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.