Life in Bolivia 2 ..

No self respecting street in Bolivia is without at least one Fotocopias and a Farmacia and most have more.
Photocopy stores abound because anything to do with anything even semi official requires at least one if not more photocopies of any related documentation.
This is because in the pùblic service each department is an island to itself and instead of actually being there to serve the public , it jealously guards its small feifdom meaning that knowledge is power and even if the person behind the counter knows that you will need an extra document when you go to the next department they won´t tell you. 
 This results in having to go back again when the next department tells you that you need that document and asking the person why they didn´t tell you that you needed that document can result in them feeling offended and the process taking even longer because you put their nose out of joint.
Pharmacies are not controlled or owned by larger groups, although there are some large chains. As in most developing economies it is possible to by antibiotics and a range of things over the counter and relatively cheaper.

In Bolivia and Peru many if not most retail stores and travel agents etc are open 7 days a week and till 8 -8:30 at night. There are some Farmacia chains and some restaurants in high tourist areas  that are open 24hrs.
It is a common site to see old ladies sitting under on a blanket under a lit building awning trying to eek out a small living. In the main for touristy stuff like llama and Alpaca garments I even saw one old lady selling bundles of wood.

Another very common shop are the llamadas - from llamar the verb to call. These places use VOIP to allow customers to call locally and internationally at VERY cheap rates.
From La Paz I called my bank in Sydney 4 mins cost me about 50cents.

Most food and grocery  and service based things are very cheap in Bolivia and a little more expensive in Peru. Unless it is imported and then it will be more expensive. 
On my last night in Sucre  I stayed in a 4 star hotel for the princely sum of $36 US.
But interestingly the most comfortable bed was in the Hostel in Aguas Caliente  which cost me only $17.
The other thing that a gringo has to re-educate themselves about is that that the toilet systems here are not designed to cope with paper so there are small paper bins next to the loos. 

Sucre - The white city - coming to you from Aguas Calientes the staging point for Macchu Picchu

After the 12 hr bus trip I arrived around 5 am and rang the door bell at the hostel, a couple of minutes later a very sleepy girl in her pyjamas opened the door and gave me keys to a room. 
I later found out that her bedroom is a room under the stairs, although some what larger than Harry Potter´s room ;)
So I stumbled in to bed only to discover an hour or so later that this room faced east and the to windows had no curtains  :( Any way after a late breakfast I went off to book my air ticket to La Paz - air travel is relatively cheap in Bolivia; expensive if compared to a long distance bus, some of which have very comfortable fully reclining seats. The trip to La Paz is 12hrs by bus and a little over an hour by plane for $89 
I arranged to move into the room next door on my return which didn´t have east facing windows. I booked a tour to the Tarabuco markets about 64km from Sucre for the Sunday as on Sundays they have a very large market and they all wear the local very colourful dress traditional dress.
The next morning I came out to breakfast to find that Peter and Kathryn and the 2 French girls from the Salar trip had checked in overnight.
It was nice to see them.  I told them about the markets and they booked on the same tour so we were together again :)
One of the things on sale at the market in many places was Coca leaf,  The Coca leaf is used for many things  on of which is helping to deal with the effects of the high altitude. 
They remove the stem of the leaf and then gently crush it with their teeth and push it into their cheek, until they have a mass, after a period of time some of the coca is absorbed through the blood vessels in the cheek which has an anesthetic effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca
Also on sale at the markets were really red hot peppers - our guide told us that after some time chewing coca they need something to overcome the numb tongue and this is the stuff to do it !
Also on the trip we  met a young American Zoologist Shenaye  who was in Sucre learning Spanish at a school and living with a Spanish family as a homestay connected with the school. She had done her practical for her degree on a wildlife research reserve the wilds of Namibia doing research on baboons. She had become a vegetarian and given up her parents christian faith while living with little contact with the outside world.
We invited her to come to the only chinese restaurant in town ..which was a hard ask for Bolivia but it was ok and we had an enjoyable dinner.

