The Mountains Delare the Glory of God

This weekend we went to the market again on Saturday. I took video but it's sideways! We have started finding our way around now. We feel pretty confident. Sally is doing better walking and tolerated the morning walks through the busy markets filled with raw meat and all sorts of things mommy yells 'no, esta sucio!' to. Now sally walks around pointing at things saying, 'sucio' which means dirty. We have liked buying our groceries at the street markets. It's fun! And just slightly cheaper and it's more supportive of the locals. We wondered around the market to different places we hadn't been. We passed a 'cholita' sitting behind a small kart full of quart sized open tin paint cans. She had large pieces of paper surrounding her cart with 15 large circles on them, each a different vibrant color. She must have had 10 sheets decorating the base of her cart. The cans were full of colored powder, dye for the items the indigenous women make! I was facinated. The cholita dipped a flat wooden stick into one of the cans containing bright blue and smeared a dab on a small peice of paper for a woman there who was there to buy. We then passed a store that had HUGE potatoe sacs full of diffent spices and nuts. We came upon a saltana (pronounced saltania) cart run by a man who insisted on speaking some English to us. 'Chicken or Beef' he said. We answered him in spanish, and he said, 'Six bolivianos'. So funny. Saltanas, if I haven't said before, are meat and potatoes stuffed inside a crust and baked. In Argentina they are fried and called Empanadas. This guy had 5 different salsas (sauces) to put on them. I ofcourse like an idiot decided to put a spoonfull of the jalepeno sauce on mine. Instead of just the juice, I took all the chunks and everything. HA, AH, OH, SOOO Hot. Doug just giggled at me the whole time. My eyebrows were sweating so bad my sunglasses fogged up! We stood at the cart long enough to try a few of the sauces and continued down the road. We found the tourist shop we were searching for. It had beautiful clothes and kitchen accessories. I was in love. It is the most expensive store we've come accross. Check it out at http://www.aynibolivia.com/fairtrade/en/ayni-bolivia It kind of a cool background story.
SUNDAY we went to a new church. Ron and Rhonda who I mentioned from my school are missionaries her and the church they attend is a new church called Rey de Reyes (Kind of Kings). Doug was asked by Ron to translate his English spoken sermon into Spanish! What a huge challenge for Doug. He did a great job. I hung out in the back with Sally and a 5 year old boy named Gadiel. I made paper airplanes and listened to the sermon. There were maybe 35 people there and it lasted almost 2 hours. Wow. It was a fun experience. I think we might go back. We went to Dumbo (which is becoming a staple here) for lunch with Ron and Rhonda and Rhonda's son Tim who just arrived here from Tenessee on Friday. At the end of our meal Ron noticed that his bolivian bag with his 2 bibles in it had been stolen from under his feet. :( It was a good reminder for me to keep my camera and purse attached to me at all times. Besides Dumbo,

ILLIMANI has also become one of my favorite things here. It is the mountain we see out of our windows to the South East. I have taken some amazing pictures and I just love how it towers over our city like it was placed there to remind us of Gods amazing Glory. Today it's actually quite overcast and I can barely see it. The clouds have started rolling in the cooler it gets. You can hear the breeze whipping into our building at night now. We're preparing, the winter is upon us. Brrr.

"Shoosh, shoosh, sapatos"

