It wasn´t really THAT bad! I actually liked the jungle!
Last Tuesday we left bright and early for the Chapare (jungle). It took around 4 hours crowded in the back of the infamous IOU jeep.
Mike dropped us off showed us the orphanage and left. I didn’t realize at the time exactly how rural it really was. Umm, there was no bathroom. A hole in the ground in the jungle was their definition of a baño. I guess you just get used to it after awhile. Thankfully, though after about 4 days, Remberto installed a toilet in the bathroom of the orphanage.
Remberto + Vick, and their son Mickey, Vick’s 12 year old sister Angela, and another worker named Grover were our source of entertainment, teaching, and motivation. I brushed up on my Spanish skills there, we also played games in the evenings, and we got to hear Remberto’s testimony. One thing that really motivated me from his testimony was that Mike (Timmer-the missionary) prayed for Remberto for TWO YEARS before he was ready to accept Christ. But Mike-and Bonnie- never gave up on him and eventually he accepted Christ, and now he’s super active in his church and is investing in the lives of his 2 younger brothers and another young employee. So cool.
Vick and Angela cooked for us. Basically from when we woke up in the morning until we went to bed at night they were either cleaning, cooking, or doing laundry. What a labor of love. Vick is even 8 ½ months pregnant! What a trooper. We ate every meal with a spoon. (Sometimes there were knives, but usually just spoons). Even when we had chicken or beef. I guess they probably didn’t have any forks.Last Tuesday we left bright and early for the Chapare (jungle). It took around 4 hours crowded in the back of the infamous IOU jeep.
Mike dropped us off showed us the orphanage and left. I didn’t realize at the time exactly how rural it really was. Umm, there was no bathroom. A hole in the ground in the jungle was their definition of a baño. I guess you just get used to it after awhile. Thankfully, though after about 4 days, Remberto installed a toilet in the bathroom of the orphanage.
Remberto + Vick, and their son Mickey, Vick’s 12 year old sister Angela, and another worker named Grover were our source of entertainment, teaching, and motivation. I brushed up on my Spanish skills there, we also played games in the evenings, and we got to hear Remberto’s testimony. One thing that really motivated me from his testimony was that Mike (Timmer-the missionary) prayed for Remberto for TWO YEARS before he was ready to accept Christ. But Mike-and Bonnie- never gave up on him and eventually he accepted Christ, and now he’s super active in his church and is investing in the lives of his 2 younger brothers and another young employee. So cool.
Church was a very neat experience. It was in Spanish and Quechua. It was so simple. Singing was off key, but wholehearted. Music consisted of a very off key guitar, strummed just to add to the noise, someone pounding on a drum, and three or four girls playing tambourines. No auditions required, just a willing heart. Services lasted for two hours and some people walk very far to get there. I think for a lot of them, it’s what they look forward to all week long. They are so genuine and sincere. It was very inspiring. We had to do special music. (We weren’t really prepared… I guess now I know for next time, though!)
Apparently the Chapare is one of the hot spots for drug activity. Coca plants thrive in the jungle and people make “decent” money off of it. So the people of Chapare are very suspicious of gringos because they think that we are drug smugglers, or whatever.
The puebla we were in is actually Evo Morales’ hometown. I saw his old house. (Evo’s the president of Bolivia).
Remberto made sure to tell us about all of the wild and dangerous animals that live in the jungle. Anacondas, Crocodiles, Tigers, Panthers, Tarantulas, Bats, as well as a variety of other creepy animals. However, he assured me, most of them live further in the jungle. Later on he took us on a motorcycle tour of that part of the jungle and said, “now the tigers will eat you, I brought them a very special dinner!!” But I wasn’t scared.
So I journaled a lot in the Chapare. I was super homesick, mostly the first day. It was crazy! It was probably because while I was gone my parents celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary and my oldest brother Peter celebrated his 25th birthday (but I got home that day, and I did get to talk to him). I think this will be my biggest struggle. Yeah, it probably will.
One thing that I was super thankful for was that we didn’t get sick the whole time we were there!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, yeah, so we did work really hard there in the orphanage. We scrubbed plaster off of bricks, the floor and the “ceiling”. We got really dirty, so the shower was also a huge blessing. I also hand washed some clothes so it was all good.
Hmmm….what else…Oh, yeah. Mosquitos in the jungle are vicious. I literally look like I have chicken pox on my legs!! The bananas were GREAT. To say that there are “thunderstorms” in the jungle is kind of an understatement…it rained REALLY hard!
It took about five hours to get back by public transportation. A bolivian man fell asleep on my shoulder on the three hour stretch of the trip. I found it rather amusing, though slightly uncomfortable...!
Alright, I guess that’s probably all you care to know about the jungle for now. I’ll try to put some pictures up soon…
Dios le bendiga!!
-Kristen
Apparently the Chapare is one of the hot spots for drug activity. Coca plants thrive in the jungle and people make “decent” money off of it. So the people of Chapare are very suspicious of gringos because they think that we are drug smugglers, or whatever.
The puebla we were in is actually Evo Morales’ hometown. I saw his old house. (Evo’s the president of Bolivia).
Remberto made sure to tell us about all of the wild and dangerous animals that live in the jungle. Anacondas, Crocodiles, Tigers, Panthers, Tarantulas, Bats, as well as a variety of other creepy animals. However, he assured me, most of them live further in the jungle. Later on he took us on a motorcycle tour of that part of the jungle and said, “now the tigers will eat you, I brought them a very special dinner!!” But I wasn’t scared.
So I journaled a lot in the Chapare. I was super homesick, mostly the first day. It was crazy! It was probably because while I was gone my parents celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary and my oldest brother Peter celebrated his 25th birthday (but I got home that day, and I did get to talk to him). I think this will be my biggest struggle. Yeah, it probably will.
One thing that I was super thankful for was that we didn’t get sick the whole time we were there!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, yeah, so we did work really hard there in the orphanage. We scrubbed plaster off of bricks, the floor and the “ceiling”. We got really dirty, so the shower was also a huge blessing. I also hand washed some clothes so it was all good.
Hmmm….what else…Oh, yeah. Mosquitos in the jungle are vicious. I literally look like I have chicken pox on my legs!! The bananas were GREAT. To say that there are “thunderstorms” in the jungle is kind of an understatement…it rained REALLY hard!
It took about five hours to get back by public transportation. A bolivian man fell asleep on my shoulder on the three hour stretch of the trip. I found it rather amusing, though slightly uncomfortable...!
Alright, I guess that’s probably all you care to know about the jungle for now. I’ll try to put some pictures up soon…
Dios le bendiga!!
-Kristen
3 comments:
Haha a Bolivian man fell asleep on your shoulder classic! I am praying for you!
Glad you are safe in the Lord's hands & really glad the tiger did not eat you! Praying for you!
is that a crocodile? I do not do the whole reptile thing.
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