Sucre is called the white city because most of the older buildings & churches/monasteries are painted white, a few of them are very old built in the 16th century. One was a monastry/seminary opened in 1568 and only closed in 1970. 
I spent a interesting hour looking around St Phillip Neri once a monastry now a Catholic high school run by the nuns.
Sucre is really worth a place on any itinerary

The Salar de Uyuni and beyond 13th August

The evening of the Baptism I was to start the rest of my trip, the real adventure was about to begin.
First stop was Tupiza where I was to join Brent, Katie & Josh plus driver and cook to cross the lakes and the Salar de Uyuni over 4 days and 3 nights.
This this meant an 8 hour bus ride over a 4300m pass 4hrs up and 4 down, people say it is better to do the overnight trip that way you can´t see the road!
We were to have an english speaking driver /guide but that didn´t happen in the end - (life in Bolivia) but as I had some spanish, my tour buddies had a little and our driver had a little, we managed well. Our driver Abner was very careful and especially kind to me after I fainted once when we were coming back from a photo op at 4200 metres. Fortunately I had asked that we have oxygen in the car with us after my 1st experience with high altitude. The others were very kind to me. On the first night at dinner there was a small painting of Moses and the burning bush. This led to long and wide ranging discussion about faith, and the gospel and the bible that night and over the rest of the time on a range of topics including marriage, the miracles and are they just stories written to make a teaching point. The others all had strong Catholic upbringings but no longer attended except on special occassions.
We were delayed the first afternoon because we stopped to help the other vehicle in our group. We were to become good friends with the people in that group as well and I stayed with them in Sucre later on. So we arrived later than planned to the Laguna Colorada (red lagoon) because of the pigment from algae so there wasn´t a great deal of sun about to show it off in its best light.
Boliva has 4 types of flamingoes, one of which we were told migrates between Africa and Bolivia my be some may be related to the ones we saw in Ngorongoro crater in 2002.. but probably not me thinks.
The bed in the hostal was surprisingly comfortable, and my $60 Blackwolf Zambezi sleeping bag was wondefully warm, its a rectangular shape open at the top but with a draft collar because I can´t cope with a mummy type.
The next day we went up to 4300mtrs, I was ok just had to take it slowly,there were 2 lagoons close to each the Laguna verde (green) was an amazing green and the laguna blanco (white) both colours caused by the large concentration of minerals in the waters.
that night it was very cold after dinner the people in the hostel were all huddled around the small square wood fired heater, again my black wolf performed admirably although I did find that I needed one of the blankets later. The morning was really really especially when we where out side getting all the baggage on top of the landrover . Later we were told it had reached -18 overnight - which would explain why the wolf needed the extra blanket as it´s only rated to -5.
The last night we stayed in a Salt hotel - (not the bad one that is actually built on the Salt flat close to Uyuni) and it was the 1st time there was a shower available.. you had to buy a ticket and wait your turn.. I actually felt hot that night in bed. The last day was crossing the Salar itself.
The Salar (Dry Salt Lake) is an amazing place - it is flat and blindingly white in winter - in summer during the wet it is covered with a layer of water which acts as perfect mirror for the sky. we left early to watch the sun rise over the flat whiteness that stretched seemingly endlessly. the we drove further in to the blinding whiteness and did all the photo tricks that you can do when there is nothing but flat whiteness.
After an hour or so of this we drove to the lunch stop and after that it was all over.
The others were going to La Paz and I to Sucre. It was a really good time and we all had a great time together .. please pray for Brent Katie and Josh, in their travels and that the Holy Spirit would work in their lives.

Church at Pampas Galeanas

Lito, a graduate of CEP the Anglican theological college in Santiago has planted a small church in the poorest of poor areas in Tarija. its a small square building with a gal roof. The pews are planks of wood supported by 2 bricks at each end and in the middle. as you drive up the area looks like a cross between something out of an old western movie and a Mad Max set.

But Lito is doing a great work there. He could have a really significant ministry there.

If he can build a strong Christ centred, gospel focussed congregation, who understand that being a disciple of Jesus means going out and giving out, rather than waiting for others to give to me.

(the prevalent mindset - as a result of hundreds of years of control and influence by the Spanish Roman Catholic Church)

That could be the start of an amazing work of God. It will be very hard and he will need all the encouragement and support he can get.

The Coxes are supporting and encouraging him as much as they are able.

The day I left there were 2 baptisms and the Bishop was coming to do the ceremony.

The bishop is an american and because he spoke slowly and distinctly I was able to understand about 90 % of what he said ( in Spanish) which was an encouragement to me.

