Sorry for not posting last night, but it was way too busy around here for that. We have been invaded by a group that just arrived and they were unloading, moving and just generally everywhere last night so it wasn't possible to get to the computer. We now have 17 new teenage girls and two chaperons as roommates. To make room for them all, Lukas has moved to the couch in the living room and Logan and Jordan have moved to a big foam mattress in our room. It also means that kitchen space and dishes are in short supply.
Everybody knows I love spending time around large groups of people, so I have resorted to finding a chair outside to get some cave time. Its not working very well however because somebody is always coming outside to wander or just to chat.
This afternoon, we are headed over to Jorge and Vivianna's place for coffee and then we are at Kens place where his boys are cooking us a big supper since we will be heading home soon.
New Houses and The Clasico
Today was a very full day and everyone is tired and cranky as I write tonight's post. We started the day out with the usual Sunday routine of church where Melody taught the little kids to sing This Little Light of Mine and they performed it at the end to great applause. Following church we went for the usual after church lunch which consisted of.........chicken, yuca, rice, plantain and french fries. I can tell you that when we get home, we will not be eating chicken any time soon.
As soon as we got dropped off from lunch by Ken, we were immediately picked up by Corrina for our afternoon visits to some of Melody's students houses. The two we went to see today are Jenny and Sandra. These two are both married with kids of their own, but attend El Jordan to learn new things to bring money into the house. Sandra just moved out of the one room that her husband, 3 kids and her had been renting that shared a bathroom with 4 other families into their new house that they had been building for a while. Their new house is a simple 4 room brick house that her husband and his friends had worked on brick by brick as they could afford them over the last couple of years. Its very basic, but a HUGE step up for the family.
One of the biggest differences for them is to have an indoor kitchen. They still don't have running water in the house, so they still have only the one outdoor water tap but the kitchen is still a big step up for them. Melody spent lots of time with Sandra, so seeing their house and saying goodbye to Sandra was quite an emotional moment for them both.
We also got over to Jenny's new house which isn't finished as of yet, but any time they are not working, they are at the new house working on it. Jenny is the oldest student at El Jordan, and has been married for 18 years. Jenny says it is only in the last three years that her and her husband have really started to believe that they are worth anything in the world, and that any money they have is important and valuable to them and not to waste it. Jenny's husband is a welder, and the way the pay system works here is that they are paid 14 times a year. Once per month, and a second pay cheque at Christmas. The 14th pay cheque is almost another bonus cheque, but the way his company works is that they pay it out every 5th year for the past 5 years. That means that they get a big cheque once every 5 years. Instead of wasting it as they had in the past, they immediately paid for a plot of land. Ever since then, they have been buying building supplies every time they have any money and have been building their house ever since.
Its been two years of manual labor, but they now have a very small 4 room house almost ready to move into. It does not have an indoor kitchen or bathroom, but is a giant step up for this family. When we arrived, they were taking a break in the future living room. Here are some pictures of what two years of sweat will get you.
They only have a couple of things left to do before moving in, but they are not the cheapest items. They need to buy windows which will be single pane with wood frames, and they need to either cement the floor or tile it. After that they will be moved in and they are really looking forward to it. Right now, 6 of them live in one room the size of their new living room.
We finished up the visit, and made our way to meet Jorge, his son, Tonchi and Ken to go to the Clasico soccer game between Oriente and Blooming. I can honestly say I have never been to a sporting event with the atmosphere of this soccer game. One end of the stadium is painted blue for Blooming, the other end is painted Green for Oriente and the people who do not want to get trampled sit on the sides. We were on the sides, but they fans are rabid no matter where you sit in the stadium.
From the minute they enter the stadium until the time they leave, they are chanting, singing, banging drums or blasting off fireworks. On the way in, I had bought a Blooming flag to wave, but the police on the way in took my flag stick leaving me with only a flag. They took my flag stick, but you can take FIREWORKS and lighters in. Boy do they light fireworks. When the teams come out, the ends of the stadium light up like they are literally on fire and a giant smoke cloud goes over the field.
A couple of things worried me. The first is that the sections of the stadium are separated by chain link fence, and on top of the fence is barbed wire. I have seen the videos of the South American soccer riots that ended with people trampled or squashed on the fence, and that was the first thing that jumped to my mind. Didn't happen today however. The second thing that worried me was that they had police in full riot gear with helmets and shields every 20 feet along the side of the field. Again, we didn't need to worry, because they spent the whole time watching the game. Our officers would never go to a raiders game and just watch the game. They would watch the crowd the whole time. :)
The game was high spirited because the two teams hate each other, and two red cards were eventually given out. One to the Oriente goalie for a vicious elbow to the jaw on a player trying to head a ball, the other to a Blooming player who tried a slide tackle about 2 feet above the ball which resulted in the Oriente player going off on a stretcher and not returning. Oriente ended up winning the game 2-0 which made Logan happy since he was the only one really cheering for Oriente. The final goal was right in front of us and was a beautiful bicycle kick goal. Even though Blooming lost, we still exited the stadium blowing our Blooming horns. A good time was had by all.
As soon as we got dropped off from lunch by Ken, we were immediately picked up by Corrina for our afternoon visits to some of Melody's students houses. The two we went to see today are Jenny and Sandra. These two are both married with kids of their own, but attend El Jordan to learn new things to bring money into the house. Sandra just moved out of the one room that her husband, 3 kids and her had been renting that shared a bathroom with 4 other families into their new house that they had been building for a while. Their new house is a simple 4 room brick house that her husband and his friends had worked on brick by brick as they could afford them over the last couple of years. Its very basic, but a HUGE step up for the family.
Its been two years of manual labor, but they now have a very small 4 room house almost ready to move into. It does not have an indoor kitchen or bathroom, but is a giant step up for this family. When we arrived, they were taking a break in the future living room. Here are some pictures of what two years of sweat will get you.
We finished up the visit, and made our way to meet Jorge, his son, Tonchi and Ken to go to the Clasico soccer game between Oriente and Blooming. I can honestly say I have never been to a sporting event with the atmosphere of this soccer game. One end of the stadium is painted blue for Blooming, the other end is painted Green for Oriente and the people who do not want to get trampled sit on the sides. We were on the sides, but they fans are rabid no matter where you sit in the stadium.
From the minute they enter the stadium until the time they leave, they are chanting, singing, banging drums or blasting off fireworks. On the way in, I had bought a Blooming flag to wave, but the police on the way in took my flag stick leaving me with only a flag. They took my flag stick, but you can take FIREWORKS and lighters in. Boy do they light fireworks. When the teams come out, the ends of the stadium light up like they are literally on fire and a giant smoke cloud goes over the field.
Arachnophobia and Waterfalls
Melody taught her class this morning, and it went well. I could go into more detail, but I can't write very much about painting fingernails cause I'm a guy.
At noon, Ken came over and we were supposed to grab lunch quickly and head out to some waterfalls in the middle of the jungle a couple of hours away. Well, first we had to give Ruddy some money to buy us some tickets to the soccer game tomorrow night, then we had to pick up Roberto from work, and then we had to go back to Ruddy to give him more money because they had upped the ticket prices since last season. To keep it brief, we ended up hitting Burger King (the only fast food joint here), and eating on the road at 2:00.
The road to the waterfalls is the same road that goes out to El Camino, but instead of continuing on that far, you ironically turn at the exact spot where Logan split his head open a few weeks ago. Keep on going until you get to the river, drive THROUGH the river, then you get on what they call a road in Bolivia. Basically, it consists of a series of large rocks, mud pits, mostly dry creek beds and pot holes. It had rained earlier this week, so anywhere that was shady, was foot deep mud and anywhere sunny, was foot deep dried ruts.
The road was entertaining enough, but this time of year in the jungle is also giant spider time apparently. All along the side of the road every 10 feet are huge 5 to 10 foot wide spiderwebs with very large scary spiders on them. We stopped and took a bunch of pictures which I will upload tomorrow when I get my camera back from Ken. He borrowed it to take passport pictures for his boys because he is trying to bring them to Canada later this year. Anyways, these webs are the kind that you see on Discovery Channel or Nature Channel. They are very impressive, especially in the sunlight, and are much stronger than the little webs we have at home. I poked at one with a stick and really wasn't able to break it without swinging the stick at it. Then I ran back into the truck when the spider started running from the middle of its web to where I was whacking.
We continued on the road for the next hour or so and we all took turns whacking our heads on the windows as we hit the big bumps. I took the worst knock while I tried to take a video of us going through a really bad section of mud when the truck slid into a really deep rut and I smacked my head on the outside of the front window. The kids thought it was hilarious however until they smacked their heads on the windows too.
We finally arrived at the entrance to the waterfalls where they have some bbq and camping sites and everyone had to go to the bathroom. Of course, as is the tradition in Bolivia, the bathroom will cost you 1 Boliviano, and only after paying, do you get some toilet paper. If you need more, you pay again.
From the parking area, its a bit of a walk down a jungle path to the start of the waterfalls. The only problem was that over the path, are the same huge spiderwebs with the same huge spiders. Not just one or two, but 40 or 50 of them. Lets all take a moment to flashback to the single large spider in our house and Melody's reaction to that. Now lets all picture that reaction times 50. We eventually got her to go down the path and we got to the waterfalls and started the long path up to the top. It was frequently slippery, but thanks to firm grips on the childrens' hands, nobody was injured other than some dirty clothes. Several places along the climb, there are pools of water that are deep enough to jump into, and there were adventurous people doing so all the way up. Lukas wanted to walk over by one, and proceeded to slip and slide about 5 feet down the falls before he got his footing back.