Sally and I have been cooped up in the house for the last 2 days. I've been sick, well on Monday was a holiday so we were all home for a new work-free holiday for the Aymara people. It is celebrated as the Aymara new year. Click here to find out more of their traditions and celebrations on the new year http://www.boliviabella.com/aymara-new-year.html. I didn't have school and Doug (or anyone else in Bolivia for that matter) didn't have to work! Doug and I were going to have Nora come at 11 so we could walk up the street just a block from our apartment highrise and see a pelicula (film/movie). But at 1030 we got a call from Nora saying that she couldn't get a taxi or a bus so she couldn't babysit! All of the taxi cab drivers, kiosk workers, market sellers etc... were at home or at the Aymara celebration in El Altiplano (a straight stretch of land a small distance from LaPaz). So we decided to stay in as a family. About 1 we went downstairs to our garden in the rear of our building. Sally loves to jump on the trampoline. I still have yet to take pics or video of this. So we played in the sun for a while and went to the store (This was still open. Phew!) We have to by 2 (2 liter) bottles of water a day, for drinking and cooking. So we had to make it to the store. We thought about taking Sally with us and just seeing Toy Story 3 but I for one didn't want to sit through it with a 1 year old during nap time AND for the fact that it was in spanish with no subtitles. At the store we walked through the isles wondering what to have fun for dinner since it was a holiday and all! We decided on homemade Alfredo with broccoli and carrots. I bought a new cheese which semi resembled parmesean and bought cream that was thicker than heavy whipping cream in the states but that was all they had so I got 2 of them. When I opened the one container at home it was fine, the other was already opened and chunky!! Blah! So I used half whole milk and the other cream...I used fresh nutmeg for the first time and the new cheese!!!! Mmmm. Well the dinner turned out beautifully and Doug really loved it. Sally not so much. And me well...at 3 in the morning my stomache felt like it was in a vice! Oh my word the pain!! I finally 'got sick' if ya know what I mean, around 6am after being restless and in SOOOO much pain (and you have to know, I gave birth with NO meds and total concentration and this was SO much worse!). I sat there seriously thinking about running downstairs and hailing a taxi and saying "hospital por favor!!" Doug stayed home until 930 but had to go to work so he put Sally back in bed and I tried to sleep. Nora couldn't watch sally that day either so I just had mom pray that sally would be good! Oh and she was. After sitting in the highchair for a LONG time watching an entire dvd of Dora and eating a lot of junk, she just played quietly like an angel! Which never happens. :) I just layed on the couch and watched her. Her new play is dress up in everybodies shoes or "SHOOSH" as she calls them. So I got one pic on tuesday night of her in my shoes. Then she was gettin ready for bed and didn't want to take off her new shoes so here are some pics of her being silly.
I am now recovered (still some rib pain and fatigue) and again today don't have school. Maybe We'll get that movie in tonight. :) Next Tuesday Doug's parents are coming and we are going to travel and hour or more North to Lake titicaca! SO beautiful. I will definately post!!

Fin de Semana (Weekend)

Last week was short for me at school. On Tuesday my teacher, Jorge, had to leave after only an hour of my class and then on Thursday he canceled because he had a private lesson with a 12 year old girl, teaching her spanish. He is a little different teaching aproach...which includes homework! It is really hard. I sit with my dictionary wondering what the heck it all means. On Friday when I returned to school, about an hour into our class we heard BOOM...Pop, pop, pop. This is pretty normal for LaPaz. We hear this sound a lot. It indicated Marches. Some large, some small. But up until that day I had only heard the marches, hadn't seen one. So the noise was getting unignorably close and then we could hear voices yelling and cheering. I was like 'comon! let's go out there'. It's ok mom, we assessed the situation before getting close. :) We walked out of the school and they were walking right on the street in front. Teachers, marching for whatever. The police were ahead of the march blocking off the traffic. It was maybe 200 people. Very calmly walking down the center of the street. When we got out to the street the leader of the march let off another Boom, pop, pop, pop. There was a woman walking towards us with 3 year old girl at her side and the girl got so frightened! Just like sally would. It was so sad. But like I said, this happenes almost every day in various places around the city. We went back and continued our lesson.
Saturday morning was fun! We decided that we were going to go to the 'black market' and search for some sweaters for Doug and hopefully come across some alpaca stuff! We boreded one of the independent buses that takes us up to the Plaza San Fransisco. It costs 1Bs per person which ($1 to 7.5Bs) There are numerous buses that pass in front of our house every minute. And by 'bus' I guess I mean van. Toyota, honda, unknown...mini vans. They place cards in the window of where they are headed and you just jump in. There are also big buses that I think too are privately owned companies. There is person who sits and calls out the locations to the people on the street. We got off the bus at a place just past San Fransisco and walked up the hill. We didn't know exactly where we were going but Nora told us that there was alpaca near the Plaza. We took a couple of turns through some food markets and some frier kiosks (with hotdogs and hamburgers) and came upon some clothes... then we just were surrounded by clothes on both sides of the streets. Blocking the allies. In the street. We found it. I tried on fancy coats and warm coats but all of the arms were too short. I'm a tall American! I don't fit these clothes. :( I settled on a double padded poncho. I don't know if I like it, but it looks cool for south america and it'll keep me warm. We walked up hill some more and found some sweaters for Doug to try on. He too, was just a big long American. Nothing fit right. On our way down another gray brick road on the way to buy the food from our grocery list there was a man with a salten(y)a cart. Saltenas are pockets of baked dough with potatoes, eggs, meat and vegetables in them! yum. We bought 2 and Sally ate all of mine! She loves them. We put a cucumber onion and tomato salsa on top. Mmm. After that we entered into a doorway that brought us into indoor shops. ALL ALPACA! Yay! The stuff is beautiful and SO soft. There's a store at the Mall of America with alpaca and it's really expensive. Not here. So inexpensive, cuz it's made right here. Loved the hats, purses, bags, sweaters etc. I got a beautiful sweater, Doug got a scarf and sally got some little things. The women love sally here. They just want her to stay with them in their shops. It was a fun day. Once we got home and had naps, we went back to the market again. This time to the more touristy shops in buildings. It was still cool. There is just so much to buy.
Today, Sunday, we went to the street party again instead of church. There are 2 blocks of street that are closed down on Sunday mornings for artists and local buisnesses. It's so fun! Sally went through a toddler obstical coarse and won a rattle (which I think contains tiny little gum peices inside but sally hasn't figured that out yet). She screamed when we took her away from it so other children could have a chance! The 'teachers' for the child developement tent kept taking pictures of sally. I bought her some hand crocheyed shoes! Love em! $6. And we got some other fun stuff for family and friends. We sat and listened to a fun band and watched the adorable old indigenous people dance the coolest dace. Next time I can't forget the ipod to videotape it. Tomorrow is a new holiday for the Aymaran people. It is their new year. So I don't have school and Doug doesn't have work. We're having Nora come watch Sally so we can go to a midday movie.

