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!