September 2014

Feeding the Pigeons

Steak Dinner

Yummy chicken!

Christ

Cristo de la Concordia

Overlooking Cochabamba

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Cochabamba LDS Temple

Temple

Cochabamba Temple - See the Christ statue in the back ground

Beautiful Temple in Bolivia

My awesome friends from school, Kelly, Melissa, and I took off Friday night after school for the airport and flew into Cochabamba for the weekend. It was 100$ for the 45 minute flight, and the wonderful, bedbug free room, was 44$ for 2 nights. The hotel was wonderful, and so close to downtown! In fact, it was only 1 block from my church, where I was able to attend on Sunday!

Saturday morning I got up early and took a taxi to the temple, where I was also able to attend a session. I met the Temple President and his wife who are from my neighboring city of American Fork! They also know David Christensen, who I took a religion class from this past year. The temple was stunning and overlooked the city. I cannot even express how grateful I was to be able to attend, and to actually attend in South America! What a miracle!

When I got back I met my friends for a yummy crepe breakfast and we set off for the Statue of Christ. We walked to the entrance and Melissa and I took the 2000 stairs up. It was a little warm, I admit, but the views were stunning! We met Kelly up on top where we had our pictures drawn by an artist for about $1.50. We also made some new friends. I had asked this cute couple how to count to 100 by 10’s and we all started talking. We ended up going to lunch with them before they had to leave for the airport.

Information about Cristo de la Concordia (Christ of Peace) is a statue of Jesus Christ located atop San Pedro Hill, to the east of Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is accessible by cable car, or by climbing 2,000 steps. The statue is 34.20 metres (112.2 ft) tall, on a pedestal of 6.24 metres (20.5 ft), for a total height of 40.44 metres (132.7 ft). The statue is slightly larger than Christ the King in _wiebodzin, Poland (if the 2 metres (6.6 ft) high crown of Christ the King is not counted) and Christ the Redeemer outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, making it the largest statue of Jesus Christ in the world.[1][2] It is the third largest statue in the Southern Hemisphere, after the statue of Virgen de la Paz in Venezuela, and the statue of Saint Rita of Cascia in Brazil. The left hand of the statue points to the South, and the right points to the North.

We walked around the city some more, watched a street concert, and called it a night.

Melissa and I got up early Sunday and walked to the statue and hiked part way up again, but it was rainy and cold so we didn’t get too far. It was really nice however to walk and get some exercise in this beautiful town.

I attended Stake conference at the ward building that was only a block away from the hotel for a short time before meeting up for breakfast again. I think I saw 10 different missionaries over the 2 days and talked to all of them! Fun!

We spent the day walking around and then paid 2 B’s, about 25 cents to take a city bus around the town. We drove thru the poor part of town, and came to the end of the line where the bus driver told us we had to get off. End of the line. So many interesting things to see. Everyone trying to make a living and survive. Count your blessing for all you have. I’m counting mine everyday!

We found a taxi back to the main part of town. We saw this cute restaurant, which was actually someone’s house, turned into a dining place. For about $5 we had this huge dinner of salad, soup, rice, and all the steak and chicken we could possibly eat!

We walked back to the hotel, collected our belongings, which they had stored for us, and headed for the airport.

I love the city of Cochabamba! The weather was so refreshing, there are mountains surrounding the city, beautiful plazas all over the city, green grass, flowers, and flowering trees. And the food!!!!! It was so good, and so cheap! The best flan ever!

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Blackberries

Biggest rock in the world!

Where they kept their mummies

Ruins in Samiapata

Melissa and I at the ruins

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Waterfall outside of Samiapata

Samaipata, Boliva was beautiful! The trip was September September 12-14, 2014

I went with Melissa, who is an adventurer like me. We left Saturday morning at 7 am and took a taxi to another taxi place where we caught a taxi for 30 B’s (about $5) for a 2.5 hour ride. They packed that car tight with 3 in the front, the driver, Melissa and I squished together. 3 in the middle and another 3 in the back. There was a couple there with us that belong to my church. He had served a mission here several years ago and brought his wife back. It was fun to talk with them.

When we arrived in Samaipata we found a hostel to stay in… and it was cheap. Like 20$…only mistake we made. Ended up getting bedbugs. We went out exploring and found a yummy place to eat. The best chicken ever, and cheap! $5 for a big meal.

We found a little tourist shop and booked a guided tour to see the waterfalls and the ruins. We had our own taxi driver and personal tour guide. Here’s some info about the Temple/Ruins. It took about 2 hours to see.

