The Death Road

Today our adventures took us from La Cumbre to Coroico where we took on the challenge of mountain biking the death road. It just so happens that the one day we decided to do the ride was also the only day it’s decided to rain in La Paz since we’ve been here (which meant it was snowing at La Cumbre). Even so we had a great time and are still alive to tell about the death road experience. Sadly enough, the death road receives its name and is famous all over the world due to the great number of people who have died while traveling on it (most of them in buses). One time a bus with 100 people fell off the road and everyone was killed. The road is really only wide enough for one car and was supposed to have traffic going in one direction one part of the day and another direction another part of the day, but this was rarely followed and with straight drops up to two thousand feet on either side of the road; many deaths occurred yearly. People here often describe how in the attempts of the buses to get around one another part of a wheel would be hanging off the edge of a cliff. Fortunately, Bolivia made a new paved road three years ago and the death road is used far less frequently for daily travel.

11,000 feet of vertical descent!

A Cleft-Palate Party and The Health Department Shrine

On Wednesday the hospital had a cleft-lip party with a Father from Austria who has provided a lot of the monetary means for the children to have these surgeries at the San Gabriel hospital. There were probably 30 families that came with their children who had cleft-lip/palate and balloons and dancing were the main event. We were able to survey a lot of the patients parents while we were there at the hospital and also interview the Father. The presence of the Catholic Church here in Bolivia is quite unbelievable. Jayson and I have talked to a lot of “Fathers” as a part of our research project. Although we had always planned on interviewing community leaders as a part of our project we didn’t know that so many of the civic leaders would end up being Catholic priests. We were also amused by the presence of the Catholic church when we went to the public health department office that afternoon and found this unusually large shrine to the Virgin Mary in their room for vaccinations. I am not sure how receiving vaccinations and worshiping the Virgin relate but even so it is quite common to find their public buildings and hospitals adorned with these types of things. Additionally many of the hospital directors are Catholic nuns.

The Daily Mishap

I have become quite famous in the Calvet family for having some daily mishap of sorts. It just so happens today’s mishap was a little more extreme. In an effort to more effectively dry off my leg after showering this morning I placed my leg on the sink. Next thing I new the whole top of the sink tipped over and shattered in a thousand pieces. Luckily, the sink didn’t fall on my foot but you can only imagine the look on my face when it happened. Do you think home owner’s insurance would cover this in the states?

The re-enactment. Step 1: I tried to dry my leg off...

Step 2: The sink falls off its base and breaks into a million pieces.

Gelatinas encapsulada

So Zulma (our cook) and Sandra (her daughter that we live with) have been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to teach me how to make flower designs inside of jello. It is the new, hip, crafty thing to do here in Bolivia and all it requires is good skills with a needle. When Jayson saw that medical equipment was involved he quickly became interested in the project too. Needless to say all the ladies were a little caught off guard. Men and women have very distinct roles here in Bolivia and rarely do their roles overlap. For instance men solely drive, work, and watch futbol. Women on the other hand do dishes, cook, make crafts, and watch after the children.

I could tell the ladies were a little nervous when Jayson curiously asked if he could be part of the fun, but there reluctance quickly went away when they saw Jayson’s beautiful rose. After that Jayson was referred to as master teacher and we were all vying to have him give us lessons.

The Bolivian Perspective

A group of mothers with their babies that have had cleft-lip/palate surgery.

