A friend mentioned how she want grocery shopping at Wally World (Wal-Mart) on Labor Day. And that got me to thinking about Wal-Mart and how MUCH time I spent there when living in the States.

And speaking of Wally World, I HAVE to tell you this! lol… Down the street from us, here in Tiquipaya, there is this small shop (they are called tiendas) that often has “clothing grab bag days” out front. I don’t know how it works, but a few times each week there are huge “bolsa” bags (bags made of VERY sturdy plastic cloth, coming in all sizes and designs) with rivers of jumbled clothing spilling out of the tops. Each bag is the epicenter of a jumble of ladies pawing through the piles with great attention. They are thoroughly focused on their task!

[No, determined shoppers is not what made me think of Wal-Mart. Just hang on, OK? ... that part is coming!]

In between “grab bag” days, the big bags are gone and the shop doors are wide open, with some very attractive clothing is on display. Lorien drew my attention to the displays as we rode past in the taxi, and for a few weeks now, we’ve been intending to go look. Lately I have noticed clothing that looked as if it might fit me.

Well… the other day I had some extra time on my way home, so I asked our taxi driver to pull around. I went in and looked at a few things… the shop owner saw the sizes I was looking at and brought me a HUGE pile to try! I found some really cute tops and even a pair of “culottes” in microfiber. Each piece cost 25Bs (about $3.50USD). Since 25 bolivianos is the average price of the used clothing at La Cancha and I hadn’t had to fight the crowds, haggle down OR despair at finding ANYthing in my size… I paid the price without a grumble.

Now HERE is the surprise… as I was going through the items at home, little did I know that I had ACTUALLY been to Wal-Mart! LOL…. the microfiber culottes were the George brand, WITH the original price tag from Wally World! LOL… I was tickled to death at that! The George design line was a staple for me while on deputation. I always knew how the sizes would fit and never had to try it on before buying.

So I have had my “Wal-Mart fix”! ROTFLOL….

Now if we could just get Wal-Mart to buy an airline company, then stick a Wal-Mart “tienda” in the back of the plane, we’d be all set! lol… We don’t REALLY need that airplane bathroom do we? Remember, you heard the Wal-Mart in an airplane idea here first! LOL…

We were having a pleasant lunch at our favorite street side cafe. It has four things that make it my favorite:

1) It is on the most beautiful street in Cochabamba, “the Prado”. You’d think it was a street in Europe. The front is open, so you can enjoy the fresh air, and watch the people pass by. You also can be accosted by beggars, shoe shine boys and pushy street vendors, but that is part of the charm. And no, I didn’t buy the $10 “genuine Rolex”.

2) The prices are cheap. If you stick to basic sandwiches and stuff, it is less than McDonalds. You also can get more expensive exotic Japanese dishes, prepared by a Japanese chef.

3) The service is excellent. Friendly, smiling servers who enjoy chatting, even with my clumsy Spanish.

4) They get the food right, and take care of my miserable food allergies.

Back to today’s story. We were sitting at an inside table, because workers were replacing the front awning with a more durable but ugly aluminum structure. The construction noise was irritating, but we were enjoying conversation with a minimum of shouting (gestures and lip reading help!). We were at the railing next to the sidewalk, my back to the street.

Sparks were starting to fly into the restaurant from the worker’s welding torches. They were working above us, and the sparks were landing on the table to my left. The manager reprimanded the workers and they moved a bit farther to the street. As they moved, a box containing a few pounds of sharp, 8 inch metal spikes was dislodged and fell into the restaurant – on me!

The spikes were used to anchor the metal awning to the concrete facade of the building. Had the spikes descended vertically, I would have been impaled and you’d be reading about my memorial service. Instead they landed sideways across my neck and upper back. My wife assures my that my shout of pain and surprise was very manly – but I haven’t pressed her on that!

The workers gathered up their stuff and kept right on working, pretending nothing had happened, with furtive glances at us to see what we’d do. The servers and manager rushed over to a) see if I was all right, and b) if I’d make a fuss.

