POTOSI & SUCRE

POTOSI

Monday morning we left for the 8 hour trip to Potosi home of the silver mines from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Potosi was one of the richest cities in the world, now it's one of the poorest, a result of Spanish colonialism.  The indigenous people were exploited to work in the mines, then thousands of slaves from Africa were brought over.  The  elevation of Potosi is at 15,000 feet.

 

 

 

 

  We met the zone leaders at the hotel , discussed their needs. As they were in fairly good shape, we left them with money to purchase their own items.  The next morning Pres Dyer was sick and catching up on some work, so we went to La Casa de Moneda  (Money house)  Probably the most fascinating museum we have ever been in.  All of the production of coins between 1570 -1900 took place here. They used  wooden machinery driven by oxen in the basement.

 

 

 

 

 All of the machinery is still intact and in great condition  because of altitude and lack of termites, bugs, and humidity. When we left the museum it was snowing, and very cold, not unlike Idaho. Jack gave the President a rest and drove to Sucre.

 

 

 

SUCRE

 

The White City is the official capital  of Bolivia. Although La Paz is where it all takes place It  now houses the Supreme court, Executive branch and many universities.  It is a beautiful city. As our time was short, we called ahead to the zone leaders and had them prepare a list of what was needed. As soon as we got there, we met the zone leaders and went to the market.  Many new areas had opened up and we needed a lot of mattresses beds, wardrobes, desks chairs  all kitchen items, everything.  Christy, Lorna, and Jack spent money like drunken sailors in about two hours. It was the first time Lorna was left alone to her own devices and she ended up doing pretty good with the language (of kitchen items) and even bargained a few items down.

We stayed at a great hotel downtown that once was a mansion. It is several centuries old, and owned by the Bolivian Ambassador to Spain, who loves Christy and has to do the double cheek kiss every time he sees her.  We flew back to Cochabamba the next morning.  Getting ready to work in our Bella Vista branch this week

 

TARIJA

 

We spent all  last week traveling with President and Sister Dyer.  5 hotels in 7 days.  We flew to Tarija with about 15 missionaries.  Some were new from the MTCs in Bogotá and Lima and some were being transferred.  This was more than a normal cambio (transfer). As of July 1st the areas of Tarija and Bermejo become part of the  Santa Cruz mission.  Most of the missionaries were sad to leave the Cochabamba mission but they were really great about it. 

As soon as we got there we all split up. Christy took one zone and Lorna and I took another. We visited 6 missionary apartments within 2 hours.   Many new areas had opened up and some of the places had nothing.  I mean nothing.  Two places didn’t have bathrooms yet. No mattresses nothing.  When we finished we left with two missionaries to go to the market.  The market we went to covered several blocks,  Jack went to buy hot plates, irons and mirrors.  Lorna and Christy bought plates and kitchens items and the zone leaders bought cleaning items.  A cold front had come through and although we were at a much lower elevation than Cochabamba it was much colder due of the humidity.  The streets are crowded.  Every street or at least a section of the street sells only one or two items.  We arrived back one hour later with loads of things, which we separated and had the missionaries pick up at the stake center. 

After a great dinner at a restaurant which featured Argentine beef,  we returned to our small hotel.  We were in the Mission SUV which was always kept in Tarija. Part of the reason for our trip was to drive it to Sucre so it would stay with our mission.  The parking garage was not at the hotel but about 3 blocks away.  We were exhausted and the hotel clerk was alone and didn’t know what to do since he had to take Dan (Pres. Dyer) down to show him where to park. Jack told the hotel clerk that he would watch the desk.  When they got down to the parking garage a vehicle was parked in the way and it seemed like hours before Dan returned.  Meanwhile, Jack set right into the hospitality  industry.  Taking and delivering orders for pizza and beer, and telling people there was no room at the inn since he didn’t know how to check them in.

The next day we had meetings,  Lorna and Christy went out to develop apartment pictures  to place  them in binders for the new mission.  Jack went out in search of more hot plates. He has become very adept in spotting quality hotplates and negotiating the best price!  That afternoon we, along with about 50 missionaries, went on a Paseo' about 30 minutes out of town and another 30 minute steep hike up to Coimata waterfalls, a beautiful place, well worth the hike.

 

Jack and Elder Gilbert

Missionaries of Tarija and Bermejo

 

That night we ate at a great restaurant called El Marques on the main plaza. Tarija is a beautiful relatively clean city.  This restaurant was a colonial mansion.  The daughter of the owner gave us a tour of the upstairs apartment and dining rooms.  You can get a great steak in a 3 course meal for 6 or 7 dollars US.

                                                     El Marques dining hall (we did not sit here to eat!)

