Changing Speeds In Santa Cruz
My journey to Bolivia begins with a routine flight to Miami, a six hour wait, then a normal but long overnight flight to La Paz. Upon landing the security crew boards the plane and checks each seat with precision before we proceed to Santa Cruz. Then I experience my first Bolivian left turn: the flight to Cochabamba has been rescheduled. The six hour wait has quickly turned into twelve. Not fun.
After some consideration I decide to take a taxi into Santa Cruz and make the best of my delay by enjoying the sites of the ‘plaza mayor’ in the city centre. I end up visiting the old cathedral off the plaza—which I might add boasts a fabulous wooden decorated ceiling; watching part of the Portugal/Ivory Coast football match over a fine cup of coffee; meandering the veranda covered stores surrounding the plaza; and having lunch at the Irish bar overlooking the palm tree covered square (the Irish are present everywhere!).
Sudden left turns. No warning. What do we do with them? How do we receive the changing day? With frustration? Anger? Depression? Or do we make the left turn and see where it takes us…maybe to a new place, a new experience otherwise missed? A change of plan can often be redeemed—’redeeming the time’—a biblical principle often ignored in our proactive, day timer laden society.
The surprising moment, a sudden left turn—a ’gift’ if we have the eyes to see?
Bolivia Beckons
Over the past number of years I have been spending a month or more in the beautiful country of Bolivia. Landlocked (not so good for an avid scuba diver), but a country graced with a myriad of beauties other than the ocean. Here are a few photos which demonstrate some if its gifts:
This coming week I leave for the city of Cochabamba which is in the central plateau area of Bolivia. It has a marvellous climate of warm (humidity free) days and cool evenings for sleeping. From this place one can drive down the mountainside and enter the rain forest in 4 hours or drive across the high plateau to the snowy peaks of La Paz in 6 hours.
Happily I will be missing the swagger of the G20 conference in Toronto during these weeks…enjoying instead the simplicity of a forgotten country. I will be reminded (as I am year after year) that there is a world not dominated by English, international financial systems, and North American fast food outlets (actually there is one Burger King in Cochabamba, but that hardly counts!).
Gracias a Bolivia para tu simplicidad y tu descanso a mi alma. Gracias! (Thank you Bolivia for your simplicity and rest for my soul. Thank you!)
