Rain, Rain, Go Away, COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!

In the first photo, notice the water level of this main road. I'm glad I captured the some of the flooded streets, but I was mainly trying to get a good shot of this taxi carry six live sheep.

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Only 5-10% of the roads in Bolivia are paved. Whenever it rains here, city streets become washed out rivers. Non-existent draining actually makes paved roads even worse than their submerged dirt road counterparts. Just as Washington DC usually closes down for a week after an inch of snow (this is probably bad timing for that comparison), Santa Cruz shuts down whenever it rains. People are unable to find transportation from their houses on dirt side streets, and rainy days become like snow days from school. Thankfully, the sand consistency of dirt roads helps the flooding to clear an hour after a downpour stops.

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Since we're currently in the middle of the rainy season, I haven't worked much this week. In addition to unpredictable roads, drilling wells becomes a dangerous profession. When the heavier steel equipment becomes slippery, our "Rain Day" from work begins. Today, on the drive home from the flooded drill site after we called it quits at 10 A.M., our truck tried to conquer one of the many river-like roads. To our dismay, the water logged engine gave way and stranded us in our Duck Boat.
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Lack of draining on paved roads and lack of pavement of dirt roads all contribute to factors that greatly hinder development in Bolivia. In DC, when the capital closes down for three days during a blizzard, the economy loses $100 million dollars in productivity. Imagine transportation halting for an hour every day, as well as a full morning or entire day being lost three times a week. Then consider that Bolivia's foreign trade is all transported by land because of the country's landlocked status without access to ports. I'd be real curious to hear the quantitative dollar figure of productivity lost every time it rains here in Bolivia. Unfortunately, I only have qualitative images in my head. These are of homeless kids, knee deep in muddy water (quite possibly also mixed with sewage) from the overflowing streets, trying to sell small bags of peanuts at traffic stops. Among many other obstacles to development, improved road infrastructure would directly contribute to economic growth.

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I snuck in a picture of Fernando drilling. I'm still trying to remember to pull out my camera more often so I can show you all the drill process.

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Also, someone sent me this overly dramatic National Geographic overview of the Death Road Eric and I biked down. You can find it here.

Rain, Rain, Go Away, COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!