Hello, All --

This has been an ordinary week at the temple for July, which means very busy.  Here is a picture taken with a couple of young adults from Santa Cruz.  They had been in the temple earlier in the day and were taking some pictures before getting on the bus for the all-night ride home.

One slightly-unusual occurrence this week was that we got caught in a real DOWNPOUR, which isn't supposed to happen this time of year.  Theoretically, it's not supposed to rain again until November.  The thing about rain here in Cochabamba is that - during the winter - it means snow on all the passes between here and all the other cities.  Here are a couple of pictures of the snow on the mountains between here and La Paz.  These were taken Sunday, two days after the rains, so some of the visible snow had melted.

Last night (Sunday, July 20) we had a little musical program here at the hospedaje.  This is the second year that BYU has sent 5 music students down to Cochabamba to teach at the Fundacion Sinfonica de Cochabamba for one month.  This year's students were not anywhere near as accomplished as last year's (to my personal disappointment), but they are very nice girls and shared their talents with an evening of hymn arrangements instead of the more difficult classical music we heard last year.  Only one of the group spoke Spanish this year; hence they sang several hymns in English.  Here are some pictures.

They sang I Am a Child of God (in English) and Rachel Cottam (from Provo, Utah) played the churango, a native Bolivian instrument that to me sounds somewhat like a mandolin.

This is a closer picture of the churango.  It has 8 strings.

Rachel only bought it 2 weeks ago, so I was impressed that she could accompany the girls with it.

The violinist is Jenny Jones from Springville, Utah; the flautist is Kristen Blackham, 

from somewhere in New York.  They did a medley of For the Beauty of the Earth

and All Creatures of Our God and King.

They sang (in Spanish) Abide With Me, 'Tis Eventide.

They had 3-part harmony, very nice - a capella, too.

The girl in the very center, Kate Jessop (also from Utah),

plays the contra bass (the BIGGEST string instrument in the orchestra),

so she didn't have her instrument with her.

She has a lovely singing voice though and we benefited from that.

This is Rachel Cottam again; she plays the oboe beautifully.

A little later in the program, they sang A Child's First Prayer, 

which is Sister Jensen's favorite Primary song.

This was a flute, oboe and piano trio on Lead, Kindly Light.

The pianist is Rebecca Cottam; she and Rachel are twins.

Rebecca also plays the bassoon, but didn't bring it with her last night.

And finally, for their finale, they sang Be Still My Soul.

This is not in the Spanish hymnbook, so they had to sing it in English.

Rachel (on the right end) sang tenor, so they had 3-part harmony.  

It was a beautiful ending to the program. 

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

Hello, again --

No trips or "big things" to tell you about this week, but here are some miscellaneous information and pictures that I hope you will find interesting.

First, these men were pushing these HEAVY loads on wheel-barrow-type carts on one of the main downtown streets.  We were behind them in a bus.  I can't imagine people pushing carts loaded with cement mix down a street in the middle of traffic at home, can you?

Second, we saw this on the way home from church yesterday.

This is a major street paralleling the river.

If you open this picture to full size, you will see a man washing his clothes in the dirty river -

quite a common sight actually.  Sorry the picture isn't bigger, but I was in a taxi when I took it.

A couple of weeks ago we had a Santa Cruz stake bring their entire Youth Conference here for one day.

There were about 120 kids (12-17) and about 25 youth leaders.  

They came all the way from Santa Cruz (an 8-to-10 hour trip) 

in what looked to me like glorified school buses.  Such dedication and testimony! 

They came in the morning and went home that evening.

Can you imagine 8-10 hours in a bus like this?  Ugh.

Then just this past Saturday another big group of youth came,

this time from the city of Oruro (only 4-1/2 hours away.)

They were in buses like this - more the size of a Greyhound - 

but since I don't like buses of any kind, 

I still find it very admirable that they make such long trips.

Yesterday we visited a different ward from the one we usually attend.

This is the Barrio Lindo building.  It sits down below street level, so it was hard to spot,

especially since the tree in front covers the nameplate.

Now a total change of pace - some pictures of different plants.
First, this plant in our apartment.
In my whole life, this is the only live plant I have managed not to kill.
I am so proud of it.

In fact, as you can see,

it has a brand-new shoot right in the center.

Whoopee!

This is one of the "bird of paradise" plants alongside the steps from the hospedaje up to the temple.

I have never seen a white one before.

Do you think maybe it was the color they normally are,

and then the cold temperatures at night froze it?

And third, a native vine that I really want to plant along our fence at home.

Of course you know I LOVE orange, 

and the flowers cascading down the wall are so beautiful to me.

Here's a closer view.

And here's the closest view of all.  Aren't they gorgeous? 

Lastly, here's something really special to me.

This ring is made of Bolivianite, a stone that is ONLY found here in Bolivia.

Below the picture I will post the legend of Bolivianite.

