I figured that I owed you all some pictures!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Brasil!
Tuesday Jan. 22 and Wednesday Jan. 23, 2013
Today was an extremely long day. Today was the day that Eric, Ali, and I would venture into the unknown parts of Bolivia/Brasil that we didn't know anything about. We were up until about midnight last night making cinnamon rolls and kinoa bread for our travel, and packing up our gear. This morning our plan was to wake up at 7:00, and be on the road waiting for a taxi at 7:30 because we were told that our bus will be in town at 9:30. But even when we are dealing with just gringo's we STILL can't do anything on time in Bolivia.
While waiting for a taxi, nothing was coming. Time was getting shorter and shorter. So I decided to run back in and ask Juan if he could drive us in the truck. But what do you know, the moment I went to look for him, a slew of taxi's and what was presumed to be our floata, passed by. Once I told Juan that we thought our floata just went by, he rushed and we all piled in the truck and started into town. We were a little nervous that we wern't going to make our bus because on the way into town, we got stopped by road construction.
As we pulled into the bus station, we saw a floata sill there so we were relieved. But after we went in to buy our tickets, they told us that our floata still had not arrived. They expected it to arrive in 2 or 3 hours. So Eric took a moto into town and picked up some laundry and got us some bread from the French Bakery. So yum!
We were told that we could not buy our ticket until the day of the trip. So we were hoping that we were there early enough to get the seats in the very front of the bus where you are sitting behind a big window that lets you see everything out front. However, as it turns out, they had no idea when we asked them that. So on the day of, all the front seats were filled up which wasn't too bad because we got the row in the very back of the bus that was 5 seats wide.
Upon boarding, we had all 5 seats to ourselves. But that only lasted for about an hour and a half until we got to Reyes where we picked up more passengers. Once that happened, things got a little more snug. I had the window seat, Eric was beside me, and Ali had the middle seat with all the leg room.
The bus really wasn't that bad. The leg room wasn't too shabby and the windows opened. It was however quite dirty and the air conditioning didn't work. But we did have a sweet old man sitting in the row in front of us whom we talked to for awhile later on.
Although this bus ride was one of the longest bus rides I have been on, it was not short of amusement, laughs, or pain. A lot of our amusement came from us laughing at each other and just being goofy. We were taking pictures with dumb poses and jamming to some music and just being typical goobers. We watched a movie and pigged out on some snacks that we purchased for this trip along with snacks I recieved from my brother robert and his wonderful wife Shellie. Another thing to add to our amusement was the fact that every time the bus nailed a ditch in the road, Ali went flying in the air above everyone in the bus. She was like a rag doll. Extremely amusing.
The most "exciting" part of the journey for me was probably the "attack". Once nightfall had come, all of us went to sleep. Keep in mind, sleeping on a bus that has never seen paved roads is a bit challenging. It was almost impossible to fall asleep. But shortly after I did, I was abruptly awakened to a punch in my face! I jumped with an alarmed reaction ready to fight back. But when I came to, I saw nothing out of the ordinary except for Ali and Eric laughing their heads off. Once I knew that I was being attacked by a deranged bolivian physco, the pain of what happened hit me. It did not feel good at all and I couldn't figure out why Eric had just punched me in the face. As it turns out, Ali (who was now sitting next to me) had tried to reach over me and close the window because she was getting cold. But the window was jammed, so Eric tried to reach over with his 12 foot long arms and force it shut, but his arm slipped off the handle and all the force that he was using went directly into my face. Very funny now, but it did not feel good at the time.
Another thing of note for out journey was that the road we were traveling on was completely and utterly beautiful! Sure it wasn't the smoothest at all times, but it was absolutely gorgeous. So much nature and scenery. There were no other buildings, no cars, just trees, grass, water, and animals. We saw tons of crocodiles and saboo. It made me feel like we were driving through the Serenghetti in Africa. It was breath taking.
After 19.5 hours, we finally arrived in Guayaramerin Bolivia at 6:00 am. We didn't know the first thing about this place. No idea about any hotels or attractions or food. We simply showed up. But thats the best way to do things by far. It forces you to explore everything and find all the best places. So we went out in search of a hotel. But as it turns out, everything is very far away from the bus station. Not knowing that, we just started walking. Having no idea if we were heading in the right direction or not, we just kept walking. Eventually we saw a gas station and asked the guy if there were any hotels nearby and if we were walking in the right direction. He told us that we were and that we just needed to go about another 8 blocks or so. After doing so, then began the search for a hotel that had free wifi. After awhile of searching, we found what turns out to be the nicest hotel in all of Guayaramerin. It is about $14 per night which is quite pricey on Eric and I's budget, but we needed the internet and were ok splurging a little bit. Plus, this hotel has a pool, air conditioning, and a refrigerator in the rooms. Not too bad.
After settling into the room, we instantly took some showers, and crawled into out beds. We were so tired and filthy. But that was all changing right now.
After recharging our batteries for a little bit, we started the exploration process. We saw a couple small plaza's and several little restaurants. This was also the first time that we started seeing stores accept Real which is the currency of Brasil. We also started getting our first taste of portugese. There is a strong influence of Brasilian culture in this town because from the river that the town in on, you can almost throw a rock to the other side. All the excitement is building up in all of us to go over to Brasil, especially in Eric. He was the one that came up with this plan just so that he could say he has been to Brasil.
Not wanting to wait any longer, we went to the docks where they take people over. We were told that it was going to be super easy. We didn't need any documents or passports. This was very good because Eric and I's passports are still in Santa Cruz being processed. However, once we got to the docks, they told us that it was impossible for us to cross over. They told us that it isn't a problem for us to get over, but that it's impossible to come back to Bolivia without a passport. We couldn't believe it! We knew something had to be wrong. So we went straight to the immigration office several blocks away and talked with a very grumpy and rude man. He was telling us that we needed a passport or proof that we were applying for residency visa's in order to cross over. He asked us why we thought that just because we were in Bolivia, that rules didn't apply anymore. We had no idea why he said that, but we left unsatisfied.
After we left the office, we called Joy to see if she could get in contact with Victor, the man in Santa Cruz with our passports. We wanted to see if he could email us a document that said our visa's were being processed. She said that she would get back to us in a few hours and let us know what she found out. While we waited, we walked around town, looked around in several shops and bought a couple things. Then we went back to the hotel to get online which is kind of a joke in itself because the internet is completely rubbish. It is the slowest internet we have had since getting to Bolivia. But internet is internet right? We were still quite exhausted from all of our travels so we were ok resting. We didn't end up hearing back from Joy for awhile so we went back out to explore and to eat. We found this Brasilian restaurant and figured that if we couldn't go into Brasil, we were going to at least eat Brasilian food. It was quite the tasty meal actually. It was a buffet that was surprisingly very good and cheap.
Later that evening, we came back to the hotel, relaxed with our AC, and swam in the pool. We were simply ready to crash. So we ended up putting on a movie and going to sleep.
Thursday Jan. 24, 2013
This morning we woke up, caught our breakfast at the hotel which consisted of bread, and fruit. By now, Eric, Ali, and I cannot even stomach bread anymore. We have been eating so much of it that it has become distasteful. So we have been supplementing our diet with sugar. It really is pretty yuck how much sugar we have consumed. Between ice cream, oreo's, chocolates, soda, and other highly sugarfied goods, we have all but become walking sugar cane plants. But anyway, for breakfast, I was able to get a slice of bread and a rotten apple.
After breakfast, we all wanted to catch a taxi to the bus station to see if we could reserve good seats for us for our trip back. But the seats we wanted have been sold out for awhile, and our second choice is always open. So we decided not to buy them and wait until the day before.
After leaving the bus station, we decided that we wanted to see if we could get a ride to the other GMI school nearby. We had heard that is was a little ways away from the town, but had no idea where. We asked our taxi driver if he knew where it was and how far away it was. And as soon as we said Adventista, he said he knew where it was and that it was only 3 minutes away. But we had heard that it was at least 30 minutes outside of town so we just figured he was gunna take us to some random school. But we decided to go anyway. Nothing else for us to do in this tiny town right?
So he took us around the corner and what do you know? He pulled up to an Adventist school! It wasn't the one that we wanted, but it's a 300+ student Adventist School that we had never heard of! We got out, introduced ourselves, and told them that we were actually looking for the other school, but that we would love to look around. After looking around, they wanted us to meet the pastor there. So we went across the street and were greeted by a very happy, nice man. They were so happy that we stopped by and wanted us to stay for as long as we wanted. His wife then brought out some Guava to give to us, then a special drink that she had made that was basically fresh guava juice mixed with cinnamon. Gotta love fellow Adventists! They even had a pet bird that would sit on your should and walk around on your body. At one point, I think it started trying to eat bugs out of my hair! haha
After we left the pastors house we were still a little discouraged about not being able to go to Brasil, so we were not exactly sure what to do for the rest of our time in town. So we decided to just go near the docks and look around in some of the shops. Eric has had this obsession with Guarana which is a big Brasilian drink that is hard to find in Rurre. Anyway, there is tons around here with tons of different kinds. So he has gotten this goal in his mind that he wants to try every single differnt make of Guarana that he can find. He ended up spotting a new kind, so we went over to the store so he could buy it. But while he was getting it, I struck up a conversation with the store owner and told her why we were here and that we were a little upset that we weren't allowed to go into Brasil without our passports. Then she told me that we can definitely go over without any problems. This instantly got us super excited. We went directly to the docks to see if what she was saying was true.
As soon as we got there, they said it wasn't a problem if we wanted to go over for a few hours and come back. We were so excited that we just jumped on the boat without thinking. We didn't change any money over, we didn't have anything special packed. We simply went over while they said it was ok.
We made it!!! We got into Brasil. Eric could not have been happier. There wasn't too much to do once we got there though because it was siesta time when EVERYTHING is closed. We mostly just wondered around and took some pictures and tried to communicate with the locals. It is amazing how different the cultures are by simply crossing a small river. The hardest part by far is that it is crazy hard to communicate once again. I don't care what people say, spanish and portugese are different. Extremely different.
