[Quick definitions (transcendent) --adjective:   beyond and outside the ordinary range of human experience or understanding] Today, after our trip to La Cancha to get the kitchen glass cabinet door fixed, we stopped to get a cake for our daughter’s (Lorien’s) birthday today. [Happy B'day sweetie!] As we sat at the sidewalk table, waiting for our taxi, a young boy came by begging for money. That he wanted money was obvious by...

I just LOVE getting out of the house! I know that I said other people talk about how unfriendly Cochabamba is, but I’m just not really “seeing” that. Instead, I see people who awkwardly and warily return smiles and then others who seem shocked then so touched that someone is nice. It’s really kind of fun. I think I might smile and stuff anyway, just for the reactions! Seriously though, it’s amazing how effective...

Today I share some funny moments with a stranger, in a strange land, in a strange language! Let me explain… While I was in the U.S., I always liked to try to encourage the people I encountered while out and about. I would compliment someone on their color choice or on their outfit or whatever I felt led to say. I always tried to make them feel happier about where they were and who they were. I haven’t really been able to connect with...

ATMs We are blessed to have many ATMs around the city. God has given us a great taxi driver (don Edwin) who has lived and grown up in Cochabamba all his life, so he knows the ATMs that work and those that don’t. So we have never had a problem with getting funds from our account. Monetary unit… In Bolivia we use the monetary unit called Bolivianos. A Boliviano is about 1/8 of a dollar (8Bs = $1USD; varies daily), or about 12.5¢. To...

Shopping outdoors… Much of the shopping that we do takes place outdoors at “ferias” (markets) or small shops stuck in the outsides of buildings along sidewalks. Sometimes the owner lives on the other side (the “back”) of the store. Other times you’re shopping along a sidewalk that would be a mall if there were not a street separating you from the other side and it had a roof on top! Ferias… Ferias in...