Apolo, Bolivia
You’ve probably never heard of this town, unless you saw the new movie The Jungle, which features a little bit of Apolo.
Only recently does this town even have roads that connect it to the outside world. The bus ride from La Paz was about 14 hours- up and down mountains, through clouds, and skimming the sides of cliffs.
But alas, we safely made it to this cute little town. The market is only half a block from our house, which makes it much easier to cook nice meals. There are rolling green hills in each direction that take your breath away. There is a very nice park at the center of town that is perfect for reading or running. Even with all of this, my favorite part of a small town is familiar faces. It has been so easy for us to form relationships with people in this town, and here’s some of those stories:
Two of my teammates were out one day looking for WiFi (there’s none in the entire town), and they came across a very sweet older lady, Gloria. She introduced them to her youngest daughter, Sara, who speaks perfect English. The next day they invited our entire team over for lunch. We ate delicious food, laughed at weird things we’ve eaten, shared testimonies, and even played Uno. We continue to pop by their house just to say hello. We had pizza nights, movie nights, and other fun encounters
Almost a week in and we had yet to meet anyone except Sara who spoke English. As we were in a store looking for ingredients to cook dinner, we hear a man loudly pronounce, “Welcome to my town.” He repeated himself several times. “Welcome to my town I welcome all Americans I love America God bless America.“ His name is Gonzolo, and he speaks English because he lived and worked in America for 20 years. One of my teammates brilliantly compared Gonzolo to a narrator in a movie because he randomly just shows up when we’re in town. He’ll tell us random information or direct us to what we’re looking for, and then he disappears again.
I was on my way back to the house from running in the park when I saw Jess and Caitlin standing outside a house. I stopped to see what they were doing. Gonzolo had told them that a man was dying inside. A woman came to the door, and I told her that we were with the church and wanted to pray for the family. A man grabbed my hand and brought me right into the middle of the family huddled around the bed. As they recited Catholic prayers, we said our own prayers for this man and his family. It was clear that he was near the end, so we told the family that we would continue praying for them as we politely stepped out. The next day, we saw the coffin covered in candles in the front room of their house. We made some chocolate covered popcorn and a sweet letter for them to offer our condolences. This family became our friends. When we ran out of gas for the stove one night, their two teenagers drove to buy some for us and install it.
As mentioned above, I love running around the park. It is filled with people. Families watch babies crawl along the sidewalk. Friends sit on the benches to catch up. Dogs that are strays but very well-behaved are everywhere. It is peaceful. After running many laps around the park, I look down and see a little girl around 7 years old running beside me. She must have been watching me and decided that she wanted to join. She ran beside me, without talking, for an entire lap. As soon as we got to where she joined me, she just gave me a high-five and walked away. I’m sure the two of us running was quite the scene.
We spent our afternoons this month offering free English classes for kids in the community. It was a joy getting to spend time with them! Anytime we walked through town or went to church, we inevitably ran into some of our students.
We were in charge of cooking our own food, so we daily made multiple trips to the market. We befriended some of the shop owners. Berta is a sweet lady who owned the corner store. She would always point us in the right direction if she didn’t have what we needed.
// This month was a perfect example of just living life beside people. Our days were normal and friendly and loving. The small town vibes made it easy to make friends, but missional living can happen anywhere at any time. How are you sharing the love of Christ in your normal, everyday life?
Other photos from this month:
