Transport

Before I start talking about transport, I thought you might enjoy a small story about an English couple in our group, Ben and Dawn Golding-Webb. They have been here a few more months than us, and speak much better Spanish. Ben had his first public talk in Spanish last week. Today I was out in the field service with Ben and a local sister. Now there is a verb in Spanish which is used quite often that has a completely different meaning if you insert an "r" in the middle. With the "r" it basically equates to the "s" word in English! The sister casually mentioned to Ben that this is the word he has been using for the 4 months he has been here - including in field service, and yes...in his Public talk where we had our 20 publishers, and 40 others mostly interested ones! Ben is quite devastated and understandably embarrassed.
Now for a more mundane subject - transport.
I was amazed when we arrived here, by how many taxis there are. It is no exaggeration to say that around half the vehicles are taxis! However when you come to appreciate that cars are incredibly expensive here, it is more understandable. For example even a clapped out really old car can cost $5000US. In equivalent local currency I guess that means an old car costs over $30000 Bolivianos! Even a second hand Japanese motorbike under 200 CCs can be $2000US.
Somehow quite a few of the locals afford vehicles, perhaps this is equivalent to buying a house in NZ, as most people have an extended family home anyway, not needing to purchase one and move out on there own.
Anyway the majority of the people here, including us, use taxis and trufis and micros to get around, even quite far out into the countryside. To get around most parts of the city costs in a taxi, 4 Bolivianos per person, and if it is right across town you may need to pay 5. It is curious that ere you pay per person. The same trip can net the driver 4 Bolivianos for 1 passenger, or 16 for 4 passengers! After 10 p.m. it goes up to 5 Bolivianos per person. You can also hire a taxi by the hour for around 30 Bolivianos which is handy if you need to make a lot of short trips while shopping.
We have read a lot about how the taxi drivers try to rip off tourists, but only once or twice have we had someone try to charge double or more. The trick is to refuse to get out until you get your change. Generally they are pretty honest. In fact one day Drew left his wallet in the taxi and he came back to find us to give it back! Perhaps more care is required in the bigger cities, I don't know we haven't been yet. It does pay however to negotiate a rate prior to departure if going further, and don't pay until you arrive. One day we paid first and the driver stopped at a petrol station and told us to get out. We were a bit wary thinking he was dumping us off, but then we saw a sign saying passengers had to disembark while refuelling.
Micros are another option, when travelling within city limits. They travel set routes, and have letters signifying the route displayed on the front. Unfortunately they don't have schedules here, so no-one can tell you what the route is! It was suggested to us to get on and trace the route on a map, doing so for each letter so that you learn where each goes to. It is worth doing because when you get on you pay 1.5 Bolivianos (22 cents NZ) no matter how far you are going. Be aware though that on weekends the route changes, and sometimes even during the week the drivers forget to change the letter on the front!
Trufis travel set routes also, but usually out of the city. They are basically vans seating about 12 people. You can flag them down anywhere on the route just like a taxi, and they are incredibly cheap. We use a trufi to travel from Tarija out to San Lorenzo where our group has its meetings. It takes about 25 mins and is probably about 15 kilometres or more, but it only costs 3 Bolivianos per person (54 cents NZ) Even a taxi is only 7.5 Bolivianos for this route per person, but still more than double the price.
Trufis go right out into the remote areas, and are indispensable when preaching. We get on a trufi until we get to a group of houses, get off to do them then catch the next trufi to the next part of the territory.
Soon we are going to buy a motorbike, because it gives far more flexibility for doing return visits, travelling beyond trufi range, and after they finish for the day which is usually 8 p.m. Sundays is a problem for us because they stop at 4 p.m. and most people want to study on Sundays because they are home, not in the fields. I will do a post later about the joys of shopping for a bike and getting your bike license in Bolivia!
To finish I thought I would include a few more photos of preaching in the country, and a video of our group singing a song at the end of our meeting on Sunday morning out in San Lorenzo. This video is for you Isobel Todd, I hope you enjoy it. Click on the link:

San Lorenzo group singing a Kingdom song

Yes it is a sheep on a leash in downtown San Lorenzo!

