We are now in Uyuni, Bolivia, right on the edge of the largest salt flats in the world (visible from space). We were able to visit the salt flats on Friday!
Gulliver’sTravels, part 2: A Romantic Comedy!
We’ve been here 8 days now after a long, sleepless (despite it being a night bus), 11 hour bus ride from the capital, La Paz. Our trip here was initially delayed a day due to some sort of strike that resulted in a road block. Now that we’re here, we’ve settled in nicely. Our hosts are a lovely elderly couple named Rigoberto and Rumualdina who don’t speak a lick of English. We’re doing our best to communicate with our limited Espanol. Truth be told, we’ve actually learned quite a bit of Spanish in the 10 days we’ve been in country. At this rate, we’ll be doing quite well by the time we leave South America at the end of October!
As far as our activity so far, we’ve kept fairly busy – spending time with the local church of our contact Pastor Rolando, working on clearing tons of trash (literally, thousands of plastic bottles…picture to come later) in the church property to create an area for the children and youth to gather, teaching English classes to locals from age 5 to pushing 80, and visiting the local hospital to pray for the patients there and bring them food. In our spare time, we’ve also managed to figure out manual-flushing toilets (Yay!), grocery shopping in the central market, and cooking outside on a single burner for 13. We’re partnered up with another team right now so there are 13 of us rather than the core 6 that are our actual team. 
Temps have ranged from 12 degrees at night to a sweltering 55 degrees in the heat of the day. We were not expecting such cold weather! Regardless, we’re doing the best that we can, wearing the same outer layers each day as they’re all we have. And, the last couple of days it has been warm – it feels good to wear shorts and t-shirts again!
We’ve already greatly enjoyed the local cuisine – llama steak, saltenas (meat pies), and plantain chips. A few days ago, we happened upon a big street festival dedicated completely to quinoa. That’s right, quinoa the food. Chrislyn was in heaven as we were able to feast on quinoa cake, quinoa raspberry pie, and even quinoa pizza (con no trigo – with no wheat)! Needless to say, it was a good day!
Internet access is a bit spotty in this little town and our schedules often don’t allow for a trip into the town center where the internet is available. Know that we love you and miss you. We are having a great time. Please keep us informed on all that is going on with each of you. Te amo mucho!