We determined that I was OK except for some scratches and bruises. A graphic reminder that we are immortal until God is finished with us, so be bold for Christ!

Now, you may be thinking that in the States, the resulting law suit and settlement would make me a millionaire. However, this is Cochabamba! The manager had a free soft drink sent over, and then presented me with the bill for our meal.

That is to say….

The “gripe”, pronounced “gree-pay”, is worth a “GRIPE” (a grumble, a moan and groan).

This last month of April has been, essentially, “lost” to me. Early in the month, I got the “gripe”. We don’t really have another word for flu, or cold, or virus…. it’s pretty much just “gripe”. I can now understand why my good friend Mary Nevius, missionary to Argentina for forever, came up with her own word, “epizudics”. But anyway, back to our “gripe”.

It started with congestion… no biggie, I’m used to that. Then a HUGE headache that not even 1000mg of Ibuprofen could dent. Of course, the pain MIGHT have been augmented by the fact that this very day is the one where we find out that our double-stage patch on the waterbed mattress did NOT hold. [Not only did it NOT hold, but the glue that we found locally had weakened the vinyl AROUND the hole, and we now have a HUGE GASH in our waterbed mattress!]

So perhaps my “gripe” was intensified by the hours of bailing and tossing of water, the picking up of the mattress end to get the water away from the chasm and in wondering what in the world could we do to fix it. And of course, there was the ever present concern of “where WILL we sleep”!

So, several hours later we have removed enough water to be able to get a good “seal” around the chasm so that the hose could do the job of removing the water. OH… did I mention that I did a couple of hourse of siphon duty to try to get the water to drain, only to discover that until we could get some sort of seal pressure going on the mattress, it was NOT going to work? I can’t help but think that the mossy chemical water of the waterbed mattress contributed to the severity of my flu.

That night started the “gripe” for real. I won’t bore you with HOW the symptoms felt or were perceived , but here they are, listed:

* severe, debilitating headache
* nausea (but vomiting is NOT necessary)
* head congestion that feels like a brick
* chest congestion that feels like a vise grip
* rib-cracking coughing jags that last for minutes
* overall body ache and “organ ache” (I’ve never had a flu that made your INSIDE body hurt!)
* secondary bronchial infection that went into walking pneumonia before we finally found some Zithromax

Then… Nicholas got it… then Staton… then Thomas… then David… then Lorien… and finally Steven. Thankfully, by the middle of the 2nd week, we had found the right meds for me to help. So the others got on the right meds right away. By the time that it hit Steven, most of the “steam” had gone out of it. But Lorien still got a REALLY bad dose of it.

So we pretty much “lost” our Easter. I missed singing in the cantata, then missed our P/W group’s week to sing the next week. By the 3rd Sunday, I was able to sing most of our songs, and only had to lip sync during one. I knew that if I tried to make a sound, I would dissolve into coughs. ummm… Coughing into a microphone is, um… BAD! lol…

This flu was sure a DOOZY! I haven’t been this sick since the last flu season in K.C. and we can’t remember a time in recent years when the WHOLE FAMILY was down like this. The house was a wreck and it took us almost a week to recover, especially since many of us were still sick.

We don’t know about the rest of the world, but THIS part of the hemisphere got a good strong dose of the GREEPAY!  It’s SO good to be healthy again.

We hope and pray that YOU have stayed healthy this season. [Remember, this is Fall for us, working into Winter!]

… thanks to the generosity of the Women’s Missionary Society of one of our beloved churches and the heroic efforts of the Youth/College group of Canon City, CO. Our supporting churches are such a blessing to us. It goes so far beyond the needed monthly support. The love they have for us and the prayers for our success for God on the field… these blessings are a comfort and an encouragement to us and enable and empower us to do what God has called us to do in Bolivia.

But back to the blessing from the ladies and those dear young people!

After the past bloqueos (blockades) and paros (work strikes), we have been praying for a chest freezer to store up food against such times. Then the rainy season came and we discovered even MORE reasons why we need frozen storage. In the height of the rains, the crude roads (aka “highways”!) between the major cities get washed out and impassable for many days. That means that meat cannot reach Cochabamba from Santa Cruz and many fruits and veggies can’t get here from Beni and the Chapare (and other locales).