Bermejo

The next morning we left for Bermejo,  a windy road for 3 1/2 hours  losing a lot more elevation.  On the road we passed a lot of farms. One thing unique about this area is they don't have storage facilities for their produce. The grow Chala, which looks like corn stalks, but they store it in the tops of the trees. They have probably done this for centuries.

A lot of this country reminded us of southern Utah and Lake Powell 

 

Bermejo looks  a lot like Hawaii or a Caribbean Island,  well at least the countryside does.  The town looks like  well, it’s not the most picturesque or clean.  Most of the roads are dirt and they had just had a heavy rain, so there was a lot of mud. We stayed at the finest hotel in Bermejo, The Paris. No worries about mistaking it for anything in Paris. 

 

We stayed in the best two suites, each about 40 bucks US.  The lobby had mud on the floor, and not just because it had rained. It had been there awhile and reeked with the smell of all things cat, and not in a happy fluffy way. It  really added to the ambiance of the place. There was no heat in the rooms so we decided the missionaries needed two more heaters. We bought them that night and used them ourselves before handing them over to the missionaries.

The only thing worse than the Paris was the security system on the SUV, a complicated sequence of events to  lock or unlock  push the remote three times wait two seconds enter the vehicle within 3 seconds of inserting the key stick your finger in a small hole on the steering column giving it three taps, sometimes it would work, most of the time it wouldn't. The assistants properly diagnosed the vehicle as being Bi-Polar. if you ignored it and tried to put up with the cucaracha bells whistles and sirens, the engine would kill within a matter of seconds usually when you were in the middle of an intersection, but the sirens would keep going.

After we visited the missionary apartments, we found we had to purchase many things.  Bermejo is on the Argentine border, as in you can see Argentina from your front porch!  Some things cost less ,but most things are more expensive.  That night we had a fireside with the district since its being turned over to the new mission.  The district provided a great meal at the church house and we met a lot of wonderful people.  President usually asks Jack to share his testimony and talk a little bit about ourselves.

The next day we sadly said adieu to The Paris. We went to church and left for the trip back to Tarija.  in Tarija we stayed at Los Parrales, one of the nicest hotels we've stayed in anywhere, with great views looking out over Tarija.  We stayed in our room ordered, banana splits and watched the missionary leadership training on the ipad.  The changes of missionaries using FaceBook won’t be coming to Bolivia anytime soon as most people do not have internet in their homes.  the next day we were off to Potosi!

 

June 10th-June 16th

We've been really busy this week, as most of you are aware there has been a large increase in the number of missionaries. Our mission has 37 more arriving this week from all the MTCs Provo, Bogota Columbia and Lima Peru. When Jack was here the first time the mission had between 80 and 120 missionaries for the whole country. There are now over 1000 missionaries in Bolivia. Of our mission of 287,over 75 percent of the missionaries are from Latin America and the number of sister missionaries is increasing rapidly.  Senior missionaries, there are  2.  ....Jack & Lorna. In less than two weeks Bolivia will have 4 missions. The Cochabamba mission will be losing the areas of Tarija and Bermejo, about 50 missionaries. Really nice areas that we have never visited. We will be traveling there this coming week with Pres. and Sister Dyer to make sure the housing is in order and to say goodbye to the missionaries we are losing. We have been helping with  housing and spent this past week in an area east of town called Sacaba where there are about 24 missionaries in 10 different places. To say the least we are very appreciative when pull into our apartment on the Temple grounds each night.  Most of the missionaries have adequate living conditions. One apartment had no water for a week and another, west of town where our branch is, had had no electricity for a week. None of the missionaries have hot water heaters. They heat the water for their showers with the same units they were using 40 years ago. Lorenzetti's which attach 220 wires to the shower head. Although it reaches nearly 80 degrees in the daytime most days it is  winter now and the nights are cold. We've gone to La Cancha, the big market several times to purchase about 20 blankets.( Lorna talks more about La Cancha later). Some apartments don't have refrigerators or hot plates. One apt didn't have any glass in a large bathroom window. It's important to Pres. and Sis. Dyer that the missionaries are taken care of. We haven't heard any complaints from any of the missionaries. They are really dedicated. When we are passing out blankets, everyone wants to make sure the coldest gets them first. The missionaries do eat lunch and dinner at pensionistas except on the weekend. Here is a picture of Lorna with Hermanas Ramos y Tomala. Lorna feels very tall for once in her 5'2" life!

 

One other great blessing we had this week is we got our side mirrors back on our pick-up. We had them removed when the tail lights were stolen, to have molds made for them so they would be harder to steal..  It's not fun driving without side mirrors in heavy traffic with streets made for 2 lanes, and the Bolivians think they can make 5 lanes out of two! Lorna has yet to drive, her choice.

