The Wry’s Family Updates #

Week 1 #

- January 1st, 2023 arrival to Cochabamba #

- Cell phone updates #

January 1st, 2023 Arrival #

After a few stops, we made it to Cochabamba along with all of our luggage! We were welcomed upon arriving at the house by Sonia and Señorita. Nelly’s brother Esteban and mother to follow shortly after. Upon seeing all the things from the center in the living room it became quickly apparent there was a lot of work to be done before classes could begin one month later.

Cell Phone Updates and such #

It’s interesting to come back to Bolivia after being in North America for a little bit because you notice peculiar things that once you live in Bolivia for a while, become pretty day to day stuff. Every time we come back in we have to reconnect our cell phones to a Bolivian cellphone carrier. I had a phone I brought back with me from the US. It was not new and when I put in the new Bolivian SIM card it only worked for the first two minutes then showed no signal. My first thought was I will have to buy a new one. The suggestion was given however that I take it to a cell phone repair place and have them look it over. So, even though I doubted it would work we all went into town to at least give this option a try, hopefully saving money from buying a new phone. The first shop we stopped at asked me, “did you drop it?”. What a question. That’s like asking does a dog bark? Who hasn’t dropped their phone…? I paused a second before answering…ummm…(maybe it was a trick question?)…”yes” I replied realizing he was serious. “Oh…that’s bad, I’m going to need at least three days to repair it” was his reply. “How much?” I asked, his prompt reply, “350 Bolivianos”. So I went back out of the shop where Nelly and Joshua were waiting to discuss the option. It seemed way too much to pay to have a phone tampered with instead of just buying a new one. So, we decided to try out a second opinion. We headed to the next cell phone repair shop about a block away. “Oh”, was this young man’s return, “that’s no problem, give me an hour”. “How much” I enquired, “150 Bolivianos”. My reply, “can you do it for 100?”. He continued looking at the phone and replied, “let me see”. In the meantime we sat and waited. It’s usually not the best idea to leave your phone, that is, unless you don’t care about what they do to it. After an hour, a few screenshots and a bit of typing, he was done. “that will be 150 Bolivianos” he summoned, the looked up at me, “the hacker charged me 120, I only get 30”, he explained. Sure enough the phone was fixed, so off we went without asking questions. We had intended to go look for cars after that but my stomach was bothering me. Nelly pointed around the corner, “over there” she said, pointing towards a friend chicken restaurant. We went inside and not seeing a bathroom sign, went to the front counter and asked if we could use their bathroom. “It’s only for clients” was the ladies sturn reply. So we proceeded to buy a juice to share while I did my business. I went in back and asked for the bathroom. They pointed into a hallway so I (rather promptly) made my way there only to find it only contained a shower stall. By this time my stomach was really telling me it was time…or else…so I went back to ask where the bathroom was. Again they pointed toward the hallway but this time I could see they signaled to the other side of the hall where the door was almost impossible to spot as it was painted over just like the walls. I made a dash for the door, pried it open and proceeded to…well…you get the picture. Only, there was no toilet paper! Oh no, run back out, ask the “so very helpful attendant” for toilet paper only to be ignored, as if to say, “juice-buying clients are not entitled to toilet paper”. Thankfully, a young man, obviously seeing my desperation, reached in a bag and pulled out a handful of napkins. It turns out there were exactly 5. I was sure grateful for those napkins, even though they were not quite enough…oh well. Note to self: next time we return to Bolivia after being away a while, I shall take a bunch of TP with me in my back pocket and remember the location of this wonderful restaurant we are now “clients” of. Anyway, these are the funny things you don’t really notice after living in it for a while.

Center and student residence Secured #

We are thankful that a place to have the center, and large enough to also serve as the student residence has been secured. It’s right next door to one of the church elder’s house! We still continue to search for a place nearby to live.