The Island of the Sun

Dear Everyone,

Well, we did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who voted on the poll and encouraged me to lose my wimpiness and just DO IT. We did indeed spend a night camping on the beach of the north side of the Island of the Sun. And it was great! We arrived at the south end of the island on Thursday morning, and hiked across the island (about 12 km) with all our gear. Yes, Matthew carried most of it, but Katie and I carried bags too. We got lost as soon as we started out, but in our defense, there were no signs anywhere!! Fortunately, when we were splitting up in three directions to head into the bush to follow questionable "trails," a local came along and I was able to ask him for directions. We eventually found the Inca trail again.

We set up on the beach and settled in for a great afternoon and evening. Katie went swimming in the lake, because she's hardcore like that. We met some other Canadians, we found a bathroom after I had talked to several of the townspeople, and we enjoyed the sun. The sun went down around 7pm, and we went to bed soon afterwards, for what I shall call politely an uncomfortable sleep. Sleeping on sand seems very similar to sleeping on rocks. But I wouldn't have missed it - the moon was so bright it was easy to see everything around the beach, and so many stars! Matt saw the most of the sky activity (including a meteor shower!) because he slept outside under the stars, while Katie and I had the tent.

So, passing lightly over all the fun we had in Copacabana as well (trout, jewelry, cheese fondue, my favourite hostel...), I shall conclude by saying that we are all very well and happy, and have one day to recover and do laundry before heading out again.

Much love to everyone,

Rachael (for the team)

Mining in Potosi

Dear Everyone,

Well, we just spent a fun-filled weekend in Potosi, tour-guided by the lovely Celina Schulz. One "highlight" was a tour of the mines wherein we spent maybe an hour and half crouching, scrambling, and going up and down ladders in search of silver. Sadly, we were told that most of the mines these days don't produce as much silver as they used to, but mostly zinc and other assorted minerals. It was an interesting glimpse into a hard way of life and we all came out blinking in the sun and grateful that we are able to have lives and jobs above ground. The short video that you see really sums up our time in the mine. Or rather, what life would be like with Matt the Miner.

Another highlight took the form of a trip down memory lane for our lovely Celina. The first day we were in Potosi she took us out into the hills around the town, where there is a natural volcanic "lake". It was at this lake that she learned how to swim when she was a child. It was kind of more like a large pond than a lake, but the temperature was a beautiful 30 degrees celsius. It made for a glorious swim! One of the best things was that we were the only ones there. Aside from 2 ducks who apparently enjoyed the warm water. After a delightful picnic lunch we hiked back to the road and caught a bus back to town. Sound amazing? It was.

We also did 2 tours in town. One at a convent called St. Teresa, which used to be a cloistered convent. Once the girls entered the convent they were not allowed out, and could never see their families again. They weren't even allowed to sleep with mattresses! It was a very interesting tour although a tad bit long. By the end we were all ready to sit down and have a good meal. The other tour we did the next day was of the Casa de Moneda, or the local mint. Up until 1951 Potosi was producing coins for all of Bolivia. After 1951 other countries took over the process, with the 5 Boliviano coin being made in Canada! Who knew?! It makes sense once you know though, because it looks like a much smaller version of our toonie. Another funny thing was that we were able to have our tour in English, and right as we started another guy joined us who turned out to be from Calgary, Alberta! Potosi is a small town and not to many foreigners go there, so it was pretty funny that in our tour group we were all Canadians. It really is a small world after all.

All in all it was a great weekend. The Schulz's were kind enough to let all of us crash at their apartment, and that had the added bonus of being located in the heart of the town. Potosi is much smaller than La Paz, and it has so much character with its old churches and narrow, cobbled streets. We were there on Bolivian Father's Day(friday) and on our way back to the apartment at night we ran into a full on marching band that started from the plaza outside the apartment and went up the street. So cool. We enjoyed a couple of the local restaurants, including one with delicious crepes and an intense game of Jenga. Rachael may or may not have been the one to knock it down...but we're not talking about it. We also went up the Mirador, which is a tower with a restaurant on top that gave us spectacular views of Potosi at night. Us girls also enjoyed watching the effect of Matt on the locals, particularly the men. We left on Saturday night on an overnight bus to La Paz, and arrived back at the Vargas house early this morning. We all promptly fell into bed and slept for 5 hours and then got up to do some much needed loads of laundry.

And speaking of laundry...it looks like the rain is coming so we must go and fetch it off the line!

This segment of Rachael in Bolvia is brought to you by Rachael and Katie. Featuring: Matt the Miner.

chick flicks and constipation

Hola

Matt shannon here....I quit spanish. its a good thing i can point to food and usually they understand me. The visit thus far has been great. aside from the few headaches and the delusion of never having to use the washroom till they say you could die, our experience in Bolivia has been grand!