So it was an exciting day when the leader of this ladies’ group wrote me an email to find out which need was most important for our ministry. I outlined the various needs and reasons behind them in a return email. Well, those ladies met that night and voted to get our freezer!

But WAIT… the blessing gets even better! The details of the freezer were based on the research we did when we first posted the need. In the time between the point when we KNEW that we had to have a freezer, through the times of the blockades and the rainy season, by the time we went back to the store with the best deal from before, the unit that we had chosen and priced was gone!

O NO… but there were still two freezers left in town and this store had them both! They were within $20 of each other, so we went with the white (over the red freezer that looked like it needed a Coca-Cola logo!). This freezer was smaller than the one we had wanted, but was deep enough to store enough meat and meals for the family, AND it had a separate section with a retaining wall for freezer bags of blanched veggies and conserved fruit.

So, with the offerings of the WMS and the young people in CO, we had enough left over for a microwave TOO! Microwaves are getting more popular in Bolivia and our favorite grocery store was promoting microwave popcorn. So now Steven has a “treat” from time to time. We don’t have microwave popcorn very often because EACH bag of popcorn costs about $2 USD (@15 Bolivianos). But the children have been so blessed by it. It’s worth the splurge now and then, just to give the kids a little taste of “home”… yes, the microwave popcorn is American! In fact, we are able to get our favorite ActII flavor here.

Due to the washed-out roads, it has taken a bit longer to start filling up the freezer. But with the few days of “sin lluvia” (rainless days), we’ve been able to get a bit more than we need per week. With the help of a transformer and the meat slicer that another of our beloved churches got for us, we’ve been able to buy “bulk” and slice at home in leisure. It also means that I am able to cook more successfully for Steven, which has been a huge prayer request for some time!

Yesterday, the news announced a blockade for transit workers and taxi drivers, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week. — we STILL can’t get over having “scheduled spontaneous protests”! lol… –

So, armed with this news and experienced in what it meant, we went to our favorite butcher shop and stocked up as much as we could. Already many people had been to the shop and the meats were picked over. But they know me at this butcher shop and I have achieved “mamita” status with the owners and the butchers [YES! Thanks to the Lord!!!], so my favorite butcher went to the back and brought out a couple of quarters. He trimmed, sawed and sliced out the cut of meat I had asked for, and then bagged them up for me.
But… because of the FREEZER, I was able to buy enough meat and veggies to last my family though this blockade. Even if it goes longer, as can always happen, we are PREPARED for the blockade… for the washed out roads… for the political demonstrations… for whatever Bolivia can toss at us!

Right now, I have frozen veggies and fruits and sliced/bagged frozen meat, enough to last us for about a week. My goal, upon advice from other missionaries, is to have a month-long pantry/freezer. With the resources God has given us, I now see this objective as a reasonable, and REACHABLE, goal! We have shelves in the large closet for a pantry for dry goods. And we have a good-sized freezer for freezables.

So… my thanks to the wonderful women of the Women’s Missionary Society and the young people of the College & Career Class! You have filled a serious need for this wife and mom. And my family can already see the difference!

-Cyn
Cochabamba, Bolivia

So… we’re back at the Correos, our post office. [you want to check your POBox at least once or twice a week, because there is NO mail delivery at your house... only at the main post office]

It’s bit delayed, but Steven and I are having a bit of an Anniversary celebration. We had spied out the Ametrines (”bolivianitas“) and had found some that he wanted to get me for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. And, it just HAPPENED to be at the tiendas I had discovered when I mailed my Secret Santa package! (see previous post, AIWTDW… Mail a package).

But I didn’t have time to go to the bathroom before we left the house, and I didn’t want to be distracted while we shopped again. So as Steven and I entered the post office, I found out where the bathrooms were and he found out where the “unclaimed/undelivered mail” was… he’s missing 3 packages we’ve been expecting since we’ve been here.

