End of an amazing journey

It was a long trip home with an eight hour layover in Santa Cruz, which by the way is not a city I care to return too, but we made it. The kids were tired, I was tired, but it was an amazing journey. One I know will stay with me forever and I hope the kids will draw on this experience for the rest of their lives. I can say that I have never been so proud of my kids then on this trip. They welcomed each new exerperience with excitiment, bravery and youthful optistimic. I will forever feel blessed to have had the oportunitity to have watched them grow through this journey.

House of Tin

One of the big highlights in Cochabamba is Baron Simon Patino's house, aka. manison. And it truly lived up to the stories I had heard. It was one of our last stops on this great adventure but it was still amazing.

Simon Patino was, at the turn of the century, one of the richest men in the world, owning more than 60% of the world's tin mines. He was born in Cochabamba, but worked and lived all over the world. It had always been a dream of his to return to Cochabamba. In 1913, he began building a home in Cochabamba. They spent 12 years building the house but Patino died before the house was complete and they could move into it. The family never lived in the house and it was given to the city by the family. It is an amazing house full of European, Spanish, and Bolivian influences. The grounds are just as beautiful and the city does an amazing job of keeping it up and using it for concerts, a library, etc.

The house was just beautiful and sits right in the middle of town.

There we tons of greek characters represented throughout the gardens and the house.

When the towns people saw these HUGE doors being installed they nicknamed the house "The House of Doors". Jordan gives you an idea of just how big these doors are. Most of the materials for the house were imported from Spain. While the artist and craftsman came from Italy. All the marble inside is Italian but the beautiful carved wood pieces are from France. I am so sorry there are no inside pictures of the house. No pictures are allowed. But trust me, it was beautiful. Ceilings painted, huge marble mantles, and carved wood modeled after the Vatican.

Beautiful gardens. It is really hard to believe you are in the middle of a huge city when you are sitting here enjoying these gardens.

Gabby

I have to introduce you to Gabby. She sits out on the sidewalk in front of mom and dad's apartment EVERYDAY until 7 at night selling her fruit. She has to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. Her English is little, but her smile is huge. She tries to teach mom spanish and sold Jordan oranges everyday for fresh OJ. Every time we would pass her or stop to buy fruit she gave us the warmest welcome. She taught Jordan most of the spanish she learned down here! One of the hardest workers I have ever seen. I would not have the smile on my face that she does if I sat on the sidewalk everyday. Talk about a lesson to be learned from this sweet soul. Very humbling.

More Food

I know you are probably sick of me sharing food, but I have to share this Buffalo restaurant. Dad saved it for our last night out here and I now know why. I have never seen anything like it before in my life.

There are no menus, just a huge salad bar, and then waiters who walk around with TONS of meat off a grill. It is the coolest thing. They just walk up to you and tell you what the meat is, everything from ribs, to flank steak, to ham, chicken, even chicken hearts, and you say wether or not you would like a slice. You can eat as much as you want and or try it all. It was a lot of fun and oh so good. But, you leave there totally stuffed!! The drink we are toasting was so good. Light, frothy, refreshing, I had 3 before I realized there was alcohol in it, WOOPS, luckily they were small glasses.

A very special treat

Mom has found this wonderful fashion designer. Her name is V.V. and mom has been to several fashion shows with her work in it. So as a special treat Jordan and I got to go to her studio and have an outfit made for us. We had so much fun.

Jordan and I looking through magazines to get ideas.

V.V. working on our designs. It was amazing to watch her work. A true artist.

Jordan's first fitting. I was so impressed with Jordan. She had her ideas of how she wanted things to look and she was not shy about saying what she wanted. She really designed this dress.

In V.V. workshop. The seamstress working on my skirt.

My first fitting with V.V. She is so cute and talented. It was so much fun working with her.

Jordan in her second outfit. V.V. even made Jordan one of her famous VV Bags to match her outfit as a gift.

This experience was every girls dream, at least these two girls' dream. THANKS MOM!!

Motorcycles

Another first for my kids! Across the street from La Cancha, Wyatt spotted a place that looked like you could ride motorcycles so of course we had to give it a try.

The kids had a great time. It was 5b's for two laps around this tiny track but they did it, about 5 times, and had fun. But the best part for me was watching dad teach them how to ride. It took me back about 30 years when dad would run along side Tomey and I as he taught us how to ride.

Because there is no liability laws here, you can do a lot of things, like the motorcycles, or ziplines, etc. A little crazy but if you take the chance and something happens it is your fault. A little different than the states.

44 Years

On Aug. 14th , we met a bunch of dad's teachers at a really nice restaurant. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed some great company. It was very interesting talking to these teachers from all over (mostly the US), who have come to teach here. They are doing great work while making very little.

