Say Hello To Bruce

Bruce is the one without the shocked look on his face in case you were confused. Melody has the look on her face because Bruce just squished the grape he was eating on her back. Bruce likes to climb up on people and sit on their shoulders with his tail wrapped around the neck for support. He has an amazingly strong grip with his tail and sometimes he squeezes a little too tight. The kids were all over Bruce and he helped brighten up the afternoon of our arrival since we were all tired and a little sick from the altitude in La Paz.

RAIN!!!!!

I know the picture is a little small, but the internet is spotty and slow here at the moment. What you are looking at is a picture taken from inside the truck we were driving in on the way to the school this morning. What you see looks like a lake because it was raining hard.

In some spots, the water was up to a foot deep, but people are so used to it, they just drive on through.

Trip and Arrival

Definitely one of the longest days of our lives.  We got up at 3:30 in the morning in Saskatoon to get to the airport.  The taxi driver had a "hernia" issue so was unable to help at all with the bags.  Saskatoon went smoothly and the flight to Toronto was fine.  Toronto became another story altogether.

We were scheduled to have a 4 hour wait in Toronto which is fine since we had to grab all our 10 bags and check them through US Customs which took a little while.  By the time we got through, we had about 2.5 hours to wait.  Just before boarding time, we got the news that there was a little problem with the fuel line in the one engine, so they delayed us an hour and moved us to another gate.  Everybody got up and walked across the entire terminal to the other gate, only to arrive in time for them to announce that they were going to fix the first plane, and delay us another hour.  Everybody was very happy of course to hear that news and the whole army of us walked all the way back to the original gate.

Eventually, we boarded the plane about 2.5 hours later than we were supposed to which of course made our time in Miami a lot tighter than it was planned to be.  For those who haven't been to miami airport, flights from Canada are about six million miles away from the gates for South American flights.  It was a good half hour walk to our new gate with all the information and people movers shut down for the night.

We got on the plane finally and made the very uncomfortable to sleep on trip to La Paz, where we quickly figured out what altitude sickness feels like with all three kids getting sick, and the adults not feeling well either.  We also figured out luckily that our bags were scheduled to stop in La Paz and not continue to Santa Cruz.  They apparently always have pursers on the planes to South America and he was very helpful in getting our bags back on the plane to Santa Cruz.

Either way, we all ended up arriving with all our bags intact.

Strange Requests

We are all packed and ready to go now and almost all the little details are out of the way.  Our house sitter came by for a tour to learn all the quirks and more importantly, how to use the entertainment gear.  We have managed to split the weight pretty evenly through the 10 bags and have managed to keep them all a few pounds under the 50lb limit.

We have received some interesting requests from our friends in Bolivia.  Apparently there are some items that they miss and can't get down there.  So, when we hit Saskatoon and head to our hotel, we are going to have to make a Costco run.  The shopping list includes:

• Pancake Mix
• O'Henry Bars
• Cheerios
• Arrowroot Cookies
• Chocolate Chips

This of course has made me wonder what other items that we take for granted will not be available anywhere.  I sure hope they have bacon.

And We Thought the Snow Was Bad

Its the getting towards the end of the rainy season in Bolivia and if you have been following the news from South America lately, you will have noted that both Peru and Bolivia have had serious issues with flooding and mudslides.  Bolivian president Evo Morales has declared a state of emergency due to the massive amounts of rain that has been coming down over the last week.

Santa Cruz has been the heart of the rainfall over the last few days and it has caused a fair amount of problems for the poor sections of town and especially for the homeless people.  They have taken shelter wherever they can that is dry and some have managed to get their hands on tarps one way or another to stay dry.  Here are a couple of pictures from the area.

 

  

 

Shake, Rattle and Roll

With all the news in Haiti regarding earthquakes, I have been monitoring the earthquake activity in Bolivia.  Santa Cruz had not had an earthquake since 2002 that was over 2 on the scale.  Well surprise, surprise, they had a 5.3 earthquake with the epicenter 50 miles from where we will be staying just last week.  No damage was done apparently, but its just one more thing to consider.  Truth be told, it would be interesting to see what an earthquake feels like as long as its not a big one.

Click here for the USGS website regarding the quake.

Freedom

I have been following www.kennethswitzer.com because its the blog of our friend in Bolivia, but also to get a better understanding of what we are going into.  Ken wrote about a fight between two of the boys in the house the other day, and one part really stuck with me.  Its about freedom or perceived freedom.  Here is a little bit:

"Freedom is something that often escapes us. Again, that’s even more true for people coming off the streets. Life on the streets masquerades itself as freedom...no one to tell you what to do...live as you want...do as you want...

The reality is, it’s exactly the opposite of freedom. It’s all about bondage and destruction. Years afterwards, many of the guys here are still trying to come to terms with the consequences of their lives on the streets. To be at peace. To experience freedom."

I think this little bit applies to anybody who either decides to or ends up living on the streets or outside of a good family circle.  That's true about people in Bolivia or anywhere else.

Now go hug your mom and dad.