We're Home!

We made it home late last night! Our flight was extremly long and draining, but we were glad just to be back in the USA!

Both Dad and I did not feel good this morning, but this afternoon Dad got so sick that Lorrie had to take him to the Emergency Room and is still there right now. They are doing bloodwork on him to see what is wrong and he will hopefully be getting the results back soon. He has a fever, chills, flu-like symptoms, etc... We are just hoping that he has gotten sick from being in the airplane with other sick people or it could be something from Bolivia. Please keep him in your prayers!

Carrie was such a great tour guide, an awesome children's home director and such an amazing friend! Dad and I had a great experience and I am so glad that we had the chance to take the trip even through all of the extra headaches that we have had to go through!

I will try and post some pictures soon!!

We are Back in La Paz!!

We definitely had a one of a kind experience in Tacachia! There are so many stories that I will have to share later! I am going to make this a short post because we are on our way to dinner and we have to get back and pack for our early flight out in the morning. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel, ask for on time flights and our safety. Please also pray for the possible other 16 children that will be coming to the children´s home shortly. Pray for them to adjust easily to their new environment and for their safety as they travel there. They have been orphaned for many different reasons and most I will explain later.



Here are some pictures of our trip to Tacachia!!



Can´t wait to come back to the U.S.A.!!!

Heading to Tacachia

We had a great day in La Paz yesterday. We were not able to do the double decker bus tour(it broke down..go figure), but we are hoping to do it on Friday. Instead, we went down to the markets and did some shopping. We even went to the witch market, which was not as scary as I had pictured it...it was actually very interesting. I have some pictures from the market that I will post. One funny story is that Dad needed to use the restroom and in some of the public restrooms in La Paz you have to pay to pee!! I thought that was hilarious!

Last night Carrie took us to dinner where we had Llama meat for the first time! It wasn´t too bad! At this same place they had music and dancers to entertain us.

Carrie´s apartment is cute. We did get a chance to take showers this morning and the water was so cold! Dad and I are learning to drink the Coca Tea and it´s really not bad and is supposed to do a lot of good things for your body.

We are walking around downtown right now and will grab some lunch and then begin our way to Tacachia, which I am looking forward to! We won´t be able to get to phones or computers until Friday!

This is a really neat city with lots of culture. They have the cutest little cars here too and the most beautiful babies! It makes one realize how spoiled we are in the US and how much we have that we take for granted!! So, no matter what, always remember how good we have it!!!

Some Pics for You!

We Made It!!

We are in La Paz!! Carrie picked us up this morning at the airport and we went to her apartment and rested to adjust to the altitude. The altitude did have a little more affect on us than we thought...it´s almost like you can´t catch your breath, your heart races and you just have to make yourself relax and breathe deep.

Carrie just took us to eat Trout from Lake Titicaca and it was delicious! We are now waiting for a topless tourbus to pick us up so that we can tour the city. Tonight we are going to a dinner and a local dance show. We will leave for Tacachia tomorrow afternoon about 3pm and we will stay there until Friday. Then we will do some shopping, spend the night and fly out on Saturday.

We will keep you posted!!

Patience is a Virtue!!!

Dad and I had a pretty good day in Miami! We were able to rent a GoCar (is a 3 wheel scooter with a talking GPS and tour guide) for about 2 hours and it was really fun! We grabbed a bite to eat at Jerry's Famous Deli which was really good! Plus, we found out that we are traveling business class to La Paz and are currently sitting in the Admiral's Club eating some cheese and crackers and enjoying complimentary beverages. Business Class also means that we will be sitting on the 3rd row, which I am thankful for!

I think that we have decided that when we travel again there will be no luggage involved! Anything that we would need we would just purchase when we get there! The luggage (all 8 bags) has been the biggest pain in the neck and shoulders, literally! You can't check them overnight or not even until 5 hours before the flight which has made it really difficult for us, especially since we did not plan any of the past 2 days!

It has been fun just to, on a whim, figure out what we are going to do and how we are going to get there and has made these past 2 days go by pretty fast. We are lucky that Carrie has many plans for us over the next 7 days and both Dad and I like not having to think about where we are going, what we are doing or what we will be eating next!

Thanks for your comments! They are fun to read! *Robert- I can't believe that Amy was born in La Paz!! How crazy is that!! I want to hear more about that story and I would love to show her some pictures and talk when I get back!! PS-so glad Reagan is home!!*

Off to La Paz we go........ FINALLY!!!! Can't wait to see you Carrie!!

Wecome to Miami!!

We finally made it to Miami yesterday afternoon after taking 3 flights from RDU. We decided to take a city bus from the airport to South Beach which was incredibly interesting. We spent a total of an hour traveling and met some very nice people and saw some very interesting people! We decided that this one strip of Miami has more car lots than Wendover Ave in Greensboro and we didn't think that that was possible! We ate outside at this wonderful restaurant called Oh Mexico and then went to the Beach, took some pictures and did a little shopping. Dad and I had to buy a shirt to wear today because the only thing that we packed in our overnight bags was long sleeve!!

We are thinking about taking a tour of Miami this morning.. but, I might talk Dad in to just renting some scooters and making up our own tour! We have to be back to the airport around 3pm and our flight leaves for La Paz around 11pm. Please pray for a safe trip and that there are no cancellations this time!

Have a Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Where to begin.........

Wow! I don't even know where to start except to say that our 1 BIG adventure seems to have turned into lots of little adventures. I am writing a little more than I normally would just so that I can look back on here and remember what a day that we have had.

It all began with a nice morning at work, then a phone call about some more tenant issues that I have with my duplex (I won't go into details). On the way to the duplex I got a speeding ticket!! Then I get to the duplex to see that thankfully they have moved out, but they also took MY appliances with them! Then, Dad and I had some car issues, which resulted in Lorrie taking us the the Raleigh Durham Airport. Oh.... you thought that was all, didn't you!!! Well, it gets even more interesting!!! We arrive at the airport to find out that our flight has been cancelled! Not just delayed, but cancelled! The youth group that we were traveling with ended up not being able to go to La Paz at all! The airline was able just to fit Dad and I on a flight to Bolivia on July 4th. It took awhile for us to figure out what to do, but Dad and I decided to get re-routed about 3 times to be able to fly out of Miami to La Paz, Bolivia so that we can go still see Carrie!! YEA!!!

Thankfully, Junior and Libby live in Cary and are letting us crash their guest room for the evening and we will fly out of RDU at 6:45am (July 3rd). We will be spending Thursday night in Miami and fly out around 11pm on July 4th!! Maybe we will see some fireworks as we are flying out!!

"Energy & Persistance Conquer All Things" -Ben Franklin (One of my favorite quotes)

Bolivia, here we come!!

Hola!!

Well, it's hard to believe that we are leaving for Bolivia tomorrow!! My suitcase is all packed and ready to go whether I have everything or not. It's almost like you get to a point where you say if I forget it, I forget it.

The weather in La Paz seems to be averaging about 55 during the day and about 25 at night. The altitude there ranges anywhere from 9,000 to 12,000 ft above sea level, which explains the cool temperatures and some of the beautiful terrain that we will be seeing!! I have been taking a photography class to prepare for the possibility of taking some great pictures!

I am so excited to see Carrie and the children and to experience a different side of the world. This is the furthest that I have traveled so far! I have never left North America!! There is a great website that I used to look up some information on Bolivia and thought it would be helpful to anyone else who might be traveling in the near future, it is www.travel.state.gov.

Thanks for keeping up with us while we are gone!! We will be back in the states on the 12th! Have a great 4th of July!

Adios!!