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Habitat for Humanity Global Village Project Notes
By Randel Sink
(Click photos to see full size)
Photo by Susi Havens-Bezaire
February 8, 2008
After months of preparation, the time has come for me to depart on my way to Bolivia and another Habitat for Humanity Global Village adventure. My wife, Carolyn (but I have always called her Janie) was not able to take me to the airport, so I got my 80 year old neighbor, John, to chauffeur me in his "Jag." The adventure had begun, John took the "scenic" route through the town of Morrisville, known for its traffic and traffic challenges, which along with Johns erratic driving made for what I thought would be a run for the gate once we got to the airport. Little did I know at the time that this would be the most eventful of any trip I had ever taken. As it turned out we arrived in plenty of time. My 5:20pm flight to Miami was delayed till 6:30pm, then to 7:30pm, but it was 8:20pm before we finally took off. We only got juice to drink. My connection was not in too much jeopardy since it was scheduled to leave Miami for La Paz at 11:20pm, delayed to 11:59pm finally becoming air born at 12:50am. It's just the waiting around in airports that gets to you, ….so tiring. The plane was completely full of people and all their junk! The meal was pollo pasta, a lettuce salad, and lemon cookies.
Photo by Susi Havens-Bezaire
February 9, 2008
I dozed off for a couple/3 hours to be awakened by an announcement that the airport in La Paz was closed due to an airplane skidding off the runway in a rain storm last night and becoming stuck in the mud! (It was only a couple weeks ago that one crashed on its approach near there! Go figure). So, we were diverted to Santa Cruz airport which was 90 minutes away from La Paz by air (15 hr by car). We arrived at 9am. Some passengers were destined for Santa Cruz so they were allowed to get off the plane. Those of us bound for La Paz were left on the plane for 45 minutes wondering what was going on, would we remain there and take off at a later time for La Paz, that was the general opinion. Then the airport authority at Santa Cruz decided that we should get off the plane, clear customs, collect our baggage and await further instructions. After about 45 minutes, we were all grouped around the American Ticket counter (there were no agents there) and a dude came out and said that they had been authorized by American in Miami to charter a plane for us (about 120 passengers). Yippeee.....cause it was hot, muggy and everyone was sweating it (there is no A/C in the airport). Then about 30 minutes later we were told that there were no available aircraft to charter, so we should go to the local Bolivian airline and stand by for any available seats. I was able to get a boarding pass at about 12 for La Paz which had finally reopened. We arrived without further incident at about 1:15. No one was at the airport to meet me from HFH as originally planned because they did not know where I was or when I would arrive. I got in touch with the hotel where I was to check in and they said that a person was on the way to the airport to pick me up. After about 75 minutes, I took a taxi to the hotel. I checked in without any problems and here I am. Only three other people on our 12 person group have arrived. I got a shower (yes they have hot water) and a bit of rest. Pick up at airport was confusing but I made it. Dinner is at 6:30. I hope it goes well.
February 10, 2008
It did go extremely well! Heather, Molly, Susi, Dave and I ate in a small restaurant last night. I had llama and boiled potatoes and some apple desert. Very tasty, but the llama was a bit tough, but it did not taste like chicken, more like pork with the texture of venison, very lean. I slept well last night, I was pretty tired after such a long day before. Breakfast consisted of a cereal mixture of barley, oatmeal, nuts, and some dried fruit bits, kind of like what Janie mixes for me with yogurt, some small pancake like thingies and fruit. Tea and some kind of juice which I did not know what fruit it came from but it was good. The acidophilus/probiotic tablets are working well for me, no digestive issues. I took a walk around this morning and snapped some photos. I went in to the church for Mass this morning, very beautiful. Heather, Susi and I walked around a bit to do some shopping. Dave went to airport to meet other arriving team members. Molly was gastronomically challenged and stayed in bed. We checked out of the Hotel Rosario in La Paz at noon and made our way to the airport in a taxi. Pepi was our taxi driver and pointed out many interesting things along the way. He even stopped at a look out point for Susi and I to take some parting photos of La Paz. There was some kind of carnival going on in the city according to Pepi, our taxi driver. Lots of people were dressed in their native dress and heading for some kind of parade or festival, I was not completely clear on exactly what the Pepi was saying (this of course had nothing to do with Pepi, I was not completely clear on a lot of what was said in Spanish for the whole time I was there!). I took some photos from the plateau above the city. It was awesome looking down on the entire city of 2 