This night just so happened to be mom and dad's 44 wedding anniversary. They ended up going dancing after dinner until 4 am. How great is it that~ they still enjoy each others company so much, after all these years.

Hard Working People

This is a country of some very hard workers. Outside mom and dad's apartment is the sweetest lady. Her name is Gaby; she wears the traditional dress everyday, sits out in front of the apartment and sells fruit everyday! Her fruit is very good and we try and buy everything from her. She sits out there from 10am till around 7pm EVERYDAY! Hot, cold, windy, etc. sitting on a wooden crate, selling fruit.

The above picture is a very common scene as you drive through Bolivia. Families working in their fields. This family is actually really well off because they have cattle to help with the plowing. More common is for the husband to pull the plow because they can not afford cattle. They work from sun up to sun down trying to feed their familes. And after this hard day of work they are not going home to a hot bath. I have so much respect for these people.

La Cancha - Largest Open Market in the World

La Cancha is an open market in Cochabamba. You can not imagine what it is like unless you have been here. It is HUGE. The largest in the world. I do not know exaactly how big, but BIG; many city blocks.

You can buy everything here in these little stalls. Food, shoes, microwaves, clothes, school supplies, everything! But they are just these little stalls where people set up stores. Then, they pack the tiny aisles with TONS of people, no clean bathrooms, dirt floors and tarps for a roof. It is an experience.

The meat is just sitting out on a counter. Sometimes the women will sit there with a big leaf and swat the flies away. No refrigeration.


Women sit on ground with their produce to sell.


An idea of the rows of stuff. Usually this is packed with people. We went early in the morning, so it is not crazy yet.


Big city busses and other cars will drive right through the middle of this crazy place. One time Wyatt was so shoved between a wall and the van that you could not have fit a credit card between him and the bus. I was so scared.

Mom picking out buttons. This booth is no bigger than a regular size closet, yet they have a TON of stuff packed in there.

Bread, bread, and more bread. It is so good we will just grab a roll while we wander around.

Cristo de la Concordia

Cochabamba in the background.

We drove up to the Cristo today after school. It was another crazy drive but the view was amazing. And standing under the huge Christ statue really is a spirtual moment. This statue is actually the largest in the world. Larger than the one in Rio. You can see the Cristo from anywhere in the city. From mom and dad's apartment it is beautiful, especially at night when it is lit up.

Trucha

Trout is served a lot here. We had been told that about 20 miles out of town there was a lake with really good Trucha restrauants. It is kinda the thing to do on Sunday, to drive out to this lake after church and spend the day. Eden is supposed to be the best so today we headed out there.

It was awesome. An amazing restrauant. We spent three hours there and played and played. There were slides, a HUGE playground, this zipline over the lake, paddle boats, not to mention good food and GREAT atmosphere. We had a great day.


Wyatt on the zipline over the lake. We are sitting at our table when I took this picture, on the other side of lake. The zipline goes over the top of the restraunt and ends up at the entrance. Very cool. All for 5b's. like 50 cents. We all did it 4-5 times.


Had a great time on the paddle boats. You could get a bag of popcorn-type stuff and feed the ducks while you were out there. FUN

This picture is from the other side where the zipline and boats were. Our table was directly across and right on the water. Bottle of wine, great fish, lazy Sunday afternoon. High around 75 degrees!

This was down at the entrance of the place. It was really neat. But you have to remember that the minute you get back on the road, you see shacks. This country is very RICH or POOR; not a whole lot in-between.

Virgen De Urkupina- Parade

Sorry, I blogged backward, the next post tells the story behind this parade.

Virgen de Urkupina

So we have done some pretty crazy things on this trip, ok, dangerous things. BUT yesterday takes the cake.

We traveled to Quillacollo. A town about 20 miles from Cochabamba. We had to take a taxi because we were told that the roads were closed and there was no place to park, so a taxi would be the easiest way to get there. We were dropped off at the edge of town, and it was crazy. People, police, and cars everywhere. Little did we know it would get worse, SO MUCH WORSE!

We walked several blocks through sidewalks packed with people and booths selling everything from movies, to kitchenware, to shoes, and food. After blocks and blocks of this, we finally figured out which way the parade was. As we got closer to the parade route, the more packed the people got until you were so packed in you could not move, forward or back. People would just push and push, not going anywhere but packing eachother in tighter and tighter. Now remember you are trying to keep up with whoever you are with, and in my case, that is two children. They say when you travel to stay away from crowds, and this was a crowd. I have never before seen so many people in such a small space.

As we were being "moved" by the crowd, dad broke away and told us to "stay there". Yeah right! The mob moves, you go with it. Mom has one child and I have the other and we are hanging on for dear life. Pretty soon, I see dad at the top of one of the make-shift stands. We make contact, but now we have to work our way back against the crowds to where dad is. We finally make it. You truly cannot believe what it was like. I would not have, if I had not seen it. We climb into the stands that are so tight that Wyatt and dad have to sit sideways, and I sit with my body, literally, between this strange womens legs!



