Circular Motions

New blog-post, same old excuses. In the busyness of this initial spell here in Santa Cruz, we aren't quite managing to reach that one-post-a-week target. More broken promises. We really should go into politics.

Be assured it's not the worst busyness. If we don't have as much time for writing, we're at least lining our stomachs, as the oh-so-generous hospitality afforded us by church members and others here shows no sign of abating. We really could not have felt more welcomed. Just wait till they find out what we're really like!

But we wouldn't want you to go thinking that we're too good for you, our old friends. And so, without any further ado, here is the first of what we hope will be a fairly frequent series of blog posts about adjusting to Santa Cruz life, with some prayer points to close. We will begin in an area where the differences between the two cities could not be starker: driving.

Driving was just no fun in Trinidad. The roads were abysmal, so every journey took our poor car one step closer to the next inconvenient visit to our mechanic - at least once every couple of months. Both access to easy credit and the city's population had grown so quickly in the last decade or so, but the infrastructure had not come close to catching up. So the town's already narrow and liberally-potholed arteries were becoming increasingly clogged up with motocicletas. 

All of which meant we rather looked forward to our occasional journeys both to and in Santa Cruz over the years. For a decent part of the road between the two cities, you could really gie it laldy (Scots, verb: give a hunner percent effort), not passing another vehicle for miles. You could finally enjoy music on the road the way its makers intended (the epic Hamilton became something of a favourite). And when you got to Santa Cruz itself, you could drive on relatively developed road networks, several lanes wide in places. The longer cross-town journeys were fun because they were so novel.

Well, I (Craig) can report that the day-to-day reality is a little more gruelling! In Trinidad, we lived on the outskirts of the city, and yet it never took us much more than 15 minutes to get anywhere else in the city. Here, true to our personalities, we also live on the edge, on the southwest of the city, where both Sam's school and my workplace are located, and these alone from our house are a 15-minute journey. Getting into the centre, meanwhile - or, say, the north or east of the city - will take at least 30 minutes. 

Being a more urban environment, things are of course more spread out in their own districts. But even, say, our 'local' supermarket is still a 20-minute drive. The reality of this hit home in our first week or two, when we had impromptu visitors from the church for lunch, and I decided to pop out and get a tub of ice-cream, a ten-to-fifteen-minute inconvenience in Trinidad. It took the best part of an hour to pick up that single solitary tub. Not worth it!

The 'bicycle wheel' from above. We live to the south-west of the city.

Now, Santa Cruz is a city of around 2 million people; quite a step up from Trinidad's 130,000. And the size of the city obviously reflects this. Yet, it's surprisingly straightforward to make your way around…quite literally, in fact! Because the city is built around a ring system, with up to eight ring-roads depending on where you are. If you think of a bicycle wheel, the main thoroughfares are like spokes. I like that, if you are in the centre, you can get to the 'spoke' you want quickly and make your way out from there easily, if not always speedily.

Long-time readers may remember that Amanda spent an extended period here in Santa Cruz in 2012 when we had infertility treatment. During that time I remained in Trinidad for work purposes, but came through to the city at various points to visit. Amanda was on strict bed-rest, of course, but I needed my exercise. So I spent many hours simply walking. And that helped me get to grips with the city's layout, which has been most helpful as we have settled in.

So while navigation here is something of an art, with a little bit of practice it can be learned fairly quickly. Driving norms also require a little getting used to. The junctions for the spokes and thoroughfares mostly take the form of roundabouts. So far, so British. However, there the similarities end - and not just because they drive on the wrong side of the road. Insofar as the rules are observed, it is those in the roundabout who are expected to give way to those approaching it. But as you probably had already worked out, this being Bolivia, the application is somewhat elastic, and essentially the same 'road safety' rule applies here as anywhere else: drive to the same maniacal extent as everyone else, and you'll probably be OK.

We recently enjoyed an overnight stay at the spectacular Refugio Los Volcanes, 
just 90 minutes' drive from our home.

Prayer Points

• Amanda and I are both still having some niggling health issues, particularly of the gastric variety! Probably a byproduct of moving to another city, but a real pain (quite literally) nonetheless when they arise. We are hoping to see a doctor soon. Pray for some answers.
• Continue to pray for the sale of our house in Trinidad. We are thankful that with the help of the tenant, we have been able to address some of the security issues there (see our last prayer points).
• In addition to my pastoral work, I am hoping to do a little work with Langham Preaching again here in Santa Cruz, which remains a real untapped market for what has been a very successful ministry in most of Bolivia. There will be an information meeting this morning to gauge interest, chaired by Langham staff from Cochabamba. Please pray for this.
• Amanda has been keeping busy with her new short-term coordinator role with the Latin Link Bolivia team. We had a new volunteer -- Regina, from Germany -- at the house to stay with us in the last week as Amanda oversaw here orientation. Give thanks for the opportunity for Amanda to serve again, and pray for wisdom.
• Sam continues to excel at school, but we are in the process of applying for a place for him at an English-language Christian school with which our church has an affiliation. He will likely be called for an aural exam at some point next month. Pray that God would be in this. 

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig, Amanda & Sam