We went our respective ways, I to the Damas (ladies) room and Steven to the derelict mail room. I went to the bathroom… noticed there was no toilet paper OR any paper to dry your hands with, and I had nothing in my purse. [It's not unusual to have no toilet paper in public restrooms... people steal the rolls and take them home. It's a poor country.]

So, I saw the young lady who had cleaned the restroom (and who had done a GREAT job! You just don’t go to public restrooms in Bolivia!) and asked her about the toilet paper. She was able to communicate to me that I would have to go outside and BUY MY OWN TP! lol… For some reason, I found this situation highly amusing! A “do-it-yourself” bathroom!

As I went back out, I met Steven, who had had disappointment of his own at the unclaimed mail room. He didn’t have enough spanish to be able to find out if his packages were there or not. I explained my dilemma and so we went outside to find SOME kind of paper suitable for wiping with. [relax... it will NOT get too very TMI*]
[*TMI = too much information]

So we go downstairs and we start walking from stand to stand of vendors. I’m not seeing any toilet paper! All I’m seeing is that strong brown paper I used to wrap Karen’s Secret Santa package and… well… UNH-uh! no way THAT is gonna happen.

So… I’m at the stand of this lady who likes to charge “gringo prices” when she sees a gring. She wants way too much for that package of tissue packs! So, I bargain her down, only to find out that Steven doesn’t have any little change! That kind of defeats the purpose of bargaining, you know? Built into the bargaining premise is the intimation that you don’t have more than 3 Bs to your name. So when you pull out a 50 to pay 7, it’s kind of awkward!

So… to buy more… what can I buy, what can I buy… we get a not-too-cold Coke for our taxi driver and I make a joke about how all I needed was paper to go to the bathroom with! And so WHAT does she pull out from under her stand?

That’s right… TOILET PAPER!!! And it is SCOTT, no less! lol… So, I buy the toilet paper, walk back up the stairs and into the post office and around the corner to the Damas room!

I’m thinking, “wow… all this trouble, but at least NOW it’s over and I can go to the bathroom.” Well… the need was a bit more “urgent” than I had thought. So now I really needed to be able to flush this toilet. I push the handle. YES! It flushed! … but wait… “o no… it’s coming BACK!”

No… it did NOT overflow. In fact… there is NO WAY it could overflow! They had the tank set to fill by only 1/3! “Ah..” thinks I… “so THAT is why they have that plastic jug with the corner cut off in the other stall!” So, I go get that jug, fill it with water, pry the top off the tank in my stall and fill it up. It takes two of those jugs, but YES… the toilet FLUSHED!!!!

Yes, I know that no one knows me in this city and that no one was going to know who left that in the toilet, and most of them probably wouldn’t even notice to begin with… but *I* would know! So this minor victory was worth the effort.

So, I left one roll of TP in each of the toilets [Merry Christmas to the next few people who visited that bathroom! lol...] and then I’m out to wash my hands.

How pretty! Someone has left an ivy rooting in a cup on the sink. How precious that someone (probably that same young lady who was taking such pride in her work before!) cared that much.

So, I’m using the sink and immediately feel splashes on my feet.. WHAT in the world is THAT? OFF goes the water… I jump back and look under the sink… there are NO pipes under there!! I’m laughing out loud by this time… A sink hanging on the wall, with water connected to the faucet, with NO pipes to carry the water away!

Wow… WHAT an adventure!

So, I dry my hands on some of that toilet paper I bought, toss it in the trash and go to meet my sweetie and get my anniversary present. Our day was quite eventful!

In the immortal words of Yakov Shmirnov, “I LOVE thees con-tree!”

SetUp: I participated in a Secret Santa Swap for my group, CraftClass . This was my SECOND attempt to mail the package… the first being the day before when I got it all together, got to the block where the post office is, and when I got out of the taxi, I realized that I did NOT have the address. Details, right? But remember, “the devil is in the picky points!”
My partner, to whom I was to send my package, is in the United States (pacific northwest). I finally had it all together, and it all weighed less than 2 kilos, so I figured I would be “safe”, since I didn’t think it was a 2 kilo thing going out of Bolivia, just coming in. But wait…
<>
wow… it’s DONE! You would NOT believe the experience it was! lol… Let me tell you….
[warning... this tale gets a bit long....]

