Photos of our new apartment!

The first month we were here, we stayed at a temporary apartment. However about six weeks ago we moved into our permanent residence. The first few weeks were pretty rough—the hot water and oven weren't working, and we didn't have any furniture. Since it was during the holidays it was impossible to get any handymen over to fix the issues, and most of the furniture stores closed up for a few weeks.

Thankfully that's all behind us now. We've been able to get the water and oven working, and have bought a few things for the apartment (no more sitting on the ground). It's not 100% done, there are a few things we still want to do. Over the next few weeks we plan on doing some painting and getting a few more things for the apartment. For now, take a virtual tour of our place! (click the images to enlarge...)

Our living room—couldn't find a good place to hang the hammock so now it's "art"

We're 1,000 miles from the nearest ocean but decided on a beach theme anyway—we can dream, right?

Here's the dining room—say hi to Miles!

The dining room table is doubling as my recording studio... Until I get a proper desk

Here's our small terrace—the rustic wooden ladder is for the maintenance guy to reach the water tanks on the roof... But it looks cool too!

The view from our small terrace—this is where we have breakfast and afternoon cocktails ;-)

Miles is getting adventurous and wonders what is beyond that wall...

Our large terrace, and master bedroom window—this is where the grilling happens!

The view from our large terrace

Looking out from our large terrace across to the small terrace...

The kitchen

Our outside hallway—this connects the main part of the house with the separate master bedroom

Our master bedroom—not much furniture yet, still working on that

Video: Interview with artisanal weaver in Iscayachi

On our day trip to Iscayachi (population ~3,000), we visited this lady, who makes artisanal ponchos, blankets, and shawls on an old-fashioned loom. She takes wool from sheep and llamas, applies dyes made from flowers, insects, and other organic material, then weaves the wool into amazing pieces of art.

Video: Iscayachi, Lake Taxara, and pink flamingos

Preaching trip to Iscayachi—population unknown

Our congregation in Tarija has been assigned to work Iscayachi, a very remote town on the edge of the Bolivian altiplano. It’s about 90 minutes from Tarija by car, and sits at around 11,000 feet above sea level. Some friends of ours were headed up for the day (they study the Bible with people in Iscayachi), so we decided to go along for the ride. 

We met on a Sunday morning around 6:00am. The sun had just come up but it was still quite chilly. Also joining the group was a family from Sweden who are visiting Tarija for a few weeks. They are learning Spanish (like me), but speak excellent English.

Packed up and ready to leave by 6:30am

With such a large group, there wasn’t room in the cab for everyone—so the Swedish guys and me had to jump in the pickup cab. It wasn’t too bad at first, but as we ascended in elevation and started to reach the cloud line, it got really cold. Thankfully, Never—a Boliviano from our congregation, and yes that’s how he spells his name—brought an extra down jacket so I kept warm.

Elevation: 11,500 feet

As we drove up the mountains to Iscayachi, the scenery was full of trees, plants, and rocky hills. At the top of the mountain, we drove through a long tunnel, probably a mile long right through the mountain. When we came out on the other side, the scenery had changed dramatically. It was like night and day. From the lush, green hills of Tarija we had arrived at the dry, arid, harsh landscape of the Bolivian altiplano. Imagine being in Glendale, driving 2 minutes through a long tunnel, and bam!—you’re in the desert of Palmdale and Lancaster. What a change!

It took another 20 minutes or so to reach the heart of Iscayachi. Along the way we passed herds of llamas, sheep, and lots of dry brush and cactus. On the farms, not everyone can read, so teaching them about the Bible requires a bit of patience and determination. But they are very peaceful, humble people and are very receptive to our message. Nearly everyone will stop and listen—they have great respect for the Bible and seemed very interested in having us return.

Iscayachi—population unknown (but probably 3000-5000)

Herds of llamas inhabit the altiplano...

...some will be wool soon.

House to house in Iscayachi

After a morning of walking from house to house, we hopped in the truck and headed to Laguna Taxara. The descriptions we heard made it sound like a mythical place where the sun rarely shines and flocks of pink flamingos live shrouded in the dense fog of the altiplano. Those descriptions turned out to be quite true!

Lake Taxara—complete with pink flamingos

After having lunch near the lake it was siesta time so we dozed off for a while...

Some people get severe altitude sickness when visiting Iscayachi. But despite being at 11,000 feet above sea level, we didn’t feel any adverse effects other than being a little out of breath after walking up steep roads. That’s probably because we had taken soroche pills in the morning. They are available at every Bolivian pharmacy and help with altitude sickness. Plus we were drinking fresh-brewed coca tea all morning, which is also supposed to help you adjust to the elevation.

The views of Tarija on the way back were incredible

It was a great day—I have a feeling we will be going back soon.

Video: Harrowing footage of the bus trip back from Santa Cruz

The trip back from Santa Cruz to Tarija wasn’t nearly as eventful. Except this time, we had front row seats and shot some great video of the road. Check out the video below. At the end you can see roadside alters that have been constructed where less fortunate souls have gone off the side of the cliff. 