million. We checked in for the 3:05pm departure to Tarija which did not leave till about 4pm. I am beginning to realize that schedules here in Bolivia are just suggestions! The rest of the team arrived at the airport in the morning except for one lady that backed out at the last minute. We all gathered up in the airport cafe for introductions and chit chat. I had a ham and egg sandwich for lunch which was suppose to also have avocado, but they were out of avocado. It was great to finally meet everyone on the team. The rest of the members of the group were (in addition to Heather Burns, Molly Purnell, Susi Bezaire, and Dave Bezaire) Rosemary Math, Mike Wychara, Kerry Cheesman, Robert McAndrews, Selene Gatzonis and Regina Goetz. Regina seemed to be a bit unsettled by changes in altitude (La Paz elevation is 13,220 ft and surrounded by snow covered peaks over 20,000 feet, Mt. Mitchell in NC is 6684ft high, the highest peak east of the Mississippi). The flight to Tarija was unremarkable, we landed at about 6pm. The local HFH in Tarija had a big welcoming party for us at the airport, balloons, fruit and flower baskets for everyone, confetti, streamers, etc. After some TV interviews, we loaded up a bus for the Hotel Carmen. (This hotel was different from what was on the original contact sheet I sent each of you, but it was real nice). The hotel name is HOSTAL CARMEN, phone is 001-591-4-664-3372. Please make note of this on your contact sheet. My roommate is Robert. He is 48 years old, and recovering from a broken leg. He is an event designer, i.e., he designs props and stages for concert bands. I always wondered who did that kind of thing, I had no idea it was Robert! He is nice, and unlike my roomies in New Orleans, he did not snore last night! We met at 8 for dinner and the whole group plus 4 HFH leaders went to a nice restaurant, I had steak, french fries, and salad. I wanted fish, but it was only fried. Lots of fried foods here. Got to bed about 10:30 and slept well.
February 11, 2008
Up at 6:30 for breakfast in the hotel, cereal and yogurt, my green tea, some breads, scrambled eggs. Off to the HFH office for orientation at 8, Robert was late getting to the bus. I think this may be a trend with Robert. His saving grace is that he is an excellent interpreter. We got to the work site about 10. The work site is out on a red dirt plateau at 6000ft elevation (about like Denver) with mountains surrounding the area. Very scenic. Tarija is a very clean city, and well kept. People are friendly. We dug footings, and leveled the site, all with shovels and picks for all the rest of the morning till about 1pm for lunch. Lunch was some skirt steak and rice and french fries along with a great salsa salad and pudding for desert. Afternoon was putting large rocks into the footing ditches (dig dirt out, put big rocks in, go figure!) and mixing and pouring concrete over the rocks. The weather was in the 60s and cloudy most of the day which was good for the work we were doing. Everyone is getting along really well. Regina got real upset when we filled in a large mud hole because there was a little frog in it that would no longer have a home. Dave had to spend some extra time with her till she got calmed down. The HFH staff was very pleased with our progress. After we got cleaned up at the hotel, Robert, Rosemary, and I took a walk down to the central plaza to look for a some refreshments. We ran into Selene and Molly at one of the parks along the way so we all broke bad with a couple beers and got to know each other better for about an hour before dinner (one of the conditions of the trip was that there would be no alcohol). Well, so be it. Dinner tonight is at 8 again. I wish we would eat a bit earlier, but that is not the way in Bolivia. Restaurants do not even open till 8pm! Dinner was at a small family restaurant which had really good food. They prepared a small buffet for us, salad bar, fried chicken and chicken stew with rice, some veggies and ice cream for dessert.
February 12, 2008
Up-and-at-'em this morning at 8 on the job site. We built forms and poured concrete for most all the day. Mixing concrete by hand on the ground is the way they do it here, just like in El Salvador. It was over 100 today and sunny. Very hot. So we did not get as much done as when it was cooler on Monday. We are going to exchange traditional meals with the Bolivian people this Friday for dinner. I have been chosen (by Heather) to fix chili. Janie, I need you to send me my chilli recipe, mainly the spice combinations to use per pound of meat. I will be using my typical recipe with carne, onions, squash and tomatoes. Again everyone is getting along very well. Our team has really come together quickly. Everyone pitches in and works very well and looks to me at times for building leadership. There are not many children running around like there was in El Salvador since we are out in a wide open hot dusty area. The family has a 10 yr boy and an 8 yr girl, but they are not as approachable as Carlos and Sonya were in El Salvador! They are in school during the day so we do not see much of them. Dinner was at the same little place, salad, veal farmer john and smashed potatoes. I was pretty tired so I went to bed as soon as we got back from dinner.
