The Plan
This entire trip started when I met up with seven other volunteers from my school at the Miami airport. From there, we all took the same flight to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. We will all be working in different capacities at Familia Feliz to support the permanent staff in any way we can. We're one of the biggest groups that have come from Southern Adventist University, which made our journey through Bolivian immigration a bit cumbersome. While I knew two of the other volunteers before coming, we all quickly became friends in the first few chaotic days.
Waiting to catch a taxi after the first day of paper work in downtown Santa Cruz.
Paperwork
In order for us to stay in Bolivia for 9 months, we first needed to get permanent visas after entering the country on 30-day tourist visas. This involved a week of running around Santa Cruz with an enormous amount of paperwork to acquire various approvals, stamps, and signatures. By "running around," I of course mean waiting in long lines. We were all very grateful for the lawyer hired by our sponsoring school who patiently helped us through the whole process. We never could have figured out the paperwork ourselves.
Enjoying the view while listening for our names to be called for permanent visa interviews.
Waiting
All the paperwork meant a lot of patience. During the week of getting our visas, we stayed at RED Advenir's TV broadcasting station outside Santa Cruz. We were amazed by the hospitality shown to us in the delicious food served and the patience with our ignorance and our frustrating schedule that had to be worked around. During the week, Pastor David Gates took us to RED Advenir's new campus location near Samaipata, which is where the entire TV station and organization will be moving soon. We stayed there for one very cold night and were able to experience some of the rural, arid country-side of Bolivia.
Equipment at the broadcasting station where we stayed in Santa Cruz.
On our way to play soccer with some of the kids that live on the RED Advenir campus in Santa Cruz.
Touring the rest of the campus.
Stargazing in Samaipata on a crisp 35 degree F night.
After breakfast at the new campus in Samaipata before we returned to Santa Cruz.
View from the top of a mountain in Samaipata.
Incan ruins of El Fuerte.
Sunset in Samaipata.
Up Next
Despite feeling more like tourists than helpful volunteers this week, we were all certainly grateful for a chance to get to know our fellow team members and practice our Spanish. Next, we will be taking a 20-hour bus ride to Rurrenabaque where we can finally unpack at Familia Feliz and figure out each of our roles and specific jobs.