is in the northeast part of Bolivia...kind of in the middle of nowhere. The reason we decided to head to the middle of nowhere (besides the intrinsic adventure value), was to get a driver’s license for Yimy. Supposedly it’s cheaper and easier to get in Trinidad, as compared to Santa Cruz...small town and all that.

I didn’t have a map of Bolivia (yes, yes...I could have Google Mapped it...that didn’t occur to me until just now. And yes...they actually do have a map of Bolivia...I just checked...), so we were occasionally winging it a bit. But...it’s mostly one road in, one road out. So...it was all good.

It’s a pretty drive, but it got a bit boring after awhile. Yimy and I usually play Punch Buggy when we’re driving around the city (that’s where the first person to see a VW Bug gets to punch the other person), but obviously that wouldn’t work very well way out in the country. So we started playing Punch Tractor. That actually worked pretty good except that I had to correct Yimy (with a couple of “friendly” shots to the shoulder) that combines were not, in fact, the same as tractors.

On the first half of the trip there were lots of towns, so I wasn’t all that worried about the fuel situation. I figured when I hit a half tank, we’d stop and fill up. We went through a town just as we hit the half a tank mark, but there was a line up of probably thirty cars waiting for fuel, so we decided to fill up at the next station. In hind sight, there was probably a reason why so many people were lined up for gas. For some reason, both Yimy and I both had it in our heads that the next town down the road, San Pedro, would be a big place.

It wasn’t.

Five houses and a soccer field...and definitely no gas station. Now I was down to about a quarter tank, and starting to get worried. I asked the cops at the next check point if there was a gas station nearby. Oh yea...200 km down the road...in Trinidad. But then the officer helpfully added that so and so sold gas in such and such a town just up the road. I didn’t really understand any of the names. But he told us to watch for a red house with a barrel...

And on that helpful set of directions, off we went. Let me just take a moment to fill you in on a little piece of Bolivian trivia. The colour red? That covers everything from orange to pink. It’s not a very specific descriptive word here. So for the next hour, Yimy and I slowed down every time we saw a house that was vaguely in the family of “reddish” to see if there was a barrel somewhere on the property. That got tedious fast...

Then suddenly there was a bang and a funny noise from the back of the truck, and my first thought was, “Oh good...fuel is no longer a problem. We’re going to break down long way before we run out of gas.” We kept driving (what else was I going to do?  Even if I did figure out what was making the noise, the best I could do was hit it with a tree branch...).  Then there were a few more funny noises and I just did what I usually do in these kind of situations...I prayed (if that doesn’t work, sometimes turning up the radio so you can’t hear the funny noises works too).

Prayer worked this time around, and the funny noises went away (we later determined it was the chain that holds the spare tire up under the truck. It had been seized up for as long as I’d had the truck, but had decided to come loose at that moment and was dragging on the ground). At any rate, we were back to worrying about the fuel situation. Just as we were discussing what to do, we drove past a house that had a little hand lettered sign that said “Gasolina”. Sure enough, for twice the going rate, this guy was selling gas...out of a barrel. The house was in fact pink, by the way. Not even close to red.

We did eventually make it to Trinidad. And what was supposed to be that quick and easy two day trip?  It ended up getting more complicated. Of course it did. Due to a miscommunication (which we’ll place squarely on the shoulders of the police officer Yimy was talking to), we didn’t finish everything we needed to do on Friday morning. Our only option was to hang around until Monday, or head back to Santa Cruz and lose everything we’d done so far.

So here we are...beautiful downtown Trinidad. Fortunately I brought along my Lonely Planet travel book on Bolivia, to give us ideas on what to do here. Unfortunately there are exactly two paragraphs in a 500 page book on what to do in Trinidad. We did do some exploring in my truck yesterday, and found a cool river and a nice lake. We got out of the truck to brave the +6 Celsius weather (it’s winter) to take a couple of pictures...and then that was the end of that.

Tomorrow it’s back to the police so Yimy can write his exam and take his driver’s test. He says he’s ready. I really, REALLY hope so.  =)  All in all though...it’s been a fun little adventure. We’ve had some good laughs and we both learned some new card games.

A few pictures so you can appreciate our adventure along with us...

The highway...

The demonstration we met along the way...and no, I don't

really know what they were demonstrating. 

But I honked supportively anyhow...

Buying gas from the guy with the "red" house...

Our first view of Trinidad.  Strangely there are probably

ten motorbikes for every car in the city. 

I don't know why...

The river...where I hear you can fish for Piranha. 

That's definitely on the list for next time...

Cool wooden boats on the river...

We also discovered where LAB (our defunct national airline) planes go to die...

The freezing cold lake...

A crazy, little bridge that people actually drove vehicles over.

And for some reason I kind of wanted to try it...

Yimy demonstrating how wide the bridge was...

And that's been our trip to Trinidad so far.  We'll be on our way back to Santa Cruz on Tuesday.  I guess if I post here again that means we made it...

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