As you might have seen or heard our campus flooded very badly during the rainy season which was most of February and March. Well we had a water pump running most days draining the center of our campus of the standing water. Earlier this week the standing water had finally turned to mud. Not anymore. Yesterday it rained hard the entire day. Since the ground is completely saturated within 20 minutes the campus was under water again. We are back to hopping from brick to brick to get around campus.
Tomorrow, May 1st, is Bolivian Labor Day so there is no school. Grant's uncle Tim is part of the ACSI accreditation team that is reviewing our school this week to see if we will be accredited for the next 7 years. Tim extended his trip so we will show him around a bit tomorrow. This weekend some of the provinces of Bolivia including Santa Cruz are voting for autonomy. This does not sit well with the President so there is a possibility of the roads being blocked so no one can enter or leave the city. Also there will likely be demonstrations that break out with all the conflict. There is no voter registration in Santa Cruz so whenever there is a vote held there are absolutely no vehicles allowed on the roads. This is there mechanism for controlling the vote. The thought is if you can not drive you can't go to all the voting stations around the entire city and vote numerous times throwing the vote. Not an advanced system but I guess semi-effective. We were advised to stay in for the weekend and stock up on extra food and water. Once in a similar situation the water was turned off for the whole city. So we are ready come what may.
Our time is wrapping up so quickly we are sad.....I never imagined this year would go so fast. It's been a great roller coaster ride of a time and we'll miss Bolivia.
miércoles, 30 de abril de 2008
jueves, 24 de abril de 2008
Jr. Sr. Banquet
The Learning Center had it's Jr. Sr. Banquet on Saturday night. Instead of Prom the Juniors plan and fund a very elegant evening for the Seniors as a gift. It was very nicely done and there was a program that was a mock Oscar award ceremony with the Seniors winning awards. They filmed commercials that were hilarious and involved much of the staff and students at the school. Parents are invited and most of the staff of the school attends. It was a lot of fun getting dressed up even though I wasn't sure I was going to make it because our ride was here at the compound and my zipper was stuck on the material and I couldn't imagine a way of going with my dress completely unzipped. Grant looked very handsome and it was a great time.
I skipped the heels from Bridgett's wedding and went with flats.
Here was the group at our table minus Grant and Chad who were taking the pictures.
Chad and Grant were both relieved that they had each other as both of them are "stuck" with all girls a lot.
Whitney, Melissa and me--these two make up my Spanish II class.
At the end of the night after the program and dinner and dessert there was a surprise which turned out to be a Mariachi band--who knew 2 Mariachi bands in one month. We had a wonderful time.
I skipped the heels from Bridgett's wedding and went with flats.
Here was the group at our table minus Grant and Chad who were taking the pictures.
Chad and Grant were both relieved that they had each other as both of them are "stuck" with all girls a lot.
Whitney, Melissa and me--these two make up my Spanish II class.
At the end of the night after the program and dinner and dessert there was a surprise which turned out to be a Mariachi band--who knew 2 Mariachi bands in one month. We had a wonderful time.
Coach Grant
This year Grant had the opportunity to coach the JV basketball game. It's a little different here JV is made up of 5th grade through 8th grade. He had 13 guys in all even though he could only dress 12 per game. He had a great time and they played a good season. Here a few pictures of the championship game.
Here is team transportation.....things are a little more relaxed when you can drive around a city with your basketball team in the back of your truck.
Grant on the floor with the team during warm ups.
Since there is such an age difference there is also a big size difference especially between player 19 and 5 :)
Team huddle before the game.
Grant on the sidelines being a great coach.
Here is team transportation.....things are a little more relaxed when you can drive around a city with your basketball team in the back of your truck.
Grant on the floor with the team during warm ups.
Since there is such an age difference there is also a big size difference especially between player 19 and 5 :)
Team huddle before the game.
Grant on the sidelines being a great coach.
lunes, 21 de abril de 2008
March Visit
Diane had two files so Liz didn't miss a beat in mimicking what I was doing. So cute!
Liz and I at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis.
This was after the wedding back at the hotel. 
Grant brought back calf head water bottles for Jason and Jared. Strange strange boys....
Grant and Liz were fast friends at the birthday party and had fun playing ;)
My 24th Birthday
This year I had a birthday I will not soon forget. I turned 24 on April 7th. We were home for my sister's wedding and Grant with much help from Carmen and others threw a surprise party for me on Easter Sunday. We were sitting around talking with family after having lunch and playing games when Diane said let's go to the basement and I can show you some of our pictures. When I turned the corner all of our small group plus more were there to yell surprise. It was a wonderful surprise and a great party.
After the wedding we returned to Bolivia and two girls from school and I all shared the same birthday week. So we had a joint birthday bash with pizza and a Mariachi band. Then on the night of my birthday Grant and I went out and celebrated just the two of us. So all in all a year it will be hard to top in the way of birthday celebrations.
Here is Grant and I after I realized he had planned this thing long distance.
