Quick stop in Santa Cruz

The night flight to Bolivia was not ideal, but the view of the Andes Mountains made up for it.  I awoke from my half-conscious stupor as we landed at the La Paz airport to unload some passengers on our way to Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  The sun was just starting to rise and the view of the airport was just coming into sight.  You know you are high up when you see the land which you are on next to a landscape of clouds hiding another world below.  This is the case of the city of El Alto, the place where the airport resides at some 14000 feet, and the clouds blocked the view of the city of La Paz  After we took off, the Andes mountains came into view.  We passed right over their ominous snow covered peaks.  The sun rising just behind them created a beautiful picture.

I arrived in Santa Cruz and WAS exposed to the country of Bolivia by the taxi ride to the hotel.  This consisted of a myriad of colorful stores with columns at the front and an occasional stray horse eating the vegetation on the median.  I was fortunate to experience the luuxury of the Buganvillas hotel before wandering the streets of Santa Cruz with Sara Sywulka, a Food for the Hungry worker.  We relaxed by the circular shaped pool and soaked up a few rays before heading out into the streets.  I was fortunate to be with Sarah for she knew the language well and was used to exploring new places.  We went to la Plaza and did a little shopping.  We saw all sorts of jewelry, snack foods and clothing all unique to this Latin American country.  Up to this point the excitement of a new place had made me forget the fact that this was a coutry full of people struggling to survive.  My eyes were soon opened when I saw a three year old boy, rather adorable in his Quechua attire, hat and two multi-colored shawls, asking me for money for taking his picture.  The pinnacle of this realization came on the ride home from the supermercado where we had purchased brazil nuts, yogurt in a bag and some cupenas.  At a stop light, as we were listening to a song by Usher, a young boy on the sidewalk cried out in pain and agony, covered in dirt and all alone.  He was obviously handicapped in a way that caused him much discomfort.  I soon became aware of the poverty that has striken this country for many years and the Usher song playing on the radio hit home the fact that so many people do not know or understand this type of poverty.  This was a simple experience but a powerful one.

I fly to Cochabamba tomorrow to begin work on the workshop with Food for the Hungry where I hope to learn more about the poverty, specifically the malnutrition, and ways to help stop it.