Hello, Again -

Bolivia has been in a bit of an uproar for the last couple of weeks.  The government apparently has passed a law to take away some already-saved-or-earned retirement money from the working class and give it to the indigenos in the campo (the Indian people who live out in the hills and have no way of saving for retirement, and/or no money to save.)  The working people are up in arms about it, naturally – I would be, too – so there have been strikes and marches and bloqueos (streets are literally and solidly blocked by crowds of people who simply don’t move – sort of like Ghandi’s peaceful protests) in all the major cities.  Attendance at the temple has been way-y-y-y-y down, because people simply can’t get here through all the protesters.  Luckily all the bloqueos are south of the river, all around the City Center, and our grocery store is north of the river, so we have been able to do our grocery shopping but not able to go anywhere else. 

 

We did make what we hope was our LAST trip to Immigration.  We spent more than two hours mostly sitting or standing in waiting rooms while Marcelo - our invaluable facilitator from the temple whose job is to get us "foreign missionaries" through all the red tape and bureaucracy - did his thing.  As far as we know, our "Bolivian ID" should be forthcoming in 2-3 weeks.  Here's a picture of us with Marcelo the morning of our appointment.

 

Here's a picture of the entrance to the Police Clinic where we went first to get our "certificates" - also a copy of Farron's "certificate" itself.  This is the paperwork that certifies we are healthy and it's safe to let us stay in Bolivia for 18 months.  <smile>   (By the way, I was afraid to take pictures inside the clinic; I thought it might offend them and that would not have been a smart move.)

 

 

Here are two pictures we took of some of the protest marchers.  The first group (students, faculty and probably parents, from two universities) caused us to sit and wait an extra 15 minutes before we could start home from the Immigration Office - and when we did get away, we had to drive a few miles out of our way to get around the closed streets.  We got out of our parking space while there was a 1-minute gap between the first and second groups.  The second group was from a different university.  (Notice the umbrellas:  it wasn't raining, but men and women alike use umbrellas for shade.  We are up so high that the sun is really a force to be reckoned with.)

 

 

Lastly a picture taken from inside the trufi on our way to church this morning.

 

Every week, these donkeys (and these people) are on this street corner, but we don't know why!  There is no provision for children to ride them - nor any children doing so, coming or going - nor are they loaded with any kind of burden - they are just there.  If we ever figure out their purpose, I will certainly let you know.  In the meantime, I just find it intriguing (or maybe puzzling?) to see donkeys in the middle of a busy intersection every Sunday morning.

 

That's all for today.  No post next week, by the way.  We will be out of town (in La Paz), so I should have great pictures for you the week after next.  

 

Adios, amigos, y vayan con Dios .....

Just read a post on my friend Dona Malouf's blog (she and her husband are back in Colombia for a second, short time as Area Medical personnel) and she called it "This and That Around Town".  I think that's what my offering today should be called.

I don't have anything exciting to report (except that we survived a mandatory physical at the Bolivian Public Health Clinic and the people there were uniformly helpful, courteous, and very nice), so I'm just going to show you a few random pictures and call it good for today.

First, here's a picture of a Book of Mormon in the Quechua language.  One of the departing couples had an extra copy and gave it to Farron.  As far as I can see, it bears little resemblance to Spanish and I don't think I could ever learn it.  Spanish is the official language in Bolivia but something like 34 native languages are recognized and Quechua is #1.

Second, here's a picture of what I call our "safety purses".  Instead of carrying a wallet (which normally goes in a man's back pocket and is therefore more susceptible to being stolen), several of the missionaries use these and so do we. You hook the cord around a belt loop, so the purse cannot be "snatched", and most people also tuck the purse inside the waistband of their pants so the shirt hides it until you pull it out to get some money to pay for something.  We carry our ID in them too (at this point, still our California Driver Licenses).  Hopefully soon we will have a proper Bolivian ID card. The striped one is mine; the brown and blue one is Farron's.

Third, this is a picture of my favorite tree down here.  I have not yet found anyone who knows what they are called, but I love them because they are covered in brilliant orange flowers (and my favorite colors are all the shades of orange from peach to deep rust.)   The second picture is a close-up, so I hope you can see how beautiful the flowers are.  These trees are everywhere and I wish I could bring one home with me!

Fourth, this is my crockpot.  Did you ever see such a strange-looking one?  And isn't it HUGE? According to the information on the side, it was made by Abbott Industries in Jamaica, New York.  It looks really ancient to me - in style and every other way - yet it can't have been here longer than 13 years because that's how the long the temple has been here!  I have wondered if Abbott Industries had a bunch of these in storage because they were outdated and somehow they all got sent down here and retrofitted for Bolivian 220-volt electricity.  Suppose that's possible?

 

It comes with a strainer-sort of insert, supposedly for use as a deep fryer and/or a steamer, but I don't intend to deep-fry anything.  I don't know if, when you make the picture bigger, you can read the stuff on the side but it tells how long to cook various things like stew, chili, etc.  The only problem is that the information isn't accurate, probably because of the altitude.  I am the only one of all the missionary wives who uses it.  Some of the others don't have one (and don't want one); others have one in the cupboard but never use them because it takes so long to cook anything.  Chili, for instance, is supposed to take 5-6 hours on High but really takes 8-9.  Nevertheless, I like being able to plug it in at breakfast time and know that dinner will be ready at 5:00 that evening.  I use it a LOT, but I have to admit it's the least efficient crockpot I've ever used.  I understand Brother Rojas, the hospedaje manager, has a lot of them in storage that either don't work or nobody wants, or both.

 

We are still having 80+ degree weather during the days and mid-40s at night.  The sky is a beautiful blue every day and the flowers and flowering trees are gorgeous.  For today I will close with a couple of pictures of the flowers here on the temple grounds.  Aren't the hibiscus enormous?

 

We have poinsettia trees at each end of the lower parking lot.  Maybe I should call them bushes, but they are at least 6 feet high.  Right now they don't have a lot of blooms but what they have are lovely.  I am hoping they'll be covered in blossoms around Christmastime, though I have no idea whether or not that's the way it works down here.

 

That's it for today.  Adios until next week, y vayan con Dios . . . 



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!