Quiriza

[26 March 2017]

President Davila, our District President, asked us if we would like to go with him and the District Young Women’s President and our Branch Primary President (who is almost 18) to attend Sunday meetings in the branch in Quiriza. Of course we would love to go.

The road to Quiriza was a real treat for us. It took us an hour to go 14 miles on a narrow, winding, dirt road. But the scenery was spectacular. We felt like we were in Capitol Reef in Southern Utah. There was even a part that looked like Cathedral Valley. Charlie took some good pictures. We couldn’t stop oohing and aahing at least in our hearts and minds, and sometimes out loud.

Here are a couple of the pictures along the way:

On the road to Quiriza.

The Quiriza Chapel

Whoops - this one really is southern Utah - Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef National Park.

Every once in a while, along the road there were little communities – “pueblitos” – of 4-6 adobe houses. I asked President Davila where they get their water and what do they eat. He told me the water comes from the river, which seemed like quite a ways away to me and they eat what they grow, lots of corn – “choclo” – and garlic –  “ajo” – and they raise goats and chickens. I did see a few horses and some goats.

There was a sister walking along the road from one of these little pueblitos. She was going to Quiriza to attend the LDS Branch. It would take her about two hours to walk to church. She is very faithful and is usually in attendance.

In 1967, Elder Spencer W. Kimball (Apostle) dedicated Bolivia for the preaching of the gospel. While there, he also dedicated the first chapel in Bolivia, in Quiriza.

In the February 1977 Ensign there is an article about the chapel in Quiriza, here is an excerpt:
“There’s an amazing chapel in Bolivia, the only chapel that has been officially dedicated in the country. When Elder Spencer W. Kimball’s visit to Bolivia was announced in the mid-1960s—at that time he was a member of the Council of the Twelve—the members in Quiriza, a small branch near the Argentine border, set themselves the goal of having their chapel ready to be dedicated.

“It was already under construction, and according to Hernán Sainz, now president of the La Paz Bolivia Central District, all went well until it was time to put the center beam in place. Then, to the members’ dismay, they discovered that someone had made a mistake: the beam was a good two feet too short. Splicing was impossible since the beam had to be in one piece to support the roof. The nearest city where they could get another was several hours away by bus, and they couldn’t guess how long ordering, cutting, and shipping it would take. Almost certainly, though, it would be impossible for them to finish the chapel in time.

“Discouraged, they held a special fast and prayed for the Lord’s help. The next morning, however, there still seemed to be no alternative to ordering the new beam, so they met at the chapel and lifted the beam up to take measurements. And it fit! It fit perfectly. The members who worship under that roof now share the quiet strength that comes from an unmistakable reminder that the Lord hears and answers prayer.”

The roof beam in the chapel at Quiriza.

It is a lovely chapel. When I walked through the doors I felt the Spirit very strongly. It was sacred ground, and The Spirit resides there. We got there in the middle of the Sunday School lesson that the Elders were teaching. There were about 6 people in attendance. More came after us but only a few. The sister that we passed along the way who was walking from a little pueblito gave the closing prayer in Sunday School.

After Sunday School we divided into our various classes. The Primary and Young Women met in classrooms, the Priesthood met in the Chapel, and the Relief Society went out front to sit in the garden on cement benches. It was a beautiful setting. The Relief Society President gave the lesson and conducted. She welcomed me there. She said they didn't have manuals so she was giving the lesson from a pamphlet on Self Reliance –  “Autosuficiencia”. I was impressed with her lesson and the comments that were made by the sisters. It was interesting to hear how self-reliance applies in this area where you can't be anything but self-reliant. She talked about what happens if there is no water in the river, and how our talents can be developed into skills that can earn us money if needed. She talked about some of the sisters there and how well they make certain dishes that they could sell. She talked about living the Word of Wisdom and how it will bless our children's lives and help them be more self-sufficient rather than addicted. She covered all six areas very well.

The Relief Society classroom.

I enjoyed visiting with the sisters before Sacrament Meeting. One older sister said something to me in Quechua. When I said something back to her in Quechua, all the sisters perked up and wanted to talk to me. Quechua is their major language in Quiriza. I don’t know very many phrases but learned some things while serving in the Temple in Cochabamba. I taught them some phrases in English. I love these sisters.

