Easter in Bolivia

[March 29, 2016]

This last week has been very busy, so I haven't gotten out to take any pictures... So, if you don't like words, you might as well stop now.

Last week was "La Semana Santa" - Holy Week here in Bolivia. As Bolivia is predominantly Catholic, the population at large knows about Easter. On Friday, Good Friday, we were walking around, and it was clear that it was a holiday - no trufis, very little traffic, many places closed, and lots of people gathered at the Cathedral at the Plaza Recoleta. It is one of the seven (?) major cathedrals here in Cochabamba (I may have the number wrong - there may be more major ones).

As we walked past, the cathedral was full to overflowing, and although we didn't get close enough to actually look in, we imagined they must be having Mass. There were vendors outside, interestingly enough, selling chocolate Easter eggs, and other paraphernalia - I'm suspicious that this is a borrowing of traditions from other cultures, since there really wasn't a lot of it. All said, the people of Bolivia are generally pious and believing in their religious traditions, even though they are sometimes blended with more ancient, non-Christian kinds of beliefs as well.

What was maybe even more interesting was the lack of any real focus on Easter in our Sacrament Meetings on Sunday. Molly and I both thought it was a bit strange. It was Fast and Testimony meeting because of General Conference next Sunday, so there really wasn't an opportunity for an Easter Cantata, or talks focused on the Atonement and Resurrection. But, we thought they might sing some Easter hymns as opening and closing songs. I think part of the problem is that they don't know those hymns, so they don't choose them.

Nonetheless, I started asking members about Easter. Some of them didn't realize it was Easter. None of them seemed to be bothered by the lack of focus on the Atonement and Resurrection. As I was pondering this, one comment from a conference talk (I think. I don't have the reference at hand and am too lazy to look.), came to mind. Basically (much paraphrased), the sense of it was, we celebrate the Atonement every week with the Sacrament. We don't really need to focus on it specifically if we understand that, and are worshiping effectively each week as we take the Sacrament.

Even so, in our home, our tradition has been to de-emphasize the Easter Bunny, secular traditions, and to use Easter as a time to teach and remind ourselves of the eternal significance of the Atonement and Resurrection. Over the years, it has certainly helped me to direct my thoughts and understanding of what Christ did for us, the supernal doctrines of the Atonement, and my appreciation of it more and more each year.

I wonder if, in the process of converting to Mormonism, the members have consciously tried to distance themselves from their old Catholic traditions and beliefs, since the prominent presence of the cross in their worship seems to emphasize the pain and suffering as opposed to the joy and salvation that we tend to emphasize in our worshiping. Who knows? It's just an observation of a difference that was hard to miss.

In that light, though, President Jensen taught a Family Home Evening last night focused on Christ and the Atonement. He started by quoting Jacob 4:12:

" . . .  for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, . . . "

Since he spent a number of years as one of the Seven Presidents of the Seventy, he had many opportunities to be taught, literally, at the feet of prophets. In one of their meetings, they were asked to ponder three inspired questions in their teaching:

1. When was the last time you taught doctrine?
2. When was the last time you taught the Atonement?
3. What scriptures did you use?

He then proceeded to teach our missionaries about the Atonement from three perspectives:

1. Events of the Atonement, oriented around how Christ was always revealing Himself as the Son of God, how he was constantly training leaders, how he increased in popularity, while simultaneously feeling increased hatred and efforts to take His life. All of this culminated in what President Jensen called Christ's "divine rendezvous" in the garden, on the cross, and at the tomb.
2. Doctrines of the Atonement, especially focusing on His roles as Advocate, intercessor, and Mediator, using many scriptures to highlight these doctrines. One comment he made was that where you see the word "gospel", you can replace it with "doctrine" and vice-versa.
3. Application of the doctrines, again focusing on how Christ's role as mediator, pleading  our cause, and advocating with the Father in our behalf, again using the scriptures heavily. He taught us again about how the translations of the word that is translated "atonement" in one place is translated as "reconciliation" in others. Literally, reconciliation (from Latin), means to "sit down again with" - and then he cited Alma 38:15:

• 15 And may the Lord bless your soul, and receive you at the last day into his kingdom, to sit down in peace. 

It was all very uplifting and insightful, and helped me really appreciate the Atonement more fully.