I had been told that you need to take you boxes to the aduana office first, let them go through the stuff and approve it, then you wrap your box up and they stamp it. One of my missionary friends here, Caroline, told me this. When I asked her where the Aduana was, she told me, but also told me to let her go with me when I did it. Only, she had doctors’ appointments and couldn’t go with me by when the package needed to be mailed.

But Caroline had told me about having to go to the aduana and THEN you go to the post office to have it mailed. So… Sounds simple, right? …..

First, to the Aduana’s… but WAIT.. Caroline said that I had to have paper to wrap the box AFTER the aduana. I had better go to the corner and buy some of that paper. “Cuanto cuesta por esta papel?” wow… 50 cents for paper to cover one box. Well… I’d better get two pieces, just to be sure. [foreshadowing... it was a GOOD thing that I did that!] I knew that I would have to wrap up my package, so I had brought my own tape and scissors… thank GOODNESS!

Okay, we’re ready to go see the Aduana now [as strains of "weeee're OFF to see the wizard"! run through my head...] where to go? yes, I see the sign! It says “Aduana” and it points to the right! Okay… I can follow that sign! wow… who KNEW that all these cool booths/tiendas were there! There is shop after shop after shop of NICE sterling silver jewelry and trinket boxes and … and…. And OH… look over there on the right! wow… those are really cool Bolivian and Andean articles, like purses, and shawls and cool little “I don’t have a clue” things that I just HAVE to have! hey… those would look really cool on our table in the churches when we go back to the states!

Oh, but what about the Aduana? Oh yea, that’s why I’m here. Okay, … so … maybe at the end of this row? hmmm… which way to turn? Well. left seems good! There’s a fancy jewelry store on the right, and WAIT… what is THAT!? Could it be?

YES! It is the MOST exquisite bonsai trees I have ever seen. oooo…. look at that little tree on the left! It has tiny little ROOTS above the ground, just like some ancient old tree! wow… “Si senor… esto arbol es muy bonito, muy hermoso”… “si… veo las cosas”… and his cactus plantings … TOO cute for words. But that bonsai with the roots… “perdon? usted hable’ ochenta bolivianos?”…

…as he works to convince me that the price is worth it! wow… $10 for a bonsai that has to be at least 10 years old! I was going to pay $15 at Sam’s for a bonsai that couldn’t have been a fraction of that age.
[Steven wants me to go back with them today to show them the trees because that's what the family wants to get me for Christmas, although I have to promise to forget I saw it. lol.... isn't that precious!? I am not comfortable with them spending so much on me and we don't have it for Steven, but he reminded me that come Valentine's Day, we'll have our Christmas trunks AND Lorien! ... NOTE: the next day when Steven and the kids went back... the PERFECT Bonsai was GONE! ]

So… back to the adventure….

“Usted es aqui siempre, senor?” “si, todo los dias.” “o gracias porque me gusta sus arboles muy mucho. ahhh…. sabe donde esta la aduana, por favor?” “SI, es

Right… so now I am on my way to the Aduana’s. … I”m in the Aduana’s. … I can’t remember which counter area that Caroline told me to go to, and besides there are people lined up everywhere… WHERE is the BACK of the line!?! ack…
[NOTE: most Bolivians do not "respect" the line concept, so caring "where the back of the line might be" is proving to be a gentle testimony and witnessing tool.]

So some guys see my helpless look of “cluelessness” and point to the other side of the office and a lady tells me “aqui senora”. []

O good… ‘the counter, by the desk, NOT the counter by itself’. that Caroline told me to look for! But where is the “aduana”? I’m waiting… I’m waiting… [I'm getting really GOOD at waiting, by the way!] … “what shall I do?” So, I start taking all the stuff OUT of the box, that I had so carefully put IN the box. I laid it all out on the counter… and waited… and waited…

Then that lady who “told me where to go” came back and was taking papers and cards from everyone! OH NO…. I have a “card” [my carnet identification card, so fiercely won just a few weeks before!],but WHERE did they get those papers!? I don’t HAVE any of those forms… And theirs are already filled out and kind of wrinkled, so I KNOW they aren’t new! WHAT TO DO!?