Legend of Bolivianite (Ametrine from the Mine of Anahí)

What is not a myth: Bolivianite is a beautiful purple and honey-colored precious gem formed under almost impossible conditions. It is a unique blend of purple amethyst and yellow citrine which scientists are now calling ametrine. It is produced under such exceptional and improbable conditions, requiring a perfect combination of iron presence and differing temperatures within a very confined area, that it has occurred only once that we know of, in only one known place in the world: Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The Anahí mine is the one and only bolivianite mine known to exist anywhere on Earth.

Legend has it that along with an expedition of Spaniards exploring what is now Eastern Bolivia, came a soldier called Felipe de Urriola y Goitia, who made contact with the peaceful Ayoreo tribe. The daughter of the Ayoreo chieftain, Princess Anahi, fell in love with Don Felipe and asked her father’s permission to marry him. The chieftain agreed and as a dowry, he gave her husband a mine that produced a beautiful two-colored gems, to which the conquistador didn’t pay attention, deeming it not as worthy as gold, silver or emeralds.

When Don Felipe thought it time to go back to Spain, Anahi was torn between her loyalty to her tribe and her love for Don Felipe, but was prepared to follow him anyway. Enraged by what they saw as abandonment, and jealous of Don Felipe, her tribesmen conspired to murder him to prevent him from leaving. However, Princess Anahí warned him and he and his men were forced to flee.

Sadly, during the confrontation, Anahí was injured by her own tribesmen. Dying of her wounds, Anahi asked to see her husband one last time, and placed in his hands a beautiful stone from the mine her father had given them as a wedding gift. She told him it was a token of her eternal love. Anahí died in her husband's arms. When he opened his hands and saw the gem, he knew that the stone's two-colored blend of perfectly blended deep purple and honey symbolize Anahi's heart torn between her love for her husband and her love for her people.

That gem is what is now called Bolivianite, and the mine that produces it is named the Anahi Mine, after the Ayoreo princess. It is located 150 kilometers North of Puerto Suárez, a town in the Eastern tropics of Bolivia, very near the border of Brazil. The mine site covers an area of about 6250 acres.

Isn't that interesting?  I am thrilled to have a life-long reminder of our time here, and as Sister Jensen so wisely commented, "Better yet, it doesn't have to be dusted!"

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

Good Morning, All --

Sorry I missed last week's blog.  Because we were gone all weekend, it took Monday to catch up, but now I have our pictures of Santa Cruz to show you.  Santa Cruz is Bolivia's largest and supposedly-most progressive city.  Here we go . . .

We flew to Santa Cruz on TAM (Transporte Avion Militar), an airline run by the government.  Other than the fact that the pilots were in military uniform, we couldn't see any difference between this airline and BOA (Bolivian Airlines), except that the plane was a little smaller than the one we fly in to La Paz.


We thought it was funny that on a South American airline (and a military one at that, in a country where the government is anti-American), these signs inside the airplane were in English!

Saturday was a cold, gray, windy day - looking (and feeling) as if it would rain any minute (thank goodness it didn't.)  This is what Santa Cruz looked like as we flew in - very flat and very green with lots of rivers.

Santa Cruz is a few thousand feet lower than Cochabamba 

and it is on the edge of the Brazilian jungle.

The next few pictures were taken as we drove from the small downtown airport (not the big international airport outside of Santa Cruz) to our hotel.  Notice the cobblestone streets.  They are here, there and everywhere - it's not a "colonial restoration" thing, but quite random.

Yes, we DID see this horse-drawn wagon in the middle of town.  Weird!

This looks like a giant Lego building to me; hope it comes out that way in the picture.

The next two pictures are of the new Hall of Justice.

As we passed it, the taxi driver said, "That's the Hall of Injustice," and he laughed.

We weren't sure if he was serious or not, and if he was - why?

I think this is a mural in honor of whoever the statue is (as opposed to graffiti, which is everywhere.)

This is the Christus in Santa Cruz.

 This, to me, is just a really-strange way of decorating a building.

I mean, really - seashells just sticking there on the walls?

I think this is some kind of park and playground with a real airplane for decoration, 

but neither Farron nor I can remember exactly what the taxi driver said.

He implied it wasn't really planned this way.

Just a shot of their typical buses (actually taken on Sunday
on the way back to the airport).
It had rained heavily on Friday;
I assume that's why all the buses were SO dirty.



Finally we got to the Hotel Cortez.  I tried all weekend to get a good shot of their sign but this was the best I could do - obviously not very good.  The stork - or whatever he is - is their logo.

This is the entrance.

I'm standing just inside the lobby, with my back to the front entrance.

This is a top-notch hotel, by the way, very nice (though you still can't drink the water.) 

The end of the lobby nearest the door to the courtyard.

The courtyard on Saturday.

That stork has a telephone hidden inside him.

This is the courtyard on Sunday with the sun shining.

To get to our room, we walked all the way down to the glass doors you can see on the far end.

                                 When we went through the glass doors, we were in this lounge.

The elevators to the individual rooms are behind us.

The artwork we saw as we stepped out of the elevator.  I quite like it.

Two pictures of our bedroom.