So, despite the fact that we missed a focus on Easter in our Sacrament Meetings on Sunday, we had a very sweet opportunity to reflect, appreciate, and renew our commitment to and love for the Savior in our work here at the Temple.

The Temple from last July.

Yummy Food and Dear Friends

[March 24, 2016]

Hermano and Hermana Vasquez are some of the sweetest people. They live in La Paz and come the third week of every month to work in the temple. Brother Vasquez and his son picked us up from the airport in La Paz and took us to their home where we had a lovely lunch. We wanted to invite them for dinner to thank them and to spend time with them. We had a wonderful visit with them and plan to do it again.

One day Hna Vasquez came over and taught me how to make empanadas. It was fun and they were very yummy. The best part was learning how to make the dough for the crust. I want to try filling it with fruit. She is going to teach me how to make salteñas next. They are my favorite.

 Filling the empanada, notice the piece of egg and one olive.

 Ready for frying.

 Cute Herana Vasquez "folding and pinching" to make the pretty edge

 Fried, finished and yummy

A very dear sister, Lilly Arosa, invited President and Sister Jensen, the Thomases (who are going home this week) and us for lunch at her home. It is customary when invited to somone's home for a meal to bring something. Hna Jensen brought Lindt chocolate, Hna. Thomas brought some lovely flowers and we brought some chocolate chunk cookies (they don't have chocolate chips here but Bakers makes some yummy chocolate chunks that you can get here, a little pricey, but hey it's chocolate). We all fit in the President's 5 seater van. Charlie climbed in the way back. He said it wasn't any worse than riding in some of  the trufis we've been in.

Hermana Lilly Arosa is a very interesting and fun woman. She was a representative for Bolivia in England and has had some other very interesting jobs as well. She speaks several languages, has a great sense of humor and is very generous. Her home is very beautiful inside and out, but the food was amazing. Her son was our cook. He has studied in Italy to be a chef. We had sopa de mani with an island of meat (lamb, beef and chicken) in the middle with crunchy yummy garnish on top. Very tasty. The second course was beautiful! Looked like something on a cooking show. There was mashed camote (sweet potato), a side of cooked pea pods and mushrooms with herbs. A piece of fish was beautifully placed over the camote with a drizzle of yummy sauce. It all tasted wonderful. For dessert we had individual lemon meringue pies. Quite gourmet. We drank fresh apple juice. The conversation was wonderful as well. Her cousin, another sister from the temple and her son joined us. There were ten of us in all around a very lovely set table.

Johnny Chambi, one of Charlie's companions in Punata, started working in the temple this week. It's so sweet to continue these relationships. President Garcia was in charge that day and had them both stand up in Prayer meeting and told everyone that they were companions 40 years ago. 

We Skype or FaceTime our children every week. Holly's Gary (almost 3) is usually there when we Face Time Holly but he doesn't ever talk to us, only makes faces and interesting noises. Well this week he talked a lot. They had an Easter egg hunt at the park with some neighbors and I guess the excitement of it all overcame his shyness and opened his mouth. He told us all about it. I just had to put that bit of historic trivia in.

There are always sweet tender things that happen every day in the temple. Here is one that Charlie and I both shared.

I was assigned to the baptistry, so I went down to check if anyone had come. I was told a young couple wanted to be baptized for the wife's grandparents and then do their initiatories, endowments and seal them as well. Charlie was the veil coordinator and was determined to help them get it all done in the morning shift. It was already 10:30, starting the second session. The third and last session of the morning shift begins at 11:30.

When I learned who the couple was I was very excited to get to help them. Yesterday a brother knocked on the dressing room door asking for Hna. Paula, she was in Initiatory. No Hna. Paula, maybe Paula was her first name. It was, her apellido (last name) was Paredes. So when I saw her I called her Paula. She had the most beautiful smile and was tickled that I knew her name. Charlie was the officiator of their session and they were the witness couple. We also saw them as we were walking down to catch the trufi . So we felt we had some connections with this cute young couple.

Charlie told me the brothers were ready to help them in the baptistry and a temple employee was going to do the baptizing. So I brought them down to the baptistry. I had a good visit with them while they were waiting. About 11:00 they were dressed in their whites and ready to go. We had to wait a while for the employee. While he was getting dressed the husband baptized his wife. Charlie came in about this time. Hno. Paredes was so sweet  with his wife. She had a hard time getting totally immersed. After about 4 tries they finally got it. Charlie took the name cards upstairs to get stamped and ready in the Initiatory booths. I waited for the Paredes to get dressed and took them up in the elevator. By this time Charlie showed up so he rode the elevator with us. He took the Bro. and I took Paula. I got to help with her initiatory and walked her into the chapel for the session. They made it and were the witness couple again.

