A (just slightly more exciting than normal) day in the life of Leslie:

DSCN0309
Originally uploaded by LeslieBurdick

8:00am - Leslie takes a trufi (taxi/bus thing) into work. In the trufi, the brakes aren't sounding so great, and the driver seems to be employing the hand break as well as the pedal break each time he screeches to a halt. Passengers look at each other nervously and finally a woman in the back speaks up: Driver, is that your brakes? Is there something wrong? Driver: Oh, Senora, don't worry, we're mostly going uphill this morning. It's only dangerous on the way down.

10:00am - Leslie leaves the IJM office to go up to El Alto (the slum city that overlooks La Paz from the flat highlands of the Andes Mountain range)
In El Alto, Leslie meets with the volunteers that are working with the Safe Sanctuaries Program from an NGO/mission organization known as Word Made Flesh. Two of Leslie's friends, Gavo and Caryl, happen to also be there leading worship, so after her meeting and the time of worship, Leslie decides to catch a mini-bus back to La Paz with them. On the way down, Leslie begins to be confused when the minibus crosses the margin of the highway and begins to descend on the left side, zig-zagging around the ascending traffic. Que cochinera! (What a mess!) she says, using her newly learned slang. Her friends seem unaffected. Leslie grows more alarmed when the bus comes to a stop because a large trash-truck is sideways, blocking all lanes of traffic. After it moves, she can see the reason for the chaos. There is a road blockade, with hundreds of protesters chilling in the middle of the highway, blocking all traffic. They have a few signs, some are shouting, there are occasional blasts of dynamite, but mostly people seem to be hanging out and having a good time. All the traffic has to turn around and go back up the mountain, so many of the passengers get out and walk down along the highway, past the protesters, to the other side of the blockade where there are other minibuses that are willing to take them the rest of the way down the mountain. Leslie's friends Gavo and Caryl lend her their sweatshirts and sunglasses so she can disguise her blonde hair and fair skin so as not to attract any attention from the protesters and they make their way past peacefully. The protesters are shouting "We will win the war! We will overcome!" (in Spanish). Leslie and her friends have no idea what war they are referring to and decide not to ask. Just as they are leaving, they see armored police vehicles arriving on the scene to tear gas the lively protesters back to their jobs and homes. Just another day in Bolivia.

2pm Leslie gets back to the office and goes about some of her usual tasks - she translates a document, compiles her department's financial receipts, and puts together the month's prayer requests to be sent out the prayer supporters in the US.

4pm - Leslie and Juan Carlos meet with two women from one of the churches involved in Safe Sanctuaries. Leslie serves them tea and explains the months activities to them, and Juan Carlos helps them work through some challenging situations they are facing concerning the program and their congregation.

6pm - Leslie and her co-workers celebrate being more than halfway through their week by drinking Mate together Argentina style. They joke and laugh and listen to Cumbia music. Leslie smiles and thinks about how the investigators are a lot more fun and goofy than she expected them to be.

7:30pm Leslie goes with one of her co-workers to a Bible study and meets new people and enjoys their fellowship.

10:30pm Leslie gets home, skypes with her mom, and her friends Amy D and Val Yeo who are at her house without her, and tells them about her crazy day!