As it was a special occasion there was a band, because the person bringing the extension cord was late one of the band made a makeshift extension lead out of a long guitar lead by cutting off the heads and separating the cores and twisting them together. This worked and thankfully no one was electrocuted either ;)

Bolivian Independence Day 6th August

This weekend starting Friday celebrations for Bolivia´s 186th anniversary of their independence begin. Friday morning the high school students & uni students march and dance - some of them in special folkloric costumes. Unfortunately I missed these because of my spanish class, but it is a big thing, participation is compulsory. On Saturday the military marched and at night there was a concert by the military bands in an open air amphitheatre and the place was packed and the rest of the miltary arrived in full dress uniform. I saw some apparently high ranking women soldiers as well. At one point an obviously senior female officer called a junior male soldier over and he stood at attention , I wondered what this did for his machismo ;) - a little side note as I type this in the Las Torres Hostal in Sucre the girl on the reception desk next to me is typing away on a manual typewriter !
The concert was interesting apart from the band they had some military precision band pieces but only those sitting 3 rows up from the ground could see this as once the seats around the amphitheatre were filled the people started standing around the perimeter on the VIP area. The MP´s who were stationed every 3 metres along the perimeter made an initial half hearted attempt to clear them but gave up. They also had some guest singers as well and a visit from the Pink Panther !
The band played such classics as Thus Spake Zarathustra, the Pink Panther theme, Moon River along with some local favourites. The last 2 songs for the night were Exodus .. (when was the last time - if ever you heard that sung ? ) in Spanish and then the reprise in English and that old Tom Jones classic Delilah completely in english.. interesting. The night was completed by folkloric dancers from each of the regions doing traditional dances in their special costumes.
On the way home, which was on the parade route, I noticed groups of people already camping out on the hard wooden stands to get a good position for the big parade the next day
its still winter here and it would have been very cold.
Anyway next day I arrived about 9:00 for the big march but this was all the unions, local workers groups & community groups from all the regions all the way to La Paz which is in the north. (Tarija is in the south west , close to the Argentinian border.. so close in fact that you can catch a long distance bus to Buenos Aires ... only 32hrs but the international buses are very comfortable and very cheap only about $50 US.)
I got quite a good position, however it was on the very sunny side of the street, and prepared for the long wait for the march to start. While we were waiting the military honor guard lined up on the other shadier side in full dress uniform because the President Evo Morales would take part in the march riding in his Hum V. Some of the most senior officers were standing opposite me, they had a chest full of medals and large flowing gold epaulets,
It turned out that I arrived just at the right time, I had managed to work my way along until I was probably 50 or 60 metres from the official dais. Shortly after I arrived the MP´s stopped people from coming any further about 10 metres before where I was.
Eventually the march started and the President came past ( wait for the photos they will come) and then all the organisations started marching some of them in colourful traditional local costume. Shortly after 1pm I left.. there is only so much march past you can take especially in the hot sun and caught the bus back home.

Life in Bolivia 1

There are many differences in life here. One is the bread. Normal Bolivian bread is round, flat and of various diameters. Is also fairly solid or hard even when fresh. In the markets Bolivian ladies have large baskets of bread that sell bread of various sizes, In bread shops it is possible to get other shapes. They also have a sweet tooth and and one of the common sweet pastry is small flat round hollow roll with some minced fruit inside and on top is a white creamy spread which is very sweet.

Food is generally very cheap here I bought 2 icecreams - like a mint heart for the 8 bolivianos which is just over a dollar and a bottle of Coke is about 4B.

On the downside getting something done is a nightmare. The local pastor that the Cox's are mentoring is in the middle of re-registering his small motor bike and come tomorrow it will be a week since he has started the process.

This is because every department is an island and you can't pay a department directly because they don't trust staff to handle money, so you have to go to a bank and pay deposit the money and then get several receipts and then go back to another office to give them the receipt then you have to photocopy that and take it to yet another office which is often on the other side of town.

The Cox's have been renewing their visa and it has been a complete nightmare because there is always some other document or photocopy that you need and the department you just saw knows that you need it but doesn't bother to tell you so when you get to the next department in the chain they tell you that you need this other document. If that isn't enough, you have to get documents typed up by Notary public offices - and if they get one thing wrong in the document the other department will reject it even if it is obvious but silly mistake like the name on the wrong line. So you have to go back and get it redone...

All this is very mentally draining for our missos

Hola Tarija 2nd Aug

Late on the 1st I finally arrived in Tarija Yay !. I did sleep well that night. :). I am staying with some Australian Missionary friends Andrew & Paulina Cox and their 2 Daughters Lily and Gabriella.

The rental system in Bolivia is totally different to Australia, once you sign the lease here you can do almost anything to the property except knock down walls. The downside is that if anything breaks or needs fixing its your problem not the owners! so this meant that

we went into town to find some things to do some plumbing repairs.

The Bolivian mind also works differently to ours in so many ways; Just one example is if something breaks you replace it, a simple part for a shower head or a toilet cistern that we could easily buy for a dollar or two is simply not available here so although they could get the part they don't forcing you to replaced the whole unit.

