Journal 5
Day 16 in Bolivia:
Through our first ten days of intensity in Bolivia, the aspect that stands out the most to me is the non-stop interaction with all of the member of our group; through the lectures of cultural differences in Bolivia to the visit with Ray Cowell, spending the nights in Kolping and then at the Granja. If a tejido were to tell our story of those first ten days there would be a square representing the places that we slept, a square for the many lectures, one for the places we visited (the three Mennonite colonies we visited would naturally have their own squares within the larger one), A large square, also made up of smaller squares, would be for every bus story we had- from flooded roads to accidents, to pile-ins (most in the small bus/van) and of course a square for having to push the bus out of the sand, and later in Samaipata pushing the bus out of the mud. But there would also have to be a square for the entire weekend in the Chaco. This would be made up of the ten hours in the bus followed by a snack immediately before supper, and then dancing after. Then four more hours of bus, cultural observance, lunch, more bus, museum, supper and dancing once again.
I got to know everyone in our group more than I wanted to, and for that I love them!
Our tejido would be a story about learning how to deal with cultural inconvenience together, the hard way.
- Journal by Julian Weibe Johnson