This is how fields are ploughed here. Sometimes you have to give way to them in the town, while they are moving between fields

Some of our brothers and sisters in the San Lorenzo group

It doesn't pay to leave your bike unattended. We carried Ben's bike into the river and piled it up with rocks

Me making an ass of myself!

 

Preaching

Well if you are not a Jehovah's Witness, this post will probably not appeal to you. You may want to skip it altogether in fact. In the next few posts I will discuss transport and eating establishments here in Tarija.
We decided to come to Bolivia from New Zealand, because we heard there was a need in the ministry. I don't believe that any part of New Zealand's territory is worked less than once per year, and the vast majority is worked every few weeks or months. This coupled with the fact that there are plenty of publishers means that compared with Bolivia, NZ doesn't have a need at all for pioneers. In some places elders are needed, but again Bolivia has a far greater need for Ancianos (elders). Therefore we arrived here all keen to experience fresh, seldom worked territory. Our first outing in the field was a surprise to us. No-one seems to know how many people Tarija has as residents, but it seems to be between 100 000 and 200 000 people. There are 11 or 12 congregations, and a few groups attached to them. At our first field service group we found out that the congregation's territory is covered every one and a half weeks! It seems most of the other congregations have similar coverage, so we wondered why we were here to be honest. However once we began preaching, we found that studies were easy to start even with limited Spanish, and there is still much interest.
 Over the following few weeks we decided to try one of the groups a few kilometres out of the city. The group we chose is in a town of about 10 000 people about 20 minutes drive out of the city. Well, what a contrast! HUGE interest and a Huge need here for pioneers! With three Ministerial servants and no Elders, the group has a need as well for Elders, and I believe a lack of Elders is the only thing stopping it from becoming a congregation. No pressure Paul and Drew!
Regarding the territory, virtually everyone you offer a study to, accepts, and on occasion we have even had people cry because the are so overwhelmed that someone is willing to spend the time to teach them the Bible. It is so satisfying to study with people who genuinely want to learn the truth, even though it is mentally taxing struggling with the language. I cannot urge anyone thinking of coming here enough to just take the leap. Our group has large tracts of territory that has NEVER been worked! It takes us 20 mins to get there on a small bus that costs 50 cents NZ! Soon we hope to rent a house out there to get closer to the action. Be warned though, that although transport is available for much of the area, there is plenty of walking required.
If you are considering coming here to preach and have questions, feel free to ask via this blog, and if we cannot answer them we will endeavour to find the answer from others, and reply to you.
Here is an example of what you can expect. Three weeks ago was offering tracts during the campaign, and met a young lad of about 18. In halting Spanish I asked him if he wanted to study the Bible. "Yes I would" he replied. When I returned we did one part of the Good News brochure. The next time his father was there too, and wanted to join in. Today we did the third study and the whole family was there waiting, and was so appreciative of Bible truth. They had many questions, and we tried to use scriptures to answer them, especially when our Spanish ran short! I believe the will be at meetings within a week or two. - This is the norm, not the exception!
Also, the brothers and sisters are incredibly supportive, appreciative and friendly. It is just a joy to be here and be a part of it.
To conclude, here are a few photos of the territory we work in:

Lightning!

When we arrived here nearly five weeks ago, everything was dry and brown, and there was talk of the town running out of water. The rainy season was supposed to have started, but we were baking along with the landscape. Well in the last couple of weeks, the rain has gradually started to put in an appearance. It usually comes in the evening, sometimes for an hour or so, and sometimes quite heavy for most of the night.
   I have often heard of tremendous electrical storms that happen frequently even without accompanying rain in some parts of the world, and have always wanted to see a full-on version. Once in Sydney, Lois and I were staying at a hotel on circular quay and we got to see an impressive spate of lightning, we even saw one bolt hit an airliner coming into Sydney. Unfortunately though, the lights of the city and the lack of access to the roof of the hotel, detracted from the spectacle somewhat.
   Well if you want to see a true electrical storm, in all its glory, come to Bolivia! We have been treated to some absolutely breathtaking displays of Jehovah's power. Almost every night for at least 30 minutes, sometimes for several hours, the night sky erupts with an unbelievable volume and array of lightning. Forked lightning, lightning between clouds, you name it, we get it!
   In New Zealand, electrical storms are reasonably rare, and the time between bolts is usually quite long when we do get them. I have often wondered how many hours photographers spent to get a shot of lightning discharging, well in Bolivia it is only measured in minutes!
   We live in a second storey apartment, and a third storey is under construction, with just the floor so far completed. The first night we had lightning, we shot up on the roof to watch. Within minutes my daughter Syntyche got this shot