We kept on going and eventually reached the top with the biggest of the waterfalls and a nice pool at the bottom. The kids splashed around a bit, and Ken showed the path up the cliff to jump into the pool at the bottom of the falls. Lukas wanted to climb all the way up, but we stopped him half ways where it got a little steep and slippery. Ken went all the way up and after some prodding, jumped the 20 feet or so into the pool. I have a nice video of it that would take about 3 days to upload, so it will have to wait until we get back to Canada. By the time we got back to the city, it was 8:00 so we just grabbed some food at a restaurant and went home.
It was a good day, and we are all really looking forward to finally seeing a professional soccer game tomorrow after our visits to some more of Melody's students houses in the afternoon. The family is split on who to cheer for because it is a Classico game tomorrow which has the two Santa Cruz teams playing each other. Logan and Jordan are cheering for Oriente and the rest of us are cheering for Blooming. No matter who wins, there will be fireworks a plenty. (no, really they regularly shoot off fireworks in the stands at soccer games here)
At noon, Ken came over and we were supposed to grab lunch quickly and head out to some waterfalls in the middle of the jungle a couple of hours away. Well, first we had to give Ruddy some money to buy us some tickets to the soccer game tomorrow night, then we had to pick up Roberto from work, and then we had to go back to Ruddy to give him more money because they had upped the ticket prices since last season. To keep it brief, we ended up hitting Burger King (the only fast food joint here), and eating on the road at 2:00.
The road to the waterfalls is the same road that goes out to El Camino, but instead of continuing on that far, you ironically turn at the exact spot where Logan split his head open a few weeks ago. Keep on going until you get to the river, drive THROUGH the river, then you get on what they call a road in Bolivia. Basically, it consists of a series of large rocks, mud pits, mostly dry creek beds and pot holes. It had rained earlier this week, so anywhere that was shady, was foot deep mud and anywhere sunny, was foot deep dried ruts.
The road was entertaining enough, but this time of year in the jungle is also giant spider time apparently. All along the side of the road every 10 feet are huge 5 to 10 foot wide spiderwebs with very large scary spiders on them. We stopped and took a bunch of pictures which I will upload tomorrow when I get my camera back from Ken. He borrowed it to take passport pictures for his boys because he is trying to bring them to Canada later this year. Anyways, these webs are the kind that you see on Discovery Channel or Nature Channel. They are very impressive, especially in the sunlight, and are much stronger than the little webs we have at home. I poked at one with a stick and really wasn't able to break it without swinging the stick at it. Then I ran back into the truck when the spider started running from the middle of its web to where I was whacking.
We continued on the road for the next hour or so and we all took turns whacking our heads on the windows as we hit the big bumps. I took the worst knock while I tried to take a video of us going through a really bad section of mud when the truck slid into a really deep rut and I smacked my head on the outside of the front window. The kids thought it was hilarious however until they smacked their heads on the windows too.
We finally arrived at the entrance to the waterfalls where they have some bbq and camping sites and everyone had to go to the bathroom. Of course, as is the tradition in Bolivia, the bathroom will cost you 1 Boliviano, and only after paying, do you get some toilet paper. If you need more, you pay again.
From the parking area, its a bit of a walk down a jungle path to the start of the waterfalls. The only problem was that over the path, are the same huge spiderwebs with the same huge spiders. Not just one or two, but 40 or 50 of them. Lets all take a moment to flashback to the single large spider in our house and Melody's reaction to that. Now lets all picture that reaction times 50. We eventually got her to go down the path and we got to the waterfalls and started the long path up to the top. It was frequently slippery, but thanks to firm grips on the childrens' hands, nobody was injured other than some dirty clothes. Several places along the climb, there are pools of water that are deep enough to jump into, and there were adventurous people doing so all the way up. Lukas wanted to walk over by one, and proceeded to slip and slide about 5 feet down the falls before he got his footing back.
We kept on going and eventually reached the top with the biggest of the waterfalls and a nice pool at the bottom. The kids splashed around a bit, and Ken showed the path up the cliff to jump into the pool at the bottom of the falls. Lukas wanted to climb all the way up, but we stopped him half ways where it got a little steep and slippery. Ken went all the way up and after some prodding, jumped the 20 feet or so into the pool. I have a nice video of it that would take about 3 days to upload, so it will have to wait until we get back to Canada. By the time we got back to the city, it was 8:00 so we just grabbed some food at a restaurant and went home.
It was a good day, and we are all really looking forward to finally seeing a professional soccer game tomorrow after our visits to some more of Melody's students houses in the afternoon. The family is split on who to cheer for because it is a Classico game tomorrow which has the two Santa Cruz teams playing each other. Logan and Jordan are cheering for Oriente and the rest of us are cheering for Blooming. No matter who wins, there will be fireworks a plenty. (no, really they regularly shoot off fireworks in the stands at soccer games here)
The Internet Tubes Are Unclogged
Now that the internet appears to have straightened itself out, here are the pictures that I tried to upload with yesterdays blog post.
Everybody say "AWWWWWWWW, isn't he cute."
And here is a picture of all of us with them. Note Lukas having a moment of self reflection. (grumpy moment)
And here is a picture of all of us with them. Note Lukas having a moment of self reflection. (grumpy moment)
Company Is Coming. Where Are The Ribs???
Today was all about hosts and guests. We started out the day with a visit to Martha and Margoth's house that they share with their three kids. Both of these ladies were in Melody's classes and were kind enough to invite us over for lunch with their family at their house. The two families share the house so they can afford a place to live. The house is basically two rooms, one of which is a bedroom and the other of which is another bedroom/kitchen, then in the back is a bathroom. The running water is in a tap in the yard which doubles as their sink area.
When we arrived, they had a nice little carbon fire going with a grate over top. Down here, they don't use briquettes or wood, they use carbon which is basically pre-burned wood. It lights really easily and burns nice and hot. Its perfect for outdoor cooking when you don't really have an oven or a fire pit to contain the wood fires. We all sat down and chatted for a few minutes (Ken acted as translator), and then they put the meat on the grate. They cooked up some beef skewers and some sausages over the fire, and when they were almost done, they brought out a lettuce and tomato salad, arroz con queso (rice with cheese in it), and boiled yuca.
Bolivians are a very gracious culture when it comes to having guests, and this was no exception. The food they put forth is probably the most and best they could afford, and it was all very good, especially the skewered beef. There weren't enough forks to go around, so I ate my food with a spoon and knife, and we had to share cups. We have had the cheese rice many times since we got here, and today was the first one that I actually liked. They also had a fresh batch of chicha to drink. It was the first opportunity we have had to try it, but unfortunately, it was not to our liking.
After we ate, the kids got a chance to play with the 4 and 5 year old girls and to kick the soccer ball we brought around with the little boy. We thanked them very much for their kindness after a little conversation, but we had to get going because we were having Tonchi, Jorge, Vivianna and Noelia over for supper tonight at our place.
Our guests for the evening had requested something that they wouldn't get in Bolivia, so we had decided to make lemon potatoes and pork ribs for supper with a spice rub that I use at home. The only catch is that they don't really eat pork ribs here, so we knew it would be a challenge to find the ribs as well as the spices that I needed for the rub since most of the food here uses next to no spices. We made our way to the first butcher shop and when we asked for pork back ribs, she held up a strip of some kind of pork meat, so we knew we were not going to find them there. I am pretty good with my meat cuts, and I think that one may have been something we would have made sausage or dog food out of.
We then tried the supermarket and we managed to find most of the spices I needed except for onion powder which apparently doesn't exist in Bolivia that we are aware of. We also went to the meat counter to ask about the pork ribs. First of all, the supermarket here doesn't really carry much pork. This is a chicken and beef kind of country, but they did have some pork today. Sure they have ribs.......they are attached to the side of the pig. They just aren't detached from the side of the pig. So, that was when Ken remembered his friend whose family runs a pig farm and has their own butchers on site.
Ken called his friend and very carefully explained that we were looking for pork back ribs. She called the butcher at their place and he said "Sure!!!! I know exactly what they want!!! Skin off right??" I had Ken confirm the description again, and we ordered 5 kg of ribs to be picked up later in the day. Total cost $12.
Ken showed up at our door with a bag in his hand and declared "Here they are."
I brought them into the house where Melody and Lukas were peeling potatoes like crazy, and since we were running short on time, had everything laid out to season the ribs and throw them in the oven. I opened the bag........now this is the scene in the movie where the camera starts in close on the actors face and his eyes get all wide and then the camera pulls back from the look of astonishment on the actors face. Then it cuts over to the image of what the actor is looking at. So to give you that image, I opened the bag and there before me was a 5kg side of pig with one rack of ribs still attached to the side of the pig. ONE!!!!! We are having 7 people over for supper and I have ONE rack of ribs and a side of pork meat that is unbutchered.
Has anyone seen the show on Food Network called Dinner Impossible. Now I know how he feels all the time. I got the sharpest dull knife I could find out of the drawer, and started to disassemble the different muscle groups from the side of the pig, and carefully removed the rack of ribs so we would have that one pristine rack to be served. Then I ripped, tore, hacked and darn near gnawed off the silverskin and fat layers from the pork so we had a bunch of nice rib thick pieces of pork. We threw the spice rub on as fast as we could and threw them in the oven. Think the fun was over???? Nope.
.
Remember that ovens here are propane? The problem with propane ovens is that the temperatures are very difficult to keep constant, and its almost impossible to have a temperature in the over below about 350. For ribs in the oven, I want 300 degrees, no more, no less for a good 2 to 2.5 hours. When I checked them 1.5 hours in, they were done, and the sugars in the rub that were not on the meat had turned to a black caramel that had coated the bottom of the aluminum cookware. But at least I still had that pristine rack of ribs as my show piece.
