Cochabamba Chronicles

The Romeros in Tucuman, Argentina

On Saturday, Aug 19, at 8:00 AM we flew from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz and on to Salta Argentina. The flight from Santa Cruz was late, and we were afraid we were going to miss our bus to Tucuman. A kind taxi driver rushed us to the bus station, and by some special blessing, the bus didn’t leave on time. We made it on the bus, and were on our way for our 4 ½ hour bus ride to Tucuman. These buses are wonderful. We rode a few like this in Uruguay. They have large comfortable seats that lay back, and foot rests with lots of room. We sat in the front of the bus, and could see everything as we drove along.

David Romero was at the bus station to pick us up and take us to our Hotel. We stayed in the Hotel Paris. It was nice and very adequate for our stay there. It was also just a block from their house. David wasn’t born yet when Martin taught his family the gospel in Tucuman, but he came to see us in Montevideo while we were serving there. Martin and Elder Nunnally taught the Romero family the gospel almost 50 years ago. Luis and Maria were baptized, along with their three children Mercedes, Daniel, and Marta. Mercedes has 4 children, Daniel 8 children, and Marta 2 children. Daniel and David served missions, and many of the grandsons, also. Luis died 15 years ago, and David takes care of his 84 year old mother.

They were so kind to us, and did they ever feed us well. We went to church with them on Sunday, and then had a big dinner in a long hallway in Maria’s house. On Monday, Manuel (Marta’s husband) cooked asado for us. They cook down wood to coals, and then cook lots of good meat over them. They cooked that way in Uruguay, also. Tuesday morning we went to David’s Institute lesson with him, and got to participate in his class. In the afternoon we went to Rodolfo’s house, and Mercedes and her daughter-in-law, Nadia and daughter, Desiree, cooked milanesa. On Wednesday, David bought us empanadas for lunch, and that night we went out for pizza. Every day except Sunday, David bought us ice cream. I love maracuya, and I got to have maracuya ice cream almost every day. It was so good. I am going to be sad, because I have never seen maracuya (passion fruit) flavored anything at home. We got to eat a lot of Martin’s favorite foods from Argentina, including, dulce de leche. We both felt like we wouldn’t need to eat again for a week. It was so good, though.

Every day we sat in the room where Martin helped teach the family the gospel. They would give us drinks, and try to get us to eat more food. They really know how to be hospitable. We would get fat if we stayed there too long. It was a great trip. We were thankful to get to spend 4 days with the Romero family. They are very thankful to have the gospel in their lives.

It is spring in South America. There were beautiful pink trees blooming everywhere.

There were about 3 different times they were stopping traffic to check people's ID.
A lot of people in the U.S. don't even want to show ID to vote. 

Entering Tucuman

The end of our 4 1/2 hour bus ride.

Entering Tucuman on Saturday evening.

The Romero family at church on Sunday.

After church we had a luncheon in the hallway of Maria Romero's home.

Mercedes, David, Maria, Marta, and Daniel (standing)

Martin and Sylvia with the Romero's

Marta's husband, Luis, fixed us a wonderful asado. 

Eating again. We did that a lot while we were there. The meat was really good.

Monday evening, David took us to a Feria Artesenal. We saw lots of handcrafted items.
There were also dancers. These dancers were dressed in the white and light blue
colors of Argentina.

After that we went to the Plaza de Independencia. We didn't get pictures because it was dark, but there were some dancers
from a dance group doing the Tango. I asked David if he could do the Tango, and he said no. I noticed a couple things.
Each couple had their own style. You better like the person you are dancing with because they dance really close. It is a very difficult dance, and there is no way I could do it. I would fall flat. It is a very cool dance. It is famous in Argentina.

There is always a Catholic church by the Plaza. This is the church where Luis and Maria Romero were married.

The next day we went exploring, and found this goucho dancing for money.
The woman stopped to dance with him. They used handkerchiefs.

We were also lucky enough to see the changing of the guard.
David said that only happens once a day.

There were many motorcycles. There would often be three or four people on a motorcycle.
The most I saw was 5. A mother, father, and three children. 