 

It can be a bit freaky standing on a roof with lightning flashing all around you, but we took comfort from the fact that there was reinforcing steel extending up around the walls which was higher than us!
   Some nights the bolts are 30 seconds or so apart but most nights there is hardly a second or two between them. About a week ago there was a storm on the horizon where there was virtually no time when lightning was not discharging somewhere! It was like a fireworks display, and it went for over two hours! It is hard to imagine the immensity of the energy that must have been discharged during that storm. I have a short video of it here - follow the link. Can't wait for one like that to happen right overhead! Remember as you watch it that I only filmed a segment of the sky, so the amount of lightning was way more than you see in the video. The second link is to a short clip from another storm. Lightning was happening all around, but I only managed to be in the right place once.
Storm
Lightning bolt

Well next post I think it is time I talked about the reason we came here, preaching. What is it really like here in the ministry?

The markets

Well shopping is certainly vastly different here to what it is in New Zealand, or any other parts of the western world that we have visited. Supermarkets here are rare, small and not necessarily the cheapest option. Economies of scale seem to have by-passed Bolivia! Also, you will not find a fruit and vegetable section, nor a butchery in supermarkets here, and the deli is tiny. This is because people do the bulk of their shopping at the open air markets like the main one here in Tarija, called Campesino market. The produce may not be primped up to look enticing like in western supermarkets, but it is always fresh and the biggest advantage is flavour. Because it is picked to go straight to market, it doesn't have to be picked before it is ripe, or treated with chemicals to keep it fresh.
   In the west you can buy almost anything you need at the supermarket, here the same applies to the open air market. You can even buy donkeys here! Plus because there are so many vendors, healthy competition is alive and well which makes prices very reasonable. If you develop a rapport with some of the vendors, they get quite friendly and even give you little free add-ons for being a regular customer.
   We thought we were pretty up the play with our Spanish numbers, but here they often deal in unusual weights, not necessarily just Kgs. Also we didn't really study up on fractions which can cause a few dramas, for example we managed to purchase quarter of a Kg of cumin the other day because of not knowing fractions! Oh well it only cost us about $2 NZ, and surprisingly we seem to be ploughing through it quite rapidly.
   The scariest part of the market is the meat section. There are about an acre of small stalls all selling meat hanging in the open air at 35 degrees Celsius! Apart from the smell and fly blown meat, there are buckets of offal, heads of animals, you name it! There are a large number of butcheries up town however, that refrigerate their meat.
   Just behind the meat market is an eating establishment, there appears to be several throughout the market, obviously not designed for tourists, the food isn't too bad though if you can develop the courage to create a scene as the only gringo in sight! You probably need to be prepared to risk the odd stomach upset too I suppose, but so far I haven't succumbed!
   There are of course other smaller markets here and there. By our residence one market runs throughout the week, but on Saturday it is huge, and some from Campesino come down to set up here for the day.
   I will attach a few photos of the market, and a short video giving a small insight into one outdoor section of the market.
Follow this link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nSRyVYksm4&feature=youtu.be

You don't really think I would photograph a market without a shot of potatoes do you?

or two?

   The other interesting thing about shopping here is the fact that literally every hundred meters or so, even way out in the country, there is a small shop attached to a house. These shops are called tiendas and can carry quite a random range of stock. Within 100 meters of our house we have 4! We were buying from them sparingly thinking like in NZ they would be expensive compared to supermarkets. We finally compared the prices though and found them to be in most cases cheaper! Now we patronize them regularly. I have included a photo of a tienda as well.