Save the Children

So on Monday I think it was Doug too me and Sally to breakfast at Alexander Coffee, which is aperantly the only place that sells/brews bolivian coffee. I got seasoned pancakes with a fruit salsa on top, there was a lot of cinnamon in them, Doug shared his Sugar and honey pancakes with me and had the rest of mine. Their coffee was SO good. I'll have to bring some home. Oh wait, my husband is an addict, I'd better not tempt him! I'll take orders though if YOU want some!! After breakfast (in which I was really really crabby!) He took us to Save the Children, where he'll be working all summer. (Winter here). Here are some pics of his building and his office. Most of the people who work there are Boliviano. There is one girl who is Boliviana and North American and Lisa who we lived with for a while is Originally from Iowa. So doug pretty much speaks spanish all day (when he actually talks to people). He is doing research right now on whether or not Bolivia is complying with rules on how to treat juveniles in the justice system. There was a law signed by numerous countries, including Bolivia, that promises to follow certain rules and regulations. So Doug is working on a paper to show the progress that Bolivia has made. Cool for him! I'm glad he's the one with 30 documents to translate, study and write about! Although, I've gotta say, being in school again is really good for my brain! I feel like I've been asleep for 4 years since I graduated. It's nice to be challenging myself again.

Making Changes

Housing On Friday we signed a month and a half lease on a nice, fully furnished apartment just downstairs from the apartment that we were staying in. (Pictures on facebook) We are enjoying the space, but we are on the SE corner of the building so it's so warm with the sunrise until about noon, then it's freezing in the afternoon and at night. The second night here we bought a small, very small, space heater. Sally especially slept better that night.

