Nothing out of the ordinary today, just a few pictures of la vida en Bolivia (life in Bolivia)  . . .

One day last week we went to Paprika Express (which is etched on the glass door but you can't quite see it here).  This is a little like Pei Wei in the States, which someone told me is an off-shoot of P.F. Chang's . . . well, Paprika Express is the "fast-food" version of Paprika, a very nice upscale restaurant in downtown Cochabamba.  The menu here is much less extensive -- good salads, tiny mini-pizzas, and pita sandwiches -- but it's good quality, good tasting and good prices.

Of course one reason we go there is that it is right next door to this store:
Home Center .  This is sort of like Bed, Bath and Beyond - everything for the home -
and it is the only place in Cochabamba 

(I think) where you can buy those puffy net-scrubber-things
that women use in the shower 

(which is why we went there.)

Also next door (across the driveway from Paprika Express) is this new apartment building.  They really do have some beautiful buildings here!

I don't think I've shown you these flowers before.  These are just outside our apartment, and we see them every day from our bedroom windows and from the window above my desk.  I have a tiny story about these flowers but first I have to explain one of our laundry habits.  I wash Farron's white shirts, put them in the dryer for 10 minutes only, and then hang them up in our bathroom (on the shower curtain rod) to dry.  Doing this obviates the need for ironing!  (See, I'm smart, not just lazy.)  Well, having done this one week, I walked into the bathroom and was horrified to see that all the white shirts were pale pink!  It took me several minutes to realize that the sun shining through the bedroom window into the bathroom was reflecting off these flowers, and making everything in the bathroom look pink!

Here's an "only in Bolivia" - a public laundry.  There are springs here which provide cold water, and someone (the city?) put in cement troughs and drains, etc. and people wash their clothes here EVERY day. I don't know if anyone can use the facility - or whether certain people have the concession and charge others to use it or what - but it looks like this (both pictures) all the time.  Interesting, hm?

Lastly, I took a couple of pictures of the temple this week.  I wanted to show how really beautiful those marigolds are as we come up the steps to the temple every day.  They are HUGE and none of the pictures I've taken (including this one) do them justice.

Secondly, I took this one from my desk at dusk.  

I just thought it was fascinating how different the temple looked in the half-light.

And lastly, I wanted to show you the "beginnings" of our Temple Christmas decorations.  The gardening staff started building the stable this week.  One of the other missonaries says it looks like a tiki hut (!), but I told him: "Just wait until you see the animals and the shepherds and the manger. Then it will be a real nativity scene." Maybe the idea is to make it more culturally-applicable to this area, who knows?  Anyway, they are stringing lights in some of the trees and building this pesebre, and I AM EXCITED!

That's all for today.  Have a safe, happy, healthy week . . . y vayan con Dios!