Sand Blasted

In case you haven't figured it out by now we are totally behind on blogging and this data dump is a means of getting caught up. That is a good thing because that means we have been too busy to sit down and peck out a few sentences.

Dave has been putting his film talents to good use at Mission Generation/POM with several long days of filming, editing and conversations regarding what Mission Generation needs. The challenge he faces is the language barrier. I have no idea how you edit a clip when you have no idea what the person is saying? Anyway, it is a blast to have Stone here. He has already picked up quite a bit of Spanish and is eager to learn more.

Today we woke up with the plan of hitting the sand dunes. Our kids are convinced they have never seen sand dunes before. Uh, hello, you live on a sand dune when you are in Michigan. Oh, yeah, that is a sand dune? What do you think Thunder Mountain is? How about the dune buggy rides? At any rate, we have wanted to see the sand dunes here but it has been too windy to make the attempt so we are going today despite the high winds. This could be a disaster.

We pile 13 people into a car that seats 7 which Katie tells me is how we roll in Bolivia. No big deal. Good thing Brad and Darcie are not here. Bart and Jenny would think nothing of it. We are only going an "hour". After an hour and a half and several uses of the Bolivian version of Google Maps, which is simply stopping, rolling the window down and shouting at the closest person "Senior, can you tell me how to find the sand dunes?" in Espanol. We must have done that a half a dozen times. Of course, half the people you ask send you down the wrong road. We ended up on more than 1 dead end. Great comedy, especially with Jake sitting on my lap, Katie and 3 other people sitting on my seat and only feeling an occasional puff from the air conditioner in the front. Oh, no, wait, that was Jake exhaling.

I whisper in Katie's ear "Get ready for this to be a huge dud." To which she replies "Way ahead of you." Not the first time she is way ahead of me and it certainly will not be the last. So we make it to the park entrance and the guy who is collecting money for lunch...errr...the park entrance fee, tells us that there is no help once inside the park and there is no water in the lagoon because it is the dry season. OK, our chances of the dud just increased dramatically. Let's continue to soldier on. We came this far, we are not turning around now.

Carlos navigates the 4 x 4 expertly for 20 minutes through sand that would have had me stuck long ago until we cannot go any further. OK, time to start hiking. We can see the sand dunes in the distance hoping it is not a mirage playing tricks on our eyes. The wind is whipping up the sand in a frenzy and the thermometer in the car says the outside temperature is 122 degrees. Come on kids, the thermometer is wrong by a few degrees, let's experience first hand why no one lives in the desert. And to think I thought this was going to be a dud! Hilarious!

We make it to the base of the sand dune only to realize that this is where the adventure begins. Jake, Jerome and I are the first to summit a hill that is blowing sand so hard you cannot open your mouth or allow your eyes to be exposed to the wind and sand. Jake pulls my hat on the side of his face to shield his eyes from the stinging sand. We make it to the summit with each step seeing an increase in the intensity of the wind. At the summit we look out over the vast complex of dunes and dry lagoon. There is a steep drop off, a sheer cliff of sand that Jake and I venture close enough to look over the edge. If the sand wasn't blinding us it would be fun to run down but in these conditions it would be next to impossible to get back up. I do my best impersonation of Clark Griswold at the Grand Canyon, looking out for a few minutes and then head for the base of dune and some protection from this blowing sand.

Once down the dune we all take a quick respite in an abandoned shack at the base of the dunes to get out of the wind and have a snack and some water. Here my attention turns to "Why did we only buy 12 liters of water as we are running low and I hope the car isn't stuck in the sand." It would make for an interesting day with the kids sucking down water like camels and the very real possibility that the car is stuck in the soft sand. Dave and I run on ahead to get the car turned around and ensure our safe exit from the dunes.

So we get the car turned around with a little pushing and some pieces of wood under the tires. Once everyone else makes it to the car, we quickly finish the last of the water and pile back in. That wasn't so bad was it kids? While it was a very unique experience, none of us are eager to return to the dunes any time soon.

On the drive out of the dunes we encounter a car that is stuck in the sand. We drive past and yell "SUCKER!!!" in Spanish. That is 1 of my 5 words I know in Spanish. Totally kidding. We get out, put some wood under the tires, and push those clowns out of the sand, hoping it is not a repeat performance of Herod stuck in the mud in Belize. I escape without getting pelted with a shower of sand and we are off.

That afternoon, back at the ranch, Katie and I are talking with the neighbors across the street. They are very nice people. He is from England and she grew up in Santa Cruz. They own an environmental company that is working with indegineous people trying to protect the water supply. They are building a beautiful home and gave us a tour. We love talking with them and invite them over to hang out after the kids are in bed later that evening.

At 5, Dave, Jerome and I head to meet Carlos for some full court Bolivian Basketball. I already know what you are thinking. Believe it or not, we played for 2 hours and we had a good time. The talent level was such that even me, with my severely limited and diminished skills, was able to contribute. When you lost you were bummed as there were probably 25 guys there so it was a while before you made it back on the court. That was good for me as I needed the break. I tired easily and got a good laugh out of my last 3-point attempt, which caught nothing but air. Typical.

The adventure for the day was completed by hanging with our Bolivian neighbors and a bottle of Bolivian red wine. You can take us out of Ladera Ranch but you can't take Ladera Ranch out of us. It was fun to talk with them as their English was 100 times better than our Spanish.