Once we felt that we had kind of seen everything, we decided to go back to make sure we wern't going to run into any problems getting back. We had absolutely no problems. It was incredibly easy.
After getting back onto our native soil of Bolivia, we were quite tired so we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit before we went to get dinner. We were extremely excited for dinner because we met this Italian guy who owns 2 restaurants in town. One of which is brasilian food and the other is Italian food but is only open for dinner. All of us were craving legitimate italian food and were ready for some sustenance in our bodies.
The food at this place was absolutely fantastic! SO GOOD! we all had pasta and fresh squeezed lemonade. We also ordered brushetta with balsalmic vinegerette dressing. Everything was fresh, cheap, and delicious!
Friday Jan. 25, 2013
This morning, we woke up early and needed to purchase our bus tickets back to Rurre. We are out of money and out of time to keep exploring. Only having one more day and night awy, we wanted to spend it in Brasil. So as soon as we purchased our tickets home, we went directly to the docks. We did a little changing of money into Real which is the currency of Brasil, then we were off.
Upon arriving on the other side, we went directly to a hotel that we had found yesterday and then looked up online called Hotel Little Star. It's a nice little hotel that was able to offer us a ton faster internet than we were getting at the other hotel in Bolivia. This was one of the biggest selling points for us. After spending a few minutes speaking spanish to a lady that speaks portugese, we were able to get a room on the second floor. But as soon as we walked into the room, we lost the wifi connection, and there were no windows at all. It simply wasn't going to work. So I went downstairs to talk to them and ask if we could switch into a room downstairs near the router. They had no problem with it at all.
After checking our mail, we went explorin! The first place we actually went to was a grocery store to get a few fruit snacks to tide us over. But while there, I spotted some Ramen noodles. Needless to say, I went to give them a closer look and saw the weirdest thing. They had pizza flavored, bean flavored, mexican flavored, and tomatato flavored Ramen! Now I am a college student and having lived in a dorm situation for 6 years, should be a professional on every single thing there is to know about ramen. But Brasil just blew my mind and opened my eyes into a whole other country in the world of Ramen!
Anyways, after I bought several packs of Ramen to take back with me, we all snacked on a little fruit before we started walking around town. We started looking for some shops to kill some time and to see if there were any good deals on Brazilian goods (even though our money seems to be disappearing faster than a candy around a little kid). We actually ended up finding a clothing store where everything is 10 reai (which is about $5). While there, I was able to find 2 pretty cool soccer jersey's that I got. After that, we continued to meander down the streets and eventually made our way to the Catholic cathedral that stuck out in the center of town. When we got there, there was no one in there except a receptionist. So we asked if we could walk around and take some pictures, which they had no problem with at all.
Continuing our journey, we stumbled upon a bakery that had tons of things to eat. It was probably one of the more fancy places that we have seen so far. It was also a jackpot for Eric because they had about 6 or 7 different makes of Guarana to which he bought most! We were mostly wanting to just keep tiding us over cheaply until dinner time. Yesterday, we saw a pizza joint that looked so yummy. We had then went to look it up online and it turns out that it is one of the best restaurants in town. But they are only open for dinner and didn't open until 8 pm.
After the bread place, we went back to the hotel to kille about 2 hours before dinner. So in that time, I was able to skype my parents for the first time in awhile and talk with them for over an hour. We were also able to check our mail and Facebook's and whatever else needed to be done. Then, it was pizza time.....in Brasil! Score!
When we got there, they had 3 different pages of pizza 's. We were so excited. This would be one of the best meals we will have on our trip, period. We ended up getting 2 medium pizza's with ingredients including, tomato, corn, peas, onion, tons of heart of palm, and others that I am forgetting. They were completely and utterly delicious, especially once they were washed down with a cold glass of Coke. Wait, since I'm in South America, I guess I should clarify....Coke Cola, not cocaine. After we were done eating, I tried to sneak inside to surprise Eric and Ali by paying for the meal. While I was skyping my parents, they told me to go out to dinner and put it on their card. Could my parents get any cooler? However, once I got in there, the card wasn't working. I'm pretty sure that it is because of recent activity on the card in a foreign country. But i'm not sure. So I had to go out and ask Eric to pay and that my parents would pay him back. They were super appreciative of the gesture and Eric didn't hesitate in being willing to pay for it. But when he went in to pay, there was an error with the card machine, and it didn't accept his card either. So then I got a little nervous because I didn't know if we had enough Reai to pay for the meal. But between Ali and Eric, they had enough. So the 2 people who wern't supposed to pay, ended up being the ones that paid! Oh well.
Now it is time to go back to the hotel, goof off a bit and get some sleep because we have to wake up at 6:00 am. The bus that is taking us back to Rurre is leaving at 8:00 and that is in Bolivia. So we needed to wake up, check out, cross the river, and get a taxi to the bus station all before 7:30 am. Yuck, early morning.
Satuday Jan. 26, 2013
This morning we had the alarm set for 6:00 am even though we went to bed around 3am. Eric and I were not quite ready to get out of bed and were wanting to do anything to avoid it. Ali on the other hand was ready to get out of bed and to get going. She hopped up and then tried to get us out of bed. But for some reason, Eric and I had a serious case of the giggles. Pour Ali, we were being completely obnoxious. She turned all the lights on in the room when our eyes were not ready in the slightest. Right after she did, I yelled out to Eric that the "light monster" was here and asked him to make it go away!
After about 30 minutes of our nonsense, we finally got up, packed all of our stuff, and started our walk back to the docks. We were really hoping that we would be able to cross over without any problems. To our relief, it could not have gone any smoother. We did not have to wait or even get check. We simply paid the fare, and then walked onto the boat. Upon arriving on the other side, things continued to go very smoothly. We were able to catch a taxi bike to the station and arrive at 7:15. Our goal was to make it to the bus station by 7:30 because thats when they said we should be there. However, beings how it's Bolivia, we figured that the bus, although was scheduled to leave at 8, wouldn't leave until about noon. However, we were extremely surprised to find that our bus came, loaded up, and was out of there by 8:00 sharp. I think this was the first time that I have seen anything happen on time in Bolivia.
The bus we were on was a little worse than the bus we were on coming up to Guayara. There was not quite as much leg room and we wern't sitting next to each other. We were all very close though. Eric and Ali sat next to each other, and I had the window seat right in front of them. It would be my luck though that I got one of the few broken seats on the entire bus. My chair had no support. So even if I wanted to sit up, it would fly back. This wasn't TOO terribly bad when I was awake, but when I was trying to sleep it was miserable. And because of the lack of sleep we had last night, and this being an all night trip, we were planing to sleep a lot. While trying to sleep, not only was I trying to deal with no foot space, a stranger beside me, rain dripping on me from various place in the roof, and a broken armrest the was stuck aimed slightly upward, but I constantly felt like I was trying to sleep on a trampoline with full grown men jumping on it. Because my seat had no support, every time we hit a bump (which was constant on the dirt road) my seat would bounce and bounce and bounce. Fortunately I only had to endure this for 22 hours.
The Bolivian guy beside me was clearly not too thrilled about sitting next to me when he first arrived. I tried to lighten to mood by trying to talk to him a little bit. He wasn't interested. But me being a McLennan, I don't give up that easy. So later on, I pulled out some Brazilian chocolate that I had bought and asked if he wanted some. He quickly said yes and took a piece. Then he said that it was really good and asked me if he could see the front and asked if I had boughten it from Brasil. I told him that I had and asked if he wanted more. He declined and said that he was ok and didn't need anymore. I knew he was just being nice, so I nudged him and said "come on friend, I know you want some more, go ahead, take it". He was very appreciative and accepted. I knew I was getting close.
A little while later I decided that it was time to try and make a little some talk again. This time, he was ready to engage me. We ended up talking for quite some time. Turns out that he is quite an impressive man. Apparently he is a mechanic for industrial machines and has worked in most countries in South America. He has 2 children, one of which is studying dentistry in La Paz. And get this, he was a professional Fronton player. Fronton is a game very similar to racquetball from what I gathered. He told me that he really liked both games but was better at Fronton. Turns out that for 12 years, he represented Beni in the Bolivia matches (Beni is an area of Bolivia, similar to saying he represented the West Coast). He was the champion in 2007 and got the silver medal 2 other years. To make things more interesting, his sister-in-laws husband is the director at the Adventist school that we visited in Guayara! He was familiar with Adventists, some of our beliefs, and our health message.
The last interesting thing that happened on this trip happened at one of our bathroom breaks at 2:00 am. I have debated whether or not to blog about this because.....well, you will see. But not wanting to forget about it, and me being innocent, I have decided to go ahead and blog about it (there is my disclaimer). While waiting for the bus to load back up, Ali and I where sitting on a bench waiting for Eric to finish using the bathroom. While waiting, someone tapped me on the shoulder. So I turned around to see a Bolivian guy sitting on the bench behind us, offering me a black drink. Not knowing what it was, I declined and told him thanks anyway. But he insisted. So I asked him what it was before I took it. He then told me that it was Coka Cola. Not being sure if I believed him or not, I looked over the edge of his bench and say a 2 liter bottle of Coke and 3 of his friends drinking it too. After I saw the bottle I figured it was safe and I took a big swig of it. But let me tell you, that was NOT Coke. That taste hit me like a ton of bricks and made me wince hard. I turned to the guy and said, "this is NOT Coke, what is this?!?!?" All he did was smile and slowly raise a bottle of vodka that they hid from me at first. Apparently they poured me a glass of vodka and topped it off with a touch of Coka Cola. Woah buddy that wasn't cool. But after about my 3rd glass I started getting used to it.....ok ok fine, I didn't really get anymore. I was able to give Ali my cup so she could dump it out without them seeing. So that was the most interesting part of the trip for me by far.
You stay civilized.....planet earth!!!!
