Still Alive

Hi Folks:
Sorry that there has been a gap in the postings lately, but we have been in the Patanal and away from the internet since we stepped on the ¨train of death¨ on Friday.
I must tell you a funny about me and Spanish that happened before we left Santa Cruz. I had found the Ïrish Pub¨on the main square and convinced Joy that a liesurely lunch was in order. In addition to a tendancy toward rum, I also like cervasa with a little colour and taste to it. Tough to find in Bolivia, but I knew that one company did produce it occasionally. So, I asked for it in my best Spanish using ¨rojo¨for red like Marco taught us. The woman seemed to understand and left with a big smile to bring my cervasa rojo. Things went a little off the rails when she proudly presented me with a newspaper! Back to the regular ¨Huari¨ cervasa!
The ¨train of death¨is written up in ¨Lonely Planet¨as a terrible experience with no AC, mosquitos, frequent delays, crowded cars with so much contraband and luggage that people ride on the roof, etc etc. Well, outside of the road-bed being a little rough during the first half, we were very comfortable in semi-reclining seats and Air Contitioned comfort. Everyone had an assigned seat and there was no luggage much in the car and certainly no one rode on the roof. The only time that I was a little concerned was when a small troop of police came on board and we started going backwards. They proceeded to do a very thorough search of the cars and I believed that we would stop going backwards when they were finished and dropped off. But we kept going backward until I was convinced that we were returning to Santa Cruz for some reason that no one was talking about. I finally figured it out when we stopped in Puerto Suarez about and hour later. Apparently somehow the train backs for the last 1.5 hours to the border and shortly we were at Quijarro. The border crossing went fine except for a long slow line-up at the Bolivian border for our exit stamp. This is solely to prove that we left and seems to have limited purpose. Even more interesting because they did not have a customs check, which would seem more important if the issue of drugs and contraband is that important.
Joy had decided that we had enough time for one more adventure before heading for the plane at Sao Paulo. So we met up with a tour and headed for the Patanal. More on that tomorrow.
Jim