Yesterday, we had a light schedule. We toured a day-care center for children with disabilities. Ann was particularly interested in it because she teaches special education. It was a nice, well-equipped facility. We were told there is a waiting list of 100 to get in.
We had lunch at a beautiful resort hotel. I asked about rooms and was told they cost around $100 American per night – half, I think, what they would have cost in the states. I sat with Javier Aguilera, a handsome, soft-spoken man who told me he ran a company he founded that rents construction equipment. He said business was good because Santa Cruz is growing rapidly. But there are always problems. Sometimes he will invest in training his employees only to see them leave for better jobs. The companies that are his customers are often slow to implement better equipment because the workers learn by watching others rather than in schools and are unwilling to learn new techniques. I asked him if we could tour his facility after lunch and he was happy to take us. He had cement mixers, industrial drills, jackhammers, soil compactors, and all manner of heavy equipment, all in good repair. His office was in the second storey of a nice, modern building.
Marlene, my hostess, took us shopping in the city center, where I found some things for my family at a craft store. Many items such as wind chimes, wall hangings, and jewelry boxes, are boldly colored with bright images of animals of the Amazon: birds, reptiles, and flowers.
Doug, Judah, and I came back to Marlene’s house to have some beers and a chat. Her boys were home and we played chess and juggled with them. Fernando and Maely came over and we exchanged gifts, me giving them a copy of my book and them giving me a copy of a book by a friend of theirs about a cello teacher here in Eastern Bolivia.
Fernando and I spoke about the GSE experience and the value of international travel. He said that he was an exchange student to New York State in the 1960s. There was considerable anti-American sentiment in South America. “Yankee go home!” He expected people from the United States to be bad people. But when he arrived, he was pleasantly surprised to find them warm and friendly. Are people like this everywhere? When we go see them and live with them and share their lives, dreams, inspirations, and aspirations, we can find out.
We attended the meeting of Marlene’s Rotary Club. There were around 25 members and it was evident they were good friends with one another. Three teenagers from the United States attended, being exchange students sponsored by her club. I sat with a girl from western New York and the others were a boy from northern Idaho and a girl from Anchorage, Alaska. All had quickly learned Spanish and loved the experience, although they were ready to go home.
After the meeting, Marlene took Judah and I to a casino that looked like it could have been in Las Vegas. Judah and Marlene played black-jack, but I simply watched. I find casinos to be dreadful places, where people fret away their time and money amidst swirling cigarette smoke. Nobody looks happy. I took a taxi home when Judah said, “We might be here for awhile!” I assumed the barking of Marlene’s dogs that awoke me in the middle of the night was her arrival home.
Today is our last day in Santa Cruz. I just said goodbye to Marlene’s boys as they left for school. Soon I will pack my things and we will be underway to the airport for the short flight to Sucre, the white city. Everyone speaks highly of Sucre. The city has a population of around ¼ million and lies at over 9000 feet elevation. (Note, we don’t have cities at 9000 feet where I come from.) The air is crisp and cool. It will be another new world for us.
Fernando and many other people have asked me how I have liked Santa Cruz. To those I knew wouldn’t be offended, I said, “To be honest, it’s not my kind of place.” It is hot, flat and crowded. I like cool, mountainous, and sparse. But the people have made all the difference. They have been warm, open, and generous beyond my grandest expectation.
Michael
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