Tomorrow I start private Spanish lessons with a small language school run by a New Zealander and his wife :)

On Saturday is the 186th anniversary of Bolivian Independence and there are big celebrations, starting with a march of all the school students on Friday,many of whom will doing folkloric dancing down the road.

Saturday is the Military march and concert at night and Sunday is the big march of all the unions and organisations.

Andrew tells me there are over 45,000 connections between Spanish and English.

Crossar for instance is the verb to Cross as in cross the road. Also manly english words ending in ly are the same in spanish with just mente ie probably becomes probablmente or contamindado for contaminated

There are some "false friends" however ... embarazada doesn't mean embarrassed but pregnant.

La Paz - My Birthday

We arrived in La Paz to find that the ground staff had no real idea of what they were going to do about us. eventually they decided to rebook us on the next days direct flight to Tarija but they would not pay for our hotels because they said it wasn't their fault that they couldn't land.
It was totally their fault however that I got the dreaded sorroche!

That is the Spanish name for high altitude sickness which leaves you weak and feeling very fragile with a headache and raging pulse thumping thumping in your temples. I went to bed at about 9pm but some time close to midnight I went down to reception to get some help.
There are many disadvantages in living in a developing economy. But sometimes there are some upsides in, In La Paz I was able to have a phone consultation with a doctor in english and then get a pharmacy to deliver the prescription all within 25 minutes ! Try doing that in Sydney sometime!

In the morning I realised that in my befuddled state last night left my Bolivia and Peru guide book next to the phone in the airport which is a blow as I haven't really started travelling yet.

After breakfast I went for a walk, a slow one as I got very tired very quickly. La Paz has many small streets many of them quite steep. Going down was ok, but going up hill was hard going having to stop and rest every 30 metres even going up 2 flights of stairs was a chore.

The time came for my flight and we checked in and boarded immediately this time there was no turbulance and we landed on time and I'm now writing this from the lounge room of the Cox's

So thanks to all of you who wished me a happy birthday... not all that happy but very memorable !

Andean Adventure 2011 day 2

The plane to Santa Cruz was also late and the "VIP" gate lounge was small and hot, in due course we arrived in Santa Cruz Bolivia.
It started raining as my taxi left the airport. On arriving at the hostel I didn't get the type of accomodation I had booked and because the staff spoke only spanish, while I have a little Spanish I didn't have enough to argue but it was only one night and ok.
Next morning it was still raining off and on, but I went for a walk to the main square.
In A Bolivian city typically the main square has the Roman Catholic Cathedral on one side an the local and/ or regional govt buildings on the other sides - Govt buildings are usually painted white and are quite imposing buildings.
I was quite surprised by the Cathedral in Santa Cruz for many reasons; Inside it was quite bright and had a "light" feeling, totally unlike the quite dark and overwhelmingly ornate churches in Slovenia and other parts of Europe that I have visted.
The other surprising thing was that the songs they were singing were in an upbeat and modern tempo lead by a woman who started the service. While coming out of the exterior speakers of the cathedral were tracks from the album from an 11 year old gospel singer! Inside there was also a huge crucfix on the rh wall with a picture of Mary on one side and an unamed man on the other.

As I walked around I saw a number of cake shops with several large and brightly decorated cakes in them, clearly Bolivians have a sweet tooth. My friend tells me they can only make large fluffy sponge cakes. Santa Cruz is the largest city in Bolivia but it does have that run down look.
It was time to leave for the airport for my flight to Tarija - before I left Sydney my travel agent had told me that my later direct flight to Tarija had been cancelled and I had been booked on the flight that went via La Paz one of the capitals of Bolivia. I wasn't very happy about this because Santa Cruz is 94m above sea level and La Paz is 4000 m! the highest city airport in the world.
Ascending from sealevel to 4000 is no fun!
after we landed my hands and feet started to tingle like crazy and I started to feel terrible fortunately we didn't have to change planes and were soon off and decending again so I started to feel better fairly quickly.
There had been some severe turbulance on the way to La Paz but as we approached Tarija the turbulance became so severe that the pilot turned the plane and diverted to Cochabamba on landing the Hosties collected the sick bags from the several people that had used them. After 30 minutes of waiting on the ground the captain announced that we had to wait another mins for a decision from ground management about where our final destination would be.
I was hoping to stay at Cochabamba as it is only 2500m
But then came the BAD news. It was decided that we should go back to La Paz :(