We also got to see a protest of a socialist group. It was peaceful.
There were thousands of people. They wanted the government to do more for the poor working class.

Our milanesa dinner. 

It smelled so good in Tucuman. They have lots of orange trees, and they were all in bloom. 

David said someone wrote the graffitti on their front door. At least they wrote LDS.

I guess this is pretty common in South America. I wouldn't be too fond of it.
There is an open courtyard, with rooms of the house surrounding it. If you leave a room,
you are outside. I would particularly not like it to have to go outside to go to the bathroom.
They are all used to it. It is a lot what you are used to.

Every night we would spend time around the table. This is the room where
Martin and his companion taught them  the gospel.

David, Martin, and Maria

The two of us with Maria

Martin and David

Martin always talked about how great the buses were in Argentina.
He said many of them were made by Mercedes Benz - here's proof.

This is a tall clock tower on top of the Post Office.

The last night we went out to dinner in a Italian Restaurant.
You could watch them cook pizzas.

They love to eat late. We didn't even leave for dinner until 9:00 PM. By 10:00
the restaurant was pretty full.

The next morning our bus was supposed to leave at 5:00 AM, although it was late.
David came to the hotel and walked us to the bus stop.
They have a lot of Virgins in the Catholic Church. This one was at the bus stop, and is
the Virgin of Transportation.

David and Martin before our bus left.

They grow a lot of sugar cane in Argentina. This was a big field of sugar cane.

There were some interesting trees that had huge pods on them. They were about the size of
large avocados. They would burst open and a huge ball of white stuff would float off. 

Coming into Salta on the bus to catch our plane back to Bolivia. The houses on the hill
were some of the nicer homes we saw. 

I think this is gauchos on horses.

We saw this thunderhead right before we got back to Cochabamba

Back to Cochabamba for about three more weeks.

 One Month Left

Saturday was our last day working in the temple before the 2 week temple break. It was also the beginning of our last month in Bolivia. We will leave Bolivia the evening of September 12, arrive in Miami on the 13^th, and then fly to Minnesota to spend a few days with Kaylynn and Daniel, play with Tyson, and meet our newest grandson, Jace. If our plane is on time, we will get to Boise late Saturday night on the 16th. Our oldest granddaughter, Maddie (Hermana Harris), is serving a Spanish speaking mission in the Miami area, but we will just have to give her a pretend wave as we fly through. It has been fun for us to write letters to Hermana Harris, signed by Hermana y Hermano Harris. That won’t be the case for much longer.

The last few months have been tough on Martin, but the last few weeks, he has felt much better, and has been able to work more in the temple, although he still has trouble sleeping at night. Luckily, we have been able to change shifts, and except for one month at the beginning of our mission, have been able to work the afternoon/evening shift in the temple. July and the first part of August were busier than normal in the temple because it was school vacation, and then people coming to go to the temple before it closed for the break.

Our grandson, Lincoln Harris, turned eight on July 14, and was baptized on August 5. That was a happy event. On July 25, I received an email from my mother saying that my sweet sister, Julie, has a brain tumor, and has since been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That was devastating news. Both of those things made me wish to be home, but the fact is, you can’t be two places at one time. It is hard, but you deal with it the best you can. It certainly changes my perspective on what is the most important to do when we get back home.  We are still thankful for our time here, and the rest of the time we have, both for vacation time and the last two weeks of working in the temple.

These people are from Puno, Peru. The couple on the left are a married couple, the Villcas. The single sister is Hermana Mamani. There was another sister, Sister Machaca, with them but we didn't get a picture of her. She had the kind of face you would expect to see in a National Geographic Magazine. They all came to do work for their parents, grandparents, siblings and husband (Sis. Machaca). I got to help them as they first came into the temple because I was at the recommend desk. Then I helped them again at the administration office. Finally, I got to be a witness when they did the work for their family. They were so cute, humble, and grateful for the time they spent in the temple.

Two cute Cholitas making their way up the stairs to the temple

This girl has on the old fashioned Cholita hat that they used to wear here. She was with a camera man taking
pictures for something.  Most of them wear a bolero hat, or a straw hat.