Before we left we met with the Bradshaws, who were here for 18 months, about what to expect. Lloyd said he had never been stopped by the police.  We haven't been here 2 weeks and I have been pulled over 4 times. Cochabamba instituted a new law that license plates ending in certain numbers could not be downtown on certain days. At first we didn't know which day was  ours. The last time we felt we were doing the Lord's work going to La Cancha for supplies and needed to be there. We never got ticketed. The last time,we needed to get turned around in the market area. I got to an intersection  and we didn't see a "no left turn" or "no u turn sign" so I went ahead and turned. What we failed to realize,is that I made the turn right in front of the police station! A policeman, which are the military here with rifles that look more like machine guns, came running out and stopped us and asked me what I thought I was doing after he asked for my license. (Which believe it or not I actually had)  I told him I didn't see a sign. He said "You foreigners think you don't have to obey any rules", which I thought was quite amusing since I don't think there are any rules here. I told him I had seen others do it. Although he looked 17 he gave the regular parent response, "Well just because everyone else does it does it mean you can?" he said "Here in Bolivia  when you are driving straight down a road,you can never turn left or right! never!"  Since everyone knows how I can remain calm with authority figures, I said "I've seen several drivers make right and left hand turns" As the policeman's face got redder I thought it was better to apologize and beg.  Didn't get a ticket!

On Monday, our P-day,we went to La Cancha. Christy (Sis. Dyer) took us. When we need to get blankets or most anything for the missionaries apartments this is the place to go. They have everything you can think of and a lot you wish you could forget. Monday we were after blankets. A few things about La Cancha. It goes for blocks. You can get lost. Best not to wear jewelry and you need to be very selective about the bathrooms or better yet, wait until you get home. To show you the wide variety of items. Here we are sampling margarine and shortening:

 

 

 

We took a wrong turn and ended up in the Witch's market. They have a lot of dried llama fetuses hanging everywhere,potions for whatever ails and a lot of things we had no idea the purpose. This picture is not about us,it is the only way Christy could get it.  Look in the bottom left hand corner:

 

The Cholita with her back to the camera is reading coca leaves (as in what cocaine is derived from). We were up next for a reading,but were running short on time. ;)

The culture here is so fascinating. Something new surprises us everyday. In the U.S. you see a lot of lawn care companies. Most have a pick-up and trailer with everything they need

 

 

This guy has his lawn mower on his bicycle,with a broom made out of branches.

We have seen very few real estate signs,but we see this everywhere:

 

 

 

 

If you can't see the spray painting on the fence, it says "lote en venta" or "lot for sale". At least they don't have to worry about someone stealing their sign. In the background, a peek of the city.

We love our branch in Bella Vista. It is extremely diverse,with businessmen and the native Cholitas.  The people are all so friendly and accepting,and there is a great spirit there. An older couple have a flower farm and bring several arrangements of beautiful roses each week. Each week the Relief Society has sent me home with a bouquet of roses! They have asked us to help teach the Temple prep class. They also asked Jack to teach some Priesthood lessons in Spanish. Half of each lesson time is taught in Spanish,then they teach it again in Quechua. Jack won't be teaching in Quechua. Here is a sample:

 

 

Every meeting we have been to, we sing acapella. They have a keyboard,but no one knows how to play. Jack volunteered us to play. When they find out my Spanish is better than my piano playing they may hide the keyboard! Luckily we found a simplified simplified Spanish hymn book with no sharps or flats (and limited hymns). Might be one hand,one finger,but we will give it a shot. That's it for this week. We love Bolivia and we love the people!

Cochabamba!

We were met at the airport by Pres. and Sis Dyer. They have been here nearly 2 years and have made us feel so welcome. They took us to our apartment,which is in a complex on the temple grounds called the Hospedaje. This is the view out of all of our apartment windows.

This is the Hospedaje:
 

It is a multi-purpose building. There are 3 floors of 1 bedroom apartments like ours in one wing and 3 floors of dorm type rooms and apartments in the other wing along with an auditorium,cafeteria,nursery ,laundry and distribution center.The 4 windows on the right hand side of the picture are the Family history center. Since this is the only temple in Bolivia,most people have to travel a great distance with their families. We see bus loads arrive everyday. Most of them have very little money and the Hospedaje provides housing and meals at very little cost. It is a beautiful building with all tile floors and best of all HOT running water! The climate here is a lot like San Diego,only warmer and drier. As we are below the equator we are going into winter. The mornings are sweater cool but by afternoon it is in the high 70's low 80's. we will be here until our visas come through,probably two months, mas o menos. As we have come to find out,this is Bolvia!

We purchased a Toyota Tacoma from the Bradshaws,who were here 18 months and returned to Sugar City about 6 weeks before we arrived. We met them before we left. The pickup was so much nicer than we expected and we are so happy to have it. The day after we arrived,we went to get the pickup insured in a nicer area of Cochabamba. We were in the office 15 minutes and came out with the agent to take pictures of the pickup. This is what we found

Can't see?

