Bolivian Independence Day

Happy Bolivian Independence Day! No school today, so some of the day was relaxing and then came the stress of knowing that tomorrow is the first day of school with kids, and I’m not ready.

This morning I took a taxi to El Centre, where the
Town Square and beautiful church is, to meet Melissa and Kelly for breakfast. We didn’t know that there was going to be festivities going on, but it was hopping! There were tons of policemen, soldiers and what looked like really official people. There was an army band playing the National Song. It was really neat to be there.
We went and had some yummy breakfast. Melissa had some chicken soup with an egg on it. It’s pretty popular to put fried eggs on everything!

After breakfast I took a taxi back to the church where the Bolivian festival was supposed to start at 11. Course I forgot about Bolivian time…I went home until 12 and came back and they still weren’t ready. I asked the missionary when it would start and he said come back in a couple of hours, so I walked the 20 minutes to school and worked for a while. Then took a taxi back and they had started the festivities. It was so cool. It was a wonderful cultural experience. In the Bolivian LDS church they have one big room where they hold Sacrament meeting, but it also doubles as the cultural hall. They had tables set up all around the perimeter and tables where the different “states” of Bolivia were set up with decorations and foods from the different areas. They had each group perform a dance in the native clothing, and then the eating started. So many people kept loading my plate up and giving me drinks. It was fun to try all the different types of food. The missionaries told me that they aren’t allowed to eat lettuce, pork, or strawberries. So, I stayed away from that too.
Several people came and said how nice it is that I’m going to start playing the piano on Sunday….I was thinking that was pretty funny. But with the missionary leaving tomorrow, they have no one else to play. I think it’s pretty interesting that I seemed to have come at just the right time.