Video: Our first bus trip

Here's some scenes from our first Bolivian bus trip, from Tarija to Santa Cruz. As the road gets worse and worse, we get progressively more worried. Click the expand button to watch a larger version.

Sixteen hours on a Bolivian bus—Part 1

Before we moved down here, we spent a lot of time working on our visa paperwork. We went to the Bolivian consulate in LA several times, filled out forms in triplicate and quadruplicate, and brought—what we thought—was everything we needed.

It turns out there was something missing (ain’t that always the case). We had to get a special stamp on our marriage certificate, and the only place to get that was Santa Cruz.

So our options were, spend $300 on place tickets to Santa Cruz (45 min each way), or spend $55 and travel by bus (which takes 16 hours each way). We had heard from friends that the bus trip was “an interesting experience that you have to try once”, so we decided to go that route.

In theory, it seemed pretty cool. Instead of traveling to/from the airport, hassling with security, filling out paperwork, and all that, you just show up at the bus station 5 minutes before takeoff, ride the bus all night, and wake up in Santa Cruz in the middle of town. Not too bad. The catch is, there’s NO PROPER ROAD from Tarija to Santa Cruz, which means the bus takes a route through the mountains that’s basically a dirt path just wide enough for one vehicle.

Rocky mountain / sheer cliff

So the bus left Tarija at 5:30pm, and immediately the scenery was amazing. We passed tiny adobe houses, dramatic canyons, and little pueblos where life hasn’t changed much in 300 years. After about an hour though, Samantha started feeling sick. We were riding in the middle of the bus, and the bumpy road and sharp turns made her feel queasy. I gave her the aisle seat and took the window seat—which of course then made me feel sick. But we stopped at a small town and bought some lime soda and crackers, which made us feel better.

After about 3 hours on the bus the road got really bad. In most places it was only one lane, completely unpaved, and hugged the side of a cliff. Imagine riding in a huge double-decker charter bus: you’re probably 18 feet above the ground, the bus is flying down a mountain road at 40 MPH—one side is the mountain, and the other side is a sheer cliff that drops off into utter darkness. Scary indeed. And it just went on, and on, and on—all night long. In order to make the sharp turns, the bus driver had to swing the bus to the bleeding edge of the cliff. There were times that only three tires were on the road.

An unexpected obstacle

About 1:30am the bus stopped in the road. I was half-asleep and got up to see what was going on. Ahead of us in the road, a semi truck carrying produce had flipped over! He must have been going too fast, took a sharp turn, and rolled onto his side. The potato sacks (or whatever they were), tumbled down the mountain cliff never to be seen again. The driver was ok, but the truck itself was blocking the road, and traffic was starting to back up. The small cars were able to pass him—but would our huge bus make it?...

At this point I started to get worried. It was a one-way road, we were eight hours in, and there was no place for our bus driver to turn around. He needed to get around this truck—even if it meant doing something really stupid.

So our coca-leaf-chewing driver started to maneuver our 50-foot long bus but it was really difficult—the semi had overturned at the bottom of a hairpin turn. On one side was the mountain, and the other side was the cliff. Our driver tried to get around but started to scrape the side of the overturned truck and stopped cold. At this point every Bolivian male over the age of 17 was outside the bus debating over what to do. Finally someone had a good idea—since we were trying to get around the overturned truck, and it’s wheels were facing us, taking the air out of the overturned truck’s tires might give us just the few inches we need to get around. Amazingly, it worked! They took air out of the semi’s tires, and that gave us enough room to squeeze around without flipping over too. Hurray!

So we started off back on the road to Santa Cruz…

Almost marooned

Around 8 in the morning, we stopped for gas and people got off to use the bathroom. Of course the men had been going all night, every time we stopped at a village or town to pick up passengers. But this was the first chance the ladies had to use the facilities. Samantha needed to go, but I was a little nervous about her leaving the bus—so I slipped her a cell phone and 100 bolivianos before she jumped off. The bus is just sitting there, Sam is next in line for the bathroom, when all of the sudden—the BUS TAKES OFF!!! I roll down the window and yell, “Samantha, RUN!!!” She bolts after the bus, toilet paper in hand, and catches up just before we get on the highway. She was the next person in line—another 30 seconds and she would have been in the bathroom when we took off.

Arriving in Santa Cruz

So after 16 hours on the road, a perilous adventure with an overturned semi, and Sam almost getting marooned, we arrived in Santa Cruz—exhausted. We got what we needed at the immigration office, and spent the rest of the time shopping and visiting with friends we hadn’t seen in a while.

The next episode

So after an adventure like that, you’d figure we would have enough of the bus and just fly next time we need to visit Santa Cruz. Well, we would have our chance soon enough—not long after we got back we found out there was MORE paperwork missing, and we had to return to Santa Cruz, again. Would we learn from our lesson and take a flight? Or would we be gluttons for punishment and brave the bus again?

Stay tuned to find out…