Time for Bolivia, that is. While Bolivia may not have been introduced to Bojangles yet, they have made  friends with Subway and Burger King.

A short musing of our visa renewal for Peru by going to La Paz (otherwise known as a “border run”):

We left Cusco on Thursday, January 2nd and expected to be home the next day, January 3rd. We arrived in La Paz, paid our visas, and commandeered a taxi to our hotel. La Paz, Bolivia is a city in a hole (literally the altiplano drops off a cliff and the city is built downward). Although Andean culture would say that Cusco and La Paz are similar in a lot of ways, we experienced a refreshing change of scenery. The architecture is pretty eclectic (ex. Picture skyscrapers built next to a big house that looks like it belongs at Hogwarts, next to an office building made entirely of glass). There are lots of parks and urban green spaces (they were all pristine and we didn’t see a single stray dog). Since we were only planning on being there for a night, we made the most of our time and went to dinner and then to see The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug (in English…highly recommend it although it is lengthy to sit through if pregnant).

The next morning we arrived at the airport….5 minutes after the flight “closed”. The lady at the counter was not exactly helpful or sympathetic to our cause. She said we could fly back to Cusco on the 8th. Yep, 5 days from now. Um, great, so now what do we do? Our ears, nor our bank account had been prepped for the extension of our stay. After running around to the airline counters and comparing prices online, we found out that it would be cheaper to spend an extra 5 days in La Paz than to book the next day back (through Lima or Chile). Hmmm…ok, we are going to take it as a “favored vacation” from the Lord.

Turns out, the hotel where we stayed (The LP Colombus–very nice on TripAdvisor) gave us a promotion of 3 nights for 2. We ended up only paying for 4 nights. We were able to visit the mall and find some baby items that Jen wanted that she couldn’t find in Cusco. We were able to find the Amazonas office on Sunday and thank goodness they were open and got our flight changed from the 8th to the 7th (today). Probably the best thing that came out of our trip was being able to spend some much needed time as a family and to cast vision for the future. Just being able to dream again with God together was great!

The trip back to Cusco was an interesting one, but received more favor when our flight was running behind and they let everyone on our flight sit in the VIP lounge for 15 minutes. Yes, we can say that for the first time, we helped ourselves to coffee in a VIP lounge. This time, coming back into Peru we both only received 60 days (until we need to leave Peru again).

Friend, we need a miracle to have our residency process started…in less than 60 days. I know that we have asked for prayer for this obstacle in the past, but we REALLY need to seek God’s direction on this one. We have a baby coming and don’t picture ourselves traveling (by plane or bus) when Jen is 9 months along. Not cool. We are praying and after failed attempts to talk to anyone at immigration or the US Consulate about the process or where we stand as non-Catholic religious volunteers, we think we might have a lead with a friend “who knows a guy” in Lima. PLEASE PRAY even for just a minute that God would open up just 1 door for us to get clearance for our Peruvian residencies in less than 60 days (once the process starts we won’t have to leave again).

Thank you friend for your well wishes and prayers from three weary travelers who are happy to be home in Cusco 🙂