Hello, All -- sorry to have missed a couple of weeks.  As you know, there were extenuating circumstances but I think we're mostly back to normal now.  Here are some photos from the end of July and the first week of August.

This was taken at Friday's (the Bolivian version of TGI Friday in the U.S.) on July 21.  We four couples are the only Norteamericanos here right now.  L/R - Elder Don and Sister Karren Runquist (Lethbridge, Canada), Farron and me, Sister Lynda and Elder Glen Westover (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) and Sister Lona and President Jay Jensen (temple president and matron, from American Fork, Utah.)

After dinner (and by the way, this place has about the best food in Cochabamba, in my opinion), 

we decided each couple would share a dessert.

President picked this one because he thought it would be small.

Surprise!!

The very next day, we were walking one block from the temple down a main street and we saw this.

What she was doing with cows this far into the city, we have no idea.

 On Sunday, July 27, we visited the Cosmos Ward (Barrio Cosmos) in the southern part of the city.

We are assigned to visit all the wards in the Jaihuayco Stake during July-August-September.

There are two wards in each building, but we only had time to stay for one on the 27th.

We're going back to visit the other, next Sunday.

The next day as we walked home from the grocery store, I decided to get a picture of this tree.
It's not the African tulip tree I posted before - same shade of orange but different leaves, different flowers.
Because it's orange, I love it!

This is the best closeup I could get of the flowers.

Unusual, aren't they?

Happened to get a shot of a hummingbird - much bigger than the hummingbirds we have at home.

Excuse all the powerlines, please.  This does give you another look at the shape of the flowers.

Now we're into August.  Saturday, August 2, was Lynda Westover's birthday, so in lieu of a cake (since all cakes fall at this altitude), I made her a cheesecake.

This is how it looked with the candles lit. 

 

We four English-speaking couples celebrated her birthday after the evening shift at the temple.

  We enjoyed the dessert and sat and visited for well over an hour.  

Too often we don't take the time to do that. It was most pleasant.  

This is a photo of Lynda and Glen as the party broke up. 

On Monday, August 4, I finally got a picture of something I've been trying to get for months.

This is a tent set up in the median of a big, very busy street - Avenida Circunvalacion.

In fact, it is one of the two truck routes through the city, so there is a lot of traffic.

The woman who lives in the tent has been here for a long time.

Usually when we pass in the car, we're going too fast to get a picture.

I don't know where she gets her food or what she does all day (or what she does for a bathroom!)

She's always here whenever we pass by.

Can you imagine this happening on a major thoroughfare in any North American city?

Fortunately, the weather is mild enough in Cochabamba that with blankets she can be warm.

Hard to believe when we're at 9,000 feet, isn't it?

The 6th of August is Bolivia's "4th of July" - or "Dia de Pais" (Day of our Country".)

Because it is a national holiday, the temple was closed.

Lynda suggested we should have the 4th of July barbecue we missed in July 

(because we were all working in the temple.)

Here we are in the kitchen of the president's house - the burgers are being grilled outside.

L/R:  Runquists, Westovers, Jensens, and Farron.

You can see we had an all-American spread:  potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs, hamburgers with the works, and chocolate-chip cookies for dessert.  It was delicious.

Here's a photo taken in the president's patio.

It was a little too sunny, but most of us managed to stay partly in the shade.

We went in the house to visit for a while and let our lunch settle before eating dessert,

so we took a picture with the automatic setting on our camera.  

I think it was on a not-quite-level surface.  Agreed?  Still, it's a great picture.

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