Blogs from Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 5

Well its been an 'ìnteresting' 24 hours....! We left Corumba for the Brazillian border hoping to get our stamps then go to the Bolivian airport Peurto Suarez and catch our 3pm flight to Santa Cruz. However the first spanner in our works was the immigration office which didnt open until 2pm - meaning we would miss our flight. After much deliberation we found out we could get our stamps in Santa Cruz so went to the airport to get the flight. However we pulled up to a shabby looking deserted warehouse type building, which made us feel a bit uneasy and our fears were confirmed when we went in to the empty shack and found out our flight didnt exist.... We were slightly unsure how to proceed, but we thought we might as well go and ... read more

Today was the final day of the Ayore conference. The women's team attended a portion of the church service in Puesto Paz and then took on children's entertainment duties to allow the adults to better participate. In this indigenous culture kids are not disciplined and when I say not disciplined I mean absolutely NO discipline. This creates a very disruptive environment for the conference. We did another VBS...this time, the story of the Crossing of the Red Sea. As Marci told the story Suzy and I drew the picture of it in the background. We are amazing artists as you will see from the pictures...Sike! We pre-stenciled the paper with light pencil so that we "looked" like amazing artists...haha! The kids loved it and were extremely occupied...thank goodness! We then did a Red Sea craft. After ... read more

The first major construction project is officially underway. The men's team spent the last 2 days building a porch at the Poza Verde mission house. This will be used primarily for outdoor meetings, bible study and general socializing. Due to late night "hunting" the guys team was a little more tired than entirely necessary and were therefore famished and a little grumpy when they arrived back at camp. Ok, so I'm exaggerating Gary went hunting, Gary was famished and Gary was grumpy! Just kidding Gary! By the way, there is supposedly no animals in Bolivia...I believe that someone needs to brush up on their hunting skills. Anyway, we had another wonderful meal by Sindi, had a team meeting to discuss the days events, went to the playground to check out the stars, and then called it ... read more

Although the excitement has steadily risen throughout the journey, this is one group of tired folks. We did not have a very smooth trip from Miami to La Paz due to a thunderstorm and American Airlines concrete seats. Many of which did not recline, poor Brenda and Cheryl! Our host team brought coffee and homemade cinnamon buns to the airport and we did a little breakfast tailgate. It was super sweet of them and we all felt very welcomed and appreciated. Next was loading the van with 20 suitcases...no big deal whatsoever if you compare it to the 2 hour drive on narrow dirt roads that came next. No bueno! Check out the pics! On to lunch and then Poza Verde!... read more

Hola! I am writing to you from Los Tajibos Hotel, one of the most beautiful and relaxing places on earth! I am so lucky to be staying here for about a week. This is the first time i've had a real vacation all by myself in my adult life. I'm taking my time here in Santa Cruz to relax and plan for what is ahead.. which is a whole lot of traveling! Santa Cruz is a tropical city in Bolivia, and it is where I was born 20 years ago. I am mainly here to reconnect with family members that I haven't seen in 4 years. I realized a lot has changed since my last visit, namely that there are 3 new additions to the extended family, and that my nieces and nephews (2nd cousins by ... read more