School is going well. I'm learning Verbs...Blah! But it's good. I'm able to say a lot now. I had a 31 year old girl as my teacher last week, I'm in private lessons at a school called a speak easy. It's run by a British woman named Alexandra. It gets really busy in the summer because of tourists. Mostly Japanese, North American or Australian weirdly enough are who they teach. The school also teaches Bolivianos English. So there are two girls who work at the front desk after their English classes. They are adorable. (Pics on facebook) This week I change my time to a little earlier so I'm with a new instructor now. Jorge. He's about 30 aswell. He was raise by his dad in England for a while but lives in Bolivia where is mother is from. It's interesting to hear his English because he has a british accent. Grace was a great teacher, it made me nervous to have a different one. But Jorge is a good change because he speaks 95% Spanish to me! Whoa, it's intense learning. I like it! I feel smart when I get the answers right. And really slow when I get them wrong. Anyway, on Friday I went outside for my break and there was a woman sitting on the step. I heard her speaking English! I love hearing English. It's like, "are my ears decieving me, or am I getting really good at understanding spanish!?" So, we started talking. It turns out, her and her husband are here with their 5th child (15yrs old) as missionaries! They are working the the Aymaran people in sopacochi where we live, just further up the hill. They take weekend trips to the remote villages in the mountains surrounding LaPaz. SO COOL! She invited us to their home on Saturday to a birthday party for her husband. We went and had a blast. We ate tacos and potato chips. Ron (the husband) had to show the guests how to make a taco! Funny. LaPaz is potato central so there are potato chips at every kiosk and grocery store. The people there were from 2 different churches. They were so nice. It was hard for me because I still can't carry on a conversation. There was a 6 year old girl named nicole who was quick to correct my pronunciation! So funny. Sally took her hand right away. Nicole had a baby sister so I just played with her the whole time because there was no talking involved. Sally seems to understand a lot. It was fun, glad we went. Glad I met Rhonda!

PLAY Sally has taken a like to our gardens, there is a trampoline and she loves to run around on it. It's so beautiful, all sun back there. I love being out there. The only thing that worried me is that you can see this garden from our 11th story window and the windows don't latch or lock! I was SO scared when we moved in that I nearly had a panic attack every minute I couldn't see her!! Doug found some thick wire and tied up the windows! I love that man. My anxiety was immediately relieved. Now when I hear her say 'outside' I know she's standing by a window that is locked. Phew.
Save the Children Doug's job is going well. He's doing a lot of research and writing. This week he gets his badge to enter the prison to get involved in the education clinics that Save the Children runs. I'm so excited for him. He really seems to be enjoying this opportunity. He walks up a steep hill every morning but surprisingly enough, it's the walk down the hill that bugs him. Shin splints! ouch. Sally and I walked with him this morning and ate breakfast at a coffee shop. It was nice. Only I was Miss Crabby pants all day today. It's probably because I don't go to bed when Sally does. I guess that means good night!

Give me your eyes so I can see

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

My heart is heavy tonight. I write with tears in my eyes and a pulling in my chest. In my mind with my eyes closed I can't drift away from the homeless man I pass on my way home from school every night. He is always in the same place, lying on the cold concrete with layers of heavy tattered and torn jackets and pants on. He is quiet, he is still, lying in the dark by a bus bench. After yelling out and begging all day he rests his head on some plastic and cardboard. In the middle of the fast moving crowd I daily turn and watch him as I walk by in the rush of people. Wondering: is he cold, is he sad, does anyone know him. I see homeless people in d.c. but this almost seems harder. No place to go. No shelters. Just him and his clothes. Everyday.

Today I also visited an orphanage, a beautiful orphanage. We rang the bell to the left of the tall brown painted iron fence and long yellow stucko walls coving half of the block. They unlocked the gait and we went in. Entering a beautiful courtyard with flowers and green grass lining the wide cobblestone walkway. Up the stairs there was an open porch the entire length of the building. Through another walkway there was another beautiful garden. A very happy looking place. We asked if I could assist with anything and we were told to wait for the 'sister' to come. So as we waited, Sally walked the second courtyard investigating this colorful place. We walked past classrooms, playrooms and dormatories. All with doors opening to the courtyard. Everything was cleana and organized. Pretty soon 3 tiny little boys came around the corner with a 'teacher.' One boy called to sally, 'bebe' and they came to see her close up. Sally liked them and touched their chests and hands. So adorable. But yet again, tears. Tiny people came for everywhere. Darling little people. Little girls, boys... no mommies, no mommies... (crying). They were precious. About the same age as Sally. One girl couldn't get over Sally's blond hair and touched it and then her face and tried to hug her. Sally just started batting the girl with her hands and saying 'no, ah no, no!' I couldn't help but laugh. That same girl (2yrs) kept trying to hold Sally and her hand. So funny. I just loved they place. The nun finally came and said that 2 of the babies have been sick for 2 days and they don't want me or Sally to get sick so I was to come back in 15 days. ? . So, I will. I just really want to go back. Hold those babies. Love em up. It looked like they had really great help there. Just hope theres a place for me. Sniff.

