We were living in Oroville, Washington, in 1997 where Larry was working for a company that was attempting to permit a mine there and they weren't being successful. The company owned an interest in the Inti Raymi Mine near Oruro, Bolivia. Therefore, we were offered the opportunity to move back to Battle Mountain, Nevada, where we'd started our lives together, OR to Bolivia. We chose Bolivia; however, I had to ask for a map to learn where Bolivia was. That's sad. My geography has gotten much better since then.
We and our two dogs left on our adventure in early January 1998. Larry had traveled there earlier to find us a place to live. What an experience! I'd had one semester of an online correspondence course in Spanish (was of no help whatsoever!) so we arrived with neither one of us able to speak or understand Spanish. We both now have an appreciation of what it is like to a) be a minority, b) not be able to communicate in the language of the country we were living in, c) learn a new language, and d) live in a different culture.
Did I say this was quite the experience!? Larry worked at the mine site which was a three hour drive from La Paz. He remained at the mine site from Monday until Thursday evening. Fridays he would work in the Inti Raymi offices in La Paz. I and and the dogs lived in La Paz. Lucky for me, two other families arrived the same time as us, and another family had arrived late in 1997 so were somewhat established and knew the intricacies of living in Bolivia. We both began Spanish classes immediately and our Spanish progressed at a measurable rate.
Below is a photo of the outside of our first home in La Paz. Razor wire fencing surrounded our home and we paid a neighbor's 24-hour guard to keep an eye on our house as well. We had a maid and a gardener. I got to practice the Spanish I was learning on these poor people. Our home is the one with the wooden gate and tile roofing above it. We lived here for our first year.
Below is a photo of Bolivian friends Grace and Heinrick, fellow expats Brant and Vicki and their guests from Washington State at a "tavern" in La Paz.
February brought Carnival which included a masquerade party at the mine, a cha'lla in the mine pit complete with sacrificing a bull and party after and then a parade with brightly costumed dancers.
Yes, the picture below is of Larry dancing around with the sacrificed bull's head - such a strange sight!
The picture below is the following day at the parade in Oruro. In between the dancers in the parade, water fights would break out. The people on the balcony above were dropping water balloons on unsuspecting spectators below so Larry decided to attack them. Shorty after this photo, the policeman suggested Larry stop. Evidently the people on the balconies were guests of the mayor of Oruro.
Carnival, happening so soon upon our arrival to Bolivia, was a very memorable experience - an incredibly cultural experience.
Following Carnival, Brant, Vicki, us and their guests from Washington State traveled across the Andes to the coastal town of Arica in Chile. I sometimes can't believe the thing we did in those early days upon arrival in Bolivia. Here we were, this carload of people from the U.S., none of who spoke Spanish well and we crossed the border from Bolivia to Chile - not an easy task. Upon arrival in Arica, the hotel we'd booked didn't have our reservation. Somehow, Brant was able to get the hotel to find us an alternate hotel and we somehow found it!
The picture below is of us in the Andes.
Below is Larry at the Tiahuanaco ceremonial center near Lago Titicaca and is dated at over 1,000 years old. I think this is La Puerta del Sol (Gateway of the Sun) said to be carved from a single block of andesite.
This is a picture of the Witch's Market near the Black Market in the upper regions of La Paz. It is where we'd go shopping for electrical appliances for our homes (irons, television, stereos, etc.).
We had a combined birthday celebration at our home complete with mariachis allowing Larry and others the opportunity to test their vocal abilities. I can't remember what he sang?
Below is a picture of Larry, the head of security for Inti Raymi and another expat in front of a government building in downtown La Paz in one of our many trips to a government office in pursuit of the legal documents required for living as an expat in La Paz.
This is a picture of the car we had use of while in Bolivia.
This was our "ferry" boat for passage on Lago Titicaca - scary! No life jackets that I was aware of. Not even a bucket for bailing!
I spent a lot of time with these two ladies: Vicki and Grace.
The husbands: Brant, Heinrick and Larry.
Battle Mountain House - where Larry lived Monday - Thursdays. The house had four bedrooms each with a private (primitive, by no means, fancy) bath. He shared the house with three other expats.
Below was our first Christmas in La Paz. Our Christmas tree was some pine branches tied together. We spent Christmas with our expat families.
I had to include this picture. It was another party at the mine site - the expat fellows were having a good time.
Expat friends, Rebecca, Sherry and I at the Columbia vs. Bolivia soccer match. We were dressed in Bolivia's colors. Rebecca was from Venzuela so fluent in Spanish so how was it that we incorrectly ended up sitting directly behind the Columbia team where no one was suppose to be seated in order to protect the Columbia team from violence - hence, we were surrounded by armed Bolivian soldiers. No one said a word to us about moving.
Rebecca's husband was a pilot in the Navy working for the American Embassy in La Paz. She introduced us to a Mexican food restaurant run by Hector (far left) originally from Texas who had married a Bolivian and moved there to run his restaurant near the American Embassy and thereby ensuring a steady customer supply. Great margaritas!
Here we were at Cerro Chacaltaya (elevation 17,785 ft.) with visitors from Washington State.
Below is a picture of Larry skiing the receding glacier on Chacaltaya. I just read that the glacier disappeared in 2009. He was skiing at an elevation of around 16,000 ft. and enjoying it but then had to hike back up that hill.
Another parade in La Paz.
Both of our dogs died while we were in Bolivia and both are buried under a big pile of rocks near Cerro Chacaltaya. This one was a picture of April with Larry.
Oh what a trip this one was! It was the road to the Yungas - described by some as the most dangerous road in the world. Perhaps that is an exaggeration but I'm telling you - it was scary. At the time we drove it (we followed Brant and Vicki in our car), vehicles traveled one-way downhill from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. (as I remember). Thank goodness - I couldn't have imagined that road with two-way traffic. The return trip was as scary. There was a line of vehicles waiting to make the trip back up resulting in so much dust, if there happened to be a straggler vehicle making the trip down the road, you never would have seen it until the very last moment.
A picture of us with Lago Titicaca in the background.
A picture of us in the Yungas.
The line up of vehicles waiting to drive back up the road from the Yungas.
The picture below was actually at our going away party.
Larry's Spanish class held in Oruro...at a bar.
I'm going to end my Bolivian blog with a picture from the flower market...conveniently located near the cemetery. We had so many pictures from our time in Bolivia - I had trouble narrowing it down to the pictures that I did. It has been fun putting this blog together - brings back good memories of this very special life experience. My next blog will be of a vacations we took while we were in Bolivia.
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