Roll the clock back about an hour from where we are and we will now talk about the potatoes. We made lemon potatoes and had them ready for the oven in the other suite which they said we could use as well. The time comes to put them in the oven, and we go over to do so and find out that the oven is too small to fit both pans of potatoes in on the same rack, and there is only one rack. ARGGGGHHHHH. I managed to wedge in the rack and the broiler pan as a second rack and get the door closed.
Everything finishes up fine just as the guests arrive, and we manage to put out a meal of bbq pork pieces, lemon potatoes, green beans and ONE PRISTINE RACK OF RIBS.
So, whats the moral of the story??
Next time, just cook chicken, yuca, plantains, french fries and rice.
p.s. I tried to put pictures in, but the internet tubes were all clogged up today so it was taking too long.
When we arrived, they had a nice little carbon fire going with a grate over top. Down here, they don't use briquettes or wood, they use carbon which is basically pre-burned wood. It lights really easily and burns nice and hot. Its perfect for outdoor cooking when you don't really have an oven or a fire pit to contain the wood fires. We all sat down and chatted for a few minutes (Ken acted as translator), and then they put the meat on the grate. They cooked up some beef skewers and some sausages over the fire, and when they were almost done, they brought out a lettuce and tomato salad, arroz con queso (rice with cheese in it), and boiled yuca.
Bolivians are a very gracious culture when it comes to having guests, and this was no exception. The food they put forth is probably the most and best they could afford, and it was all very good, especially the skewered beef. There weren't enough forks to go around, so I ate my food with a spoon and knife, and we had to share cups. We have had the cheese rice many times since we got here, and today was the first one that I actually liked. They also had a fresh batch of chicha to drink. It was the first opportunity we have had to try it, but unfortunately, it was not to our liking.
After we ate, the kids got a chance to play with the 4 and 5 year old girls and to kick the soccer ball we brought around with the little boy. We thanked them very much for their kindness after a little conversation, but we had to get going because we were having Tonchi, Jorge, Vivianna and Noelia over for supper tonight at our place.
Our guests for the evening had requested something that they wouldn't get in Bolivia, so we had decided to make lemon potatoes and pork ribs for supper with a spice rub that I use at home. The only catch is that they don't really eat pork ribs here, so we knew it would be a challenge to find the ribs as well as the spices that I needed for the rub since most of the food here uses next to no spices. We made our way to the first butcher shop and when we asked for pork back ribs, she held up a strip of some kind of pork meat, so we knew we were not going to find them there. I am pretty good with my meat cuts, and I think that one may have been something we would have made sausage or dog food out of.
We then tried the supermarket and we managed to find most of the spices I needed except for onion powder which apparently doesn't exist in Bolivia that we are aware of. We also went to the meat counter to ask about the pork ribs. First of all, the supermarket here doesn't really carry much pork. This is a chicken and beef kind of country, but they did have some pork today. Sure they have ribs.......they are attached to the side of the pig. They just aren't detached from the side of the pig. So, that was when Ken remembered his friend whose family runs a pig farm and has their own butchers on site.
Ken called his friend and very carefully explained that we were looking for pork back ribs. She called the butcher at their place and he said "Sure!!!! I know exactly what they want!!! Skin off right??" I had Ken confirm the description again, and we ordered 5 kg of ribs to be picked up later in the day. Total cost $12.
Ken showed up at our door with a bag in his hand and declared "Here they are."
I brought them into the house where Melody and Lukas were peeling potatoes like crazy, and since we were running short on time, had everything laid out to season the ribs and throw them in the oven. I opened the bag........now this is the scene in the movie where the camera starts in close on the actors face and his eyes get all wide and then the camera pulls back from the look of astonishment on the actors face. Then it cuts over to the image of what the actor is looking at. So to give you that image, I opened the bag and there before me was a 5kg side of pig with one rack of ribs still attached to the side of the pig. ONE!!!!! We are having 7 people over for supper and I have ONE rack of ribs and a side of pork meat that is unbutchered.
Has anyone seen the show on Food Network called Dinner Impossible. Now I know how he feels all the time. I got the sharpest dull knife I could find out of the drawer, and started to disassemble the different muscle groups from the side of the pig, and carefully removed the rack of ribs so we would have that one pristine rack to be served. Then I ripped, tore, hacked and darn near gnawed off the silverskin and fat layers from the pork so we had a bunch of nice rib thick pieces of pork. We threw the spice rub on as fast as we could and threw them in the oven. Think the fun was over???? Nope.
.
Remember that ovens here are propane? The problem with propane ovens is that the temperatures are very difficult to keep constant, and its almost impossible to have a temperature in the over below about 350. For ribs in the oven, I want 300 degrees, no more, no less for a good 2 to 2.5 hours. When I checked them 1.5 hours in, they were done, and the sugars in the rub that were not on the meat had turned to a black caramel that had coated the bottom of the aluminum cookware. But at least I still had that pristine rack of ribs as my show piece.
Roll the clock back about an hour from where we are and we will now talk about the potatoes. We made lemon potatoes and had them ready for the oven in the other suite which they said we could use as well. The time comes to put them in the oven, and we go over to do so and find out that the oven is too small to fit both pans of potatoes in on the same rack, and there is only one rack. ARGGGGHHHHH. I managed to wedge in the rack and the broiler pan as a second rack and get the door closed.
Everything finishes up fine just as the guests arrive, and we manage to put out a meal of bbq pork pieces, lemon potatoes, green beans and ONE PRISTINE RACK OF RIBS.
So, whats the moral of the story??
Next time, just cook chicken, yuca, plantains, french fries and rice.
p.s. I tried to put pictures in, but the internet tubes were all clogged up today so it was taking too long.
Wooden Slides and Termites
Following the daily homework routine, we made some cheese empanadas for lunch (oh I am so making these every second day at home). Ken came by and we took the last of the school supplies and muffin crayons to another home for boys and girls. This particular place would be where I would want to be if I were a homeless Bolivian child. Most of the kids there are there because their parent or parents are in jail, they were on the street, or they were recently orphaned and the authorities cannot find any other relatives to take them.
The way this place works is that they have several small houses on their complex. In each house, they have a combination of boys and girls of various ages along with a "parent" figure who is a volunteer. Each house lives like a little family with the boys and girls treating each other like brothers and sisters. All the food is prepared in a single large kitchen, but it is all delivered to each of the "homes" and they eat with their family at a table in the home. The kids all go to school, if they are old enough, at a school about 2 km away. They either walk, or take the bus to school. When they get older, they get paired up with a mentor in whatever area of a career they are interested in. One girl, who is a sister to Andres from Ken's place, is working with an oncologist. The kids intern with the mentor for two years and then when they are old enough, the mentor will help them get into college.
For the little ones, they have a baby room, a pre-school room and a kindergarten room. Just outside of that building, they have a small play area with two swings and a wooden slide. Yes, I said wooden slide. No, I don't mean the slide is made of wood and then the part you sit on is metal, I mean everything is made of wood. Doesn't that sound like a fun time kids? Whhhheeeeeeee slivers!!!!
They have a couple of small round buildings that house their tools etc, and washing machine. All the clothes are hug out to dry in a gazeebo type building.
The best part of this home, is the way that they raise money to keep their heads above water. Walking around this large piece of land, you would think you were in the rain forest. There are big and small trees everywhere along with all kinds of flowers and butterflies. The reason for that is that they supply trees and plants for landscaping to make money. The net result is a very beautiful home for boys and girls who need one.
The only problem that I found with this place, was the giant termite mound on the grounds. Don't believe me, here is a picture. Note the scared look of Lukas trying to get away from the termite mound.
That big mound of dirt next to Lukas is the giant termite mound. The locals assure me that this is a small example. They commonly reach up to 20 feet or higher.
So let me get this straight, they have giant termite mounds here. Hmmmmm. Lets build a slide out of wood. Great idea. What could possibly go wrong??
After we finished up at the home, we headed to the Ramada. Nope, not the hotel, the market.
The Ramada market is my least favorite of the markets we have been to for a couple of reasons.
1. It winds through a series of streets and between buildings and is very easy to get lost in because you rarely see the sky through the blue tarp roofs.
2. It gets really hot and stuffy under blue tarp roofs.
3. They put the stores so close together, that there is usually only a foot or two between the stalls to walk through.
4. The stalls are never in the same place twice so its like the maze in Harry Potter that changes every time you turn a corner. The store you wanted to go back to from last week, isn't where it once was.
Anyways, the Ramada market is also the place to get shoes. Both Jordan and I were in need of new shoes, so we headed down there and after about 40 minutes of being lost in the maze, we found the place we were looking for, right next to the stand selling aborted llama fetuses. You heard me right, they sell aborted llama fetuses in the market. (time for the segue into Mutual Omaha's Wild Kingdom) You see llamas regularly abort their fetuses in the wild for some reason or another. The Bolivians have always believed that they are good luck, so when they start a new building, they put an aborted llama fetus in the concrete somewhere for luck. Think that would pass code in Canada??
Anyways, back to the shoes. Jordan found some little Reebok runners she like for 10 bucks, so she was happy. I had seen some sketchers behind glass that I wanted to look at last week so after the 40 minute search, we had arrived at the same store. We know they are real sketchers because the real ones are always locked up in a cabinet, just like any other real items down here. We asked if we could try on a pair of size 9 shoes, and were told that they only have the one pair. Turns out that they only carry one pair of each style of the real shoes, because most Bolivians can't afford the real deal. Lucky for me, all their Sketchers are size 9.
