Since my last blogs have been a little “heavy hearted”, I have decided to make this one a much lighter read.
If you know anything about Bolivia it would be that nobody has heard of it or knows where it is. I think this is mainly because of Bolivia’s inconsistency and lack of commitment. Well I won’t get into all of that, but it is very important to note, that you just never know what might happen here.
The other day I was traveling from Santa Cruz to Montero. An hour’s drive. I was on my way back to Okinawa and Montero is the town in between. We were a couple miles away from reaching Montero when our car was forced to stop by the pile of cars that had accumulated from jammed traffic. There was a huge smoke a few miles in front of us. Nobody even second-guessed it, “a blockade.”
Almost instinctively I got out of the car and started walking. I knew that no matter how long the walk was, it would be faster than waiting for the blockade to end. So there I am walking in between many angry drivers.
I noticed a lady dragging along a chest cooler by herself. She would get a couple of steps and stop. I knew I had to help her. I regretted my heroic/Mother Teresa act, as soon as I picked up the chest cooler. So there I am walking 2 miles with a huge, heavy, and uncomfortable chest cooler, with a random lady. I had a smirk on my face because I thought of how normal this seemed to me.
All of the sudden two camera men come running towards us and shove a microphone in my face and begin saying, “Is this uncomfortable for you? Would you say that blockades are an inconvenience?” I was a little shocked not because of the questions but because the guy asking them was laughing while he asked them. I answered them by saying, “yes very uncomfortable.”
The lady pulled me to the side so they would leave us alone and it worked. I was still laughing at the whole situation. We finally arrived at the destination and saw the blockade first hand. They had at least 14 tires that were on fire. Placed in an order so no car could get through. I continued on my way and thanked God for letting me arrive safely.
Another story I found funny happened last week. I was wearing my teacher shirt that says SFX that looks like it says SEX. I was walking around in the market in Montero. I was browsing when I hear two 20 year old girls looking at me and saying, “You tell her….. No you ask her.” They went like back and forth like this until I moved closer asked what they needed. The older one asked, “Can you help me with my English homework?” I asked the girl how she knew I could help her with her English homework? I thought that I blended in with the Bolivians pretty well. She pointed to my shirt and said she graduated from there. For a moment I thought she would say oh I just knew you weren’t from around here. LOL! So there I am doing English homework, in the middle of a busy market where people as well as stray dogs bump into you as they go by. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation and myself.
For you to understand my next story I have to tell you some background info on the nun I will be talking about. Ok so Sor Martha is a nun that makes me laugh so hard every interaction we have. It doesn’t matter what my day has been like I know if I see her I will have a belly laugh.
Sor Martha is extremely jumpy and she calls herself “neurotic.” That and my personality mixed, breeds lots of laughter on my end and lots of pain on her end. She always has a face that looks like she is very concentrated or mad. Her face expression alone makes me laugh. Without any effort whatsoever she gets scared and frazzled. With that being said I move on to my story.
Michelle, Susan, and I were having lunch. Michelle was in mid sentence when she said, “…is that a rat hanging of that hose?” We all looked over and it was. There was literally a huge rat hunched over a hose leading from the roof of one building to the other. I thought it was hilarious. Michelle’s idea on how that could happen made me laugh even more. She said, “Maybe the rat was running on the hose when it got a heart attack and slipped and died there.” LOL! Oh Michelle!
I remembered that Sor Martha had said she was terrified of rats. So the little dark light bulb went off inside of me, I jumped up left my food and immediately went to get Sor Martha. I discreetly brought her right under the rat (that stood a couple of feet above our head) and then told her to look up. She started screaming and looked like she was about to vomit. I lost all my strength and fell to the floor laughing. I don’t know how many rosaries I will have to pray to repair the damage of that event, but I can almost say it was worth it.
A week later I saw Sor Martha cleaning and she looked extra “neurotic” than usual. I thought it was maybe because she needed help. So I offered my help. When I saw what she was cleaning I quickly learned why. We were cleaning a dark closet with lots of spider webs and it looked like a breeding ground for rats. She was moving things with so much fear. I could tell she felt a rat was going to come running out of everything she touched. She was paranoid of every little sound and couldn’t even concentrate on any dialogue.
I waited for the perfect opportunity. As she went to move a nasty cardboard box, I yelled at the top of my lungs. She kicked the box as a reflex and jumped up on a chair next to it. I immediately melted on the floor with laughter. She didn’t need my help to clean after that.