In the previous blog, we mentioned the man who was one of the first members in Bolivia (Diogenes Martinez). He passed the Sacrament and gave one of the prayers in Sacrament Meeting. I felt so much love for these faithful Saints. It was such a privilege to be with them, feel of their strength and their testimonies and especially, to partake of the Sacrament with them. I could see His image in their countenances. I told them so too as we were asked to bear our testimonies along with the other two sisters that came with us.

The road back was even more beautiful with full and happy hearts.

On a more mundane note, we finally got a bed frame, so we’re no longer sleeping on the floor. The Branch President in Rama América, Presidente Huarachi, is a carpenter, and he made it for us. It is lovely.

Before the slats are in.

With the mattress in place.

And, just to give you a feel for one of our means of transportation, here’s a link to a video of a “Torito”, or moto-taxi:

A moto-taxi, or Torito, in Tupiza, Bolivia.

And, just in case you want to see more of Quiriza, here's a link from our Mission President and his wife's blog about their trip to Quiriza. They had more time to take pictures because they didn't have a taxi driver waiting to return them to Tupiza.

President and Sister Hansen's blog - Trip to Quiriza

The City of Tupiza

[13 March 2017]

Tupiza Central Plaza

Tupiza is a relatively small town located in a north to south oriented valley. It is bounded on the east and west by very distinctive mountains. They are beautiful red-rock mountains, and are very beautiful.

East side of Tupiza valley.

West side of Tupiza valley.

Population wise, various sources (one of them being the Spanish Wikipedia site, another the English version) indicate that there were 44,000 inhabitants in 2009 and 25,000 in 2012. I don’t know that it really shrank that much in those years, or if they are using different political boundaries. I suspect that the higher number includes the whole municipal area, possibly extending well outside the valley itself.

Rio Tupiza - medium full. It's usually much drier than this.

 More telling, though, is the geography. One site indicates that the area of the town itself is 10 km2, with 7.5 km2 being land, and 2.5 km2 being water. The latter number is misleading, though, since the very prominent “Rio Tupiza” coursing through the middle of town (see the map) is most often nearly completely dry. After a significant rainstorm, it fills in partially, and the locals say that there are times that it is full from bank to bank. We haven’t seen that, yet.

To get a feel for the size of the main portion of town, take a look at the map (taken from Google Maps) below. The straight-line distance from Rama America, north of the river, to Rama Tupiza, in the downtown area, is barely more than one mile. So far, we have been as far north as the Centro de Salud San Antonio (one of the missionaries got bit by a dog and we accompanied him there to start his series of rabies shots) just north of Rama America, to the Mercado Campesino to the south. East to west, we’ve been as far west as the Tobogán El Molle (a big concrete slide for kids to play on) to Rama Tupiza. That is a distance of less than 500 meters, or about 1500 feet – a third of a mile. So, our stomping grounds here in Tupiza amount to about 1/3 of a square mile, or 8/10 km2. Or, put in perspective or our American Fork 12th Ward – about 1½ times the size of the entire ward area. Not very big. Depending on the weather, the status of the roads (very muddy after a storm), and how we feel, it is not a very long walk to walk from where we live north of the river down to church at the Rama Tupiza building. (Our apartment is noted on the map as “Tupiza Home”near the blue dot – about a quarter mile to the Rama America.)

Tupiza came into existence, again as reported by the Spanish Wikipedia site, in the late 1500’s. There are mining activities in the mountains around Tupiza, and agricultural activities in the valley and surrounding areas. There are plenty of fruits and vegetables, with some coming from Argentina as well.

We are only about an hour and a half from the Argentine border. There is one branch there, Villazón, that we will go and visit soon. There is another branch in Quiriza, again about an hour from Tupiza, but more to the west. These four branches, two in Tupiza, the one in Quiriza, and the one in Villazón are the extent of our responsibilities for now. When the new Mission President comes in June, that may change, but it gives us a nice area to work in for now.

Church History

The branch in Quiriza is one of the earliest in Bolivia. Missionaries came from Argentina to work there at the request of a member from Quiriza who had been baptized (as I have heard it) in Argentina. He wanted to share the gospel with his family and neighbors, and was the impetus for the building of the first LDS Chapel in Bolivia. Elder Richard G. Scott was the Mission President in the Argentine mission when this happened. He accompanied some missionaries to Quiriza. There are numerous accounts of a miracle associated with the placing of the main roof beam. When they went to place it, they found that it was too short – it wouldn’t fit. The members went to bed after praying for a miracle, and when they went to fit the beam the next day, it fit.