I somehow get my camera out of my pocket and held it in the air to take a picture of us stuck in the mob.


Another mob shot. The camera is held above my head.


So why are we here? This town is the only town in South America that celebrates Urkupina, the holiday of the Virgin going into heaven. It is HUGE. People come from all over the world to see this celebration. This parade goes on for hours and hours and hours! It truly was amazing, once we got to see it. Oh, by the way, our TINY, seats cost $12 each!


There were girls dressed like this, but in all different colors, all through the parade. They would have a band with them and they walk and "swish" their skirts as they go. FOR HOURS AND HOURS. Literally, the parade starts around 10 in the moring and goes way past midnight.


The costumes were incredible. They all had bells or some kind of noise maker on them so you could hear them marching down the street for miles. I am so glad we got to see such a traditional carnival.


Kids and adults danced in the parade and each different group's costumes were so different. Really, one more amazing than the next.



While we were waiting for our cab in Cochabamba we watched the parade on TV. You can see the TV guy in the background. We got to the parade 2 hours after we saw it on TV and going strong.
Look closely at the guys who are wearing marching shoes. They were just these blocks of wood strapped to their feet, with just strips of leather. Can you imagine marching for hours in these shoes?

This celebration goes on for days, but we only stayed about 3 hours and that was all we could take. To get out we literally jumped from the stands, on the back side, into trash and I don't even want to guess what else. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

First Day of School in Bolivia

The kids are going to school this week at Calvert Cooperative School, here in Bolivia, with dad. Most schools in Bolivia do not take a summer break, but because Calvert is an American school they are just now going back to school. Everyone is required to speak English on campus so the kids are getting along ok, except in Spanish class.

The opening assembly. They played the Bolivian national athem and the Star Spangled Banner. Dad gave an awesome speech. So proud of him.

Jordan is 6th grade class. Mrs. Kilmarten is wonderful. Jordan is already sad about leaving her class.

Wyatt in the computer lab. He spent the period showing the teacher educational websites to go to.

Dad and the kids on the first day of school.

More Ice Cream

The Ice Cream is so good here. Just wanted to share some more ice cream pictures. Dad is eating a snickers flavor with huge chunks of carmel and peanuts while Jordan is eating cookies and cream with real oreos and a Lemon flavor that is soooo good.

We are in one of the beautiful plazas that have here and the yellow tents in background are full of artist selling their goods. I got some really great gifts here.

Machu Picchu

Ever since dad was in studied the Incas in 7th grade, the number one on his bucket list is to visit Machu Picchu. He surprised us with a trip to this one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. It was so great. I am so grateful to mom and dad for this trip. I hope the pictures come close to showing just how amazing this place was.

To get to Machu you start in Cuzco and take a train to Agua Caliente. It was a beautiful 3 hour train ride through the Urubamba valley. They served us breakfast and snacks. Very unlike the trains we used to take in Mexico.

The Urubamba River. The views from the train were amazing. The roof of the train even had windows so that you could see the mountains.

Agua Calente was a really neat city. We then got on a bus and rode straight up the mountain. It was a crazy drive. The road was not big enough for two cars to pass each other much less two buses. After a 30 minute drive straight up you leave the bus to finish the journey on foot. You enter the "park" and hike for another 20 minutes until the jungle open up and you see....

THIS!

We are at one of the guard towers in this picture, overlooking Machu.

Machu is located 8,000 feet above sea level and is called "The Lost City of the Incas". They started building Machu around AD 1430 but was abandoned 100 years later when the Spanish came. Because the Incas wanted to protect Machu they left and retreated into the jungle, leaving Machu hidden from the world until 1911 when Hiram Bingham discovered it.

In some places, the only thing missing are the roofs. The Inca architecture is a wonder in itself.

Because the sun and moon were so important to the Inca people, it was against the law to look directly at them. The Incas used water as mirrors to look at the sun and the moon. These stone bowls would hold a small pool of water that would reflect the sun and the moon for them to worship.

The views here were amazing. It is no wonder that the Incas picked this location for their most sacred city.

They are still discovering new pieces of this Inca Empire. Here we saw them digging into a new room.

There were, still running, canals of water that supplied the city with running water and irrigation for the fields.

The flat levels are actually where they grew their food. They never used a wheel nor did they have big strong animals. Everything was built by the people. All rocks moved by man.

You can not be afraid of heights here. The trails are very narrow and rocky but well worth the climb.

Part of Machu's charm is its location.

Our tour guide was amazing. He is Inca and walked us through Machu while explaining everything, as if it was a story. He had even written several books on Machu. The kids hung on his every word, and so did we.