   OK so that is shopping 101 in Tarija, I may in the future do another post about the shops though because they are amazingly random, and are worth another look. Next post - the weather, particularly the amazing electrical storms.
   Hasta luego

Impromptu party

Well I was going to talk about the markets today, but this morning we were invited to an impromptu fiesta at our place! We were on our way out to San Lorenzo to our group meeting, when we received a text from our landlord on the floor below us, inviting us to a get together in the courtyard. A missionary couple who have been here for over 20 years were reassigned to our congregation (in the same city) so a fiesta was organised to farewell them from one congregation, and we were there to welcome them to the next one! There was also a group that came down from Santa Cruz, but my Spanish wasn't good enough to figure out whether the two events were related.
   It seemed a lot of effort went into it, there were quite a few skits and traditional dances, some by children, some from this area of Bolivia and some from Salta Argentina. Follow these links to see video clips of the dances, and also a skit which must have been hilarious if fluent in Spanish. I got the gist of it, it seemed the tracts, magazines etc were fighting over who was the most effective, then in steps the Bible! Here is a link to watch it, (the first two are dances, the third link is the skit) but it probably won't mean much to you if you don't know Spanish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BmcNH_wjhc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwGYMi_gxRY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqnHWyjlNX4&feature=youtu.be
Lois in action!

 Some Albanian brothers and sisters got up and sang a song in their language with Spanish flash cards, and we were a bit nervous as we heard quite a bit about "Kiwis" and half expected to have to perform. We got away this time but will definitely need to practice a Maori action song in case, for next time.
   There was music and dancing from all over South America, apparently they worked their way through each country. The local brothers and sisters absolutely love dancing. Some were up for over 6 hours straight! Lois was in her element matching it with the best of them. I even got up for one dance because of some derisive looks from the locals when they found out I hadn't been up yet!
   Next post back to the markets, I promise!

PS - Our internet is terribly slow at the moment, it took about 12 hours to upload a 4 minute clip, so I have had to post this with only one link. Over the next day or two I will add links to video clips as I can.

Tarija at last

Our first impression of Tarija was that it is remarkably similar to Bali or Thailand. There are obvious differences, one being of course the language, but overall very, very similar. The back streets have footpaths in varying degrees of disrepair, but the closer you get to the central plazas, the tidier everything gets.
   Much more on the actual city in future posts. We arrived here Friday, just got settled in our house, and Saturday morning we were off to our first convention! Well actually a special assembly day. It was really nice to meet many of our brothers and sisters, some of whom are to become good friends. An extra special treat for us was seeing and meeting several people from the "Necesidad en Bolivia" DVD which we watched over and over again prior to coming here. Two photos follow regarding this:

 

 

 

We didn't get as much out of the actual program as we would have liked, and it was so frustrating wanting to talk to everyone but not being able to properly, but we felt at home in the hands of our new brothers and sisters. The brother who narrated the DVD (on the left in the second photo) who is from the Bolivia Bethel, actually thanked during his talk, those who came over from New Zealand to help here. That was very humbling. All in all an unbelievably special first complete day in Tarija. Follow this link to see a short video clip of the Assembly just prior to the start of the session.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imrz18KABF0&feature=youtu.be