Then the couple who came to the “enviar” [send] counter LO-O-O-O-O-NG AFTER me were in that group with THEIR card! So I’m thinking… “Okay… now that is just ENOUGH. I have been here MUCH longer than these people!” The same guys who helped before, got up and told the lady (in the midst of a crowd of about 15), that the other couple was for “enviar” and were AFTER me! wow… how sweet! Most of the time Bolivians will “side” with Bolivians and as a “gringo”, you just accept it.

So I got the idea that when she got that crowd settled down, that she could help us. So I waited…

Then she came to look at my things… told me what could and couldn’t go, then I was to wrap it up. I wasn’t happy about not being able to send Karen some of those peanut thingies… they are SOOOOOOOO good! They have some sort of carmel coating and they are quite compelling. So… back to the RE-packing…

I did an AWESOME job! I sealed every part of that box! I addressed the BOX with the marker I had brought. I marked the “bottom” AND “bajo” on the bottom, and I put directional arrows on ALL the sides, showing the right direction for “up”… just in case the paper got torn off.

Then I wrapped the box. NOTE: I don’t often wrap boxes. You see… NOT wrapping boxes is part of my recovery program. I’m a recovering Obsessive/Compulsive and wrapping things brings out all the worst of my handicap. But, for my friend Karen, I wll do it!

The paper was all neatly trimmed, I had the ends folded over in a nice healthy tuck/fold for taping. And again, I taped all seams 3 times (center and both sides of the seam… ) and addressed the box. [which was GREAT because the day before I hadn't gotten anywhere near this far... I had forgotten the address and that's why I had to come back again! lol...]. Again, I wrote “bottom” and “bajo” on the bottom of the box, with arrows pointing up, and “fragile” all over, just in case.

Okay… now we need to go to the post office. I walk out the door… “which WAY?” … HEY… there’s a customer from the aduana office in front of me! I can follow HER! … … hmmm… that’s assuming that she is mailing that box, not having received that box. And it does look kind of “beat up”… and it’s open. O no… she’s turning to the left into another building! … WAIT… what’s that to the right? It’s the street! YES!!!! ahh… but where is the post office? That building says “Entel”, NOT “Correos”! sigh… “Perdon senora… donde esta los correos?” She points and I get the idea. Sure enough… a block and a half and it’s THERE.

whew… finally! I”m thinking “wow… it’s almost over! Remember how easy it was with the pedal Nicholas mailed a month ago? …

So, I take my nicely packaged box to the same lady who handled the box for Nicholas the last time. I think she remembers me… hmmm… I hope that’s a good thing!

She puts the box on the scale… it read 2.985 kilos O NO!!!! She’s telling me it can’t be more than 2! ACK… HOW did THAT happen!? O yeah… the box. The package-lady said I HAD to split it into two packages. It didn’t make her changer her mind at ALL that I didn’t understand spanish… or that I did NOT want to send it in two packages… she insisted. She had the stamps, so she won!

wow… I’m getting tired telling this story, so I just KNOW that you are getting tired of hearing it! lol… so “to make a long story short-er”… I had to go down to the street to buy another envelope to split up the box, leaving the box with her when I went. I come back, take the box, separate the things… weigh the box… take out more things… weigh the box… take out more things… YES! It’s under 2 Kilograms now! So I tape and address the envelope with goodies, adding “2 of 2″ to the front of the envelope, then take that to the lady. She is happy with that package, but still concerned about the box. She weighs it… it’s 1.8 or so, we’re ALL happy!

