A Soprano in El Alto (Bolivia Day 1)

Greetings and salutations!

The last post left us at our final Chile day. That early Sunday morning, I met the final member of our travelling trio, Toti. She had come in from the southern Villarica region of Chile to join the group. Having an EXTREMELY early flight to catch, we quickly packed up and headed to the airport at about 2 am. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we got in line to drop off our check-in luggage and await our flight. 

Little did I realize that this moment would play quite the role during the trip. Keep this in mind, it'll pop up again.

We had a brief but pleasant flight to La Paz, Bolivia, only a matter of a few hours. Upon arrival, we patiently awaited the check-in luggage at the carousel....

And waited....

And waited...

Mind you, Toti and Gi already had gotten their luggage, and mine was nowhere to be seen. After the carousel stopped turning, I finally ended up going to the airline help desk to report my luggage missing. The lady assisted me, but there was nothing to be done...I had no clothes/makeup to enter into La Paz with. I didn't pay it too much mind at the moment, not wanting to be negative so soon into the trip. We caught up with Charito, our Sorata contact. What a sweetheart!!! She was there waiting with hot cups of mate to help us adjust to the altitude.

Speaking of adjusting to altitude...

We hopped into a cab to Charito's place in El Alto, where we settled down to "rest." After settling in for an hour, we ventured out to explore the local fair, ride the in-air metro system called the teleférico, and adventure around town. What a beautiful, busy city!! We bounded up stairs, ate fried chicken, and took in the fabulous views.

At a price.

After a while exploring, we returned home, where we met Charito's mom and niece and hung out. As time went by, I began feeling a bit of malaise, my body steadily feeling weaker. After the guests left, us 3 girls settled in to nap while Charito went to run errands.

With a start, I woke up in a cold sweat, sick to my stomach. My body decided to rebel against me and manifest altitude sickness. Oh. My. Goodness. I ended up sitting up the rest of the night, trapped between a couch and the bathroom, in absolute misery. To spare you all the disgusting details, here's a handy dandy guide of things to avoid:

DO NOT RUSH YOURSELF. Take your time to really rest up.
DO NOT EAT FRIED HEAVY FOOD. It'll sit in your tummy and ruin you.

DON'T FORGET TO BREATHE. High altitude requires more physically.
HYDRATE YOURSELF. If you get stomach sick, you'll need to pump up on electrolytes.

Fortunately, the worst of it passed that night; it would have been an absolute nightmare feeling THAT sick for longer than I did. We were heading to Santa Cruz the following morning to go to Bethel, the last thing necessary was a flying sickipoo.

Smile, though you're feeling nauseous....

So a word to the wise: no matter how confident/excited/etc you are, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. It's not worth feeling that nasty.

But hey, I got to hug llamas so it wasn't all bad!!

That's all for tonight, hitting the sack after a LONG service day. The next post will cover our Bethel trip; stay tuned for the next post!!!

Love,

The Adventurous A.

BRRR.... It's Getting Kind of Chile in Here (Part 2)

Welcome back!!

If you're coming in from Part 1, EXCELLENT! Please read on. If not....well you'll be dropped in the middle of the middle of the story. I highly recommend starting from the beginning.

Anyways.

We are now at the (technically) second day in beautiful Santiago, Chile. Gi, needing to work, set me up with a delightful early breakfast and service plans with the Korean congregation nearby with a sister named Yanet.

Oh, a word to the wise. MAKE SURE TO ADJUST YOUR CLOCKS WHEN YOU'RE TRAVELLING. When Yanet picked me up, I thought I still had an hour's time to get ready for service, but apparently my phone was still running on Panama time. To be fair, I was distracted by the INCREDIBLE view of the Andes from my bedroom window. Thank goodness I was dressed and ready already!!!

You see how GORGEOUS that is??

Yanet and I crossed over into the heart of Santiago, reuniting with the rest of the service group. Much to my surprise, because of it being Saturday, the group was doing Spanish service. I was geared up to annyeonghaseyo my way through Santiago, but hey, at least it'd be preaching in a familiar language!

We did business territory, which turned out QUITE successful! We started quite a few good conversations; I was already relishing the ease of the ministry out here. After a few hours, our group divvied up, our small clan heading towards Santiago's K-Town for Korean food. 

맛있는!!

After retrieving Gi, we perused the adorable shops,drank boba tea, and bought goodies for the friends in La Paz and Sorata. We then parted ways, heading to one last mid-week meeting in Chile before the Bolivian adventures would begin...

And here we are, at the end of our Santiago leg of the trip! I'll be back later in the month, but for now, the rest of the blog posts will be centered on our goings-on in La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Sorata! Hope you enjoyed these 2 snippets! Stay tuned for the next post! Ciao Bluebearies!

Love,

The Adventurous A. 

BRRR....It's Getting Kind of Chile In Here (PART 1)

Hello and salutations, Bluebearies!

I'm writing this blog from a comfy couch in sunny Bolivia, already in disbelief that I've been in South America for the past 5/almost 6 days. The time has rushed by, and has definitely been quite eventful. Before I continue,  however, we need to backtrack to almost a year ago, to the early planning stages.

Back in June of 2018, I was home sick tied in to the meeting. The crowd in the Kingdom Hall was substantial, as is usual during our summer season. With my bird's-eye view, I watched the visitors as they settled in their seats,  noting in particular a very pretty young sister accompanied by an elegant older sister. From the get-go, superficially I liked them, but thought nothing beyond that, save for enjoying their Watchtower comments.

Once the folks returned, my mom mentioned meeting some very nice sisters from Chile. The younger one expressed the desire to serve in a different country, and Mom told her that that was my goal as well. They exchanged numbers, and Gi (the pretty young Chilean) and I began communicating via WhatsApp.

The rest is history. Now I was on a plane to meet her in person, a new travel companion to serve in Sorata, Bolivia together.

This being my first solo trip, I was a jumble of emotions, a bubbling cauldron of excitement/nerves/

After saying goodbye to the family,  this started my approx. 13 hour trip to Santiago, Chile. Copa Airlines gets a HUGE shoutout for being one of the best flights of my LIFE. They fed us so well, along with other free goodies.

(Caption wink wink nudge nudge that's not apple juice)

I made it there close to 11pm, where Gi and another sister from her congregation waited for me with open arms. Finally,  after almost a year's worth of WhatsApp calls and texts, we were together at last!!! There's no joy quite like getting on well with someone you've been anxious to meet; my heart settled in contentment.

We went on our merry way back to Gi's, chatting excitedly the whole time. After a late-night dinner of Papa John's pizza with her and her lovely father, we settled in for the night, in preparation for the day's activities ahead of us...

Oof that was short huh? No worries! Part 2 is already up on the blog! Go check it out!