So many great friends were there and it was awesome to get to catch up.
Here are the party planners....
Blowing out 24 candles
Andrea and Michelle and I.....Andrea lives in New York so I was really surprised to see her.
On my actual birthday night (it was a Monday night) Grant and I went to a restaurant we hadn't been to before but we heard it was a great place. La Suisse was the best restaurants we have eaten at since we've been in Bolivia. We had a great time and the food was fantastic. For dessert we shared chocolate fondue. 
Molly, myself and Kelly blowing out our birthday cake cupcakes at our Bolivian birthday fiesta. We went to the Lampen's house because they have a great cabana for throwing parties. There were about 50 of our friends and we ate pizza, cake and ice cream and enjoyed the Mariachi band.
Here is a shot of the Mariachi band and the birthday girls.
Here is Grant and I and I look like I have a flying saucer hovering over my head.
After the wedding we returned to Bolivia and two girls from school and I all shared the same birthday week. So we had a joint birthday bash with pizza and a Mariachi band. Then on the night of my birthday Grant and I went out and celebrated just the two of us. So all in all a year it will be hard to top in the way of birthday celebrations.
Here is Grant and I after I realized he had planned this thing long distance.
So many great friends were there and it was awesome to get to catch up.
Here are the party planners....
Blowing out 24 candles
Andrea and Michelle and I.....Andrea lives in New York so I was really surprised to see her.
On my actual birthday night (it was a Monday night) Grant and I went to a restaurant we hadn't been to before but we heard it was a great place. La Suisse was the best restaurants we have eaten at since we've been in Bolivia. We had a great time and the food was fantastic. For dessert we shared chocolate fondue. 
Molly, myself and Kelly blowing out our birthday cake cupcakes at our Bolivian birthday fiesta. We went to the Lampen's house because they have a great cabana for throwing parties. There were about 50 of our friends and we ate pizza, cake and ice cream and enjoyed the Mariachi band.
Here is a shot of the Mariachi band and the birthday girls.
Here is Grant and I and I look like I have a flying saucer hovering over my head.Thank you to all who helped celebrate with me!
lunes, 14 de abril de 2008
Bridgett's Wedding Pictures
Bridge relaxing right before the ceremony. 
Bridge and I
Bridge and Liz
Grant, Liz and David doing a little dancing during the reception.
Here are some shots from the photographer.March 29th, 2008 
The beautiful bride.
The photographer was amazingly creative and very talented. This was the couple's first wedding.
The beautiful bride.
The photographer was amazingly creative and very talented. This was the couple's first wedding.
Stoll girls
The original Stoll family.
The entire wedding party...it was a big group.
Two married couples in the family.
The two wonderful additions to the Stoll family
Group hug......or something :)
Hut, Hut, Hike
Mr. and Mrs. Dan and Bridgett Esworthy
It looks like the three on the right are levatating.....
Charlie's Angels
martes, 8 de abril de 2008
Valentine's Day in Santa Cruz
On Valentine's Day this year we were driving the nine hours to Trinidad to drop off supplies to the flood victims so we decided to make the following Saturday Valentine's Day. It was the last day before Grant left for two weeks to Peru and the only day in between Trinidad and Peru for Grant. So we went to one of our favorite places in Santa Cruz the Butterfly farm. We swam and walked around and laid out by the pools and relaxed.
Self portrait in front of the waterfalls.
This butterfly liked us and hung around our chairs for a while.
After the Butterfly farm we came back home and got cleaned up and went to Michaelangelo's for dinner. It's a very cute romantic italian place. As you can tell by the picture I got too much sun but we had a great time. Grant surprised me with roses (the only place you can buy live flowers in Santa Cruz is the cemetery) and gave me a Bolivianita necklace.
Self portrait in front of the waterfalls.
This butterfly liked us and hung around our chairs for a while.
After the Butterfly farm we came back home and got cleaned up and went to Michaelangelo's for dinner. It's a very cute romantic italian place. As you can tell by the picture I got too much sun but we had a great time. Grant surprised me with roses (the only place you can buy live flowers in Santa Cruz is the cemetery) and gave me a Bolivianita necklace.
lunes, 7 de abril de 2008
Grant's Trip to Peru
Grant had the opportunity in February to join a work team to Ica, Peru for two weeks. He had a wonderful experience (besides getting very sick to his stomach). Here are a few pictures of his adventures.....
This beach was in Lima where their plane landed. They then took a bus five hours to get to Ica where the house was they were helping construct.
Grant and Gabriel teamed up quite a bit. Here they are making concrete to lay bricks.
Grant enjoyed working outdoors and the blisters.
This would have been a great shot of Grant with the city and the sand dunes in the background but not everyone knows how to work a camera properly.
Very sandy terrain.
The group had a couple days of fun activities and one of them was sand dune surfing. Grant came home with burn marks on his feet and his shorts. They rode dune buggies to the top of the dunes then laid down on the boards and rode them down.
