Why is it so dangerous? The road from La Paz, down to the Yungas (a rainforest area about 3hrs from La Paz) is a winding, dirt, mostly one lane road. It has been the scene of the worst road accidents in Bolivia, the worst being when a truck, carrying 100 people in an open container, fell off the edge, killing everybody on board.  With no guard rails, this road sometimes has sheer cliffs of over 600m off to one side and traffic goes both ways.

The Death Road

However, these days, there is a new, much less dangerous road, with guard rails that people can take and so the death road is left with hardly any traffic and is now mostly used for bike riders like ourselves. The road is 65km long and bike riders start, surrounded by ice-capped mountains, at an altitude of 4600m, descend 3300m over four hours and finish in rainforest at 1300m above sea level.

Tim and Michael ready to go

I am not a hard-core mountain bike rider, so needless to say, I was a little nervous. I also had bad dreams that my friend Claire, after coming all the way to Bolivia to visit, might sail over the edge into oblivion. I had once peer pressured Claire into riding down a steep hill on a small and inadequate bike, only for her to fall off and skin her knees badly. She retains the scar to this day, and this death road adventure had a faintly familiar feel to it. However, there was nothing to fear. The bike ride was amazing. We went with a great company and were equipped with really good gear. We could ride at our own pace and were amazed as we left the ice-capped mountains and headed down into the Amazon basin. After 65km, we finished the road and in a mini-van, headed to an eco-lodge in the jungle to stay for three nights. This was probably the most dangerous part of our journey, riding in a mini-van, on a one lane road, with sheer cliffs off one side and cars coming head on. However, we survived.

Me, cruising the death road

For the next three days we went white-water rafting, zip-lining, hiked to a water fall and relaxed by the pool. It was a truly amazing and very remote place surrounded by rainforest covered mountains. The perfect way to spend a week long holiday from school and to appreciate God’s creation.

A waterfall near our eco-lodge

The best way to enjoy the jungle

We have been teaching

The start of a new semester has brought us new students. We have been enjoying getting to know them and have been able to take Grade 6 and Grade 8 out on a fun bowling and ice-cream excursions. Because our classes are so small, you are really able to get to know your students well. It’s been a real blessing, but has also kept us busy.

Bowling with Grade 6

Day of the Pedestrian

This happens once a year during September. No cars are permitted and everyone has to walk or ride places. It was a beautiful sunny day and markets were set up in the main part of town. Definitely something Sydney should look into.

Day of the Pedestrian

The boys bought a pool

Yes, they did. A reasonable sized one at that. The sun is hot, hot, hot here and they thought it would be a great way to relax as public pools aren’t that common in Bolivia. They got a great bargain at the Cancha and have tried it out several times. The problem is the water is freezing. The photos don’t really capture the shivering.

Chilling in the pool

The boys ate a disgustingly huge pizza.

It’s called the interminable and it is pretty gross. Tim had to turn it sideways to get it through the door and it had 40 slices. I’ll let Tim tell you more about it, if he ever gets to writing his ‘food of the week’ again.

We had a visitor from SIM Australia

In September we had Jenny Fallon, the personnel manager from SIM Australia come and visit us, along with Jill, a supporter of other SIM missionaries in South America. Jill also happened to be an old family friend of my parents. It was so good to hear the Aussie accent again and to be able to show them around Cochabamba. They came to school and baby washing and spoke to the SIM representatives in Bolivia. It was a great couple of days.

Jill, Jenny and I

We went on school camp

This was a great couple of days the last week in September. Tim and I went on the High School camp (Grade7-12) and got to see the kids in a different light and get to know them better. Tim went camping with Grade 7 & 8 and for lots of them, it was the first time they had hiked. The Grade 11 & 12 hike was a little more challenging which involved climbing up waterfalls with full packs on and a rope around our waists. We then had to walk another hour in darkness and set up our shelters. I had 12 girls, a tarp, a saw and some rope and was a little skeptical we’d be able to make anything, but luckily we set up some sort of covering for the night. However, the whole campsite was on a hill, so by morning, all the girls had slid down on top of one another.

Grade 7 & 8 on their hike

We went to the rainforest

About three hours away from Cochabamba is an area called the Chapare, which is a large area of rainforest. We caught public transport down there, which cost about $4 and then spent a couple of days just relaxing. It was so good to get away somewhere green and wet. For Tim, the highlight was the water-slide. We also went rafting down the local river which was fast flowing, but not too dangerous.

