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Birthday Gift
Four
years ago to the day, I was blessed to have a young man from Germany, named
Hans, move into my house. He was a
foreign exchange student that was not doing well in the place he had been
assigned and was about to go home instead of finish the term. Now he was sitting across from me at my
favorite restaurant eating pique a lo macho.
Hans had
served a year in the German military based in Berlin. He had his rent paid for and was fed every
day. He even had a train pass, so he
could visit family on the weekends. He
quickly realized he didn’t have to spend any money during his military year and saved it all for a 6-month backpack tour
of South America. He had already been to
Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, and was now stopping in Santa Cruz before
hitting the rest of Bolivia, then Chile, Peru, and the Amazon.
Sunday
after church I gave him a whirlwind tour of the sites near the Plaza and my
neighborhood. Like many that come here
for the first time, they are amazed at the beauty you can find in a third world
country. My neighborhood would not be
third world anywhere in the world. It is
green, clean, and modern.
On
Monday, I made him get up early and take a morning walk with me. It is not that I am healthier. He is very fit. But he is 20 and kids that young want to
sleep. But he gladly went for a morning
walk around the First Ring, including looking for blooming toborochis and a
stop in the cemetery. We stopped for a
breakfast at a place I didn’t even know existed, until a friend told me about
it a few days ago. The Café Patrimonio
near the Plaza is a refurbished typical Santa Cruz home of days gone by,
with two patios. Now it has become an
excellent art gallery.
We were
going to top the day off with a visit to the zoo, so he could see the local animals
to the region, but I discovered the zoo is closed on Mondays. Since I couldn’t end the day of sightseeing
so soon, I took him to our mall. Yes, I
took him to the mall. Our mall is not so
different than a mall in Europe or North America. In fact, you could easily be fooled into
thinking you were in the USA. But we
went there to have a good hamburger at the Hard Rock Café.
He was
not staying with me, rather in a hostel.
That afternoon he met some people his age planning on going to Samaipata
and beyond in Bolivia. So now he has
some traveling companions for the rest of the trip.
Tuesday,
we did not start out as early. We met in
the Plaza with plans to go to Cotoca and the Botanical Garden, except that it rained for about 15 hours
straight and was still raining when we met. We did
not hurry at the restaurant, hoping the rain would stop. It let up a little, but was still sprinkling
when we left, but I knew it would be too wet for the Botanical Gardens. The sky now had patches of blue. It seemed the rain was passing, so we decided
to visit the zoo, because it would have paved sidewalks.
So much
for blue patches! It rained every minute
we were in the zoo. After 5 minutes it
didn’t matter. We were soaked to the
skin, so we might as well enjoy the visit.
The Santa Cruz Zoo has many animals behind chain-link fences like the States
had decades ago, but it also has some special places, as good, or better, than
any American zoo. My favorite is the
aviary, where you can get inches from toucans and macaws.
I am
writing this on my birthday. I have just
dropped him off at the place where the trufis go to Samaipata. He has two companions from Australia with
him, and waiting in Samaipata are new friends from Germany, Israel, and
France. I am so glad he is getting this
experience, and even more glad that he blessed me on my birthday.
Thank
you, Hans. Considering you are probably
in the mountains of La Paz right now, I doubt you will read this. But know you are always loved by your
American Dad.
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