Of course, I forgot to wear socks today because it is 30 degrees again, so normally in Canada that is not a problem because they have the "store" sock for you to wear. Guess what??? Another difference from Canada. They don't have a store sock. They have a plastic bag. So I slipped on the plastic bag and tried on the shoes. Its a little hard to decide if you like a shoe when you look in the mirror and see the shoe and a plastic bag on your foot. I eventually decided on which shoe looked the best with the bag and bought them. Sketchers at home normally cost in the $130 range, but in Bolivia, they sell for the low low price of $47. Sold.
Tomorrow we have a lunch appointment at the home of some of Melody's students, and then we are cooking a Canadian supper for some people from Ken's church. Should be an interesting day.
The way this place works is that they have several small houses on their complex. In each house, they have a combination of boys and girls of various ages along with a "parent" figure who is a volunteer. Each house lives like a little family with the boys and girls treating each other like brothers and sisters. All the food is prepared in a single large kitchen, but it is all delivered to each of the "homes" and they eat with their family at a table in the home. The kids all go to school, if they are old enough, at a school about 2 km away. They either walk, or take the bus to school. When they get older, they get paired up with a mentor in whatever area of a career they are interested in. One girl, who is a sister to Andres from Ken's place, is working with an oncologist. The kids intern with the mentor for two years and then when they are old enough, the mentor will help them get into college.
For the little ones, they have a baby room, a pre-school room and a kindergarten room. Just outside of that building, they have a small play area with two swings and a wooden slide. Yes, I said wooden slide. No, I don't mean the slide is made of wood and then the part you sit on is metal, I mean everything is made of wood. Doesn't that sound like a fun time kids? Whhhheeeeeeee slivers!!!!
So let me get this straight, they have giant termite mounds here. Hmmmmm. Lets build a slide out of wood. Great idea. What could possibly go wrong??
After we finished up at the home, we headed to the Ramada. Nope, not the hotel, the market.
1. It winds through a series of streets and between buildings and is very easy to get lost in because you rarely see the sky through the blue tarp roofs.
2. It gets really hot and stuffy under blue tarp roofs.
3. They put the stores so close together, that there is usually only a foot or two between the stalls to walk through.
4. The stalls are never in the same place twice so its like the maze in Harry Potter that changes every time you turn a corner. The store you wanted to go back to from last week, isn't where it once was.
Anyways, the Ramada market is also the place to get shoes. Both Jordan and I were in need of new shoes, so we headed down there and after about 40 minutes of being lost in the maze, we found the place we were looking for, right next to the stand selling aborted llama fetuses. You heard me right, they sell aborted llama fetuses in the market. (time for the segue into Mutual Omaha's Wild Kingdom) You see llamas regularly abort their fetuses in the wild for some reason or another. The Bolivians have always believed that they are good luck, so when they start a new building, they put an aborted llama fetus in the concrete somewhere for luck. Think that would pass code in Canada??
Anyways, back to the shoes. Jordan found some little Reebok runners she like for 10 bucks, so she was happy. I had seen some sketchers behind glass that I wanted to look at last week so after the 40 minute search, we had arrived at the same store. We know they are real sketchers because the real ones are always locked up in a cabinet, just like any other real items down here. We asked if we could try on a pair of size 9 shoes, and were told that they only have the one pair. Turns out that they only carry one pair of each style of the real shoes, because most Bolivians can't afford the real deal. Lucky for me, all their Sketchers are size 9.
Of course, I forgot to wear socks today because it is 30 degrees again, so normally in Canada that is not a problem because they have the "store" sock for you to wear. Guess what??? Another difference from Canada. They don't have a store sock. They have a plastic bag. So I slipped on the plastic bag and tried on the shoes. Its a little hard to decide if you like a shoe when you look in the mirror and see the shoe and a plastic bag on your foot. I eventually decided on which shoe looked the best with the bag and bought them. Sketchers at home normally cost in the $130 range, but in Bolivia, they sell for the low low price of $47. Sold.
Tomorrow we have a lunch appointment at the home of some of Melody's students, and then we are cooking a Canadian supper for some people from Ken's church. Should be an interesting day.
Moving In The Rain
Tuesday started out with Melody getting her hair done by one of her students and the kids all working on their homework as usual. After lunch, we had planned to go with Ken and Ruddy to visit Ruddy's mother. His mom lives in a very small place with Ruddy's older brother, another lady and her two daughters. The yard is made up of a single water tap, a couple of lean to shelters for storage and a kitchen, a wooden outhouse, and two very small rooms as the house.
We arrived to find that there was nobody home but her dog and her 5 puppies, a bunch of chickens and a couple of ducks. You can see the outhouse and the kitchen in the picture below.
Ruddy went to the neighbors house to see if they knew where is mother had gone. It turns out that she went a few blocks away to help a friend of hers. We found the house a few blocks away, and quickly found out that they were moving. Ken asked what was going on, and the family was not able to keep paying for their house, so they were having to move back out to the country to live with some other family members. Ruddy's mother was there because she had given them some things to use, and she needed to pick them up before they left.
We carried all of Ruddy's mothers things to Ken's truck to move them back to her house. She had given them a mattress made out of the plastic burlap bags that farms use for grain, which was stuffed with straw, and a very old propane oven along with a few other odds and ends.
We packed all of Ruddy's mothers things, and then we packed all of the family's belongings in the truck that was going to take them all up past Samai Pata in the mountains. Their total family belongings was basically a straw mattress bed, a garbage bag full of their kitchen items, a small bookshelf, and a table and 4 chairs. We had all their stuff moved onto the trucks in about 15 minutes. Imagine packing all of your belongings on trucks in less than 15 minutes.
As we drove back with a full truck to Ruddy's mothers place (the boys and I were in the back of the truck holding stuff down), the rain started to really come down. Normally, I look forward to the rain here because it cools me off for a few minutes, but in this case I didn't. Here is why. In Ruddy's moms yard, everything is dirt, when the rain comes down hard, everything turns to mud. By the time we got back, there was two inches of slippery mud everywhere in her yard. I chose a poor time to wear my Birkenstock sandals.
We got everything moved into their places, and went inside to talk. The walls in the house were all cracked and the roof was lined with a tarp, to catch all the leaks. She was very friendly and explained that the walls were cracked because the neighbor's son had taken his dads truck one night and crashed into the wall right against her bed. She thought there was an earthquake and thought the place was going to collapse on her. She laughed about it now, but you could tell it was serious at the time. It was also another expense that she hasn't had the money to fix.
She explained that they have been trying to buy the property for the last 10 years on a purchase contract for $4000 USD. They have about $1500 USD left to pay on the property, but now the owner wants a lump sum payment of $1000 right away. If they can't come up with it, he is going to try to move them along and find another buyer or renter.
We left her with some knitted dish cloths and gave the two girls who live there each a stuffed animal. They became the only toys they have.
Pretty sobering stuff, but they all still manage to smile.
We arrived to find that there was nobody home but her dog and her 5 puppies, a bunch of chickens and a couple of ducks. You can see the outhouse and the kitchen in the picture below.
We carried all of Ruddy's mothers things to Ken's truck to move them back to her house. She had given them a mattress made out of the plastic burlap bags that farms use for grain, which was stuffed with straw, and a very old propane oven along with a few other odds and ends.
We got everything moved into their places, and went inside to talk. The walls in the house were all cracked and the roof was lined with a tarp, to catch all the leaks. She was very friendly and explained that the walls were cracked because the neighbor's son had taken his dads truck one night and crashed into the wall right against her bed. She thought there was an earthquake and thought the place was going to collapse on her. She laughed about it now, but you could tell it was serious at the time. It was also another expense that she hasn't had the money to fix.
We left her with some knitted dish cloths and gave the two girls who live there each a stuffed animal. They became the only toys they have.
Pretty sobering stuff, but they all still manage to smile.
Felt Marker
The only real item that Logan has requested while we are down here has been a nice chess set. They sell them in most of the stores here and they are Incas vs Spaniards. Logan had finally settled on one a week or so ago, and we negotiated a fair price and ended up buying it. The way the chess sets work here is that the pieces are stored inside an Inca style painted box made of wood that doubles for the board. When we paid, the lady placed all the pieces inside the board and taped it shut.
We had been quite busy over the last week or so and had not had a chance to have a game even though Logan has been pestering me every ten minutes to play. When we finally got around to playing, we tried to remove the tape, but along with the tape came the paint. Uh Oh.
Ken was going to take us back to the store and explain to the shop keeper what the situation was yesterday, but he got busy, so he sent Ruddy over to help us out after explaining what had happened to him. Ruddy is great, but he doesn't really speak English, so I knew it would be a fun time. We got down to the store, and Ruddy explained the situation to the lady working at the time.
First Problem:
They record the items they sell in a ledger with the price it was sold at. That is not a problem by itself, but the recorded value in the book was a few Bolivianos less than what we paid. That's because we got the special Gringo price which is a little higher and presumably, the shop clerk at the time pocketed the extra.
Second Problem:
They didn't have any more of the same chess set.
Now the negotiating began. Their first attempted solution was to pull out a black felt marker and try to draw the lines that had been removed by the tape back on. Uh, no thanks. They were unwilling to refund our money, so that left Logan looking for a different set within the same store. He ended up happily choosing a smaller set with nice little pieces similar to the style of figures that used to come in Red Rose Tea when I was a kid.
The next issue was the difference between the price of the new set and the old one. They wrapped up the new set and handed us 100 Bolivianos. That made a net loss of 30 Bolivianos from what we had paid for the first one. Ruddy was doing his best to understand us and to pass that along to them, when the same group that were present to assist us with Logan's head wound showed up out of nowhere and helped us with the translation problem. I eventually got sick of arguing and told Melody to take what they were offering because really we were spending 20 minutes arguing over 30 Bolivianos. That's 4 dollars. Four dollars is not enough for me to lose my temper over. Four dollars and fifty cents might be, but four dollars is not.