The dune surfers.
Here are the vehicles they rode around in.
Grant barreling down the dune.
This was from the Nasca Lines. You had to take a plane up and fly over the desert to see these lines made by ancient people groups. The desert does not have any wind so the lines have stayed in place for hundreds of years. The biggest one stretches over 900 feet.
The little plane they took.
Some of the landscape from up in the air.
Grant got very sick and missed a lot of the views :(
More construction shots of the house they were working on. The families house was destroyed in the earthquake. 
The city of Ica.
Another awesome adventure the group took was a tour of the coast of Peru to see all the wildlife. They encountered penguins, sea lions and thousands of birds.
Grant and Gabriel on the boat.
This bird likes it's fish.
The guide was doing a few tricks with some of the local wildlife.
Here is the guide on the boat talking about some of the birds. Apparently every five years someone has to clean the rocks on the islands to get rid of all the bird poop from the rock. I know I wouldn't want that job.
Here is a birthing beach where the dark little things are the babies and the brown ones are their mothers.
Sea lions
Some really cute penguins....who knew there were penguins in Peru (I didn't (: )
More sea lions
The whole family with some of the guys that worked for the two weeks.
The sister of the family, and the cook for the group, presenting Grant with a handicraft she makes to sell as a gift for coming and helping them.
Here is the group on one of the last days painting a community building to get rid of all the graffiti.
Here is a mini three wheel vehicle that Grant and the guys got a kick out of. Apparently they were popular in Ica. They called them what translates into english as cockroaches.
The finished project.
Here is Grant and Gabriel painting a community building to cover the graffiti. They wanted to help the community as well as the family.
I guess it's not only Bolivia who does constructions with tree branches ;) The sticks to hold up the forms for the second story of concrete. I don't think I would feel safe underneath those.
Most of Grant's work was making the concrete to lay the bricks. Here is part of their construction project.
The group watched the changing of the guard in Peru.
This is Gabriel who is now again part of WGM. He is heading up the Flood relief and in times of no flood he will be in charge of humanitarian relief efforts. Grant had a great time and did a lot with Gabriel on the trip.
These were the children of the family that the group was building the house for. They were around to hang out with the guys during their time there. Luicki which was supposed to be Luigi, but it was messed up on his birth certificate and Luis.
This beach was in Lima where their plane landed. They then took a bus five hours to get to Ica where the house was they were helping construct.
Grant and Gabriel teamed up quite a bit. Here they are making concrete to lay bricks.
Grant enjoyed working outdoors and the blisters.
This would have been a great shot of Grant with the city and the sand dunes in the background but not everyone knows how to work a camera properly.
Very sandy terrain.
The group had a couple days of fun activities and one of them was sand dune surfing. Grant came home with burn marks on his feet and his shorts. They rode dune buggies to the top of the dunes then laid down on the boards and rode them down.
The dune surfers.
Here are the vehicles they rode around in.
Grant barreling down the dune.
This was from the Nasca Lines. You had to take a plane up and fly over the desert to see these lines made by ancient people groups. The desert does not have any wind so the lines have stayed in place for hundreds of years. The biggest one stretches over 900 feet.
The little plane they took.
Some of the landscape from up in the air.
Grant got very sick and missed a lot of the views :(
More construction shots of the house they were working on. The families house was destroyed in the earthquake. 
The city of Ica.
Another awesome adventure the group took was a tour of the coast of Peru to see all the wildlife. They encountered penguins, sea lions and thousands of birds.
Grant and Gabriel on the boat.
This bird likes it's fish.
The guide was doing a few tricks with some of the local wildlife.
Here is the guide on the boat talking about some of the birds. Apparently every five years someone has to clean the rocks on the islands to get rid of all the bird poop from the rock. I know I wouldn't want that job.
Here is a birthing beach where the dark little things are the babies and the brown ones are their mothers.
Sea lions
Some really cute penguins....who knew there were penguins in Peru (I didn't (: )
More sea lions 
The whole family with some of the guys that worked for the two weeks.
The sister of the family, and the cook for the group, presenting Grant with a handicraft she makes to sell as a gift for coming and helping them.
Here is the group on one of the last days painting a community building to get rid of all the graffiti.
Here is a mini three wheel vehicle that Grant and the guys got a kick out of. Apparently they were popular in Ica. They called them what translates into english as cockroaches.
The finished project.
Here is Grant and Gabriel painting a community building to cover the graffiti. They wanted to help the community as well as the family.
I guess it's not only Bolivia who does constructions with tree branches ;) The sticks to hold up the forms for the second story of concrete. I don't think I would feel safe underneath those.
Most of Grant's work was making the concrete to lay the bricks. Here is part of their construction project.
The group watched the changing of the guard in Peru.
This is Gabriel who is now again part of WGM. He is heading up the Flood relief and in times of no flood he will be in charge of humanitarian relief efforts. Grant had a great time and did a lot with Gabriel on the trip.
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