Charlie talked to Pres. Garcia about doing their sealing after the last session (by this time the sealers are gone). He agreed to do it and Charlie, along with Bro. Sandoval, the shift coordinator, were the witnesses and Hna Sandoval and I were the invitados (guests). We saw them through to the end. When I walked her back to the dressing room I told her we were family. She hugged me tight. They are from Santa Cruz and hopefully will return in June. I believe this young couple so far away from home needed "family" here and we got to be it.

They were out front taking pictures when we came out of the temple and we got to be in a picture with them.

I love these connections, they are like the yummy dessert to an already delightful meal. 

Sweet Service, Family History and Hermana Lopez

[March 16, 2016]

Charlie has a new assignment in the temple as the coordinator for the Wednesday afternoon shift. This week was his first time. We are serving on the morning shift this month so I stayed home and did some family history and then came up to attend the last session with our Cobija Stake. I love to participate with them. It was a full session.

In my family history searching I found Amanda Rodgers, who is an ancestor on my mother's line. She needed all her work done and her father needed his work done as well, so last week we got to do their work and seal Amanda to her parents after sealing her parents to each other.

I also discovered that my mother's Aunt Katie has all of her work done but she is not sealed to her parents or her husband. So I called my mother and found out all I could about Aunt Katie. I remember my mother and her sister visiting their Aunt Katie in New Mexico often. She was a minister of her own church in Farmington. Aunt Katie lived in the basement apartment of the church she preached in, which was just a building she bought with a basement apartment. She helped a lot of people.  In fact she died in the home of a young couple who took her home from the hospital when she was no longer able to care for herself. They took good care of her because they said she saved their lives and their marriage.

I love learning about these people. Their stories need to be told.

I'm so grateful that I am able to call my mother on the phone and talk to her and see her on Skype every week. This is a great time to be a senior missionary (you can be so far away, yet through modern technology still be connected). I'm also grateful that we can Skype with our children and grandchildren and Charlie's parents as well. We feel The Lord is watching over them. We are also grateful that they watch over each other.

We got to wish our little Nicholas Blair Lyon a Happy Third Birthday this week!

One day this week I had the assignment of Sealing Coordinator. This is the one assignment that intimidates me. I want so badly to say and do the right things for the people that are coming for their own ordinances. So I pray and The Lord helps me. I knew it was going to be a busy day and this assignment would be a busy one. When we left the prayer meeting one of the other sister missionaries could tell I was a little nervous about doing this job. She told me if I thought it was too much for me I could ask the coordinator to change my assignment. I told her about turning down the prayer in Prayer meeting once and how it made me feel and I would never do that again. After all I am a missionary. I also know that Sister Guaman (the coordinator) prays sincerely to know who should have what assignment each week and if she wanted me to have this assignment then I could and would do it.

It turned out to be a lovely assignment. Their were only three live sealings. Two of them had good sized groups so I got to instruct them and get them to where they needed to be. I also got to witness all three sealings, which is so sweet.

I have a funny story to share: I was working in the baptistry one day and a young sister was asking me a question I didn't quite understand so I asked her to tell me again "Otra vez?" She said "si, otra vez" It went on like that for a while and finally I realized she was asking me what time she could come again to the temple "otra vez". It was kind of a "Who's on first" moment.

I found out that Hermana Elva Lopez, from Charlie's mission was very sick. She works on Saturday morning and hasn't been there for a while. We have been wanting to visit her again. Charlie called her when we got home from the temple and she said we could come Sunday after church.

We took the 207 Trufi there, stayed about an hour and walked the four miles home. She lives with her daughter and her 3 children. It was a lovely day and she was so dear. I brought no bake cookies that I had made the night before. They seemed to like them, but Hna was the sweetest. She is looking so frail. She cried and cried to see us. She misses the youth that she has taught for so many years and has helped in the baptistry in the temple.

She and Charlie reminisced and she told us of her family, her siblings etc. I love this woman. She asked Charlie why he says that he left part of his heart in Punata. We both answered at the same time "you". She truly is a big reason why he loved Punata so much. She represents the people of Bolivia to Charlie and that's why he loves them so much. I do too. He told her when we go home from this mission we will leave two hearts here this time. He's right. I love these dear people.

