The jungle

Well we have been back from our week away in the jungle now for a few days, and the temperature difference is incredible. Bolivia doesn't do anything by halves! The last two days the temperature has dropped dramatically, in fact apart from skiing and working in forestry during winter in New Zealand, I don't ever remember being so cold. It feels like the daytime temperature must be close to zero.
A few days ago in Rurrenabaque it was mid 30's and the humidity was such that 10 minutes after a shower, you felt you needed another. That certainly didn't detract from the holiday though, we had an awesome time! Eight of us went, Lois and I, Drew and Syntyche Davis, Ben and Dawn Golding-Webb and Wynn and Faye Keating. To start with we all decided to go by bus to keep costs down. Flights to La Paz are about 600 Bolivianos per person ($120NZD or $100US) and then about the same to fly from La Paz to Rurrenabaque where our tour left from. The bus was 80 Bolivianos for each leg, with both legs taking roughly 16-18 hours. I know the flights sound a better option, but hey we are pioneers after all!
We started out in Tarija at 5p.m. with about 25 degrees Celsius, but once we got to the altiplano in the middle of the night with altitudes between 4000 and 5000 meters, the temperature plummeted. Some of our party froze, as not all had adequate clothing for these conditions. See exhibit A:

 

Once we got to La Paz we stayed in backpackers accommodation for a night which was excellent actually. Some took the opportunity to get some "real food" while others were drawn to the novelty of a movie. The next afternoon we set off for Rurrenabaque, not really knowing what we were in for, or that 99.9% of tourists fly! I suppose we should have had an inkling when the bus trip was the same length, as Tarija to La Paz but on the map Rurrenabaque looked so curiously close to La Paz!

We set off climbing in altitude steadily from La Paz (which is 3600m.) After a few hours of stunning scenery we passed the summit and the turn off to the world's most dangerous road. Actually Ben and Dawn had just done the death road trip and they said this bus trip wasn't much different. The last 15 hours or so was more like a high altitude four wheel drive trip in a bus. It wasn't actually a road as such, it was a muddy track with a spectacular drop on one side. Much of it is one lane as well, so there were a lot of delays and trucks and cars backing up to let other vehicles through. Curiously, at different stages, the road rules change so that you drive on the left rather than the right. I imagine that is so those that have to back down hill aren't against the drop-off. At some stages the wheels of the bus were actually on the edge of the precipice so when we looked out the window all we saw was the drop. Unfortunately I wasn't sitting by the window Lois was, so her photos are better but here is one which doesn't really give the real picture, but trust me it is a long way down!

 

Once I get the video downloaded you will get a better idea of the road!

We managed by the way to have some good talks about the Bible on the bus trips. We placed about 50 magazines and got to show the "Why study the Bible" video to a few people as well. It turns out a brother from Rurrenabaque was on the bus so once we met him he looked after us, and showed us around the town once we arrived. Ben and I even got to have a game of football with the local congregation. They have one congregation and three groups in this area. We got to meet some brothers eating fish on the riverbank and were invited to join them which was awesome. The fish was delicious, it actually tasted like salt water fish. They even taught Ben how to throw a circular fish net.

 

We stayed at some cheap accommodation in Rurrenabaque for one night where the highlight was the excellent hammocks!

 

The next day we were off! One Canadian guy was put in our group (who by the end of the trip had a different hopefully better perspective of JW's(and yes he was preached to rather relentlessly)), so nine of us and two guides squeezed into a 4 wheel drive and set off on a three hour drive into the unknown! Apparently you go one way to get into the pampas where we were headed, and the other direction to get into the full on jungle. We chose the pampas because you get to see more animals, and most of the tour is by boat. There are patches of large trees and jungle, but also large tracts of endless swamp.

Once at the river we piled all our equipment into the longboat and set off for a three hour trip through the pampas to our accommodation. The whole way we were seeing loads of animals, endless birds of all descriptions, three species of monkeys, pink dolphins, caiman and alligators, capybara to name some.

 

 

 

We went out at night spotlighting for Caiman and alligators. There are two species of caiman here, apparently the black caiman is quite dangerous and grows up to about 6 meters in length. Our guide had a nasty set of scars on his arm from an encounter with one. It was guarding its nest at the time though. We saw quite a few including one black caiman of about 3-4 meters. We drifted up to it in the boat until we were right alongside it. I couldn't resist stroking its back. My daughter Syntyche wasn't very happy about that, but I figured the sharp end was a couple of meters away so it should be quite safe.

