Hello Everyone,

It is 3 weeks until my wife and I travel to Bolivia, South America. I wanted to take the time to wish everyone Happy Holidays before I forget to as it is getting very busy packing and planning the trip. This will be my very first time travelling that far south as I mostly went to Mexico.

I got 5 immunization shots this past week.Hepatitus A, B, Tetanus, yellow fever, and some type of measles. (We sure take our health here for granted). On top of all this have to take pills for malaria while on the trip. Still have to be careful of drinking water, Montezuma's revenge.

We are going for just over 1 month and back just before the New Year. While growing up, my wife lived in Bolivia. Some of her siblings stayed when her parents decided to move back to Canada. They are old order Mennonites so will be interesting to see their life style, and also see how much of a change it will be for us who are used to modern technology and indoor plumbing, etc.

Here is a short youtube video that shows what the Mennonites there are like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeeObNFv30s

I will post some pictures when I get back. Part of our trip will be spent visiting family and sometime relaxing in one of the large cities. I have always enjoyed that latin culture and we hope to meet up with a few missionaries working there to encourage them.

Also hoping to find some one there that is into airguns

Enjoy the Christmas season.
God bless you all!

Best regards,

Pedro G.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2011 07:43PM by pedrog.

Hello Pedro,

That is very interesting. As I watched the video, it struck me that is seems much like farm life in 1940 here in the States. My father grew up then, and longed for that for the remainder of his life.

And now, we have Lady GaGa to show us how it really should be! ;?)

I hope you have a wonderful time. Boy, it's gonna be a shock coming back home.

God Bless you too. Merry Christmas.

Gary

Have a great trip Pedro!
Cheers
Neil

Hello,

Thanks for the well wishes everyone.

Gary you are right, they live a lot like people did in the 1940's. No electricity, no in house plumbing, and old farm equipment. My parents grew up the same way in the 50, 60's in Mexico. Mexican mennonites started to change in the late 80's, finally taking modern convenience. The strict religious people moved further away and started over. I still have family on my side that resides in Campeche, Mexico. They live in colonies just like when my great grand parents settled in Canada due to Russian communism.

I got a new Canon digital camera with a 32Gig card. I will get lots of pics and some videos.

God Bless,

Pedro

Pedro,

Have fun, be safe and God bless.

Cedric

PS,can't wait to see the pics?..........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2011 10:21PM by Tofazfou.

Have a great trip and a wonderful holiday season!

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for all your well wishes. My wife and I made it back Dec 29th after 3 connecting flights over 24 hours, and hardly any sleep. On the way to Bolivia it was 4 connecting flights, almost 36 hours, with waiting and again, rarely sleeping. Lots of customs checks, mostly USA.

First stop was La Paz, Bolivia to pickup more people and load off those from Miami, FL. La Paz is 2 miles above sea level, and air is very thin. The stewardess brought oxygen bottle on board for those who could not handle the altitude.

Next we took off and landed in Santa Cruz. +35 C, 95 F, most of the time, average humidity is 75%. What a shocker.

I have lots of pics and will post some soon. I have some video as well and will try to get it all on youtube. We had a great time with family and in the city. The old colony mennonites (family) were still horse and buggy and tractor, but a little more modern as they used diesel or gas motors to run most mechincal machinery. But mostly they used propane now to power fridges, lighting etc. Was interesting.

I will share more when I get some time. Here are two pics for now, brother & sister in law getting buggy ready and nieces milking cows.
I got a few mountain pics and will add sometime.




Pedro



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2012 02:44PM by pedrog.

Welcome back Pedro. Those flights must have been tough! I guess visiting the mennonites was a little like stepping back in time. Looking forward to seeing some more pics.
Cheers
Neil

Welcome back Pedro. Glad you had a safe trip.

Sounds like one of those expeditions from the 19th century or early days of the 20th with the PanAm Clippers.

And amazing lifestyle from the past.

Hey - do they have propane powered internet? ;?)

Gary

Welcome back Pedro. Can't wait to hear about your travels. This is all very interesting to say the least.

Hello Everyone,

Here are a few pictures from the trip to Bolivia. Sorry that it took so long. It is hard to select the best pictures when you take so many. Will investigate a better photoshare site.

Picked a few photos from a few destinations. Some farms are my brother-in-laws, the mountains are mostly near Samaipata, Bolivia. This is an ancient site, 1500 BC. One mile above sea level, driving west 2.5 hours from Santa Cruz. The city of La Paz were more passengers boarded was 2 miles above sea level. La Paz is the worlds highest city. While flying you can see the mountains peak through the clouds as we fly lower than the peaks to land at the airport. Wish I could have got a good picture of it but windows were moist.

The mennonites clear land for farming when they can get a permit to do so. The dozer is my nephew clearing bush. They saved a monkey a year ago and keep it around. It is more tame than it looks.

On the farms, it is all dirt and ants. LOTS OF ANTS. I placed a picture of my feet. I accidently stepped on two fire ant hills, and when they bite, yikes it hurts for days. Leaves little red dots that took 4 weeks to dissappear. The itch is incredible, I soaked my feet in soapy water a few times and tried all kids of lotions to no avail. In the bush there are 1 inch ants, apparently they really bite. Only saw one of them. Farm land is mostly dirt that easily hardens after rain. If you had a sling-shot, you would be out of luck finding stones. Gravel and rock were all brought in from the mountain regoins. I saw a few small snakes, poisoness. Kids killed them immediately on the farm. Only got to see a python in the zoo.

Santa Cruz was typical latin city. You have wealthy and extreme poverty. The smell in the markets could ruin your appetite. My brother in law from Canada met up with us when we returned to the city. He got us to his hotel/suite and we spent the remainder of the time, 12-13 days relaxing.

All in all, very good trip. For next time will need to learn spanish. It isn't as commercialized as Mexico so less people speak english.

Picasa_Boliva

Using Picasa - Google owned, so didn't need to create a new account. This lets you see as a slideshow. I will add more



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2012 04:47PM by pedrog.