Logan left happy with his new set (tape free this time) and we all cooled off a bit with a ice cold glass bottle of Coke. Six ice cold bottles of Coke.....12 Bolivianos, or $1.60. Getting all the souvenir shopping done....priceless. I hate shopping.
We had been quite busy over the last week or so and had not had a chance to have a game even though Logan has been pestering me every ten minutes to play. When we finally got around to playing, we tried to remove the tape, but along with the tape came the paint. Uh Oh.
Ken was going to take us back to the store and explain to the shop keeper what the situation was yesterday, but he got busy, so he sent Ruddy over to help us out after explaining what had happened to him. Ruddy is great, but he doesn't really speak English, so I knew it would be a fun time. We got down to the store, and Ruddy explained the situation to the lady working at the time.
First Problem:
They record the items they sell in a ledger with the price it was sold at. That is not a problem by itself, but the recorded value in the book was a few Bolivianos less than what we paid. That's because we got the special Gringo price which is a little higher and presumably, the shop clerk at the time pocketed the extra.
Second Problem:
They didn't have any more of the same chess set.
Now the negotiating began. Their first attempted solution was to pull out a black felt marker and try to draw the lines that had been removed by the tape back on. Uh, no thanks. They were unwilling to refund our money, so that left Logan looking for a different set within the same store. He ended up happily choosing a smaller set with nice little pieces similar to the style of figures that used to come in Red Rose Tea when I was a kid.
The next issue was the difference between the price of the new set and the old one. They wrapped up the new set and handed us 100 Bolivianos. That made a net loss of 30 Bolivianos from what we had paid for the first one. Ruddy was doing his best to understand us and to pass that along to them, when the same group that were present to assist us with Logan's head wound showed up out of nowhere and helped us with the translation problem. I eventually got sick of arguing and told Melody to take what they were offering because really we were spending 20 minutes arguing over 30 Bolivianos. That's 4 dollars. Four dollars is not enough for me to lose my temper over. Four dollars and fifty cents might be, but four dollars is not.
Logan left happy with his new set (tape free this time) and we all cooled off a bit with a ice cold glass bottle of Coke. Six ice cold bottles of Coke.....12 Bolivianos, or $1.60. Getting all the souvenir shopping done....priceless. I hate shopping.
I Got Nothing
Sorry I haven't written in the last day or so. We haven't been doing much other than trying to finish all the souvenir shopping. So, I got nothing so here is a rabbit with a pancake on its head.
Don't worry if you don't get it. Just go ask Tony.
Ever Have Banana In Your Ear????
Busy day as usual around here. Did I mention it was hot again??
Melody started the day off by teaching a class this morning. Yes it's Saturday, but this was a special one for teenage girls who wanted to learn how to do some facials. Imagine that, teenage girls wanting to look good. Then we had the usual change of plans take place. We had originally planned to play in a soccer game this afternoon with Ken's boys and their friends, but Corrina invited us out to their property outside of town for the afternoon. Hmmmm, lets think about that for a minute. We could:
A) Run around in 34 degree heat for an hour and probably have a coronary, or
B) Drive out in the country, play with a monkey, kittens, pigs, chickens, fish for pacu and make empanadas from scratch.
That's right, B it is. Corrina came and picked us up in their truck, but it was already 90 percent full, so Lukas, Logan and I got to ride in the back with all the stuff. Didn't sound too bad until we hit the sand and mud roads with ruts the size of the grand canyon. If I don't have a broken tailbone again, I will be shocked. It was all good after we arrived at their place in the country however.
We were greeted by Bruce who we hadn't seen in a while. He is a bit bigger than the last time we saw him and a fair bit louder. Remember, he is a howler monkey and eventually, he will be 3 feet tall and can be heard about 3 km away when he howls. I fed him a banana so he would stop making noise for a while, after he smashed some in my ear, he was happy and laid down with Lukas after chewing on my banana ears a bit.
After Bruce settled down a bit, the kids went over and looked at the chickens, pigs and fed the turtles. Then we got down to making the empanadas. The dough is pretty basic, and they are made very much like a perogy, but the trick is in the folding of the edge so that none of the cheese comes out. In Bolivia, they make all kinds of empanadas, but cheese seem to be the favorite. The cheese here is very salty, and the dough tends to be a little sweet, so it balances nicely. Everybody had a chance to try making some.
Eventually all 45 were made, and they were cooked in a pan of oil over a fire until they were gbd (golden brown and delicious).
Also present were the usual array of animals on any Bolivian farm. You have your parrot:
Your turtle:
And of course your giant poisonous spider hiding in the rafters below the thatched room but right above your chair:
Tomorrow will be another Sunday of church, followed by chicken, rice, yuca, plantain and french fries. I can hardly wait.
Melody started the day off by teaching a class this morning. Yes it's Saturday, but this was a special one for teenage girls who wanted to learn how to do some facials. Imagine that, teenage girls wanting to look good. Then we had the usual change of plans take place. We had originally planned to play in a soccer game this afternoon with Ken's boys and their friends, but Corrina invited us out to their property outside of town for the afternoon. Hmmmm, lets think about that for a minute. We could:
A) Run around in 34 degree heat for an hour and probably have a coronary, or
B) Drive out in the country, play with a monkey, kittens, pigs, chickens, fish for pacu and make empanadas from scratch.
That's right, B it is. Corrina came and picked us up in their truck, but it was already 90 percent full, so Lukas, Logan and I got to ride in the back with all the stuff. Didn't sound too bad until we hit the sand and mud roads with ruts the size of the grand canyon. If I don't have a broken tailbone again, I will be shocked. It was all good after we arrived at their place in the country however.
We were greeted by Bruce who we hadn't seen in a while. He is a bit bigger than the last time we saw him and a fair bit louder. Remember, he is a howler monkey and eventually, he will be 3 feet tall and can be heard about 3 km away when he howls. I fed him a banana so he would stop making noise for a while, after he smashed some in my ear, he was happy and laid down with Lukas after chewing on my banana ears a bit.
Also present were the usual array of animals on any Bolivian farm. You have your parrot:
Happy Fathers Day to Me
That's right, its Bolivian Fathers Day!!!! So in honor of Fathers Day, we went to the maternity hospital downtown to distribute the toques that were generously donated by Bernice and a couple other knitters out there. This particular hospital is dedicated to just delivering and taking care of babies. Corrina knows one of the doctors there and he was able to get us in. Doesn't sound like a bit trick to get in does it??
Wrong. First of all, nobody under 12 is allowed in the hospital, even if they are with dad coming to see their new brother or sister. That means that dad goes in and leaves the 5 year old in charge of the 2 year old outside the hospital door while he goes in to see mom. The second catch is that you have to provide a piece of ID to the guard at the front door in order to get past the front gate. Nobody can just wander into the hospital like in Canada. As a matter of fact, the guard at the front, wouldn't let us in until we gave her a toque for her 6 month old niece. How's that for security??
Once in, we started slapping toques on heads immediately as there were people everywhere because it was discharge time. We chatted with a few of the new parents on the way out thanks to Corrina and Heidi translating for us, and some were better off than others. One couple from the country had no clothes for their baby as of yet, other than the blanket they received from the hospital, so they were very appreciative of the toque.
We had about 130 toques and thought we were in good shape, until the doctor took us to the area for pre-mature babies and explained that there are 40 babies born a day in the hospital, and 70% are premature due to poor pre-natal care and that most mothers continue to be on their feet all day through their pregnancy. They also deliver most babies by caesarian section because it is faster and the doctor can move on to the next baby quicker.
The hall outside the pre-mature area was lined with incubators, and in the ward, were 27 babies either in the incubators or being fed. We put toques on the ones that were out and gave the rest of the toques to the nurses to distribute. Everyone was very thankful for them.
Unlike all of my kids when they were babies, every last baby had a full head of hair.
The other thing I learned about Bolivian hospitals is that they have a really good cafeteria in the hospital that cooks actual meals from scratch for a very good price. We stopped for a drink in the cafeteria on the way out of the hospital, and the people next to us were having lunch. Each meal looked and smelled fantastic.I have had 3 kids of my own, and never once during the three visits to the hospital, did i have a meal that I would class as good.
We will soon be heading out for Fathers Day supper with Ken and the boys because it is after all Fathers Day, and I am a father, and Ken is like a father and besides is Renalo's birthday.
Wrong. First of all, nobody under 12 is allowed in the hospital, even if they are with dad coming to see their new brother or sister. That means that dad goes in and leaves the 5 year old in charge of the 2 year old outside the hospital door while he goes in to see mom. The second catch is that you have to provide a piece of ID to the guard at the front door in order to get past the front gate. Nobody can just wander into the hospital like in Canada. As a matter of fact, the guard at the front, wouldn't let us in until we gave her a toque for her 6 month old niece. How's that for security??
Once in, we started slapping toques on heads immediately as there were people everywhere because it was discharge time. We chatted with a few of the new parents on the way out thanks to Corrina and Heidi translating for us, and some were better off than others. One couple from the country had no clothes for their baby as of yet, other than the blanket they received from the hospital, so they were very appreciative of the toque.
We had about 130 toques and thought we were in good shape, until the doctor took us to the area for pre-mature babies and explained that there are 40 babies born a day in the hospital, and 70% are premature due to poor pre-natal care and that most mothers continue to be on their feet all day through their pregnancy. They also deliver most babies by caesarian section because it is faster and the doctor can move on to the next baby quicker.
The hall outside the pre-mature area was lined with incubators, and in the ward, were 27 babies either in the incubators or being fed. We put toques on the ones that were out and gave the rest of the toques to the nurses to distribute. Everyone was very thankful for them.