The branch in Quiriza has about 70 members to this day, and they are still very faithful.
When I was here in Bolivia as a missionary in 1975 and 1976, there was one branch in Tupiza. I don’t know how big it was, how active, etc., but I’m trying to find accounts of that time. Over the years, there have been branches opened and closed here, leaving two branches now – the Tupiza and the America branches. There are many members of record, but some have moved away, and the records need to be sent after them. Many young people go to Cochabamba to school, others go to Cochabamba due to jobs, the economy, etc. Attendance here at the Tupiza branch is about 100 to 120 each Sunday.

The chapels here in Tupiza are very nice. I don’t know in what year they were constructed, but they are the same general style as those in Cochabamba. Very functional, very nice. The Tupiza branch has a nice electric piano for accompanying meetings, which I very much enjoy playing.

Tupiza Branch Chapel

Shopping

We don’t have any supermarkets, like IC Norte in Cochabamba, but we have managed to find most of what we need with a bit (sometimes a lot) of searching. We ask lots of questions, and the general answer is to go to the Mercado Negro or the Mecado Central Tupiza in the map. It’s a little past halfway between where we live and the Tupiza branch chapel, and it sits right between the two main north-south streets that we traverse. The bus we take, when we’re being lazy – route 1, goes right past it. We’ve found blankets, material for curtains, our oven, microwave, blender, a shaver, fans, dishes, cane sugar, honey, cocoa, flour, sugar, shower head, extension cords, scissors, hammer, screwdrivers, tape, hangers, floor squeegee, mirror, towels, tablecloths, shower curtain (OK, a sheet of plastic), printer paper, sheets for the bed, cleaning rags, shampoo, etc. Pretty much anything you can think of is there, much like La Cancha in Cochabamba, but much smaller.

We go to the Mercado Campesino for fruits and vegetables on Thursdays, and Mercado La Paz on other days of the week. The bananas here aren’t as good as those in Cochabamba, but are still pretty good. We’ve found everything except good cilantro, pretty much.

As you go down the two main shopping streets, especially (Rgto. Chichas and Santa Cruz), every building seems to be a store front for something. There are panaderias, PIL milk outlets, various “Friales” that basically sell everything from candy to soda pop to crackers, etc. There are mueblerias (furniture stores), ferreterías (hardware stores), peluquerias (barbershops), electronic stores, and lots of places selling all kinds of DVD’s – suspiciously devoid of original packaging, and apparently burned in someone’s back room. There are tiendas selling meat, fruits, vegetables, paper products, etc. If you ask around and are persistent, you can find what you are looking for. Today, we finally found good chocolate to bake into chocolate chip cookies!

Eating

Tupiza has many, many pizza restaurants. We’ve eaten at one, and the pizza was very good. We haven’t eaten at any other locations, but the missionaries have a list of places they like. Eventually we’ll give some of them a try.

We do like, and trust, the rotisserie chickens we’ve gotten (pollo al spiedo). As Molly indicated, we get about one every week, eat some of the meat for dinner, carve the rest off the bones and save it, and then cook what’s left down with some vegetables to make a tasty broth that she makes soup from through the week.

Streets

The streets in the center of town are mostly paved, but many are of the hexagonal concrete block variety. The water seeps between the blocks, and there are many places where the surface is very uneven. It’s interesting to ride in the little moto-taxis, and see the maneuvers they use to avoid the worst spots.

Closer to where we live, the pavement takes various forms, and non-forms. In the main street, it appears that the street was once a cobblestone street that they covered with a thin layer of asphalt. With all the recent storms, there are many, many, deep pot holes, and the buses, moto-taxis, vehicles of every sort have to drive very slowly to avoid ruining their suspensions.

In front of our apartment, the street is paved, but usually covered in layers of dirt and dust, because every vehicle that comes down it brings the mud from the main thouroughfare. In the picture below, you can’t really tell that our street is paved, except you don’t see ruts and pot holes.

Our street - Thomás Frias.