And the view from our bedroom window - 

much nicer on Sunday in the sunshine than on Saturday when it was so gray.

After we checked in, we went out for some sightseeing before our afternoon meetings.  This is the central plaza with the cathedral at the far side. 

Another view of the plaza, taken from the south side.

And another view of the plaza, taken from the steps in front of the cathedral.

 Another view of the cathedral.

And me on the front steps.  There was a mass in progress, so we didn't go in.

We hoped to visit the beautiful Museo de Arte Sagrado that is inside the cathedral, but to our dismay, it is open only Monday-Friday.  In every other city, the museums are open Saturday and closed Monday. Phooey!   So  . . . we stepped into this little "office-reception area" to the right of the cathedral proper, and it turned out to be where you pay to climb up 126 steep circular steps to the Mirador (a lookout in one of the cathedral towers.)  Those are the first 3 steps you can see.

Two other shots of the reception area - art, things to buy, etc.

We climbed - panting - all the way to the top, only to find the way barred!  (The sign says:  "Smile, you are being filmed.")  I guess to pass this point you have to be a workman or repairman or something, not a tourist.

In an alcove just to the right of the steps was this clock.

This is what it looks like, close-up.

And this sign supposedly explains why it is there, but all the sign says is that is was "reconditioned by arrangement of the mayor through its operational unit of public lighting" - say what?!  Farron says it was probably supposed to make the public feel good about something, but if so, why is it hidden at the top of the stairs above where you leave the stairs to enter the Mirador?  I suppose the clock doesn't work any more so they hid it away or something.  Who knows?


So we went back down about 10 steps and entered the Mirador.  Here are 2 pictures of the inside.

. . . and of the view from up there, first looking over at the other tower of the cathedral. 

Since the Museo de Arte Sagrada wasn't open, we asked the receptionist downstairs if anything was open and she directed us to the Cultural Arts Center on the west side of the square.

This is the first thing we saw when we entered - a beautiful display of hand-carved and decorated string instruments and special chairs to hold them.  Very unusual - and all backed with mirrors, so it was hard to get a good picture.

Interesting wall art . . . 

. . . and another unusual wall decoration.

 Upstairs there was a kind of vocal adjudication taking place.  We were told the concert by these young singers would be held in the same hall the next day.

A nice mosaic . . .

. . . and it's other half.

Apparently the Municipal Orchestra of Santa Cruz is housed here - or rehearses here (?) - also.

I loved this poster.  Isn't it eye-catching?

We tried to find the Museum of Modern Art but couldn't and by that time it was after noon, so we looked around for lunch.  Lo and behold, a Burger King!  To our surprise, the hamburger was as good as the ones at home.  (We have heard the Burger King in Cochabamba is not good at all.)

The next day, Sunday, was beautiful!

We got up early enough to enjoy the hotel's wonderful breakfast buffet,

which was beautifully presented.

I really like the art work!

This is our view out the front doors of the hotel

as we waited for President Salazar to come and pick us up.

This was a typical scene on the way to the church.

Pirai Stake is in a mostly-lower-income area as you can see.

Also there's a lot of commerce - both street sellers and stores - in the area.

This is the stake center on Saturday (grey day).  On the far side of the building from us is a major street.

And this is a not-very-good picture of the front of the building.

The major street I mentioned is directly behind me.

On Saturday night during our conference session, a huge parade went down this street -

bands blaring and the whole works.

This is a picture of the choir which sang for both the Saturday night and Sunday morning meetings.

The lady in red is the flautist who played with them Sunday morning.

The man in the white shirt without tie is the pianist (very good) and the man on the far right is the director.

This picture of us with President and Sister Salazar and their girls 

was taken after the Sunday morning session of conference.

They have two cute little boys, too, but neither wanted his picture taken!

President Salazar is an AMAZING stake president.

It was a privilege and a blessing to visit their stake and be part of their conference.

We got back to the hotel about 1:00 and had lunch in their lovely dining room.

It was a great lunch, too.

This is a wall decoration just outside the dining room.

And here we are, back at the airport.  As I mentioned, this is the small (original, I think) airport inside the city itself.  There is major construction on the road into Santa Cruz from the big international airport, so we elected to fly in and out of this smaller one (Trompillo).  I think you can tell from these pictures how small the terminal is.

And a couple of shots inside . . .

This shows you almost the entire terminal.

There is a small area behind me and to my right where incoming passengers enter from the tarmac.

To my left there are 2 or 3 airline offices,

but for the most part - this is it.

I think the terminal in La Verne is almost this big.

This was our view as we flew out of Santa Cruz.

Again, notice how FLAT it is.  I think that was the biggest surprise for me.

By contrast, these are the mountains between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.

Notice how dry and brown they are (it's winter here.)

And these are the outskirts of Cochabamba itself . . . anything but flat.

We had a wonderful weekend in Santa Cruz despite the coldness and grayness of Saturday.  In fact, we're planning to go back and do some real sightseeing in August when the temple is closed for maintenance. 

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