One thing I thought about as we were walking home from visiting Hna. Lopez was about when you spend so much time in the temple with the good Bolivians that come. You associate all Bolivians with these good people. The best part of that is, if you look at and treat people like they are the best they can be, they will respond in kind. I love the Bolivian people.

Back to the Temple

[March 8, 2016]

It was good to be back to the temple after two weeks off. They really worked hard to paint the exterior of the temple, get the lawn spruced up, etc. This was a picture I took just as we were leaving Monday morning to get some shopping done.

Along the way, we went by a park that has some "exercise" equipment, so Molly decided to do the circuit:

Some Bolivians saw her trying out the equipment, and as we walked away, they had started to copy what she was doing on one of the pieces. It was like they'd never seen such a thing, and didn't know how it worked until they saw her.

On another walk, we saw these - selling cotton candy on a six-foot pole, and painting stripes and crosswalks on the street near the temple:

Carrying cotton candy to sell.

Hand-painted crosswalks!

Sunday, we went to the home of Hna. Vargas, Saul Montaño's sister. The Montaños have been our good friends for many, many years. Saul served his mission here in Bolivia at the same time I did, and I got to know him then. He is from La Paz. We spent a few days with one of his sister's family in La Paz during the closure, so getting to know another sister and her family was very nice.

They served us a very tasty dinner of lasagna, salad, and a mango mousse. Two of their daughters were there, with four of their grandchildren. It was fun visiting with them.

The temple has been slow this week - not many groups come during the school year, but when they come, it's always fun to serve them. We had one group come from Santa Cruz, and they filled the temple for two days. They had five individuals receiving their endowments in one session, with four of them getting sealed the same day.

The baptistry isn't as busy, but we make special efforts to help those who have come with their own family names. It's always enjoyable to help them serve their ancestors as they do the baptisms and confirmations, and then the endowments and sealings.

[This is Molly - I had the sweet opportunity today to do the proxy baptisms for a sister who brought names of her ancestors but needed someone to do the baptisms. I really enjoyed that. I also got to serve in the baptistry two days in a row when the group was here from Santa Cruz. It's fun to see the same kids from the day before. They are so fun and energetic. I often think of our grandson Gordon, who will be turning 12 in May. He will be old enough then to go to the temple and do baptisms for those who have passed on. I can just picture him in his white clothes. What a special young man he is.]  

So, as you can see, we're still enjoying it here. It's getting on into Fall, although it looks just like Spring and Summer. This is a lovely place, and there is a special spirit here that we love completely.

La Paz

[2 March 2016]

Since the temple is closed, we decided to take the week and go to La Paz to see what has changed and what hasn't.

Monday 22 February 2016
The taxi picked up Brother and Sister Angle (Chris and Sue Ellen) and us at the garita at 6:30 am to take us to the airport. We flew out at about 8:00.

Hno. Vasquez, who works here at the temple one week a month, and his son met us at the airport in La Paz. We met Hno. Vasquez and his wife at the temple. They come the third week of every month and stay in the hospedaje so they can work in the temple for the week. They are very kind, loving, humble, generous, fun people and dear friends. They fed us lunch of salteñas (my favorite) and jugo de piña (pineapple juice) at their house. There was such a sweet spirit there. We also met their youngest daughter and her 10 month old twins.

The view from their living room was spactacular. La Paz is shaped like a giant bowl with houses built all up the sides and in the bottom and we got a good view of this from their window.

View from the window of the Vasquez home.

After lunch and a quick visit, their son took us to the Pozo's home, where we would be staying for the next three days. Maria Pozo is the sister of our dear friend, Saul Montaño. Charlie met Saul on his mission and we lived across the street from him, Beth and their kids for 25 years in American Fork, Utah. Our lives have been very intertwined over the years. We love the Montaños, they are like family. The Pozos feel like family as well.

The Pozos live in a neighborhood called Calacoto. They have a very warm, inviting, beautiful, grand home, complete with an indoor racketball court and swimming pool. We (Sue Ellen and Chris Angle and us) had our own bedrooms and bathrooms. Maria Pozo took us on a tour of their house and made us feel completely welcomed and at home. They are so generous with everything they have. I think everyone who is LDS and lives in La Paz knows them or has stayed in their home. He has been a bishop and Stake President, and now is serving as a counselor in the mission presidency.

