thoughts from a mini-bus

two posts in two days. crazy, i know. yet yesterday was full of "bolivia moments" which are always cause for reflection. last night i was riding a mini-bus (basically a 15 passenger van transformed into public transportation) and during the ride up (literally up, about 1000 ft up!) to the city, i was struck by two strange thoughts. one was a thought that randomly strikes me at different times in bolivia, but it never ceases to seem strange to me. i live in the andes mountains. that might not seem strange to you, but for me it's one thing to say i live in bolivia, but quite another to say i live in the andes mountains, the large south american mountain chain that i learned about growing up in school. it also struck me how strange it was that i was riding the bus with two cholitas, aymaran women, and that these women were in their traditional dress, bowler hats and all. and this is completely normal here. these women dress everyday in their full skirts, shawls, and bowler hats and usually i don't even think twice about seeing them. but sometimes it still strikes me how odd it is to see women in traditional dress straight out of the 1500s.

later in the bus ride, my roommate and i struck up a conversation with 3 shoeshiners that were sitting near us. they were younger boys, and they got quite a kick out of talking to two gringitas. they told us about their school, and what subjects they liked or disliked. they showed us braceletes they had made to sell (and we each bought one). they also tried to teach us aymaran words, but it pretty much sounded like they were just making words up, and judging by the laughter of the lady next to me, i am pretty sure that was the case. these boys have extremely hard lives, but they were still able to laugh and joke with us and each other. when we asked where they were going, they answered that they were going to San Fransisco (the big church/plaza in the city) to their houses. however, after having read When Invisible Children Sing, a book about the street children of bolivia (an incredible read...there are two copies at my house if you want to borrow it) i couldn't help but wonder if these boys were really going to San Fransisco to hang out and play soccer with other shoeshiners and street children while sniffing glue soaked strings trying to block out the misery that is their lives. at first, i was shocked by this horrible thought and the fact i doubted that they were truly going to their houses. however, i also realized that this was reality for many kids and very likely for these boys as well. in bolivia, i am faced with reality everyday, much more so than in the states. and while sometimes my life strikes me as surreal, such as the sudden realization that i live in the andes, often i am more surprised at how very real my life is. and while this reality can be painful, i feel blessed to be able to experience it in a way many cannot.