Today was an extremely long day. Today was the day that Eric, Ali, and I would venture into the unknown parts of Bolivia/Brasil that we didn't know anything about. We were up until about midnight last night making cinnamon rolls and kinoa bread for our travel, and packing up our gear. This morning our plan was to wake up at 7:00, and be on the road waiting for a taxi at 7:30 because we were told that our bus will be in town at 9:30. But even when we are dealing with just gringo's we STILL can't do anything on time in Bolivia.
While waiting for a taxi, nothing was coming. Time was getting shorter and shorter. So I decided to run back in and ask Juan if he could drive us in the truck. But what do you know, the moment I went to look for him, a slew of taxi's and what was presumed to be our floata, passed by. Once I told Juan that we thought our floata just went by, he rushed and we all piled in the truck and started into town. We were a little nervous that we wern't going to make our bus because on the way into town, we got stopped by road construction.
As we pulled into the bus station, we saw a floata sill there so we were relieved. But after we went in to buy our tickets, they told us that our floata still had not arrived. They expected it to arrive in 2 or 3 hours. So Eric took a moto into town and picked up some laundry and got us some bread from the French Bakery. So yum!
We were told that we could not buy our ticket until the day of the trip. So we were hoping that we were there early enough to get the seats in the very front of the bus where you are sitting behind a big window that lets you see everything out front. However, as it turns out, they had no idea when we asked them that. So on the day of, all the front seats were filled up which wasn't too bad because we got the row in the very back of the bus that was 5 seats wide.
Upon boarding, we had all 5 seats to ourselves. But that only lasted for about an hour and a half until we got to Reyes where we picked up more passengers. Once that happened, things got a little more snug. I had the window seat, Eric was beside me, and Ali had the middle seat with all the leg room.
The bus really wasn't that bad. The leg room wasn't too shabby and the windows opened. It was however quite dirty and the air conditioning didn't work. But we did have a sweet old man sitting in the row in front of us whom we talked to for awhile later on.
Although this bus ride was one of the longest bus rides I have been on, it was not short of amusement, laughs, or pain. A lot of our amusement came from us laughing at each other and just being goofy. We were taking pictures with dumb poses and jamming to some music and just being typical goobers. We watched a movie and pigged out on some snacks that we purchased for this trip along with snacks I recieved from my brother robert and his wonderful wife Shellie. Another thing to add to our amusement was the fact that every time the bus nailed a ditch in the road, Ali went flying in the air above everyone in the bus. She was like a rag doll. Extremely amusing.
The most "exciting" part of the journey for me was probably the "attack". Once nightfall had come, all of us went to sleep. Keep in mind, sleeping on a bus that has never seen paved roads is a bit challenging. It was almost impossible to fall asleep. But shortly after I did, I was abruptly awakened to a punch in my face! I jumped with an alarmed reaction ready to fight back. But when I came to, I saw nothing out of the ordinary except for Ali and Eric laughing their heads off. Once I knew that I was being attacked by a deranged bolivian physco, the pain of what happened hit me. It did not feel good at all and I couldn't figure out why Eric had just punched me in the face. As it turns out, Ali (who was now sitting next to me) had tried to reach over me and close the window because she was getting cold. But the window was jammed, so Eric tried to reach over with his 12 foot long arms and force it shut, but his arm slipped off the handle and all the force that he was using went directly into my face. Very funny now, but it did not feel good at the time.
Another thing of note for out journey was that the road we were traveling on was completely and utterly beautiful! Sure it wasn't the smoothest at all times, but it was absolutely gorgeous. So much nature and scenery. There were no other buildings, no cars, just trees, grass, water, and animals. We saw tons of crocodiles and saboo. It made me feel like we were driving through the Serenghetti in Africa. It was breath taking.
After 19.5 hours, we finally arrived in Guayaramerin Bolivia at 6:00 am. We didn't know the first thing about this place. No idea about any hotels or attractions or food. We simply showed up. But thats the best way to do things by far. It forces you to explore everything and find all the best places. So we went out in search of a hotel. But as it turns out, everything is very far away from the bus station. Not knowing that, we just started walking. Having no idea if we were heading in the right direction or not, we just kept walking. Eventually we saw a gas station and asked the guy if there were any hotels nearby and if we were walking in the right direction. He told us that we were and that we just needed to go about another 8 blocks or so. After doing so, then began the search for a hotel that had free wifi. After awhile of searching, we found what turns out to be the nicest hotel in all of Guayaramerin. It is about $14 per night which is quite pricey on Eric and I's budget, but we needed the internet and were ok splurging a little bit. Plus, this hotel has a pool, air conditioning, and a refrigerator in the rooms. Not too bad.
After settling into the room, we instantly took some showers, and crawled into out beds. We were so tired and filthy. But that was all changing right now.
After recharging our batteries for a little bit, we started the exploration process. We saw a couple small plaza's and several little restaurants. This was also the first time that we started seeing stores accept Real which is the currency of Brasil. We also started getting our first taste of portugese. There is a strong influence of Brasilian culture in this town because from the river that the town in on, you can almost throw a rock to the other side. All the excitement is building up in all of us to go over to Brasil, especially in Eric. He was the one that came up with this plan just so that he could say he has been to Brasil.
Not wanting to wait any longer, we went to the docks where they take people over. We were told that it was going to be super easy. We didn't need any documents or passports. This was very good because Eric and I's passports are still in Santa Cruz being processed. However, once we got to the docks, they told us that it was impossible for us to cross over. They told us that it isn't a problem for us to get over, but that it's impossible to come back to Bolivia without a passport. We couldn't believe it! We knew something had to be wrong. So we went straight to the immigration office several blocks away and talked with a very grumpy and rude man. He was telling us that we needed a passport or proof that we were applying for residency visa's in order to cross over. He asked us why we thought that just because we were in Bolivia, that rules didn't apply anymore. We had no idea why he said that, but we left unsatisfied.
After we left the office, we called Joy to see if she could get in contact with Victor, the man in Santa Cruz with our passports. We wanted to see if he could email us a document that said our visa's were being processed. She said that she would get back to us in a few hours and let us know what she found out. While we waited, we walked around town, looked around in several shops and bought a couple things. Then we went back to the hotel to get online which is kind of a joke in itself because the internet is completely rubbish. It is the slowest internet we have had since getting to Bolivia. But internet is internet right? We were still quite exhausted from all of our travels so we were ok resting. We didn't end up hearing back from Joy for awhile so we went back out to explore and to eat. We found this Brasilian restaurant and figured that if we couldn't go into Brasil, we were going to at least eat Brasilian food. It was quite the tasty meal actually. It was a buffet that was surprisingly very good and cheap.
Later that evening, we came back to the hotel, relaxed with our AC, and swam in the pool. We were simply ready to crash. So we ended up putting on a movie and going to sleep.
Thursday Jan. 24, 2013
This morning we woke up, caught our breakfast at the hotel which consisted of bread, and fruit. By now, Eric, Ali, and I cannot even stomach bread anymore. We have been eating so much of it that it has become distasteful. So we have been supplementing our diet with sugar. It really is pretty yuck how much sugar we have consumed. Between ice cream, oreo's, chocolates, soda, and other highly sugarfied goods, we have all but become walking sugar cane plants. But anyway, for breakfast, I was able to get a slice of bread and a rotten apple.
After breakfast, we all wanted to catch a taxi to the bus station to see if we could reserve good seats for us for our trip back. But the seats we wanted have been sold out for awhile, and our second choice is always open. So we decided not to buy them and wait until the day before.
After leaving the bus station, we decided that we wanted to see if we could get a ride to the other GMI school nearby. We had heard that is was a little ways away from the town, but had no idea where. We asked our taxi driver if he knew where it was and how far away it was. And as soon as we said Adventista, he said he knew where it was and that it was only 3 minutes away. But we had heard that it was at least 30 minutes outside of town so we just figured he was gunna take us to some random school. But we decided to go anyway. Nothing else for us to do in this tiny town right?
So he took us around the corner and what do you know? He pulled up to an Adventist school! It wasn't the one that we wanted, but it's a 300+ student Adventist School that we had never heard of! We got out, introduced ourselves, and told them that we were actually looking for the other school, but that we would love to look around. After looking around, they wanted us to meet the pastor there. So we went across the street and were greeted by a very happy, nice man. They were so happy that we stopped by and wanted us to stay for as long as we wanted. His wife then brought out some Guava to give to us, then a special drink that she had made that was basically fresh guava juice mixed with cinnamon. Gotta love fellow Adventists! They even had a pet bird that would sit on your should and walk around on your body. At one point, I think it started trying to eat bugs out of my hair! haha
After we left the pastors house we were still a little discouraged about not being able to go to Brasil, so we were not exactly sure what to do for the rest of our time in town. So we decided to just go near the docks and look around in some of the shops. Eric has had this obsession with Guarana which is a big Brasilian drink that is hard to find in Rurre. Anyway, there is tons around here with tons of different kinds. So he has gotten this goal in his mind that he wants to try every single differnt make of Guarana that he can find. He ended up spotting a new kind, so we went over to the store so he could buy it. But while he was getting it, I struck up a conversation with the store owner and told her why we were here and that we were a little upset that we weren't allowed to go into Brasil without our passports. Then she told me that we can definitely go over without any problems. This instantly got us super excited. We went directly to the docks to see if what she was saying was true.
As soon as we got there, they said it wasn't a problem if we wanted to go over for a few hours and come back. We were so excited that we just jumped on the boat without thinking. We didn't change any money over, we didn't have anything special packed. We simply went over while they said it was ok.
We made it!!! We got into Brasil. Eric could not have been happier. There wasn't too much to do once we got there though because it was siesta time when EVERYTHING is closed. We mostly just wondered around and took some pictures and tried to communicate with the locals. It is amazing how different the cultures are by simply crossing a small river. The hardest part by far is that it is crazy hard to communicate once again. I don't care what people say, spanish and portugese are different. Extremely different.
Once we felt that we had kind of seen everything, we decided to go back to make sure we wern't going to run into any problems getting back. We had absolutely no problems. It was incredibly easy.
