Great time in Santiago with Kay Stotts & Friends!
In Santiago, Chile
Took a bus from La Paz to Copacabana... Beautiful, HUGE, Blue, Lake Titicaca...
Came to stay w/ great lady, Kathy Maenner & her friends!
When I was getting ready to leave the New Tribes Guest House (after a wonderful week and a half), I found out that the roads were closed from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba, which was the route that my Bolivian travel companion would have taken (the sister of my friend´s husband).
There had been LOTS of rain in the country, and flooding was everywhere in the lowlands, causing landslides and roads being closed for long periods of time. Flying her to Cochabamba seemed also out of the question, because of the extra cost. But by this time, I had spoken with other people, and felt more confident about riding a bus in Bolivia by "myself".
A really nice couple from the mission agreed to take me to the bus terminal the night of my departure. About 5 minutes before we left in the taxi, I wanted to pray, because I could feel fear start to creep back into my mind.
I knelt down by my bed and said, ¨God, you know how I´m feeling now. You know that I´m getting worried about this coming bus ride. You could have had the roads cleared from Santa Cruz to here, if you had wanted Silvana to come with me. So right now, I really need your peace that you talk about... the peace that passes all understanding and will GUARD my heart and my mind in Jesus." Ok. I got up, and left to catch the taxi.
When we got to the terminal, I noticed a strange but pleasant sensation/experience. It was like I was little and inside of something... like I was a little kid, able to hide behind their parent´s pant leg, or in a closet, when they´re afraid, or unsure about something. I was there, on the outside, interacting with people, but inside, my heart was sheltered, it was protected... if that makes sense. God was "protecting my heart... guarding it." That´s the only way I can describe it.
We found the bus, and I climbed up in it, waving goodbye. I found my seat, which I had been able to choose when I bought the ticket a few days before. It was on the top of a double decker bus, at the very front, facing out of a HUGE window. It was really quite exciting. I watched to see if my luggage made it from the stack to under the bus. I had to trust that it made it. A girl came to sit across the aisle from me, and in starting up a conversation with her, I found out that she also loved Jesus. What a blessing. Peace came to my heart. Everything was going to be Ok. I settled in for the ride.
I got to see some of my first stars in Bolivia (the trip happened from 11 pm to 5:30 am); once we got outside of the city, the sky was smattered with stars!! It was fantastic. I wondered what constellations were in the Southern Hemisphere, different from what I see at home. I saw the Milky Way.
At one point in the trip, we were climbing up a hill, and coming up behind a huge truck, who was creeping along. There was a double yellow line on the road (meaning, in the States, not to pass).
But we were in Bolivia. So we started to pass. We were doing pretty good; I was impressed with the tenacity of the bus driver. Then up ahead, coming around another curve (which was the reason for the double yellow) was another humongous bus. Hmmm, I wonder who would win?
Now, remember, I had a front seat in this Bolivian Chicken Match... sitting in front of a wide window to see it all. The other bus started to slow down and flash their lights, and I think a honk was involved. Our bus continued to speed up (we had been right alongside the truck at that point)... and then quickly, if not even smoothly, glided back into our lane, in front of the truck, in just the nick of time... right when the other bus came upon us.
WE WON!!!! :)
Throughout the night, I think I got about 5 hours of sleep, which was pretty good. After all, I was on a buscama, which is Bolivian for "big, comfortable bus". I had a wide seat that went back a decent amount, and enough leg room for, well, for a big person. My stomach was doing a few weird things through the night, and I was praying that it would behave. I had eaten that night at a nice restaurant with my friend, Jenny, as a going away last evening out, but you never know what´s in any food, really. (And bugs and other stomach enemies can be small.) Aside from the occasional waking up to shift my body due to the uncomfortable tension in my stomach, I made it through the evening fine.
In the pre-dawn darkness we arrived at the top of La Paz, called the Alto (which I think means "High"... it is. Its on a plateau at least 14,000 ft above sea level, which is taller than the highest mountains of Colorado - the famous 14'ers). Our bus made its way on nice, lit, roads down into the city of La Paz, which is really built on the sides of these mountains and cliffs. It looked like we were making our way down into a Starship from one of those extraterrestrial movies... everything was black, except for golden glowing lights from the street lamps and houses on the mountainside, and it was all going down to somewhere...
We had arrived in La Paz!
From my last post on fear, here are a few examples... and how God has shown up.
On my last day in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, I went to church with one of my new friends, her husband, and his sister. Church was beautiful. The worship/singing time was wonderful, full of heartfelt expressions of love and praise. And there were dancers; beautiful, 3-Dimensional praise.
After church, I was speaking with one of the missionary ladies, who had been in Bolivia for 30 years.
She asked me what my coming travel plans were. While talking to her, I could almost feel a sense of fear emanating from her, regarding me.
"You need to be very careful. You are going to be a target. You are white, a girl, inexperienced in travel, and don´t know the language that well to get out of a pinch," she tells me.
I could feel the cold fingers of fear start to creep into my heart . . .
Fear. It's a disgusting thing. Sometimes it gets a grip of your belly, or tightens across your chest, or feels like a heavy weight sinking down in your gut. However you feel it, its usually not good. What´s the difference between "being wise" (and not doing stupid things, to get yourself in a bad situation) and "being fearful" (which keeps you from doing anything at all)? . . .
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