The other thing I learned about Bolivian hospitals is that they have a really good cafeteria in the hospital that cooks actual meals from scratch for a very good price. We stopped for a drink in the cafeteria on the way out of the hospital, and the people next to us were having lunch. Each meal looked and smelled fantastic.I have had 3 kids of my own, and never once during the three visits to the hospital, did i have a meal that I would class as good.
We will soon be heading out for Fathers Day supper with Ken and the boys because it is after all Fathers Day, and I am a father, and Ken is like a father and besides is Renalo's birthday.
Today Was What Yesterday Was Supposed to Be
As the title says, so it is. Since Ken and I were under the weather yesterday, we made our way out to El Camino boys home, but first we had the opportunity to tour a school down the street from where we are living. We have the opportunity because the father of the Principal is staying in the same place as we are and he arranged for us to go for a visit this morning.
A few things really stand out as being different from Canadian schools.
1. The level of respect that the students have for the teaching staff is light years beyond what we have in Canada. When the principal comes into the classroom, all the students immediately stand up and say "Buenos Dias Director". This is something they instill from grade 1 on through grade 12.
2. The classrooms are very basic. Chalkboard, desks, paper, pencils. No posters on the walls, no cubby holes etc for the kids things. Its basic and straight forward learning.
3. Any time the kids speak to an adult, regardless of being a teacher or not, they stand very straight and speak very clearly.
4. Discipline is handed out when necessary. Yes I mean that type of discipline.
5. Everyone has a school uniform. We asked about this and it was for a few reasons. First, it instills the idea that we are all on the same team here and the goal is to learn. Second, some students are very poor, some are very rich, but the clothes they wear to school are all equal. School is an environment for learning here, not a popularity contest or fashion show.
6. School starts at 7:30 in the morning and goes till 12:00, then a whole other set of students start at 1:00 and go till 5:30.
The schools don't have much in the way of budget, and we noticed that the phys ed class going on in their open air roofed gymnasium was using a couple of soccer balls that were barely holding together, so we provided them with a couple of new ones from the items donated. They were most appreciative and the grade 12 class even sang us a song in English before we left.
After leaving the school, we headed out to El Camino to teach the boys how to use Powerpoint. The morning class had a couple of boys about Lukas' age in it who really wanted to learn, but could not read or write, so Lukas helped them out where he could, and we helped them spell the words they wanted to have in their powerpoint. I had downloaded a bunch of soccer pictures from the internet for them to use in their presentations and everyone finished the class with a powerpoint about their favorite soccer team. After the first class, broke for lunch. As you can imagine, lunch at a boys home is not always the greatest. Today was one of those days. Lunch today was a boiled potato, rice and a mixture of some kind of fish (half bones) with onions and tomatoes. It is a healthy lunch but not the most tasty.
It was a bit of a sad day at El Camino unfortunately today. As I had mentioned in a previous post, El Camino raises rabbits and chickens to assist in their food supply. Sometime last night, a poisonous snake got into the rabbit pen and killed 28 rabbits. The remaining 10 had been bitten but had not died as of yet. Mike (one of the workers at El Camino), put the remaining 10 rabbits down. None of the 38 rabbits could be used for food due to being killed by poison. That is a large loss for the home. It just so happened that today was also axe day for all their chickens as well. Every so often, they slaughter their chickens and freeze them. This just happened to be that day.
The afternoon class with the older boys also went well. They have remembered most of the things they have learned in Word from before, so they whizzed through what we had planned to teach them in Powerpoint, and we were able to teach them extra things that the younger boys didn't get to. By the end of class, all the older boys had nice presentations with animations and sounds all over the place.
We finished up class, and waited for Logan to finish his chess lesson with Mike. Mike is the resident chess expert at El Camino, and he teaches all the boys how to play chess. They find that it teaches the boys patience and planning. Both of those things have been missing in their lives up until now.
On the drive back into Santa Cruz from El Camino, we stopped at the school that some of the El Camino boys attend to see it is like. Just like the one in the morning, the respect level was amazing, and everybody was in uniform. The kids all think its funny to see 3 "gringo" kids at their school so they all gather around.
I am pretty sure that Melody wanted to bring the one in the picture with her home to Canada.
We finished the day off with a quick trip to the grocery store, where I picked up some meat that I re-butcher when I get home for supper and Melody baked some brownies for her class to eat tomorrow.
Tomorrow should be an interesting day. After Melody's class tomorrow, we are going to the maternity ward at the hospital where we will deliver the knitted toques that were donated, and have a quick tour. Tomorrow is also one of the Ken's boys birthday and its Bolivian Fathers Day as well. Lucky me, two fathers day this year for me!!! I'm just glad we are leaving before Bolivian Mothers Day.
A few things really stand out as being different from Canadian schools.
1. The level of respect that the students have for the teaching staff is light years beyond what we have in Canada. When the principal comes into the classroom, all the students immediately stand up and say "Buenos Dias Director". This is something they instill from grade 1 on through grade 12.
2. The classrooms are very basic. Chalkboard, desks, paper, pencils. No posters on the walls, no cubby holes etc for the kids things. Its basic and straight forward learning.
3. Any time the kids speak to an adult, regardless of being a teacher or not, they stand very straight and speak very clearly.
4. Discipline is handed out when necessary. Yes I mean that type of discipline.
5. Everyone has a school uniform. We asked about this and it was for a few reasons. First, it instills the idea that we are all on the same team here and the goal is to learn. Second, some students are very poor, some are very rich, but the clothes they wear to school are all equal. School is an environment for learning here, not a popularity contest or fashion show.
6. School starts at 7:30 in the morning and goes till 12:00, then a whole other set of students start at 1:00 and go till 5:30.
After leaving the school, we headed out to El Camino to teach the boys how to use Powerpoint. The morning class had a couple of boys about Lukas' age in it who really wanted to learn, but could not read or write, so Lukas helped them out where he could, and we helped them spell the words they wanted to have in their powerpoint. I had downloaded a bunch of soccer pictures from the internet for them to use in their presentations and everyone finished the class with a powerpoint about their favorite soccer team. After the first class, broke for lunch. As you can imagine, lunch at a boys home is not always the greatest. Today was one of those days. Lunch today was a boiled potato, rice and a mixture of some kind of fish (half bones) with onions and tomatoes. It is a healthy lunch but not the most tasty.
The afternoon class with the older boys also went well. They have remembered most of the things they have learned in Word from before, so they whizzed through what we had planned to teach them in Powerpoint, and we were able to teach them extra things that the younger boys didn't get to. By the end of class, all the older boys had nice presentations with animations and sounds all over the place.
On the drive back into Santa Cruz from El Camino, we stopped at the school that some of the El Camino boys attend to see it is like. Just like the one in the morning, the respect level was amazing, and everybody was in uniform. The kids all think its funny to see 3 "gringo" kids at their school so they all gather around.
We finished the day off with a quick trip to the grocery store, where I picked up some meat that I re-butcher when I get home for supper and Melody baked some brownies for her class to eat tomorrow.
Tomorrow should be an interesting day. After Melody's class tomorrow, we are going to the maternity ward at the hospital where we will deliver the knitted toques that were donated, and have a quick tour. Tomorrow is also one of the Ken's boys birthday and its Bolivian Fathers Day as well. Lucky me, two fathers day this year for me!!! I'm just glad we are leaving before Bolivian Mothers Day.
Change of Plans
It was Wednesday, and that normally means out to El Camino boys home, but this morning when we got up, Ken and I both were feeling under the weather, so we called out to the home and made arrangements to move our classes to tomorrow. By late afternoon, I was feeling much better and everyone was getting pretty bored, so we arranged to have Ruddy (one of Kens boys) take us to the big Wednesday market to look for a couple of things we needed.
Ruddy arrived at about 5:30 which sounds late, but remember, nobody eats until almost 8 here anyways, and we grabbed a taxi to the market. We were lucky enough to get Mario Andretti's Bolivian cousin as our driver and he got us through the heavy rush hour traffic in record time. This was accomplished by driving at about 50 miles per hour in the oncoming traffic lane when our lane was backed up. We all arrived safely so all is well.
The first thing we needed to get at the market was a shirt to replace the one that Roberto (the nice guy who helped us out when Logan split his head open) used on Logan's head. We had been meaning to do something for him, but he wouldn't have accepted cash for his ruined shirt because that is against the rules of their society, so we figured the least we could do is get him a nice shirt. We ended up with a nice American Eagle t-shirt (yes, the real thing) which we will drop off tomorrow on the way to El Camino.
We couldn't find the other items we wanted at the market, and most of the fruit vendors had already packed it in for the day, so to thank Ruddy, we asked him what his favorite restaurant was and offered to buy him supper since we were all starving. Ruddy smiled right away, which i knew meant it was going to cost me, but he happened to choose a restaurant that I had been wanting to go to since we got to Santa Cruz. He took us to Casa Del Camba, which is widely regarded as the best Bolivian restaurant in the city. Surprisingly, the prices were not as as bad as I had thought they would be.
First off, the place is huge. They could probably seat 400 people between the bar area, open air seating, roofed seating and the back area. The second item is that the menu was all in Spanish (I know, we are in a Spanish country), but this one used a whole bunch of words that we were not familiar with and that Ruddy didn't know the translation for. We ended up figuring out what most things were by hand signals and animal sounds. Their menu offered everything from alligator to Argentinian bbq dishes.
We ended up ordering the traditional buffet for 4 which means that we are going to get enough food for 6 hungry adults. First they brought a big plate of yuca to the table and two plates of salad. The salad was a nice mix of beans, tomatoes, beets, lettuce and cucumber. The yuca was the usual deep fried yuca. Yucka.