After getting back onto our native soil of Bolivia, we were quite tired so we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit before we went to get dinner. We were extremely excited for dinner because we met this Italian guy who owns 2 restaurants in town. One of which is brasilian food and the other is Italian food but is only open for dinner. All of us were craving legitimate italian food and were ready for some sustenance in our bodies.
The food at this place was absolutely fantastic! SO GOOD! we all had pasta and fresh squeezed lemonade. We also ordered brushetta with balsalmic vinegerette dressing. Everything was fresh, cheap, and delicious!
Friday Jan. 25, 2013
This morning, we woke up early and needed to purchase our bus tickets back to Rurre. We are out of money and out of time to keep exploring. Only having one more day and night awy, we wanted to spend it in Brasil. So as soon as we purchased our tickets home, we went directly to the docks. We did a little changing of money into Real which is the currency of Brasil, then we were off.
Upon arriving on the other side, we went directly to a hotel that we had found yesterday and then looked up online called Hotel Little Star. It's a nice little hotel that was able to offer us a ton faster internet than we were getting at the other hotel in Bolivia. This was one of the biggest selling points for us. After spending a few minutes speaking spanish to a lady that speaks portugese, we were able to get a room on the second floor. But as soon as we walked into the room, we lost the wifi connection, and there were no windows at all. It simply wasn't going to work. So I went downstairs to talk to them and ask if we could switch into a room downstairs near the router. They had no problem with it at all.
After checking our mail, we went explorin! The first place we actually went to was a grocery store to get a few fruit snacks to tide us over. But while there, I spotted some Ramen noodles. Needless to say, I went to give them a closer look and saw the weirdest thing. They had pizza flavored, bean flavored, mexican flavored, and tomatato flavored Ramen! Now I am a college student and having lived in a dorm situation for 6 years, should be a professional on every single thing there is to know about ramen. But Brasil just blew my mind and opened my eyes into a whole other country in the world of Ramen!
Anyways, after I bought several packs of Ramen to take back with me, we all snacked on a little fruit before we started walking around town. We started looking for some shops to kill some time and to see if there were any good deals on Brazilian goods (even though our money seems to be disappearing faster than a candy around a little kid). We actually ended up finding a clothing store where everything is 10 reai (which is about $5). While there, I was able to find 2 pretty cool soccer jersey's that I got. After that, we continued to meander down the streets and eventually made our way to the Catholic cathedral that stuck out in the center of town. When we got there, there was no one in there except a receptionist. So we asked if we could walk around and take some pictures, which they had no problem with at all.
Continuing our journey, we stumbled upon a bakery that had tons of things to eat. It was probably one of the more fancy places that we have seen so far. It was also a jackpot for Eric because they had about 6 or 7 different makes of Guarana to which he bought most! We were mostly wanting to just keep tiding us over cheaply until dinner time. Yesterday, we saw a pizza joint that looked so yummy. We had then went to look it up online and it turns out that it is one of the best restaurants in town. But they are only open for dinner and didn't open until 8 pm.
After the bread place, we went back to the hotel to kille about 2 hours before dinner. So in that time, I was able to skype my parents for the first time in awhile and talk with them for over an hour. We were also able to check our mail and Facebook's and whatever else needed to be done. Then, it was pizza time.....in Brasil! Score!
When we got there, they had 3 different pages of pizza 's. We were so excited. This would be one of the best meals we will have on our trip, period. We ended up getting 2 medium pizza's with ingredients including, tomato, corn, peas, onion, tons of heart of palm, and others that I am forgetting. They were completely and utterly delicious, especially once they were washed down with a cold glass of Coke. Wait, since I'm in South America, I guess I should clarify....Coke Cola, not cocaine. After we were done eating, I tried to sneak inside to surprise Eric and Ali by paying for the meal. While I was skyping my parents, they told me to go out to dinner and put it on their card. Could my parents get any cooler? However, once I got in there, the card wasn't working. I'm pretty sure that it is because of recent activity on the card in a foreign country. But i'm not sure. So I had to go out and ask Eric to pay and that my parents would pay him back. They were super appreciative of the gesture and Eric didn't hesitate in being willing to pay for it. But when he went in to pay, there was an error with the card machine, and it didn't accept his card either. So then I got a little nervous because I didn't know if we had enough Reai to pay for the meal. But between Ali and Eric, they had enough. So the 2 people who wern't supposed to pay, ended up being the ones that paid! Oh well.
Now it is time to go back to the hotel, goof off a bit and get some sleep because we have to wake up at 6:00 am. The bus that is taking us back to Rurre is leaving at 8:00 and that is in Bolivia. So we needed to wake up, check out, cross the river, and get a taxi to the bus station all before 7:30 am. Yuck, early morning.
Satuday Jan. 26, 2013
This morning we had the alarm set for 6:00 am even though we went to bed around 3am. Eric and I were not quite ready to get out of bed and were wanting to do anything to avoid it. Ali on the other hand was ready to get out of bed and to get going. She hopped up and then tried to get us out of bed. But for some reason, Eric and I had a serious case of the giggles. Pour Ali, we were being completely obnoxious. She turned all the lights on in the room when our eyes were not ready in the slightest. Right after she did, I yelled out to Eric that the "light monster" was here and asked him to make it go away!
After about 30 minutes of our nonsense, we finally got up, packed all of our stuff, and started our walk back to the docks. We were really hoping that we would be able to cross over without any problems. To our relief, it could not have gone any smoother. We did not have to wait or even get check. We simply paid the fare, and then walked onto the boat. Upon arriving on the other side, things continued to go very smoothly. We were able to catch a taxi bike to the station and arrive at 7:15. Our goal was to make it to the bus station by 7:30 because thats when they said we should be there. However, beings how it's Bolivia, we figured that the bus, although was scheduled to leave at 8, wouldn't leave until about noon. However, we were extremely surprised to find that our bus came, loaded up, and was out of there by 8:00 sharp. I think this was the first time that I have seen anything happen on time in Bolivia.
The bus we were on was a little worse than the bus we were on coming up to Guayara. There was not quite as much leg room and we wern't sitting next to each other. We were all very close though. Eric and Ali sat next to each other, and I had the window seat right in front of them. It would be my luck though that I got one of the few broken seats on the entire bus. My chair had no support. So even if I wanted to sit up, it would fly back. This wasn't TOO terribly bad when I was awake, but when I was trying to sleep it was miserable. And because of the lack of sleep we had last night, and this being an all night trip, we were planing to sleep a lot. While trying to sleep, not only was I trying to deal with no foot space, a stranger beside me, rain dripping on me from various place in the roof, and a broken armrest the was stuck aimed slightly upward, but I constantly felt like I was trying to sleep on a trampoline with full grown men jumping on it. Because my seat had no support, every time we hit a bump (which was constant on the dirt road) my seat would bounce and bounce and bounce. Fortunately I only had to endure this for 22 hours.
The Bolivian guy beside me was clearly not too thrilled about sitting next to me when he first arrived. I tried to lighten to mood by trying to talk to him a little bit. He wasn't interested. But me being a McLennan, I don't give up that easy. So later on, I pulled out some Brazilian chocolate that I had bought and asked if he wanted some. He quickly said yes and took a piece. Then he said that it was really good and asked me if he could see the front and asked if I had boughten it from Brasil. I told him that I had and asked if he wanted more. He declined and said that he was ok and didn't need anymore. I knew he was just being nice, so I nudged him and said "come on friend, I know you want some more, go ahead, take it". He was very appreciative and accepted. I knew I was getting close.
A little while later I decided that it was time to try and make a little some talk again. This time, he was ready to engage me. We ended up talking for quite some time. Turns out that he is quite an impressive man. Apparently he is a mechanic for industrial machines and has worked in most countries in South America. He has 2 children, one of which is studying dentistry in La Paz. And get this, he was a professional Fronton player. Fronton is a game very similar to racquetball from what I gathered. He told me that he really liked both games but was better at Fronton. Turns out that for 12 years, he represented Beni in the Bolivia matches (Beni is an area of Bolivia, similar to saying he represented the West Coast). He was the champion in 2007 and got the silver medal 2 other years. To make things more interesting, his sister-in-laws husband is the director at the Adventist school that we visited in Guayara! He was familiar with Adventists, some of our beliefs, and our health message.
The last interesting thing that happened on this trip happened at one of our bathroom breaks at 2:00 am. I have debated whether or not to blog about this because.....well, you will see. But not wanting to forget about it, and me being innocent, I have decided to go ahead and blog about it (there is my disclaimer). While waiting for the bus to load back up, Ali and I where sitting on a bench waiting for Eric to finish using the bathroom. While waiting, someone tapped me on the shoulder. So I turned around to see a Bolivian guy sitting on the bench behind us, offering me a black drink. Not knowing what it was, I declined and told him thanks anyway. But he insisted. So I asked him what it was before I took it. He then told me that it was Coka Cola. Not being sure if I believed him or not, I looked over the edge of his bench and say a 2 liter bottle of Coke and 3 of his friends drinking it too. After I saw the bottle I figured it was safe and I took a big swig of it. But let me tell you, that was NOT Coke. That taste hit me like a ton of bricks and made me wince hard. I turned to the guy and said, "this is NOT Coke, what is this?!?!?" All he did was smile and slowly raise a bottle of vodka that they hid from me at first. Apparently they poured me a glass of vodka and topped it off with a touch of Coka Cola. Woah buddy that wasn't cool. But after about my 3rd glass I started getting used to it.....ok ok fine, I didn't really get anymore. I was able to give Ali my cup so she could dump it out without them seeing. So that was the most interesting part of the trip for me by far.
You stay civilized.....planet earth!!!!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Ali is here!
Monday Jan. 14 - Monday Jan.21 2012
Continuing with my bullet stly blog….
1) Ouch!