Next post I will discuss the vibrant Camposino market

Vaccinations

When we decided to come to Bolivia we were aware that we would need to get vaccinations of some description, but were not sure of the actual requirements or obligations. We had the luxury of having Jonathon McPherson in our congregation who happens to be a GP. He put us on to a site which was very helpful - typing CDC into Google will get you there, the centre for disease control in the US. It is an awesome site because all you have to do is select the section dealing with travellers, then select your destination country, and it gives you requirements and recommendations for various parts of your destination country.
   Coming from NZ, the only actual requirement for vaccinations, is yellow fever. Without it NZ is not that keen to let you back in the country! All the rest are really optional, although some are strongly recommended, such as typhoid and hepatitis B. anyone thinking of moving or even travelling overseas could do worse than read the recommendations on this site. It has the added feature of being able to choose to read as a layperson or as a clinician, an interesting insight into recommendations to doctors. Jehovah's Witnesses would do well to research the rabbis vaccine thoroughly.
   It actually costs quite a bit to get the vaccines that are recommended. It costs close to $1000 for the whole deal ( per couple) the yellow fever vaccine costs $160 per person, and be prepared, they will tell you, you can die if you accept it! When we got ours we had our granddaughter with us, and the doctor said " by the way you realise  1 in 10000 people die from taking this vaccine? You will need to sit here for 30 mins so we can observe you." You should have seen the look on Lois' face! She said if I had known that, I would have had a coffee before I came here! The mark of a true coffee addict. The doctor continued "if you react to the vaccine there is a small chance we can save you!" Great, let' s do it!
   We actually did need it so we went ahead. Only designates travel doctors can administer the vaccine  and he checks to make sure you haven't recently had another live vaccine. The injection was honestly completely painless. Then we sat there being "observed" waiting to drop dead and leave our granddaughter to her own devices. It turns out we didn't die, so we thought what the heck, and went berserk getting all the vaccines we thought we needed, and went home feeling like pincushions. Our granddaughter bailey was starting to get quite well informed medically after our initial blood tests to check for hepatitis immunity, vaccines and further blood tests due to a mix up at the lab. Anyway, now we were raring to go!
   Next post we go back to Tarija and the start of the real adventure.

Crossing the border

Well it came time to leave Salta and finally enter Bolivia. This turned into the most stressful part of the whole journey actually. We were very grateful to Martin Rattray who booked our transport and subsequently got us out of a hole when things turned a bit awry. The first problem was finding the office of the transport company "Dragon Rojo". It was a small office which we finally found, and of course they didn't speak English. Up until now we had been able to get by with marginal Spanish, but here we faced a problem with our booking which we didn't have the language skills to cope with.
   Apparently the company normally has taxis ferry you to the border, a four hour drive, and then over the border you transfer to a bus. As there were 8 of us from NZ all with truckloads of luggage, the company agreed to bring the bus right to Salta. The problem was that when we went to verify our booking the day before, they conveniently knew nothing about the bus coming to Salta! Enter Martin on a galloping white horse! We ended up having to book 2 extra taxis which cost us more, but at least we were on our way again. If not for Martin we would have been stuck trying to get 8 people and 24 suitcases into 2 taxis!
   The trip happens at night, so here we were waiting outside our hotel in the dark with all our luggage for the taxis to turn up. Nevada and his group were doing the same at their hotel across town. We had just about given up hope of them turning up, when 35 mins late they trundle around the corner. Syntyche and Drew managed to pile there luggage in, but we had a taxi with an LPG tank in the boot. After about 10 mins of karate kicking suitcases we managed to slam the boot, and ensconce ourselves in the back seat with half our luggage. Now I am not a fussy person at all really, and I have had some horrendous trips in my life, but this can only be described as the trip from hell. It was extremely hot, probably well over 30 degrees, we were jammed in the back like sardines hardly able to move our feet let alone get comfortable to sleep, and both our windows and door handles were broken. Not only that but we had not a clue how far we were going, so couldn't even psyche ourselves up for it. Then the driver stopped to but coca leaves and cigarettes, oh joy! As the trip progressed the drivers cheeks bulged more and more until we couldn't see how he could get any more coca leaves in, we felt like banging his cheeks together to see what would happen.
   About an hour into the trip we came across a group of people walking along the road in the complete darkness. Keep in mind that we are miles from anywhere, and it is dark. Well for the next hour and a half there were masses of people walking along in the pitch dark with kids in tow holding flowers. Most of the way the taxi driver was driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid hitting them. This too was part of the celebration of the day of the dead, where they walk through the night to place flowers at cemeteries, a wee bit odd I thought.
   Finally we arrive at an immigration office where the taxi driver herds us in to get our passports stamped. No dramas getting that done, but we come outside and he is gone! After a while we notice his car up ahead several hundred meters. We had been warned that this was the only place to use the toilets before getting to Tarija 3 hours later, so we went off to find them. For the life of me I couldn't find a men's toilet, so I gave up and waited for Lois. She came out rather shell shocked, indicating that the toilet hadn't been flushed in rather a while, and she had to walk over piles of used paper thrown on the floor. Oh well better than nothing I guess.
   Off we go to load our luggage back in to the taxi, squeeze ourselves in and set off again - for 100 meters. Then out we get and all our luggage gets taken out for inspection by officials. Meanwhile we see the taxi driver roaring off into the wild blue yonder back to Salta. An old man loads our luggage onto a trolley and takes off down the road. we weren't sure whether it was being stolen, or we were supposed to follow or what, so we ran after him. He crossed a bridge, went a 100meters or so further and we came to another office where apparently we had to fill in some documents. This office, and the officials put you in mind of some tin pot border control in the middle of nowhere where tourists go missing regularly and are never heard from again. Here is a flattering photograph of the outside of the office:

After being manhandled, ordered around, confused and abused, we finally got to fill in an application for an entry visa and were on our way. By the way the mosquitos here are in plague proportions, and fly around in huge swarms. Fortunately I don't ever seem to get bitten and they didn't bother me. Lois had insect repellent with her, but before leaving NZ she started taking vitamin B1 tablets as they are supposed to stop insects biting. It must work because she didn't get bitten either even without insect repellent.
   We met one young man here who we gave our first witness to. Lois gave him a tract and we asked him to study. He said he had in the past and would love to again.
   The rest of the trip went without too many dramas, we got on the bus which had a TV at the front. The three stooges was playing in Spanish on DVD. After 20 minutes it finished, and we had to endure the one minute preview over and over for two and a half hours. At least I got to see my first toucan fly past the bus! The scenery was nice but not dramatic. Here is a link to a short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_oSATeLqqA
   Well we get almost to Tarija, and the bus runs out of diesel! About 45 mins later we get going again, and to cut a long story short we arrive at Martin and Louise Rattray's house. What a relief to be able to converse properly again. Louise had an awesome breakfast prepared for us and we could finally savour the thought that we had arrived at our destination.
Next post I will talk about first impressions of Tarija, and also a little about vaccinations!
Until then...

Salta

When we were planning our trip to South America we decided that as we were going through Salta, we may as well stay for a couple of days and have a look around. By all accounts it purported to be a beautiful city. As we were getting close to Salta in the plane the terrain started getting pretty barren and desert like. The airport was quite small, and we caught a couple of taxis to our hotel without too many dramas. The city seemed quite third world to me as we drove to the Hotel, but we checked in with our best Spanglish and got settled. The rooms were quaint and quite comfortable, the only unusual thing in our room was that the shower and toilet were in the same room, with the shower facing the toilet. As the shower didn't have any walls or curtains, the toilet got wet every time the shower was used. You do get used to wet wipes however! We have noticed this plan is quite common in this part of the world, go figure.
   The free internet at the Hotel while slow, was a lifesaver as we had been incognito for a while, and were able to catch up with family and friends.
   We decided to head into town and have a meal, catching one of the gazillion taxis that take you anywhere for peanuts. Salta is famous for succulent Argentine steak, so we ended up at a restaurant specialising in Steak. In most places in the world I have found when you order steak rare, they think you mean very well done minus two seconds cooking time, so I was delighted to receive a large perfectly cooked delicious fillet which they call here Bif chorizo. I was half expecting a steak dressed with spicy sausage, but no it was exactly what I wanted. The wine list was excellent as well, and the meal was very reasonably priced.
   After the meal we walked out into the main plaza. It seems in the parts of South America we have been to so far that the towns are very far below the western world in standard, but then you come to these plazas here and there which are like oases from the starkness of the suburbs. The plazas are without exception beautiful, and the people seem to congregate in these plazas which are generally filled with eating establishments, monuments, and park benches surrounding well kept grass and gardens. I took a video clip of the plaza, follow this link to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9RXLq5AYCY
   We came back here the second night and met up with the Soames' and Keatings for a meal (fellow travellers from NZ). We tried another steak establishment and this time my rare steak was extra well done. Oh well you can't win them all, but I know which restaurant I will return to when we go back through Salta. Anyway like in Buenos Aires the town comes alive late a night, and we were heading to the restaurant through the plaza quite late and suddenly all sorts of celebrations randomly start. First some gentlemen (gauchos) ride around the plaza on horses finally hitching them up outside our restaurant, then this band starts blaring its way around as well. I have videos of this at these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98qrbwxnkLk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k89S2l9xUO4
And here is a photograph:

The horses were right beside our restaurant, and the streams of urine and piles of dung really added to the ambiance as I chewed my rubbery steak! Actually coming from Murupara NZ, it's not like we aren't used to horses, and it really was a memorable evening. In fact take a look at this photograph of some horses we were given when witnessing in Ruatahuna NZ, two weeks before flying out. I kid you not, we were honestly given these horses!!

   Back in Salta it turns out we were here during the annual celebration called "the day of the dead" Not sure what part horses and bands play in that, but hey this is South America.
   All in all we enjoyed Salta and were glad we stayed a couple of days, next post I will talk about our dramas getting from here to Tarija across the border of Argentina and Bolivia. So until tomorrow...

Buenos Aires

Before I get into more details about our trip from Buenos Aires to Tarija, I would like to mention something that happened before we left New Zealand which was very very special. I wanted to start the blog with this but it took me longer than expected to sort out the accompanying video.
   Prior to leaving we were treated by our friends in the Rotorua congregations to a farewell. The whole evening was overwhelming for us but it was especially humbling to find out that many had been practicing for weeks to put on a performance for us including Maori poi and action songs. I didn't get to video the whole thing but follow this link to see some of it anyway. A very special thanks to our friends for making us feel so special.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-fXTmJDVzU

Getting back to South America now, our flight got into Buenos Aires, and I was amazed by the sheer size of the city. It sprawls out for miles and looks quite impressive. The taxi drivers were very disappointed with us for staying only night, and they tried to get us to go straight into the city to make the most of the night life. They say it is like New York and never sleeps. Of course we weren't interested in the night life they were talking about, but it was true the place seemed to be just coming to life at 10p.m. A word about the taxi drivers here by the way, they won't hesitate to rip you off if you are not alert to prices and currencies. At present the NZ dollar buys you about 8 Argentine pesos, and make sure to have some on hand before you arrive if possible. When you come out of the airport guys will grab your bags and load them into their friends taxis and expect to be tipped. This is unavoidable, but they turn their noses up at US coins which they can't exchange, and expect $US5 minimum which amounts to a pretty healthy $50Arg tip! If you have pesos it is the better option I think! We had to take two taxis due to the volume of luggage. When we arrived at the hotel the drivers basically invited us to give whatever we thought for the ride! I am sure if we had underpaid them they would have spat the dummy, I guess being gringos they thought we may give them wads of cash and been none the wiser, but fortunately we had an idea of the cost so we gave that and asked them to return in the morning to pick us up for the airport. (By the way we paid them 25 pesos for a ride of around 10-15 mins)
   My daughter Syntyche booked our hotel from NZ and it turned out to be good value with an excellent breakfast as well. Once we booked in and ferried our truckload of luggage up to our rooms in the tiny lift, we went exploring. The outskirts of the city were a bit more third world than I expected, but we intend to go back for a decent look at the city later in the year, as I know we didn't see the best of it. We found a restaurant and as Drew and I had been doing all the speaking in Spanish we insisted the girls have a turn. They promptly pointed to a special pasted on the wall and said "dos, por favor" - cheats. Having said that it turned out OK as it was a large pizza and a litre of beer, awesome! Quite inexpensive too.
   After our meal, a good nights sleep and the hotel's brilliant breakfast, we hauled our mountain of luggage out onto the road to await our taxi. No show, great! At least it showed we weren't a soft touch. Fortunately taxis are everywhere in South America and so we hailed two and made our way to the airports domestic terminal. Make sure to book in early if you fly out from here, the queues to check in were horrendously long and slow. Any way we made our flight and sat back to enjoy the two and half hour flight to Salta. I have to say that I was stunned by the immensity of flat fertile arable land in Argentina. Both of our flights across country were over mile after mile of perfectly flat intensively farmed countryside, somewhat like the mid-west in the states. I expected more rugged terrain as we headed North. Bolivia made up for Argentina's lack of ruggedness and altitude believe me, but more on that in coming days.
My next post will be about Salta which is quite an interesting city. Tune in tomorrow for this, including a few videos.
Hasta luego

