A week in Bolivia ...

Our journey began with a dream and a plan, and when we had to book our around-the-world flights last fall, we chose LaPaz, Bolivia as a stopover before our volunteer work in Peru. We were not aware of how special Bolivia would be, and that we would meet someone with bigger dreams and plans...Dr. Jose Velasquez. I will introduce him and the organization Mano a Mano shortly.

But first, it was our close friends, Drs. Brooks Donald and Karen MacKenzie who introduced us to Bolivia. With their daughter Shannon, they have been involved with Mano a Mano for the past 9 years and told us their stories of the wonderful people, culture, and country. We gave a donation to a school they were helping build and it was our chance to see firsthand what they had been describing. Brooks sent a letter of introduction for us to Jose (perhaps overstating our importance), and suggesting a bunch of things we may want to do. For sure, we did receive the royal treatment, but realized that they treated all of their visitors and guests with the same gracious hospitality.

Bolivia by bus ...

We flew into LaPaz, a city built into a giant crater at an altitude of 3680 meters above sea level. The airport sits on a flat plateau above the city and the taxi ride into town was all downhill with lights of this city of 1.5 million dotting the hills and landscape. Despite our pre-med for altitude sickness, we both felt a little nausea with headache that soon passed. The next morning we boarded a bus to Cochabamba....over the hills and down the mountains. We had both read about the buses in Bolivia, although this one was comfortable and the roads were paved. I made sure Deb made the trip in fine fashion and my multi-drug regimen for nausea, frequent urination, panic, and altitude did the trick for her. After 9 hours, one pretty bad Jean Claude Van Damme movie and one flat tire we arrived safely in Cochabamba.

Minnesota healthcare professionals share their knowledge and friendship ...

Our next bit of good fortune was to be here the same week a group of physicians, dentist, nurses, psychologist, ER techs, firefighter, and PA from St. Paul Regions Hospital and other Twin Cities medical clinics were here in Cochabamba to present the 4th Acute Care Conference sponsored by Mano a Mano. We were tag alongs but really enjoyed meeting and hanging out with a great group of folks. It was especially nice to reconnect with Mary Margaret Conroy and her husband Tom. Mary Margaret is a neonatologist and pediatrician and my mentor during residency in the Twin Cities. She says she taught me all that I know about kids, and I think she may be right. We had lots of fun sharing stories about about families, kids, and mutual friends.

Women prepare for their community's clinic dedication ...

The morning after we arrived we all packed up for a trip to dedicate one of the medical clinics built by Mano a Mano. Our three jeep caravan drove further down the mountain valleys to Santa Rosa, a small village reached by a cobblestone road. The dedication was for the next morning, and under the direction of Jose and the other staff, we swept, drilled, lifted, hung, unpacked, washed and sweated to prepare the clinic for it's grand opening in the am. Opening a new clinic or school is a big deal for these small villages where families live in poor conditions. The whole village turns out, decorations are made, school children and elders gather, a formal program with the national anthem, speeches, thank you's, traditional dances, ribbon cutting, plaque unveiling, and confetti showering of the guests is joyously conducted. A large meal prepared by the villagers sent us off filled with food and appreciation for being part of a great event.

Bolivian schoolchildren ...

Mano a Mano ...

I was able to ride with Jose and ask him how this all became a reality. He learned his values of hard work and service from his parents who moved the family from a rural home to Cochabamba where their kids could get a better education. Back in the early 1990's, he had this idea of bringing necessary medical equipment and supplies from the US for the medical clinics he was working with. He asked his brother, a pilot in the Twin Cities if it were possible to raise some money for donations and supplies and send them to Bolivia. It was and he did and soon thereafter he helped create Mano a Mano, a non-profit with headquarters in Cochabamba and it's US affiliate in the Twin Cities. Their model was to create sustainable clinics and schools by partnering with villages and towns throughout Bolivia. The partnership required that the village and community contribute 30-40% of the cost of building, donate labor, food, and housing during the construction, and agree to maintain the building in the years to come. The government pays for the salaries of the doctors and teachers. With this model, their success has been phenomenal ......120 medical clinics, 41 schools, numerous roads and airstrips have been built throughout Bolivia. Mano a Mano also sponsors and requires continuing medical education of it's clinic providers, has a dream scholarship program for kids with financial needs, has it's own construction division and equipment for road development, continues to collect and donate medical supplies and equipment, and found that it was more cost effective to make it's own beds, windows, doors, and drapes for the clinics.

Dr. Jose Velasquez, a dreamer and a doer ...

As the week went on and we had further opportunities to meet more of the people at Mano a Mano, both Deb and I felt fortunate to meet such a dedicated group .....we found them all to be first class, genuine, value driven, mission focused, transparent, hard working,organized, and efficient. But most of all we liked them as people, and their dreams and plans have touched thousands of lives in Bolivia and the US. For additional info check out their website at manoamanobolivia.org

El Cristo de la Concordia ...

A trip to Cochabamba would not be complete without a climb to El Cristo de la Concordia, the largest statue of Christ in South America, on a hill overlooking the city and valley. We hiked up the 1349 steps (yes, Deb counted on the way down) to see the statue. It towers over you as you stand on the ground and watch the clouds float overhead against the blue sky. For both of us it was a special spiritual moment and prayers were said for all of the people in our lives, our blessings and faith. The inscription at the base says, "This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you." In all of our travels, we have surely been witness to the incredible love in the people we have met.

Bolivia's future ...