While Jayson and I have come to enjoy the different simplicities of the Bolivian way of life; it seems that the most rewarding part of our experience here in Bolivia and has been the work we’ve for our research project. In the past four days we’ve had the opportunity to interview 12 doctors, a catholic priest, the director of health, and visit various cleft-lip patients and their families. Our most interesting interviews have been with the plastic surgeons here. One of the surgeons has done 2,300 cleft-palate surgeries and is known internationally for his work. He offered some interesting insights on the best way for NGOs to offer support. He mentioned that when foreign doctors come into Bolivia and do surgeries that Bolivian doctors can and should be doing on their own it takes away their dignity. He feels that it is fine for an organization to offer financial support for a time but that should not be the final solution. He proposed an alternate solution to providing free surgeries for children. Instead of NGOs paying for local doctors to do the surgeries (as Smile Train does) or having American doctors unfamiliar with cleft palate surgeries come in (like Operation Smile) he suggested setting up a rotation. Because of the experience these Bolivian doctors have had and the techniques they have developed, the results from their surgeries are superior to the vast majority of the surgeries done by foreign doctors. If doctors wanting to specialize in cleft lip and palate surgery they could pay these specialist to teach them for a period of 3 or 4 months their techniques that have not been written in the textbooks yet. In turn, they could provide free surgeries for the patients who have no money because the doctor wanting to learn finances them. If the NGOs still wanted to help, they could provide a scholarship for the doctors wanting to learn. Just as a side note, each plastic surgeon we have met with has a photo album with pictures of patients that have had bad operations, many of which were performed by Operation Smile medical missions. It is sad because once the child has had a bad operation it is very difficult to fix and make it look good. The child only gets one chance to have a good operation.

We have also been touched by many of the families that have lived though the trial of having a child born with cleft lip. Nobody knows until the baby comes out of the womb that it has cleft lip; if you have ever seen a baby with a bilateral cleft lip, it is quite a startling sight. There are many false beliefs about the origin of the deformity and it causes many parents to leave their children with the malformation at the hospital and never come back. One lady we met with had adopted one of these children and helped her receive reconstructive surgery. This program in Tarija is quite impressive. They have helped hundreds of children receive high quality reconstructive surgery. Many of these families have absolutely nothing in US standards, yet with the help of this organization they are able to help these children live a normal life.

A mother with two daughters that were born with cleft-lip.

The great team that has helped us an incredible amount with our research. Guadalupe, the one in the green, treated us like a son and daughter. (This is quite normal to tower over everyone. We will have a reality check when we get back to the states and we are short again.)

Arrival in Tarija

June 24 – Yesterday we arrived in Tarija to continue our research project. After we picked up our bags at the baggage claim, we received a nice welcome from our contact Guadalupe and her chauffeur who came to pick us up. This is a little town without many North American visitors. I don’t know if it is standard for all Americans to be interviewed by the local news when they arrive or not, but some how they got tipped by someone that we were coming and were anxiously waiting for us to share a few words. Unfortunately, I have a sore throat and my voice has mostly escaped me; so I gave him the watered down version. The newsman seemed a bit disappointed for not receiving a longer explanation for why we are here, but that’s life. Too bad we have to come all the way to Bolivia to become regulars on the 6 o’clock news.

Afterwards we went looking for a hostal to stay in while we are here in Tarija. Having stayed in a wonderful hostal in Rurre for $10 were thought we could find something decent for under $5. We were sorely disappointed to find out that the nastiest places in town were more than $10 a night. Apparently people love the wine and the small town feel of this place and drive-up the real estate prices. Since we spent our wad on the nicest suit in Bolivia a couple of weeks ago, we decided to go with one of the “economic” rooms. Lonely planet describes the one we chose as being rather ramshackle, which I think is a bit generous. Think of your “favorite” missionary apartment and you might have an idea of our jail cell. To make the rooms cheaper they make you share a bathroom with the other tenants in the complex. Showering provides two options. This morning Stephanie chose the larger shower/toilet room with mold caked on the walls, while I chose the smaller cleaner shower despite the fact that I had to literally straddle the toilet as I showered; at least the trickle of water was warm. I don’t know if not having plugs in a room also makes it cheaper of if they just plain forgot, but no power outlets in the room also complicate things. Steph found an outlet in the lobby and tried blowing drying her hair but something went haywire with the current and sparks came flying out of the dryer instead of hot air. Needless to say singed hair is also part of the experience. I guess we will appreciate our mansion at 320 North much more when we return to live in Provo once more.