Eric and I have accumulated a few cans of veggie meat through various packages and my trip back to the States for thanksgiving. One night, there was not a hefty meal which happens occassionally, so needless to say, we were quite the hungry hippos. So this led us to the decision to open up a can of Big Franks. Big Franks for those of you that don´t know, are like…..how do you say……heaven in a can. It´s basically a bunch of soybeans mashed together into the shape of a hot dog and sold as such. They are absolutely wonderful and a delicassie here for us.
Anyway, Eric and I were ready to dive into this can of goodness but had not can opener. But of course this is no problem for a couple of Geico cavemen like Eric and I. So I grabbed a knife and started stabbing the top of the can until I made a hole that I could pry open. Stabbing a hole in the top of the can was the only successful part. Because while I was I was prying this can open, the knife slipped and all the force of my hand flew into the jagged edge of the can and sliced my thumb pretty good. Instantly I grabbed my thumb with blood starting to pour down my arm and just did one little jump. No words.
When I jumped up, Eric saw me and then saw the blood. He then proceeded to yell for Edwin, who was in our room serving out a punishment, to get out. But Edwin told him he couldn´t because our door handle was broken and he couldn´t get out, but Eric just wanted him to get out so Edwin wouldn´t see the blood and get scared so he just kept saying get out get out lol. But then I just told Eric that he couldn´t get out because the door was locked lol. So once Eric let him out, he came over to where i was holding my thumb and trying to stop the bleeding and we got toilet paper and some band aids. The whole time we were cleaning it and wrapping it, i just kept talking about how dumb it was and how careless it was for me to do that. But oh well. We were able to clean it pretty good and it has been healing nicely.
2) Stolen again
One morning Bryan came up to me at breakfast and showed me a credit card that looked a lot like Missy´s, but I wasn´t sure. Later that day, I found out that the kids had been to my old house again and stolen some fireworks and had raided all my suitcases. Once again, I was a little annoyed and figured that I would deal with the boys later that evening. However, at one point, I needed to talk to Missy and she was at Joys house. So when I went over there. They immediately started talking to me about how the boys were stealing things all over campus. Apparently Edwin and David have have been going into all the house and looting while sometimes using Juan as a lookout. Apparently Missy instilled the fear of death into the boys when she found out that they stole her credit card and had been looting other houses.
After Missy put the fear in them, they decided that they didn´t want to risk getting punished. So they decided to run away and catch a taxi into town without telling anyone. This was NOT a good thing. But fortunately, Missy and Joy thought they knew where they went in town. So they went into town to look for them but unfortunately they were not there. So they came back and 1 night went by without those 2 boys. It was the quietest and most peaceful night ever! But the next day, Edwin showed up on campus with the police. Turns out that another student of Familia Feliz that normally lives in Rurre in the summer spotted Edwin and took him to the police. This scared Edwin really bad which is a good thing. Later on, Jorge spotted David and then took HIM to the police too! Whata guy right? Anyway, Joy and Missy were able to pick David up and when they did, they gave Jorge 10 B´s as a reward.
3) Weed Wacked!
Doesn´t really need to much of an explanation…. The campus is just really overgrown still and it´s going to take a very long time to mow everything with just a weed wacker.
4) Truck
Really close to Familia Feliz, there is a part of the road that goes off into a ditch to get around some road obstructions. But while a big truck was headed that way, it went off the road in the ditch and flipped over. All of it´s goods spilled everywhere. It was carrying a bunch of food. I didn´t see it happen, but I saw the aftermath of it.
5) Bugs?
This is a little fun fact that I´m sure my mother will love. My head had been itching a little bit for a couple days so i decided to use my lice comb and see if I came up with anything. Good news is, no lice. Bad news is, 7 bugs came out. After I picked them out, they started crawling across the table in front of me before I smashed them. Those boogers were a little big to be in anyones head! 2 days later, I found 3 more in my head again.
6) Ant Invasion!
One day Eric and I were out behind our house and all of a sudden we saw about a bazillion massive ants. The were on the ground, they were on the outdoor sinks, they were on the walls. They COVERED everything! They were massive! This sent Eric and I onto a mission! We started grabbing buckets and started drenching them and throwing them off their trails! We started going baserk on them for a good 20-30 minutes.
7) Prayed
This week I was able to have a little prayer session with Juan, Edwin, Moises, Steve, and some with David. It was very nice. Each of us said a prayer and I was holding Moises and Edwin.
8) Ali!!!
Alexandra Cresswell is here! Ali is a really good friend of mine that lives in Australia. She lived in Roanoke for about a year which is where I met here and she also went on a mission trip to Peru with my brother Ryan for 2 weeks. When she found out that I was coming to Bolivia, she decided that she really wanted to come down at some point to visit and to volunteer. So seeing her has been really nice. It has been awhile since I have seen her. She arrived on Saturday morning and has already started to fit in perfectly. She is going to help take care of Jenette who is very retarded and was found in a garbage dump. Ali could not have come at a better time because in about a week, the girl that is currently taking care of Jenette is leaving and did not have a replacement. So now Ali will be able to fill that roll which she seems very excited to do.
9) Fixed the Toma
The day that Ali arrived and the next day, there was pouring down rain. I´actually surprised that she was able to land in Rurre. But after all that heavy rain, it finally overwhelmed Eric´s good filter system that he made. So the water was knocked out for the village. So Eric, Juan, Ali, all the boys and I went up to the Toma and fixed the water source so now we have water again.
10) Brasil!
Eric and I knew that we wanted to jump on a bus and go to Brasil after Ali got here, but as it turns out, the best time to go is now. Saturday night, Missy told us to go ASAP. So we are leaving tomorrow. The reason for this is because the new directors will be here at the end of the month and Nelva (the girl Ali is replacing) is leaving in a week. So the sooner we go, the sooner we can come back. We don´t really have any plans, but we are just going for the adventure. The bus ride will be 13-36 hours long depending on rain and the conditions on the roads. I will be sure to keep you posted!
You stay civilized.....Planet Earth!!!!
You stay civilized.....Planet Earth!!!!
Monday, January 14, 2013
update
Monday Jan. 7 - Saturday Jan. 12. 2013
So I'm getting this feeling that I'm becoming worse and worse about keeping up my day to day blog. But thats ok because now I'm just writing about the highlights. So it works!
1) Crash!
While I was in town, I was sitting at Narguila's online when I suddenly heard a scream followed by a screeching sound right behind me on the street. I immediately got up and went over to where I saw a baby, a young girl, and their mother at the corner of the street on the ground bleeding and crying. Since I was close, I was one of the first people to get there which gave me a front row view. Turns out, this mother and her 2 daughters were on a moto and as they were driving, they got "T-boned" by a truck flying down the adjacent road.
When I got there, the baby was fairly quiet but her face was almost entirely covered in blood. The other daughter (who was probably about 12) was sitting on the street just crying really loud while blood was dripping out of her legs and making puddles on the street. Getting queezy yet? The mother though got it the worst I believe. I could immediately tell that she was in shock. When I looked at her foot, I could very cleary tell that everything under her skin from ankle down was completely detached from her leg. When they touched her leg, her foot/ankle just wobbled freely. There was also a good amount of internal bleeding because it instantly became purple/blue. They had to take all of them away in the same truck that hit them, that is of course after they pulled the motorbike out from being lodged under the truck.
2) Poor truck.
The little truck we have just seems to keep breaking down week after week after week. Whether it be a flat tire (which literally does happen about once every week or 2), the clutch going out, the breaks not working, or it overheating, this truck is barely hanging on for dear life.
This week, the truck has gotten 2 flat tires, a door handle has fallen off, overheated, a window no longer rolls up, has a loose belt, and the clutch is all but shot. Everytime before we drive it, we need to check the oil, water, all four tires, and the diesel. Hopefully she keeps hanging in there for us because having a truck is absolutely crucial to the function of Familia Feliz.
3) Is Tracy Leaving?
I think Tracy is leaving Familia Feliz for good. After a surprise return from Santa Cruz, a man from another Adventist school under GMI came and interviewed her for a position at that school. This is very hard for her to do because Bryan, the boy that has been living with her, does not want to go. He will be staying her at Familia Feliz with Eric and I. Which is ok with us because he is a great kid who really has it together. A day or two after the interview, Tracy packed up all her blongings, came into town, and left on a bus. So as far as I know, she's gone.
4) Visitors.
Because there has been a few problems with Tracy, and Joy is worn out as a director, the head of the South American Division for GMI came to Rurre in the mission plane to help deal with all of the issues. Their plan was to only stay for 1 afternoon and leave the same day that they arrived. But as you all may now be aware, good luck sticking to any plan in Bolivia. They ended up staying 4 nights I believe. Maybe 3. This was due to rain, the plane being broken, and storms at their destination. However as it turns out, it was a complete blessing that their trip back was delayed by a couple days because the girls that were in that motorbike accident needed to be transported to another hospital in Santa Cruz. Beings how there were no other flights scheduled anytime soon, the mission plane was the only one here. So the mission pilot (Steve) was able to take them to a hospital.
5) Changes.
Some of the things that were decided while Jodi and Warren McDaniels (the head honcho's for the South American Division) were here was that next year, we are going to cut our enrollment down from over 110 down to 45. They have decided to completely cut out the high school in order to revamp Familia Feliz and to make it an easier situation for the new director. They have asked a young couple to come and take over as the new directors and are currently waiting to hear back. Furthermore, while we are making this transition, the McDaniels have decided to come to Familia Feliz to help facilitate some of these changes and to make things easier. Fortunately Eric and I both like them a lot. They are extremely nice people who wanna do everything they can to make the school better. They also want to implement a hands-on program that teaches the kids how to garden, build houses, make bricks and other different skills.
6) Where are they?
Juan and Emmy are still not back from their vacation to Santa Cruz and another city visiting their family. They were planning on being back on Jan. 1 and no later than Jan. 4. But what do you know, nothing is as it seems in Bolivia haha. But I do need to tell you that it is not their fault they they are not back. Apparently, their baby who they just finished adopting got very sick while they were away and they had to spend every penny they had to get her hospitalized. They now have no money in order to get back. So we shall see what happens.