After the starters, the rest of the food was brought in earthenware bowls and was an assortment of traditional foods. We had the rice with cheese (which I still haven't acquired a taste for), a mushy rice with duck, a rice with charque dish, spicy chicken with potatoes, and a stewed beef dish. There were also some pickled peppers and some hot chili paste.
Every last dish was fantastic. We enjoyed the stewed beef so much, that we asked Ruddy to order another plate of it. Little did we know, that we had just ordered an entire meal of stewed beef which also came with more cheese rice, the beef, and another salad.
We managed to eat the majority of the food and got the rest to go. We arranged for a taxi to take us home and then to take Ruddy home. On the way, we hit several red lights. At each red light, there were kids. Tonight, there were kids juggling, doing devil sticks and just plain begging. Each light had 3 or 4 kids coming up to the car windows while one of them did their tricks. At the occasional light you also find an elderly person who just sits there with their hand out as their only means of support. We have decided to give our change to the elderly people more often than the children, but always try to talk to the kids, especially when we are with Ken because he wants to befriend them and help them get into a home and get them off the streets.
Anyways, it was kind of a wasted day, but everyone is feeling much better now. So far none of the kids have had any issues at all with the food or the water. Here's hoping it stays that way.
Ruddy arrived at about 5:30 which sounds late, but remember, nobody eats until almost 8 here anyways, and we grabbed a taxi to the market. We were lucky enough to get Mario Andretti's Bolivian cousin as our driver and he got us through the heavy rush hour traffic in record time. This was accomplished by driving at about 50 miles per hour in the oncoming traffic lane when our lane was backed up. We all arrived safely so all is well.
The first thing we needed to get at the market was a shirt to replace the one that Roberto (the nice guy who helped us out when Logan split his head open) used on Logan's head. We had been meaning to do something for him, but he wouldn't have accepted cash for his ruined shirt because that is against the rules of their society, so we figured the least we could do is get him a nice shirt. We ended up with a nice American Eagle t-shirt (yes, the real thing) which we will drop off tomorrow on the way to El Camino.
We couldn't find the other items we wanted at the market, and most of the fruit vendors had already packed it in for the day, so to thank Ruddy, we asked him what his favorite restaurant was and offered to buy him supper since we were all starving. Ruddy smiled right away, which i knew meant it was going to cost me, but he happened to choose a restaurant that I had been wanting to go to since we got to Santa Cruz. He took us to Casa Del Camba, which is widely regarded as the best Bolivian restaurant in the city. Surprisingly, the prices were not as as bad as I had thought they would be.
First off, the place is huge. They could probably seat 400 people between the bar area, open air seating, roofed seating and the back area. The second item is that the menu was all in Spanish (I know, we are in a Spanish country), but this one used a whole bunch of words that we were not familiar with and that Ruddy didn't know the translation for. We ended up figuring out what most things were by hand signals and animal sounds. Their menu offered everything from alligator to Argentinian bbq dishes.
We ended up ordering the traditional buffet for 4 which means that we are going to get enough food for 6 hungry adults. First they brought a big plate of yuca to the table and two plates of salad. The salad was a nice mix of beans, tomatoes, beets, lettuce and cucumber. The yuca was the usual deep fried yuca. Yucka.
After the starters, the rest of the food was brought in earthenware bowls and was an assortment of traditional foods. We had the rice with cheese (which I still haven't acquired a taste for), a mushy rice with duck, a rice with charque dish, spicy chicken with potatoes, and a stewed beef dish. There were also some pickled peppers and some hot chili paste.
Every last dish was fantastic. We enjoyed the stewed beef so much, that we asked Ruddy to order another plate of it. Little did we know, that we had just ordered an entire meal of stewed beef which also came with more cheese rice, the beef, and another salad.
We managed to eat the majority of the food and got the rest to go. We arranged for a taxi to take us home and then to take Ruddy home. On the way, we hit several red lights. At each red light, there were kids. Tonight, there were kids juggling, doing devil sticks and just plain begging. Each light had 3 or 4 kids coming up to the car windows while one of them did their tricks. At the occasional light you also find an elderly person who just sits there with their hand out as their only means of support. We have decided to give our change to the elderly people more often than the children, but always try to talk to the kids, especially when we are with Ken because he wants to befriend them and help them get into a home and get them off the streets.
Anyways, it was kind of a wasted day, but everyone is feeling much better now. So far none of the kids have had any issues at all with the food or the water. Here's hoping it stays that way.
Inca Ruins and Wilderness Donkeys
We're back.
The trip to Samai Pata was interesting and a very much needed break from the heat and the day to day of teaching in Santa Cruz. About an hour out of Santa Cruz, the altitude starts going up and the temperature starts going down. The drop in humidity and temperature was enough to help get rid of my heat rash that had developed on my arms for the last few days of last week.
On Saturday, we drove for a couple of hours up to a resort with cabins on top of a volcanic mountain with a small lake called Laguna Volcanic. If there is any place that I would sell it all, pack up the family and stay forever, that is the place. There are 7 cabins next to the little lake and a small hotel with 12 rooms. Each cabin has two hammocks, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a small living room. Each hotel room has a bedroom and a living room and a balcony overlooking the pool and the lake. The hotel has a small restaurant and bar area with a ping pong table. On the other side of the hotel from the lake is a small 9 hole par 3 golf course. Just to add to the whole South American feel, there is a rhea (South American ostrich like bird) that wanders around the property freely. There are also a whole bunch of other birds that come by the lake to keep you company as well.
The restaurant gave us the opportunity to try some more of the local ingredients, but unfortunately the supper was not as good as we had hoped. I did manage to try out an iguana steak, but I would not recommend it should you have the chance as it was very tough. Breakfast the next morning made up for it however as they brought out two baskets of baked goods ranging from local breads to croissants, lots of fresh fruit and different cheeses. We hung around all morning after breakfast until we had to check out. We all wished we could have stayed there longer.
We hit the road and continued along the road for about an hour until we came to a spot with waterfalls where we had some buns for lunch and cooled off a little. The water was very cool, and there were orange trees growing near by so if we wanted a snack, we could just pick one at will.
It was a nice break from the winding, very bumpy mountain road, but we had places to go so we continued on our way. Our next stop was a place that I have wanted to go to since we got to Bolivia. As a matter of fact, it is one of the places I have wanted to go since I was a kid. The place is called El Fuerte and translates to the fort. It was an Inca ritual fortress site which was then taken over by the Spanish when they arrived. The Incas carved a giant stone with all kinds of their spiritual symbols and little alcoves for their offerings to the gods. The Spanish arrived and assumed that the Incas had hidden gold in the monument and of course, dug into it looking for the gold that was never there. The Spanish stayed however and used the site as a fortress.
The road up was really poor and was always a long ways down on one side or the other, but it was worth the terror to get to the top. It was about a 5km hike from the parking to go through the site, everybody was certainly tired when we were finished, but it was a terrific experience. After we braved the drive back down, we finally continued on to Samai Pata and stayed in a small hostel type hotel run by an elderly Dutch couple. It was very peaceful and had some beautiful gardens.
This morning, we got up at a decent time and had breakfast, then we decided to do a little back road exploring in the truck before we started back for Santa Cruz. We ended up on the top of a mountain guarded by what I liked to call wilderness donkeys. Everywhere you go in the mountains here, you run into packs of donkeys or cattle on the road who usually don't like to get out of your way. Here is one such gang.
I have no idea how anybody tells who these animals belong to as they are not chained or fenced and just seem to wander wherever they want to. They are not threatening and they do like to pose for pictures as you can see.
The ride back to Santa Cruz was a little more exciting than the ride out because we ended up getting rain most of the way which made the road a lot more interesting since there was water running over the road in a few places and it was all quite muddy. We made it back and are all tired and probably a little more touchy than we should be, but all is well.
The trip to Samai Pata was interesting and a very much needed break from the heat and the day to day of teaching in Santa Cruz. About an hour out of Santa Cruz, the altitude starts going up and the temperature starts going down. The drop in humidity and temperature was enough to help get rid of my heat rash that had developed on my arms for the last few days of last week.
On Saturday, we drove for a couple of hours up to a resort with cabins on top of a volcanic mountain with a small lake called Laguna Volcanic. If there is any place that I would sell it all, pack up the family and stay forever, that is the place. There are 7 cabins next to the little lake and a small hotel with 12 rooms. Each cabin has two hammocks, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a small living room. Each hotel room has a bedroom and a living room and a balcony overlooking the pool and the lake. The hotel has a small restaurant and bar area with a ping pong table. On the other side of the hotel from the lake is a small 9 hole par 3 golf course. Just to add to the whole South American feel, there is a rhea (South American ostrich like bird) that wanders around the property freely. There are also a whole bunch of other birds that come by the lake to keep you company as well.
The restaurant gave us the opportunity to try some more of the local ingredients, but unfortunately the supper was not as good as we had hoped. I did manage to try out an iguana steak, but I would not recommend it should you have the chance as it was very tough. Breakfast the next morning made up for it however as they brought out two baskets of baked goods ranging from local breads to croissants, lots of fresh fruit and different cheeses. We hung around all morning after breakfast until we had to check out. We all wished we could have stayed there longer.
We hit the road and continued along the road for about an hour until we came to a spot with waterfalls where we had some buns for lunch and cooled off a little. The water was very cool, and there were orange trees growing near by so if we wanted a snack, we could just pick one at will.
This morning, we got up at a decent time and had breakfast, then we decided to do a little back road exploring in the truck before we started back for Santa Cruz. We ended up on the top of a mountain guarded by what I liked to call wilderness donkeys. Everywhere you go in the mountains here, you run into packs of donkeys or cattle on the road who usually don't like to get out of your way. Here is one such gang.