 

That night Ben and I went into the bush behind our huts with torches hoping to find some snakes. I was looking really carefully but I still nearly trod on one. My foot was nearly on it when it moved. I held its tail as it slithered away not realizing that cobras are plain coloured here!

The next day we went walking through hours of endless swamp looking for anacondas, cobras and rattlesnakes. I couldn't help noticing the guide didn't have any antivenin or even a first aid kit. It would take many hours or days to get to proper medical care, yet for some reason it didn't feel unsafe, apart from the relentless mosquitos. Not long after we left we saw an anaconda of about 3.5 meters

 

 

 

When we first arrived at the hut the guide told us we were welcome to have a swim in the river. I jumped in to escape the humidity, and so did Ben. later on a 4 meter caiman swam past, and the guide casually mentioned there were a lot of piranhas in this area, but it is quite safe unless you are bleeding! I guess he is right because we weren't eaten.

After our swamp walk, we got back into the boat and went off to swim with the pink dolphins. That was awesome. Although the water is quite black and you are hoping it is a dolphin grabbing your toes and not something more sinister, it was a really touching experience having a wild dolphin come up to you to have its belly scratched. We were in the water for ages before they approached us, and it was only when we were off on our own, I think they are wary of groups of people in the water.

 

After the swim we went off piranha fishing. The girls were desperate to see a sloth and on the way we got to see one and stopped to go for a bush walk to try and get a better view.

Piranhas are obviously pretty easy to catch with a bit of meat, and we got to eat them for dinner instead of the other way around! For Ben from Manchester, it was the first fish he had ever caught! I wonder how many people can lay claim to a piranha being the first fish they ever landed? These were red piranha, a small species, but according to our guide, the most dangerous and aggressive of them all. Not a lot of meat on these little guys, but they were really delicious.

 

 

 

 

I have some excellent video clips of the bus trip, animals, playing with alligators etc, but it is unbelievably difficult to get them uploaded with our internet. I hope to be able to add them to this post over coming days.

An alligator visiting us at our accommodation

road from La Paz to Rurrenabaque

 

On our way back home in the boat an animal called a Koati leapt into the water right behind us. The guide was really excited, as they are really rare, and are only seen every couple of years, so that topped off an excellent trip. All that remained was the gruelling trip home.

 

Unfortunately we have to return to NZ in a week for two months work. It is such a disappointment to get all your studies enthusiastic and keen to attend meetings, then having to leave for work. Oh well, I guess without making some money we would be having to go home permanently, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Anyway I am not sure when I will be able to add another post due to travel and work commitments, but when possible I will get back to it. Thanks for reading, and bye for now.

 

 





 

 



 



 

 



 

 



Remote territory

Since we have been back from New Zealand we have had the opportunity to do some virgin territory in several places within our territory. Because not many people here have transport, when the territory is beyond public transport range it rarely if ever gets done. Sometimes congregations organize big days with several vehicles, but the harder to get to places just never get done. In addition there are huge tracts of territory all over Bolivia that are unassigned, so obviously do not get done either, especially since most congregations have territory of their own that doesn't get done.
   Some of this territory is surprisingly close to the cities but is over a range of mountains, or up a valley with bad roads or has some other reason that public transport doesn't go there. This is the reason we purchased a motorbike, an off road bike in fact, which gives us access to this territory.
   About two weeks back a group of us did some territory about 1 hours drive from our township. It was pretty rugged, the roads sometimes more like riverbeds, and quite narrow in places on steep slopes with river crossings here and there. At the furthest extent of this territory we saw a house which was rather inaccessible. Two of us took about 40 minutes to find a way across the river and up the hillside to get to the house. When we arrived we met a young guy of about 20 in the field beside the house working. I showed him the "Why study the Bible video" and a few scriptures like Rev 12:7-9,12. After the presentation I said to him that perhaps in the future he would like to study. He said he didn't want to wait he wanted to start one immediately. Well I guess we came here to study with people, but I didn't plan on a 1 hour cross country ride to get to them!
   The first week my son in law and I went back but he wasn't there. Today Lois and I returned and had an awesome study. Lois also showed his siblings some videos and scriptures, and they are keen to study as well. However Lois was less than impressed with having to climb rocky slopes and trust my cross country riding skills. You know how it is brothers, perhaps I made it sound less daunting than it actually was! Anyway she has reluctantly agreed to come with me again next time.
   Last week we went to the end of a valley only half an hour from us that has never been done either. We had to drive down a rough road to a large dry riverbed, by which time the hillsides either side were quite impressively close and high. From here we walked a mountain trail. We found about 7 houses but the trail continued. We walked it to see if any more houses appeared but finally came to a blind end in the valley with a really nice waterfall. We even had condors flying around us. Surprisingly we met a group of about 40 people who had trekked to see the falls. They were a church group and we left them with quite a few magazines. It was a very hot day and the falls had a nice pool below them so Ben and I decided to jump in, in our underwear. Bolivia is an unusual place. You often see men, children and even women urinating publicly without bothering too much to conceal themselves, women breastfeed publicly and leave their breast out while they serve you at the market, but to remove your trousers and reveal your underwear! Shock horror!
   Anyway we have thoroughly enjoyed working this untouched territory and the thirst of the people for true knowledge. It may be hard to get back for studies but the rewards make the sacrifices insignificant.
   Tomorrow we leave for Beni - the jungle for a short break away to catch some piranha and swim with the pink dolphins. 8 gringos are going 6 NZers and 2 Brits. It is also a scouting trip to see what the need is there. Next post I will fill you in on our trip and hope to have a few photos to add.

