This adventure started at about 8:30 am on Monday, June 1st. Placido came to the base/guesthouse by taxi. Prior to returning to the campo to get his vehicle, Placido needed to purchase a few things to take out to the Ayore Indian village for one of their many ministry projects. Today he needed to purchase several bags of red sorghum seed. Placido had called a seed dealer and had been assured that they would hold the seed for him until he had gotten there to purchase it. When Placido and Dan finally got to the seed dealer he didn’t even have sorghum seed! (That is the way it is in Bolivia, you just show patience and move on). We finally decided to go to a seed dealer that sells seed to the Mennonites. He had plenty of the seed that we needed, so we bought eight bags. Two hours had passed and we were finally on our way.
I have been driving the “Zajicek Mobile,” (which is named after the real owner, Frank Zajicek who is on furlough in the U.S.), an old, (more than 15 years old, we have lost track), Toyota land cruiser. (Since all SAM vehicles are actually owned by the mission, when missionaries leave the field for a period of time their vehicles are inherited by other missionaries until they return. Presently the Zajicek Land cruiser is a base/guesthouse vehicle. Those who use it pay about 40 cents a kilometer and then the mission takes care of up-keep. The rate may be a bit steep, but when you consider how many repairs may be needed, coming and going into the country-side on really poor roads, it is probably worth it. From time to time we also use the “Cooper Trooper” which is also an old vehicle. It is presently in for repairs).
Our first stop was in Posa Verde, and Ayore Indian Village that we are familiar with, to drop off the seed. Placido needed to talk to a number of people in the village before we could be on our way. Our journey would take us about 400 miles round trip over rough, and sometimes non-existant roads. It would be a “very” long day.
Here is a picture of me standing in front of the "Zajicek Mobile" with the 8 bags of sorghum seed.
And here is a picture of Placido with the same vehicle and seed but from a distance. Placido wanted everyone to see that the Ayoreo farm a large plot of land. Most of it is done by hand since they have few machines.
We had not gone far when we stopped for lunch in a small town named Pailon. I could only speculate that the restaurant that we stopped at must have been a very good one since it was crowded with people, mostly Mennonites who had gathered for their noon meal. Placido ate steak cooked over an open grill outside. I settled for the chicken, rice, fried plantain and coca cola, simply because I felt they were a much safer choice. Our stomachs full, we finally hit the road.
At this point maybe I should give you a little lesson on Bolivian roads. The road we were taking today was a toll road, but it still was not very good. There are things that you really need to be aware of while traveling in Bolivia; pot holes, animals along side, or in the middle of the road, and speed bumps, (they put these speed bumps in the oddest places and often they aren’t marked. “Ouch!” I guess it is assumed that you travel the roads enough that you know that the speed bumps are there. In Bolivia it is “assumed” that you already know everything. It is a little frustrating at times). Just imagine the worst 2 lane asphalt road that you have ever been on, and then “perhaps,” you will understand what it is like to drive in Bolivia.
As we were traveling we passed through several small towns such as San Ramon, Los Troncos, Neota, and we finally got to San Javier, the closes of the towns to where the SUV was abandoned. The next 35 to 40 miles would be on back roads…. (I guess that you could call them roads). At San Javier we picked up a mechanic and his wife. Now the real adventure begins!
As we headed out of town, the first back road started out fairly wide, made of mostly dirt and rock, (a four wheelers paradise!). This road was called La Antigua via de Jesuits, (in other words “the Jesuit trail.”) It is several “hundred” years old!
The first obstacle we encountered was a bog in the road, created by a natural spring which ran near-by. At one time someone had made a small wooden bridge over the bog, but now it appeared that the bridge itself, which had fallen into disrepair, had become an obstacle which we had to maneuver around. Along the way we found several such bogs with the same broken down bridges, which caused us undue trouble and delayed our journey. In one area palm trees had been laid across the road, but unfortunately the trees had rotted and we had great difficulty getting across them. We finally decided to go around the logs, going up a steep hill forging a path through deep ruts. By this time, about six hours later, it was starting to get dark and we hadn’t even made it to Placidos abandoned vehicle.
It was about then, just after dusk that I saw a really strange looking animal in the road. It ran like a rabbit, but it really looked more like a small capybara. (You may have to look this animal up on the web or in an encyclopedia. We also saw a really peculiar looking bird. The bird was gray with a white ring around its neck. I’d have to say that was probably about the size of a large hawk. Placido told me that at one time the Ayore Indians considered this bird a god. (You can read the story about the bird and the Ayoro Indians in a book named “Death of the Bird God). Times have changed and the bird has been dethroned and is no longer considered deity.
At one time along our trek we drove across a small stream. It was probably 8 foot across and possibly 2 feet deep, with really steep banks on both sides. After passing through the stream I noted that the road started to get narrower and narrower, and in places was full of vegetation. We had to go through several gates, made primarily of barbed wire and sticks. And, finally after passing through the last gate, we entered a field, (no longer a road), and we drove over an earthen dam that had been created to make a small lake. Almost to our destination, we drove up, up, up a steep incline and through an area of stumps, and there, sitting in the dark, in a desolate place, was Placidos SUV.