There are so many  people begging, especially at the Feria on Saturday.
Each time we pick a few to give to. I would like to know if some of them are as old as they look,
or if it is the wear and tear of life here.

I had to get on the top of the Hospedaje (where we live) to get this picture of the
Bolivian flag and the temple. Luckily someone accidentally left the doors to the roof open
on the same day the wind was blowing. 

On Sunday, July 23, they were celebrating their liberation day. They had stands selling flags.
Many of the cars and houses were flying flags. We sang their National Anthem in church.

We will be in Cochabamba for most of this week. On Saturday, we are going to Tucuman, Argentina to visit the Romero family. Martin and his companion taught them the gospel.

Monday was the first day of our vacation. Pacifico Zuniga offered to show us around Cochabamba. He was kind to have taken us on another trip awhile ago. Sister Farnsworth, Sister Quispe, and ourselves, are the only ones still here right now. We were all going to go with Brother Zuniga. Sister Farnsworth fell when we were walking to dinner a couple weeks ago. She got a concussion, and wasn’t feeling very well, so she didn't go. It was probably a good thing she didn’t go, because the roads we ended up driving on for several hours, would have shaken her pretty badly, and would have not been good for someone with a concussion. We missed her. I did my best to carry on a conversion with Sister Quispe. She is a cute little Sister from Peru. We did have a great time. Brother Zuniga comes to the temple every week to do baptisms, and is looking forward to December when he will be a member for 1 year and can receive his endowments. Unfortunately, that is after we leave, and we won’t be able to participate with him. But, we are happy for him.

The first place that Hermano Zuniga took us to was the statue of the Heronias. I was excited because last time we went we were scared of being robbed, and didn’t go all the way up. We laughed when we got there because there was a military unit exercising near the statue. Brother Zuniga had to go over and talk to them and tell them that he and Martin were both military men. We felt completely safe, and enjoyed our visit to the statue.

In 1812, Bolivia was fighting for it's independence from Spain. Many of the men
had been killed in a battle, so some women, children, and old people fought the
Spanish on this sight. 

The two of us with Hermano Zuniga

We were thankful for these military men because we had been warned before
that this can be a dangerous place. 

We thought we were going to see more of Cochabamba from the ground, but Hermano Zuniga decided to take us up the mountain for a wider view. It was quite the ride. He drove us through the area where he now lives, Tiquipaya. In El Paso he bought us bread to eat on the way up. We tried to find a bathroom. Finally he found a public bathroom at the market. We have been to some very interesting bathrooms in South America. From pour your own water to flush, to those that are level with the ground. If it is a public bathroom you have to pay 1 peso, and there is a person that gives you some toilet paper that they have torn off a roll. I always try to bring my own. This happened to be one of the ones that is level with the ground. That is a workout in itself. You probably wouldn't enjoy trying to read a book in the bathroom.  In Bolivia, you are supposed to throw your toilet paper in a garbage can instead of in the toilet. It becomes pungent very quickly. I am so thankful that we don’t have to do that in our apartment. Our apartments are very modern. In the temple they even have signs in the stalls reminding people to deposit the toilet paper in the toilet. Are we ever spoiled in the good old USA. But, then I guess a lot of it is what you are used to. (No picture of the toilet)

Except for the very bumpy road, and the drop offs on the side of the road, it was a very pleasant trip up the mountain. El Paso is an area where they grow flowers. As we went up the mountain, it was just like the other places we have gone. They farm any area they can. You can see spots where there is a garden that you wonder how they could stay standing as they try to work the ground. We got up to 12,500 feet, but that isn’t the highest we have been. We were up where the hawks fly, and there were a few of them flying around. There was a beautiful valley towards the top called Liriuni. We didn’t see much water. The river bed was completely dry. That is a big worry to the people here.

A statue of Jesus holding the world in El Paso

Warning! If you see a brochure for a resort in the Tunari mountains near Cochabamba, called Liriuni,
that boasts about the beautiful scenery and hot pools-it may not be what you expected.