Just the other day Rachel was teaching a student some English, french or spanish. I can't keep track of that girl anymore (only what she cooks). While she was at her students place, katie and i ventured out into the open world on our own. Just buying some water was on our list and we did it! we were on top of the world, my next plan was to communicating with every gorgeous girl there about water! Agua is water in case you readers didn't know. And who doesn't drink or have water that you couldn't communicate with right? so romantic

We met the youth group. it was one of those special, first moments that you have when you're getting use to the culture and you accidently kiss the guys on the cheek instead of just the girls and you say good night when you enter the room. Rachel so kindly translated everything for us during our time there. by the end of the night they were trying to speak to us in English cause Rachel has been giving lessons. It made things more comfortable and it was fun trying to communicate with them in Spanish and them back in English. I'm sure im changing lives.

I know im changing katie's life. seems like everyday she tells me she loves me in spanish. all i hear is "Dame un beso!" and "Te deseo". Also Rachel got some chick flick that is 17 hours long about some girl cleaning some cranky ladies place who has a son who is "charming" or something stupid like that. But the real sad thing is this other boy who is speaking "romantic" crap like katie speaking spanish to me and for some reason its cute. katie and Rachael were falling apart at the scenes of this guy and this guy was falling apart, crying and creeping out this chick's window in the rain. I thought being down in Bolivia would have changed the girls. sigh....i guess the next rain storm i have to confess my undying love for some girl.

pray for the next 16 hours of movie watching i will go through, and our daily adventures in South America.

Coca Tea, Horrible Spanish Accents, and Friendship!

Ola!

Today's break in your regularly scheduled program is brought to you by Katie Horton. Yes, that's right, Matt Shannon and I have arrived and taken over Rachael's life. This includes forcing her to teach us her excellent grasp of the spanish language, consuming her delectable baked goods, and tying her up in a corner so we can take over her blog. Juuuust kidding. She's sitting in her room. Promise.

But yes, we have officially been in La Paz for over 24 hours and Matt and I are pretty much locals already. Yeah, no bigs. Matt seems to have made it his goal to learn as much spanish as he possibly can and I'm assuming by the end of the week will be fluent. Or at least will have his phrase book memorized. The altitude hasn't been affecting us too much...it may or may not have affectd Matt more than me....and I was feeling prideful about this fact until I woke up this morning with a headache and had to suck back some oxygen myself. So far no stomach bugs and hopefully it'll stay that way! The Vargas household has welcomed their 2 newest house guests with open arms and we already feel at home. Since Rachael likes to do lists I figured I would do one too.

Things I Love About Bolivia Already:
1. riding the minibuses in the crazy traffic! reminds me fondly of uzbekistan.
2. the geography of La Paz. its an incredible city to look at and i'm sure i'm going to take WAY too many pictures
3. coca tea! sweet nectar of the foreigner.
4. the little bolivian ladies sitting in their traditional dress at their roadside stands
5. the vargas house. its so cute and comfy and relaxing!
6. Rachael!!!!!!!!

I'm sure this list will get longer. We haven't even been to any markets yet!! But today we are going to venture out to the artisan market. Oh the excitement! Well, I think that's about all I got for now. So far the 3 of us has have probably laughed 3 years off of our lives, and we've only been here a day. If Matt's spanish accent is any indication of the things to come than let me tell you, we are going to be YEARS younger.

Adios!

Top Ten Reasons Why I Am Filled With Happiness

10. It may seem shallow, but I got to drink rootbeer today! Sometimes one of the local supermarkets brings it in for a limited time, and Carlos bought some, and it was soooooo gooooooood!

9. Three times in the last week, I have been walking along the streets downtown and randomly run into someone I know. What are the chances? I guess I really live here!

8. After much struggle and despair, I am finally getting the hang of F major on the guitar.

7. I get to have a girls' sleepover tomorrow night!

6. My current side project is that I'm re-doing the songbooks for our worship team. They are currently a dilapidated and torn set of sheets that reside in two broken-down, too-small binders...but by Thursday, they are going to be three large,colour-coded, sleek, gleaming, white, pristine, new binders. I LOVE organizing and refurbishing!

5. I was downtown photocopying the songsheets, and I was getting it done at a place I went to once before. The lady remembered me because the last time I was there, the copy job was rather long, so I had taken a seat and chatted with her for a while. She remembered I was from Canada, that I'm a missionary, that I teach an English class...it was so cool to make a connection like that. She introduced me to her husband today, and they were both asking me about what I like about Bolivia, and they said to come back and say goodbye to them before I leave the country. Awwwwwwwww!

