June 25, 2017 - La Guardia and Instagram

La Guardia and Instagram

A few years ago, my friend and teaching partner, Denise, encouraged me to join Instagram.  I balked because all my 6th graders at the time were on Instagram posting selfies all day long.  I wanted no part of that.   Denise told me that Instagram was created as a place for photographers to share their photos and learn from each other.  So I followed her advice, created an Instagram account, and started looking for photographers.  A lot of my students found me and today make up more than half of my followers, but I have also encountered many amazing photographers from across the globe.

Many of these people follow me and we have since become friends, though I have never met them.  I have friends I chat with sometimes from India, Nepal, Ecuador, Brazil, and I forget where else.  I have many invitations to visit their countries, and they should beware, because I might just do that. 

When I arrived in Santa Cruz and started posting photos from here, I gained at least 100 or more followers from Santa Cruz.  One amazing photographer, santacruzdelasierraoficial, just happened to be the son of a lady I taught back in the 80s.  

One girl, Stefany, posted a beautiful picture of a church.  I wrote her and asked where it was.  She said La Guardia, where some friends of mine live.  La Guardia is on the route from Santa Cruz to Samaipata, so I started looking for the church.  Last Saturday, when I went on the spur of the moment to Samaipata, I saw a miniscule sign pointing to the plaza.  I knew where it was, so I vowed I’d go this week.

This morning I had two errands to accomplish before I went searching for that church.  I needed coffee from the Café Patrimonio.  I admit it, I have become addicted to a morning coffee.  I also wanted to buy some new pillows for the bed.  April and May have been very damp.  The weather was cool enough that I slept with the windows open most night and rarely used the air conditioning.  My pillows were not smelling too good from being damp so long.  I was afraid if I washed them, they might not get dry for a month, if ever.  So, I bought be two new ones for just $12!

Then I was off to find a way to get to La Guardia.  I did something stupid, but not horribly so, just stupid.  I wasn’t sure where to get a ride to La Guardia, but had a general idea, so I asked a taxi driver to take me there.  It was only six blocks away!

I was the last one on the micro (a small bus) when it left.  Half of the time the trip took was in the Ramada Market.  I could have walked faster than we drove.  Most of my trip was sitting next to this adorable kid, whose mom was teaching him his letters, as he traced them with his fingers.  Thirty minutes later, with two dozen getting off at various places and two dozen getting on, we arrived in La Guardia.

There is not a lot on the internet about La Guardia, except that its population is around 50,000, that it is the 16th most populous city in Bolivia, and it is the fastest growing city in Bolivia.  I suspect in a decade that you won’t be able to tell where Santa Cruz ends and La Guardia begins.  Even today there is not a lot of countryside between the two.  Basically, it is a stop along the highway running west out of Santa Cruz.  The street where you get off the bus (actually the highway) is crowded, busy, and hectic, with stores, businesses, small factories, and a bustling market.  

But a mere block away is a quiet, tree-lined plaza, with lots of benches and paths to stroll.  On the southside is the church I was looking for.  On the east two schools.  Most of the time I was there I could hear high schoolers playing a fierce game of some sort.  To the south are a few houses and a big restaurant I was told is only open on Sundays. 

To the west was a restaurant.  I was hungry, so I chose that for lunch.  It was packed!  I have been told that is a good sign of good food.  This place did not disappoint.  Almost as soon as I sat down, they served me a bowl of soup and boiled yucca.  Before I finished the soup, I had a plate of chicken and rice in front of me.  When I got the bill, it was only $2 (15 Bs.).  So, let me figure this out.  I paid $0.30 to get here by micro, and will pay another $0.30 to get home, and $2 for lunch.  I’d say this is worth the trip and maybe a few more visits in the future.

I wrote most of this before lunch or during lunch.  But while I was eating, a young man from Santa Cruz who follows me on Instagram, named Andres, starting texting me and chatted about my pictures in La Guardia.  At the same time, he was posting pictures of Cotoca.  Mind you, I don’t know him, except through his posts on Instagram.  He wanted to tell me today that he is studying photography at the university, and that he studied my photographs to improve his own.  What?  I am an amateur!  Yet, he likes my photographs.  So, I have to go back to Denise and thank her for getting me on Instagram, so my pictures can be an inspiration.

A last note about this day.  And this is my favorite part.  I usually leave a tip.  That was how I was raised.  Meals, haircuts, whatever are supposed to be tipped.  Things are cheap in Bolivia.  Imagine some of things costing half of what you’d pay in the States.  So it is not uncommon for me to tip 30% to 50%, because things are dirt cheap here, but that doesn’t mean the quality is less. 

I mentioned that my meal was 15 Bs or $2, but I only had a 20 Bs. to give him.  I gave him the money and left, assuming he’d figure out the 5 Bs. was a tip.  I went to the middle of the plaza and did some writing, and continued texting Andres.  About twenty minutes after I was gone from the restaurant, the waiter came out looking for me to give me my 5 Bs.  I wouldn’t take it, explaining it was a tip.  It turns out his name is Marcos, the name I go by in Bolivia.  I told him I enjoyed his restaurant and would most definitely come back (I’m already thinking I will next week).  He doesn't get tips.  I think I might have been the first.

And that is what I want to leave you with.  There are beautiful people all around us.  We don’t know what influence we will have on their lives.  Andres admires my photos.  Who knows where that friendship will lead?  Marcos, the waiter, just made a friend today.  I can see him becoming a friend like the waiters at La Pascana.  If we open up our lives to others, we can both be blessed, as I was today, and we can bless others.