February 13, 2008
Yesterday was really a hard work day. The sun was so hot and no breeze. I am really drinking a lot of water. Today was breakfast as usual. On the way to the job site, we looked for a laundry because the hotel lost some of the other peoples clothes. We went to several places that were in the guide book, but they were already some other place, like a hair beauty parlour for one and some other place for the other. I have a lot of things to wash, 15 items in all. The young man named Elvis from HFH that is directing us got a person at the HFH office to agree to wash our clothes. The cost; the equivalent of $1.30 for my 15 items.
Photo by Dave Bezaire
Today we finished the foundations on the house and started laying the block. It was not quite as hot so we made good progress, three rows around the house. We stopped early today, at 2pm to go shopping before the stores close. I am not so tired today, I rested good last night. Robert went out last night after dinner and I did not even hear him come in. I am glad you got your Valentine card. I ask Mariam to mail it for me. She was so thrilled to be my agent while I was away!
February 14, 2008
The last couple of days have been hectic. We have worked long for the past couple days but have made excellent progress. The maestro, Philippe has figured out that I have some masonry skills, so he has put me on one of the long walls of the house to lay the blocks. We started at course 3 and had a goal of 7 courses by the end of Thursday....we made it to 8. Dinner was again at the same little restaurant. Shopping was kind of weird. I thought we were going to a large open market, but we just wandered along the streets in central down town. I found one music shop that has some violins and mandolins but they were not very well constructed, interesting though, the mandolins here have 12 strings instead of 8, 4 sets of 3 instead of 4 sets of two strings.
Photo by Dave Bezaire
February 15, 2008
It's Friday morning and I was able to finish my block wall with all 12 courses and began finishing some of the interior bedroom walls. All the walls are red clay block which will be covered with plaster/stucco. We really have a great bunch of people on this trip....easy to talk to and all with the same purpose... helping others. Robert and I have found a little out of the way cantina that host a bunch of locals. Tacqui-Tacqui is the name of it, run by a dude named Freddie. Freddie is one of the nicest people we have met yet in Tarija. We sat in with some locals last evening that consisted of a lawyer, Bolivian country music singer/guitarist, a propane gas salesman and another dude that I never really understood his role in life. Thanks to Robert for his excellent translation skills. The lawyer was old school, about my age and full of funny stories. Last night one of the Habitat families, that occupies a house built last year, fixed a traditional meal for us and the Habitat office staff. It was very good, a kind of ground beef and diced potatoes with peas and carrots with rice, pasta, and salad. Tomorrow night we are going to reciprocate. I am cooking my famous chili, Rosemary is cooking her famous corn bread, Heather is fixing a salad, and Susi is baking apple pies. I hope all turns out well. The kitchen we will be using is kind of primitive so I think we will have to improvise some. Food items we are used to finding are not available here. No canned tomatoes, just fresh ones, so we will have to blanch, peel and pre cook them; no buttermilk, so we are going to use yogurt; no nutmeg, squash that I have never seen the likes of ....another adventure in the making.
February 16, 2008
Work today consisted of finishing pouring concrete for the corner columns of the house which took all morning. We had about 15 extra people show up the work since it was Saturday. The family that will be moving in and some of their relatives consisted of most of the extra help since they did not have to work their regular jobs. The mother is due to deliver their third child on Friday. She fixed lunch for the whole crowd today....29 people in all. It was good to be able to work along side them. The father drives a taxi, Jórge is 10, Jessica is 6, not 8 as I previously thought. Janie, I am glad I got to talk to you on the phone the other night.
February 17, 2008
Our Saturday evening cook out last night was a success, and an adventure, as is becoming the norm here. We were not able to find all the spices that we needed, but everyone loved my chili. The salad turned out good, as did the cornbread, and the apple pie. I was heralded as the great "Chili Chef!" Sunday was quite a busy day. Church at 8 which was at the little place I think I mentioned earlier that was built in 1578, up on the top of a hill, overlooking the city. It was quite full with people standing in the doors at the back. We then gathered up on the bus and went to a national park that had as its main attraction multiple water falls, and hiking. I climbed and hiked all over taking pictures. Mike from Canada kind of got turned around and we had to go out searching for him when he did not return at the appointed time. He was ok. Then we went to this 400 year old winery which took about 90 minutes to drive to and ate a 3pm lunch and hung out for a while. There was a band playing popular Bolivian music…. Guitars, drums and singers. The mountains and valleys were very majestic. Dinner was on our own. Robert, Selene, Elvis, Johnny, Molly, Rosemary, Heather and myself went to a pizza place… not the best choice! Freddie's Tacqui-Tacqui would have been a much better choice! Anyway, the fellowship was great and many memories and stories were shared.
