Busy Bolivian Weekend

The weekend started with a girls dinner out celebrating Dora’s birthday after school on Friday. We headed to a Greek restaurant and had some yummy gyros and visited. I love the teachers from my school, they are fun to be with and very supportive!

Cotoca - Saturday Morning trip with Susan

Susan, our principal, invited us to ride with her to Cotaca, a city about 60 km from Santa Cruz. Melissa and I had been here a couple of months ago, but we were happy to go again.

From Wikipedia:
In 1799, the Catholic Church authorised the building of a shrine to the Virgen de Cotoca, an image of Mary (mother of Jesus) that was seen in the town. The Virgin is now the patron saint of the entire province of Santa Cruz and her feast from 8 to 15 December draws thousands of Bolivians.

We looked at a nice ceramic shop and then walked around the city, including the church.
I bought a few ceramic piggy banks for the grandkids, some wooden spoons and an interesting water bottle made from the hooves of cows. Hmmm…..I think the boys will enjoy this!

We bought some yummy cornmeal/cheese fried “cakes”, thanks to Vivi’s suggestion.

Shortly after getting home Dora, my teaching partner from school, picked me up to take me to her families Saturday dinner. They live about 20 minutes from my house and near the orphanage where I volunteer.

They have a house on about 2 acres and it is beautiful. So many flowers, and trees including papaya and grapefruit trees. A large pool, caretaker house, extra kitchen near the house to keep the smells out of the big house. Dora’s in laws and family were so welcoming and kind. They had some yummy soup, drinks, bread and dessert. Dora’s mother in law was so sweet to cut open a grapefruit from her tree, and even gave me one to take home along with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the yard. And this is why I love Bolivia. The people! They are the best part of Bolivia.

They took me on a tour of their chicken farm that is behind their house. Several acres with over 105,000 chickens. They employ over 40 families, which is great for the economy of that city. I remember when my grandpa had a chicken farm. We didn’t get to see much of it because by the time we were growing up he was downsizing, so it was fun to learn about a working farm.

She took me home later and I hurried to the pool to get in a few laps because I hadn’t gotten any exercise that day. Then I hurried home to shower and get ready for the principal to pick Melissa and I up for a guitar concert. It was downtown at the plaza and the guy was awesome.

On the way home we felt a big bump while Susan was driving. I didn’t know it, but Susan had hit a parked car and didn’t know it. I asked Melissa why she didn’t say anything and she said, “What was I supposed to do, tell my boss she hit a car?”.

While riding a bus today holding an ice cream, trying to pay, and dealing with the bus lurching I fell onto this guys lap. Totally embarrassing. I think he was embarrassed too.

Today was the Primary Program. There are about 25 kids in the primary. It was so cute to see the kids get up and try and give their little talks….in Spanish….and I didn’t understand…LOL Some of the kids were so shy and didn’t want to do it, but the parents would patiently help them. It was awesome to know that all around the world our church is growing and thriving. I even saw our church in Cotoca.

I am still playing the piano for church and good thing they are patient with me! Cause I don’t play well! (Of course, I’m pretty much all they have) Today I started a song and it came out all wrong, and I had to start over! The problem is that I can’t read the song in Spanish and I need to know the names of the songs because I can’t read music that well. Then I have to hurry and look up the song with the “cheat sheet” that a former missionary gave me for the Spanish Hymn book, and then I can see if I can play the song or not. By that time the meeting is already starting and I have to wing it. I always pray that I can just get thru it and bring the sprit to the meeting, and not detract from it. I’m so grateful that the church is here and that people are so supportive of me.