The Good, The Bad, & The Whaaaaaat!?

With today marking the start of our third official week in Bolivia we are finally starting to feel adjusted. We thought it’d be helpful to share a little more about our life here so I made three categories: The Good, The Bad, & The Whaaaaaat!?. 

The Good

TIME- We have had plenty of time to dedicate to getting organized, getting adjusted and learning what it is like to live in Bolivia and to be married. We are grateful to not have been thrown right into a ton of work.

THE KIDS- Dan loves playing with the kids. We see them every day since the school is right across the street. Dan participated in his first soccer game this past week. Also, he has been helping the kids with their garden. 

OUR HOUSE & DOMESTIC LIFE- Our house is finally organized.  We have groceries and are learning how to cook “Bolivian” or at least with Bolivian ingredients. 

FRESH PRODUCE- Speaking of food, every Saturday we go to a local market to buy fresh veggies, fruit, cheese, and flowers. It is AWESOME! Our lesson from our first visit to the market was if the fruit is really cheap that is because it is about to rot! Lol!

HOT WATER- Our shower has hot water and for this, I am grateful. It comes out through a device called a widow-maker and is a little temperamental, but hot none the less. 

CHURCH- This Sunday we attended church in Cochabamba & received a warm welcome. It was a Methodist church someone recommended to us. We tried to go our first Sunday here, but there were no taxis because it was election day. A whole other story… 

ALEJANDRO- Dan & I both are taking Spanish classes with a private tutor named Alejandro. He is an older gentleman who is trained as a linguist. Alejandro is an amazing teacher, but very challenging and sometimes he makes our heads hurt. He is awesome though and definitely a PRO. 

SOY!- Sometimes it’s the small things…. Being lactose intolerant I was dreading going without soy milk for months. Lucky for me, one of Bolivia’s main crops is SOY BEANS! So, soy milk is in abundance & really cheap! YAY!!! :)

 

The Bad

READY TO ?- We have been observing, meeting people, attending meetings, having conversations & studying Spanish. It has been good, but we are antsy to do more especially when everyone else is doing so much. I, especially, have been anxious about this. 

SOY OIL- While having an plenty of soy is great for some things, cooking with soy OIL is not so great… :( But we have to use it since it is the only affordable cooking oil. 

BUGS!!!- Every day is a bug massacre. Sometimes it feels like we are camping. We have screens on our windows, but somehow they just get in. 

CRYING BABIES- We live right next door to a day care. It’s part of the school and is for young kids and babies not old enough for Pre-K or Kindergarten. The kids are very cute, but there is almost always one or two that are crying. It’s what we wake up to and what we hear every day. Also, sometimes they run into our house when we aren’t looking and grab random things. 

DAILY LIFE- Washing clothes by hand, drying them in the sun. Cooking with gas (we have to turn on the gas tank and light a match), no microwave! Or George Foreman. Having to boil all of our water. All of these little things make things that would take minutes in the States take way, way longer. 

LONELINESS- Having been here only two weeks we have yet to really become friends with anyone which makes our down time here pretty boring. With the language barrier and everyone being so busy it’s hard to make friends, but we are trying! This is definitely something you can pray about for us. 

 

The Whaaaaaat!?

TAXI-TRUFIS– That is the name for the main way of transportation here. They are small cars or mini-vans that only take one route. Luckily, we have our one route down, but we have yet to explore much beyond that. We have been wondering if there is a map or something of the taxis & their routes…? But we are not holding our breaths. 

GARBAGE TRUCK- It comes around once a week with a loud bell. Now, this isn’t door to door service. The truck comes up the main drag (approx. 150 feet from the entrance to our compound) and you have to RUN out to the truck with your garbage. Fortunately, we have already learned that it doesn’t always come at the same time…. Last week Dan heard the bell and took off with our trash, but the truck was long gone so poor Dan had to chase the garbage truck with garbage in hand for three blocks! 

UMBRELLAS- Something I find amusing is that women use umbrellas here not for rain (it hasn’t rained for 6+ months), but to shield themselves from the sun. I think I need to buy one because you know if Bolivians are concerned with sunburn I should be!

NO CAMBIO (CHANGE)!- I shouldn’t be surprised about this since it was the same in Guatemala, but here no one ever has change! For example, the other day this guy tried to pay a taxi-trufi with 10 Bolivianos (a little less than $1.50) and the driver was so annoyed. He said he didn’t have change & ended up having to pull over to find enough “cambio”. LOL! This is sometimes a problem for us since we get our money out of ATMs and it usually comes out in 100 or 200 Boliviano bills. 

To close, I want to recognize that life here isn’t as black and white as good and bad categories. There is good mixed into the bad and vice versa, but I simply wanted to tell you a bit more about life here in an easy to read manner. Thanks for caring about us & our adventures here in Bolivia. Please keep praying for us & our work here. Also, feel free to comment below or to email us. We'd love to hear from you! ;)

-Rachel