Both the Vasquez and the Pozo couples are amazing examples of good marriages and Christ-like attributes. We felt very honored to spend time in their homes.

Our driver picked us up to go to Moon Valley, but because of the rain we decided not to go into the park. We went to Mario Sarabia's ceramic workshop. He is a world renowned artist. He makes ceramics from clay found in the area. He told us many stories and spent quite a bit of time with us. His work tells the the stories of the people who lived in Bolivia before the influence of the Spaniards. One story he calls "The Flying Cholitas". You only see them from the back side. They are carrying a baby to the top of the mountain. When a baby was born with a defect that they couldn't care for, the mother and two attendants would take the baby to the top of the mountain. The thin air would cause the baby to fall asleep and the Mountain God would take the baby and in return bless the family with health and good crops.

Another is the Pachamama, which combines the native "Pacha" Universe with the Christian "Mama" representing Mary. Charlie bought us a ceramic Pachmama. Sariabia's daughters also make jewelry. Charlie bought me a beautiful delicate necklace of Bolivianita, a stone that is found only in Bolivia. The color is a mix of amber and purple.

Pachamama ceramic from Mario Sarabia's workshop.

Bolivianita - a gem found only in Bolivia.

The weather had cleared so we made another attempt at Moon Valley. Imagine Bryce Canyon or Goblin Valley without the color. We took the 45 minute walk through. Very interesting!

Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) in La Paz.

Here's a link to a panorama I took with Hno. Angle admiring (!) the mud: Valle de la Luna

This is a guide at the Valle de la Luna in typical La Paz dress. The indigenous people here don't like their pictures taken, so we had to get what we could:

The Pozos fed us a wonderful dinner. Sue Ellen and I helped prepare it, which gave us a good opportunity to visit with Maria. After dinner we had FHE. It was very sweet, we shared how the Spirit had spoken to us especially in regard to serving a mission here.

After the lesson we had ice cream and played a really fun game that made us laugh so hard.

I am so impressed with these generous gracious loving good people.

Tuesday 23 February 2016
Our driver, Ricardo, came for us about 8:00 am. We went to ride the Teleferico.

The Teleferico is a tramway that transports people (lots of people) in "cars" that hold about 8 adults comfortably from cables above the city. It's like a ski lift, only more sturdy and enclosed.  Since the city is shaped like a bowl and the houses are built right up against each other, with few roads between them, the teleferico is a great way to get from the bottom of the bowl to the top of the city. In fact, it takes less than half the time as it would to drive a car or take the bus.

There are several different lines. We took the yellow line up to El Alto, and then back down. We then picked up Heidi Soliz, the sister of Israel Soliz, who arranged this trip for us. Israel is our friend who manages the hospedaje and plans trips for people like us on the side. Heidi rode the red line with us. It goes right over the main cemetary in La Paz - very interesting views.

View from the Teleferico Amarillo (Yellow) line.

An interesting way to watch a futbol game - from the air.

The red line station is just behind the old train station. Charlie remembers coming from Cochabamba to La Paz to that train station 40 years ago. The Teleferico costs 3 Bs one way. It is very fast and very efficient and the view is spectacular. It was so interesting to see the city from above and right into people's yards and some of their homes. I was surpised to see that there are few streets between these houses. There are sidewalks and lots and lots of stairs. Imagine being pregnant with toddlers in tow and groceries to get home.

The old train station - converted to a Teleferico station.

This is the side that trains arrived on.

One of the old train cars. The trains are no longer used here for passengers. You can see the
teleferico line above.

Cemetery mausoleums - these covered acres.

Some of them looked like apartment buildings.

With Heidi as our guide, we walked down this quaint darling street (Calle Jaen) that was built by or owned by Pedro Murillo, a libertador, a hero of the people of La Paz. He actually lived in one of the houses. The houses are now mostly museums.

Calle Jaen - Museum central!

We visited the museum of musical instsruments. It was very interesting! Especially after what the ceramic artist told us yesterday about the art of a people being one of the first things that a conquering country tries to destroy.

This doll made us think of our son Seth and all his musical talents.

Molly in front of a map of all the different kinds of instruments and the
areas in Bolivia where they were created.

 Native Bolivian instruments:

Want to see Seth play this guitar!

