In February, P Squad (that’s the amazing group of believers I’ll live and travel with next year) will head to BOLIVIA.
BRIEF BACKGROUND
Bolivia is named after Simón Bolívar, a South American soldier who led revolutions against the Spanish rule. In 1825, Bolivia won its independence after nearly three centuries as a Spanish colony.
FUN FACTS
Distance from Andover, KS (my hometown) to La Paz, Bolivia (Sucre is technically the capital, but all the decision making and administrative stuff happens in La Paz.) – 4,190 miles (or a 11+ hour flight without layovers)
Distance from Lima, Peru (country #1) to La Paz, Bolivia (Country #2) 940 miles (or a 20 hour bus ride, and according to what I’ve read, many roads in Bolivia present challenging terrain for travel…yikes!)
Time Difference
Bolivia is on the same time as Eastern Standard in the US. For example, it’s 5pm in Kansas, then it’s 6pm in Bolivia.
Currency
The BOB – Bolivian Boliviano is the official currency of Bolivia and is subdivided into 100 cents, called centavos.
$1 US Dollar = Bs 6.91 BOB
Geography
Area: just under 425,000 square miles. (That’s about 5 times the size of Kansas!)
Average Temperature in February
In the Mountain Highlands: Summer Rainy Season = 56°
In the Rainforest: Summer Rainy Season = 87°
At home in Wichita, KS: 26°
Religions
Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
Languages
Spanish (official) 60.7%, Quechua (official) 21.2%, Aymara (official) 14.6%, Guarani (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2%
POINTS OF INTEREST
Salar de Uyuni (salt flats): Located in southwest Bolivia, the world’s largest salt flat sits at the crest of the Andes Mountains. It was created when a prehistoric lake dried up and left all the dry salt behind. It takes at least 3 days on a guided tour to visit, but you see some impressive geological sights along the way.
Parque Nacional Madidi: Explore the Amazon Rainforest in this national park located near the small town of Rurrenabaque (about 260 miles north of La Paz). The park is home to an amazing variety of wildlife: including, more than 700 species of animals, over 800 birds and more than 5,000 species of flowering plants.
Cal Orko (the dinosaur wall): 3 miles from downtown Sucre is a 300 ft high, mile long slab of limestone. It’s just not any stone wall. Over 462 distinct dinosaur tracks from at least 8 different dino species are imprinted in the surface of the wall. There’s a lot of science involved with how the footprints ended up on a vertical wall, but sounds like a pretty impressive sight.
As I prepare for the Race, please pray with me for God’s protection over
P squad as we serve in Bolivia next February, and that we are bold with God’s Word in this beautiful country.
Love, Love, Love
Kate
If you want to learn more about Bolivia, here are some helpful websites I used to gather my information.
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bl.html
- http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/south-america/bolivia/