The ride back to Santa Cruz was a little more exciting than the ride out because we ended up getting rain most of the way which made the road a lot more interesting since there was water running over the road in a few places and it was all quite muddy. We made it back and are all tired and probably a little more touchy than we should be, but all is well.
Marlin Perkins Where Are You?
Vague reference I know, but it is very appropriate for tonight. I wasn't going to blog today since we are getting ready to go to the mountains tomorrow, but the last 20 minutes made it a necessity. It all started with Melody walking down the hallway and stopping in her tracks and calling me. This is normally followed with a little spider on the floor in front of her which she really really hates. This time however, it was no ordinary spider, it was something about the size of a tarantula. I don't know my spider species well, but this baby was impressive and I kid you not, the largest living spider I have seen outside of the zoo or a pet store. See for yourself.
If this would have been Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, and if I was Marlin Perkins, I would have sent Jim in to get him. (if you don't know Marlin Perkins, click here).
Anyways, after taking the required pictures (Tony, you need to take pictures before you squish them so people believe the size), I promptly squished him. Yes there was a large amount of innards to be cleaned up. So while I am consoling Melody, she looks up at the ceiling and sees a fast moving object. Needless to say this did not help the situation much. She tells me it went behind the door, so I slowly (yeah, by this time, I'm a little freaked out myself) open the door and behind it is a lizard. Lukas was still up and Logan shot out of his room when he heard the commotion and immediately begged me to catch it.
I was not aware that lizards have afterburners, but this one did. I proceeded to chase him up and down the walls of the hallway until I cornered him and pinned him to the wall with the flyswatter and then got him into a container much to the delight of the boys. What we didn't notice was that he had pulled the old lizard trick of dropping its tail off. What basically happens is that a lizard in distress, will drop its tail off just behind its back legs, and it continues to squirm so the predator goes for the tail while the lizard takes off to live another day. So when we got back inside after letting the lizard go, there on the floor was a dismembered tail squirming away on the floor like a worm.
Sorry, no pictures of the lizard or the tail because it was all a blur. All said, I will be doing a thorough inspection of the bedrooms before we go to bed tonight just in case spiderzilla has some relatives who are out for revenge.
Be back Monday.
Anyways, after taking the required pictures (Tony, you need to take pictures before you squish them so people believe the size), I promptly squished him. Yes there was a large amount of innards to be cleaned up. So while I am consoling Melody, she looks up at the ceiling and sees a fast moving object. Needless to say this did not help the situation much. She tells me it went behind the door, so I slowly (yeah, by this time, I'm a little freaked out myself) open the door and behind it is a lizard. Lukas was still up and Logan shot out of his room when he heard the commotion and immediately begged me to catch it.
I was not aware that lizards have afterburners, but this one did. I proceeded to chase him up and down the walls of the hallway until I cornered him and pinned him to the wall with the flyswatter and then got him into a container much to the delight of the boys. What we didn't notice was that he had pulled the old lizard trick of dropping its tail off. What basically happens is that a lizard in distress, will drop its tail off just behind its back legs, and it continues to squirm so the predator goes for the tail while the lizard takes off to live another day. So when we got back inside after letting the lizard go, there on the floor was a dismembered tail squirming away on the floor like a worm.
Sorry, no pictures of the lizard or the tail because it was all a blur. All said, I will be doing a thorough inspection of the bedrooms before we go to bed tonight just in case spiderzilla has some relatives who are out for revenge.
Be back Monday.
Errands to Run, Pottery & Traditional Supper
Sorry for not posting yesterday, we got in a little late and there were 15 new roommates in our guest house so it was a little hectic around here. We had to run around and drop off some of the school supplies, soccer balls and toques that we brought down here to a couple of other group homes and see how some of the other homes run. The morning looked like it was going to be a bit of a waste because we couldn't seem to get a hold of Ken to get things going, but luckily, one of our roommates from Bolivia was kind enough to offer to teach the us all how her family makes perogies. Sounds funny right? Wrong. Nancy is one of many German descendants in Bolivia who still hang on to most of the German cooking and way of living. Most of them are Mennonites whose families came here when WWII broke out and most live on farms or farming communities.
Nancy is staying here while she goes to University but goes home every weekend and brings back food items from her farm. This week, she happened to bring in a bunch of fresh cheese curd, and offered to show us how they make their perogies with it and share them for lunch. Any chance to eat fresh perogies is a yes for us, so we took her up on the offer. They were excellent and about 4 times the size of the ones we eat in Canada.
After lunch, Ken came over, and we packed up the stuff for the homes and headed out. We have been trying to spread the wealth out over more than just the places we have been teaching, since there are lots of places that need supplies and it gives us all a chance to see how the different places do things. Following the deliveries, we headed out to Cotoca which is about 20 miles out of Santa Cruz and is famed for their pottery. A fair number of things that are used in everyday life here are still made out of pottery so to show the kids, we took them out to Cotoca to show them how its done. Pottery is so important to Cotoca that they have a giant statue on the way into town of a lady making pottery.
We spent some time looking at the pottery which was very well done, and usual, very cheap by Canadian standards. It was once again really hot, and Lukas started to have a migraine, so we grabbed some cold drinks and headed back to Santa Cruz.
It was getting late and we were all hungry when we got back. Everybody eats at around 8 in the evening here which is hard for us since we are used to a schedule, but we have managed to keep the kids from gnawing their hands off with lots of fruit to hold them over until supper. We wanted to try some more traditional food, so we headed down to Los Cabanas. These are a series of thatched roof open air restaurants next to the Pirai River. It is a very popular heritage site where all of the traditional foods are still prepared. We didn't have any of Ken's boys with us today, so Ken picked the restaurant. As you will see, I'm not sure it was the best choice.
We decided to order several different dishes and share them all so we all got to try a bunch of items. We started with canupes which are a mixture of a salty cheese and yuca flower, baked in a bun form. These are very chewy but very good.
Almost everything down here has cheese in it or on it, and that is fine by me and really fine by Logan, so then we moved to zonzo or sonso depending on which area of Bolivia you are from. These are a mixture of mashed yuca and cheese that are then rolled onto a stick and cooked over an open fire or charcoal. They taste like cheesy mashed potatoes.
Then the meat dishes started arriving. We had a dish whose name I can't remember which was basically beef shishkebabs, then the fire roasted duck arrived and a dish called pique macho.
I was getting concerned, but luckily, the duck came with the french fries, rice, fried yuca and plantains. Phew, thought I was going to miss out on those today. Everything was pretty good, but I can live without the pique macho which is basically french fries, topped with beef, hot dogs, tomatoes, cheese and a boiled egg. They really eat a fair bit of hot dogs here, but not as hot dogs. They work them into many of their actual dishes.
The meal went over fairly well, until the end while we were sitting around waiting for our cheque to arrive. That was when a big white dog walked over from by the kitchen, lifted his leg and urinated on the chair of the table next to us. Made for a real conversation piece to finish the meal off with.
We got back home around 9 to find the place full of Americans who were staying over until their flights home this morning. All of which wanted to use the internet connection (very slow/many people = too slow to imagine). We put the kids to bed, but the talking and banging around in the kitchen kept them up pretty late.
We are teaching again today, and will be having a quiet evening in tonight because we will be packing to go to Samai Pata this weekend as I mentioned. There won't be any internet to be had up there, so don't expect any posts until Monday. I am sure I will have a few things to say when we get back.
Nancy is staying here while she goes to University but goes home every weekend and brings back food items from her farm. This week, she happened to bring in a bunch of fresh cheese curd, and offered to show us how they make their perogies with it and share them for lunch. Any chance to eat fresh perogies is a yes for us, so we took her up on the offer. They were excellent and about 4 times the size of the ones we eat in Canada.
After lunch, Ken came over, and we packed up the stuff for the homes and headed out. We have been trying to spread the wealth out over more than just the places we have been teaching, since there are lots of places that need supplies and it gives us all a chance to see how the different places do things. Following the deliveries, we headed out to Cotoca which is about 20 miles out of Santa Cruz and is famed for their pottery. A fair number of things that are used in everyday life here are still made out of pottery so to show the kids, we took them out to Cotoca to show them how its done. Pottery is so important to Cotoca that they have a giant statue on the way into town of a lady making pottery.
It was getting late and we were all hungry when we got back. Everybody eats at around 8 in the evening here which is hard for us since we are used to a schedule, but we have managed to keep the kids from gnawing their hands off with lots of fruit to hold them over until supper. We wanted to try some more traditional food, so we headed down to Los Cabanas. These are a series of thatched roof open air restaurants next to the Pirai River. It is a very popular heritage site where all of the traditional foods are still prepared. We didn't have any of Ken's boys with us today, so Ken picked the restaurant. As you will see, I'm not sure it was the best choice.
We decided to order several different dishes and share them all so we all got to try a bunch of items. We started with canupes which are a mixture of a salty cheese and yuca flower, baked in a bun form. These are very chewy but very good.
The meal went over fairly well, until the end while we were sitting around waiting for our cheque to arrive. That was when a big white dog walked over from by the kitchen, lifted his leg and urinated on the chair of the table next to us. Made for a real conversation piece to finish the meal off with.
We got back home around 9 to find the place full of Americans who were staying over until their flights home this morning. All of which wanted to use the internet connection (very slow/many people = too slow to imagine). We put the kids to bed, but the talking and banging around in the kitchen kept them up pretty late.
We are teaching again today, and will be having a quiet evening in tonight because we will be packing to go to Samai Pata this weekend as I mentioned. There won't be any internet to be had up there, so don't expect any posts until Monday. I am sure I will have a few things to say when we get back.
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