The Arrival...

Ha. What a title! "The Arrival..." It sounds like something out of "The War of the Worlds!" "No one would have believed, in the last days of 2013..."
So obviously we got to Bolivia. It involved a midnight taxi ride to the border. (it sounds exciting doesn't it?) Synta and I took one taxi and her parents the other. Our luggage packed to the ceiling. Our driver chewing coca leaves to stay awake. Somewhere north of Salta and before the Bolivian border we came upon hundreds of people walking along the road, inn the middle of the night. I believe it was a religious festival, but it kinda made me think of a Zombie apocalypse.
And then the border. A bridge separated Argentina from Bolivia. We arrived just as the sun peaked over the horizon. If you ever come this way don't forget the mosquito's spray. They are bad.
And our bus was waiting. With a few misunderstandings and false alarms behind us we were on our way to Tarija.
I guess this is a time to comment on the driving. Have faith. Yes, you have to kind of remind yourself that the driver has obviously survived driving many times before and why should this be the day he crashes and kills everyone? The chances are pretty remote.
Driving here is actually quite courteous. Everyone drives flat out and pushes in to any gap that appears, (or is about to) but that is all quite acceptable to all concerned. There is a lot of horn sounding, but usually as a kind of "careful, here I am!" announcement rather than a "get out of my way!" No road rage I've seen and although the vehicles are usually beaten up I am yet to see an accident. I must describe the taxis to you. Another time.

So while we endured a wild ride we got our first view of Bolivia. Rugged hills with steep cliffs above and below the road.  Dry and dusty at the moment. It is supposed to be the rainy  season, but the rain hadn't come at that stage and people were starting to get anxious.
And into Tarija we came.
We had all the advantages of being part of a worldwide organization that is full of people who care about us. Our contact and old friend Martin Rattray was ready for us. He also knew enough Spanish to chase away the bus driver who was thinking we were supposed to pay extra.
Our brother Edwardo had brought a truck to take our luggage to our accommodation. It is a very nice apartment over a witness family's house. I will have to do a post about the architecture here too. Suffice to say many buildings seem to be unfinished and waiting to add another floor as soon as the owners get around to it. Our house has a nice flat roof waiting for the third floor to be organised.
So we lugged our ridiculous number of bags into our apartment and collapsed.
Siesta is an excellent practice here. It is usually so hot here in the early afternoon that everything shuts down for a few hours. Shops close and people find somewhere to sleep.
We had been on the go for about 30 hours, so we decided to follow local tradition.

Why on Earth would you.. and Where on Earth is it for that matter?

Why on earth would we move to Bolivia?
There are numerous reasons that made it attractive. Adventure, novelty, travel, getting out of a rut? Probably all were contributing factors.
But the main reason from the start was the ministry.
Jehovah's Witnesses are teaching the Bible all over the earth. 15 years ago there were 5.6 million teachers in 85,000 congregations, now it is 7.6 million in 111,000 congregations. That's a 35% increase in that time. Critics will give all sorts of excuses to negate any praise of this. But the fact remains there is a global demand for what is being taught. Those who become Witnesses are immediately motivated to share unpaid what they have learned. In countries where the work has been going for many decades, it seems to have reached a kind of saturation point and growth is slow. But in many lands the growth is just taking off.
Such areas where demand exceeds supply are highlighted and ones who are able and willing move to "where the need is greater." Usually this involves leaving behind house, job and comforts to do what they sincerely believe is the right thing to do.
Whether because it is inspired by God or some inexplicable delusion, the organisation is most unique in this. (Consider if the United Nations asked for 7 million unpaid volunteers to start teaching an unpopular subject to strangers - would they even get 7 hundred?)

Regardless, that is what we have gotten ourselves into. My wife Syntyche was planning to move to Mexico before I came along. Getting married, and her husband (me) getting into regular pioneer and elder type stuff postponed the plan for a few years. But then with her parent's (Paul and Lois) planning to move to Bolivia for the "need greater" reason, we suddenly decided to come too. From the start we made it clear we were our own agents and weren't coming along as their apprentices or dependents. (A kind of: "We are going to take advantage of you to get there, but don't tell us what to do when we arrive" arrangement)

So we sold up our furniture, rented out our house, quit our jobs, and on October 29, 2013 departed New Zealand for Santiago. Santiago is in Chile of course, but that's on the way. So is Buenos Aries and Salta. Two other cities we flew into in Argentina before we could make the midnight dash across the border into Bolivia.

Do you want to hear tales of Airport frustrations, taxi transport dramas, poor decision making and language confusions in Argentina?
Of course not! The story will never actually get to Bolivia at this rate!
Instead I will add another photo of the same plaza in Salta. The lancers are just assembling behind me and I have a very thoughtful look on my face. Perhaps I'm looking for inspiration to say something fantastic. Or more likely, just breaking the mold of the "here is a photo of me smiling with something more interesting in the background" photo some tourists fill their albums with.

Next stop, Bolivia!

In the beginning...

The first thing I noticed when I set up my blog is that I last signed in at 12:13 am tomorrow! This just goes to show how strange this country is. You may say it is something to do with being logged in the wrong side of the international dateline, compared to my account setup location, and therefore I'm writing from yesterday.
But I guess this is what you call "living in the past."
So here I am. In Tarija Bolivia. Granted, I have actually been here for over two weeks, but it is only now the internet is reliable enough to use. The time has come to start my Blog!
I was going to call it "Drew's and Shay's adventures in Bolivia." But with my good wife's full approval I have decided to leave her name out. (She is "Shay" obviously. Or Syntyche to be precise)
My writing style tends to wander and be punctuated with all sorts of unrelated prattle. I don't want it to reflect on her. Besides, she has her own blog under way. It is:
http://www.ladybirdphotographs.com/blog.html if you want to have a look. (She has given me permission to tell you that.) She is doing some amazing photo work which I will borrow from shamelessly. It's a give and take relationship. In fact before you get sick of reading I will insert my first photograph!

This Photo is of the lancers that turned up in the main plaze of Salta, Argentina. We were sitting outside a restaurant, minding our own business, when a dozen of them came clattering over the cobblestones and posed right beside us for several minutes. After letting their horses urinate and defecate they proceeded to parade around the square to blaring music for a while and then left. I see you never know what is going to turn up in South America.

Oops, now I've asked permission she also insists I add her Photography website and facebook to increase the traffic! I have no problem with that since I'm hoping her photography is going to help fund our adventures.

They are:
http://www.ladybirdphotographs.com/
and
https://www.facebook.com/LadybirdPhotographs
So there you go.

But this is out of order. Just a cool photo that needed an explanation. My next post will address the whole coming to Bolivia to live idea.