Tim loving the slide

We had Canadian Thanksgiving

Our first experience of Thanksgiving was Canadian style. Our friend Julie had 30 people to her place for dinner last week to celebrate the occasion. To our disappointment, not many people seem to like holding hands and saying what they are thankful for. Another Hollywood illusion is dashed.

Thanksgiving at Julie's house

So anyway – I hope this blog makes up for our neglect over the past month. I am very much hoping that the next blog entry will not be so long in coming.

-Liz

As we have blogged before – Tim and I have been blessed to be involved with the baby washing ministry here in Cochabamba, run by one of the school families. I thought I would include some pictures of this ministry here.

Lining up outside the bathing tent

Washing the kids

Handing out new clothes

Kids in some new clothes eating a snack

Some of the baby washing helpers - who also work at school

It is a humbling, but wonderful experience to be able to practically share God’s love with others here in Bolivia. Thanks for those of you who have made it possible

- Liz

Potosi sits at the base of a large mountain, Cerro Rico. Due to all the mining that has occurred on and in the mountain over the past 400 years, it is a mixture of browns, greys, oranges and yellows and it towers above the colonial city settled at its feet.

Cerro Rico, Potosi

The modern day population of Potosi is about 200,000, but at the height of the Spanish Empire, it was one of the largest cities in the world. When the Spanish Conquistadors first arrived in Potosi they found gold and silver in the mountain and it has been mined continually ever since. Originally the Spanish wanted gold, but Cerro Rico turned out to have many more silver deposits – and the Spanish decided to mint their coins, using Potosi silver, in Potosi.

We were able to go on a tour of the Casa de Moneda (house of money) in Potosi, which was the Spanish mint. It is a World Heritage listed site filled with artifacts, famous colonial artworks and other objects of significance from around Bolivia. I was even able to mint my own coin – using the impressive hammer and minting machine you can see below.

Minting a coin at La Casa de Moneda

We also had a really interesting morning visiting a convent built in the 1600s into which the wealthiest Spanish parents would send their daughters at the age of 15, never to see the outside world again. There were no windows facing outwards and girls could only speak to their parents once a month for an hour, through a wooden screen. No physical touch was ever allowed.  The nuns would spend most of their day in silence, but were allowed twice a day, for half an hour, to go to a room in which they were allowed to talk to each other. Tim and I wondered if they would really have much to say…

Inside the convent

However, the place that left the strongest impression on us both was definitely our tour of one of the working mines in Cerro Rico. People had recommended we go in the mines for an ‘unforgettable experience’ and were also told it was very important for understanding Bolivia’s history. This trip however, was definitely not pleasant.

I first became worried about our excursion as I read the Lonely Planet, which dedicates a whole page of their ‘South America on a shoe-string’ edition to warning people of the dangers of going into the mines in Potosi. Noxious gasses, runaway mining carts, cave-ins and explosions were all mentioned in this warning…which made me slightly worried, but made Tim want to go even more. So Tim, Trish and I booked with Koala tours (founded by Australians) comforted by the fact that no one had died on one of their tours…yet. Peter, maybe not unwisely, settled in for a good morning of the British Open Golf on ESPN.

The first part of the tour was great. We bought sticks of dynamite and coca to give to the miners and went to a silver processing plant. We dressed up in miners gear and then headed for the mines.

Us in our mining get-up

Tim with a stick of dynamite

For those of you who know me, you might remember me going on caving camps during my school days, and would know that I am used to crawling through dirty little holes, far, far underground. What I wasn’t prepared for in the mines was the heat and the fumes. The tour underground went for one and a half hours. We saw the statue of ‘Tio’ or, the god of the underworld (the devil), which the miners leave offerings to on their way into the mines in exchange for protection. We also met a 15 yr old boy, who had been working in the mines for 3 years already. His job was to chip away, making holes for sticks of dynamite, by himself for about 10 hrs a day. His salary, on average, is $120 a month. Boys like him usually work if they have no father to provide for their family. Most miners die within 10-15 years of starting work in the mines, due to the fumes to which they are constantly exposed. Many live their lives only seeing a couple of hours of sunlight a day.

Inside a chamber in the mines

Sometimes we would be walking down a tunnel, when we would hear the rumble of a mining cart, heading towards us down the slim passageway. We had been warned about these and told they could not be stopped. We had to run to the edges and press our bodies against the sides of the walls to avoid being crushed by the oncoming cart filled with rubble. One barely missed Tim’s foot. We crawled, coughed, breathed in dust and fumes and were very ready to get out of that mine by the end of the tour.