Or this one!

Next we went to Plaza Murillo, where the Government buildings are, walked around the plaza, watched all the birds land on people's heads and arms to feed, and heard about the libertadors. One who had his statue erected was Pedro Murillo. Another one was a man who got his head taken off. His body and head were placed in two different coffins in the crypt of the Cathedral San Francisco which we had the opportunity of visiting a little later.

We were too late to go inside the central Cathedral, so we got back in the van and headed to the Calle de las Brujas. Brujas are witches. It is mostly a tourist trap now but it was very interesting to see all the shops. Many had llama fetuses to bury in your yard for good luck etc. Charlie bought me a Cholita doll that looks just like the cholitas in La Paz. That was so sweet of him, he knows I love the cholitas. This whole trip he and Sue Ellen have been taking pictures of the cholitas. They also had beautiful aguayos, sweaters, shawls, bags galore, etc.

Need a dead llama for luck?

Lots of interesting, colorful fabrics.

Here's a picture of a cholita doll that Charlie got for me at the witches market:

We next traveled up to a look out point where we could see the whole city. It was spectacular! Charlie took a photosphere and a panoramic picture of it (the railing is messed up because I was trying to avoid getting a lot of people in the picture! - Chuck) There was also a tree that was 700 years old. It was too cloudy however to see Illimani, the huge snow capped mountain at the end of the valley. Hopefully we will see it before we go.

We went inside the Cathedral San Francisco. It was quite amazing. From a tiny, low ceiling, narrow stairway to the roof and the belfry down to the crypt and everything in between which was a very very glippy ornate, very Catholic cathedral. It was very interesting.

We said thanks and good bye to Heidi. We took the long way home to the Pozo's by way of Charlie's old mission office which is now a big LDS church building where they have mission offices and church offices as well as a chapel for Ward meetings. He did recognize the park by the church, where he and his companion took their pictures 40 years ago.

By this time it was about 2:00 pm and we were all hungry and tired so we came home for yummy left overs and a rest.

The Pozos had a meeting to go to at the chapel and said they would drop us off downtown if we'd like. There is a "county fair-type" thing going on during January & February so we went. It was fun, lots of vendors, game tosses for prizes, fried foods, miniatures (if you buy them, they give you luck toward getting the real thing) etc. Plus a lot of kids playing foosball.

Afterwards, we took a taxi home. The traffic in La Paz is much worse than the traffic in Cochabamba. It took us a half hour to go about a mile before we found a side street that would let us make some progress.

Wednesday 24 February 2016
Maria Pozo fixed us yummy pancakes for breakfast. By 9 or so we were all in their SUV to take the yellow line Teleferico to the top to meet the Paredes who came home from their mission at the temple yesterday. The Pozos wanted to take us to the Yungas which takes pretty much all day and this was the only way we could see the Paredes and go to the Yungas.

The Paredes, Angles, and Lyons at the El Alto Teleferico station.

The Pozos relaxing while we visited with the Paredes.

I have always wanted to go to the jungle and see monkeys there. The Yungas are in the jungle. To get there is an adventure in itself.

We drove up out of one valley reaching over 15000 feet, and then descended into the Yungas down in another valley at about 3400 feet. It took about two hours to get there on very winding wet roads. However, the scenery was fantastic! We couldn't see much because of the thick fog or clouds, but even that was beautiful. The mountainside was covered in lush grasses and flowers and trees. There were also many waterfalls. It was quite spectacular!

Taking pictures while moving is always an adventure.

Here's another photosphere taken along the highway.

In The Yungas there is a place called La Senda Verde, or The Green Path. It is an animal refuge. All the animals have been donated or rescued and brought to this place where they are well cared for. They have a lot of parrots, McCaws, a tucan, a capibara, a caiman, lots of large turtles and some smaller tarapin turtles that are not native to Bolivia but all others are. The species they have the most of are monkeys - capuchins, howlers and spider. They were so fun to watch. I have never heard howler monkeys make such noise, very loud. A few of the Spider monkeys had babies on their backs.

We met the man who started this place. He has always loved animals and this is a dream come true for him. He had a baby spider monkey with him. It had on a diaper and could not use its legs or feet. When they got it, it couldn't use its tail either, but with their care it is getting better and is starting to use its tail. We were in a "human cage" (a giant long doggy run) so we didn't have any monkeys jumping on us. We really enjoyed the La Senda Verde.