2 weeks prior: enjoying a gourmet peach pork chop...

at the Ritz and...

...now we are living in the jail cell

It's a little harder to share these half-sized twin beds so we opted to sleep separate!

Don't worry Steph's happier than she looks!

Bolivia just celebrated their second holiday within two days of each other. San Juan is a holiday dedicated to eating “salchichas” or hot dogs with your family and blowing up fireworks at midnight. Walking downtown in the evening was difficult because the place was packed with people buying hot dogs and fireworks. We joined in on the fun and bought our own 100 shot roman candle that was taller than Stephanie.

As far as our research goes we are making progress with our surveys and interviews. It is fun to listen to the doctors and hear their opinion about the help that is given to their country. Our friend Guadalupe has been amazing and planned out our time here down to the minute; it is like having our very own personal secretary.

A Taijan countryside full of vineyards

10 K Race & The Aymara New Year

Monday was the Aymara New Year holiday, so as is typical on a holiday no one goes to work and you enjoy the day sitting around, passing time in typical Bolivian style. However this day required a little more exertion than the other holidays we’ve celebrated. Dr. Moya caught wind that Jayson and I enjoy running a thought that we would enjoy the opportunity to do a 10K run. Somehow in Dr. Moya’s invitiation to do the run and Jayson’s explanation I misunderstood the Spanish and thought we were doing a 10K race with lots of runners and it was some big event. I woke up a little nervous and anxious (the usual race day feelings), and then Dr. Moya arrived and told us we could start running. I gave Jayson a confused but figured we were probably doing a warm-up run to the race start. As it turns out what Dr. Moya really had in mind was for Sandra, Gabriel, Jayson and I to run from the house to a swimming pool seven miles away. Maricello was our support car during the run, and we enjoyed making frequent stops to refuel on tangerines and water. Unfortunately the swimming pool was closed for the holiday (no big surprise), so to “pass the time” we went to a little place to sit, drink frescos, and have a little small talk. I don’t know what it is about Bolivians or the Latin American culture but they love to go to a place, away from home, and sit, chat, and drink frescos especially on holidays. Then after you have had a chat at one place, you go to another place and do the same thing.

This is where the Bolivian Army trains. I am very grateful to live in America!

Halfway through our race.

This is the family we are staying with and Dr. Moya, the opthamologist.

Jayson is Thankful for the Mundial

Although some days are more packed than others we still manage to be quite tired when the end of the day rolls around. I thought I would give you a sampling of one of Jayson’s most recent prayers to help you appreciate this. After he had been sleeping for an hour or so I woke Jayson up to say prayers. Jayson started out praying in English in his usual prayer mumble, but when you combine the prayer mumble with the tired mumble the intensity of the mumble multiplies. As a result I didn’t really understand the first part of the prayer, but then he said something that caught me off guard and I couldn’t contain the giggles. He said in his prayer that he was thankful we had the opportunity to watch the mundial (world cup) on television. It would have been one thing if Jayson and I had actually watched the mundial and he really desired to express his gratitude for that opportunity, but it turns out we hadn’t actually watched the mundial that day. When he heard me laughing he then started speaking really fast Spanish and ended his prayer sooner than normal.

*As evidenced by Jayson’s prayer, the mundial is a really big deal here. People are obsessed! We have found it necessary to stay up to date on all the current games in order to have conversations about what everyone is talking about all over Bolivia (Does anyone else find it slightly ironic that Bolivia doesn’t even have a team to cheer on in the competition?). Fortunately the success of Bolivia’s South American neighbors (Argentina and Brazil) provides plenty of opportunities for Bolivians to express their mundial excitement through firework displays.

