Suffering

Not every dog in Bolivia lives a miserable life on the street.  Mine, for example, takes his afternoon nap on the sofa.

Bumper Tires

I don't have any idea what the rules of the game were... but it included two teams starting on either end of the soccer field that would run at each other with their tires, many hitting each other, and an occasional yell of "GOAL!!"

Arrival of Winter

I've been feeling silly recently for bundling up so much in the mornings and at night.  I've just been COLD!

Yesterday morning I realized that the ground was covered in frost as I waiting to give breakfast meds and felt very vindicated.  This morning was the same, so I broke out the camera.  Winter, at least in my eyes, has officially arrived.

Llama!!

We bought some puffed wheat or something (people food) and went back to make friends with the llama.

We made friends fast.

  

Angel's turn!

Not sure what to do?  Feed him!

  

Hmm, this is a cute llama...

What happens if I put the food in my mouth?

Llama kiss!!!

 Check out that post-kiss llama smile! 

I wanted a llama kiss too.

Got one!

Such a fun trip to the zoo :)

Oruro to Cure my Cabin Fever

I woke up last Thursday and nearly all I could think was, "I hate this place.  This whole stupid country.  I'm done.  I want to leave now."

Nothing had happened, not even to my hormones.  I just woke up that way.

I knew something in me was just snapping.  Honestly, I love that I now live in Bolivia with these precious boys and I live with them.  God has truly blessed me by placing me as a constant in their daily lives.  I DON'T WANT TO BE ANYWHERE ELSE.

Even when I met Angel for lunch, after receiving his enthusiastic greeting, I mumbled, "I hate your country today."  He tried to ask (more than once) what had happened, but I shrugged him off because I didn't really know what was going on.

Later in the afternoon we were talking on the phone about our upcoming Worker's Day plans.  I had chosen a while ago that we would spend the day at a nearby park with a beautiful waterfall.  I love the times that we have been able to spend in parks because not only are they beautiful but I am outdoors and need the relaxation time.  But the thought of just sitting in a park for an entire day had me sure that I would go crazy.  So I asked, "Are you sure you want to go to that park?  Or would you prefer to do something more active?"  I had no ideas as to what that "active" thing would be...

And Angel answered with the magic words.

"Actually, I was thinking we could travel..."

Days later he was still laughing about how I gushed, "oh yes please!"  You see, I have gone from traveling internationally every couple of months and domestically on top of that along with not having lived in the same spot for a full year since I moved out of my parents' house 10 years ago...to living in the same room for nearly 2 years, which is in the building where I work, and only having left to visit somewhere else ONCE.  I don't even leave the BLC on a lot of days.  NEARLY TWO YEARS!!!

I had cabin fever and didn't even realize it.

In Angel's words, "Oruro is the closest far away place" so that is where we headed Monday afternoon.

My faithful driver for the long trip.

I still love mountains.

And all the random llama herds we passed along the way.

Cochabamba just doesn't have sunsets.  Just as we were arriving in Oruro, God gifted me this.

Breakfast just off the main plaza with a workers protest and march going on outside.

Yes, the name of the restaurant is "El Negrito"

Statue of miners outside of a church built over the entrance of a mine.  Oruro was initially founded as a silver mining town, and then a tin mining town, but both sources are now exhausted.

Stairway beside the church to platforms with great views of the city and a giant slide to come down.  Yes, we came down the slide.  Fast and bum bruising!

One of several disturbing paintings inside the church.  Since miners have to go down into the earth, their patron saint so to speak are demons.  I don't know how that works.  Oruro has the largest Carnaval celebration in Bolivia and it is best known for its "Diablada" or dance to the devil.  Another creepy painting in the church showed the Diablada dancers just under Mary, next to the Pope, and above all the normal people.

Us and Oruro!

I'm really glad at this point that the meds for altitude sickness that Angel so kindly went out and found in the middle of the night in the freezing cold were working.

Angel and the pigeons in the central plaza after the protest.

We stumbled upon the train station while looking for the zoo.  Because of all the old mines, it supposedly has a really amazing train system.  Some day when I make it to the salt flats, I will get there by train from Oruro.

We found the zoo and the first stop was Gonzalo the condor (Bolivia's national symbol).  I was not expecting that other condor in the background to fly up right beside!

It's a blurry photo, but hopefully you can see the lack of fencing.  That llama is on the loose!  Our close encounter with the loose llama will be my next blog...

Another llama, this time behind a fence.  There were actually 3-4 llama related animals, but I can't tell them apart, so I'm going to stick with calling them all llamas.

Another wild species loose within the zoo.

This is another llama-thing.  I wish I knew the difference...one llama thing was loose, other llama things were behind a fence that we could (and did) reach over to pet the guy, and this fella was behind a fence and a moat.  I guess those big eyes must be deceptive.

After a yummy lunch of lamb, which is the typical plate in Oruro, we were headed back home to Cochabamba again.  The scenery was still amazing to me, like these networks of handmade rock walls.

There were TONS of dogs all along the way just sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere looking like they were waiting for something.  And according to Angel that is exactly what they are doing.  At the toll booths the little old ladies sell giant packs of bread...and lots of people buy these to throw out their windows to the dogs.  They just have to sit and wait for the right car to go by!

We stopped and tried to enjoy the view on the way home, but it was frigid!  We only lasted long enough to take a photo or two.