Flying out

One good thing about flying to South America [from New Zealand anyway] is that the baggage allowance is very generous. Each person is allowed two cases of a maximum of 23 kgs, and carry on of 8 kgs. Very helpful indeed if you are planning to be away for a year. It does have a downside though, what a fiasco getting through airports and using taxis! My daughter and her husband decided to accompany us on our adventure, so with four of us we had 8 large suitcases and 4 small. Hugely daunting when arriving in Buenos Aires and not being really sure where our hotel was, and having to take separate taxis. Some people told us not to be concerned about learning Spanish in NZ, being fully immersed in the language would ensure we picked it up in no time. Not really a help in Buenos Aires before arriving in Bolivia however! Fortunately we did try our best for 6 months to learn the language, and I can honestly say the more you can learn before leaving home the better. Even being able to have small conversations with our brothers and sisters here has been like gold! I would have hated not knowing any Spanish at all. Anyway I digress, more on that later.
   I imagined the easiest way to get to Bolivia from NZ would be through the United States, but it turns out the best way for us was to fly either direct from Auckland to La Paz or to fly to either Santiago Chile, or Buenos Aires Argentina, then take a domestic flight up to Salta Argentina, where we could bus across the border to Tarija Bolivia which was our final destination. We were advised that flying in to La Paz while sometimes a cheaper option, could pose problems as it is at a very high altitude (almost 4000 meters) which causes major problems for some until your body adjusts. Apparently there is no way of knowing if you will cope or not, and if you react badly, you simply need to get to a lower altitude ASAP. It appears some people have even died! Considering we were  living not much above sea level in NZ it was probably a good choice to take the Southern route which we did. Actually it just happened that a good special on a flight came up flying into Santiago, then on to Buenos Aires, then on to Salta which we purchased. We were not even aware of how risky it was flying to La Paz. Anyway it was awesome to see other countries on the way.
   We were supposed to have a 7 hour stopover in Chile, but our flight was delayed, and we turned up in Santiago just in time to walk on to the next flight to Buenos Aires. We stayed a night here then flew on to Salta.
   In my next post I will give our impressions of these cities and post some photographs. I only have one poor photograph of our flight into Buenos Aires to post now (sorry about the quality) I was trying to get an impression of the size of the city but it wasn't a great shot. Hasta manana

Starting out

New Zealand is a long way from everywhere, except possibly Australia and the Pacific Islands, so deciding to leave the country for a year was a big deal. In leading up to that decision we tried to read as much as we could about our chosen destination, but found very little has been written about Bolivia. Perhaps because it is the poorest country in South America, and not your usual holiday destination? Whatever the reason, we were fortunate to have some friends living in Bolivia who filled us in on some of the pitfalls and problems to expect. Nevertheless having never been to South America before and not having any mental pictures to go by, we found ourselves flying out over the Pacific into the relatively unknown.
   Why Bolivia, you may be asking? Well as Jehovah's Witnesses we wanted to help people to learn about the Bible, and Bolivia is a place where there is a need for just that. While that was our reason for coming here, this blog is not for the purpose of discussing religion. Why we are writing is to help fill a gap for anyone else intending to visit or move here, who like us cannot find much in print about everyday life in Bolivia. We will hopefully be posting lots of photographs, facts and anecdotes about our year here.
   We have been here just on two weeks, and in our next few posts we will update you on the problems we faced coming into the country, along with some photos, then we will post regularly on life as it happens for us over the next year - a warts and all account of life in Bolivia, by Paul and Lois Clark! we look forward to sharing it with you. To finish our first post, here are SOME things we will really miss while we are away - Photograph 1 - Our son Aaron, our daughter in law Michelle, the ocean, and most of all our granddaughter Bailey! Photograph 2 - Our daughter Carmelita, and our friends the Smiths. Photograph 3 - Gemma Lee. Sorry Kelsens, Lees and Todds I didn't have a photo with me to post!