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!

 

 



  

The Rainy Season

Well it is finally here, a month or two late, but heavy rain on a regular basis. There are pro's and con's to rain of course. The temperature is certainly a lot lower on average, but still warm by New Zealand standards. It seems to have slowed the mosquitos down dramatically as well, perhaps due to the dearth of stagnant water to breed in. It does of course make for difficult preaching, even though it now seems to come at a similar time each day, around three in the afternoon. This is the time we normally head back out to start studies and return visits after siesta which is from 12  - 3.
   Bolivian people are certainly very hard workers as well as friendly and patient. It is hard to figure out their logic in some cases however. In New Zealand, houses have spouting and downpipes, which channel rain water into drains, leaving walkways and shop fronts free of falling water. Here it is quite different. A lot of work goes into installing short pipes here and there along the eaves or rooves which channel water -  you guessed it, directly into the middle of the footpaths and walkways. So when you get a torrential downpour, that is every afternoon, you have enormous cascades of water pouring onto passers-by every 20 meters or so. It defies logic that these were actually PLANNED on all buildings! It would have been far better to have had downpipes emptying straight onto the path, at least it wouldn't be falling on everyone. Even if they had nothing, at least the water would run gently down the walls, but no why not pipe it into gigantic waterfalls, and direct it into the middle of the walkways - who came up with this idea? Unfortunately I don't have very good pictures to show you, sometimes it looks like pedestrians are dodging through waterfalls every 20 mins, hopefully I can post a photograph in a later post.
   Another thing that defies logic is the way shopkeepers treat their customers. We were in a restaurant today for lunch and after ordering soup we wanted to order the main which is all part of the lunch deal at these "pensions' as they are called. Well we got a dirty look from the owner as though we had just insulted her. This is not uncommon here. Customers get in the way of people living their lives! Sometimes you will be half-way through a transaction at a shop and they will wander off to serve someone else, leaving you with money in hand waiting to pay! Also often you will see goods displayed but when you go to buy them they won't sell it to you because they don't know what price to charge. This happened to us yesterday. We saw some llama meat in a deli at the supermarket, and seeing as we were expecting to try this in Bolivia, we asked how much it was. "I don't know" was the reply. Well we wanted to buy it anyway, but no, we can't sell it to you, we don't know how much it is! Well why is it at the front of your display then, in front of all the other goods which you DO know the price of?
   The rain also coincides with the breeding season for snakes, and we are beginning to see a few now. I saw one a few days ago about a meter long in the middle of the road about 100 meters from our house. When I got to within a few meters of it, it shot into the grass so I didn't quite get my ipad ready in time to photograph it.
   Today we did some REAL country territory. I had a brother on the back of my bike with me and we had to cross a river. Last time we crossed it about 6 weeks ago it was about 100mm (4 inches) deep. This time it came half-way up the bike! Then we had acres of mud followed by some serious hill climbs through huge ruts washed out by rain. The rain certainly puts a different perspective on things. Every day after preaching I have mud all over my shoes and up my trousers. Lois just loves me for it!

I now wear gumboots preaching! You would get plenty of disapproving looks from publishers and the public in New Zealand, but here no-one bats an eyelid.  
   Speaking of bats, we have grapes growing over trellises outside our bedroom, and these huge moths which they call "mariposa de la noche" or butterflies of the night. Anyone who knows Lois will know she HATES them. They are so big they cover your whole face when they land on you. Because of the rain, and presumably to escape bats, they congregate under the grapes at night, sometimes dozens of them. Bats obviously eat them because we see wings on the ground in the mornings. I put mesh over our windows so we can leave the windows open at night, and the other night a bat got caught in the mesh for about 10 seconds. He was fortunate to escape because I have always wanted to taste since seeing it on a restaurant in Vanuatu in the  Pacific islands.
   Also in the rainy season
people grow peanuts here. Here is a picture of some
growing. Notice my dirty shoe on the left prior to buying
gumboots!

 

 

 

Well, we finally get to do some travelling in Bolivia. We need to go to La Paz to try to pick up Lois' coffee machine tomorrow. It takes about 18 hours on the bus, and costs about NZ$20 each. We rise to almost 5000 meters in altitude during the trip and pass through Potosi, the highest city in the world. Next post I will tell you how it went.