A miner at work

The amazing reality is that 8 million people have died in the mines of Cerro Rico since the Spanish started mining about 400 years ago. Locals were forced into slavery in the mines and the Spanish supplemented this labour with African slaves brought to Bolivia for the sole purpose of digging out more silver. Millions of slaves died in the process. To go into Cerro Ricco is to go to a place which plays a key role in the history and mind-set of this country. Some people in the government are moving to close the mines, as the mountain becomes less and less stable – yet many people in Bolivia do not want to lose this working part of Bolivia’s history. Would I do the tour again? No. But it was definitely one of the most memorable days on our travels.

Liz



Now we know it has been an extremely long time since our last post, so to all our regular readers we do apologise and will get back into a regular posting routine from now on. Tim and I start school tomorrow, with a slightly different allocation to what we thought. Tim will teach Grade 6 part time and Grade 7 and 8 Socials, while I am teaching Grade 7 and 8 English and Grade 11 and 12 Socials – we’re looking forward to meeting our new students.

We are back into baby washing and have been kept busy buying the clothes, through people giving us donations. We are also happy to have our friend Michael, from university days, with us here in Bolivia for four months filling in as our school P.E teacher. Michael just finished PE teaching in July and had some spare time, so decided to come on over! It’s been great having another Aussie around.

During July, we had another lot of travels – so instead of filling in all the details, I thought I’d show our travels through pictures. We started in Cochabamba with Tim’s parents and had a four day trip through the South- Western circuit of Bolivia. We drove 900kms through desert and amazing landscapes.

Wild vicunas walking by a lake in the desert

We then headed to Potosi for an eye-opening trip to the mines, where we met 15yr olds working in appalling conditions, with toxic gasses for up to 10 hrs a day for a total of $120 a month. We will write a separate blog about this.

To Sucre, a night in Santa Cruz and then it was off to Argentina to Buenos Aires – a city of 15 million people with beautiful architecture, great coffee shops and a world famous soccer stadium.

The Congressional Building in B.A

La Boca

At La Bombonera - the home of La Boca Juniors

We also had three nights in Iguazu – a 2 hr flight from B.A – to see some of the most amazing falls in the world.

We had an absolutely amazing trip and it was great to be able to do it with Tim’s parents and to utilise our Spanish – we think it helped having to use it so much!

Anyway – it is back to life in Cochabamba, but we are in for a different semester with lots of new teachers, classes and maybe new ministries. More updates and ‘Food of the week’ will be coming shortly.

- Liz

Peru – Cuzco & Puno

Tim and I flew to La Paz on the 3rd June and the next morning caught a 13hr express bus to Cuzco (future travelling tip, try not to get the seat in front of the toilet in a bus where the windows don’t open). Cuzco is a beautiful city in Peru with many buildings built by the Spanish on Incan ruins. We visited lots of beautiful Incan sites in the Sacred Valley and Tim got his first taste of Cuy (Guinea Pig), which I am sure he will write about later.

Incan walls in Cuzco

Anyway, the main reason that people visit Cuzco is of course to visit Machu Picchu. We had decided to do the 45km hike along the Inca Trail over four days. This takes you along original Incan Paths to the beautifully preserved Incan city. The walk was hard work. One day we ascended over 1400m to an altitude of 4200m – but the scenery was stunning. We only had to carry our sleeping gear and clothes and a team of porters carried our tents and food. After a hard day hiking, we arrived at our site to our tents set up and a hot four course meal!

Setting off on the hike

Our hiking group on the last day - lots of porters!

An Incan site along the trail

On the fourth day, we got up at 3:20am to be the first people to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu…of course it was cloudy, but as the mist cleared throughout the day, we could see why this site is one of the wonders of the world.

Our first views of Machu Picchu...

A better view of Machu Picchu

After our big hike, we met up with my parents and headed to Puno – a town on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. The main attraction here is the floating islands, which are man made reed island on which communities still live. However, my Dad was more excited by the old ship that is floating on the Lake that was built by the British, taken apart, carried over the Andes on donkeys and re-assembled in the 1800s.