Calle Tumusla - typical street in Tupiza.

Out away from the central area, the streets may be mostly just dirt or gravel. Sidewalks everywhere are uneven, non-standard, sometimes crumbling, sometimes non-existent. You have to take care walking everywhere, because sometimes, you are forced to walk in the street.

Food in Tupiza

[1 March 2017]

I have really been spoiled over the years!  I don’t remember what it was like having to start from scratch with getting a stove, refrigerator, dishes etc. We are so grateful that our Mission President and his wife helped us find, deliver, and install these items.

Our dear missionary friends from the Temple in Cochabamba, to whom we are very grateful, saved a lot of our kitchen and office things that we had purchased and left for others to use. They boxed them up, put them on a bus and sent them on to Tupiza.

It was like Christmas opening three big boxes full of very useful items. Sister Farnsworth did such a good job packing everything. She wrapped a lot of things in the wonderful paper towels that I have only been able to find in Cochabamba. I untaped them very carefully and have used, washed, and re-used them many times. One thing that we inherited from another missionary couple, which has been the most valuable (I use it at least 3 times a day), is a tea kettle. I had no idea how much I would need and use a tea kettle. Thank you, Susan and whoever donated the tea kettle to us. There were also some spices.

We feel very healthy here, now that our colds are mostly over and we are used to the altitude. We eat pretty well, too. There isn’t the variety of produce that we had in Cochabamba, but what we do get is fresh and tasty.

We have really kind and helpful landlords (dueños).  We asked them one day where the best place to buy produce was. Nora got her purse and went with us. We went to the Mercado Campesino. It is about a half mile from where we go to church. It is quite large, similar to the feria in Cochabamba that we would go to every Saturday, but much bigger, with a food court in the center. After walking the whole place and showing us where the freshest produce was, she left us and we were on our own. We mostly just buy apples, oranges, mandarinas, bananas, limes, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers (bell and locoto), green beans, carrots (haven’t seen celery), onions, nothing unusual. We also buy flour, salt, sugar, oats, rice, cereal (Quaker oats and honey – Cheerios). We also get eggs there. We have learned to check the date. We haven’t found any cilantro yet.

We have also gone to the Mercado La Paz to get things like bouillon, canned peaches, and yeast among other things. We heard that we can get fresh cilantro at this market on Wednesdays.
 

Mercado La Paz

Our friend at the Mercado – she seems to have just about
everything somewhere in her little booth.

The sister missionaries told us about a store where you could get real cheese and Peanut Butter. I thought we would have to do without these much-loved staples. They described the store like an Albertsons. We did finally find what they were talking about. You can tell they’ve been here a while - it is just like all the other little tiendas, but it does have these items. The lady at the store is even trying to order us some cheddar cheese. So nice. It is one of the PIL outlets, which is the brand of milk that we get. So we get milk, butter and yogurt there as well. (Note: The owner did get pre-sliced, PIL Cheddar cheese for us!)

In the Black Market (like La Cancha in Cochabamba, but smaller), where you can buy everything else – fans, bedding, fabric, refrigerator, stove, make up, etc.  –  we found powdered cocoa for cooking and some really good honey. We also found cane sugar while looking for something to approximate brown sugar to make cookies with. We were asking for “miel de caña” (honey of cane sugar), and the owner told us if you just boil the cane sugar in water, you get molasses. It worked!

Cane sugar and home-made molasses.

Chocolate Chip cookies!

So if you keep looking and asking, you can “pretty much” find what you’re looking for. Or just get creative and find another way to make it.

We buy our meat, chicken, at the rotisserie restaurant . We have several close by our house.  We eat part of it for dinner and I take the meat off the bones for later and make stock out of everything else. It lasts us all week and the stock is good too.

Humintas

Our dueños have brought us over humintas, which are like tamales with corn and cheese inside of a type of corn bread and wrapped in corn husks and either fried or boiled. We like the fried the best. They also have a grinding stone on the balcony out our kitchen window. Whenever he is using it I watch and ask questions. He makes llajua, which is like salsa and quite tasty. He showed me how he puts the seeds from the locoto peppers in a little cup of water and tosses them over the balcony into his garden and that’s where his peppers come from.

We are having a wonderful adventure and learning a lot from these sweet, humble people.