First sight. Oct. 23 5:40pm

Just a comment on how you should read the organ series of post.  I think it makes the most sence to read these next 11 or so post in chronological order (or the order in which I wrote them) and they aren’t all that long so go ahead and check out the whole story.

Peter

After one month of waiting for our container to arrive in Santa Cruz, over 600 phone calls, 2,500 emails and to many cups of coffee I was following our Blue Sky container into Guaracachi, the train station’s freight yard. Even that day it had gotten atrasado or delayed in customs once again, the electricity had gone out that afternoon so they could not print the last document that they needed to sign . They ended up sitting in the dark for two and a half hours until the lights came back on, things got signed and the truck left with the container only to arrive in Guaracachi 30 minutes after the train left for Roboré. Of course there were still more problems we would have to get over, but the organ was in Santa Cruz and out of customs.

Leandro. Oct. 23 6:00pm

Leandro Flores did not have a clue what he had on the back of his truck, he was only peeved since he had not gotten a chance to go to a hotel or change his clothes for the last couple of days. Our customs broker had made him stay in the customs yard, with his truck, and the organ for the last three days. At any rate he was about to get rid of this crazy container that had caused such a fuss. As I explained to him it was a donation of a big old instrument that was to go to the little music school in Santiago the chiquitos he livened up. And let me take his photo, on the condition that it was with his truck.

El joven. Oct. 23 6:15pm

Antonio Rocha and his custom broker agency had done a pretty amazing feat, one of his guys (pictured here) had spent the last four days in the custom yard making sure no one even touched the container, not to mention the previous three weeks waiting for it to show up. Antonio told me, as he took me to the Guaracachi yard, “Peter, your organ has been like delivering a baby, but not just any baby, to a single mother and triplets.”

La FO. Oct. 26 7:50am

The train company had donated the transportation of the organ from Santa Cruz to Roboré and also promised to take the container back in a hurry so we could get our deposit back, not to mention the transportation of the orchestras back and forth from Santa Cruz to Roboré. These two friendly Ferroviaria workers helped us get the container open. We then spent the next couple of hours dodging the rain as we unloaded the container into the military’s truck with help from some of the soldiers.

Persistence pays off. Oct. 26 2:00pm

Just like stick-to-it-ivness payed off in our organ project it also did for this little lady from the highlands, with her big bags that she was delivering to some soldiers in Santiago. She had moved all her stuff into the shipping container to get out of the rain and hoping for a free ride to Santiago in the back of the military’s truck she had been pestering us for the last five hours about a ride. We were starting to run short of room and we still needed to get the allen organ in and the other truck had already left. We decided to ask one of the Rotarians from Roboré if he would be willing to drive the Allen organ out to Santiago. We loaded it up but we were worried that it was not to secure and worried it might fall over. What could we put around it to help secure it. Carlos the Rotarian pointed at some of the little lady`s bags, “there we can solve two of our problems at the same time.” We loaded her up in the back and made sure she held on to the organ while it went. Her persistence had payed off.

Barckhoff in Santiago Oct. 26 5:50pm

The Barckhoff made it to Santiago, it had gotten a little jostled, wet, and smashed but it made it. Milton, Susi and I had gotten back thinking we were behind the military truck the whole way (they had left Roboré before us and we had never passed them). When we got to the church there was no truck, we had been joking the whole way “well good thing we see no bits of organ along the road, or any smashed pipes.” the folks in the town told us the truck had never showed up. A while later the truck ejercito truck showed up and as a glanced in the back I was stunned, everything in the back of the truck had either fallen over or gotten smashed, one thing on top of another. The road to Santiago is not paved is not in the greatest shape. But as we handed things down and moved parts into the church we found out nothing had been damaged from the trip on the road to Santiago. I do thank all the towns folks that showed up to help unload.

Detailes. Oct. 28 9:50pm

Susi new her stuff. And amazingly (as many people commented later) she worked really hard and long ours but did it smiling and still atteneded to the kids and the folks that would come and ask questions. Here she is setting up the action, one of the most tetious parts of our job of getting the Barckhoff up and into action.

Looking on. Oct 28 7:10am

Susi Tattershall, Amado Cadena and I started each day at 6:30 and ended around 10:00 or so. We were doing the work that was to be don in ten days in about 4. So of course we had to put in long hours. One of the orchestra kids later asked me “you been working a lot?”, “sure have” I said, “you been working like Americans” he joked. All of this commotion caused a lot of kids to spend a good chunk of there recreo or passing periods looking in the windows of the church as we worked. Also whenever we needed help all I had to do was walk out in the plaza and sure enough there were people standing around outside the church and they would come in and help lift things. When we needed to get the bellows up on the frame it was just as class was getting out so a whole bunch of 8^th graders we standing around watching I hollered at them and they all assisted with the heavy lifting.

The big gig. Oct. 30 9:00pm

The Barckhoff sounded grand, and in the space any Earlham Alumn (there were three of us their) can tell you it really sound better in the Santiago church then in the Hancock room. Susi did a great job, the orchestras, Kristen and Antoine also did a great job playing with the soloist Stephen Roberts. The whole town, all of its authorities, the neighboring authorities and invited folks enjoyed spectacular show.

The Party. Oct. 31 8:00am

The next day was the shindig (there had been one the night before as well). But that is what you do in Bolivia for an big event it needs its big meal. Here is one of the mothers of the orchestra fixing up some good fixins. The whole town was invited.