12 people in and on a landrover!

Before the trail got too rugged

A condor

Ben and I swimming in our undies!

The trail continues

Myself and Lois studying with a young woman

Another remote territory

Back to reality

Well we enjoyed our trip around the world to get home! We had a chance to see Rio de Janeiro and Dubai, but it was disappointing we were not able to stop over in Melbourne. We know the city well, but our youngest daughter has just moved there and it would have been nice to catch up with her.
   Well we have been back now for about two weeks and things haven't changed! Our landlord made some changes to our internet settings while we were gone despite it being our account, and we had no internet. I called in at the office of Cossett (the company that supplies internet to us) and they said just reset the modem. I said I may not be an IT expert but I had certainly tried that! So I was given a number to ring, great. Eventually I convinced them we actually needed a technician. I was told he would be here in the afternoon. We stayed back from field service to wait but of course he didn't come. The next day I went back and was assured he would be there in the afternoon. After a week or so of this I told him look - this is wasting my time, your time and the technician's time, why not just tell me the truth? So I was PROMISED he would be there that afternoon. Of course he didn't show. I went back and said I will be here in your office twice a day until it is fixed. At this point they told us the modem was broken and we needed to take it in for servicing. I told them that was rubbish and if our connection isn't fixed in a few days I will buy a USB modem from another company and cancel my contract. Four days later the technician turned up on the only day we said we would not be home! We rushed back in time to catch him and 5 minutes later we finally had internet. So here we go with another post!
Actually the city here has wifi but only in certain areas, and most places the demand is high so it is not available anyway. There are other options including USB modems and getting a good data deal on the cellphone and using it as a hotspot for the computer. Unfortunately we are a bit out in the country so Cossett is the best option for us although generally it is quite slow. Internet is quite expensive here but at least with Cossett there is no data limit. It costs us 300 Bolivianos per month (roughly $50US) for a plan that is slow, but good enough to Skype OK.
We arrived back to find that a new congregation called Tomatitas is being formed on May1st between us and the city of Tarija. We have been assigned to this congregation, and I have been appointed in absentia as service overseer. Our San Lorenzo group has been attached to this congregation as well so our mid week meeting will be in the city, and we will continue to have the weekend meeting in San Lorenzo, while Tomatitas has a separate one. We had three Elders in San Lorenzo and now I am the only one left, so basically I have been entrusted with the care of the group. Poor group! Our Spanish is improving, but I feel light years away from being capable of conducting a weekly Watchtower study in Spanish!! We are hoping in the not too distant future to get back to two weekly meetings and even being made a congregation ourselves. If there are any keen Elders out there wanting a challenge my email is....
One benefit of returning to NZ was we were able to bring a projector back here. Now our group has a picture theatre! I will also use it tonight at the service meeting to show the video "Why study the Bible"
Along with congregational changes, we have inherited some new territory so all in all many changes ahead. It seems as my son in law said, that just when you think you are getting your head above water, they put more water in the pool.
Anyway here are a few photos and of Dubai, we enjoyed a few days there on our return. I will add a video of us riding camels in the desert if you check back tomorrow it should be downloaded even with our internet!
p.s. Emirates rocks!!

