Today I thought I would share a couple of the realities of living in a Third World country, specifically in South America.

First, Bolivia has 220 wiring everywhere instead of 110 as we are used to in the United States.  So the first thing you need is a transformer that will cut the 220 down to 110 before the power hits your appliance, or your appliance dies!  Here's a picture of the transformer we brought from the States.  We only brought one because the darn thing weighs about 5 pounds and we had very tight weight restrictions on our luggage.

This is in our bathroom, and the white plug is a power cord so I can plug into it with my curling irons.

This second picture is another transformer that someone here gave us; somehow they had an extra.  It was made here and is even bigger and heavier than the one we brought.  I don't know if you can tell that from the picture.  We have an extension cord plugged into it on the left and that, in turn, takes care of our clock radio, and whatever else we want to plug into it. 

These Bolivian-made transformers are tricky, I guess.   A couple of weeks ago one of the other missionaries here told me she had accidentally plugged her curling iron into the wrong end of their transformer (or something - I didn't quite understand how she could do it) but anyway, her curling iron melted right there on the bathroom counter!

The reason I don't quite understand how she could plug it in wrong, is that the plugs are different here too.  Here's what they look like --

Here's an adapter (we brought about 10 with us) and the plug-end of our computer power cord --

This is our computer plug with the adapter, which then plugs into the round holes in the wall outlet.

Another interesting thing peculiar to this apartment I guess, is that when I plug in the hand mixer it blows the circuit.  I have to take my mixing bowl in the bathroom sink and use the plug there.  We're still trying to persuade the manager of the hospedaje that this is a "solvable" problem -- but in the meantime . . .

Now a couple of notes about foods.  The boxed milk that we bought in Ecuador is not available here, so we buy milk in plastic packages and there is a special little pitcher in our apartment that is made just to put the milk package in and pour from.  Can you see the notch in the pitcher?



We might never have figured out what that odd pitcher was for if one of the other couples here hadn't explained it to us!

Almost all produce has to be washed in an antiseptic solution, but we were delighted to find that there is one brand that is safe to use right out of the package.  This is it:

The red circle (or sun?) on the lower left side is the key.  If it has that, it's safe.  You'll notice it says "agua pura" (pure water) on the package, meaning it has only been washed in clean water.  Things that can be peeled (bananas, avocados, mango, onions, potatoes) don't have to be washed, but anything else you buy fresh at the street market definitely needs it.  We also microwave the nuts we buy at the market - 30 seconds on High, wait 30 seconds, repeat the 30 seconds on High - and that takes care of any germs that might be on them.

Eggs are date-stamped as they were in Ecuador.  Isn't that interesting?  This one is good until May 9.

Now as to other things we've done this week . . . we had our first two experiences with the Immigration people.  I can't say Immigration Office because it isn't like that here. There isn't one place you go and get it all done.  The first place we went was actually Interpol! Isn’t that interesting? Also they took all ten fingerprints and they use a particularly indelible fingerprint ink that only comes off after repeated scrubbings.  We had our photos taken at a different location and – on our second trip downtown – had our signatures notarized on additional paperwork and our thumbprints taken a second time. And all this is in addition to the several official papers we had to obtain and have notarized for our visa before we even left the United States.

We've been told there will be one more trip next week, then ALL the paperwork will go to La Paz (the functioning capitol of the country, even though the historic and traditional capitol is in Sucre) and about three weeks after that, some sort of paperwork will come back from La Paz and we will make one more trip downtown to finish the job.  (Of course if any of the offices lose the paperwork, we have to retrace our visits, etc. They get paid a fee every time they process anything and I understand it is not uncommon for things to be misplaced and multiple visits to be required.) Anyway, we’ll see what happens. One good thing –we’ve been told (by people who should know, since they’ve gone through it) that if we were under 60 we also would be required to have a blood test and a urine test, but since we are 70 we’re spared that. Thank heaven! I’m not afraid of needles but I am afraid of the hygiene or lack of it in Third World countries.

 

Here are a few of the pictures I took from the taxicab on our trips to downtown Cochabamba to see the Immigration people . . .

 

First, the old original Central Plaza in Cochabamba reminds us a lot of the Central Plaza in Loja.  This was just a quick snap, but the plaza is BIG and traffic goes around it in a two-lane circle.  Can you see that the lady in the hat has her baby wrapped in a big shawl that is looped over her shoulders?  We see that everywhere here, and the hat is the typical indigena headwear.

This colonnade is across the street from the plaza.  These balconies are on an OLD building that butts up against an equally-old Catholic cathedral that dominates the west side of the square.  The balconies (and the buildings) are historic, but our driver said the balconies are very dangerous because they fall off if any pressure is put on them!  (Couldn't get a picture of the cathedral, sorry - I'll do that another time, I hope.)

This is one of the streets that radiates out from the central plaza.  Notice the wiring hanging on the picture above and across the street below - it's everywhere.  Cochabamba (like Loja, Ecuador) is an electrician's nightmare.  I assume there are no wiring codes; surely this kind of mess wouldn't exist if there were?

This is a building under construction in the old downtown area.  Again it's very much like Loja and we were fascinated to see how they do it.

 

There are little stores lining the streets, each one no larger than a single-car garage, if that big. This is just one example.

Also on many street corners you will see a newspaper kiosk like this one.  They sell all kinds of periodicals including the South American versions of The Enquirer and those other trash papers.

This is a typical street downtown, except that it would normally have cars two abreast.  I don't know how it isn't more crowded in this picture, because it seemed to me we were always within inches of scraping the side of another vehicle.  The drivers invariably create two lanes of traffic out of one, and three out of two.  Fortunately, they are moving slowly enough that they don't seem to run into each other, though we're not sure how they manage it.  I don't know if you can see the graffiti on the blue wall and/or in the picture above.  Graffiti is EVERYWHERE, unfortunately.  I guess that's another mark of a big city.  We were so lucky not to see much of it in Loja.

 

 

On our way out of the downtown area we saw this little fruit stand at the corner.  That is very common, too, both downtown and in all the outlying areas.  There is quite a large fruit and vegetable stand just a block south of the temple grounds.  It's one of the ways people scratch out a living here - you will see them alongside the street with just a chair and a table and their fruit.  If they're lucky, they have an old umbrella for shade or a tarp like this one.

 

Okay, that's probably enough for today.  I have lots more pictures but I'll save them for a Monday when I don't have anything else to tell you.  You'll notice our weather is beautiful.  It's like this every day.  Cochabamba really is the Garden City of Bolivia, I think.