7) Chaos Ball
Saturday night, both Eric and the kids all wanted to go into town and play "volleyball" again. If you don't remember, there is a racquetball court in town that has a finicky net hung up to play volleyball. The thing is, nobody has any idea how to play volleyball other than me and Eric. So it ends up just being kids kicking the ball and throwing it over the net with no form of organization whatsoever. Eric and I decided that we would never call it volleyball again because it simply is not volleyball. So we coined the name "Chaosball". But to break it up a little bit, 3 of the boys had a few B's (money) to spend. So Eric and I took them out and walked down the street and stopped at a few stores looking for some firecrackers. But no one had them, and the stores that did have the were closed.
Sunday Jan. 13 2013
Today was a big work day for me. As it was Eric's day off in town, I had plenty of time to get a lot done. I was able to wash every bit of my laundry by hand so I could save about $3. It took about 2 hours to wash all my clothes and hang them up. Then it took about 3 hours for them to dry. So basically, I just worked 7 hours to save $3 dollars. Worth it? I think yes.
I was also able to sweep my side of the room, reorganize my dresser, make/organize 3 "cubbies" beside my bed, and to make a rack to hang my church clothes on (which is just a string nailed into 2 support beams in the ceiling.
The hardest part of my day though was to deal with David. Today he made Edwin look like the good samaritan! No matter what anyone said, he would not listen. So hopefully that will improve.
You stay civilized.....planet earth!!!!
So I'm getting this feeling that I'm becoming worse and worse about keeping up my day to day blog. But thats ok because now I'm just writing about the highlights. So it works!
1) Crash!
While I was in town, I was sitting at Narguila's online when I suddenly heard a scream followed by a screeching sound right behind me on the street. I immediately got up and went over to where I saw a baby, a young girl, and their mother at the corner of the street on the ground bleeding and crying. Since I was close, I was one of the first people to get there which gave me a front row view. Turns out, this mother and her 2 daughters were on a moto and as they were driving, they got "T-boned" by a truck flying down the adjacent road.
When I got there, the baby was fairly quiet but her face was almost entirely covered in blood. The other daughter (who was probably about 12) was sitting on the street just crying really loud while blood was dripping out of her legs and making puddles on the street. Getting queezy yet? The mother though got it the worst I believe. I could immediately tell that she was in shock. When I looked at her foot, I could very cleary tell that everything under her skin from ankle down was completely detached from her leg. When they touched her leg, her foot/ankle just wobbled freely. There was also a good amount of internal bleeding because it instantly became purple/blue. They had to take all of them away in the same truck that hit them, that is of course after they pulled the motorbike out from being lodged under the truck.
2) Poor truck.
The little truck we have just seems to keep breaking down week after week after week. Whether it be a flat tire (which literally does happen about once every week or 2), the clutch going out, the breaks not working, or it overheating, this truck is barely hanging on for dear life.
This week, the truck has gotten 2 flat tires, a door handle has fallen off, overheated, a window no longer rolls up, has a loose belt, and the clutch is all but shot. Everytime before we drive it, we need to check the oil, water, all four tires, and the diesel. Hopefully she keeps hanging in there for us because having a truck is absolutely crucial to the function of Familia Feliz.
3) Is Tracy Leaving?
I think Tracy is leaving Familia Feliz for good. After a surprise return from Santa Cruz, a man from another Adventist school under GMI came and interviewed her for a position at that school. This is very hard for her to do because Bryan, the boy that has been living with her, does not want to go. He will be staying her at Familia Feliz with Eric and I. Which is ok with us because he is a great kid who really has it together. A day or two after the interview, Tracy packed up all her blongings, came into town, and left on a bus. So as far as I know, she's gone.
4) Visitors.
Because there has been a few problems with Tracy, and Joy is worn out as a director, the head of the South American Division for GMI came to Rurre in the mission plane to help deal with all of the issues. Their plan was to only stay for 1 afternoon and leave the same day that they arrived. But as you all may now be aware, good luck sticking to any plan in Bolivia. They ended up staying 4 nights I believe. Maybe 3. This was due to rain, the plane being broken, and storms at their destination. However as it turns out, it was a complete blessing that their trip back was delayed by a couple days because the girls that were in that motorbike accident needed to be transported to another hospital in Santa Cruz. Beings how there were no other flights scheduled anytime soon, the mission plane was the only one here. So the mission pilot (Steve) was able to take them to a hospital.
5) Changes.
Some of the things that were decided while Jodi and Warren McDaniels (the head honcho's for the South American Division) were here was that next year, we are going to cut our enrollment down from over 110 down to 45. They have decided to completely cut out the high school in order to revamp Familia Feliz and to make it an easier situation for the new director. They have asked a young couple to come and take over as the new directors and are currently waiting to hear back. Furthermore, while we are making this transition, the McDaniels have decided to come to Familia Feliz to help facilitate some of these changes and to make things easier. Fortunately Eric and I both like them a lot. They are extremely nice people who wanna do everything they can to make the school better. They also want to implement a hands-on program that teaches the kids how to garden, build houses, make bricks and other different skills.
6) Where are they?
Juan and Emmy are still not back from their vacation to Santa Cruz and another city visiting their family. They were planning on being back on Jan. 1 and no later than Jan. 4. But what do you know, nothing is as it seems in Bolivia haha. But I do need to tell you that it is not their fault they they are not back. Apparently, their baby who they just finished adopting got very sick while they were away and they had to spend every penny they had to get her hospitalized. They now have no money in order to get back. So we shall see what happens.
7) Chaos Ball
Saturday night, both Eric and the kids all wanted to go into town and play "volleyball" again. If you don't remember, there is a racquetball court in town that has a finicky net hung up to play volleyball. The thing is, nobody has any idea how to play volleyball other than me and Eric. So it ends up just being kids kicking the ball and throwing it over the net with no form of organization whatsoever. Eric and I decided that we would never call it volleyball again because it simply is not volleyball. So we coined the name "Chaosball". But to break it up a little bit, 3 of the boys had a few B's (money) to spend. So Eric and I took them out and walked down the street and stopped at a few stores looking for some firecrackers. But no one had them, and the stores that did have the were closed.
Sunday Jan. 13 2013
Today was a big work day for me. As it was Eric's day off in town, I had plenty of time to get a lot done. I was able to wash every bit of my laundry by hand so I could save about $3. It took about 2 hours to wash all my clothes and hang them up. Then it took about 3 hours for them to dry. So basically, I just worked 7 hours to save $3 dollars. Worth it? I think yes.
I was also able to sweep my side of the room, reorganize my dresser, make/organize 3 "cubbies" beside my bed, and to make a rack to hang my church clothes on (which is just a string nailed into 2 support beams in the ceiling.
The hardest part of my day though was to deal with David. Today he made Edwin look like the good samaritan! No matter what anyone said, he would not listen. So hopefully that will improve.
You stay civilized.....planet earth!!!!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Crazy week!
Monay Jan. 31-Saturday Dec. 5, 2012
Ok guys I have had another bad week as far as blogging goes. I have been very busy here in Bolivia, and yet very lazy about blogging. So for the days, I will mostly just give the highlights in bullet form instead of a play by play of each day.
1) Mark is back!
I'm not sure if you all remember who mark is, but he is the ex-special forces guy from Great Britain. He is the one that used to work at Familia Feliz years ago and has been getting into trouble ever since. But fortunately, he likes me, Eric, and everyone else at Familia Feliz. But he is the last person you want angry at you. Several weeks ago, he was arrested for having numerous military-grade weapons, exploding ammunition, cocaine, and a hit list of people he was planning on killing. However, I spotted him in town on Monday. Turns out he bribed the police by giving them is guns, and his government requested that he be brought to the border of Bolivia and released. However he came back into Bolivia along with his hitlist! Scary stuff!
2) Guillermo left, David returned.
Both of these kids were mine at the very beginning when I first got to Familia Feliz, but David has been in Santa Cruz for about a month with his mother. Guillermo on the other hand has been here the whole time. But I found out Sunday night I found out that he was leaving Monday morning. This is also the same time that I found out that David is coming back, which is trouble. David is one of the biggest problems on campus and the most difficult to maintain. So Monday morning, the mission plane arrived and out popped David and in went Guillermo.
3) Tracy?
Tracy (Bryan's mom) randomly showed up. She disappeared from Familia Feliz awhile ago and no one knew. Now she just showed up with no one knowing. But later in the week, she left again.
4) Carrying luggage on a moto.
The same day that we took Guillermo and his sisters to the airport, we ran into a slight problem in town. The truck was being used and we really needed to get them to the airport immediately. So we sent them on a moto taxi while Joy and I decided to take our moto. However, we had 2 backpacks, a bag of dirty laundry, and 2 luggage size bags that were incredibly heavy. In case you are not sure, this is a ton of stuff to drive with on a dirty bike on unpaved roads. But when Joy said we could just pay another moto to take the bags, I said no way. That wasn't an option. I mean it would have costed us another $1.00. Unacceptable. Besides, you never put a McLennan up to a challenge like that! My grandmother taught me better than that!
5) Melissa pee'd on me!
So the same Monday that I was in town taking the kids to the airport, little Melissa was with us. While we were at Narguila's, Joy had to run some errands, so I watched the kids. While I was doing this, Melissa needed to use the bathroom, but when she went, she didn't take her sandals and as she was coming back, she slipped and just started crying like crazy. So I ran over to her, picked her up and started rubbing her head telling her it was ok as she sobbed. While I was holding her, I felt that her pants were soaked, but I figured it was just rain water or something from when she fell......nope. Not so much. After awhile of crying into my chest, she finally just fell asleep in my arms. Definitely one of those "AWW" moments.
6) Truck got fixed!
The small truck which is the last one standing has now been broken for about 2 weeks which is very bad news. This is because we use that truck to get to town, to bring groceries and other things back to Familia Feliz, and to haul the kids places. But finally after 2 weeks or so, it is finally fixed! Such very good news. However, now there is a new problem with it. When we drive it, the truck shakes violently. So we will have to get that fixed too.