 A photo from the gold markets

A whirling dervish in the desert

Link to :camel riding  (not my best work on the camera I'm afraid)

Camel riding

 two photos of NZ scenery

Some fish we smoked after a successful fishing trip NZ

 

update

Hello all,
Sorry for the lengthy delay in putting up another post. We returned from NZ only to find some of our internet account details had been changed leaving us with no internet. Nothing happens quickly in Bolivia so we have had weeks with no internet. We just got back on line today. This makes for real hard work doing meeting parts with our level of Spanish and no access to a translator! Anyway we are back up and running. I will put up another post over the next day or two once we have cleared our backlog of emails and skyped our family!
Hasta pronto

Changes

We enjoyed having our first circuit visit in Bolivia, and we had hoped that our group here in San Lorenzo might be made a congregation, but Jehovah had other ideas - still pretty exciting, but totally unexpected. Immediately following the circuit visit we flew out for New Zealand for a month of work to top up the coffers. We were notified by email that a meeting was held for the Elders of 4 congregations, and a fifth congregation has been formed from the 4. The new one is called Tomatitas, and this congregation will now look after San Lorenzo. Drew and I have been assigned as Elders in this new congregation, along with one of our Ministerial Servants who was made an Elder during the visit. This will leave a hole in the San Lorenzo group of course, and it will now revert to one meeting per week, and join Tomatitas for the other one. Lois and I intend to continue supporting San Lorenzo, so hopefully the workload in the congregation won't force us to abandon that goal. The territory is pretty exciting in San Lorenzo, and I can foresee that before too long there will need to be a congregation out there as well.
Well we are certainly enjoying being back with family in New Zealand. We are making the most of the food as well; I can't get enough of the seafood especially! Nevertheless we look forward to returning to our studies and of course our friends in Bolivia.
We have been asked to do presentations at meetings here to discuss how things are going in Bolivia, with the goal of motivating others to join us over there, so that's quite a privilege we are looking forward to. The territory is so much harder here in NZ but still Lois and I have managed to start studies since we have been back, perhaps our attitude and motivation have been tuned up a bit by the huge interest in the territory in San Lorenzo!
It was quite a learning curve flying out of Bolivia as well! We flew from Santa Cruz to Sao Paulo, then on to Dubai, Australia and NZ. Leaving Santa Cruz we went through customs 3 hours before our flight thinking it might be good to allow plenty of time. We had to wait in a queue for an hour and a half to pay our departure tax, then we had to wait in another queue to pay for the privilege of leaving the country (a separate "departure tax"), THEN we had to join another queue which was huge! Halfway through the wait they announced our flight was boarding. We asked if we could advance in the queue but were told no. Later they called our names, and we again asked if we could go to the front. Again, no. 10 minutes later an announcement that our gate was closed, and the plane was closed! 10 mins after that with another 30 minutes left in the queue they decided to rush us forward. We found at the front of these huge queues ONE guy checking luggage! He still gave all our stuff a thorough going over and then we literally sprinted to our plane and just managed get there in time to board. We ended up having to pay the equivalent of over $500 local currency for departure taxes. Don't you just love Bolivia! Once we got to Brazil, Dubai, Aussie and NZ everything was a breeze. Normal boarding, no extra taxes, quite boring really! Emirates really looked after us. We had a 10 hour wait through the night in Dubai, and they paid for a dinner, breakfast and accommodation in a nice hotel. I will happily pay extra to fly emirates from now on.
Well the weather here in NZ is nearly as hot as Bolivia at the moment, but apparently we have a tropical cyclone heading our way over the next few days.
We will be spending a few days in Dubai and Rio de Janeiro on the way home. I hope to do another post while here in NZ but this will depend on my workload. So perhaps next post I will talk about our trip home. Here are a few pictures of my granddaughter, NZ scenery and a link to a short video clip of a woman I am training to fell trees here as part of my work. Also a link to my first Bible Highlights in Spanish in San Lorenzo. See you next time.
Tree felling training
Bible Highlights

 

 

La Paz!

