My SM Year in Bolivia: 89. Mo-Ped and Football in Spanish

Sunday, 1/15/13

What a doozy of a day. Probably my most eventful town day yet.

Our whole family cleaned and washed clothes like maniacs until 10 a.m. Then I was off for my day in town. Easier said then done.

Usually I wait 20 minutes for a taxi. Today I waited 1 hour and a half. On top of that, the sun was in a hot mood and the clouds decided to take the day off. I was melting! I did not even have the emotional energy to throw rocks at trees like is my usual habit.

I had not seen any cars or motorbikes. Finally, my ride appeared in the distance. You know how little dots on the horizon get slowly bigger? Well this one stayed the same size the whole time! It was a tiny guy on a tiny moped. At this point, I was up for anything. He kindly picked me up and we headed off. I always enjoy talking with the different drivers on the way to town.

This guy was dodging every little rock on his tiny moto as we went about walking speed. Then, he hit a tiny rock…and dented the rear rim! Great! Now what? Thankfully, he knew of a little “junk yard” half a kilometer up the road. Providence or what? I wanted to hitch a ride with another taxi into town, but he desperately asked for help and I agreed to repay his kindness. We got there and to our amazement, immediately found the perfectly sized rim. However, we had to remove the chassis, some gears, and some transmission parts to get to the wheel. And, the owner of the place only let us use a rusty monkey wrench to remove all the nuts.

An hour later we were done and eventually made it to town around 2 p.m. Needless to say, he did not take the fare for the ride. While I am not sure if it was worth it, I saved 10 bolivianos! Always a good thing.

Fireworks with wings

I am a New Englander. I love the Patriots. So the first thing I did was check the game time for the playoff game. 5:30 p.m. Hmmm…it would not finish before 9 and Joy was leaving at 6. Looks like I am staying the night.

I then fulfilled a favor for Davidchito. He earned some money working at Familia Feliz, and he wanted fireworks. I bought him some pretty cool ones and a nice lighter.

KABOOM!

After doing internet chores and reserving the room. I had a nice long chat with my mom and pop.

Then it was game time. I was planning on watching it online. However, the owner of the restaurant offered to play it on their large, HDTV! I agreed. Sure enough, the game was on…in Spanish!

There were about 35 people at Narguila’s. Only about 4 were English speakers, and no one knew what football was. I can’t believe they still kept the game on just for me! The viewers were curious and I kept getting weird questions. My favorite was when a Bolivian asked said, “This is a dumb game. Why don’t they put in a goalie in the end zone so no one can score?” Being outnumbered 35 to 1, I wisely replied, “You are right. It is a dumb game.”

The Pats won and I slept happily.

Oh, by the way, my parent’s Christmas package finally came. Check out how spoiled I am!