Hello, All --

Here we are in September.  The temple reopens tomorrow so "vacation" is over.  In the week after returning from the Salar de Uyuni we had a couple of interesting experiences, but I think I will spread them out over a couple of posts (just to make sure I always have something to show you).  So here is a potpourri of pictures taken between September 1 and today.

First, when we left on vacation the grounds crew had just finished spreading all the different kinds of soil I showed you a couple of weeks ago and then they planted new grass seed.  They covered the lawns with a white mesh cloth and set the sprinklers to go on several times a day (instead of once a day at 5:00 a.m.)  This is what the lawns looked like when we came back.  Today (September 9th) there are little green blades of grass coming up through the white mesh and the grounds crew are starting to remove the mesh from some of the areas.  Incidentally the door at the head of the stairway you can see here, is the door through which we enter the hospedaje most often.  It brings us in on the 2nd floor so we only have to walk up one flight of stairs.
















Second item:   Sunday the 1st of September was el dia de peaton in Bolivia.  That means no one is allowed to drive a motor vehicle and everyone walks wherever they have to go that day (or else they stay home) from midnight until 6:00 pm.  The government has established 3 of these days per year (the first Sunday in April, September and December, we think).  Supposedly this alleviates air pollution.  One taxi driver told us he thought it was so families would have time to be together because they couldn't go anywhere - even to work.

What it meant for the few temple missionaries who weren't away on vacation was that we couldn't get to our regular church meetings because they were too far away to walk.  So we were authorized to hold our own little sacrament meeting (worship service) at the Cochabamba Mission Home - and it was WONDERFUL.   Here is a picture I took after we finished our meeting.  L/R seated:  me, Hermana Lee (from Idaho), Hermana Quispe (from ??), Adriana Monroy (from Denver, CO.)  Standing L/R:  Farron, Bart and Suzy Eames (Mesa, AZ), Christy Dyer and President Dan Dyer (Reno, NV).




On Tuesday, we went to lunch with Bart and Suzy.  They will be going home in December and we want to get to know them better before they leave.

This is the corner where we got off the bus.
Isn't that bougainvillea gorgeous?








On Wednesday, we journeyed across the city to ride the gondolas up to the Christus statue so we could get some really good pictures of it and see the view of the city from there.  Unfortunately, the gondolas were closed for maintenance all week.  We will have to go back another time.  On our walk back to the nearest bus stop, I took these pictures.

Here's another gorgeous bougainvillea.  I do love the way people here have flowering vines on their walls.

 This is what construction of a new apartment building looks like.

This is the corner of Oquendo and Colombia, where we waited for the northbound Bus 3.  Notice all the overhead power lines.   I think you will see nothing like this in the States anymore; they're all underground, and that is certainly more attractive.

On Thursday we went over to a small grocery store called  K Barato. (That is a play on words.  The phrase que barato means "how cheap!")  I'm not sure why the store has that name, because it's neither more nor less expensive than the other stores where we shop, BUT it has the virtue of occasionally having American products that can't be found anywhere else.  For instance, I found two small cans of pumpkin there and I am hoarding them for Thanksgiving.  The picture below is the sidewalk in front of K Barato.  The sidewalk is truly flat like any other good sidewalk, but doesn't this pattern make it look otherwise?  (It also can make you seasick if you look down while walking on it.)

Sunday, September 8th, was a conference for the stake we attend (Jaihuayco Stake) instead of each ward having its own set of meetings.  This is a picture of the chapel and cultural hall set up for the meeting.  You can see they even have chairs on the stage.  We are used to this because our stake conferences in La Verne are the same way.

This was a little different, though.  The benches where the choir (and usually, the bishop and his counselors) sit are not fixed but rather are movable.  They were moved back and chairs brought in for the stake presidency, the mission president and his wife, and the first counselor in the temple presidency.  When they moved the benches back, you can see it really crowded the choir.  I was in the row where you can see my purse and almost couldn't stand up to sing, but the row behind me had even less room.  Nobody complained, though.  I guess they are used to it.

This is the flower arrangement that was prepared especially for the conference. 

What surprised us most was this tent that was set up for the overflow crowd.  We expected the building itself to be full, but we have never attended a stake conference where everyone couldn't fit in the building.  This stake has 10 congregations and they expected between 1,600 and 2,000 people - so they set up a tent and brought chairs from several other buildings in the stake.  Isn't that terrific?  It was packed, too - such faithful people!!

Tonight, as a sort of "last hurrah" for our vacation, several of us went out for dinner.  As we left the temple grounds we saw a crew painting new signs on the street.  Notice they are doing it by hand, with brushes. This is the way all the crosswalks are painted as well as the yellow or white lines down the middle of the street.  Hard to believe, isn't it?


Here's a picture of Eldon Hurst in his "traditional Bolivian hat".  If any of you want one like this, let me know and I'll bring one home for you.  (They do keep your head and ears warm.)



There is a very nice, high-class restaurant here in Cochabamba called Paprika.  We went to Paprika Express which is Paprika's stepchild, I guess you could say.  It has some of the same menu items, the same quality of food, cleanliness and outstanding service, but it's more of a "fast food" atmosphere and style than a real restaurant.  (Sort of like P.F. Chang's and Pei Wei.)  Here's a picture of us in the tiny eat-in area. Clockwise from bottom left:  Bill Johnson, Lidia and Franklin Perez (from Venezuela), Eldon and Dawn Hurst (from Bonners Ferry, Idaho), Farron, and Linda Johnson.  (The Johnsons are from a small town north of Spokane, Washington and are going home in 2 weeks.)

Okay, that's all for today.  Next week, the Botanical Garden we visited Tuesday afternoon and maybe the Christus (if we get back down there.)  Have a great week and vayan con Dios . . .