So I go back, add paper for stability, so that the pretty things won’t break… and tape that box up again… insert the box in the paper “envelope”… I didn’t take all the tape off… and then I proudly take the box back… she weighs it… 2.685! no… how is that possible!? She cuts off a lot of the tape, and I get the idea that apparently… “tape is heavy”. … 2.5 … more tape comes off and she trims off those lovely neat sides I was so very proud of. … still too heavy…

Back to the packing counter… I take almost all the tape of the box, I remove part of the paper, weighing the removed paper as I go (to try to make sure it will not go over next time). I weigh about 5 pieces of paper!

[By now this PERFECTLY WRAPPED box is looking like it went through an inssurection AND a two-year-old's birthday party! I couldn't let myself even THINK about how that box looked. If I did, then I wouldn't have been able to send it. I REALLY hope that Karen isn't one of those people (like ME, if I don't get hold of myself) who make judgements about a person by how they wrap boxes! ]
Then I get the idea to repack the stuff inside to protect that ceramic planter I have in there. The plastic bolsa that we ALL use and love, should spread out nicely and cushion… who cares that it won’t be “tidily folded”! It worked! Yea!!!!

I get back to the line (there wasn’t anyone there in the line the first 4 times I re-weighed the box!) at the post office lady’s booth, wait in line, then she weighs my box… get this…. 1.995 YEA! wow… I could have put more tape on that little guy! So, the lady had the same idea. She puts more tape on.. then weighs it again! At first it said 2.1 and we both GASPED and groaned! but there was something on the scale, so she did it again and it was still 1.995!

We beamed at each other in congratulations! She proudly stamped the areas I had to sign! I proudly signed them. With GREAT satisfaction, she pasted (then taped… the glue doesn’t work well) the $30 worth of stamps to mail it to the U.S. And then she gave me the receipt and I walked off, exhausted but SO satisfied!

[I'm almost positive I saw her tape it up a bit more AFTER she put it on the conveyor! lol...]

Thus, 3.5 hours later and $30+ dollars lighter, Karen’s box is on it’s way!!!!!

I sent it “seguro” rather than “sencillo”… the only two methods available in Bolivia! “safe” or “simple”! I have a number that could/should be able to be used for tracking, such as it is.

It may not sound like it, but even though I was exhausted by the whole thing and shocked at what it costs to ship overseas (poor Carolyn, MY Secret Santa Partner.. I feel so guilty now!), I really had a great time and QUITE an adventure!

I remember, as a child, the delight and excitement we would have when, on those hot summer days, we would hear the jingle of the Ice Cream truck as it played it’s tinny, hokey, children’s tunes at top volume. That particular sound could draw groups of kids that would make the Pied Piper twist in envy! We KNEW what that sound meant! And we wanted what that sound promised… yummy ice cream and cool popsicles!

I guess some things are universal. Because…

Ice cream is a big thing here in Cochabamba. Folks love their “helado”. No matter where you go, whether it’s the main park/shopping areas (Recoleta, Prado, etc.), Ferias or La Cancha, you’ll see folks on bicycles or motorcycles with their styrofoam boxes of ice cream strapped behind them. The boxes often have the names of the major Ice Cream chains, like Donal’s or Dumbo’s, or they’ll just have “Helado” stamped on the side. They don’t have canned children’s songs to blast out, so they squeak their “oogah” bike horns or hawk their wares verbally.

The other day I saw the most interesting site as our taxi was pulling away from our home. We passed a lady dressed “al campo”. That means that she was dressed the way they dress in the “country”… regional hat, shell pattern crocheted or knitted top and dirndl/pleated skirt, usually scarlet or burgundy in color.

This lady had an ice cream cooler strapped TO her and she was honking the oogah horn. She WAS the ice cream truck!

You have to admire that kind of determination and drive to earn and succeed. I was so touched by that sight. If I weren’t so paranoid about buying anything to eat from the street, I’d have gotten an ice cream from that lady! As it was, I prayed that the Lord would honor her hardworking ethic.

When I get tired, trying to learn spanish with no class available, the Lord brings to mind this picture… the lady selling the ice cream from her back; the little boy who knows no English other than the word “MONEY”; the legless lady at the Feria each Saturday who can only sit in her wheelchair and hold out her coin cup; our taxi driver who is a hardworking man who loves his wife and his Catholic church; and so many more people. God reminds me of the many people with whom I would love to share the Gospel… if I only knew the words they needed to hear.