School is going really well. I have a private teacher named Grace. About 30 yrs old. I like her a lot. She is from Bolivia. Her Engish is great. And I am learning a lot. I am planning on 2 weeks of language study. I am excited to get to the market alone and test out my listening skills. I can speak really well but it's the 'hearing what they're actually saying' part that I have a problem with. I walk home from school at 7:00pm in the dark. But the good thing is, night life is hoppin! There are teenagers everywhere, people going home from work and little kiosks 5 or more to a block, full of candies and other goodies. There is one kiosk I walk by that is a tall but small box and there is a woman inside with a small frier in front of her. The people wait to tell her what kind of meat they want and she'll put in the oil and place it on some bread with fixings. It is so cool! It's about a 10 minute walk down hill. I'm not alone and feel really safe.

Tomorrow morning we move into our new apartment! It's so nice. I'll try and get some pics up. Miss Nora the housekeeper is going shopping for all of our food and neccesities at the Black Market in the morning and she has pledged watch Sally for us everyday next week, so I can go to school. So after she's done at Lisas she'll come down to our apartment and live in our 'servants quarters'. Crazy. But seriously awesome. This means I don't have to cook dinner for another week because she'll do it!! :)

Getting our chill on

The weather seems to be changing. Doug and I went on a date Saturday night just up the hill from our apartment building, which is 23 stories by the way. We are on the 21st floor and the housekeeper opens the windows when she's cleaning or cooking to cool down the kitchen. The only problem is that even though we are 21 stories up...they don't think we need screens! So daily I have a mini heart attack when I can't see or hear sally! I can't even think about... AH! SO anyways, we have been locking the top latch to each window or shuting the doors between rooms when the windows are open. It's calmed me greatly since I found that latch. And I think my mother can sleep better since I told her about the locks. So we went to a place called Traffic San Jorge for dinner and Kate babysat! YAY! We got all dressed up and the food was amazing. And so beautiful. I said wrong things to the waitress in spanish, but at least I'm trying. I worried a few times about Sally but for the most part it was relaxing no one else was there so it was quiet and quick service. On our way home I was shivering! I didn't bring a jacket with to Bolivia...smart. Before we left it was just too crazy to organize. The air is dry and cool. But when the sun goes down or you are walking in the shade it's chilly. It does feel great to open the windows and clear out the house. Sally is doing well, sleeping better in her Pack'n'play. We are too since she's out of our bed. I'm going to enroll in a spanish 'speak easy' this week and hopefully get into one of the orphanages. I'll keep you posted.

Out on the town

Today Lisa left for Guatemala. Kati leaves for Oruro on Tuesday. Me and Kate needed to search for a new cell phone battery before she leaves and we need some internet cables. The ones we have are shotty. We went to the Plaza San Francisco again. Only this time we walked. Up hill! Blah! We walked throug a cool part of town with almost hidden doorways to restaurants and stores. Then the closer you get to the Plaza the more street vendors there are. It's Saturday so not everything is open but it was still crowded. The one thing I can't get over is how bundled up the indigenous women keep their tiny little babies. The babies are in 2 or more layers of clothes then wrapped in a huge wool blanket and wrapped in a bright stripped sling and placed on the front or back of the women. This seems rediculous. And a little over kill when I'm walking around sweating in a short sleeve shirt. Not to mention the women are over weight (which is seen as a sign of wealth or health) so when we're huffing and puffing from the altitude going uphill these women are carrying so much weight and not even grimmacing. Wow. Their skin is dark aswell and they wear layers of aprons and shawls. No complaining either. I could learn a lesson from them. :/ I found 2 sweaters for Sally and 1 pancho!! And Some plush soccer balls. SO CUTE. We saw 2 ghetto Merry go rounds! (Picture) Crazy. I don't think I'll but sally on one. We walked and walked through markets of stuff after stuff. Trinkets and whatnots. Clothes. shoes. Unbelievable how these people squish into these tiny cubes for shops and cram it with stuff. We kept walking until we were tired, then we had to walk home. No internet cables but I got awesome stuff for sally. Oh and the funny thing is we found clothes that were "made in the U.S.A." I thought that was funny cuz not even in U.S.A. are clothes made in the U.S.A. LOL.

We made our way (accidentally) to the government buildings and to the Presidents Palace. Phew! There were 8 guards at the door. Accross from the palace was another Plaza. There were A thousand Pigeons I'd guess. And the venders sold corn to feed them. If you walked to quickly ALL of them went flying in a circle formation and land again. My mother would go into cardiac arrest i just know it! She Hates low flying birds. We saw 2 wedding parties walking through that and another plaza. That must be the thing to do after people throw rice at you. They were covered. hehe. We found our way back. Poor Doug had sally all day. Sally was somber but that was good so daddy could get work done. What a tiring but fun day. Going out now to a restaurant while Kate, lovely Kate, babysits. :)

Mercado negro (Black Market)

There is another woman down here from d.c. until Tuesday. Kate is her name. She'll be traveling south of LaPaz on Tuesday to a rural town in Bolivia to do research evaluations. She's been speaking spanish with Sally and me a little bit. She is an elementary school teacher for the foster care system in d.c. She's great with Sally. Sally keeps getting really close to her face and touching it softly. SO cute. At lunch time we ate our left over pizza from last night. Last night we took a taxi to San Miguel (a very nice part of town. The farthest down into the valley to drive, the nicer the houses and restaurants). Kate had Llama meat and large corn kernels on her pizza. Doug and I had more traditional Pizzas, Lisa had Salmon and Crawfish!! Yummy. So, anyway, we ate those for lunch.

Then our housekeeper was going out to buy groceries at the outside market and I told her I wanted to tag along! Kate came too. And gladly enough she had her camera. I was SO excited to see and photograph an outdoor market. And I was right to be pumped. It was AMAZING, colorful and so busy. She called it Mercado Negro. The black market. Actually I think it was really called El Mercado de Catorse de Septiembre. It was blocks and blocks of tents filled with everything you'd need to make whatever you'd want. It was all in bulk. The streets were lined with vegetables, fruit, nuts, spices, pasta, rice, sauces and oh of course Potatoes! Bolivia is the home of the potato. Mucho Papas!! And there was much more including raw meats, which I wasn't so fond of: Fish (picture right of Kate and Nora), chicken, beef, pork, shell fish, sausage...etc. You could by makeup, dog food, clothing and bagged liquids (Picture above) ie: water, juice, milk, yogurt. It is much cheaper to sell it in bags than in bottles. Well, after Nora (the best housekeeper ever!) was done with the food we ventured up the hill in a van taxi to the more obscure part of the 'black' ;0 market...cell phones, toys, shoes, electronics...hmmm. It was a little shady but I didn't care. My list of things to get was a crib, cell phones, and a high chair. And this place had it all. They were willing to barter on it all too! Which was great for me. I got two cell phones for $60 (440 Bs)! And a new Graco Pack'n play and a high chair for $79 (590 Bs) Yay! I love deals! Doug was so happy when I came home so accomplished in my shopping.
When I got home we went and saw what will hopefully be our new apartment!! It's so huge and beautiful!! SO cheap and it's in the same building we are in now. So secure. So safe. Love it. God is preparing the way for us.

Sally is better. Hopefully she'll sleep better in her new bed. I'll be happy to have a night with out headbutts in my face from her trying to 'cuddle' with mommy's face. It's amazing how heavy a 1 year olds head is when she's exhausted! Love you all.