The valley of Liriuni is almost at the top of the mountain.
The mountains here are called Tunari. I guess these are popular mountains to climb.

Martin and Pacifico Zuniga

While we were stopped to take pictures, this man herded his animals past us.

Tunari mountains

This is a water pipeline to carry water down from the top of the mountain.

I think this is a water holding pool, but it is completely dry.

The really winding grey line is the road, and the bigger grey area is the
completely dry river bed.

This is the first herd of llamas that I got close to that were grazing on the mountain side,
and not just in someone's yard.

They spent a lot of time looking at us.

A look at Cochabamba from the mountain.

On the way down we had a flat tire. Luckily we had stopped to take some pictures, and there was room to pull off the road and fix it. Even more of a blessing was that he had a spare that had air in it. When we got back down the mountain, we ate at a hole in the wall restaurant that he told us had very good food. The food was good. None of us ordered the guinea pig though. Maybe it tasted okay, but it still had the head on it, and the legs spread out. It reminds me of a flying squirrel. We have seen them in the meat market. You can’t always judge a restaurant by the outside, or the inside. It was fun. I had the best chicken. We didn't get sick, so that is a blessing, too.

Hermano Zuniga, Hermana Quispe, and Martin

Sister Quispe and I ordered chicken milanesa. I think this was half of a chicken. She got the other half.
It was huge. We could have just shared one. It still had the bones in it. It was really good! They love to eat chicken in Bolivia. There are chicken restaurants everywhere.

You can't see the head and body from this picture, but this man ordered the guinea pig.

This is the owner of the restaurant, Don Antonio, I guess his wife, and our servers.

This bathroom even had toilet paper. They were also kind enough to have some
newspaper in case you ran out of the toilet paper. Or, I guess you could read it since this was a regular sit down toilet.

You would call this restaurant a "greasy spoon" in the states.
The food was good and it had it's own special atmosphere.

Also, don't judge it by what is directly across the street.

The kids all wear uniforms in Bolivia to school.

Interesting sculpture at the park.

Monday when we got home the parade in Quillacollo was on. It was the big celebration for the La Virgin de Urkupiña. Sister Farnsworth had been watching it all day. It is similar to the pictures I posted about the parade in Oruro, but for a different Virgin.

I never can get over the crazy costumes. They are amazing.

This is not a very good picture because I took it off the tv.
Yes, I do believe in Angels.

Tuesday, we went to house of Palacio Portones. He started out poor, but became very rich by mining tin, until the government nationalized all of the mines in the 1950's. He had this beautiful house built for himself, but died before he could live in it. It is now a museum and cultural center. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but it was beautiful.

They put glass over the top of the pool, so people wouldn't fall in.

On Wednesday we took Sister Quispe to the Cristo del la Concordia. It was our third time to go. We will miss seeing it from the temple grounds every day.

These are the mountains we drove to the top of on Monday, as viewed from the hill.

These dancers were from Ecuador. They had come to dance in the parade in Quilloquollo. We were interested
in their USA symbols on their costumes and clothes. They said they were part of a dance group from the United States.
We got to watch them dance a little at the statue.

These dancers are from Salta, Argentina. We fly into Salta before we go to Tucuman. We got to watch them dance
a little, also. This was an added bonus since we haven't been able to go to one of the big parades. 

Sister Quispe

This stairway is usually only open on Sundays. I guess it goes clear to the top of the Cristo. I think
the guy working there told us there was 140 stairs. We had climbed the circular stairs like these in Uruguay in some light houses. That was enough experience for us. There are circular holes all the way up to look out of.
We also didn't want to walk the over 1000 stairs going up to the Cristo. We like the teleferico.

On our way down in the teleferico. The children here are so cute. For some reason
hardly any of them will talk to me, or look at me, especially if I smile at them. 

We tried to go to a museum for the second time, but it was closed again. On the way back
to catch the bus we walked through this group of people. After we got through the group, I couldn't help but laugh.
Every person was looking at their cell phone.
Some things here are very different, and other things are just like everywhere else in the world.
Take a break!