Multicine

Last night we decided to take the kids we are staying with to the Multicine, one of two movie theaters in La Paz playing the latest movies. Gabriel, 11 years old, was absolutely ecstatic about going to the movies. I didn’t really know what to expect going to a Latin movie theater, but Stephanie and I have never been so entertained on a trip to the theater. When we entered the building everything seemed normal aside from the fact that we were the two tallest, whitest people in the crowd. As we passed all the little department stores the crowed thickened. I had no idea why there were some many people around. We found the line to buy the tickets, which, was abnormally long, and got tickets to Toy Story 3. After we bought the tickets, Gabriel came and found us and took us down a couple of flights of stairs to the popcorn line where the kids had just bought 5 sodas and 3 jumbo popcorn buckets. They were quite relieved to see us because they had run out of money and needed a few extra Bolivianos to complete the deal. This is where Steph lost it and started laughing hysterically. Apparently there is an unwritten rule here that if you are going to watch a movie you have to buy popcorn and drinks. I don’t know where all the people came from, but there was about 4 times the people buying popcorn as there were in the ticket line. After the popcorn and drinks we had to stand in line for them to check our tickets. In short the entire floor of the room was covered with people standing in one line or another, not even Disneyland on Christmas is so packed with people. Needless to say the Bolivians love to go the movies. We watched Buzz and Woody on the silver screen and had a ball.

Steph with the kids in front of the 11 screen Multicine!

We promise the kids had fun, Latins just have a natural instinct to put on their game faces for any photo.

Just waiting for the movie to start and eating our popcorn.

Day 3 in Las Pampas

June 17 - Day 3 began with an early morning boat ride to a giant field where we watched the blood red sun rise over the horizon. It reminded me of the time when my friends and I woke our dates up (Stephanie) at 4 in the morning to watch the sunrise over the Tetons; even though we didn’t make it in time and the sun came over the mountains as we watch from the van window.

Later in the day we met one of Victor’s good friends, a caymán name Peter. Supposedly feeding any animal in the pampas is forbidden; however, Victor, and I am sure all the other guides do it as well, feed certain animals to make the tour better. Victor has fed this caymán so many times that he can go to Peter’s territory, tap on the water and Peter will come right up to his hand looking for food. When he called Peter for the first time we had no idea of Victor’s feeding routines, so we were quite impressed at the friendliness of such a fierce looking creature. Later we played around with Peter a bit as we feed him meat that was intended for fishing piranhas.

After lunch, our stay at the pampas ended. We loaded up our gear and headed back down the Yacuma River headed for Santa Rosa. The ride was quite relaxing as we saw all the animals we had seen on the way into camp. Our journey doubled in length because halfway down the river our boat broke down. Apparently someone had played a joke on us and poured water in the gas tank. Luckily the boat carrying 500 one-liter empty beer bottles back to civilization passed us and we tied the two boats together. We couldn’t go too fast but we made steady progress. Just before we got to Santa Rosa our rescue boat died as well, not too surprising considering all of their engines appear to be from the 1970’s. For the last couple hundred yards our guide used a long stick he had found and brought us to the little town gondola style. How’s that for dedication to customer service?

Day 2 in Las Pampas

June 16 - Day 2 of the pampas consisted of going on a hunt for anacondas, boa constrictors, and cobras in the marsh land. With nothing but a pair of galoshes and Jayson’s knife to protect us we set off for a three hour trek through knee deep water and mud to find the snakes. I failed to mention one detail and that is that the way you find the snakes is by stepping on them (or disturbing them in their own habitat). You can imagine that my every step was fairly slow while Jayson was trudging through the marshland with lightening speed. Fortunately or unfortunately we did not happen upon any anacondas in this trip but we took some sweet pictures of the storks and other birds in the area.

In the afternoon we went on riverboat ride to find the pink water dolphins. According to Victor (our guide) if you find the pink fresh water dolphins then you can swim in the river without worry because the dolphins protect people from the alligator and piranhas. Whether Victor was being serious or not we accepted his advice and jumped into the alligator/piranha/anaconda river once we happened upon the pink river dolphins. However, I am not convinced that the dolphins were enjoying our company. When we were on one side of the river they swam to the other and when we swam to the other side to be by them again they tricked us and went right back to the other side. Either it was a funny joke between the dolphins or they don’t really like offering their protective assistance to humans.