On Lake Titicaca

My Dad and the Yavari

Bolivia – Copacabana, Isla del Sol, La Paz, Cochabamba, Sucre

After Puno, we crossed the border into Bolivia to stay at the lakeside town of Copacabana – we all agreed, Copacabana, was the nicer part of the lake. After some relaxing days and good food (such as llama steaks and lots of trout) – we headed off on a ferry for a night on Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). This is possibly Bolivia’s most beautiful spot. The island itself is around 8km long and has stunning views of the lake with Ice-capped mountains beyond. Tim and I walked from the North to the South of the Island, while my parents walked to our hotel from the South. Our accommodation was basic, but the views…well have a look.

Copacabana

On the balcony of our hotel

The mountains around Lake Titicaca

La Paz followed, where we stayed in a very funky apartment and visited Tiahuanacu – the most important archaeological site in Bolivia. We had a 7pm flight from La Paz to Cochabamba – which when we arrived at the airport had been delayed until 12:30am in the morning…we were not a happy crew and went and stayed in a nearby hotel for a couple of hours to rest. This hotel had a disco on the second floor, so it wasn’t a restful stay.

Tiahaunacu

We eventually made it to Coch and had a great couple of days showing my Mum and Dad our church, school and taking them shopping and site-seeing.

Mum and Dad at the Christo in Cochabamba

Our last stop was Sucre, which had experienced some riots in the proceeding days. However, when we arrived things were peaceful (though we could see lots of broken windows around the main square). Sucre is a small and beautiful city and it was a great place to finish off our travels with my Mum and Dad.

Mum and I in Sucre

Tomorrow Tim and I head off to Spiritual life conference with the other SIM missionaries in Bolivia and after that Tim’s Mum and Dad arrive for more travels around Bolivia and Argentina…so stay tuned!

I must first give some context. The Bolivian professional league’s season is split into 2 halves. Currently both Cochabamba teams are taking part in the final series of the season’s first half. The winner of this series has the honour of taking part in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s premier club competition, where the best teams from all over the continent compete against one another. My adopted team, Wilstermann, is currently leading the final series and on Thursday night played La Paz’s Bolivar, who are traditionally Bolivia’s strongest team. Needless to say, this was a very big game.

We live just a stone’s throw from the stadium, so a few hours before the game I went and found a scalper who was able to sell me a couple of tickets (for twice the face value). I could see that people were already lining up to get into the stadium and claim the best seats, confirming my suspicions that this game was set to be something special. I waited for a few friends to meet me at our place before heading over to the stadium half an hour before kick-off. By this point the entire block had been cordoned off by hundreds of police and the atmosphere was filled with excitement and anticipation.

Good guys in red

We joined a quickly growing queue, which we soon discovered was not moving at all. After some investigation, we learnt that the police had inexplicably closed and locked the gates. I assumed that they knew what they were doing and must have decided to let people enter in waves. Understandably, as the minutes ticked by, the hundreds of ticket holders who were being denied entry became angrier and angrier. Eventually 8pm (kick-off time) came. Fireworks were being let off both inside the stadium and out on the street by the mob, which was now seething. Suddenly my friend Patto received a phone call and before I had a chance to ask questions we were sprinting to another entry point of the stadium. As we got there, we could see that the police were letting a few people through the gate. Soon other people realised what was happening and an uncontrollable mass gathered. I was just a couple of metres from the gate, when it was closed again as the police tried to re-establish order. They demanded that we form one line before they would let us enter. I assumed that it would be impossible to turn this huge group of people into anything resembling a line, but was soon proved wrong as 10 or more police accompanied by angry German Shepherds arrived at the scene. They let their four-legged assistants jump and bite at those on the edge of the crowd while yelling threats and holding their cans of pepper spray at the ready.

I don’t know exactly what transpired in the next few seconds, but I somehow found myself intact on the right side of the gate. Amazingly, I was soon joined by 2 of my 3 companions. We were ushered through another gate and found ourselves at ground level in front of one of the grandstands with only a 3m high wire fence between us and the field. We were clearly in an area that was not designed for spectators, but nonetheless had one of the best views in the house (albeit without a seat and pressed up against a fence). The stadium was packed to bursting point which begged the question, why were there so many people with tickets outside the stadium?

The game itself was an exciting one, with red cards, penalties and a backdrop of constant fireworks and impassioned fans. Opposition corner kicks were a sight to behold as riot police made a wall of shields around the unlucky player taking the kick, while bottles and other missiles rained down on them from the crowd. After all was said and done, Wilstermann prevailed as 2-0 winners, meaning 95% of the crowd left thoroughly satisfied. The only Wilster fans who weren’t satisfied were those who never made it into the stadium, including the fourth member of our group.