7) Missy is back!
Missy (Joy's sister and the founder of Familia Feliz) went to Santa Cruz and was planning one being there for 2 or 3 days, however, that turned out to be a month. This is because she got very sick down there and needed to be hospitalized. That is why she also kept having her kids flown down there to be with her. But finally she is back which everyone is happy about.
8) Girls said that they would cook for us from now on.
This is probably the best news ever! One day Eric was working with the girls and decided to use his Mr. G. Q. skills and convinced the girls to cook for us for the rest of the summer. This was great news, however, after they said that, the next day, we almost starved our kids because for 2 different meals, we were waiting for them to be ready, but never heard a thing. They decided to change their minds about cooking without telling us. When we mentioned this to Joy, she wasn't happy because those 2 girls are paid volunteers and are not doing too much. So she insisted that they start cooking for us. Good deal!
9) Christmas Gifts!
All the kids finally got their Christmas gifts! Better late than never.
10) Soccer.....duh.
I don't think an explanation is needed.
11) Head of the South American Division (SAD) of GMI is coming.
Saturday night, Eric and I were told that this big gun, his wife, and the pilot and his wife are coming on Sunday afternoon and will be here for a few days. So Sunday morning, Eric and I needed to move 5 beds and a stove to different locations and clean a room. This is a simultaneous preparation for the head of the SAD of GMI, moving Missy into a different house, and moving some girls into the big house. So Sunday morning has been very busy.
12) Edwin.
Edwin, one of the biggest pains in my side since he arrived has been an angel this Sunday. When Eric and I woke up, he was already almost done cleaning all the dishes, the table, floor, pots, and counter tops. No one asked him to do that. He just did it. Amazing. Later on he was sitting on my lap talking and playing with me which he does a lot, but today he kissed me on the cheek and just hugged me. Kind of a cool moment for me.
13) Monkey Ears!
Today the kids went into the jungle and came back with tons of monkey ears which they absolutely love to cook and eat. They have always kind of grossed me out, but I decided that I wanted to taste one. So yes, after they boiled them and greased them up, I tried my first monkey ear. It was a very weird texture, but not that bad.
13b) Rest easy.
Relax everone, they wern't REAL monkey ears. It is a fungus kind of like mushrooms. But they look exactly like they are monkey ears. Hence why they call them that. The first time I saw them and heard what they were, I thought that they really were monkey ears. So don't worry mom and dad, I'm not eating scratched parts of a monkey.
I am experiencing some internet problems. i will upload pictures later if possible
You Stay Civilized........ Planet Earth!!!!
Ok guys I have had another bad week as far as blogging goes. I have been very busy here in Bolivia, and yet very lazy about blogging. So for the days, I will mostly just give the highlights in bullet form instead of a play by play of each day.
1) Mark is back!
I'm not sure if you all remember who mark is, but he is the ex-special forces guy from Great Britain. He is the one that used to work at Familia Feliz years ago and has been getting into trouble ever since. But fortunately, he likes me, Eric, and everyone else at Familia Feliz. But he is the last person you want angry at you. Several weeks ago, he was arrested for having numerous military-grade weapons, exploding ammunition, cocaine, and a hit list of people he was planning on killing. However, I spotted him in town on Monday. Turns out he bribed the police by giving them is guns, and his government requested that he be brought to the border of Bolivia and released. However he came back into Bolivia along with his hitlist! Scary stuff!
2) Guillermo left, David returned.
Both of these kids were mine at the very beginning when I first got to Familia Feliz, but David has been in Santa Cruz for about a month with his mother. Guillermo on the other hand has been here the whole time. But I found out Sunday night I found out that he was leaving Monday morning. This is also the same time that I found out that David is coming back, which is trouble. David is one of the biggest problems on campus and the most difficult to maintain. So Monday morning, the mission plane arrived and out popped David and in went Guillermo.
3) Tracy?
Tracy (Bryan's mom) randomly showed up. She disappeared from Familia Feliz awhile ago and no one knew. Now she just showed up with no one knowing. But later in the week, she left again.
4) Carrying luggage on a moto.
The same day that we took Guillermo and his sisters to the airport, we ran into a slight problem in town. The truck was being used and we really needed to get them to the airport immediately. So we sent them on a moto taxi while Joy and I decided to take our moto. However, we had 2 backpacks, a bag of dirty laundry, and 2 luggage size bags that were incredibly heavy. In case you are not sure, this is a ton of stuff to drive with on a dirty bike on unpaved roads. But when Joy said we could just pay another moto to take the bags, I said no way. That wasn't an option. I mean it would have costed us another $1.00. Unacceptable. Besides, you never put a McLennan up to a challenge like that! My grandmother taught me better than that!
5) Melissa pee'd on me!
So the same Monday that I was in town taking the kids to the airport, little Melissa was with us. While we were at Narguila's, Joy had to run some errands, so I watched the kids. While I was doing this, Melissa needed to use the bathroom, but when she went, she didn't take her sandals and as she was coming back, she slipped and just started crying like crazy. So I ran over to her, picked her up and started rubbing her head telling her it was ok as she sobbed. While I was holding her, I felt that her pants were soaked, but I figured it was just rain water or something from when she fell......nope. Not so much. After awhile of crying into my chest, she finally just fell asleep in my arms. Definitely one of those "AWW" moments.
6) Truck got fixed!
The small truck which is the last one standing has now been broken for about 2 weeks which is very bad news. This is because we use that truck to get to town, to bring groceries and other things back to Familia Feliz, and to haul the kids places. But finally after 2 weeks or so, it is finally fixed! Such very good news. However, now there is a new problem with it. When we drive it, the truck shakes violently. So we will have to get that fixed too.
7) Missy is back!
Missy (Joy's sister and the founder of Familia Feliz) went to Santa Cruz and was planning one being there for 2 or 3 days, however, that turned out to be a month. This is because she got very sick down there and needed to be hospitalized. That is why she also kept having her kids flown down there to be with her. But finally she is back which everyone is happy about.
8) Girls said that they would cook for us from now on.
This is probably the best news ever! One day Eric was working with the girls and decided to use his Mr. G. Q. skills and convinced the girls to cook for us for the rest of the summer. This was great news, however, after they said that, the next day, we almost starved our kids because for 2 different meals, we were waiting for them to be ready, but never heard a thing. They decided to change their minds about cooking without telling us. When we mentioned this to Joy, she wasn't happy because those 2 girls are paid volunteers and are not doing too much. So she insisted that they start cooking for us. Good deal!
9) Christmas Gifts!
All the kids finally got their Christmas gifts! Better late than never.
10) Soccer.....duh.
I don't think an explanation is needed.
11) Head of the South American Division (SAD) of GMI is coming.
Saturday night, Eric and I were told that this big gun, his wife, and the pilot and his wife are coming on Sunday afternoon and will be here for a few days. So Sunday morning, Eric and I needed to move 5 beds and a stove to different locations and clean a room. This is a simultaneous preparation for the head of the SAD of GMI, moving Missy into a different house, and moving some girls into the big house. So Sunday morning has been very busy.
12) Edwin.
Edwin, one of the biggest pains in my side since he arrived has been an angel this Sunday. When Eric and I woke up, he was already almost done cleaning all the dishes, the table, floor, pots, and counter tops. No one asked him to do that. He just did it. Amazing. Later on he was sitting on my lap talking and playing with me which he does a lot, but today he kissed me on the cheek and just hugged me. Kind of a cool moment for me.
13) Monkey Ears!
Today the kids went into the jungle and came back with tons of monkey ears which they absolutely love to cook and eat. They have always kind of grossed me out, but I decided that I wanted to taste one. So yes, after they boiled them and greased them up, I tried my first monkey ear. It was a very weird texture, but not that bad.
13b) Rest easy.
Relax everone, they wern't REAL monkey ears. It is a fungus kind of like mushrooms. But they look exactly like they are monkey ears. Hence why they call them that. The first time I saw them and heard what they were, I thought that they really were monkey ears. So don't worry mom and dad, I'm not eating scratched parts of a monkey.
I am experiencing some internet problems. i will upload pictures later if possible
You Stay Civilized........ Planet Earth!!!!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Stolen...
Monday Dec. 24, 2012
It's Christmas Eve and it doesn't feel like it at all. Last night I slept in town and this morning spent some time online before coming back to Familia Feliz. The town does not look very "Christmasy" I saw 1 tree that had some wreaths on it, and there was one road where they had a bunch of tent stores selling goods. But nothing too special. It's nothing like in the States where Wal-Mart starts decorating the whole place with Christmas goods and starts playing Chistmas music in October!
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| Edwin Learning to use a weed wacker |
Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012 Christmas Day
Chistmas morning. Really? How can that be? There are no decorations, no snow, no lights, and it's 85 degrees outside! Needless to say, Eric and I do not have the Christmas spirit. We keep having to remind each other that it's Christmas because we legitimately keep forgetting. Especially because this is the hardest I have ever worked on Christmas.
It started off with some weedwacking. I REALLY wanted to cut some grass because the entire place is starting to look like a jungle. In some places the grass is up to my knees. Normally, we would never let this happen, but the lawnmower is broken and the piece that holds the strong on the weed wacker is broken. Fortunately, we found another head for the weedwacker that is 3 sharp metal blades. It takes a lot longer because it is smaller, but it gets the job done. Anyway, I was just starting to feel claustrophobic with all the grass and the bugs and snakes that are starting to inhabit in there. I can't even count how many times Eric and I have now been bitten by these terrible ants.
