Fritz and Kathy are a couple we met at the convention in Sao Paulo Brazil. When they heard we were coming up tot Bolivia they invited us to go stay with them and see how they live in Irupana in the Yungas in Bolivia. They were originally from the USA and have 3 grown children and grandchildren. They moved to this area of Bolivia without having visited it before! They’re been there 2 years now…
We only had a small amount of time before needing to head to Cusco to do the Inca Trail with Karlie and Jade but we decided we’d love to take the opportunity to see how they live, so we jumped on a 5-6 hour bus ride up the NEW death road to go spend a night with them. The day we got on the bus was their meeting night. The bus left at midday so we just had to hope we’d make it in time.
Irupana is actually only 177km from La Paz. However it’s in the Yungas mountain range which is part of the Andes mountains, so the journey involved traveling along a dirt road, cut into the side of a massive steep mountain, it was really windy with lots of blind corners and again, there was only room for one car most of the time. And we were in a bus!! The drivers way of handling the blind corners was to just sit on the air horn. He didn’t slow down, just blasted the horn as if it was some kind of shield for the bus.
The buses were specially made and geared low so that they wouldn’t take off down the steep parts of the road. But needless to say, I was freaking out again! I was sitting next to the window, and I couldn’t see the road most of the time, just the shear, drop. There were graves along the way, and at one point I saw some car wrecks down the bottom of the valley. The view was spectacular and the mountains were beautiful and it was amazing how there were little houses dotted over the hills. These people walk everywhere and would be so fit!! But most of the time I spent freaking out and praying we would make it.
This time I was envisioning one wheel slipping off the road and it being all over… eeekk!!
I kept thinking about Kathy and how she felt on their first trip in to go and live in this place!! If I was freaking out, she MUST have been freaking out!! This is the only road in and out of Irupana, so there’s no getting around it. They have to make the journey once a month to get cash too as no trucks will bring cash into these areas. Also small things like nice cheeses and just basic things we get from the supermarket they can’t get up there either.
Kathy said she cried when they first got there. She really wanted to go there and had convinced Fritz to go so she felt so bad! But of course Jehovah has blessed them and they’re so happy up there now. They bought a little Suzuki 4WD which makes it feel a bit safe driving around the roads. And the people in town have accepted them as family! At first they were like, who are these guys! But when we walked through the streets with Frtiz and Kathy, everyone was saying “Buenos Dias Kathy! Hola Kathy! Hola Fritz!”. They are so friendly to us as well. Kathy was talking to everyone and introducing us to people in the street! It felt like a really safe place because everyone knows everyone.
They rent an apartment in a building of 6 apartments and are the only ones living in it because they’re the only people who can afford it. It’s $200 a month.
We made the meeting that night which was great. It’s just a group that meet in Irupana. The congregation is an hour away at the nearest town. We were slightly late but Fritz waited for us as Kathy had a talk. We got to see her talk and she did so well! I read a scripture in Spanish which was cool! The brothers and sisters were lovely. There was a pioneer in the cong who was only 13. He had heaps of studies at school. He was on the mics and sound which we thought was hilarious.
The next morning we went witnessing which was soo cool. Everyone has a great respect for the bible and listened and they were sharing scriptures and starting little studies with everyone they spoke to. I went to a study that they have with a blind girl in her front yard and she was so appreciative and lovely. I don’t know how this woman does it! She had a little child, lived in a 2 story house on a massive hill and was totally blind. Absolutely amazing.
We were Fritz and Kathy’s first visitors and they were so appreciative. That journey there was so stressful I totally admire what they’re doing and how they have made this place and these people home. It shows that with Jehovah’s help we can enjoy anything we’re doing when we put him first. He really looks after us. So many people are soaking up the beautiful message he has for us too which is really cool to see!
The next night we had to get up at 3am to take the journey back to La Paz. This time we booked in a little van to go back as I just wanted to feel like our vehicle fit on the road!!!!
We were squished into the back compartment (the van was smaller than Bretts) and 3 big people sat in front of us and another 3 in front of them. So we were claustrophobic in this one. But I kept telling myself it would be better than the bus!! It was better and seemed to go quicker. At one point along the road there was a landslide and rocks were still falling. The driver ran out to remove some big ones, then ran back and just said we’d drive through quickly and try not to get hit!! That was pretty crazy! But all in all, we made it back safely, stressed and a little tired… But feeling refreshed from the great time we’d had with Fritz and Kathy.
Timeframe: Wednesday morning 2nd October – until 4am Friday 4th October
Leave a Reply