4. I am loving worship practices more and more. They are Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and so much fun!

3. I was introduced to two new girls today, friends of a friend, and we chatted for a few minutes, and then one of them remarked (with great sincerity) that she was very impressed with my Spanish, especially my ACCENT! She went on and on about how good it was! Take that, Alex and Nathan!

2. Katie and Matt arrive in two days.

1. Shirley is home.

Love to all,
Rachael

Update

Hey Everyone!

So, the transit strike is over, thank goodness, although not before it prevented Carlos' mom from coming to La Paz to welcome Shirley home. So inconvenient. Apparently, the government won, they are not going to change the law.

Yes, yes, yes, Shirley is home again!! A delegation of us went up to the airport at 6:30 am to get her, complete with flowers and a reception of music (our good friend Mario serenaded as Shirley walked out of the gate).

As for my police check to verify where I live: well, therein lies the tale! I had to report to the police officer's office at noon on Friday. Being a good Canadian, I was there 15 minutes early, and stood waiting patiently as he finished up some things. I was dressed to impress, wearing my good black fancy shoes that I hate, and some rather dressier clothing than usual. Carlos says it sometimes helps the process along if you dress professionally. If you can believe it, I even wore mascara! So anyways, I stood there waiting, with my patient smile, reading a book (Little Lord Fauntleroy - if you haven't read it, DO SO!!). Eventually my officer seemed ready to go - we were going to head out to the street and get a taxi to take us up here to Llojeta, where my witnesses were assembled.

And then, just as everything was going well, another fellow showed up for HIS house check! Apparently, the officer had been double booked. It seems that every lunch hour, he has to go do these domiciliario checks, and sometimes he forgets that he has already booked one, and books another. I could tell he was wanting to get mine done, seeing as I've been a model of patience through this whole process. But the other fellow was very, very insistent. Finally, the officer proposed a plan: all three of us get in a taxi, go check this man's house, and then the officer and I would make our way up to Llojeta afterwards. Creative, yes. It would throw my time schedule off, but I figured it would still work, so I sweetly acquiesced and we headed out to the street.

On the way to finding a taxi, the second fellow seemed a bit unsure whether his witnesses would be present on time or not. The police officer appeared annoyed. The second fellow ducked into a call center to call his witnesses to make sure that they'd be there, sensing correctly that the police officer was inches away from telling him, "you know what, how about we do yours another day?" While he was calling, the officer started chatting to me about how long I'd been in Bolivia, if I liked it, what I was doing here. You could see the wheels starting to go around in his head when I told him I was a missionary. He looked at me speculatively, and after a pause he said, "you know what? I trust you. How about you just go get your witnesses to sign these papers, and bring them back this afternoon?" I was more than happy to oblige. He hadn't even asked for a bribe! So he showed me where to get the papers signed, and he and the other fellow climbed into a taxi and drove off into the afternoon.

I went home, got the papers signed, went back downtown, found the officer again, handed over the papers, and it's all done! I just need to go back on Wednesday to pick it up. Praise the Lord!

Sorry for the overly long story, but I just thought it was hysterical! And I hope to bake the good man some cookies and take them back next Wednesday.

Love to all,
Rachael

The Bus Strike

Dear Friends and Family,

So, happy March to all of you! I usually have a dim view of the month of March, but this year it is my favourite! Shirley comes home in TWO DAYS, praise the Lord, and Matt and Katie arrive a week later. It's going to be a humdinger of a month!

Today, in the whole country of Bolivia, there is a transit strike. No public buses in cities, or between cities. Things are at a standstill. No school for Jeremy. No tutoring for me. No traveling. The reason: the bus driver unions are upset. There is a new law that was just put into effect, stating that if a driver has any level of alcohol in their blood, there are much more severe consequences than there used to be. Also, the unions are made more responsible for such behavior, and everyone in the union is punished as well. (Or something like that. The finer details sort of escape me).

So, there were rumours of a strike going around last night, and Jeremy was elated because it meant a temporary reprieve from his homework. We got the call from the school around 10:00 pm, so in consequence we all went to bed rather late and got up late, too.

It was supposed to be just a 2-day strike, but after listening to the news, it sounds like it might be indefinite until the striker's issues are dealt with. This is very unfortunate. Prayer would be appreciated.

In other news, I was at the Police station for hours yesterday, waiting in line and getting gratuitously inked for fingerprinting and talking to various people in various capacities. Long, long, long story short: on Friday a policeman will come to our home to make sure I really live here. And then, finally, I can go to Immigration and get my carnet renewed, and all this bureaucratic nightmare will be a thing of the past.

Love to everyone,
Rachael