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| Got Me! |
After weedwacking, Eric and I wanted to prepare a little something special for the kids. So we had tons of balloons and decided to prepare for a water balloon fight! Remember, it's Christmas. So yes, a water balloon fight at Christmas. Weird. We ended up filling 5 different containers of balloons. It was very difficult to keep the kids away from these bins as they are literally just buckets of temptations. After about 2 hours, we were finished filling balloons and locked up the room that they were all in. That afternoon, we rounded up all the little soldiers (about 15-20 people). We started off with a water balloon toss to see who could throw it the farthest without dropping it. It was very fun to see little kids trying to do this and failing when they are only like 2 feet apart. After the competition, it began. Everyone started going crazy mode throwing balloons at everyone! Water was flying everywhere and kids were screaming and running. Weirdest Christmas I have ever had.
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| Fireworks on Christmas |
Right after we finished taking the pillar out, we needed to start the generator, but it broke on us. So while everyone was eating and being merry, Eric and I had to be the Men that saved Christmas! Were we up to the task? I think yes. So we started taking parts off of the generator and doing our best to fix it. Finally we did and had the power going. Merry Christmas.
After we saved Christmas, it was time for us to get some grub. And THAT my friends was a good meal. They cooked oiled mini potatoes, white rice, plantains, gluten, and we had soda to drink. Doesn’t sound like maybe the greatest Christmas meal in the states, but for here it was like Cambells soup…." Mmm Mmm Good!"
After we ate, we recruited 3 other guys to help us carry this log, that would be too big to use even for Noah’s Ark, across campus. Even with 5 guys, we had to take 2 breaks. My back really started to hurt, that’s when I knew that we needed to hurry up and finish or I was going to just have to stop as I already have a bad back. Fortunately we made it. Merry Christmas.
Then a lot later, Joy had bought some fireworks. So this was a pleasant, and again weird, surprise for Christmas. We then had a little fireworks show. This was quite fun but almost ended with disaster because one of the fireworks launched a bunch of missiles, then paused for a few seconds then bursted with more. So after the first set, a bunch of kids ran over to look inside not knowing there was a second batch of missiles. The second batch blew right near some of their heads. This stopped some of our hearts. It was one of the most scary moments. But everyone was ok. Merry Christmas.
Finally the night was wrapping up and we showed the kids Lion King as a little Christmas gift because Tuesday’s are not movie days. But we made an exception for Christmas. Then we all went to sleep safe and sound.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
*side note, on a little more frustrating point, today I found out that some kids broke into my other house where I have just a few items and they stole my Christmas gifts I bought for my boys, a pack of my only AAA batteries (which is a problems because batteries are super expensive here(and generally fake)), and my lighter. But oh well, such is life.
Wednesday Dec. 26, 2012
Today went back to it’s normal self. I woke up and decided to do some more weedwacking. So I worked for maybe an hour, then it started to rain. So I went inside with Eric to do some editing of our photos and to exchange some. Once it stopped raining, I went back to weedwacking.However something happened today that really shook me up pretty bad. This morning, before I first started to cut the grass, I was putting on the harness that helps hold the weed wacker, and the weed wacker was sitting on our concrete porch. Remember that this weedwacker has sharp metal blades, not string. Anyway, Edwin decided he was going to pull the cord and start it while I was standing beside it. As soon as he started it, the blades took off spinning and lunged the blades directly at my feet! Fortunately, I heard the engine start, and as soon as I looked I saw the spinning blades coming just before they hit my ankles. So I jumped as high as I could and it just barely missed me. After that, I just sat down and said 3 prayers of thanks. Edwin is no longer allowed to touch the weedwacker.
After weedwacking all afternoon, I went into the house and sat down exhausted. Then Edwin came in later and just sat on my lap and completely passed out and went to sleep. We were both pretty exhausted. That’s about the time Eric left campus because he decided to sleep in town again and come back tomorrow afternoon. Awhile after he left, the girls came over and asked if we could play soccer. So I grabbed the ball and we played for a couple hours. It was so much fun! A good end to the day.
Friday Dec. 28, 2012Today I spent much of the day in town. But as I was waiting at the taxi station, I saw Jose! Turns out that he was leaving to go to Brazil for the rest of the summer. However I didn't really understand him because he speaks with a very strong accent (so sometimes even bolivians don't understand him). So I was under the impression that he would be back that afternoon. So here he was, trying to say bye and that he was going to miss me and I was just brushing him off because I thought that I would see him in a few hours. So yeah, feel a little bad about that.
Saturday Dec. 29, 2012
Today was a little bit of a bitter day unflortunately. It started last night when Lizelle came and told us that for church tomorrow, her friends were going to pick us up and we were all going to go into town for church because it was communion Sabbath. Anyway, Eric and I woke up and were ready to go, along with our boys. But no one showed up. No one said anything. After awhile, we went on the search for Lizelle. Turns out, she took one of the moto's into town by herself to go to church and didn't tell us. This left Eric and I in a situation because we had no idea what to do for church. Because we had been planning to go into town, nothing was planned. So once again, we had no choice but to show the kids yet another movie for church. I hate that 3 of the last 4 Sabbath's, we have shown them a movie for church. But oh well, such is life.
Later in the afternoon, I saw Edwin with a little battery operated fan that he had made. This kid is seriously like a genius. He has made so many things, has a far advanced level of spanish than everyone else here, can remember anything, and is always experimenting with things. If only he didn't try to make life miserable for us by being defiant and living by his own rules, he would be a great kid.
Anyway, I saw him with this fan and when I saw the battery, it was a AAA Energizer battery which is exactly what was stolen from me. So I immediately asked him where he got them and he said that he looked all over campus for one until he finally found one. Not buying that he just happened to stumble upon one, I waited until everyone was gone, then I did what every kid in a dorm hates.....roomcheck! When I went upstairs, it was a mess. So I started turning things over and searching in all the likely hiding places until, what do you know? An empty pack of AAA Energizer batteries was right beside his and Guillermo's bed.
I took the package and immediately went to the Big House were all the kids and Eric were. Everyone was just leaving, but I showed Eric the box and told him what happened. So we stopped Edwin (and Juan and Moises just tagged along), then we I asked Edwin where he got the batteries and why he had the box. He, along with Juan and Moises, all said that it was Guillermo's batteries and he had given Edwin one. They told me that Guillermo had said it was a gift from his parents for his new cars (which ironically were also missing from me). So I said ok and was going to talk to Guillermo later.
Thats about the time that Guillermo showed up. As soon as he did, I glared at him and went kamikazi mode in spanish on him. He denied taking my batteries or cars and said that Jose took them and he found that battery package in the trash. So I told him that was a terrible story because why in the world would he want to take and keep a small empty box of batteries out of the trash. He didn't have an answer.
I decided to take my batteries, and go downstairs to talk to Eric and tell him what was going on. Shortly after I filled him in, there was a knock at my door and 3 boys were standing there; Edwin, Juan, and Guillermo. Edwin had a little sponge animal that Eric had "given" them. They are those little pills that you put in warm water and they grow into a sponge animal. Anyways, I didn't think much of it until Eric saw it and immediately recognized that that was not one of the animals he had given out yet. So he went to his stash of toys he had brought for the kids, and a whole package of them were missing. After he realized they were stolen, he went upstairs and found tons of them beside Guillermo's bed.
So this time, Eric was upstairs and I was waiting in the room for him to come back. But while he was up there, he decided that he was going to take all of Guillermo's marbles. When he took those marbles, all the other kids gasped and asked Eric if he was serious. Even though the kids understood the seriousness of the situation, they still could not believe that Eric would be that harsh. And apparently it was harsh enough for Guillermo to cry which I don't know if I have ever seen. This is because here, marbles are like pieces of gold. These kids go crazy for marbles.
When eric got back to the room, he had this big cup filled with marbles and told me what happened. But when I looked at them I realized that they looked very new, and very familiar. So I ran up to them and realized that 150 of those were my marbles that were stolen out of my room! I was so mad! then we confirmed it because Eric had boughten the same packs of marbles that I did and we held them up to each other, and sure enough, identical.
Eric and I went outside and gave Guillermo a very harsh talk. I told him that he is a liar and a thief and that there will be consequences. Knowing that by simply taking the marbles made him cry, I told him that I was going to put each and every marble into the fire and destroy them. Then Eric said that for the entire month of January, he will be washing everyone's plates and the pots and pans. Right about now we could see that it was just beginning to touch home. But seeing that he was only on the front porch, I wanted him to go inside, so I chimed in and told him that he had to do all that in ADDITION to all his other chores. He broke down.
Thats when Eric headed to the Big House to take a shower and I went back into my room. About 10-15 minutes later, there was a knock at my door. When I opened it up, it was Guillermo standing there crying and he said he was sorry for stealing my batteries, cars, and marbles. So I said thank-you and that I appreciated him saying sorry. Then he asked about maybe lightening the "sentence". So clearly, he was trying the whole, "I'm sorry, can you forgive me and not punish me" trick. That doesn't work on me......please child, I invented that trick! So I explained to him that it is very good that he said he was sorry, but when we lie and steal, there are punishments and consequences for those actions. But I wanted him to really know why I was so upset and disappointed. So I explained that the cars and marbles were for him anyway. I had boughten those things for him to give him for Christmas because he was my fulltime son and I wanted Christmas to be a little more special for him. But then he goes and steals it from me. I explained that it made me very sad and I really wish he had not done that. He listened to me very intently and seemed to understand what I was saying. After this, it was time to get supper started. So as I was walking to the kitchen in the Big House, I saw him go up to the room where Eric was showering. Turns out, he said sorry to Eric too and asked about lightening the sentence. He just pulled the whole "Daddy said no, so i'm gunna go ask mommy (or in this case daddy #2)" trick. This kid is smart. But fortunately, Eric and I invented that game too when we were younger. Needless to say it didn't work.
While I was cooking, Guillermo came out and just sat down. Didn't say anything, just sat there thinking. I asked him if he was ok and I started talking to him about cooking because he loves cooking. Then I tried to say a few things to make him smile which worked. Then I walked over and sat next to him, put my arm on his shoulders and said "you know you're my buddy right?" He looked up me and smiled and nodded. Mission accomplished! I think I just got my purple belt in parenting.....
You stay civilized......planet earth!!!
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