Thank you for the edit, MArtin. Here is
an update now, based on information supplied by Ralph McLean.
Ralph will be leaving for Argentina on Tuesday July 19. It's agreed that the journey and task that lies ahead, is not something that Teena's parents should carry out themselves. As per Sunday July 17th, 2005 there is no more information then they originally had, apart from the fact that they have new information that contradicts other info. Media have been a huge help on the home front, in terms of support for the family.
It is known that:
- The hotel she stayed at in Tupiza was the El Toro Hotel.
- She may have been heading to La Paz or Tarija in Bolivia before going on to Argentina.
- The friends she may have been hanging out with are quite possibly an Argentine couple.
- They may have been from a village near Jujuy (Huhuy) in Argentina.
- The Argentine couple may have been
selling jewelry for a living. But it is not known how long Teena was with them.
The last person they can OFFICIALLY place Teena with is a fellow Israeli backpacker. He asked her to come to La Paz, she said no because she wanted to go to
Tarija and then
Argentina instead. The Israeli went to La Paz. The relatives are in contact with him, but he has not been able to give any more news.
One of their sources says Teena checked out of the El Toro hotel, going to Tarija on the 14th or 15th. There were only a few other backpackers staying there at the time so she may have been with one or all of them. Canadian Foreign Affairs is checking with their embassies to see if they can get in touch with them in regards to Teena's whereabouts.
If Teena went to Tarija, they are fairly certain of the information below. It's an excerpt from info supplied by one of their dedicated contacts:
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INFORMATION (pls: some infos may need further confirmation)
Tarija has internet in every corner of the city and ADSL line. Most of hostals are empty now, very few tourists/travellers.
(***Note by Ralph - One of the questions the family and I are asking ourselves is - Why didn't Teena email from here, if she in fact headed there?)
I visited the bus terminal police in Tarija. They archive the list of passengers of all busses that depart and arrive. I told them that you will come in two weeks and check the archives in more detail.
There are only 3 night bus companies that service Tupiza - Tarija. JUANES and EXPRESSO DIAMANTE have daily departure (tupiza-tarija & tarija-tupiza). Depart 19:30-20:00 and arrive at 03:00-05:00. The third company, TRANS CRISTAL has weekly service.
The officer told me that between Tupiza - Tarija, there are no other transport, only the bus form these 3 companies. I checked the record of the passenger list :
ARRIVAL IN TARIJA, I checked June 11-22
Bus Juanez : complete records. No Teena.
Bus Expresso Diamante : missing record (or maybe no service) for June 12,13,21. On available records, no Teena.
Bus Trans Cristal : had service Jun 15 & 21. No Teena.
DEPARTURE FROM TARIJA, I checked June 15-21
Basically I went through all names in all busses leaving (to Bermejo, Villamontes, Tupiza, Potosi, Santa Cruz, La Paz, etc). No Teena.
From Tarija to Argentina, people go to Bermejo, 4 hours, asphalted road then continue to Jujuy.
I checked hostals listed in LP South America on a Shoestring : Alojamiento Ocho Hermanos (renovation), Residencial Zeballos, Residencial Rosario, Hosteria España, Hostal Miraflores and some residencial around the terminal. No sign of Teena.
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From foreign Affairs Canada, the relatives were informed that Teena (or rather someone with
Teena's passport) crossed July 5th at Pocitos border post which is supposed to be somewhere near Yacuiba, which is in fact an out of the way border crossing. However, another contact with good contacts in the Argentine Border Police confirms the exact opposite: that she NEVER crossed into Argentina. So which is it? At this point they don't know. They are more inclined to listen to their Foreign Affairs office but the crossing makes no sense to them at all, as from what they have been informed by local area people is that the whole area that she might be in is just a bunch of mining communities and not exactly a "tourist attraction".
Teena hasn't used her bank card or Mastercard since June 14th, so if she is healthy and OK, what money is she living on? So if anything, her relatives and friends are more curious of what has happened to her then ever before.
The many 'best wishes' e-mails people have been sending are very much appreciated. That kind of response is so enormous that there is a special e-mail address now to mail Teena's parents directly:
teenatimm@hotmail.com
As for Ralph's mailaddress everyone is requested now to mail him
only if you can really help on the ground, you are in the area or have friends and relatives that live in the area that can help.
And it's repeated that if you are (travelling) IN the area, you do NOT need permission to print off the webpage (it prints off into two pages, in three languages of choice English, Spanish and Portugese). If you can, please hand them out to guesthouses, hostels, hospitals, police stations, bus stations, etc in the area of Southern Bolivia and Northern Argentina.
There are good contacts doing leg work on the ground there, as well as very helpful contacts with the Argentina media. In view of the search of Foreign Affairs Canada too, re. information everybody is primarily looking for
solid leads, not generalizations.
Teena's parents as well as her close friend Ralph McLean feel they cannot thank enough everybody who is helping them for their assistance so far. Please keep an eye on the website regularly, as that is where the most up to date information will be published.
www.teenatimm.com
.
Diesen Fragen sollte aber nicht hier im Teena-Thread, sondern im Sticky des SOS-Forums nachgegangen werden 