The mechanic worked feverishly, using only the light of a flash-light. (It gets “really” dark out in the country. However, the beauty of God’s handiwork, the stars and the planets, was breath-taking!). After about a half hour the mechanic had figured out the problem, which had been electrical. He made some sort of “hot-wire,” to get the vehicle going and made a temporary fix so that Placido could drive it back to Santa Cruz. Meanwhile Placido and I loaded the trailer which had been attached to his vehicle with bags of grain which the Indians had filled and were sitting next to the trailer. I had noticed a line of large ants carrying something across the surface of the dirt and tried my best to avoid them. Placido on the other hand had not been watching his surroundings and stepped on an ant hill and the ants attacked him, giving him some pretty bad bug bites. About an hour later we had gotten Placido’s SUV going and the grained loaded and we were ready to head back the way we had come.
At this time I should say that there had been some Ayoreo Indians working in the field where we had found Placidos vehicle. They needed a ride back to their village. It was about 9:00 pm by this time, and I drove the base vehicle, (the Zajieck mobile), while Placido drove his own SUV. The mechanic and his wife, as well as a 20 year old Ayore man rode with me, and several Ayore men rode with Placido. The drive back was very draining, I was tired, dirty, and driving in the dark I hit several large potholes pretty hard. (In times like these I could use a good Chiropractor!). We didn’t make it back to the asphalt road until around 11:00 pm. I drove on to San Javier with my crew in-hand, while Placido had to stop at the farm to work out some details of his next visit. I dropped the mechanic and his wife off and then the young Ayoro man and I waited in San Javier for about a half hour for Placido to catch up to us.
It had been several hours since the workers had eaten anything, so once Placido arrived he sought out a street vendor so that the young Indian men could get something to eat. Our next stop was to a road-side service station so we could get some air in Placidos tires. A short distance down the road I purchased some gas, and Placido also needed fuel, however, since his vehicle runs on diesel, and since the station didn’t’ sell diesel we had to go on hoping to find a station along the way that would both have some diesel, (there are often shortages of diesel fuel), and that there would be a station open.
On our return trip we had to be very careful, since it was so dark, to avoid all the potholes, roaming animals and speed bumps. Since I didn’t know what to expect on the roads at night I tried to stay as alert as possible. At least two different times I came upon places in the road that had been dug out and were barricaded off for repairs. Instead of “real” barricades, the road workers had put branches around the area they had been working. There were no signs, flares, or anything to warn me of what to expect ahead. Driving at approximately 55 miles an hour sudden stops can be hazardous and obstacles like the ones mentioned above are hard to maneuver around, but we did just fine, due to the grace of God, “Thank you Lord!”
Somewhere along our journey back, between 1:30 and 2:00 am we finally found a gas station that had diesel so that Placido could purchase some fuel. Praise the Lord, we had avoided another problem; Placido did not run out of fuel!
Well folks, I don’t know about you, but it is hard to focus these old eyes in the middle of the night, or I should say morning. We finally made it back to Pailon where we dropped off the Ayoreo men. We managed to cross the infamous one lane bridge on our way back to Santa Cruz without any major delays. (This was a real blessing since people have been known to have to wait up to an hour to cross the bridge!). This was the final hurdle along the journey and gave us hope that we would be back in Santa Cruz soon. It was smooth sailing the rest of the way.
For those of you who might be interested, we drove pass fields of corn, soy beans, sorghum, cotton, sunflowers and aloe vera. The cotton appeared to be ready for picking.
Placido headed for his house and I headed back to the base/guesthouse. At 3:00 am, what seemed like a day later, I finally made it home and to my own bed. It had been a “very long day,” but for me also a great adventure.
Placido headed for his house and I headed back to the base/guesthouse. At 3:00 am, what seemed like a day later, I finally made it home and to my own bed. It had been a “very long day,” but for me also a great adventure.
Neva welcomed me home and said she had praying for me to return home safely. I know that others were praying as well. I could tell that God had HIS hand on me. I cannot say enough about the power of prayer and God’s provision.
Thus ends one of many Bolivian adventures. Approximately 400 miles and 15 hours later I took a nice warm shower and was tucked back into my own bed, safe and sound and ready for a good rest.
After about five hours of sleep I was back up again and ready to start another day. The dogs needed fed and I had things to do.
Later in the day we discovered that one of my tires was almost flat. It must have been from driving through all those big potholes. God had gotten me back safely before any of my tires could go flat. What may seem like a small thing to most people meant a great deal to me. I cannot even imagine how much later and how much more of a problem we would have had if the tire had gone flat during our trip. God is good!
I hope that my story has not bored any of you, if indeed anyone is reading this summary of my day’s adventure into the wild. I did however want to give each of you something to think about;…. just think about our awesome God, and how much He is involved in of every detail of our lives, both great and small. We serve a risen Savior who is powerful, loving and merciful. Just think of all the blessings people miss out on when they don’t know or serve Him. I stand in wonder as I contemplate how He is active and working in my life every day. I praise God for his faithfulness to me. I am convicted by my sin and realize that my life would be hopeless without Him.
I want to thank everyone for their prayers.
We treasure your correspondence. Please keep in touch.
In Christ, Dan Abbott
