The Fishers in La Paz, Bolivia

I hate to have all the recent blogs be about weather and its effect on us, but it’s kind of been a major factor in our lives this week! Thursday morning we got a phone call saying school was canceled for the day, and we finally got a clue as to what happened the night before with the lights going out and sirens going by, which we almost never hear in La Paz. Somehow we were completely oblivious to the fact the the river two blocks from us overflowed its banks in flash flooding. Sadly, three people died about a block from our house. We walked around to survey the situation on Thursday. We saw that the flood had wiped out guardrails and barriers on the the bridges and uprooted poles, etc. Workers were cleaning up the sludge left from the water rushing down the street. Our school was closed because almost all the students and teachers have to cross a bridge to get there, which obviously could have been dangerous. Also, the final part of the road to the school is dirt, so as you can imagine, it turns to thick mud during rainy times, making it hard for the cars and buses to get through. We were able to go back to school yesterday, but . . .

in the afternoon, we found out that the flooding had caused a water main to break. The rumor was that the water could be shut off for 3 days in the part of the city where we live. We use bottled water for drinking and cooking, but you realize how much you need running water when you don’t have it to bathe, flush toliets, wash dishes and clothes, etc. We are so thankful that the rumors were false and our water was back on in less than 24 hrs. It is a bit mucky right now, but I’m sure it will clear up soon! In the middle of feeling sorry for myself, I also realized that what we went through was a very minor inconvenience, while many people in Bolivia have lost their homes or loved ones to floods across the country.