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.