March 8 marks 6 months in Bolivia for us, and many things that should be mundane are starting to feel normal. Shopping for groceries happens on Sunday and at times involves a visit to the grain mill. We’ve gone clothes shopping (including trying things on) in a tent on a busy street, and generally done lots of things that seem ho-hum but would have blown us away 6 months ago.
We celebrated the occasion with a long weekend in Samaipata, a touristy town about half-way to Santa Cruz (5 hours by bus). It’s the closest place to get really good ice cream and we enjoyed a few days of just being gringos instead of “the gringos.” There really is quite a difference. We stayed in a 10-room hotel and were amazed to meet people there from Israel, Chile, Argentina, Germany, and Canada.
On the way there we paused for a moment of reflection and awe – the bus leaving Moro Moro the day before us fell off a bit of a cliff.
The rains have been so strong that the roads are in rough shape, and as this bus allowed a larger truck to pass, it pulled a little too far to the side of the road. We had a quite a few friends on the bus, but what a miracle – no one on the bus received life-threatening injuries. We were a bit amused as the other passengers on our bus, for lack of anything else to say at the time, kept murmuring “pobrecitos duraznos!” or “poor little peaches!” The top of the bus is usually loaded with fruit going to market, and this one was no exception. The police officer you see investigating the scene enjoyed a few peaches while we gawked.
We made it to Samaipata safe and sound and set about being tourists. We signed up for a hike in the nearby Amboro National Park. The parks here are just a bit different than parks in the states. This National Park has a private sponsor - this one happens to be supported by Shell Oil company. There are international laws that if a company is involved with on-going environmental damage, they must pay reparations in some form that supports nature preservation. Shell chose to create a national park in Bolivia. It’s absolutely beautiful, though there are lingering questions about the methods used to create the park (kicking people off land that may have been used by them for generations in order to make a people-less space). The lease is up in a couple years, so we’re in the awkward position of hoping that Shell continues to pollute at least a little so that support continues for the park….hmm...
We had a nice 4-hour hike with a pair of Germans, led by a Dutchman, and conducted in English: truly an international experience. We started at a golf course and descended into a river valley.
We saw a lot of unique plants and got to be surrounded by the iridescent “blue morphus” butterfly. We hoped to, but didn’t really expect to see, the very rare Grey-spectacled Bear that is at home in the park. Here is the before and after of a “mimosa” plant. When you touch the plant, the leaves immediately retract in defense - very cool:
You can see me here trying my hand at being George of the Jungle on the vines.
The vine is unique because, when its bark is cut, it emits a liquid that looks and acts exactly like Elmer’s glue. Here’s me after 15 minutes of drying – pretty well stuck.
Just before the end of the hike we came to a swimming hole where water rushes into a pool, which we could ride just like a water slide.
We enjoyed the rest of our time in Samaipata just relaxing, chatting with interesting strangers, and eating good food. I got introduced to “pique macho” – an amazing blend of steak, sausage, french fries, and sautéed veggies and hot peppers all drowned in a salty sauce. Cassie found a Snickers bar and was pretty excited. She even shared some with me, but then lamented about not having bought two of them. All in all it was an excellent get-away!
The two guys on the left are the leaders of two new water systems. They have been so pro-active about getting things done that we love working with them. Here they are talking with Andy and a woman that built a system last year with our predecessors. She is explaining how things work so that they have a better idea of what they're building before we start.
Here's Andy working on a latrine in a different community. A big group of kids came to watch and ended up helping a lot. The project started a couple years ago, when the municipal government hired a business to build a latrine for each family in this community and five others (something like 100 latrines all together). However, the business left the project only partially finished. Some of the beneficiaries didn't get anything, but almost all of those that did receive something were left with a latrine whose floor looks like this....
when you really need a hole more like this...
Needless to say, trying to get bathroom products through a hole the size of your fist is just going to result in a huge mess, so we're trying to figure out how to make 100 poorly-made latrines work.
As usual, I was doing all the heavy lifting (just kidding!!). But I am looking pretty tough digging this hole, which will be used to filtrate the liquidy stuff.
