VUG Media

Hello!

It´s been awhile since I´ve typed much of anything, so the time has come for a bit of an update. Right now we´re all really high, but don´t worry Mom, it´s not what you think! We are all quite safe and sound in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. Besides political instability (Bolivia has averaged more than one change of government per a year since inception), the country is known for having the world´s "highest everything". We are now in the world´s highest capital city (3600 meters) featuring the world´s highest airport. We just traveled from lake Titicaca, the world´s highest navigable lake. We are literally quite "high" 24-7...

Besides being Latin America´s poorest nation, the only other record that I know Bolivia holds is the famous "World´s Most Dangerous Road". The winding Andean road averages more than 100 fatalities a year. Once again, I repeat, don´t worry Mom! We are not planning to travel this route! However, some of the roads that we took in Peru are just as dangerous but are less traveled, yielding less fatalities. I could have died! I actually had another near death encounter with a mountain side a week ago but that is a story for another time....

Working with Youth For Christ

Here in La Paz we are in contact with Youth For Christ and are going to serve along side of them for this week. We have moved into the YFC headquarters already and even played a game of basketball with 40 (or so) shoeshine boys. In La Paz, there are hundreds of shoeshine boys trying to earn money to support themselves and their families. Here in Bolivia, shoe shining caries a strong social stigma, which leads these young kids to dawn balaclavas to hide their faces from their friends and neighbors.

Being able to give shoe shiners the chance to play basketball together not only gives a chance to relax and feel like people care, it also creates a community of belonging amongst the group. After basketball the 40 of us all packed into a local Kentucky Fried Chicken equivalent to share a meal together. Being able to bless these kids through sport and food has already been a true blessing to myself; I´m looking forward to the rest of this week and seeing the kids again. It looks like we will be able to play Basketball again and even invite a group over to "our" pad for a games night.

Backing things up just a tad I guess that I should give a bit more information about our new found YFC friends here in Bolivia. Our main contact is Randy Davis, a 20 something year old from Colorado who has been serving here in La Paz since 2005. He serves as basketball coach for a few local schools, runs a ministry for shoe shiners and also leads wilderness excursions for disadvantaged kids, showing them the Andean mountains that surrounds them. Randy´s main method of outreach (as far as I have seen) is through building solid relationships with the kids here. The three scant sentences above don´t begin to do justice to this ministry, so head over to Randy´s main website to learn more and send support if you so desire.

Bolvia´s current political situation

Working alongside Randy is a number of other YFC missionaries: Hannah, Lisa and Scott, as well as a few others. Yesterday we went out for lunch with the YFC crew, which was a fun introduction. Most interesting to us was the details that we were given about the political situation. Bolivia is always somewhat unstable but the one staff member told us that there is now a 50% chance that the country will be plunged into civil war! The dispute revolves around the new President Evo Morales, who is steering the country towards Socialism. The process has been controversial (to say the least!) but support is fairly high.

At the moment, Bolivia´s constitution is being re-written in what some are saying is non democratic process, as only a "50 plus 1" is needed to pass the legislation. Morales´s "Movement Towards Socialism" party has an absolute majority in legislature so passage is more or less guaranteed, barring some sort of military or civilian coup' de' et. For more information about this development the Washington Times has a nice short article on the situation.

With the massive amount of change occurring, street protest is common. Yesterday we walked by what seemed to be a women´s sitting protest. I wish I had my camera to get a photo of Indigenous woman sitting on a city staircase, being blocked by Riot Police! While this scene may seem dangerous, is actually was not dangerous or out of the ordinary. We´ve seen quite a few random protests while in South America!

Another common form of protest is road blockages. There have been quite a few road blockages as of late, so hopefully we´ll be able to get out of La Paz smoothly when that time comes. In fact, we´ve been told that the next town we are headed to (Oruro) is blocked this week. However, protest usually let up over the weekend, which is when we´re travelling, so we´re not too worried at the moment. However, this situation does make an excellent prayer request for all of you praying types reading. Not just for our own travels but for the much more important issue of Bolivia´s future.

From Arequipa to our first days in Bolivia

Backing things up a bit further still, I realize that I still haven´t given any details about our trip from Arequipa in Peru into Copacabana, Bolivia. Between these two towns is Puno, which is on Peru´s side of Titicaca. We heard from friends that Puno was over-run with tourists gawking at reed boats and floating Islands so we decided to pass right through to Bolivia. What we didn´t realize however is that there are no buses from Puno to Copacabana during the middle of the night because the border closes. This left us at a nearly deserted bus station in the cold of the night. However we were "lucky" enough (if you could call it that) to find a bus company that offered us a nights stay on their office floor for the small price of buying their bus tickets on the spot! The space was incredibly dirty and cramped but brought a smile to my face... it may well be the most derelict place that I´ve ever slept. I´m having a hard time deciding if it the experience beats out sleeping on a grassy median in a Wall Mart parking lot! (For those of you who aren´t familiar with the story this was part of hitch hiking across Canada 2 summers ago.)

The next bus trip into Bolivia was fairly uneventful. Even the border was dull, despite its foreignness and lack of efficiency. There was enough tourists on the bus that I wasn´t ashamed to pull out my iPod and relax to the sweet sounds of music. The only eventful moment of the trip was arriving in Copacabana where a corrupt official tried to make everyone pay an fictitious "entry tax". While the front portion of the bus paid the fee they had a bit more trouble getting money out of us in the back. When I told the collector "no cambio" (no change) he quickly stormed off of the bus and we were on our way!

Coppcabana wasn´t that exciting to me, except for it´s glorious lakeside sunsets it seemed like just another repetitive town. The real jewel of the place is the Island of the Sun two hours off the shore. According to Incan myths, this island was the birthplace of the sun. We ended up spending two relaxing days exploring the island, enjoying the magnificent views. The night at the hostel was notable for one of the best sunsets that I´ve ever experienced. With the altitude of the lake, the clouds seem to hover artificially low over the water and distant mountains: an excellent canvas for a magnificent sunset!

After Coppabanna was our first few days in La Paz where we stayed at a decent hostel. Other than exploring the city, nothing too eventful happened. Mostly we hung out with Julia and Sophie, two of our German traveling friends we met on the Salkantay trek. Having them around is always good fun and conversation. More than that, the female companionship loosens up our wallets and somehow forces us to eat at nice restaurants and go to the movie theater! A quick side note: The Lady in Water is a disappointing movie, it could have been so much more!

The only other significant La Paz event that I can think of is our initial arrival at the bus depot where we were almost robbed! I was alone guarding all of our stuff when a seemingly friendly man asked me where I was from. Just as I started to say "yo soy Canadience" I saw another man walking away with Jeremy´s day pack under his jacket! I quickly lunged for the bag and managed to retrieve it as the two thieves ran off. I´m thankful that this is the only situation like this we´ve had to deal with since arriving.

I´ve spent too much time and too many words in front of a the computer today so I´m going to put this post to bed, although I could say more. I miss you all!