Potholes

So yesterday I decided that I needed to get out of the apartment. Doug gave me a very small shopping list but nonetheless, it'd get me to the supermercado. The house keeper and I ventured out into the sidewalk after I bundled up thinking it was cold. As soon as I stepped into the sun off came my scarf and sweater. The weather was beautiful. Can't tell you exactly but I would guess it was above 50 degrees. Sally was in her red stroller and we slowly made our way up the slight incline to the store, dodging potholes and bumps and people. I now know why everyone would double take at us. The bright red stroller was a form of loco-ness on streets like this. Whatever, it wasn't that bad. I had to stop twice just to catch my breath, still not used to activity in the altitude. We passed a Nissan dealership and a Cinema that was brand new and had a mall inside it. The Cinema was open and functioning even though it's not complete. Hmm, I guess they wanted the income. We had to cross the street to get to the store and even with the 'walk' sign on the drivers still flew by! We had to quickly run across the street when there were 2 of 3 lanes were stopped. Frogger anyone! Inside the market I couldn't believe how cheap, like rediculously cheap everything was. I felt like I was robbing them. A large shampoo for men, $2 (14.75 Bs). It was like getting nice things at the dollar store. So I just bought more than I was planning (kind of like you do at walmart) because it was nothing. At the checkout my total was like (90 Bs) $12!! And I couldn't pay for it. So I had to leave sally with Nora, didn't have to but it'd be faster for me just to run down the hill back to the ATM and get some Bolivianos (Bs). Have way through getting cash I was starting to freak out! Thinking "oh my gosh, I think I know the housekeeper but what if she's trying to sell my baby right now." Ah! so I ran back up the hill, which didn't seem to phase me this time. She was already walking down to meet me and left Sally with me and she went to get the groceries. :) I'm such an idiot, she was fine.
Well I don't want to bore you. We are enjoying taking it easy. My appetite is back. But Miss Sally spiked 101.3 fever in the night. I think she's cutting the rest of her molars from what I can see but it's still a little nerve wracking thinking we're in a 3rd world country and my baby has a fever...prayers are welcomed. Thank you.

Day 1

WELCOME TO BOLIVIA. At this point you are lucky you are sitting at your computer enjoying the luxury of being able to breath in and out. The altitude here in the bowl of LaPaz Bolivia is 9,000ft aproxamately. The air is thin and cool. Every breath takes reminding or your lips and extremities turn blue. The air feels amazing after the hot day we had in Miami before we left. We arrived to El Alto at 0545 yesterday. El Alto is the plateau above LaPaz. Its a quick landing cuz there isn't much to land on! After deplaning, we had a slight trauma. Sally's carseat flew out of the stroller face first onto the tunnel carpet while she was still buckled in! Her nose didn't bleed but it was purplish/red all up to her forehead. Poor baby. She still has a small spot but she's ok. She cried all the way through customs and getting our visas. The police were there to greet us, all dressed in army green snow pants and jacket with vests and boots. I thought, jeeze! How cold is it out there. All of our bags made it safely and we had a handsome suited up taxi driver with our names on cardboard waiting with a smile! :) Loved it. Doug's spanish has been good. He was able to get our seats back from a woman who was also assigned 34E and he was able to converse very well with the taxi driver. The driver quickly rushed to get the car saying 'its too cold for you, get in'. It was beautiful out. I'm from MN buddy. This 35 degrees feels great. Strait out from the airport is this beautiful mountain peak covered in snow. It was absolutely breathtaking. My camera of course was packed in the back and I was so tired I didn't even think about getting it out! Until we started to descend into LaPaz. WOW!! The people were starting to come out of their orange colored clay homes. Colorful clothes out on the lines. There are dog's everywhere. 2 of them were enjoying each others company on the sidewalk, if you know what I mean! I made sal look away. The Taxi ride down the switchbacks into LaPaz was interesting to say the least. I did get my camera out and stap a few. We are in a very nice apartment living with a woman from save the children. We have all of the same nessecities as we would at home (but can't flush the toilet paper). With the addition of a house keeper named Nora. She is awesome. Made me breakfast this morning. She is here all day and goes home at night, she does all the cooking and cleaning. I've been speaking some spanish with her. We are very close to the American Embassy, you know, just in case. The mountain outside my window is so pretty. Mount Illimani. We haven't been out much yet I was sick yesterday but feel better today. We've been drinking Coca tea, it is leaves of the coca plant. When processed this leaf turns into cocaine. Hmm. Won't be given sally any of that. I really think that it helped me get better fast though. Doug is at the office now. Doing orientation yesterday and today. Then the rest of the week is a bolivian holiday. So we'll hopefully get out.