February 18, 2008
Today was again very hot. I did some finish block laying around the top edge of the house and the rest of the team put down softball to football sized rocks in the bedrooms as a sub-floor then we poured concrete over the rocks for the finished floor. All of this work is very manual. Mixing by hand and carrying the concrete in buckets into the house and pouring it on the floors and smoothing it out. Backs are a aching. I am getting quite the farmers tan. I try to stay as covered as I can because the sun is so intense here. I wear a long sleeve shirt most all day over my t-shirt and have a hat on with a bandana over the back of my neck. I noticed some sweat bubbles coming up on my arms so I guess I am about to peel soon. The laundry lady was suppose to come today at 5, but it's 6 now and she still hasn't shown up. I have another big bag of clothes for her. Maybe all our dirty rags scared her away! I hope not, she really does a great job getting our clothes clean.
Photo by Susi Havens-Bezaire
February 19, 2008
Today has been especially hard or I have been more tired. Maybe it is last week just catching up with me. The weather today was cloudy and a bit cooler than it has been in the past week which was a real relief. I think I have become the head masons favorite volunteer mason here. He always has an assignment for me when we arrive and puts me right to work. I guess my experience is being recognized. I don't mind laying block, it is better an much easier than the jobs the others have (but I am the oldest of the crew) such as mixing concrete, hauling or carrying rocks and dirt for filling in the floors, and the bucket line where the concrete when it is mixed is brought into the house (which I do take part in from time to time). There are not many animals around here, just dogs and a few goats. The goat won this confrontation!
Photo courtesy of Rosemary Math
February 20, 2008
Today was hotter than yesterday. We only worked till about 2pm so it was some relief. The house is now getting to the point where the next thing to be done is really dependent on what was just completed which means that freshly poured and placed concrete has to be dry before more work can be done. We are at the top of the block walls and beginning to form the reinforcements for the roof which will also be made of concrete. So far there is no wood in this house. It's all concrete, block and more concrete. I again laid block today and finished all there is to do with respect to the block work. There may be some final finish work around the windows when they are installed, but we will be home before that work is done. Talk is that we will work a short day tomorrow, finishing up our tasks at about 3pm and have a dedication ceremony for the family that will own the house. Christina, the wife, had her baby yesterday, a boy, 10 pounds. This makes 3 kids, so I know they are anxious to move in. They are living with Jórge's parents now. Our head mason took us to his house yesterday afternoon which is a HFH house built 10 years ago for him. He has it fixed up very nice. It is laid out just like the one we are building, so it was good to see a finished product. I think we are going to walk over to a museum in about 10 minutes to try and culture ourselves. …we did, and it was real interesting. Palaeontology was the theme, lots of rocks and dinosaur bones that had been unearthed around the general area of Tarija. We met at the Tacqui Tacqui cantina that I mentioned earlier for a fish dinner that Robert and I had planned for the group. I was a bit anxious about bringing the entire team here since it is not really what you would call a restaurant, but the first day we were there the owner cooked up this incredible fish for the lawyer I told you about so I wanted to embark on that adventure. It all turned out great. Freddie, the owner was a bit overwhelmed with the number of people (16) that he had to prepare for but it all worked out and everyone raved about discovering this place. Freddie, we learned, is a recording musician on guitar, so he played his CDs and also performed several live numbers for us at the close of the dinner.
Photo by Dave Bezaire
February 21, 2008
Today was our last day at the building site. It rained from about 1am to 7am so the site was pretty muddy. We did what we could. The HFH office had a dedication for the family at 3:30 which was quite emotional as you can imagine for all, the family, our team and HFH. Our team has really become a part of this community in such a short time. Christina brought her 2 day old baby boy, jet black head of hair, what a joy for all. For dinner this evening, the HFH folks put on a festival for us, some 40 people in all, lots of cultural dancing, food, music, speeches, etc. It lasted till midnight.
February 22, 2008
Today it is raining again, we did not go to the house to work this morning. We will be checking out of hotel at noon, go for a farewell luncheon and head for the airport. Our flight should arrive in La Paz by about 8pm. Our departure luncheon was well attended by all of the HFH staff. I think they were glad to have an excuse to get out of the office. We were also accompanied by 4 of them at the airport which was nice. The flight to La Paz was without incident. I had some fish for dinner and then about 8 of us walked around for a bit and got to bed early (for this group)!