THAT is what drives me on to learn as best as I can. Please pray for us. And please pray for those people who need to HEAR what we need to SAY… in SPANISH.

There are so many things that are different when living in another place than you’re used to… city, state, COUNTRY!

One of the things that is different here is the trash collection. They don’t pick it up for you. You have to hand each bag UP to the trash guy, and if you have a lot, then you’re doing a lot of work.

They don’t take boxes. So, you’d think that soon you would be overrun with boxes, right? Not at all! We had been told that all you have to do is to put the boxes out at night, and by morning they are GONE. There was a bit of “sniggering” with the information, but we ignored it.

Well… we put out several boxes one night and thought nothing more of it. The next morning, our buzzer intercom from the gate sounded. I lifted the telephone to see who might be coming to see us at about 6 am! Someone spoke, and I didn’t recognize their voice. I didn’t understand all the spanish, but he kept saying “cajones”, which I thought meant “drawers”. He also said “caja” and that means “box”.

At last I understood! He was ASKING if it was okay for him to take the boxes! Now isn’t that SWEET!? I was so touched by that thoughtfulness. wow… we’ve lived in cities in the U.S. where stuff on the curb was considered “fair game”, so you don’t dare leave anything anywhere near there! Folks come, pick through it, make a MESS for you to clean up and never even think of asking or saying “thank you”!

But here… in Bolivia… not only did the man ask if he could have them, he also said “thank you”. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, “muchas gracias, senora” means “thank you very much, ma’am”. Now THAT is consideration and polite behavior!

Ya gotta love it.

Yesterday was my oldest child’s birthday. She’s had a few of them. One might say that she’s “over all that”. She’s 20-something, about to graduate from College, supports herself… so she probably didn’t notice.

But I did.

We all miss her so much! So what did we do? We had a party FOR her!

As I mentioned yesterday, we got Lorien a cake! Not just ANY cake… we got her a “6-layer fruit and whipped cream and glaze and moist cake from Dumbo’s” cake! It was 100Bs. That’s a lot here. Actually, at $12.50 for a cake, *I* think it’s a lot! But it was worth it!

They asked me what name to put on the cake. I told them “Lorien” and then spelled if for her, in spanish. Don’t ask me how, but L-O-R-I-E-N became “LOREON”! lol… I guess we’re fortunate that it wasn’t L’Oreal, a name that they DO know here.

The cake was huge. When I say “6 layers”, I’m not joking. There are about 6 layers of cake with filling in between each layer. The cakes are about 8″ tall. The cake that they use is moist to begin with. [I WISH I knew how they DID that! lol... Our NEW MAID comes tomorrow... maybe I can ask her!]

Then there is a yummy layer of something moist and sweet. It looks like pudding. For these really nice cakes, they also use some whipped cream between the layers. And there is fruit. We chose “frutilla”, which is strawberry. So there was something like strawberry jelly with the pudding/whipped cream in between each layer and most of the layers had sliced strawberries too.

Then on top of the perfectly smoothed whipped cream icing covering the cake, there is a draping of strawberry glaze artistically poured over the top and partially down the sides in a lovely swirling kind of effect. It’s as if a wavy circle of red were draped on top of the cake, extending over the sides.

On top of the glaze there is a rosette of whipped cream in the center, with 5 or 6 rosettes around the inner perimeter of the cake. In the center of each rosette is a frozen fresh strawberry.

It makes cutting the cake a bit interesting, but we weren’t going to stand upon principles! We lit the ONE candle that they gave us and sang Happy Birthday to Lorien…. took some pictures and dove into that cake!

wow… it kind of goes against the grain to throw something like that away, but there just weren’t enough of us to eat it! The refrigerators are kind of small, so we couldn’t keep the cake. We ate the biggest pieces of cake we have EVER eaten before and then thought good thoughts and sent up prayers for our precious daughter and sister, Lorien.

We love you precious. We miss you and wish you were with us.