When I say it has been an adventure from leaving LaPaz to being here in Mapiri, it has…
Our ride to leave LaPaz was four hours late (In South America that is equivalent to being on time).
We had to shove eight people into a SUV for a 14 hour ride (teaches you strategy).
We were getting tossed like rag dolls (It only took me two day before I could feel my legs again).
We hugged plenty of the edges of Death Road (better than the other option).
We were getting dehydrated because we could not drink water during the ride. It was always too rough (unless you wanted a quick bath from your water bottle).
We broke down on the way (but we had a good view).
We stayed over night at the “best place” in Guanay (9 out of 100 star hotel, could have been worse).
I am really not sure if what we were sleeping on could be called a mattress (my feet only hung off the bed a few inches).
The power went out in that entire town three times within five minutes (not like you have to dread the room getting hotter because there is no AC anyway).
Toilets do not flush here. You have to pour water into them (and usually enjoy whatever the person before you left in there).
You are lucky if you get to sit on a toilet seat (or a bathroom without pee on the floor).
Our room did not have a “window.” We had metal bars over the window hole (windows areAC units).
The room was on the ground floor so the metal bars kept out the people sitting outside of our window (the thin sheet curtain kept them from looking in, not).
Umberto (our driver) decided not to give us our luggage that night, and that he would sleep in the truck with it. We could not get and necessities out (by that point I had already had the same clothes on for five days, so why change then?).
I figured I could leave the toilet paper in the truck because what hotel does not have toilet paper? (THAT ONE.)
Three different times I walked in on people using the bathroom in one day (ever wonder what door locks are for?).
We were so hot in our room in Guanay that we were sitting still and pouring sweat. I could not stop laughing (All the laughing was causing more sweat though).
I walked out of the bathroom and slammed my head into the top of the doorway. This happened multiple times (if you are over five foot you are out of luck).
I kept asking the team if they could turn the air on, we kept laughing at that (I don’t even remember what AC is like after three months without it).
The SUV couldn’t make it up mud covered hill so we had to push it…we got ate alive by bugs that make you itch 100 times worse than misquotes (team count on bug bites below the knee is close to 1000).
Our legs look like we have chicken pox (legit).
We boil water here to drink. We call it baked bean water…that is exactly how it taste (when it is warm I call it baked bean soup.yummy hahah).
If you don’t put the lid back over the water pot the chickens get in it (suicide?).
We call our “room” the sauna to make it sound more like it is a spa treatment (fancy huh??).
Technically we are staying in a storage area with an aluminum roof over us (it sounds awesome when it rains though).
There is a mouse that lives in the room. The mouse takes our food (he leave other things in exchange).
You laugh when they say “there is only one cow in the town so no meat for a few days.” (that would be a crisis in America)
I offer to give hot stone massages from the stone pile at the dump…no one takes me up on that (the dump has the best view in town on a serious note, but who doesn’t want a massage with a view???).
The ferry system is two boats side by side with wood planks on top to hold a car (No way I would ever put my 442 on that ferry).
Electricity here comes from splitting wires and sticking them into a socket…(yes, really.)
There are stray dogs, and stray horses that wonder around town (free range horse???).
Some times road blocks and due to oxen that decide the road seems like a good place to rest (who doesn’t want to nap on a road?)
Pastor told the locals that we “eat everything.” Not sure how that was implied but people make us food/ bring us food and want to watch us eat (really, they want to “watch” us eat it is odd).
The trash dump really does have the best view in town (trash deserves a good resting place I guess).
Every car we have been in has broke down (EVERY car).
It rains, and the power goes out (you only think you have problems with your electricity company).
The wash machine is the river, the dryer is the sun (go green!).
I sleep on straw covered in feed bad material, with my tent on top of it (ingenuity).
We broke down one night and really thought we were going to be sleeping in a car with seven people in the jungle. (thankfully we made it to a small town for the night).
Large bats fly over you at night (I look at them as natural fans, however when they are fanning you when you are in a small room it gets a little more interesting).
We broke down again the next day after leaving (I played a sermon for us to pass time).
We broke down the day after that too (do you see a cycle happening here???).
I kid you not, most of these situations we have found great humor in. I can not tell you how thankful I am that the team does not harp on bad situations but finds the joy in it. There are some situation where you can feel the tension building but we are quick to find reasons to make people laugh. Like every time we break down I joke and say “ can some one give me the wifi password so I can post an update about this?” Keep in mind that we are in the middle of a jungle…wifi doesn’t exist.
True situations of finding JOY IN ALL THINGS! Next time you find yourself complaining, be content. Trust me when I say YOU have it way better than most of the world does. Don’t complain, praise instead….