After the swim with the dolphins we went piranha fishing and Jayson and I each had success in catching one piranha even if they were both pretty small. Our guide caught a piranha that was big enough to take back to camp and cook but between 8 people the meat didn’t go very far. That night we went on another little boat ride to a central area where a bunch of pampas tours had come together to play some soccer and watch the sunset. It was quite a melting pot of people from all over the world coming together to play in the universal sport of ‘futbol’.

Day 1 in Las Pampas

June 15 - This morning we woke up and went to a little restaurant nearby for breakfast before beginning our journey to the pampas (or wetlands). I must admit I was a little bit disappointed when Jayson and I ordered the “Amercian Breakfast” which claimed to come with pancakes but the pancake turned out to be a thin crepe smothered in honey. For the past two ½ weeks all we have had for breakfast is tea and bread. So you can imagine that for someone who likes breakfast food as much as I do I was just slightly disappointed that I have yet to have enjoyed some “real American” breakfast food. We then met up with the tour agency and took a three hour jeep ride on the bounciest dirt road you can imagine to Santa Rosa where the pampas tour began. On our tour we met Matt from Ireland, his girlfried Katie from Scotland, another boyfriend/girlfriend couple from Australia, and two girls from Holland. Jayson and I had a real taste of what other college students around the world do for fun as we were highly entertained in our discussions during the few days we spent with them. We learned a great deal about the Irish conflict, life at Cambridge university, the best brands of rum, whiskey, liquor, vodka, etc. Most of them had been traveling for quite some time and still had a few months to go. Both Jayson and I decided that we would go absolutely crazy being on holiday for 7 months (even if it meant seeing the world in the process).

Our ride to the pampas took an eventful turn when our driver suddenly stopped, jumped out of the vehicle and yelled “anaconda”. Only seconds later he was running back towards us with a 2 meter anaconda dangling in his hand. We all jumped out of the jeep to take pictures of the snake and next thing I knew Jayson was holding onto the snake and doing a little dance up and down the road so as to not let the head of the snake get to close to his body. This was just the start to a very eventful day. When we finally arrived in the wetlands on the Yacuma river we boarded the boat with the rest of the group and took a three hour boat ride to the little hut where we are staying the night. Within only minutes of the boat ride we happened upon a crew of about 5 alligators (correctly termed caymen). I couldn’t understand why are tour guide didn’t let us stop very long to take pictures until only 30 yards down river we happened to see some more and then the whole three hours were spent seeing caymen on the banks of the river. We also so capybara (the world’s largest rodent). They are apparently sacred to Bolivians because usually they are pretty rare but the pampas has plenty and for my favorite part of the day we were able to see these squirrel monkeys and even feed them some bananas. They were quite vicious in their attempt to eat the bananas. By looking at the picture of my face it’s hard to tell if I was happy or scared of the monkeys but when it was all said and done I thought it was fun. The whole day was like a glorified trip to the zoo.

Las Pampas

Our ecolodge on the Yacuma River.

Our mototaxi ride from the airport to Rurre.

Having some fun with Peter.

Dad, I think peter could use a little dental work.

Victor promised Steph that Peter is a nice caymán.

The beautiful sunrise in Las Pampas.

The piranha shared between 8 people.

Pucker up!

The caymán that watched us swim with the pink fresh water dolphins.

An interesting prehistoric bird that breathes like it just ran a marathon.

One of the many wasps nest we had to be careful not to step on. A man the day before was not so careful and was attacked by the killer wasps.

Anaconda hunting...

What we saw instead of anacondas.

Two week old cayman eating dinner.

They are not as friendly as they look when you have a banana in your hand.

A weird mix between a pig and a hamster called a capybara.

Luckily we found a 2 meter anaconda on our way to the river.

Posing for a picture after our hike through the jungle.

A safe landing on the 1500 meter jungle zip line.

Feeding our pet caiman.