This kids are off school this week and Monday was a holiday so the Whittles decided to take some time off and have a mini vacation that they didn't get this summer. We had a few options but decided to go with the closest option of the Chapare region of Bolivia just 3 hours or 170 km east of Cochabamba. We chose the town of Villa Tunari because we had visited there for a day trip in August for the fish festival and trusty Ivan had connections for accomodations. We secured one of the last hotels rooms in the town (that's what you get for not planning ahead) and with the help of Ivan secured a taxi for the trip. Yes, you heard right, a taxi. There are many means of public transport between cities and for close trips a taxi is always an option. We had Ivan drop us off and negotiate a taxi to the Villa Tunari ($30) and we were off on our own for three days. The trip was beautiful as you climb out of the dry Cochabamba valley and head east. Within an hour you crest a ridge of hills and instantly the landscape changes and you enter the jungle. The last hour is merely an intensification of the jungle landscape as you descend more than 7000ft from the 8000ft elevation of CBBA (Cochabamba). We made conversation with our driver as we traveled the route. He spoke some English and had lived in Virginia for 8 years. It is so nice to finally be able to communicate with the people here. We talked about family and politics and life in Bolivia. He was a very nice guy and we were happy to get to know him. We finally arrived at our hotel which was a collection of cabins with a central eating hall and kitchen much like a small camp all overlooking the convergence of two rivers. As we waited to get into the gate the driver pointed out a monkey in the trees beside the van. The kids thought this first siting was pretty cool. We got to our room cabin with two separate rooms and a screened porch. We quickly realized that the ceiling fans in our rooms would not be enough. It was spring in the Chapare region which meant highs near 35C and humidity in excess of 90% day and night. Fortunately there was a pool and it was well used. We settled in and started to relax immediately. Amazingly, despite the fact that we were in a small town (think rural Saskatchewan) were almost no one spoke English we were content and managing with our Spanish quite well. We went out for dinner, came home and went to be early. The next day we relaxed in the morning and then took a short walk to Parque Machia to visit the monkeys. There is a monkey sanctuary run by volunteers and the park is a place for the monkeys and other animals to run and play. We were able to have a very intimate encounter with some Capuchin monkeys and then see the more sinister side of semi-wild monkeys as we watched the alpha male capuchin bite the hand of another vistor then the ankle of yet another visitor. She was bleading quite badly. We realized it was time to leave and that God had protected us from a possibly bad situation. That night we continued our adventure and headed to another hotel for dinner in their restaurant. It was a few kilometers out of town and after dinner I went to the front desk and asked for them to call a taxi. She said that was not possible. I was confused but she said there were taxis on the highway. We walked down to the highway and stood feeling very white and exposed and realized that flagging down a taxi travelling at highway speed in the dark of night would be impossible. After 15 minutes we walked back to the hotel and Brian tried out his forceful Spanish vocabulary. She tried making a call and said that there were only moto taxis available, that means a motorcycle taxi. Just when we were starting to get worried the man who would later call our angel arrived at the hotel with a group of people. We jumped in and headed for home. I told the cab driver of our problem and he clarified that we would not have found a cab at this time of night (8:00pm) and that most of the taxis were not available after 7:00pm. Who knew? We arrived home thanked God and went to bed. The next morning we headed off to a ropes course set up in the jungle called "la Jungla". After a narcotics checkstop (the chapare region is the coca capital of Bolivia) and a few kilometers of cobblestone highway and a short trip on a dirt road in the jungle, we arrived. It was lots of fun and everyone took a turn on some high swings that were set up in the jungle. Brian was brave enough to try the highest of them at 18.5 meters. Lots of fun having the pants scared off you. It was surreal to stop and listen to the sounds of the jungle all around. We finished and we went back to the gate to inquire about a cab. We had asked about taxis before we left and they said they came by regularly. We should have figured out that this meant Bolivian time. We waited for 15 minutes and finally a taxi arrived but he said he was going in another direction and could not take us. One of his passenger told us that we should walk out to the cobblestone highway because there were many taxis there. We decided that this would be our only way and began walking. We had only walked 50m when who arrived but our taxi angel. He recognized us and gave us a hard time for not calling him this morning for the trip out. We were very grateful and thanked him. We relaxed at the hotel for awhile and then walked over to one of the major river that flows through Villa Tunari, rio espiritu santo, yes that's the Holy Spirit river. It is a wide fast flowing river that is calm in some parts and extremely powerful in others. Sounds like a sermon. We waded in and enjoyed the current and then went rock hunting. We came back to our hotel and had dinner. By this time Brian noticed that his hands were very red and itchy and not looking good. We decided to see how they looked in the morning and leave according to the situation. It was a long night for Brian and we woke to find that his hands were on fire, swolen and blistering. We decided to leave immediately. We inquired to the hotel manager about a taxi and she could not find one so Brian walked into town in the rain to find a taxi. The situation was very bleak and confusing. Usually taxis leave early in the morning to CBBA with produce and return in the afternoon to pick up passengers. Brian gave up after 20 minutes of waiting and asking. He was almost home when he noticed the local taxi stand. He walked over to notice our taxi angel parked there. I explained my situation and asked if it was possible for him to drive us to CBBA. He said, "of course". Praise God. Within 15 minutes we had made a quick stop at the pharmacy for some antihistamine cream and we were off. He drove like a mad man and we were home in 2.5 hours. Within an hour Brian was in the local hospital rounding out our Bolivian vacation experience. The doctor diagnosed the problem as some sort of bad infection from an unknown source since there were many options in the jungles of the Chapare region (monkeys, contaminated pool water, dirty river water, plants in the jungle, spiders, etc.) Today Brian has completed 5 rounds of IV antibiotics and has another 5 rounds to go. It is a good opportunity to expand his Spanish vocabulary. Through it all God has been good. The problems with Brian's hands came at the end of three days of much needed rest. There were only a few tense moments and the trip back wondering what the problem was and how to fix it. His hands are healing slowly with every day and he has enough mobility back to type this long blog entry. God is taking care of us and we are finding the more you live your life relying on His grace, the more peace you have. Enjoy the pictures of our adventure. God Bless, Brian
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