 

Both tail lights had been stolen. While we were in the insurance office! So we found the Toyota dealer who told us our pickup had been imported from the US and they couldn't get them, but this guy Alligator probably could get them. Most streets don't have signs and addresses are hit and miss. If you google earth Cochabamba it looks like a bad Halloween corn maze. We finally found Alligators,and he had lights,but they were $230 each. He said if we came back the next day to a place down the street there is a guy that buys all the stolen parts and re-sells them. So we went back the next day and he could get them,but they weren't "there yet". So we went back a couple of times,no luck,but for sure they would be there Friday at noon. We had to meet with Obispo (Bishop) Davila who works for the mission to get our visa application going. By now everyone knows about the tail lights. After we finished our visa application Bishop drove right to the fence "shop" (street corner) and told us to wait in the pickup. He ended up making the deal for 200 Bolivianos less. We ended up paying about $180 US total,and when the Bishop accused the fence of selling us our own lights back to us,he didn't deny it! Today we saw a Toyota Tacoma just like ours on the corner by the Temple with no tail lights. We figure there are one less set of Tacoma pick up tail lights than there are pick ups in Cochabamba, and it is just the roll of the dice who gets tail lights this week. Bishop Davila took us to his mechanic who installed them and the side mirrors with some type of locks. We took Obispo to lunch at Tuesdays,which has the same menu as Fridays in the US,just a different day of the week,kind of.

Yesterday Lorna went to the market with Christy (Sis. Dyer) the fresh fruits and vegetables were amazing,but this is the part she liked best!

In case you don't recognize these parts,they are cow tongue and kidneys. The Bolivians use every single part of the cow. Lorna told them maybe next time.

We have been assigned to help with the missionaries apartments. We were to help Elder Grosbeck get some desks,chairs,and closets sent to the missionaries is Sucre,Tarija,and Bermejo which are all several hours away. There had been 6 weeks of delays for a lot of reasons, but Elder Grosbeck had a truck scheduled to take them to the shipping company Sat. We got to the place where they were stored and were to have been wrapped and ready to go but,they weren't. So we loaded them up in the delivery truck and our pickup and got them to the shipping company. After quite a high level of negotiation (because the desks were made in Brazil and it is illegal for them to transport items made out of the country)they decided they could wrap them and hide them in the bottom of their truck. 

 

We have been assigned to the Bella Vista branch, about 12 miles away. We attended today with The Dyers. It is a humble little branch with many strong members. There are quite a few Cholitas, the traditional Bolivians which wear the traditional dress. Most of them speak Quechua,which is one of the two Indian languages spoken here besides Spanish. They teach half the lessons in Spanish and half in Quechua. We are excited to be able to attend their branch. We are loving it here! 

 

 

 

Arrived in Bolivia!

We left Salt Lake June 3rd and had a "nearly" direct flight,changing planes in Dallas and Miami before flying all night to La Paz. We arrived at 5:30 am,but were continuing on to Santa Cruz and were told we couldn't de-plane. We thought our middle of the plane exit row seats were so great until they opened the middle door to their wonderful 26 degree weather! 40 security personnel came on board and proceeded to take every seat out and check for drugs and made us point to our onboard luggage. After that exercise was completed with no arrests, we continued on landing in Santa Cruz with a 6 hour layover.

We took a taxi into the center of town. Jack spent about 2 months here in 1976. Things had changed. This is a picture of a labor union protest. We never found out what their issues were, Santa Cruz was as hot as La Paz was cold. Below is a picture of their old plaza

 

As picturesque as it was,we were glad to get on the plane for Cochabamba.

 

Our week at MTC or trial week at assisted living sponsored by our kids

JC couldn't wait to drop us off at the MTC. He thought it would be payback. Our week was better than we had expected. We stayed at the Marriott downtown with the rest of our group. We were finished every day at 4:30 and were encouraged to use the hot tub,pool and other facilities at the hotel. 

This was our MTC district with our afternoon teachers,Sis. "Sunshine" Thomas and Bro. Lystrip on the right.The couple on the far left are the Wallace's from Medicine Hat,Alberta Canada. They are headed to Uganda. They spent last summer biking across Canada to raise money for a school in Ethiopia.They fell in love with Africa and decided to return on a mission.The next couple are the Nay's from Brigham City and they are headed to Mongolia. He retired from Thikol where he worked on solid rocket boosters for the space shuttles.

This is Bro. Murray our morning instructor.

After we completed the MTC on Fri,we headed to Salt Lake where we met Slade and Shaela and spent time with them before they took our car home. Sunday afternoon we spent with Lorna's sister Lisa,her husband Ron and their daughter Nicole. We re- re-packed,lightened up our bags and got ready to leave for Bolivia the next day June 3rd.