February 23, 2008
It is raining this morning here in La Paz. We are supposed to go to an Inca Museum this morning and for a guided walking tour of the city this afternoon. When I was here in La Paz a couple weeks ago I ran across a mandolin that I have been thinking about bringing home. I hope to be able to find the little shop again today and check it out in more detail. I leave here early tomorrow morning for Miami. It has rained here most of the day. We had a tour of a museum this morning with a Spanish speaking guide. Needless to say, I did not understand what he was saying. After a while, I began to just wandered around on my own. There were pieces of clothing that had been recovered from the indigenous people as far back as 2nd century. There was a display of masks that they used for ceremonies and feather headdresses and lots of recovered pottery. All of it was very interesting. However, I did not sleep very well last night, so I was very tired. Too many street sounds I think.. The rest of the group went on a walking tour of the city but I opted out to hunt for the mandolina. I did find one, not at the original shop where if first saw one a couple weeks ago (it was not open) but at another place. They only accepted Bolivianos, of which I did not have enough of to buy the mandolina. I was then on a hunt for an ATM that would work with my Wachovia card (not all ATMs in Bolivia work the same). It took me three tries but I finally was able to scrape up enough Bolivianos to close the deal. I spent the rest of the afternoon amusing myself working through a few Irish tunes on it. I also found some really cute finger puppets for Janie to use in her elementary classes and a couple fossils. All in all a great day that ended with the team gathering for pizza and beer.
February 24, 2008:
My trip back home was an adventure that only American Airlines could orchestrate. The flight left La Paz on the way to Santa Cruz about an hour late Sunday morning (you know, schedules, just like stop signs are only suggestions) to arrive in Santa Cruz and sit in a hot airplane while the Santa Cruz passengers deplaned and a detailed security search of the plane took place which took about an hour (taking seats and cushions apart, using mirrors to look under and above all cracks and crevices). In the process, one of the seat arms was dislodged so maintenance had to be call in to fix that (another 40 min lost). Finally the Santa Cruz passengers bound for Miami were loaded and we taxied to the runway about 2 hr late to begin our take off, which was quickly aborted because of a warning light that said an emergency exit door was not closed properly. . ... back to the gate where we were held another 90 minutes while three different maintenance men tried to fix it, but couldn't so the flight was canceled! About 1pm after going through customs, picking up luggage and waiting in the American Airlines ticket line we were all sent to downtown hotels and given a room, lunch and dinner vouchers and told to be back at the airport by 10pm for a rescheduled 11pm flight to Miami. After dinner, I put my luggage back together called a taxi and went to check out of the hotel only to be told that the flight was again canceled and would leave at 9am the next day (Monday).
February 25, 2008:
It's Monday morning and I should have been home, but I am making my way to the Santa Cruz airport (not having Robert by my side forced me to get really creative with my Spanish) and checking in at 7am for what is suppose to be a 9am flight but has ended up being an 11am flight to Miami, which was to leave 40 minutes after the regularly scheduled Miami/La Paz/Santa Cruz/Miami flight AA922 at 10:20am. Realizing what was stacking up to be more delays, and after talking to one of the pilots and finding out that the parts to fix our Sunday airplane were being brought in on the Monday airplane, I repacked my bags to insure I had only carry on luggage. By doing this I was able to standby for the 10:20am flight and was lucky enough to get a seat. We didn't actually leave till about 11:20am. The Sunday plane was still sitting off to the side of the tarmac. I am not sure exactly when it got to Miami, but when I arrived in Miami, it was being listed 3 hours late, so I was pleased that I got on the earlier flight even though one of the flight attendants said that the later flight was only about half full so people should be able to stretch out across several seats and get some shut-eye. I did arrive to the arms of my bride at about midnight. The good news is that she had no new engagement ring nor had the locks been changed. There were no home repairs that needed to be done, and the Vette had no crumpled paint! Unpacking has brought back many precious memories of our time together.
Epilog
This trip was another experience that I will never forget. The team leaders from Columbus, Ohio, Dave and Susi Bezaire and the entire HFH team in Bolivia worked hard to insure that they made the most of our time and efforts to help provide Habitat for Humanity homes for the disadvantaged families in Tarija, Bolivia. I would like to sincerely thank everyone on our collective teams for their unselfish participation in this effort, and I would like to again thank each of you for your support in making this mission trip a reality.
Sincerely, Randel Sink