We celebrated the week with a big party at Mano a Mano's building and then were up early for our flight to Lima, Peru. It seemed only fitting that we were met by Andrea, a member of the Mano family who is a flight attendant. She also had a layover in La Paz and was there waiting for us. Her goal is to become an airline pilot....it seems like the dreams in Bolivia have been passed to the next generation.

Traditional dances at the party ...

A few thoughts on my grey hair ...

When I started our Walkabout in January, I had considerable trepidation about how I would keep up with coloring my hair. With underdeveloped countries on the itinerary, options would be few and far between for hair salons, and I didn't have room in my one suitcase for hair dye. So. I had it cut very short before the trip and I am now fully un-dyed.

For the most part, I love not seeing grey roots peeking out all the time and spending no time at all on hair upkeep. Every once in a while I'll walk past a mirror and see the white haired person standing where I'm supposed to be and think "what's Barbara Bush doing here?", but other than that, I'm used to it, and it feels kind of freeing in a way. When you get away from our high expectations for looking younger, thinner, and as perfect as possible, you find so many more important things to spend your time and energy on. And interestingly, I feel happier with myself and healthier than I have in many years.

The only annoying thing has been that whenever I step onto a crowded bus, men immediately try to give me their seat. It's like the parting of the Red Sea! I have become an old lady without the benefit of having grandchildren, which is utterly unfair. But since men in the US don't tend to be quite as accommodating as South American men, I suppose I should just relax and enjoy the ride.

Lost in Patagonia ...

We are at that point in the trip where anxiety is creeping in about running out of money, so with seven weeks left we have been getting to know the bus system in Argentina. They have pretty comfortable double-decker buses which travel long distances overnight, saving you plane fare as well as a hotel night. The rates vary according to how far back your seat reclines, and although we paid for the mid-level recline, Pat is too nice to put his seat back so he had a long (24 hours) bus trip to Patagonia sitting pretty much straight up. I, on the other hand, gladly reclined for a good night's sleep. He really is a saint.

Patagonia is hard to capture in words or pictures. It is just exquisite; the Andean mountains, glacial lakes, trees in the midst of fall color, picturesque villages and very warm hearted people. We went to San Carlos de Bariloche, in the lakes district, and once there we liked the hostel we were staying in (Arko, where we had a very large clean room with a front desk staff who act as travel agents with advise and tour booking help) and area so much that we stayed through this week and then took another overnight bus all the way to Buenos Aires to catch our plane to Bolivia.

Bariloche was settled many years ago by Swiss immigrants, who must have felt at home in this paradise of snow capped mountains. They brought many of their traditions and skills, and there are many chocolate factories and stores in the area. We had a cup of hot chocolate that was unlike anything we have ever tasted; so add chocolate to the things we loved about Bariloche.

Pilar, Alberto and a cup of mate ...

The first day we decided to hike to the top of a small mountain called Cerro Otto; this is a mountain with beautiful views of the entire area, and you can take a skyline tram to the top or hike, so of course we opted to hike. We were following a young couple who seemed to know where they were going, but after a few kilometers, the path ended and we were just hiking straight up the mountain over rivulets where the rain had come down the mountain. I mean straight up; I can imagine the people in the trams laughing at us struggling up. By the time we were halfway, the other couple were as lost as we were, but it was clearly too treacherous to go back down that way with slippery gravel and rocks. So we went on, finally reached the top, and this nice couple asked us if we would like to have some "mate" with them. We had not tried yerba mate, but it is a very strong tea which the people in South America drink out of cups carved from gourds like pumpkin, sipped through silver straws. The gourd is filled 1/2-2/3 full with loose tea, then hot water is poured over, and you sip it through the straw which has a filter on the end. The gourd is passed around ... and hot water refilled as needed. Above is a picture of Pilar and Alberto, the couple from Buenos Aires who we met on the hike and drank mate with. They have been married "for ten long, hard, terrible years" according to Alberto, who was quite funny.

So of course after all that mate, I had to use the bathroom in the little tea house at the top of the mountain, but they wouldn't let you in unless you bought a sky tram ticket, and you couldn't buy one way, you had to buy both ways; I was far too cheap to pay for that, so we walked the long way (about 9 k) back down the car road into Bariloche. Which was actually a lovely walk.

Preparing the Curanto

Pilar and Alberto also told us about the Curanto in what is called Colonia Suiza, or the Swiss Colony, on Wednesdays and Sundays, and advised us to take a bus there on Sunday. A Curanto is an earth-covered roasting of meats, chicken and vegetables which the Swiss settlers actually developed from Polynesians. We took a bus ride for about an hour to Colonia Suiza, paid our $12.50 each, and watched and enjoyed a beautiful day with Argentinean people. A fire is built until coals are very hot, then large river rocks are placed over the coals. More wood is piled on until the stones and coals are very hot; then the remaining sticks are removed and green branches of leaves are put on the stones. Chicken, lamb, beef, pork, and sausages are placed on the leaves, then potatoes and squash and whole apples and other vegetables, then more leaves and finally burlap. An Argentine flag was placed on the top layer of burlap, then one more layer of burlap, and the whole thing covered in dirt. It smoked for an hour and a half, then the bell was rung and everyone heard a patriotic speech by the cook (in Spanish, we didn't pick it all up) and the layers removed. It resulted in a perfectly cooked and delicious meal of roasted meats, potatoes, squash and apples. I still can't believe I ate something that at one point was covered with dirt.

A lake region bike ride ...