We have been in Bolivia now for three and a half months. Two weeks before we flew out of New Zealand we posted Lois' coffee machine to Bolivia so it would be there when we arrived. It cost us nearly $600NZ to post but we figured it was worth it seeing as Lois is a coffee addict! Well it arrived a day or two before us in La Paz. I won't bore you with the details but to cut a long story short we still don't have it. To start with they wanted to charge us almost $2000US in customs duty. After a battle to verify that the machine is second hand, (thank you Martin) the problem seemed to go away. However this is Bolivia, not on your life! It seems because the time has now exceeded 60 days, it has gone into unclaimed goods. Therefore when Martin and Louise invited us to go to La Paz with them, where the machine still is, we decided to accompany them and see the capital in all its glory, and hopefully resolve the coffee machine issue.
   Well it seems the machine is now a ward of the state! Martin is going to write to the president to see what can be done, but for this blog I am going to focus on the city of La Paz
   I have to say I was very impressed. Coming in from the south, you first go through the city of El Alto, which is to put it kindly, not the prettiest city in the world, but from there you come down the hill into La Paz which is nestled in a valley with stunning mountains (some of the highest in the world outside of Asia) as a backdrop. It really is quite a stunning sight when you come over the brow of the hill and see it in all its glory.
Pictures don't do it justice but here are a couple anyway:

 

Aaaand here is one photo of El Alto:



La Paz is really is quite a beautiful city, and apart from Hong Kong I don't think I have seen a better example of ancient meets modern. What is different here from Hong Kong though is that La Paz is not so much a dichotomy as an agglomeration, the old and the new live together! You find people living traditionally next to high rise buildings.

   La Paz is the highest capital in the world at almost 4000 meters so we expected to have a few problems with the altitude, but we had no problems at all. El Alto a couple of kilometres up the hill is the third highest city in the world boasting the highest airport in the world at somewhat over 4000m. On the trip to La Paz on the bus we passed through Potosi reportedly the highest city in the world, and passed over a mountain range at an altitude of almost 5000m before dropping into Potosi. (Incidentally passing through Potosi is probably a good move, not a pretty city at all) It can get quite cold at these altitudes so it pays to pack for cold even though it may be 40 degrees where you leave from!

   We really enjoyed the range of restaurants and markets in La Paz. One restaurant we went to had a French/Italian theme. We had a plate of breads and dips, deep fried squid (all complementary), a carafe of wine, a stunning main ( I had a perfectly cooked steak topped with foie gras) then a crème brulee to finish. This was a classy meal, not your run of the mill restaurant fare, and the total cost for both of us was around $60NZ ($50US)

   La Paz is an excellent place to find local handicrafts, tailor-made leather goods and almost anything for an incredibly low price (except coffee machines) Also interesting is that they are thinking of starting an English group here soon I believe.

  The trip to La Paz from Tarija on the bus was quite interesting as well. It normally takes about 18 hours and leaves mid afternoon, arriving in La Paz about 8 a.m. The bus was comfortable enough, all the passengers ride on the second deck, the lower deck being for freight and luggage. It did help that Martin booked the front seats for us so we had a good view and a bit more legroom. Buses here are everywhere. Travel is cheap too, it only cost us 190 bolivianos ($33NZ for the return trip - 36 hrs of travel) Be warned though that some drivers are a bit dodgy, and slow blind corner passing manoeuvres are not that uncommon! I have some on video but it takes so long to download them here, you will have to take my word for it.

   It is quite common here for people to blockade the road for one cause or another, and basically bring the country to its knees, so when the bus stopped behind a line of traffic at 1a.m and the driver turned the engine off, we assumed this was a blockade. Finally after 5 or 6 hours we walked forward to see the action, only to find a small slip had hit a bus almost pushing it over the edge, and completely blocked the road. This is basically the main highway through the country, but no-one did anything for hours. Finally a bus and then a truck tried to pull the stuck bus out. After a few dodgy scenes they got it out, then 4 guys started shovelling the slip of the road! Finally after nearly10 hours someone figured out we may need a machine! Soon thereafter we were on our way again slowly weaving through traffic. You can imagine the backlog of traffic after 10 hours on the main route! I am not sure how many trucks and buses we passed but it seemed like hundreds.

 

 

 

   One advantage for me having been held up for 10 hours, was being able to see the countryside, especially the altiplano in daylight. This is probably some of the remotest countryside in the world. People live very simply and traditionally, you see them out herding llamas and sheep, following them around like in Bible times. Here are a few pictures:

Is this the remotest soccer field in the world?

   So that's a flying visit to La Paz.
A few weeks ago I gave my first service meeting part in Spanish. If I start downloading it now it may be ready for my next post! Also we had our circuit assembly a few days ago, and in one week more we have the circuit overseer and District overseer visiting our group in San Lorenzo for one day. So next post will have a spiritual theme. We need to travel back to NZ for a month for work in March and we fly out the day after the visit by the CO and DO. Looking forward to seeing family and friends especially our granddaughter.
   See you next post!