Guayaramerin, Bolivia

The "Genesis" after a few days or work.

   Finally here!! All the years of desiring to come to South America is now a reality. The temperature is extremely hot and humid, but I love it! The hotel we stayed at was very obviously the best hotel in this Amazon town and was perfect for our purpose. The air conditioners ran continuously and the pool was very refreshing after a long days work.

Break time on the Genesis

   

   

  
   The purpose of this trip was for a team of 9 of us to to help build a boat that will be used on the Amazon Rivers. The boat, named Genesis, will bring medical aid and the Good News to all that are unaccessible other than by the river. 

This man came by where we were working
with his motorcar that was transformed into
a sugar cane juice making machine and
squeezed some cane right there for us.

At the work site these ants were an inspiration. To see
the steady stream of ant climbing up and down this
tree transporting leaves. Just an FYI ant don't like insect
repellent... as a test, a small line of repellent was 
sprayed in their line of travel and they were all confused 
until they figured out just to move the line 
over a few inches.

Ah yes, Cujo (we named him), was the dog that was
locked up at the house on the job site. The locals
keep their dogs locked up during the day so they
become more aggressive at night while
they are on guard duty.

To guess, I would say at least 96 % of the vehicles on 
the road were motorcycles. As seen here, entire families 
would ride together.Children, babies, large items, it 
didn't matter. There were no stop signs, no stop lights 
and only a couple of paved or stone roads, but they
made it work. Every evening many of the local would 
come to the town center and drive their motorcycles
around and around the circle. We're not sure if they 
did this just for fun or as a social time or to 
enjoy the (dusty) breeze.

In the town, many variations of motorcars were seen.
This man and a few others would drive around reading
and talking to all that could here. I have no idea what he
was saying. Now that I think about it, I should of asked.

A few shots of children from in town, from the church and just around the area where The Genesis was being built. It was so nice to see children out playing...  playing with toys they’ve made or games North American children don’t seem to have time for anymore.
  

 Here are just a few of my sun set and sun rise pictures

Arriving Guayaramerin Bolivia

Departing La Paz and venturing on to Guayaramerin, Bolivia with a quick stop in Trinidad, Bolivia. The 18 seater planes for this day of travel were great as we were all able to enjoy seeing the Andes Mountains and all the great scenery.

Guayaramerin Airport Control Tower

   Our little stop at the Trinidad airport gave us our first exposure to the nice warm weather of Bolivia as well as seeing a smaller town airport in South America. Upon arriving in Guayaramerin and seeing the very small wooden control tower complete with a hammock underneath and the airport terminal "building" being a cement pad with a metal roof, washrooms, the airline desk and a couple of ladies selling drinks and snacks, we knew now that we had arrived at the Amazon Jungle!

Guayaramerin Airport Terminal

The streets of Guayaramerin

   


From the airport we were taxied to our hotel down dirt roads into the city of Guayaramerin.   After checking into our hotel, we were taken down to see the boat that we came to construct. The boat is larger than we imagined, but we were all so excited to be able to take part in this great mission.

Motorcar Transportation

View from inside hotel

First look at the boat

First sunset on the Amazon River

South America - La Paz

 

The team relaxing in the hotel lobby sampling the coffee.

 














Next stop,  La Paz, Bolivia. Snuggled high in the Andes Mountains, this city is located at an elevation of 3,660 meters above sea level, making it the world's highest capital city in the world. Our stop here provided us with only an afternoon and night to explore this very unique place. Originally our itinerary was set to stay a full day here but God knew that our team was going to have difficulties handling the altitude even for the few hours we were there.

La Paz, Bolivia

Walking the streets, going through the markets and then back to our hotel for a great dinner was all we had time for on this stop. The locals were not particularly fond of having their pictures taken unfortunately as all the aspects of this different culture sure was something to see.

Trip to South America

After a small stop in NYC, we were able to stay a day in Lima, Peru. Our visit started with a small nap to get back on track from the overnight flight. 

The adventure of Lima started 1:00 at when our tour guide met us at our hotel. The theme so far of this trip has been to travel and eat, travel and eat so naturally before the official tour was to start we were dropped off at Wa Lor a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Ordering Lunch in a Chinese restaurant with Spanish speaking waiters turned into quite the experience. Fortunately they did have menus with English descriptions, but as all the dishes were still quite foreign to us, the challenge was still very entertaining. 

The first stop was Huaca Pucllana or Pucllana Pre-Columbian Tomb. This temple now in the middle of a residential area was an Administrative and Ceremonial Center of the Lima Culture, a society that was developed at the Peruvian Central Coast between 200 AD and 700 AD.   In Lima, Sunday´s are considered a time to spend with your family or loved ones. The parks were full of people, bands performing and a lot of crazy traffic which gave us a great taste of the Peruvian culture.

Catacombs in Convento De San Francisco

Convento De San Francisco

The highlight of all sites seen on our tour was the visit to Convento De San Francisco. The history and architecture in this temple was so spectacular. For many of us the Biblioteca (Library) which contained 25,000 books dated from the 17th century was just amazing to see. The catacombs below the church with all the bones from those buried there, was for sure an interesting thing to see.   

El Parque del Amor, Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Love Park, Lima, Peru

Our great and very knowledgeable tour guide, Noella, took us to many other very interesting sites and parks which made for an amazing day in Lima, Peru! Our Last stop was theParque del Amor in Miraflores. This park was opened in 1993 on valentines day. The park features a prominent statue, "El Beso", of two lovers in a passionate embrace. The sculpture celebrates the lovers who gather to catch the sunset on the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It is said that the locals compete for the longest kiss under this statue every Valentine Day.