Supposedly it is autumn here (we continue to be warned by the members of how cold it's going to get by the middle or end of this month), but today it was 77 degrees at 1:00 pm - that doesn't sound like fall, does it?  I think I have mentioned before that the buildings here don't have heating OR air conditioning (same as in Ecuador).  When you're cold, you put on more layers.  When you're hot, you wear lighter-weight clothes, open all the windows and turn on some fans.  Because the church buildings are concrete, they get pretty cold.  Our ward meets at 8:00 a.m. right now, but the Bishop mentioned yesterday that they may be changing the schedule in a couple of weeks - starting an hour later so it won't be so cold for people walking to church and/or in the building itself.   There's another ward that meets in our building; I don't know if they will change too or just stay at 10:00.  Right now they don't start until the third hour of our meetings, so I hope they change too - it's quieter and easier to hear when there is only one congregation in the building.

As to other things . . . this has been a quiet (i.e., "normal") week.  We didn't do anything exciting, but I do have some pictures to show you of an area called La Cancha down in the southern part of the city.   This is a huge marketplace - gazillions of little tiny stalls, some in the open air but mostly covered - as well as lots of street sellers, sidewalk sellers, and so on.  It is always extremely crowded because the best prices are there.  It is also a good place to get your pocket picked, if you're not careful, especially in our case because our white hair makes us stand out like the neon signs in Las Vegas.

Compared to the openness and cleanliness of the Saturday Market (the feria), La Cancha is about a "3" on a scale of "10".  If you want to, you can look back a couple of posts and see pictures from the Saturday market and compare them to the ones below.  You'll see what I mean.  I don't like La Cancha, but it's the place to go if you want to get whatever you need at half the price a regular store would charge.  We bought some speakers for our computer there, and that's where I found the Bolivian-made hair dryer and curling iron I am using.  Some parts of La Cancha are cleaner and nicer than others, but walking through the bad parts makes me feel like I need to disinfect my whole person and everything I'm wearing when I come home. 

All these pictures were taken from a bus, by the way.  We decided to get on Bus 3 one day and ride it to the end of the route, just to see where it went, then ride it home again.  It is the one bus all the missionaries use ALL the time because basically it takes you downtown, to and through La Cancha, and out the other side if you really want to go that far.  Then to come home you just get off the bus, cross the street, and flag the next Bus 3 going the other way.  Here's the shot I took as we came to the edge of La Cancha.

This is a typical street in La Cancha.  People are selling things everywhere, including in the middle of
the street.


This is one of the street corners.  Those are little shops in the background.

 

 These indigenous women are selling potatoes (and tomatoes) from the sidewalk. 

 

 

And these ladies are selling other things - can't remember what.  Notice they are right on the curb.  I guess they just pick the spot they want and plant themselves there and everyone - foot traffic and cars - goes around them.  Also notice the hats that all the indigenous ladies wear.



Another corner - you can see the bus ahead of us.  We turned as soon as the lady with the cart (the one who has her back to us) got out of the way.

And yet another street-side business:  grains and legumes.

This was above us as we waited to turn the corner.  I call it "the wiring mess".  I can only think there are NO wiring codes here or surely this sort of thing wouldn't exist.  To me it looks like an accident waiting to happen. (I also like the contrast between the name of the building - Elegance - and the appearance.)

 

 

Lastly I wanted to show you a couple of things we saw on the way down to La Cancha.  This lady selling pineapple slices is very typical.  (Other ladies with their wheelbarrows might have mangos they sell whole or in slices, papayas, bananas, deep-fried bread they will dip in powdered sugar for you, or various other food items.)  They are tiny micro-businesses, I guess.  This lady uses a big butcher knife to peel and slice the fresh pineapple right on the spot.  If business is good she might stay in the one spot all morning; if it's not, she just picks up and moves a few feet or a few blocks to wherever the business is better.

 

 

Lastly a REALLY typical sight - and one I never get tired of.   This is the way the native people carry their children and everything else.  They make these beautiful big shawls and they are absolute artists at tying them in such a way that the babies (or toddlers) can't fall out, and the mother is free to do whatever she needs to do.  This lady is selling things from her little wheelbarrow, and her child will probably spend most of the day on her back except when he needs to eat.  (Don't ask me what they do about bathroom necessities; I can't imagine and don't want to try.)  

 

 

In La Cancha we saw dozens of ladies like this carrying everything from children to loads of potatoes on their backs and they are also to be seen on every street and every bus, wherever you go.  I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but we see many more of the indigenous people here than we did in Ecuador.  Here, I think the indigenos may be the largest single population group (if you lump all the tribes together.  There are 37 indigenous languages recognized in Bolivia.)  And we do have quite a few sisters coming to the temple in their native clothing like the skirt and hat above (and like the pictures I posted last week.) 

 

Okay, that's all for today.  Have a happy week.  Adios de Bolivia!