No post today, sorry.  We are traveling to the Incallajta ruins today - the southeastern-most point of the Inca Empire.  Next week I hope to have many photos to show you.  Have a good day and a great week . . . y vayan con Dios!

Here it is a little past the middle of January and I am still hanging on to Christmas.  Our decorations haven't been taken down because we haven't had time and I realized today that I never showed you all the pictures of Christmas trees I took during December, so . . . . we're going to start with Christmas and end with New Year's Day - how's that?

These are our Christmas decorations in the apartment.  (There are also lights around the front door, which was behind me when I took this picture.)  This was taken with the dining room light on . . .

. . .  and this is with all the lights off.  Our strings of lights really are not predominantly blue, 

but I guess it doesn't take many blue lights to create this effect.

This was taken from the steps up to the front door of the temple,

one rainy night in early December.  The blue lights are the trees on the temple grounds.

The lights at the back of the picture are the night-lights of Cochabamba.

They are beautiful all year round and never fail to thrill me when we come out of the temple at night.

This was taken from the parking lot at night.

Isn't it a fortuitous shot?

You get the best of everything:  the trees, the stable scene, and the 25' tree near the entrance gate.

Now . . . while we were in Sucre, I took a picture of nearly every Christmas tree I saw.
This one is at a restaurant called Abis.  We had lunch there one day.

This one was in the gift shop at the Dinosaur Park we visited.

(It is NOT the only purple-decorated tree I saw this December.)

This is somewhere in Sucre, but I can't remember where!

This is in the central courtyard of the beautiful Hotel Parador, where we stayed.

(This is a night picture, by the way.)

When we caroled, we stood up there on the balcony at the right.

This was in the lobby of Los Origenes, the place where we saw all the folk dancing.

This was at Los Balcones, the restaurant where we had lunch on Christmas Day.

And this was in the little ice cream shop where we had dessert the same day.

This is inside a hotel (Hotel Samary) which we passed on our way down from La Ricoleta in Sucre.

And this was the last one - in the airport at Sucre.
I thought the little nativity set under the tree was a nice touch.
Didn't see that anywhere else.

Now for some pictures of our "summer flowers" here in Cochabamba.

It reminded me a little of Ohio in that so many trees were flowering in November and December,

not only on the temple grounds but everywhere.

 This is prettier than it looks.  I think the light was too bright or something.

This is the view from the temple steps, looking toward the hospedaje (where the flag is flying.)

And this is halfway down, between the temple and hospedaje.

 We also got all new flowers in the flower beds.  These yellow lilies are gorgeous . . . 

 . . . especially with the wine-colored lilies in front of them.

Here's our group on New Year's Eve.

We went to a Chinese restaurant called Lai Lai,

and they managed to fit all 14 of us around this table. 

The next day we had a New Year's Lunch at the hospedaje.

It was master-minded by Diana Crayk (center), who has a real gift for entertaining.

As you can see from the buffet table,

we never lack for good things to eat at these functions!

 Left to right:  Sister Jensen, President Jensen, President and Sister Garcia (1st counselor), Hermana Arrazola and Hermana Monroy (temple missionaries), Brother and Sister Rojas (who run the hospedaje) and the Delgados, who just went home to Chile.

We are starting the new year without two of our most wonderful missionary couples.

Bart and Suzy Eames went home to Mesa, Arizona on December 3.

And Los Perez (Franklin and Lilia) went home to Venezuela on December 17th.

We miss these good people, and the sad thing is that more and more of the couples who were here when we came are getting ready to go home.  But that's the way life goes . . . . time never stands still.  Thank goodness for modern technology - Facebook, e-mail, Skype and so on - so we can stay in touch with the friends we make as we all serve together.

Adios for today.  Have a safe, healthy, happy week . . . y vayan con Dios! 

Hello, again --

Today I will show you the last of our pictures from the trip to Sucre at Christmastime.  The first night we were there, we went to a place called Los Origenes ("The Origins").  It was like a dinner theater except that instead of a play, we saw folk dances from all the different regions of Bolivia.  This place is a non-profit and they use the money they make to take school supplies and other necessities to a village on the Rio Mamore. Before the dancing began, they showed us a rather grainy film of their trip to the village last year and it is evident that they really do make a difference in the lives of the villagers, especially the children. Unfortunately, the narration during the show - when they said something about which Indian tribes or periods of history were represented - was absolutely unintelligible because (I think) it was too loud and it made the words too muddy.  I couldn't understand a word they said, hence my pictures are labeled "Dance 1", "Dance 2", etc. instead of telling you more specifically what part of Bolivian culture they represent.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed the performance tremendously and I hope you will like the pictures.  There were about 16 young men and women in the dance troupe and they were GOOD!  They did 12 very active dances - can you imagine how much strength, stamina, and lung power that requires?  Dancing is not for wimps!  See what you think . . .

This was the sign above the stage:  Origenes - espacio cultural.

(Origins - a cultural space.)

This mask greeted us as we entered.  Ugly, don't you think?

This was taken standing beside the mask, looking down into the dining area/theater.

This is a better view of the mural on the back wall.

 We had (or I had) one of the best seats in the house for taking pictures.

The stage was about 3 feet in front of me, with nothing and no one in between.

Of course we were on the far left (as you look at the stage), but I still felt really lucky.

Dance #1 - the opening, and four more pictures.

Sometimes what seemed to start "normally" would change drastically, as strange looking figures entered the stage.  I do wish we had been given a program explaining what some of these "demon-looking" characters were and what story they were telling.

Here you see the girls in quite traditional dress, but the demons are still on stage at the back.

 And this was the finale of Dance #1.

Dance #2 - obviously a different tribe or part of the culture.

Notice the long streamers on the girls' hats.

This was the finale of Dance #2.  The men's costumes look quite Incan to me, not sure why.

In one of the dances (and for the life of me I can't remember which one), some of the men were wearing these WOODEN shoes.  Can you see how they are shaped?  There is absolutely no bend at all.  I can't imagine dancing with my feet on wooden blocks, but that's what they did - and very well, too.

Dance #3 - this looks sort of "Spanish Hacienda" setting to me.

                                 And this is the finale of Dance #3.

Dance #4 - here come the demon-guys again; different costumes but same feeling.

The king of the demons?

I think this is the bad guy winning.

Dance #5 began with this one man on stage.

I really like this dance and took more pictures of it than I realized. 

This was halfway through.

Another good action shot, or so I think.

And the finale.

Dance #6  - the costumes seem more what real people would wear.

I'm sure I've seen pictures of peasant farmers dressed like these men.

Didn't get the finale of this one, but this gives you a good shot of the dancers in action.

There was an intermission and this man came on stage.

He is playing a tambourine-type instrument with his right hand,

and blowing that horn (which looks like it came right off the steer)

and sort of dancing at the same time.

I wish someone had explained his costume, the instruments, and so on.

Dance #7 - another peasant-type costume.  Notice the beautiful long streamers on the girls' hats.

 This was the finale of #7.

Dance #8 - especially notice the cholita hat that the girls are wearing.

ALL the cholitas (in real life) wear these hats and how they keep them on, I do not know!

No matter how much they twirled and jumped, the hats stayed secure.

And no, the real cholitas do NOT use any kind of hatpin.  

We asked one of them here at the temple.  She couldn't explain how it stayed on.

 Dance #9 - these are VERY Indian costumes, especially the hats.

Unfortunately I have no idea what part of Bolivia they represent.

The finale of #9 - beautifully colorful costumes.

For some reason, this is the only picture I have of #10 - and it's the finale.
I like the men's costumes (especially the hats and sashes.

 Dance #11 - another peasant-type costume and feeling.

And this is the finale of #11.

This was the beginning of Dance #12 - my favorite as far as the men were concerned, though I would have been happy had the girls been less scantily-clothed.  To be truthful, I can't believe their costumes represent any kind of reality - rather a "giving in" to modern tastes.  The men's costumes are obviously the ornate vaquero costumes from several hundred years in the past, perhaps the colonial days of Spain's rule.

And the finale of Dance #12.

After the above shot, they all came down into the audience and each one asked someone to go up on stage and dance with them.  They picked Diana Crayk from our table, and she is such a good sport she didn't hesitate.  Unfortunately, she and her partner got up to the stage before most of the others (because our table was so close) and everyone else as they came on stage crowded in front of Diana and her partner so I couldn't get a single picture of her dancing!

We really did enjoy the evening, long as it was.  I think we got there at 7:00 and didn't leave until about 10:30 -- that's a late night for us old folks.  But it was something I will never see again or anywhere else and I am very grateful we had the opportunity to enjoy it.

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