This was the kind of night that reminds me I’m a long way from home. It is not one I’ll forget soon.

In other football news, last weekend I had the privilege of taking a group of local teenagers to a match involving Cochabamba’s other team. Each of them had previously worked at our local market, pushing wheelbarrows full of food to customers’ cars. Some years ago, a now-retired missionary couple took these boys under their wings; cooking them meals, buying supplies for their families and mentoring them. Even now, this couple sends them money for day to day needs such as food and education. These 8 or 9 boys were introduced to my friend Chris (Carachipampa’s PE teacher) who introduced them to me. We heard they were big football fans and had recently pooled some of their money to buy a radio to listen to games together. Chris and I thought they would enjoy going to see a game at the stadium (which most of them had never done) so invited them to come along with us. They seemed to have a great time and were extremely polite and grateful. All of them seem to be exemplary young men and are working hard to gain an education at high school or tertiary institutions. It was a huge encouragement for both Chris and me to see the way God has worked in these young lives.

Tim

Now for those of you who know a little about me, you would know I am not an extreme chocoholic like some of my close friends, but instead am a particular fan of unhealthy savoury snacks, particularly of the fake cheese variety. I have been known to eat a 200gm box of cheezels in less than 15mins without really noticing and I can pretty much inhale a packet of twisties.

With this in mind I went to the tienda this afternoon to find an end of the week snack that I thought I really deserved after teaching the last two lessons on a Friday afternoon. Looking through the window I saw a packet of ‘Chizitos’ which bore the encouraging slogan of ‘de puro queso’ (of pure cheese) and looked like cheesy cylinders. That was enough to get me interested and I forked over the 1Boliviano, thinking how good and economical I was.

The Culprit

Imagine my disappointment when I opened the packet and could not smell the beautiful aroma of fake cheese flavouring. Cautiously putting a chizitos in my mouth I was discouraged to find that instead of tasting like cheezels it instead tasted like a miniature toilet roll and took on the consistency of wet cardboard when chewed a few times. Thinking it may have just been a randomly flavourless chizitos, I tried another and another, occasionally tasting a speck of cheesiness. So here I am, feeling like I have eaten a whole sheet of cardboard, as hungry, but slightly more sick than when I started eating.

The Verdict – Although an infant just starting on solids may appreciate the taste of cardboard, this product has only confirmed the fact that fake cheese snacks are not a Bolivian strength.

1/10

- Liz

As the teachers try to get reports done, the kids are very well aware there are only two weeks to go. For students in Year 12, this is significant as most of them will not only be leaving school, but leaving to country to return to the US or Canada to start at college in August. This can be hard for missionary families. While some return with their kids on home assignment for a couple of months or a year, other families really have to say goodbye, maybe for a few years.

Tim and I have continued to work hard at our Spanish and can now entertain Bolivian friends at our apartment (as long as they are patient people) and talk in halting Spanish. One of our new and very helpful friends is Pato (in Spanish it makes Duck and we are well aware that the Donalds and Pato make a funny combination) who spends a lot of time ministering to Bolivian youth and attends church with us. Please continue to pray for us, particularly over the break as we will not be receiving Spanish lessons so regularly.

Pato y Tim

As we approach the five month mark, we are amazed at how quickly our time has gone here in Bolivia. While we do miss a few things like friends, family, sweet chilli sauce and good tea, we are grateful for the time we have here.

- Liz

Doing what I do

I’m not sure where the truth really lies, and I’m not sure I really care. One thing I am sure of is that I will continue to take full advantage of the favourable situation I’ve found myself in.

Now, back to the matter at hand…

Cuñapés

If saltenas are to Bolivian snack foods what Brazil is to world football, cuñapés must be at least an Italy or Argentina. In other words, cuñapés are truly in the upper echelon of snacks. These doughy balls of goodness are essentially what you might call a cheese bun. They are made from yuca or maize flour, with cheese baked through them. Best served warm, a good cunape has a moist, chewy centre.

Cuñapés

Cuñapés are sometimes on offer during recess at the school cafeteria, but for me, they are the ideal afternoon hunger buster.

Verdict: 9/10 – For 30c a pop, I can think of few better ways to satisfy pre-dinner cravings.