Here's a video of the Howler monkeys. We were told that they can be heard up to five miles away.

Thursday 25 February 2016
Our driver today was Juan, Ricardo's brother in law. He came for us a little before 8:30 this morning. The Pozos got up to see us off. They have been so generous and fun. What examples of a loving fun happy marriage.

We got to the airport about 9:45 to pick up the Russells and Hills. Their flight was delayed in Lima and they arrived a little after 3. So we hung out at the airport. We got something to eat. Charlie's tummy wasn't feeling well so he had a Cuñape and Sprite.  I had a chicken empanada, my first, and a strawberry drink with milk. It was quite tasty. We also bought some crackers and sugar free strawberry candies. The Angles ate hamburgers downstairs at the Factory. Juan ate with his buddies somewhere close by.

The airport was cold and we were sleepy so we found Juan and slept in the van. The Angles eventually joined us.

The Russells and Hills got in with just a little trouble with customs.

We took a very interesting, bumpy, interesting "short cut" through El Alto to get to the main road to Lake Titicaca. El Alto is on the high plane is very spread out, newer buildings, was very different from La Paz's bowl shape where every house is built right on top of another. Almost every woman I saw was in Cholita dress.

I loved all the little villages out in the campo that we passed. A lot of farm land, sheep, cows, llamas, donkeys. I saw a cholita of about 10 years getting water for her cow. Their were beautiful churches up on the hillside. The scenery was beautiful.

We started seeing the Lake and it kept going and going. It is huge. We stopped and took pictures. We went over a pass 14,000 feet to get to Copacabana, a quaint touristy town on the lake, where we are stayed the night.

To get there we had to cross part of Lake Titi Caca on a barge, van and all. It was awesome. Our raft didn't look like it would hold our big 10 passenger van, the boards were rickety rotted and not all there. But we did. Our driver opened our door and encouraged us to get out and take pictures. It was so fun to be on the lake, to see it, and feel the waves. I loved it. A real adventure. (These looked llike they could have been the same barges we used 40 years ago! Chuck)

Pulling away.

We arrived!

Bailing water out of one of the other barges.

Once on the other side we climbed the mountain to get to Copacabana. Again the scenery with the lake and the little lake communities, was spectacular. I was so glad our delay at the airport didn't keep us from seeing all of this before the sun went down.

We ate at a really nice restaurant. I had trout, vegetables in a creamy tomato sauce that I mixed with the quinoa. The trout was grilled and had a lovely flavor. Charlie sat by Juan at dinner and talked to him a lot. I love to hear him talk to Bolivians. Juan is not a member of our Church. Charlie and Chris talked to him quite a bit earlier about the temple and Eternal Families. I know he liked being with us. I hope some good seeds were planted. Our room was wonderful. A sitting area with a balcony and all the luxuries.

The view from our room at Copacabana.

Friday 26 February 2016
We drove to Tiwanaku after looking around Copacabana for a few minutes. The central cathedral at Copacabana is very ornate. It is the religious center of Bolivia. For the week before Easter, people walk from La Paz carrying stones to place on the Calvary mountain just outside Copacabana. The heavier the stones, the more sins will be forgiven according to their beliefs. It mixes the indigenous Pachamama worship of the earth with the Catholic traditions, from what we've been told.

At Tiawanaku we had a lovely meal. The owner of the restaurant was a sweet man 60 years old His daughter helped serve and his son was our guide. I was the only one in the group who ordered llama, but I think more actually took some to taste as we ate in buffet style. It was quite tasty. It was a lovely meal.

The tour was very interesting. It made me want to learn more about the ruins of Tiawanaku.

Here are a few pictures - it was quite rainy:

Puerta del Sol

Our guide pointing to one of the walls of the Temple of Kalasasaya.

The main entrance to the Temple of Kalasasaya, with one of the stellas framed by the doorway. Our group is featured, with
Molly on the left.

[This is Charles/Chuck's parting comments:
Tiawanaku wasn't as interesting as I had hoped. It seems that it hasn't been as well developed and researched as one might imagine, at least here at the site. One comment that amused me was the assertion by our guide that there were carved images of extraterrestrials, who helped build the site. Interesting.

And, just before we flew home, the clouds parted, and we got a little bit of a view of Illimani over La Paz. I had hoped to see something better, but this was the best I could get:

]