10 Facts About Bolivia You May Not Know

Many people know that Bolivia is a Spanish-speaking country. They may even recall learning its location in geography class when they were younger, but a surprising amount know very little about this interesting and amazingly diverse country in South America.

We’ve compiled this list of 10 Facts You May Not Know About Bolivia. Enjoy!

1.  Lake Titicaca, which lies along the border of Peru and Bolivia, is the highest lake in the world that you can navigate. Located in the Andes Mountains, Lake Titicaca exists at 12,382.5 feet above sea level!
2. Bolivia has three official languages – Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara. There are over 26 language groups, many of which are indigenous languages stemming from the Incan Empire.
3. Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay all border Bolivia, making it a landlocked country.
4. Bolivia is home to the world’s largest iron ore mine, called the Cerro Mutún.
5. Bolivia has one of the most diverse climates in the world! The western third of the country is in the cool, semi-arid Andes Mountains. Traveling to the eastern part of the country you will find warm and humid weather as you enter the Amazon Rain Forest basin. Farther south, you will encounter the lowlands, home to farmland, alpacas, and rural villages.
6.  Bolivia is home to 40% of the animal and plant life in the world. It ranks 7^th among countries with the most species of birds, and 4^th among countries with the most species of butterflies.
7. Bolivia is about three times the size of Montana.
8. There is a gem that you can’t find anywhere else in the world except Bolivia, called ‘bolivianita’ (ametrine). Bolivianita occurs when citrine and amethyst combine, resulting in a gem that is part yellow and part purple.
9. While we live in states, the people of Bolivia live departments. There are nine – Pando, La Paz, Beni, Oruro, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Potosí, Chuquisaca, and Tarija.
10. Bolivia celebrates its Independence Day on August 6, honoring the day it declared its independence from Spain in 1825.

Learn More About LATCOM

LATCOM is a non-profit mission that seeks to spread the Gospel in Bolivia and across Latin America by motivating, equipping, and training people within their own countries to become Christian leaders. A large portion of our work takes place in Bolivia, and we send teams down to work alongside these leaders. Visit our website to learn more about LATCOM, and be sure to ‘like’ us on Facebook and ‘follow’ us on Twitter!

Project Sparks Church Growth

When LATCOM representatives arrived for a church service in the village of Coloradillo, they were amazed. Church members were crammed into the tiny adobe chapel, built 25 years earlier by missionary Mel Ferguson. In 2008, the congregation was almost dead. Four years later, the chapel couldn't hold everyone. How did this amazing transformation occur?

A foundation was begun for the Coloradillo church. The 

current chapel is seen in the background.

Extreme Makeover: Monte Blanco Edition

An update from Ceci Ramsey at Monte Blanco:

Busy... busy... busy…  That's the best way to describe to last two weeks… and rewarding--fun--awesome--a blessing. Some of the women worked hard to spackle, clean graffiti and paint the boys' dorm, which has 16 bedrooms, plus a living room, a long hallway and a bathroom. Each of the bedrooms had cream-colored walls, white ceiling, and one colored wall (blue, green, eggplant, orange, etc.). We made curtains to match the colored walls. The long hallway has a dark taupe bottom, a 2-3 inch deep red horizontal stripe, and the cream top with white ceilings.  The living room which you can see coming down the hallway has the same deep red for a wall around the fireplace. It looks lovely... if I do say so myself!

Team Member Blogs About Trip

The Monte Blanco electrical team is being blogged about here:

http://itecmonteblanco2013.blogspot.com/

Latins Minister Across Cultures

One of our values as a mission is to bridge the gap between North and South American Christians. Now, our national missionaries are bridging the gap between their own urban and rural congregations.

Above: Onesimo and Elodia Rojas (standing) distribute
reading glasses.

Hooking to the Grid: the Camp Gets Connected

LATCOM is hosting an electrical team at Monte Blanco. Here is part of a report sent from Monte Blanco from LATCOM missionary Ceci Ramsey:

I have been amazed at the amount of work this team hopes to accomplish… I did not realize the extent of it as I thought it was just a matter of putting in a few lines and connecting to the electrical grid.  Not so!  They have to consider the future plans of camp (how many campers/placement of pool/which lighting for which area) then put in poles, lines, new connections, etc.  Many of the walls in the buildings will have to be cut as new lines are installed... which means repair, painting, etc. The entire dining room and kitchen is to be redone, including the ceiling and light fixtures as well as most of the roof replaced. This is not to mention the sheer logistics of hosting such a large team.

Above: The quad of Monte Blanco. The electrical team
is working on connecting the camp to the Bolivian
electrical grid.

Equestrian Team Encourages Everyone

Last month (December 31--January 11) LATCOM sent to Bolivia a small “equestrian” team to Camp Monte Blanco. Joining LATCOM missionaries Ceci Ramsey and Jamie Anderson were Houghton College professor JoAnne Young and Houghton student Hannah Compton.

Above: the Team visited a local orphanage and passed out
desserts and Houghton College t-shirts.

Although the team specifically went to care for the camp's three horses, they were a huge encouragement and help throughout the camp.