Nearby is the pre-Inca ruin of El Fuerte de Samaipata. It is not actually a fort, but a temple. This is Bolivia's largest pre-Inca site. Declared a world heritage sites by UNESCO in 1998,[8] this archaeological complex presents pre-Inca (Chane), Inca, and colonial Spanish ruins. The temple was originally built by Arawak people most likely belonging to the Chane[9] culture that inhabited the surrounding valleys and the pampas to the East. The temple was carved on an enormous rock. The Incas also built a city adjacent to the temple and established trade and alliances with the Chanes to protect the territories from the constant invasions of warrior Guarani tribes that raided the region from time to time. It is believed that both Chanes and Incas were eventually defeated by the Guarani warriors, and by the time the Spaniards colonized the region, it was already dominated by Guarani tribes, and El Fuerte was already destroyed. The Spanish colonizers also built a town next to the temple, but it was later abandoned when the inhabitants moved to base of the valley.[10] There are several interesting features including a sloping ramp, pronounced by flying saucer enthusiast Erich von Däniken in his book "Chariots of the Gods" to be a launch platform for spaceships.

Then we headed to these beautiful waterfalls. It was getting late so we didn’t have time to swim, but want to head back there again in October.

When we got back into the city we had another yummy dinner and hit the sack…..To be eaten by bedbugs… at least I did. On Sunday we walked around the town and saw the market, had breakfast, and checked out where we wanted to stay the next time. Then it was back in another taxi and back to Santa Cruz.

When I got home I wasn’t feeling so good, so I immediately took a shower and noticed I had been eaten alive. I washed everything! In the tub, of course! I wished so much for a washing machine. But hopefully I didn't bring any bugs home! They became infected. I ended up having to go to a doctor, which I couldn’t have done without our wonderful music teacher taking me and Kelly (who was infected with bug bites). He prescribed some medicine and off we went to the pharmacy. They handed me a box with a shot in it and I’m like..what am I supposed to do with it? They said find someone to inject you, or do it yourself. So, I took it to school the next day and had the nurse give it to me. I'm just starting to heal a week later.

Samaipata was beautiful. Rolling hills, small town feeling, a very nice get away for the weekend.

This is Bolivia! I had an awesome day today with teachers and staff from the school. We went on a really cool hike about 1.5 hours from Santa Cruz. We met at the school at 7:30 am, after staying up late the night before at a school function. (More on that after) Guillermo, one of the tech guys at the school set the whole thing up, and for 30$ we had a bus, brunch, dinner, and a guide.
We went to a place called Singer’s Paradise in Bermejo, Bolivia. There we hiked in for about 15 minutes to a family home run by Chris and his wife. He was in the band called System of Down. (I never heard of it, but the younger crown had. He told us that he got tired of the band, hopped on his bike and headed south traveling until he got to Bolivia where he met his future wife in Samaipata. They live on this farm of 7 acres where they grow everything they eat, make cheese, delicious bread, and yummy meals. They have 5 kids including one that is nursing and she would be walking around nursing the baby while getting the food ready.
Brunch: Salad, rolls, green eggs and I have no idea what was in them to make them green, tomatoes with fennel on them, tea or coffee.

We hiked for probably about 1.5 hours thru the rainforest with butterflies, streams filled with tadpoles galore, all kinds of plants, including ones with these horrible stickers that would seemingly reach out and grab onto you. Ouch. We had to walk in the stream many times and I was so glad I had worn water shoes and a swimming suit. It wasn’t an easy hike and the guys were picking off ticks. There were also bugs that would bite and people would swell up where they had bitten you. Luckily I didn’t have any of those problems. Don’t know why.
The waterfall was beautiful and we enjoyed resting and enjoying the water before we started back. Guillermo stayed back at one point to help me collect some tadpoles and we got behind. When we tried to catch up to the group we couldn’t find the trail. For a few minutes I was getting sorta worried, but we finally found the trail and caught up. No one noticed we were missing so we didn’t say anything. I would not like to have been stuck out there overnight! We headed back to the house for dinner, but it wasn’t quite ready so we walked about 5 minutes to the river where we swam. It was beautiful and refreshing. This is what I was thinking Bolivia would be like, and it was wonderful. We then headed back and had another vegetarian dinner. Salad greens, (some greens I had never seen before), tomato salsa, black beans, tortillas, cheese, rice, creamy sauce like a cilantro, and hot or mild sauce. Silvia and I played a song on the guitar, and then Chris played one for us. He can really play the guitar and sing!

They sold us coffee, chocolate and rolls. I bought some of the yummy rolls to bring home.

We walked back to the bus and drove home. I jumped off the bus near my home and walked home..in the dark… didn’t want to get a taxi at the school. I’m doing like everyone else and getting off the bus in the middle of the street and crossing thru traffic to the “sidewalk”.

Last night the PTA, they call it the Mother’s Club, had a big dinner for all the staff and the seniors and their parents. It was held at one of the parent’s of the kids at the school. Because all the houses are behind high and guarded walls, you don’t know what’s behind there. But there was a huge yard, probably 1/2 a football field and a really fancy house. They had set up tons of tables and had a live band with a former student who is a really talented singer. There was tons of wine (not for me) and a delicious dinner. There was a dance floor set up on the grass and we all danced after dinner. It began at 8 and I left at 11:30. It was mandatory that we attend, but it was sure nice to go to. Everyone was dressed up and fancy.

I love my weekends! School with the kids is really difficult, but it’s going to get better!