Winter Vacation for the Schools

Although, it is very hard to tell in Cochabamba, it is the middle of the winter here. It is “chilly” when we come out of the temple at night, but in the daytime it can easily get into the 60’s or 70’s. Except in the temple, and 1 church I haven’t seen any air conditioning or heat. We have a little, and I mean a little heater that we have turned on for a little while in the morning for the last couple weeks. We have been shutting our windows at night. We still see many people walking around in coats, shawls, scarves, boots, etc. Many of them come from La Paz or other areas that do get snow, and get really cold. We only brought jackets, we don’t even have coats. But I think I am going to make it okay without one.

Almost every day we remind ourselves that it is “otro día en paraíso” (another day in paradise). I have to admit that is one of the things I will miss. We planned it well when we went to Uruguay. We left in the fall and came back in the spring, we got lots of summers, and only one winter. Since we return in the spring here, it will be fall in Idaho. We did miss “the winter from hell” last winter-so I’m hoping it will be milder this year. I bet a lot of you do too!

The temple has been busy the last two weeks with school being out for winter vacation. It is fun to work with these people who come from all over Bolivia, and Peru, Chili, and Argentina.
Martin is feeling much better and has been able to work during this very busy time in the temple. We are both very thankful, it was not to fun for him for awhile.

This old woman sat on the curb from about 8:30 in the morning to about 1:30. I only saw her stand up once. It always amazes me how long they can sit waiting. They are amazing people.

Her family came and went, but she stuck it out with their belongings.

She stood up after a couple hours, and then sat back down.

One of my favorite places behind the temple.

A view from the temple.

People getting of a bus.

 

We were invited to Family Home Evening with some friends we made at the temple. We went to their house at Christmas time. I could understand more of what they said this time. I guess some is better than none. Their son recently returned from a mission and has been serving in the temple. We have so many young people that serve before and after their missions. We are thankful for them. Our friends names are Mauricio, Varinia, Leonardo, and Mateo Lara.

We changed wards and will attend the Arocaguas Ward for a little while. The people have just as much trouble being on time at 10:00 as the other ward that starts at 8:00. There is hardly anyone there when it starts. That neverrrr happens in Idaho.

One of the temple presidency left this on our door. Along with an American flag I found,
it was our celebration of the 4th of July.

I will be glad to get home and have some "real" milk. Martin likes the over -processed milk, but I don't.
 If you can't read the date on this milk, it is Nov 10th.  That is 2 months after we go home. That is scary. At least we have milk.

Friday was our grandson, Lincoln’s 8th birthday. We are sad to miss his baptism. We are so happy he has chosen to be baptized. He finished his 3 ½ years of treatment for Leukemia about 2 years ago. We feel blessed that he now has this opportunity.

Last night after we finished our shift at the temple, we got on the bus to go and get something to eat. Going down the hill, we passed a huge activity that was going on. It turned out it was the annual celebration of the local virgin – Virgen de Carmen de Cochabamba. I talked Martin into postponing dinner, and getting off the bus. I’m glad he humors me at times. We saw some of the dances. The costumes were the same as they wear in the parade in Oruro. The are  from all over Bolivia. It was dark, and we couldn’t get very good pictures. I got better pictures off the tv of the parade in Oruro. Anyway, here are a couple of not so good pictures.  It was fun though. I’m still amazed at what we see here.

They were selling lots of food there. We don't dare try the food on the street, but some of it looks very interesting. I thought this was a masterpiece. There are a couple whole chickens in this. 

Part of a costume.

Part of a costume with a mask on it.

A lot of cute children in costumes.

Jungle costumes.

Cholitas in big boots.

Cholitas along with everyone else use cell phones.

The Virgen de Carmen - the cause of the celebration.

They love the long braids with the big bobby things on them.

Sitting on the curb waiting for their turn to dance.

These dancers have the fat shoes with musical instruments on the back.

I don't know what his costume is, but it looks scary.

This is a cape with a head on the back. The man was bending over, so it looks really weird.

The children are so cute here.

Some teenage girls asked Martin if he wanted to buy some chocolate. This is what he got. A bar of really dark, in it's natural state chocolate from the Yunga-the jungle. It is wrapped in a banana leaf.  You are supposed to make hot chocolate out of it. We'll see if we are brave enough to try it.